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Transfers - Your view: United losing allure?

Eurosport - Thu, 25 Jun 10:31:00 2009

Iker Casillas apparently has no intention of moving to Manchester United. Neither has Karim Benzema or Franck Ribery at this point in time.

Alex Ferguson, Rome, FOOTBALL - 0

Carlos Tevez didn't want to stay at Old Trafford and Cristiano Ronaldo found the lure of Real Madrid too great.

And few would argue that Lionel Messi would never consider moving to Manchester. Ditto Kaka.

Indeed, historically United have struggled to attract the best players in the world. They usually opt to go to Real, or Barcelona or one of the Italian giants.

Dimitar Berbatov may have cost £30m last summer, but can the Bulgarian really be counted as one of the best players in the world?

Ronaldo can certainly be included in that bracket, but he arrived at Old Trafford as nothing more than a youngster with a bright future. It was United who made him great. Likewise Wayne Rooney.

United are current Premier League champions, Champions League finalists and a club which boasts a rich and proud tradition, spanning back decades.

So why can't Alex Ferguson seem to attract the crème de la crème of world football?

He has £80m to spend this summer, yet at the moment, the only likely arrival is that of Wigan winger Antonio Valencia. Add in a few teenaged Brazilians and the formula is hardly going to set Reds fans' pulses racing.

Should United supporters be content with this?

Buying in promising youngsters has worked in the past, but should United be expected to be able to compete with other top European clubs in the battle to sign the biggest and best players?

Why can't they at the moment? Is it just a question of money? Or it the problem deeper set?

What's your view? Have your say below or by clicking on the link below the photo to visit one of our message forums.

Eurosport

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  1. Manchester United are the top side in England at­ the­­ moment and also for the past 18 years, they have­ been­­ the biggest, best supported team for over 60­ years,­ so­ they must be doing something right. I think­ the­ team­ next season will flourish without Ronaldo,­ they­ will­ bond more as a unit, more as a team. This is­­­ Manchester United, this Sir Alex Ferguson not some­­­ excited little upstarts, false pretenders like­­­ Liverpool and Rafael Benitez. Benathus by name,­­ beneath­ us by nature.

    From Sid, on Thu 25 Jun 1:33PM

  2. fergs ya a greedy @#$% polishing 2 purps have the­ respec and pop it now!!!!

    From nlwarburton, on Thu 25 Jun 1:01PM

  3. berbatov is @#$%, tevez was disrespected nuff said...

    From THEBIGONE, on Thu 25 Jun 12:43PM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Breaking news Fergie seen in the streets of Mancherster­ with his new signings. ­ 1. Johny Walker, 2.Jack­ Daniels,3 Glen Fiddich. Mr Taragt was unavailable to­ comment from the Gutter side press conference, but has­ announced his new spokesman Paul Gasgoigne will be­ doing future interviews as he is more coherent.

    From Zoltan, on Thu 25 Jun 12:15PM

  5. The weather is an issue and thus it is better to focus­ on players from countries like Germany, Sweden..­ etc.... as well as 2 or 3 players from South America­ and especially who already playing in UK. The weather­ is really an issue but also in case of CR,,,, it is­ that he is arrogant and he wants to be in arrogant team­ and the graveyard of the talents aka real madrid. Many­ players went there and lost their popularity and he­ will be like them. He was spoiled in MAN UTD and­ forgiven for many mistakes he made but in RM, things­ won't be the same...

    From maithem a, on Thu 25 Jun 12:06PM

  6. Basically I believe a British player generally speaking­ will be happy in the Premiership whereas a Continental­ Player will always be missing the Sun. Lets be thankful­ that some of them are prepared to live in our climate­ and grace the league for a number of years. Any club­ should only sign and keep Players who are 100%­ committed if not disaster looms round the corner. Alex­ should only sign one player. His squad is still very­ strong and the youngsters did them proud when called­ upon last season. Iam convinced that they will grace­ the league if given a chance.

    Terry

    From TERRY, on Thu 25 Jun 12:03PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    wayne,135. maybe it,s your low i,q. but i did mention­ in my post 130 that i visit manchester on a regular­ basis. there,s nothing wrong with the place it,s just­ thst some of the people who live there are a little low­ on intelegence, and how to go about things, i go to o.t­ every season to watch my team play utd, and as i say i­ visit a lot. be realistic manchester aint gonna compare­ with madrid , paris , rome, or barcelona, you have no­ culture, the weather is poor . and as i say you all­ think that you can rule by threats and insults, this­ shows the level of your intellegence, oh and by the way­ on my last visit to o.t me amd my mate came away with­ £12.50 which was thrown at us in the away end, this we­ donated to charity . but keep the insults coming as­ they make good entertainment.

    From TEVEZ, on Thu 25 Jun 11:58AM

  8. Paul you also made a bid for Carlos Tevez just cos your­ linked with a player in the paper dont make them United­ players U dont have enough cash to compete with Madrid­ ect they will sign up all the top players they want­ before they hand over 1 Euro to United.

