Manchester United Need Rossi To Replace Ruud
I’m not convinced that Manchester United have the transfer budget to attract another striker to fill Ruud’s boots. Actually, let me rephrase that:
I don’t think there is any striker available on the market (and I include Ibrahimovic, Tevez and Defoe in this list) who can fill in for the man.
Rossi would be delighted to be United’s fourth striker (behind Rooney, Saha and Solskjaer), but that places a lot of pressure on the kid whether he realises it or not. Ferguson knows this, but his hands are tied by budget constraints and his own mistake of signing Park instead of a holding midfielder last year. Right now Manchester United need two midfielders, and because of that need replacing Ruud with another buy could prove impossible.
Manchester United need Rossi to hit the ground running and score them lots of goals, otherwise they will miss Ruud dearly.
Speaking of Ruud, his statements to Real Madrid TV (after he passed the medical this morning) were nothing special - a nod to Real Madrid’s status as the best club in the world and the inevitable ‘I hope to renew my understanding on the pitch with Beckham‘ comment. It would be interesting to see Becks (who doesn’t run anymore) and Ruud (who’s a yard slower than 2003) try to recreate old times.
For now, we wait for Real Madrid to officially announce Ruud’s signing, and for Manchester United to buy Michael Carrick for twice his actual value. What fun - lose your best striker for the last five years cheaply and then buy a 8 mil midfielder for 15 mil…
At least we might keep Ben Foster - actually you’ll do quite well to read that article I just linked to - a September 2005 piece on Foster on a Watford FC website.
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Yep, you’re gonna miss him alright. A 20 goals-a-season striker for £11m? Bargain.
Rossi can’t replace Ruud, not because he won’t be as good, but becase they are totaly different players. Rossi is a playmaking forward who likes to drop deep and link up the play. Ruud is a poacher, nothing more nothing less. To put the preassure on Rossi to replace Ruud, a player he has no similarities to i find a little strange.
United will have enough to win games with Rooney and Saha, we’ll probably sign a striker next summer though.
1) Anybody remember Alan Smith? Not a 20-goal-per-season striker either, but his picking order should be ahead of Ole and Rossi in my mind….
2) Signing Park last year won’t necessarily be a mistake. It just took 4m anyway (let alone the potential extra revenues from the Asia), so it won’t really interfering much the recuiting of a holding midfielder if any.
and about comparing Rossi and Ruud - I never said he had to play like him, but that he has to chip in with a lot of goals (something like his run for the reserves last season would be nice).
whn - Smith’s in there as well, but I didnt mention him for two reasons. 1) He has been a holding midfielder for some time now - Ferguson has spoken of converting him back to a striker but only if there is adequate cover in the midfield. 2) If United only sign Carrick, Smith is the backup midfielder.
So - if we sign two midfielders, Smith can be the 3rd striker (doesn’t instill much confidence, as he’s the playmaking sort as well.
About Park - the mistake was not in signing him, but in diverting resources to find a winger than a holding midfielder.
Forget the Park one, he was only 4 million anyway. We blew up 5.5 on Evra who hardly seemed worth anything. When u compare that with Ruud, it is a great bargain for Madrid. That means, Ruud is only twice as good as Evra no way. I think signing Evra was a huge waste. Considering what Park hs done past season, he is surely worth 4 million and when Giggs was out every other month, he did a funtastic job for his price.
Next thing, I too am not sure whether Smith is enough for us. My concern is same as yours. The CL experience Ruud is taking with him, is just impossible for Rossi to make up. But you never know. But as a manager of a team as big as United, i dont think I would rely on this.
Ruud’s price, i feel, was obviously lowered by United ditching him to the bench. I thought he would silence Fergie at the World Cup. But what happened? He was benched for the knock out match. Add to this, his unhappiness here, the Charlton incident, the Ruud-SAF controversy on which media made good money….So what more can we ask now? 15 seemed fair.
One more thing, could Darren bent replace Ruud? He is the top scorer last season after all playing for Charlton, above Ruud and Henry? If he had not signed a new deal, if we had shown interest, could he have been signed for about 8 million? I seriously dont know if i am anywhere near right, but at 8 million, if he scores around 15 goals, could we just even sell him next year and get the money back? And then get the big striker we need over the long term?
Whether Ruud should have been moved on is debatable but to suggest that he went to Madrid on the cheap is just plain ludicrous. And please don’t mention Shevchenko. Nothing Chelsea pays for a player could ever be cited as a valid yardstick for comparison. They have paid over the odds for EVERY player they have ever signed - and Shevchenko is no exception.
Alex Ferguson may have made some less than astute purchases in recent years (Veron, Djemba-Djemba etc.) but rarely, if ever, has he got it wrong when it comes to releasing players who are passed their best. Name one player that SAF released who went on to have a more productive career elsewhere.
Im glad that mufc finally sold van nistelrooy. To be totally honest hes not been anywhere near his best since Becks left and he suffered that horrible injury. I think that we now need a quicker stricker to go with the new generation of premership football which over a short period has seen the likes of Beckham (a player with an end product) go out and players like c. ronaldo ( A player who instad runs the wings) come in. This is why chelsea have done so well ove the past years ( duff, robben, joe cole, swp). Rossi well no doubt soon be ready but a years loan to a team like watford would do him no harm.So for now I would go for torres (depending on his avaliability) or Robbie Keane, a player who i really think would link up with all of our strickers and would get around 10-15 goals a season, and with scholes back and scoring again next season would be the same as van nistelrooy. Carrick will do well and although you say he is not a ball winner like roy keane will fit in and star in a new look and new style united Midfield. Just look at spurs. You could argue that Jenas is a scholes type player so where is the ball winner in there midfield? and they did terrific last season. However i agree that we should sign a ball winner as a secound option. How about portugals Armannando Petit or Marcos Senna.
My first team,
Van Der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, heinze, c.ronaldo, scholes, Carrick, richadson, Rooney, Saha
Bench
Foster, Vidic, Evra, park, Senna, Robbie keane
Park has been quite a good buy really. Too much emphasis is placed on goalscoring but wingers are meant to pass the ball to goal-scoring specialists rather than take pops at goal themselves. Last season Ronaldo had more shots on goal than any player (including our strikers). Sounds good until you realise that his conversion rate must have been the lowest, and when he didn’t score he was giving away possession - I for one would prefer Park to carry on being one of our top players for goal assists (which he was last season).
are you kidding me…Rossi cant play in Premiership…yeah he might be so so for the Reserves but playing in Premiership is a different thing…I’ve seen him in some Premiership games, the guy doesn’t have the quality to be one of the main strikers and you must be a fool to think he has something special..special plays shine from the word go…they dont need years and years to develop into one…Fergie should send that American boi back to America where he comes from so he can go play Baseball or Basketball or something, and leave the football to the real players…and those are Non-American’s