Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread.
I'm still finding it hard to take in to be honest. I think it was the fact that it came a bit suddenly, especially after Madrid bought Kaka which lead people to think that they wont need our player. If he had moved last year then it wouldnt have bothered me as much. They had dragged the whole transfer saga out this time last year which made it easier to accept it.
I cant hold his desire to play for Madrid against him though. I've read in many places that even though you see him fooling around with celebrities or expensive cars, he's still a family man and always travels with his mum, aunties and uncles, etc wherever he goes. And he has always tried to put their interests before his own. From that point of view, you can kinda see where he was coming from when he made that comment about "being a slave" last year. I'm sure he'd have taken a pay cut to move to Madrid cuz the move is more about the lifestyle and not the money but the club and fans wanted him to stay in Manchester. A recent quote from Sir Alex said that we've done well to keep him for as long as we have cuz he's always wanted to move. So lets move on from that chapter and think ahead to the new challenge, which IMO might be the hardest yet.
I've said before that great players dont get replaced, we just have to learn to do without them, as we did with Cantona, Beckham, Ruud, etc. And I'm sure it'll be the same with Ronaldo. I don't think we can just sign someone like Ribery or whoever and expect them to fill Ronaldo's void just because they play in the same position. I mean, Ronaldo filled Beckham's shoes but they were totally different players but (arguably) equally influential. Its not gonna matter where they play on the field, we're just gonna need to get someone/anyone to rise to the challenge and become the new backbone of the team. All signs point to the number 10 thats already at our club and I'm sure he's more than capable of doing it.
IMO, our job isnt to find Ronaldo's replacement, our job is to find the right players that can get the most out of and elevate Rooney's performance to that next level alongside the likes of Messi and Kaka. I've personally always thought Rooney works best when he plays off a quick target man. The Rooney/Owen partnership would have been feared all over the world IMO if Owen's career hadnt gone downhill with all those injuries and I think we need someone small and quick like that. People like Etoo or maybe Saviola come to mind. Villa's out of the question cuz he'll only go to Madrid if he moves. I don't really know much about Benzema so I cant comment on him. I think Robinho would be nice but that'll never happen either. So who does that leave? Any ideas?
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