Manchester United Thread

On the plus side, thank god that fucking transfer window is finally shut.

Not overly concerned with our team, Fellaini is an improvement in my opinion and we didn't lose anyone. Just wish the whole window had been handled in a more professional manner, to say the least.
 
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If that imposter story is true and both Man Utd and Herrera want the transfer, then UEFA should allow it.
This may have been a once in a liftime chance for the player...

Sad story.
 
TheJinxedOne said:
I read somewhere in the interwebs that we might revive the deal in January.
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If he's still interested, it sounds like we properly screwed him over, as he even offered to pay some of the fee and lower his wage demands.

The story basically confirms the "imposters" are actually well respected Bilbao lawyers and they were not the reason the deal failed.

We backed out because of the buyout clause and extra tax, which we felt too much. But this shows a real lack of preparation before going in for Herrera and unsettling him, because Bilbao notoriously DO NOT negotiate and therefore whatever happened, IF we wanted him we'd have to pay that buyout clause.

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At this moment i'm glad for him it's not number 7 :P But think he'll become a fan favourite eventually.
 
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One of the worst transfer windows I think we could have had, mainly because I think it's dented the clubs reputation, I mean its one thing to find it difficult to sign players but we've been made to look like 12 year olds playing Football Manager.

club is going to be under some serious pressure to sort out this mess and prove that the well oiled machine from Gills and Sir Alex has become a clown show under Woodward and Moyes.
 
Guess you're partly right Bebo but despite Arsenal not really doing a lot either in this window, at least you lot maintained the clubs dignity while signing a world class player.

I guess if we strictly look at this from the perspective of keeping Rooney (for now at least), Nazi, Kagawa, and Buttner (almost passed myself typing that) all the while signing an actual midfielder with a goal threat, especially from our set pieces, things aren't so bad from a pure team makeup point of view. With a fit Nani, Rooney and Kagawa as well as Chicha and RvP we have the prowess to kick some ass. Just hope Fellaini ends up being able to fill our midfield void a lot better than I currently think he wil.

Good to have a bit of an aggressor again though. Notorious bad boys Ferdinand, Rooney and RvP have gotten a bit too nice now that they're older ;)
 
Hmmm...the Herrera deal takes an interesting twist:

“What a mess”. Those were the words quickly doing the rounds on Twitter last night when news trickled through that the deal for Ander Herrera was called off. Newly appointed Manchester United CEO Edward Woodward was blamed thousands of times for multiple things, but one word came up more than once: “incompetent”. It's hard not to agree with the accusations, but a question everyone wants answered is “what actually happened?”.

First of all, it's worth nothing that the “three wise men” spotted walking in and out of the LFP (Liga de Fútbol Profesional) headquarters were not impostors, but a group of Bilbao lawyers who had dealt with Athletic Bilbao (especially in the Javi Martinez transfer) before.

Other than talks of the deal breaking down over the release clause, it appears there was an obstacle that even Bayern Munich struggled to overcome when they attempted to sign Javi Martinez.

Lartaun de Arizmendi, a journalist for Cadena COPE (the radio station who first broke the news that Manchester United were interested in Ander Herrera), has revealed in a post on his personal blog that, irregardless of the reported clause, the Herrera deal was near impossible to complete and that Bayern Munich needed external help to force through the Javi Martinez transfer.

He says that after much reflection on the Javi Martinez case, Athletic Bilbao came to realise that the player depositing the cheque on Bayern Munich's behalf (even if Athletic were against the move) wasn't enough to make the deal 100% go through. Once they had discovered this detail, Athletic used it to their advantage and told Bayern Munich that for a unilateral deal like this one to go through, the club has to agree to receive the fee in their bank account.

If Bilbao refuse to receive the money, and there was no obligation for them to do so, the will of the paying club (Bayern Munich) and the player (Javi Martinez) counted for nothing. In order to force the deal to go through, Munich contacted the Financial Council in Bilbao to tell them that this offer was being refused. The Financial Council, who would benefit from this deal going through, pressured Athletic Bilbao in accepting the money by telling them that if they did not do so, they would be required to immediately pay all the debts they owed the Financial Council and would not receive anymore help from them in the future.
It is only after this happened that Athletic Bilbao accepted the offer for Javi Martinez and have the money placed in their bank account.

Returning to the Herrera deal, it appears that there was never any panic on Athletic Bilbao's side and it was reported many times that they were confident the deal would not go through. If what Lartaun de Arizmendi has written is true, Bilbao knew that Manchester United would never have the time to get the Financial Council on their side in time for a similar process to happen.
If Bilbao refused to accept the money in their bank account, this would explain why the three Laffer lawyers were turned away at the LFP headquarters yesterday evening.

Edward Woodward (or whoever was in charge of the deal) was not aware of the loophole exploited by Bayern Munich and why would they be? Athletic Bilbao will have clearly done their best to keep it a secret in order to hold on to their best players.

As we all know, Juventus had to wait an extra year to get Fernando Llorente on a free because they hit a stumbling block similar to the one Manchester United crashed into late last night. Again, if what Lartaun writes is correct (and logically, it seems to be), Juventus would not have known of the Javi Martinez loophole and Bilbao stubbornly refused to accept the money.

Lartaun writes at the bottom of his post: “This is what I have managed to find on the Ander Herrera/MUFC deal. Now, it is up to you to draw your own conclusions as appropriate”.

