Manchester United Rumours Archive January 10 2014

10 Jan 2014 21:24:41
A report came out of Italy that SAF has recently spoken to Marcelo lippi about the availability (or character) of Antonio conte. Make if it what you will. It might just be 2 & 2 making 5 though.

That has got to be a load of rubbish, United wouldn't give up on DM after such a short time he hasn't even had a chance to make it his team yet. Italian press are worse than ours!

Where'd you come up with this nonsense.

I haven't "come up with it" thanks. I think it's a report regurgitated from the summer.

It's on a website saying SAF was interested in Conte if Moyes continued to struggle. Absolute nonsense in my view.

We are in a results based business. Why is this a surprise to anyone!

Before we dismiss this as nonsense Conte took a dishevelled Juve in 2011 to Serie A champs so he has something Moyes patently does not: a track record of winning at the highest level. Also bear in mind he took a team that hadn't qualified for Europe and rebuilt it to Championship winners in one season. No fluke either as they won it in 2013 also and look where they are now in Serie A too.

The more telling question should actually be why wasn't someone like Conte looked at in the first place!

Supasub, that came across a bit harsh sorry mate! I'm just getting sick of all the nonsense paper talk, especially the stuff coming from the GMS side of the internet.

@Halesini

Conte has been allegedly "involved" in some other things too. Don't think he will be near the United job even if Moyes goes.

@Redfaith - noted mon ami. But at least he has the right footballing credentials. Can't say that about Moyes from his Everton days let alone start at United.

My concern with Moyes remains the same: he has no track record of winning.

In all fairness to him if someone offered me 100k pw for 6 years I'd take the job too. REGARDLESS of whether I thought I could do it or not.

If I thought the job was too big for me though I'd hold my hands up and say so rather than letting the stress of not being able to cope make me ill etc.

As much as I think Moyes was the wrong appointment I do feel sorry for him as a person as he's been given an impossible task. My fiancé is a talented artist but she'd never take on trying to recreate the Sistine Chapel!

Supposedly Moyes will get at least 2 years

No probs databass, it's just if I see news or a report that hasn't been posted or discussed on the site then I tend to post it. All things united and all that.

@Halesini

You are partially right. I don't think Moyes was given an impossible task, the club has given him a task of rebuilding in the long term.

The impossible is what some fans are expecting. He replaced the greatest manager of all time and the club could sign only one of his targets. He has had to deal with a terrible injury crisis and could field a full strength line up in only a few games.

The Italian media over the last few years are very focused on trying to have digs at us. Especially media outlets friendly to Juve.

10 Jan 2014 09:11:24
"Reports in Italy claim that Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are leading the chase for Paul Pogba. Juventus are desperate to persuade him to sign a new deal, but if he refuses they could sell with a €70million valuation being quoted."

Why oh why could we not have just offered him the 40k a week!

He would have refused it like he refused the other offers.

Pogba and his agent will base his career on money and money only.

He will keep going club to club accepting the highest offers.

Like the editor has repeatedly said, he was never going to sign with us

We would just be in the same situation as Juve find themselves now. Pogba will follow the example set by Ibrahimovic and Balotelli, where every 3/4 years he'll move on to a new club for more wages and more importantly so his agent can earn a huge fee. And guess what they all have the same agent. Mino Raiola.

Never ever worth £70m, he was a mercenary and not worth the bother.

As I recall, the issue was playing time. He was never given a chance, even though he showed at juve that he is not only good enough for a place in the squad, but better than anyone else we have to partner Carrick. He didn't get that good over that summer, so had he been given a chance, he would have been a regular starter here.

Wanting to leave Juve is reasonable for a kid that good, he could be playing at one of the very top teams, which they are not.

Where do people get the idea it's all about the money?

So so so naive!

The truth is that he is an amazing player.

Most of United fans are pi***d because he decided to leave. If he goes to Madrid, he'll be even better playing alongside CR7.

I wish in all the luck.

