Manchester United Rumours Archive April 23 2012

23 Apr 2012 20:05:51
I'd like to know from some who regularly watch the Bundesliga, is Kagawa what he is cranked up to be? Shappy can you give me a quick appraisal? I don't get to watch that league much, ive seen him on youtube but judging a player solely off of their is criminal so i can't make a fair judgement. I know that if Park leaves, he would make a great replacement in terms of Asian revenue...But would be improve significantly what we have?

RedDevil19

I love watching Dortmund play, and to be honest I think hes really good. I would say for 15 mil hed definitely be worth it. He is only 23 and hed be great for the market in Japan. Not to mention hes full of energy and doesnt seem to have any attitude problems. May take a bit to adjust to the premier league just like most players, but definitely would like to see him here.

Daniel

I think he is a decent player, maybe not a real world class player( rooney, valencia) but well suited with united and the position behind rooney but not really a cm who could replace paul scholes. Anyway I would think that Mats Hummels from Dortmund would be a much better prospect to play alongside Vidic. {Ed004's Note - I wouldn't sign another cb as I think Smalling will surpass Rio in terms of footballing ability.}

I think while he's good now, he's got great potential. I mean everythings there really, great attitude and work rate. Then there is his physique, being small and agile and very quick. Good passer of the ball, good vision and an eye for goal. I mean for club and country.. He's still got a lot to learn, maybe introducing a big range of passing into his game wouldn't do him any harm! But i mean there is definitely a lot of talent there, which will only improve. You can obviously tell i'm a big fan of his haha but i've watched him play a lot of times! Kinda have a soft spot for the Japanese nation team ;)

Ozwald

I was reading an article by Marcotti today in The Times, and he refers to him as a "support striker". With that said, where would he fit into our team? Would be able to hack it in a 2 man central midfield? If not, then we'd have to play Rooney as a out an out striker, and the likes of Welbeck and Hernandez (both of whom have signed new deals) would get less games. I've also read that he's played as a winger fairly regularly, but can he displace Toni, Young or Nani?

I'm not saying we shouldn't sign him, or that we won't, but if we did it would be interesting to see where he would fit in.

The good thing is he is versatile in the way that he can play as a winger, support striker or in an advanced midfield role. If we had someone to play deeper in midfield he could fit in just infront. 4-2-3-1 for example he could sit behind Rooney and next to Valencia and Nani with Cleverley and Pogba playing behind him. Definitely a fast paced team with a lot of skill. I reckon he'd appeal to SAF because A) he's got a great work ethic which is valued highly at any club but especially United. B) He'd be cheaper than Gotze, Hazard etc as he hasn't got such a huge profile. Which also means there would be less pressure on him from the media to do well. For people that haven't watched him much/at all.. Do so! Think you'll be pleasantly surprised. :)

Ozwald

Sorry RD19, i've been abit busy but better late than never. Kagawa is an excellent player who likes to play inbetween the forward line and midfield, he is an expert at finding space and utilitlising in the most effective way. He has a good sprint on him and excellent vision, his passing is very good but maybe he needs to vary it up abit as he tend to play short passes rather than longer ones, his finishing is the best i've seen from a midfielder. I don't think he could play in a midfield two as he isn't the strongest and defensively he is weak but he could play the furthest forward in a midfield three, or as a second striker or on the wings. I think his best position would be playing just behind Rooney as this would allow his to best use his vision and allow him to get into areas from which he can score. Now the big question is he world class? well i think that depends on how you define world class, if he played for us he'd score 15-20 goals and get as many assist so potentially he could contribute 30-40 goals for us a season which in my books makes him world class. I also think we haven't got a player like him so he would add a new dimension to our team if nothing else.

Shappy

Shappy,
Wouldn't it be ideal for Sir Alex to wait another year to get Kagawa seeing as he's only left with a year on his contract?

James.

In an ideal world yes, I think we could not sign him this year and give the youngster a year to settle then bring him in on a free next summer and still challenge on all.fronts next season. But he could well sign a new contract in that time and if he doesn't then Dortmund will sell him off, they have Reus coming in this summer who would be a.perfect replacement so they aren't desperate to keep him, so would he.be happy to spend a year hardly playing to move to.us on a free the following summer? I doubt it. So I expect him to be sold to some body this summer, I just hope that some body is us.