We will, Lartaun, we will. If what you say is true, perhaps Manchester United are not the only ones to blame for this deal falling through.
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Fantastic buy for United with Fellaini! He's worth every penny and will be a BIG (literally) presence in the middle of the field doing a bit of everything!

Anyone who has ever doubted him has lived to regret it and the few questioning his ability or value after this transfer will do the same.

I think David Moyes has got the player he wanted and he'll be a massive addition to the team!
 
David Moyes has pledged that Shinji Kagawa and Wilfried Zaha will get their opportunity to impress in the coming weeks. - From the official MU page

Think it will be good to see these formations on pitch, with the 3 men behind Robin constantly switching positions. :...

----------- RVP -----------

Kagawa - Rooney -- Zaha
(Rooney) (Kagawa) (Nani)

---- Carrick -- Fellaini ----
 
PLF said:
Fantastic buy for United with Fellaini! He's worth every penny and will be a BIG (literally) presence in the middle of the field doing a bit of everything!

Anyone who has ever doubted him has lived to regret it and the few questioning his ability or value after this transfer will do the same.

I think David Moyes has got the player he wanted and he'll be a massive addition to the team!
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I hope your not trolling PLF :P

I actually think he's a good signing if he was supplemented by the coveted playmaker we needed, he seems more of a long term Carrick replacement without the passing range but more of a threat going forward.

Would him and Carrick work together? seems an immobile pairing IMO.

If him and Carrick are able to play together and be very solid maybe it finally allows us to play some of those more creative combinations together.
 
UGH NO!

Im actually glad it will be back to that thing which it all comes down to, the actual football!

It's time for this squad now to prove the doubters wrong.
 
YoungGun_UK said:
UGH NO!

Im actually glad it will be back to that thing which it all comes down to, the actual football!

It's time for this squad now to prove the doubters wrong.
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Haha right you are.

P.s. if this is true i now have a new man crush (sorry Robin..i still love you too for knowing all the right things to say):

United insist they have paid Everton no more than the £23.5m release clause that was in Fellaini’s contract – a clause that expired at the end of July – but Everton say the deal is worth £27.5m to them. The difference is understood to be Fellaini’s own cash sacrifice.

By submitting a written transfer request on deadline day Fellaini, left, has forfeited about £4m in loyalty bonuses that would have been due on the two years remaining on his Everton contract . That has allowed Everton to declare the deal as being worth £27.5m to them.

Fellaini will make up for his lost bonuses over the course of the four-year contract he has signed at United, which has seen his wages jump by £50,000-a-week to £125,000-a-week.

But the frantic deadline-day move, which saw Fellaini hand in a transfer request to Everton manager Roberto Martinez, underlined the player’s determination to move.
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http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...ted-4m-in-cut-price-move-to-Manchester-United
 
Glad to know that we didn't over pay for Fellaini. As much as I rate the guy and feel that he does add what is missing in our CMF/DMF positions, it would be stupid to over pay the release clause.

And I feel horrible for Herrera and all other players in Bilbao's team if it is true that this is what the team is doing to turn down transfers. After agreeing everything and having this chance to join a bigger side with CL football (and even taking a wage-cut if it is true) and getting pulled back by the club must be horrible. Worst of all, to have this image now of wanting to leave and the teammates/fans all going against him
 
The Guardian's Sid Lowe (Spanish football correspondent) about the Andere Herrera transfer and what went wrong.



Manchester United missed out on signing the Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera not because the deal was hijacked by "imposters", but due to their failure to understand the complexities of Spanish buy-out clauses. The Guardian understands that the club were not prepared to risk testing the legal framework of the system and pulled out of the deal, later seeking to distance themselves from another unsuccessful bid by claiming the lawyers were "not acting on their behalf". Yet according to well-placed sources at the Spanish league, the three men who visited their offices were indeed working for United.
Rodrigo García Lucas, Alvaro Reig Gurrea and Guillermo Gutiérrez were photographed entering the league's offices on Monday afternoon, with less than 12 hours to go in the transfer window. The three men represent the Spanish law firm Laffer, which oversaw Bayern Munich's successful move for Javi Martínez. That deal was completed by paying the buyout clause, against the wishes of Athletic Bilbao.
It is understood the lawyers had been instructed by United to attempt to find a resolution to the transfer and, according to sources at the Spanish league, did so with the formal authorisation from Manchester United.
Herrera's agents were not directly involved in the operation and nor were Athletic Bilbao; they later confirmed to the league that they would seek to block the move, refusing to accept the transfer of money.
The lawyers did not deposit the €36m stipulated in the clause and were not able to meet the necessary requirements as far as documentation was concerned but they did hold talks with league officials. They departed over an hour later citing "bureaucratic difficulties".

They later briefed United as to the difficulties of closing a deal so late in the window; they could not guarantee that it would be completed successfully and without subsequent risks. The Martínez deal, by contrast, had been put together over more than a month.
Faced with the uncertainty and potentially extra costs involved in tax, United decided not to proceed, thereby forcing Herrera to stay in Spain, the sources state. United had told the midfielder to be prepared in the event of a deal going through. Once the deal collapsed, United claimed that the three men had nothing to do with them.
Spain's official buyout clauses are complex and United appeared not to be fully aware of the difficulties inherent in using them. In principle, it is the player, not the buying club, who is supposed to deposit the money with the Spanish football authorities.
However, Manchester United insiders again insisted on Tuesday night that the lawyers were not working directly for them and the deal collapsed at an early stage because they were not prepared to meet the €36m buyout fee.
 
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