19 Aug 2014 09:34:52
With our total lack of quality in midfield along with the potential departure of Fellaini and Carricks long term injury we have been left with just Herrera, Cleverley and Fletcher as options in the middle of which one is settling into a new league, one is coming back from a long term illness and may not recover his previous form and the other just isn't good enough.

Now Vidal is the obvious target and a player we can't really afford to stop trying to sign. This means it is a saga that will likely roll on right up to deadline day. But can we afford to get to deadline day with just the outside hope we will sign Vidal and if not then unlucky. Even if we sign him we would still only have a choice of four midfielders and an injury or suspension or two away from trouble.

So my question is do you think it would be wise to sign Alex Song on loan as a back up option and incase the Vidal deal falls through? That way if we sign Vidal then we will just have an extra option with Song and Vidal to add to our current option. And if the Vidal deal falls through we won't be quite as exposed.

Song has prem experience so shouldn't have trouble adapting to the league and a season long loan deal means we won't have to pay a fee for him thus giving us money to spend on other targets. He has shown in the past that he links up very well with RvP and could offer us a near risk free option. If he did well then we could buy him next summer if he fails to impress then we send him back to Barca and sign someone else such as Strootman.

Obviously he isn't anyones first choice but it could be a good idea as a sercurity blanket incase things go wrong in the transfer maket for us as they did last year.

1.) 19 Aug 2014
Loan yes buy no

2.) 19 Aug 2014
Im with you on that Shappy.Our midfield is weak and needs a boost somewhere.Am I confident at this stage of the transfer window with the way we do our business, no i'm not.But live in hope.

3.) 19 Aug 2014
Song is no better than what we already have and will not get any better. His wages would also be pretty high. I think we will sign Blind and Vidal if MU get their own way. Blind, Herrera and Mata could be our midfield, but I'm hoping for Vidal, Herrera and Mata.

4.) 19 Aug 2014
Shappy fellaini's departure if true means we have a deal or ver close on a deal with a midfielder:)

5.) 19 Aug 2014
We should sign players of the required quality rather than buy for the sake of it.

6.) 19 Aug 2014
I think blind is going to be the "security blanket" but I understand wot u mean, can fill in at cb too, there's a few who would fit the bill, clasie would b a good back up, lars bender would be a great engine in there too

7.) 19 Aug 2014
Song on loan would be a good move, but part of me is expecting a deadline day deal for Strootman who will sit out the side for about two months and then be fit for October time. If Song on loan is an option then that is a great move for someone with loads of EPL experience.

8.) 19 Aug 2014
Shahram, so you don't think Fellaini to Napoli is just paper talk anymore :)

9.) 19 Aug 2014
I just feel that if Fellaini was to leave which looks likely then even if we managed to sign Vidal then we will still be lacking serious cover in midfield.

Vidal is just coming back from injury, how will he settle in a new country? I would be shocked if he didn't take to it like a duck to water but he may take time due to his injury come back.

Carrick won't be ready for the first team until around Christmas, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that it could take him until the end of Feb to fully regain match sharpness and become accustomed to the new system.

Fletcher has had serious injury issues which seem to have effected his pace tenacity and his ability to drive forward which were his best assets, will he ever recover his best form? hopefully but unlikely.

Cleverley, he is 25 now and is probably declined since his debut. He needs to move on and is poor cover to say the least.

Herrera is our only midfield of the quality needed to start for us atm. If Vidal signs then we will have two. But what if either of these two get injured or suspended? Also Herrera is settling into a new league and to expect him to be amazing in every game is too much at this stage.

So we could do with another player with the quality to act as decent back up.

Imo to say Song isn't any better than Cleverley, Carrick or Fletcher at this point is probably foolish. He has more pace power and ability than those three and seems far more suited to the type of football LvG wants to play.

If we were to sign him on loan he would almost be totally risk free and allow us to focus our money on other targets.

As for the possibility of signing Blind instead of Song, we personally I feel Song would be better suited to this system as a midfielder. There is a reason why LvG rarely played Blind as one of the midfield two in this system for Holland at the world cup. Although his passing is top notch, his weakness is a lack of real pace or power, which is what we really need in midfield atm, Blind would be very similar to Carrick. Plus Blind would cost around 17m if figures are to be believed, Song could be brought in on loan and has Prem experience something Blind does not.

10.) 19 Aug 2014
Saw a depressing stat last night.
In 45mins of football, Fabregas had more assists to his name that Carrick, Fellaini, Fletcher and Cleverly combined in the whole of last season. I think it was referring solely to PL games, but still, a real eye-opener.

We really do have nothing in that area of the pitch.

11.) 19 Aug 2014
I liked Song when he was at Arsenal but his lack of game time has really had an impact on his performances. I'd take him as cover (certainly a better option than Blind) - but we need a top quality midfielder along with him.

12.) 19 Aug 2014
I can see the desperation on here starting to kick in.

13.) 19 Aug 2014
Sydney

Still aper talk until it happens if it happens. Let's wait and see:)

Remember based on the papers we are after 50 players and everyone gets upset when they end up somewhere else and blames woodward. The real issue is we probably were never after 95% of the players the papers talk about and some fell fans on this site are obsessed with every rumour on twitter and the smut papers and take it as gospel :)

14.) 19 Aug 2014
Vidal and Blind will do fine, if one of them gets injured we should go for a player in jan window.

15.) 19 Aug 2014
Syd - I agree.

Earlier I saw someone saying that we should pay €65m for Di Maria!

16.) 19 Aug 2014
I agree that Song would be a decent signing as cover especially to add a bit of tenacity to a currently weak midfield.