Shappy

Shappy way to pretty much copy what i said ;) But to be honest with you i don't think Kagawa will be at Dortmund much longer. He said he was very happy there and he's settled which would make you think he'd sign an extension as soon as it was offered to him. Then Dortmund agreed to sign Marco Rues who would play a similar role in the team and i think that has made Kagawa (along with his dreams of playing in either PL or La Liga) decide that a move this summer is probably a good idea. He's 23, which is a good age to move as he's still got many years to grow but at the same time not too young. Agree with you that we don't have a single player like him in the team at the moment, so he would definitely bring something extra in and around the box which i think we need at the moment. A midfielder that is good at going forward with the ball at his feet. With only a year left on his contract he wouldn't be too pricey anyway. Dortmund are more interested in making money out of the sales of Gotze and Hummels.

Ozwald

In fairness Oz mate you did a good job summing him up. I only posted as RD19 had asked my opinion, and i'm too polite to ignore people. Well most of the time. Lol. The Bundesliga is the league I watch most after the Prem, I find it much better than la liga, seire a and ligue 1, which suffers from a lack of competition a lack of speed and a lack of quality. Where as the Bundesliga is well paced, tactical and more evenly competed. Dortmund are the team I also have a soft spot for after watching them play while visiting germany to watch rammstein quite a few years back. Lol.

Shappy

Oh god you're not into Rammstein are ya? haha ;) remember the first time i heard Sonne! LOL. Yeah i love the way Dortmund play, really connected as a team! I think Jurgen Kloppy b****cks is a good manager! Tactically minded and gets a lot out of his players in terms of work ethic and i doubt he uses a whip in the dressing room!

Ozwald

23 Apr 2012 17:52:30
The 3 players i would like to see SAF buy would be
1. Yohan Cabaye, I think he is a double of scholes, the way he passes the ball and his techinque. He may cost abit to much for what he's worth though.
2. Gylfi Sigurðsson, He has been Swansea's best player this season. He's young, quick and can shoot with both feet. But can he do it at the highest level?
3. Eden Hazard, if you dont know who this guy is where have you been? He in my eyes is the best young player in the world. He would cost a lot of money we would be talking nearly 40 million,.

Point 2.

Sigurdsson isn't quick mate, that's literally his only problem, but I really would love to see him at United as I've heard he is literally Beckham like in how much he trains. Sort of player I would like at the club.

Sanshine

I think it'd be a close call between Hazard and Neymar.. Baring in mind Neymar is younger although the Brazilian league isn't as competitive as the French.

Ozwald

I think hazard is as good as done, i would love to see us get Cabaye over modric

23 Apr 2012 17:24:54
Just wondering, is the potential genius of Shappy going to come true?! First rumours surface about our interest in Strootman and secondly today, Kagawa has popped up in a few papers. For all we know, its just journalist trash, but perhaps Shappy is concelling his true identity! Is he SAF?! Or David Gill?! .

RedDevil19

We were linked to Kagawa 18 months ago, Strootman was a great call by the Shapster mind.

Sydney!

When you guess most of the players in europe weekly your bound to get a target right eventually.ala the press

I'm actually a talking weed that lives between two flower pots at the end of Sir Alex's garden. My friend ben has a friend called bill who speaks with Sir Alex often and thats how I get my info and how I pass it onto Sir Alex. Lol

Shappy

I thought as much Shappy! I knew you had some insider info!

RedDevil19

I hope Kagawa is seriously considered thi summer, would be cheaper than a lot of other players about while he's fast and creative. Agile lil geezer too! He's still stalling on signing on for Dortmund, they offered him a new deal a few weeks ago now.

Ozwald

23 Apr 2012 16:23:43
Munian or Gaitan?

I would any day have Munian over Gaitan, with the addition of Martinez and Hazard or Goetze but would do the rest of you United fans think ?

Mabzinho

Agree 100%,come on fergie make the right choices.