Duo Readied For Auction …
So, after a month or so of attempting to second guess Fergie’s thoughts on who will leave OT this close season, latest quotes suggest that he is prepared and willing to offload Alan Smith and Guiseppi Rossi.
Whilst most Reds fans were happy to see the back of Kieran Richardson, these two departures raise greater debate.
Alan ‘Smudger’ Smith
With limited talent or goal scoring prowess, it seems that Smith’s personality and popularity in the dressing room would be the biggest loss to United. He’s a great lad and a good player but will never be world class.
When you look at the latest team being built by Fergie , it’s not one that could regularly accommodate Smudger. Until now you would see United teams running out of the tunnel with 4 or 5 world class players, padded out with solid lads like Smudger, and you would feel confident of the win.
The 2007/2008 season will regularly see us cross the white line with 10 or 11 such world class stars. Even picking the bench will be a nightmare and Smith’s name would feature sporadically at best.
A good deal for United would be £6m but with apparent competition for his signature this could easily rise to £8m for someone who is only 26 and has European and international experience.
Guiseppi Rossi
Although I haven’t seen too much of him, I have seen enough to think that we could use someone of his quality. Sir AF always talks of having 4 top drawer strikers at his disposal and even if we get CT, we will only have him, Rooney and a largely crocked Saha. I can only think that Fergie feels Rossi will never have the physical presence to play up front for United,whilst he already has some of the best attacking midfielders in the world.
Perhaps, Fergie just can’t quite picture where he would play the young Italian. It does however seem a little baffling to let him go, especially in the light of the injury problems United had up front last season.
All this seems to suggest that Fergie’s new first XI will be a 4-3-3 team with only one central target (Tevez/Rooney/Saha)and two wider players either side ( 2 of Nani /Anderson /Giggs /Park /Ronaldo/Tevez/Rooney). Viewed this way the strength in depth looks frightening.
A good fee would be £8m , further balancing the books of a delightful summer in the transfer market.
At the end of the day you have to trust the boss and if he wanted them, you can be sure he would be keeping them.