Blind on his own would not be enough. We are missing someone who can tackle and bring muscle to the midfield. He is a better option to what we currently have as cover. That is a fact. Look at his stats while playing for Arsenal and Barca. They are better than our current midfielders stats in terms of assists as well as completing his defensive duties.

With Fellaini looking likely to be leaving for the season we will need more than Blind or Vidal not just for the first team but as cover in the case of injuries and suspensions. Signing a player on loan for the year would be excellent as you have already stated Shappy and Song ticks more boxes than most.

Syd why are so against the thought of Song in a United Jersey?

17.) 19 Aug 2014
JaMax, because he's not that good.

R7, when will some of you learn. It's not your money. The only question that matters is this: Di Maria or no Di Maria? The rest is completely irrelevant.

It's funny how people would rather see MU pull out of a deal to sign a world-class player as they think we are overpaying by £10m. Like it's their money. Very odd.

18.) 19 Aug 2014
Syd - When will some people learn that despite Woodward's nonsense over the summer - there is a limit to how much the club can and will spend and that spending £52m on a player that we don't need will leave us with £52m less to spend on players that we do need and £180k per week less we can offer in wages. It's not a case of Di Maria or nothing - it's a case of a £30m-£35m player that we don't need (unless we're going to sign another winger and drop one of Mata, RVP and Rooney) or £52m worth of players in positions that are currently understrength.

19.) 19 Aug 2014
R7, are you really that naive? You think that's how it works?

3412 allows ALL our top players to play together.

Would you prefer Rojo, Blind, Vidal & Di Maria?

OR

Rojo, Blind & Vidal?

20.) 19 Aug 2014
19 Aug 2014 15:16:07
Papers learn of MU interest via agents, clubs etc. MU will have interest in 50+ players, but will only try to sign a fraction of them and actually end up signing a fraction of ones we attempt to sign. Just because something is written in a newspaper it doesn't mean it's not true. The Napoli/Fellaini interest has been confirmed by Benitez for starters. The Rojo rumours started via newspapers. People have sources, there are hundreds of people privy to information just like Ed002 is. You should know as you were told about Shaw and Vidal by your source. Newspapers and media outlets make mistakes, but very few just make stuff up.

21.) 19 Aug 2014
R7, we are in desperate need for a player like Di Maria. Very bizarre.

22.) 19 Aug 2014
Syd. Di Maria's best position by far is on the wing. If we play him on the wing we'd need to sign another winger and would be unable to play with a CAM and two strikers. That, in turn, means that we can't play all three of Rooney, RVP and Mata.

We could play him as a wingback - but by the same measure we could play Rojo as a goalkeeper. Ridiculous? No more so than spending £52m to sign a player and play him out of position.

You asked if I'd prefer Rojo, Blind, Vidal and Di Maria or just Rojo, Blind and Vidal. What a stupid question! How's this though. Would you prefer Rojo, Blind, Vidal, Benatia and Carvalho or just Rojo, Blind, Vidal and Di Maria? I expect the former would cost the same and be preferred by 95% of fans.

23.) 19 Aug 2014
Funny that because I could have sworn we have been playing the likes of Young, Adnan, Lingard and Valencia as wingbacks. Don't you think he could fill the role that these wingers have been doing due to his excellent tracking back and constant pressing off the ball?

LvG's wingbacks are wingers. Hence the THREE CB's and defensive midfielder. It allows the wingbacks more freedom. Perhaps you would prefer Valencia than Di Maria? I would of course prefer Rojo, Blind, Vidal & Di Maria. Not even close. We are seriously lacking speed in our attack.

24.) 19 Aug 2014
R7, whether you think we need Di Maria or not is irrelevant anyway. The fact is the manager wants Di Maria. Unless you think you know better than the Iron Tulip? Do you think LvG would green light the Di Maria move if it meant sacrificing other key areas? Of course not.

25.) 19 Aug 2014
LvG's wingbacks? We're talking about a formation which he's used for a total of what? Ten games? For Holland he used Janmaat (a RB) and an assortment of utility players as wingbacks. His wingers (Robben and Depay) were deployed in central attacking midfield or striker positions.

For us he's used what he's had available. If he wanted to use wingers as wingbacks then why on earth would he greenlight the deal for shaw rather than spend the £30m on a winger instead? Had Rafael been fit he would have played on the right and were Shaw up to LVG's standards he would have played on the left.

I imagine that a move for Di Maria would signify us switching back to a 4-3-3; but that leaves us with the problem of accommodating him, Rooney, Mata and RVP in their favored positions (something which doesn't appear possible unless we want to be incredibly weak at the back).

The original discussion was whether at £52m Di Maria represented value for money - and aside from your nonsense about how we have unlimited funds and that it's a case of Di Maria or nothing - you've offered very little on that front. How about we just agree to disagree (regardless I don't intend on replying after this as the art of debate is clearly lost on you).

26.) 19 Aug 2014
Holland lack wingers, hence the reason the likes of Blind, Kuyt, Janmeet etc played. Robben doesn't do anything defensive so would make a shocking wingback and is better deployed as a striker to add pace upfront. Depay played as a LWB at the WC.

Shaw is a replacement for Evra who spent 90% of the game attacking. Shaw's attacking abilities are why we signed him. He will make a great wingback and may develop similar to that of Bale who started as a LB, tipped to be a great wingback, yet ended up a good winger.

Please enlighten me what is the difference to Di Maria playing as a winger in a 442 and as a wingback in 343? There is no difference, wingers at MU bar Ronaldo have always had to track back an work hard defensively. That has always been the case at MU.

At least with THREE CB's and a defensive midfielder they wouldn't need to track back so much and wingbacks are predominantly wingers. Have you seen Di Maria play? He works very hard defensively. He would make an exceptional wingback.

But let's agree to disagree R7 mate, I do not see us reverting back to a 433 anytime soon.