Transfer News: Latest updates – Manchester United left ‘red-faced’

Never before in the transfer market have supporters seen such ‘disorganized’ last minutes scramble for signature of targeted players, not even those last minutes deal involving a certain Daniel Levy and his Tottenham Hotspurs’ players – Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov. The farce on the deadline transfer will make Manchester United a laughing stock among rivals’ fans for weeks and months to come.
Firstly, the only signing Marouane Fellaini came at a cost of £27.5 million. This is about £4 million more compare to when Fellaini’s release clause was still in effect (till 31 July). Numerous bids have been lodged for Fellaini and Leighton Baines (joint bid). But all these bids were flatly rejected as there are way below what Everton value the duos. Up until the last few hours only did Manchester United abandoned the idea of signing both and decided to focus on Fellaini instead, presumably given the fact that midfield is the priority area to strengthen. But it also required a transfer request from Fellaini (forgoing his bonuses) to get the deal going. United’s fans were left wandering why on earth was United employing such bidding strategy and not going in and get the player in a straight forward manners.

 

Anders Herrera, according to David Moyes is the player he (Moyes) likes. But the first bid (which was subsequently rejected) only came one week before the transfer deadline. The official reason given by Moyes for the failure final bid was that he did not believe the release clause justified the price for Herrera. Along the way, there are claims of imposters acting on behalf of Manchester United, or the revealing of the complex nature of doing such deal due to Spanish law interpretation. But since the day when Thiago Alcantara and Cesc Fabregas said no to a move to Old Trafford till the transfer deadline, there is at least a good two to three weeks for United to lodge a bid for Herrera, or at very least, doing the research necessary for acquisition of Herrera. Most fans only heard of Herrera days before the transfer deadline. Moyes further suggested that United may come back and bid for Herrera in the next transfer window (January). What would Herrera himself thinks of this fiasco, especially when he had agreed personal terms and willing to take a pay cut. Come January he may not has the same desire any more if more ‘unpleasant’ negative details are to emerge in the next few weeks.

 

Having failed with Leighton Baines, Manchester United decided to lodge a last minute bid for Fabio Coentrao – the Real Madrid leftback with no future at his club – for a loan deal. It was announced by La Liga but Real subsequently pull the plug on the deal as they failed to sign Guilherme Siqueira from Granada in time to sanction Coentrao loan to United. This leaves David Moyes in a tricky position in having to explain his reason to Patrice Evra - who has been showing good form so far this season as well as being one of the fans’ favourite. It also angers certain section of United’s fans on why Moyes has been insistent on signing a leftback in the form of Baines and then Coentrao. One can only speculate that Moyes has intention on playing Evra further up the left flank. Coincidently the left flank was United’s weaker area – even during Cristiano Ronaldo’s time. With Evra’s abilities, the left wing position can be stronger, both going forward or defensively. In the end, Coentrao did not make it to Old Trafford and Moyes has to make do with Alexander Buttner and Fabio da Silva as cover.

 

One can only come to conclusion that maybe Manchester United does not have the necessary funds as claimed. The Glazier is not the Abramovich or the oil rich Arabs. The spending is carefully planned – given the amount of debt the club is sitting on. Someway along someone will get the blame for the handling of this summer transfer. Already there are suggestions of an inquest into this fiasco. Many wonders what would Sir Alex Ferguson’s reaction would be as he follows the transfer deadline like any other United fans. Whatever happened from here, Manchester United in the new era certainly started in a bad way and hopefully it is a lesson learn for Ed Woodward and David Moyes.