Falcao looks a great penalty box striker. I'd imagine his game falls apart a bit when he doesn't have close support or his team are playing on the back foot though.

Machete wrote:

Plus I'm not sure the current lot are relatively cheaper.

I think they are. We still tend to spend 6 to 12 million when we sign a player for the first team, but the transfer market has stretched. When we bought Bergkamp for £7.5m the world transfer record was £13m (and Bergie himself was the second most expensive player in the world as I recall, he cost Inter £12.5m). I don't see us spending £40m any time soon.

Machete wrote:

But hardly getting value for money with this crop

They're competing with far more expensively teams. We may not be getting satisfaction but they're good value for what they cost.

United intend to sign 3 first-team players this summer

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he wants to sign three new players this summer.

"We have some ideas in mind and hopefully can get them put in place," Ferguson told MUTV.

"I am looking at maybe three signings which would boost our overall quality in our team."

The club's chief executive, David Gill, admitted that United would be "slightly busier than normal" in the transfer market this summer.

Full-back Gary Neville announced his retirement from football in February following 19 years in United's first-team squad, goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will retire after the Champions League final against Barcelona on 28 May and midfielder Paul Scholes has yet to confirm whether he will play on next season.

Ferguson said: "We have Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes coming towards the end of their careers, Gary Neville has already retired and Edwin van der Sar is retiring, so there are holes we want to plug up in terms of the safety and security of the team for the next few years.

"Of course, we have some excellent young players and a lot of them have progressed, which gives us a great, powerful squad."

Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley are likely to be given chances by Ferguson after impressing during loan spells this season, with Sunderland and Wigan respectively.

United have been linked with Atletico Madrid's 20-year-old keeper David De Gea, Aston Villa's Ashley Young and Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder.

Gill told MUTV: "We have been working very hard over the course of the last 12 months to plan which positions we need to fill, identifying those players and trying to work on it.

"What Alex Ferguson has done very successfully for nearly 25 years is to reinvent the team slowly and integrate them within the established stars. That is what we will continue to do.

"It gives a buzz to everyone at the club when you bring in high quality players. It is something we look forward to with relish."

Sounds to me like they will go out and get a goalkeeper, a right back, and a creative midfielder. Wouldn't shock me if they got De Gea and Sneijder, in fact, I fully expect them to, I can't think of a suitable right back, but I'm sure they can. I hope they aren't looking for a wide player as well, but they probably are.

I have to admit I find the whole thing very worrying. City will spend, Chelsea will spend, Liverpool will spend, we will be in trouble if we don't break the habit of the last few seasons.

That's the difference between them and us when it comes to young players, Ferguson will toss you aside in a heartbeat of he thinks for one second you are damaging the chances of the team winning and that isn't going to change very quickly. Rafael and Fabio are good players, but a million miles away from top class right backs. The same with Anderson or Ben Foster, and so on. That's why young players will generally join us ahead of them - not that I suppose that's really something to brag about.

Bottom line is our rivals have far too much money and ambition for us to win anythgin continuing how we are going. We have to take more risks or we're not going to get near trophies. We're still going to be at a significant disadvantage financially, but we've got to do more.

Rafael has their RB slot nailed down, and they've got Fabio, Brown and O'Shea too. If they buy a right back he'll be a squad player I'd say. Scholes and van der Sar retiring is a reason to rejoice, not worry. They won't be easy to replace.

I just wish Giggs would ever hurry up and fucking call it a day too.

One goalie, one midfielder and a young player with potential.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Rafael has their RB slot nailed down, and they've got Fabio, Brown and O'Shea too. If they buy a right back he'll be a squad player I'd say. Scholes and van der Sar retiring is a reason to rejoice, not worry. They won't be easy to replace.

I just wish Giggs would ever hurry up and fucking call it a day too.

Fabio has kept him out of the team for the most crucial period of the season. None of their options at right back are half as good as Sagna, Ivanovic, Alves, Ramos, and I'm sure Fergie knows that. It's the same in midfield, Scholes was absolutely top class - none of the options they have to replace him are anywhere close, so he will buy someone who is. That's the benefit of having massive money to play with.

