I’m back from Kansas City, which means I’m back to work on Stretty Stories. Today we have Sir Alex’s praising his scouts, Hargreaves facing exclusion from the squad, Defour possibly moving to United this summer, and a “snub” from a soon-to-be City player.
Ferguson: United saved millions on Javier Hernandez – The Guardian
Sir Alex has paid due credit to the scouting team that unearthed Javier Hernandez before the World Cup. The gaffer reckons that after Chicharito’s showing at the World Cup a lot of clubs would’ve been interested and the striker may have cost three times more. I couldn’t agree more. Hernandez had a fantastic World Cup and now it appears United have done a sly bit of a business by getting him for has little as they did. Sir Alex confirmed that he would like to give Chicharito a run out against the MLS All-Stars, while also saying the striker would play one half with each team against his former club Chivas.
New squad rules to keep Hargreaves sidelined? – The Daily Mail
With the Premier League’s new squad rules taking effect this season, players like Owen Hargreaves may find themselves sidelined even once healthy. It’s not sure when or if Hargreaves will play again, and that could have a lot of meaning for the midfielder. In past seasons he would’ve been cleared to play once he was fit, but now the boss will need to consider whether or not to include a player with a potential long-term injury in his squad of 25. The Daily Mail reported that Jonathan Woodgate would be left out of Redknapp’s plans due to the rule, and Hargreaves may become another high-profile casualty. If he is fit in time for the January transfer window, Hargreaves could be included in the squad. Hargreaves is obviously a concern and surely the manager will be concerned about including a player in his squad who may not be fit.
Defo is now a maybe for Utd – The Sun
You have to love The Sun’s clever titles. This story first came out last week, although we’ve been linked with Steven Defour for awhile now. Like I said last week, I’ve always expected Defour would one day play for United, I just wasn’t sure when. I certainly didn’t expect it this summer, but a summer move is beginning to seem more likely. The 22-year-old midfielder is currently with Standard Liege in Belgium and recovering from a broken foot. The injury doesn’t seem to stop the rumors though. Defour’s agent, Paul Stefani, says that if the two clubs can agree to a fee Defour may join United as early as this summer.
Balotelli snubs United to join City- The Daily Mirror
I doubt we were ever interested in Balotelli to begin with, but this headline was always an inevitability. Also, Balotelli hasn’t even officially joined City yet. I’m sure he will, most likely this week, but it’s still not a done deal. Nevertheless, ever since City began their spending spree last summer, it seems like everything is a competition between the two sides of Manchester. I’d bet money that United never ever made an offer, so Balotelli likely never had the opportunity to snub United. Including that he “snubs United” makes the story bigger than it truly is; seems like another case of the press embellishing to sell more newspapers.
Discuss all today’s news and rumors in the forum.
You can follow Kyle on Twitter at KDill_MUFC.
Mirrorfootball says Balletoli accepted City’s £60k-a week offer over ours which was more than that. Also, a couple of weeks ago, some newspaper claimed that SAF thinks of him as the next Ronaldo. Not that I want him to be a Red, I just would like to know your opinion on this. Is he worth all that money? Which is around £29m I guess.
Personally, I don’t believe he’s worth that much. All bias aside, I think City pretty consistently overpay for most of their players and Balotelli is no exception.
I think he’s very good, but his attitude is an issue. Plus, he’s a fairly unproven talent. I don’t like calling players “the next ____” so I don’t know about the Ronaldo claim. He is just Balotelli to me.
I think he has great potential, but right now I certainly wouldn’t pay that much for him. Like I said above, I highly doubt we made an offer. We may have inquired, but I doubt we even tried to negotiate with Inter, let alone offer him a contract for him to “snub.”
By saying Balotelli snubbed United to play for City, The Mirror is simply trying to take advantage of all the “can City overtake United” hype. If Balotelli signs for City, it’s certainly news and a potentially good signing for them. Making it into a United vs City story just makes it bigger and is probably an attempt to sell more newspapers. I’m pretty firm in my belief that United never even made an offer.
Even I think he is overrated. Bad influence on teammates, hated by the fans for the controversies he creates, bust-ups with the manager and most importantly, not proven yet! Who would want to pay £29m for someone like him? Only City I guess. Maybe they are just trying to please their fans by winning the so-called war against us over his signing. And if this is the case, its ridiculous, considering the amount of money involved.
Btw, I just saw I misspelled Balotelli in my last comment.
Yeah yeah yeah and the exact same Italian Newspaper ran a story on friday or Thursday saying that Balotelli had actually agreed personal terms with Man Utd and all that remained was to agree a fee with Inter. Complete and utter rubbish which just proves it is not only our journalists that are lying bags of sh*t. Aside form the point we would not pay 30 million for the kid its just a complete and utter non starter.
Time will tell on Hernandez but it’s definitely good that we pulled the trigger on that deal when we did.
If they sign Balotelli I sincerely hope they hang onto Craig Bellamy because the bust-ups could be glorious.
Craig, meet Mario. Mario, meet Emmanuel. I’m sure you three are going to get along just great :))))) (NOT)