Error and injury prone CB who can only play with one of our other CBs as third choice?

Good luck to man united, he will gift other teams some howling goals if they play him with any of their current crop of defenders.

I wouldn't mind in a swap deal with Kagawa.

Agree with qs on this - he's not good enough for us, no buggy even if goes to Utd. I don't entirely agree though: if their defense is calamitous, he actually could improve them even if it's not as good as ours. But in the bottom line there must be a reasonable line where the great fear of selling to our direct rivals is checked.

And of course, selling means replacing. We were fucked in the past, sure, but some basic assumptions are beyond debate. If he's sold without replacement, it's a whole other issue (got nothing to do with TV or selling to a rival, etc.).

If it's true, it'll be because van Gaal really likes him, so of course he'll get games. Vermaelen is from the Dutch side of Belgium, learnt his football at Ajax, so I've been expecting this to come to fruition. Even fancied him at United as Vidic's replacement when Moyes was still there.

Would we go out and improve our depth at centre back as a result of this sale? Almost certainly not. Would I be against the sale? No, because I'm cursed with this hopeful outlook that says "maybe the £10m we get will go towards a bid for a super young defender like Varane or something". It never does and we always end up weaker for the loss of the decent, but not great player we just sold.

invisibleman18 wrote:

Surely Wenger can't sell our captain to United again can he?

Why not?

Claudius wrote:

A personal plea to Wenger from the United manager should be enough to see our captain leave.

Indeed Claudius, Van Gaal will appeal to his sense of sportsmanship and fair play, Van Persie could be enlisted to help- He could point out that Vermaelen has "low countries" DNA and it is wrong to keep him in virtual slavery against his will......

Just had a thought, do you think Wenger might have some interest in taking Smalling?

I haven't watched enough of United, but Smalling has struggled a bit both with injury and form. But the talent may still be there?

I'd do that swap. Don't think it'd really improve us though.

It'd be bench for bench and Smalling would be about fine in that capacity I reckon. This has not been a good season to be at United, I wouldn't read too much into any United player's form.

What about Hernandez?

I don't think Smalling would want to ride our bench when he starts quite a bit for United. Same as I said about Vermaelen, easier to battle for your place with Jones/Evans/TV than Kos/Mert.

As yuv said above "no buggy" if he does go to Utd
RB and CB cover definitely require new signings this summer then.

Biggus wrote:

What about Hernandez?

I like Hernandez but not so much I'd want him at CB

qs! wrote:

I don't think Smalling would want to ride our bench when he starts quite a bit for United. Same as I said about Vermaelen, easier to battle for your place with Jones/Evans/TV than Kos/Mert.

We'll probably struggle to sign anyone who expects games on that basis. Problematic.

Burnwinter™ wrote:

Biggus wrote:

What about Hernandez?

I like Hernandez but not so much I'd want him at CB

No you pillock, just as a Utd player you'd swap for TV.

Don't get your knickers in a twist Biggo.

It's not a bad idea but we don't need a Hernandez, we're sorted for second string strikers.

Burnwinter™ wrote:

qs! wrote:

I don't think Smalling would want to ride our bench when he starts quite a bit for United. Same as I said about Vermaelen, easier to battle for your place with Jones/Evans/TV than Kos/Mert.

We'll probably struggle to sign anyone who expects games on that basis. Problematic.

We're either signing someone who's in the twilight of their career and can cope without regular first team action or we're signing someone young and ambitious.
Either way it's for backup so it's not exactly a massive headache.

I'd probably be ok with this if we sold him and brought in Caulker and another CB and a keeper plus a starting right back, midfielder and a striker. So basically i hope we keep him.

No he wouldn't.