Date: 29th May 2012 at 12:52pm
Written by:
One of the world's best, but not United's.

One of the world's best, but not United's.

Sir Alex bought Juan SebastienVerón under the pretence he was acquiring the best midfielder in Europe and, while only a moron can question Verón’s ability, he was never able to adapt to the Premier League. Since Verón’s disappointing tenure at Old Trafford, Sir Alex has refused to spend big on a superstar midfielder from a foreign league.

Sir Alex’s reluctance to overspend on foreign imports has led to us constantly missing out on every major target we’ve openly competed for against European powerhouses.

In the summer of 2003, we had struck a deal for Paris St. Germain’s Ronaldinho, only to be thwarted when Barcelona offered more and we refused to match it. In January 2004, we showed Robben around our training ground and were extremely close to signing him when the same thing happened with Chelsea. We recovered and won the Champions League four years later but, Porto and Liverpool won the Champions League in the seasons following our failure to buy the duo. Hardly Europe’s elite at the time. And what an increase our chances would have taken, had we paid that little bit extra and bought either of them.  Similar things have since happened with Benzema, Essien, Ballack, Ozil, David Silva, Yaya Touré, Alexis Sanchez and now Eden Hazard. Each of those players was in our grasp, but we didn’t sign them because we refused to spend that little bit extra that was necessary. Have we ever competed for a player with a Barcelona or a Real Madrid and won?

Fans, who say players should choose us for trophies and Chelsea or City for money, are delusional. And sound like bitter, Liverpool fans. Chelsea are the champions of Europe and City of England. Both have more to offer than just the lure of money, and we need to realise that to compete requires us to spend big.

Some fans will also point to the fact that we only lost the title on goal difference, but why did we lose it and not win it by that means? Because we don’t have enough match winners. We don’t have enough players who can create something out of nothing when it really matters. Samir Nasri was average all season but stepped up to the plate when the pressure was on.  He was another player we missed out on because we refused to match City’s offer.

In an ideal world, we would win the Treble next season with a midfield of Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley but, could anyone see that as a realistic option? The fans need to be excited. We won’t win the Champions League with Michael Carrick as our leading central midfielder. People eulogise over him, but would he get in any other of the top 7 teams’ midfields? Let alone the rest of Europe’s elite. He’s not a ball winner, and he doesn’t create goals. It’s OK to have a player like that when you have Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevéz, Scholes and Giggs in their peak playing around him, but when he needs to step up he isn’t good enough. With him in the team we are less attacking and play less attractive football; and we lost the league on goal difference at the end of the day. Carrick is a good squad player. A useful player to bring on when we’re 2-0 up with 20 minutes to go away from home, but if we have aspirations of ruling Europe, we can’t depend on him as our leading central midfield player. He needs to be replaced by a match winning playmaker and an aggressive ball winner.

Sir Alex is the greatest manager of all time and, there’s no one who could do his job better than him but, he needs to get with the times. He needs to target a player and spend whatever is necessary to obtain him. Sir Alex needs to realise that Verón was a one-off. He needs to realise that he may have to spend £35m on a player worth £25m; but, if that player scores the winner in the Champions League Final, can it still be classed as overspending?

Follow me on twitter for more Red views @ACRUTD

 

68 responses to “The Real Reason Sir Alex Won’t Buy Big In Europe”

  1. kev says:

    we need quality not a player like Kagawa. hes not quality,not like hazard.we need to spend on the midfield and defence….fcuk the tight money grabbing american board

    • chrisaus88 says:

      He’s quality mate, If you haven’t been watching Bundersliga watch you tube. We have no-one who can dribble & turn like him & his stats in the last two seasons are better than Hazard for half the price, half the wages & a quater of the whinging.

  2. kev says:

    carrick and Cleverley are not manutd players (full stop)…..

  3. LT3313 says:

    3 CL finals and 4 premier leagues in 6 years … midfield must be seriously over-rated if Carrick was a cornerstone of that team.

