Manchester United: 5 Popular Misconceptions for the Upcoming Transfer Window
As Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United capture their 19th League Title and begin preparing for their final game of the season—the May 28 Champions' League Final against Barcelona—fans have already began looking ahead toward the transfers which will supposedly ensure that United retains its place as the premier side in the English Premier League (EPL).
However, eager speculation has prompted fans throughout the world to propagate a myriad of ideas regarding which positions must be strengthened and which players Ferguson should pursue to fill these roles. While some of this chitter-chatter is legitimate, much of it is misleading.
In this article, I aim to sift through the most common misconceptions regarding United's ideal transfer policy and mention several realistic signings who could impact the team immediately.
United Need to Spend Tons of Money During This Transfer Window
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As EPL Champions and Champions' League finalists, the current Manchester United side is highly successful and thus does not require an influx of overpaid star players. Unlike Manchester City boss, Roberto Mancini, and Real Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho, who compartmentalize the influence of top players by benching them in favor of new transfers, Fergie gives almost all of his players consistent playing time through his regular roster rotations.
As a result, more than 20 different players have made notable on-field contributions to the highly successful 2010-2011 campaign.
Furthermore, United returns several potentially key players from loan, including England U-21 Internationals Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck, who just finished successful spells at Wigan and Sunderland respectively. United also has a fantastic youth team which just recently won its tenth Youth FA Cup Title.
With such depth and only Edwin Van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand over age 30, the current United squad is already primed with the necessary talent to perform at a high level for years to come.
Manchester United Lack Creativity in the Central Midfield
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According to most fans, United's greatest weakness lies in the central midfield where they lack players with the inventiveness to create persistent scoring opportunities. Often labeling United's usual cast of midfielders which generally features some combination of Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Anderson as "defensive-minded," critics speak as if this crew is good for little else other than tackling and simply launching the ball up-field.
However, the United central midfield has quietly performed quite well this season. While Rooney, Hernandez and Berbatov have received the brunt of praise for United's efficient offense, Carrick and Fletcher are generally responsible for playing the pass which initiates the scoring sequence.
For instance, in both legs of the Champions' League quarterfinal match against Chelsea, Michael Carrick played two well-placed, speculative balls to Giggs who then controlled both efforts before providing neat service for Rooney and Hernandez to drill home.
Similarly, Fletcher demonstrated his quality in a mid-season match against Aston Villa where he used a neat back heel flick to tee up Federico Macheda for a sizzling shot which found the upper 90 degrees of Villa's net.
Though Anderson has been injured for most of the season, he has scored three goals in his brief return and is proving to be quite a nuisance in transition.
Finally, United returns Tom Cleverly from loan after a successful spell at Wigan. The aptly named midfielder may well evolve into a very effective attacking midfielder and thus ultimately reduce the need for Fergie to buy a new midfielder.
Fergie Must Sign a Player to Replace Paul Scholes
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With United Chief Executive David Gill indicating that he expects United legend Paul Scholes to retire at the end of the season, fans and news sources alike have begun to wonder who Fergie will purchase to replace the aging English International.
While Scholes has played an integral role throughout his Manchester United career, he has not been a consistent contributor for the past two seasons. In 2009-2010, Fergie maximized his meaningful minutes by limiting his appearances to the most important fixtures. He responded by scoring crucial goals against Manchester City and AC Milan.
This season, Scholes has played even fewer minutes and drew more attention for a characteristically wild challenge against Pablo Zabaleta in the FA Cup semifinal against Manchester City than the one goal he scored against Fulham.
Though he will be remembered as one of the best to ever grace Old Trafford, Scholes is now only a shadow of his former self. Nevertheless, United have won the EPL and advanced to the Champions' League Finals without his presence, so if Fergie is looking to replace Scholes, he should look not for an elite attacking midfielder but a decent player who will play less than Anderson—but hopefully more than Owen Hargreaves.
Wesley Sneijder Is the Best Possible Replacement for Scholes
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After a successful 2009-2010 campaign which saw the diminutive playmaker first lead Internazionale to a Champions' Final victory over Bayern Munich before nearly winning the World Cup with Holland, Sneijder is now regarded as one of the best No. 10s in the world.
Unsurprisingly, his brilliant passing has caught the attention of the top clubs in Europe and several sources peg him as one of Fergie's top transfer market priorities.
However, an article recently released by the Daily Mail suggests that United would have to pay out the wazoo to acquire his services. In addition to an estimated £40 million transfer fee, United would need to compensate for England's exceptionally high tax rate for high earners by paying him well over £200,000/week to meet his net wage demands.
With the English government also now taxing player image right deals more heavily, it is uncertain if United could find a way to pay the Dutchman without breaking the bank.
If United were to somehow acquire Sneijder, he would almost certainly be slotted into the No. 10 spot with current No. 10 Wayne Rooney moving into a more prominent striker role. Such a move would likely see 20-goal strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Chicharito Hernandez moved to the bench.
Why pay £250,000/week to move the top two goal scorers to the bench?
Instead, I suspect Fergie will try to find a cheaper option who can start in Rooney's absence or provide a spark off of the substitute bench. Though I haven't read much about potentially cheaper options to Sneijder, I would recommend CSKA Moscow's Keisuke Honda, Bayer Leverkeusen's Renato Augusto, or Fulham's Clint Dempsey.
Despite performing exceptionally well over the past couple of seasons, none of these players have generated tremendous media hype and could therefore be acquired for only a fraction of the cost it would take to move Sneijder from Inter Milan.
United Need to Sign Several First Team Players
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As Real Madrid so poignantly illustrates each season, signing four to five players who expect to be in the first team each week is simply a waste of money. For instance, former Real Madrid manager Florentino Perez invested £59 million to acquire Kaka from Milan, only for new manager Jose Mourinho to replace him in the starting 11 with World Cup stars Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria.
With Nuri Sahin having just recently completed his move to the Bernabeu, Kaka will surely take his leave this summer and Madrid will be lucky to recoup one third of the original price they paid for their once promising playmaker.
Above such wasteful spending, Fergie has done well in recent seasons to sign less expensive players such as Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling and Chicharito Hernandez who are highly successful either as starters or as substitutes. Such players do not complain when not starting and do not carry the prohibitive price tag which would force Fergie to either start them as much as possible or sell them.
Instead of clamoring for several high-profile signing, look for Fergie to once again get the best bang for his buck and pick up a couple of quality players who he can integrate into the current rotation.
In addition to the chaps I mentioned in the previous slide, look for young Shakhtar Donetsk playmakers and budding Brazilian internationals Douglas Costa, Fernandinho and Willian to draw Fergie's attention.
Still young enough to accept a substitute role, Costa and Willian could develop into lethal wingers while Fernandinho could complement Carrick and Fletcher as a deep-lying playmaker.
