Summer Transfer Coup: United’s Winners and Losers …
United have completed the transfer coup of the summer, bringing to Old Trafford two highly rated, exciting, young players.
If they progress in the manner expected, Nani, 20 and Anderson 19, will be heroes and will make sexy football a bi-monthly treat for all at the Theatre of Dreams.
But the astonishing deal may not make everyone smile. AbsolutelyUNITED looks at the winners and the losers of the Nani / Anderson transfer sensation.
The Winners
Anderson: The player is thrilled to be joining United.
“Manchester is the club of my dreams,” he told Gestifute. “I have dreamed of playing for Manchester and now that is realised.
“I know my value, in Manchester I will carry on the work that have developed with Porto, but I want to get better and realise my dreams.
“I am prepared for everything - my motivation is great and the fact you can be in the same team as a great player as Cristiano Ronaldo as well as Rooney and many others and to be trained by Alex Ferguson is just something that you could only imagine - but now I will realise this.
“What can I say, this is the biggest dream in the world!”
Nani: “I’ll only leave Portugal to play for a club like United,” Nani told the Mirror newspaper before the deal was concluded. “The Premiership is spectacular and to be the next Cristiano would be a dream for me.”
Jorge Mendes: The super agent took United to the cleaners when negotiating Ronaldo’s improved contract, against the background of Real Madrid’s aggressive courting of the player. Now he’s earned more millions for greasing Nani and Anderson’s path to Old Trafford, according to the Times newspaper.
“Jorge Mendes, the agent who represents Anderson and Nani, will be paid more than £3 million by Porto as part of the deal for Anderson.”
The Glazers: Who said United have no money? After two relatively miserly years, the owning family has found enough resources to fund a £32 million spending frenzy. Providing they do not dynamite their public relations success by, for example, selling one of United’s better players later this year, the Glazers can enjoy the summer for the first time since taking over the club.
David Gill: A somewhat risible figure since last summer’s gaffes, Gill’s smile must be a mile wide. Last year, the chief executive promised that United would make their purchases early and bring in world class talent. He has certainly done both this time around.
Sir Alex: After winning the title in the teeth of negative expectation, what better present than the opportunity to work with two more of the best young players in Europe? Ferguson has now ensured cover for Giggs and Scholes as they enter their twilight years and moved closer to shaping his third great team, one which is set to be fearsomely competitive and sublimely skilled. The newcomers may not walk straight into the first team but if they fulfil expectations, United should blossom, to assure Ferguson the legacy he covets.
Carlos Queiroz: The arrival of more Portuguese-influenced players strengthens Queiroz’s hand as the inside candidate to succeed Sir Alex.
Already, he has taken centre stage in the presentation of the transfer smash.
“I’m very tired but naturally very happy,” he said. “We started at six thirty in the morning and only finished at nine in the night. Now all I want to do is go on holiday and forget about football until the new season!”
“Obviously we believe we are talking about two huge talents who will contribute greatly to the renovation we are undertaking in Manchester. Remember that the team only has four players in their thirties - Van der Sar, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Giggs.
“It is a significant investment in Manchester United’s prospects for the next 10 years. It’s worth imagining a forward line with Rooney, Ronaldo, Anderson and Nani, these are players with enormous creativity.
“It’s an attraction being able to develop their abilities. I have worked with young players many times and their potential is impressive. These signings mean the end of a long observation process. They are players who correspond to the club’s intentions. They are young and have plenty of potential and talent.”
And who better to nurture that talent than the coach who proved instrumental in bringing it to Old Trafford and who enjoys excellent relations with Ronaldo, another Portuguese shining star?
Louis Saha: Ferguson is said to have grown tired of his often-injured striker. One newspaper claimed United were in talks with Barcelona about the sale of Samuel Eto’o. But has Saha now won a reprieve?
Yes, if Chief Executive David Gill public comments are to be believed. “We will see what happens over the next two or three months but by and large that will be the major element of our business,” Gill told MUTV. “If a player comes up that Sir Alex is convinced will make us better, I am sure we will find the funds but that is a major bit of business we have done this week.”
Wayne Rooney: No wonder the striker appears to have more fun playing with United than in the England team. And it can only get better for Rooney. Having just completed the best goalscoring season of his career, Rooney can now look forward to exchanging passes with five quick-witted, attack-oriented, top class players.
Ronaldo: The star of United’s title-winners was downcast after an end to the season which saw him effectively neutralised, first by Milan and later by Chelsea, in two defining matches.
The word is out now on how to play the dancing winger. Teams now know to double up with their fastest players and hope to choke off United’s midfield supply line to Ronaldo.
That gameplan becomes far more complicated by the presence on the opposite flank of players blessed with pace and subtlety. So, to no-one’s surprise, Ronaldo was delighted when the transfer news broke.
“I’m really happy that I will have Nani and Anderson as team-mates,” he said. “They will be very welcome. United will be stronger because they have contracted two great players.”
Ronaldo knows Nani from their days together at Sporting Lisbon. “He’s an amazing player who can do incredible things with the ball,” Ronaldo added. “He can make and score goals and is an exciting player.”
Fans: With the title safely back at Old Trafford, the summer already promised to be wonderful. The arrival of a fast and tricky Portuguese winger and a gifted Brazilian, tagged the heir to Ronaldhino, simply adds to the warm feelings. Imagine the stampede for tickets to pre-season friendlies now!
Losers
Gerard Pique / Giuseppe Rossi : The Times today claims that part of the deal to bring Anderson to Old Trafford involves the right of Porto to sign a United player.
“Porto believe they will be entitled to sign a United player as part of the deal, with Gerard Pique and Giuseppe Rossi, two youngsters who have spent this season on loan to Real Zaragoza and Parma respectively, among the possible candidates,” the newspaper reported.
The Anti-Glazer Movement: Protestors were on a sticky wicket once United won the title. There’ll be a dwindling audience now when they repeat that the owners are bad for the club and the debt will eventually drown United. But the anti-Glazer faction will scrupulously follow the money trail to determine whether the deal is financed by new money or eventually through transfer receipts.
Wayne Rooney: The striker may anticipate scoring more goals in an even more attacking team but he’ll have to do it the hard way by playing alone up front. The FA Cup final was a taste of the future.
Ryan Giggs: The United legend may have seen off the challenge from the unlucky Ji Sung Pak but the versatile Anderson and Nani represent a far more significant threat to the winger’s attempt to overhaul Sir Bobby Charlton’s United appearance record.
The manager has talked for two seasons at least of the change to Giggs game – from orthodox left winger to a more centrally located supporting attacker-cum-wideman. That change will be accelerated now if Nani makes the left wing berth his own.
Ji Sung Park: Could there be a worse time for the Korean international to be injured? Park protests that his knee trouble won’t keep him out for a year. He has extra incentive now.
Other losers include…hopefully…Mourinho, Benitez, Wenger and Champions League opponents!