I agree van der Sar, Ferdinand, Neville, Scholes, and Giggs, all retiring or declining is great news for us, but they will spend big and buy quality, because they can, and that's not good for us. Especially as they are doing it from the position of champions.

Well that isn't entirely surprising as Fabio has been considered the bigger talent of the two for some time. They're both good players and I find it unlikely that Ferguson will stifle them with a big money acquisition. I haven't seen much indication of their big spending ability lately, and their focus has increasingly been on signing younger players.

VDS and Scholes will be very hard to replace. There have been rumours of Stekelenburg coming in and while he's a good 'keeper, I'm not convinced he will come in and perform on a similar level straight away. Ferguson may splash out big on a midfielder, but there's no guarantee he won't buy another Anderson.

I doubt they're buying a right back.

Edit: It's absolutely fantastic Ramsey chose us. He's exactly what they need at the moment.

I'd love it if they signed Stekelenburg to replace van der Sar.

I'd much rather they signed Almunia, but that's just me...

Haha, you know what I mean!

I could live with them signing Sneijder too, if that was the case. Wouldn't be too bad. Don't want them getting De Gea, because from the little I've seen and what I've heard he's a real star in the making.

I am not worried by any keeper they sign. VDS is a legend with them, saved them so many times. Anybody will be a downgrade in my eyes.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Machete wrote:

But in support of Lagos, the invincibles didn't cost that much with respect to other teams built at the time.

They cost a lot more than the current team did, comparatively speaking.

Biggus wrote:

Wenger got lucky with the players he inherited, he was also in the right place at the right time to access the French golden generation.

That's some horrible revisionism Bigs. The only 'inherited' player in the first team when we last won the league was Bergkamp, and he played the least of any of them.

Wenger has an outstanding track record of signing and developing players going back 20+ years.

General Mirth wrote:

Biggus wrote:

Of course not, money is not the issue it's just a convenient excuse for failure.
Wenger got lucky with the players he inherited, he was also in the right place at the right time to access the French golden generation.
Now that his luck has run out- he's been found out.

Now you just sound bitter. Wenger got lucky all the way back in 1980s when he signed Weah, I suppose?

I don't mean to belittle Wengers achievements, I enjoyed them and whooped it up with the rest of us, yes he got lucky but you do need luck to win the league- The Devil looks after his own and Fergi and Mourinho have had the devils luck as well.
My point is that Wengers luck was in the players he had together at the same time from when he first arrived up until it all fell apart in 2005, this present bunch aren't fit to clean their boots.
I think that we can all agree that they were an exceptional collection, some said at the time that we may never see such collective talent together at the same place again, but others- myself included- didn't want to hear it, we believed Wenger was the magician who could do it again and again, well he couldn't and it's time to face reality- We may never win anything again for years......

Wouldnt surprise me if United got Neuer - Fergie was drooling over him after the semi first leg

I think they'll sign M'vila and that Douglas Costa

Bet he weren't drooling over him after the second leg!

Neuer is overrated right now in my opinion. Amazing shot-stopper, but not impressed with his all-round game. Was thoroughly unimpressed by him at the World Cup. He will go on to become a great goalkeeper, but I don't think there's much at all between he and Szczesny right now, and I think Szczesny has the better personality.

As I've now completely given up hope of winning anything or signing a top class player for the foreseeable future, I'm happy to let Szczesny and the other kids continue their full time education in our team.

Biggus wrote:

As I've now completely given up hope of winning anything or signing a top class player for the foreseeable future, I'm happy to let Szczesny and the other kids continue their full time education in our team.

not sure your happy, you're just resigned to it

Fab, Chesney and Lehmann is a good line-up of goalkeepers.

Think Wenger said earlier in his press conference that Lehmann won't be around as a player next season. Although I might have misunderstood him, it was a little cryptic.