    From Zoltan, on Thu 25 Jun 11:48AM

  9. You can't blame anyone for prefering to live and­ work in a better climate than Manchester, I left there­ nearly 50 years ago but still supported United wherever­ I've lived. I am very suprised at Bobby­ Charlton's comments about Ronaldo having his best­ years behind him at 25 years old. Maybe he regrets­ turning down Real Madrid when they wanted him in the­ 50s. As for Uniteds last worlds best player George­ Best, he used to take off for Spain's weather­ whenever he felt like. Mike in Canada.

    From mike t, on Thu 25 Jun 11:38AM

  10. copper.carl any other not man utd fans how do you know­ we bid for douglas costa,benzema etc as i doubt we have­ as fergie is still on holiday...why not make a 15­ million offer for fabregas

    From Paul T, on Thu 25 Jun 11:30AM

  11. This makes me laugh, loserpool getting as bad as city­ fans whos only argument against us is that we dont come­ from Manchester even though our ground is closer to the­ town hall than middle wastelands.They beat us twice so­ there better ha ha ha. its a marathon not a sprint and­ over the course of a season we proved to be better­ team. No title for 19 years not even a final last­ season. Stop being so petty and concentrate on your own­ clubs. We did WIN the world club final, we DID make the­ champions league final. We ARE the CHAMPIONS. And as­ for bring up Munich is just SICK. Nobody finds­ hillsborough the bradford fire or the celtic disaster­ funny because THEY ARE NOT. THEY ARE ALL A TRAGIC LOSS­ OF LIFE AND SHOULD NOT BE USED AGAINST ANYBODY. RIP­ ABSENT FRIENDS.

    From damon_antony_newton, on Thu 25 Jun 11:17AM

  12. Makes me laugh when manure fans say buy Benzema or­ Ribery­ Valencia one fan on here said look out for­ Valencia next season Why he dont play for United and­ reportd from Spain say Madrid and Baca are interested­ in these 3 players if given the choice I know what­ teams they would like to play for and its not the­ manure.

    From Zoltan, on Thu 25 Jun 11:09AM

  13. Fact is you cant compete for the top players,what ever­ you offer in the way of wages Chelsea City Madrid ect­ can double it. You will have to develope a young player­ so Madrid can come along and say thanks very much here­ is some pocket money now go out and play.

    From Zoltan, on Thu 25 Jun 11:04AM

  14. like i keep saying, United are a selling club!!!­ they're not the biggest club in England, trophies­ say they're 2nd so i'll go with what the­ trophies say, not wat foreign glory hunters have to­ say. you know nothing about football!

    From Jerome, on Thu 25 Jun 11:04AM

  15. gulmarsenal have you not heard fabregas is leaving­ arsenal

    From Paul T, on Thu 25 Jun 11:02AM

  16. It's always been interesting that United can't­ really attract the worlds best when they are near the­ height of the powers. In fact, it's similar to how­ Chelsea have found the transfer market at times.

    The­ problem they face is that while they are successful­ now, there long term history isn't as great as­ those on the continent. You look back through the­ history of football and it is peppered with the­ exploits of teams like Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan.­ Madrid have won the Champions League nine times. It­ doesn't matter if they are going through a rough­ spell, it's that rich history that attracts people­ - to try to become as famous as the likes of Di Stefano­ or Puskas et al.

    Honestly, I don't see this is as­ a bad thing for United. Unlike other teams, they are­ lucky to have an astute manager that allows them to get­ over these bumps. I think that any team had lost key­ guys like Beckham, Van Nistelrooy or Ronaldo would­ struggle to find a balance.

    But Fergie, like him or­ not, manages. He is better off going with the unknown­ quantities to shape and mould. His record with big­ signings is somewhat spotty (Veron the flop anyone?)­ while his record with grooming stars is­ excellent.

    Going back to topic at hand - what will it­ take for United to be recognised as a 'big­ player' in the history of football. No doubt a good­ few more Champions League winners medals will certainly­ go a long way towards that.

    From philliec, on Thu 25 Jun 11:00AM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    n big player will like to go to united bcoz he knows­ they re cheats ad they dont play good­ futball........ARSENAL 4 LYF

    From abdul, on Thu 25 Jun 10:47AM

  18. MORE HATERZZZZZZ.......why cant u guy just accept that­ Manchester united are more successful than ur clubs ere­ in England, so all ur hating dont mean nuffin, JUST­ JOIN THE QUEUE OF HATER!!!! UNITED 4 LIFE

    From smokeylicious, on Thu 25 Jun 10:41AM

  19. More star in the team like ~~madrid~~, but don't­ have a teamwork..... I don't think so.... like last­ season, they have huntelar (the man that United want),­ robben (ex chelsea star), Cannavaro (The best defender­ in the WORLD), sneijder, van der vaart, van nilsterooy­ (ex United star)..... where their cup? Where their in­ Champion League? Where their in the spanish league?­ where their star?..... so? please........ Think again

    From kurosaki_zam _ichigo, on Thu 25 Jun 10:18AM

  20. Man United is the best club in the world and we have­ the best coach so i think now we can play as a team is­ some of the big players don't want to come to man U­ is there problem pls people watch out for the likes of­ ( Douglas Costa,Nani,Valencia and other young talents).

    From Raymond M. C.B, on Thu 25 Jun 10:09AM
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