That's not naive Sydney. I never said money wasn't a factor, but it's not hard to see how a kid that good would get frustrated at not even getting a chance, while players like Anderson and Cleverly played.

Agreed Thorne
He said he knew it was time to leave when we picked park and raf the silva in the middle against Blackburn.

If that was you and you knew you could do better beb a chance you would be furious. Why the hell would he sign after that
On the other hand he is one of those players that I personally don't think would fit in a team like ours (his
Mentality)

It beggars beyond belief that we wouldn't offer Pogba 40k a week hen Ashley Young is on 130k a week.

{Ed002's Note - It was nothing to do with that.}

As Ed002 would say, RTP! I think it's been established by the Eds that his agent was always looking for a way out for him even at an early stage.

No point banging on about it now, let's hope we find somewhere better who actually wants to play for the club.

Syd in this case I think your being Naïve.

We let arguably one of the best midfielders of his generation leave on a free. He won the FA youth cup with us and I believe had we actually given him game time he would have stayed.

Yes its about money of course it is its a business football. All this wants to play for the club B******s. People want to play for your club if you pay them well and they are successful!

Had we offered him the 40K and played him when he was patenty ready and better than nearly everyone we were playing I am pretty sure he would have signe a new contract.

I notice you don't call Januzaj a money grabber etc. Had we not payed him the 40k and started playing him this year do you think he would happily sit in the youth team knowing he was better than half the player we had.

This I the one good think Moyes has done this year.

Fergie ballsed up and as usual with him though he is a United legend he will never accept any criticism.

Massive mistake!

Thorne, the truth is Pogba was looking for a move 12 month's before he moved to Juventus. Money is the only factor when you employ Mino Raiola as your agent. Pogba also told Paddy Crerand that he left for money. He said it wasn't just him he needed to think about, he has a large family to support.

Do not think I am being bitter Thorney lad, I said when he was a MU player that he will be the best midfielder in the world and I said the same thing when he left. I was proper gutted when he left as he was just what we needed. But his whole career will be based on money as the main factor.

Red Bear, Januzaj is not on half of that amount. It doesn't matter what we paid Pogba or how much playing time he got, he was always leaving. That has been made very clear to us by the editor.

So your saying it was money Sydney well if we offered enough he would of stayed no way Juv pay more than we can so we should of pushed the boat out

Kate, think about it wisely. Why would he accept £20k, £25k or even £40k from us and be tied down to a five year deal when he could join Juventus, collect a significant signing on fee, stay for 1-2 years then join another club for £150k-£200k a week, plus negotiating his own image rights (ridiculous amounts of cash) and get a monster signing on fee from his new club. It wasn't about getting an extra £15k a week at Juve or more playing time as he was going to be playing for us if he stayed, it was about the significant amounts of cash he could get in the future, cash he wouldn't get at MU. Mino Raiola needed to steer him away from MU so advised him to do so. Pogba is a very talented player and like Ibrahimovic he will go club to club cashing in on signing on fees, but he will also have a great career playing for the world's best clubs. So like Ibra his decisions will always be justified as he has had a great career, but his motives so far up until now have been money motivated decisions and that will not change. I am not criticising Pogba for being greedy, but he is just that, he's greedy. Anyway people have their own views regarding this, but people who know more than us IE SAF, the editor, even Paddy Crerand they have made things abundantly clear and I agree with them. Good luck to the lad, but I genuinely believe the club did all they could to keep him and I believe he was always going to leave.

11 Jan 2014 11:12:56
It wasn't so much about how much money Pogba was being paid, it was about how much money Mino was getting. Juve gave him 2m to get Pogba to sign with them, he wanted us to pay him 2m to get Pogba to sign with us. It was a princable thing, we can't be giving agents 2m to sign one of our own youth players. If we were then we might as well close the academy and just sign players instead.

Shappy if that's the truth i'm glad he went the greedy little so and so and I hope he regrets it in the future and watches us become the greatest team of the modern era heres hoping anyway