    LONG LIVE THE GEORDIE GUARDIOLA !

    • Cockney red says:

      Erm ronaldo had more to do with that than Carrick and when we got to the last final its was more of a team effort now the crack have started to show post ronaldo n tevez not mich quality going on in the middle of the park now is there he is shit what team would be in for that mess everton stoke fulham wigan ect he would’nt start for arsenal chelsea or city liverpool defo wont have him spurs dnt need him maybe newcastle n your settling for that as a united fan surley not. Anderson fletcher park evans also fall into the same bracket hold the ball my ass his nick name is carrick the crab for obvious reasons our midfield is soft and gets out played by lower level teams if were going to have any hope of retaining the title we neeeed to address our mid field left bk right bk and a solid pacey partner for rooney

  4. Cockney red says:

    CLEAROUT (carrick inlcuded) OR CITEHH WILL WIN BY CLEAR POINTS 2012/13 ….

  5. unitedfansbelieve7 says:

    I agree here with andrew , we need atleast one big gun thats for sure , there is no harm in getting one player in the mid that has already proven himself somewhere in europe. plus those supporting carrick as a midfielder are misguided. last three semi finals 2 leg wins to lead us to last 3 UCL finals were decorated around totally different players and on two of those ocassions we had cr7 and tevez with us. semi final in 2011 was nt against a good opponent to say the least , the only good signing i can think of after cr7 and tevez has left is chicharito. other than that what ‘ve we got. jones , smalling , owen …. United really need a big gun and now is the time to get it . because united need to plan life after sir Alex too , its just because of an experienced and classic manager that we are still competing for the title with such an average squad, … other wise we would nt have finished that well in the table. so 1 big gun is must here …

    and also let me tell you guys what will happen. United won’t be getting any sneijder or modric kinda player , they ll get kagawa and they might get that benfica kid , gaitan which would be very good addition … and with those two and Tom in the mid they ll give their title rivals a sever bashing. as far as UCL is concerned, that ll be a huge task with the kind of squad we ‘ve for now .. so to be there and compete with Europe’s top elite united would ve to buy a big gun which i doubt they would nt …

    United fans believe \m/ GGMU

  6. anthony says:

    carrick is playing as a holding midfielder. Fergie put him there, its not carricks fault, i really do think we need to get rid of this holding midfield stuff. its too negative

  7. Jonny Red says:

    Great article,

    my exact thoughts!

    Also agreed with many comments made.

    One of my gripes is mainly on Carrick, richest club in the world for 8 years, over half a Billion supporters and the engine room general for this Goliath of a team is Carrick. In a Champions league final would he be first choice for Barca, Real, Milan, Inter, Chelsea, City, Arsenal???

    I appreciate supportive fans, I just struggle to understand his role and indeed his worth to the club, cant tackle so not a DM, doesnt get assists so not a creative CM, definitely doesnt score so not AM.

    My question is would we have been much worse off if we had given Pogba the starts that Carrick had? I cant see how!

  8. brock says:

    great article with honest criticism.. and im a city fan.

  9. Kings of Trafford says:

    What Andrew said about Carrick is true and the counter arguements are true too! Carrick is an excellent player but he has limited talent and lets not debate on that. He has been brilliant for us this season because he learnt from his mistakes after CL final in Wembley. Now he doesnt try to become scholes like. He simply cant ping a 50 yard cross accurately and regularly. He can do short passes alright and maintain tempo. But against top notch midfields like we faced against barca his talents come short. And again against a high pressing show by wigan, he failed. Now I am not saying it was his fault alone but would someone like Fletcher have allowed the likes of Blackburn and Wigan to run our mid field ragged? Not a chance in hell… Carrick is decent but to have a world beating edge you need ppl of Scholes or Fletcher’s calibre.

  10. chongo says:

    Andrew, great article. Feel a little better now. Is SAF listening? Glazers? No end to bitter? Some of your comments helped …for a while.

    I see Blue people.