Been wondering what the f*k SAF's been up to the whole summer.
Firstly, he knew Cristiano R was leaving as long ago as Dec 08. True, he may have harboured some hope of convincing CR to stay, but the signs should have been clear to him way before the season's end.
Now taking that into consideration, his failure to tie up Tevez as early as the January transfer window, or even during the run-in (when Tevez kept dropping hints that he wanted to stay) is inexplicable. Even the counter-argument that Tevez was not worth the 25m pounds fails, since that exactly what United offered Kia Joorabchian, AFTER CR had left, and it was clear Tevez no longer wanted to stay.
I'm personally not sure Tevez is worth the 25m, he's a fighter-cock, never gives up and scores the occasional match-winner, but he's not shown he's in Rooney or even Berbatov's class.
That said, he's clearly a first team player, and with all sorts of clubs chasing his signature, and with the knowledge that CR is leaving (and with United pocketing 80m in return), United should have signed up Tevez wayyyyy before he said f*k off.
In light of Real Madrid's major-league spending, and with Zidane making phone calls in the background, it's clear now that all of United's major transfer targets are now gone - Ribery, Benzema, and even Valencia was under threat for a while.
As it is, we are left with only Valencia, and the hope that the youngsters, e.g. Macheda, Tosic, et al are up to making the next step up.
I read somewhere that we should go for Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), but whilst he did very well for Brazil at the recent Confederations Cup, he's unproven and may not be physical enough to last the long EPL season. The other target mentioned is Kun Aguero (Atletico Madrid), but his club are asking 45m and that's just wayyyy beyond stupid money for, again, someone unproven at the top level, even if he is Maradona's son-in-law.
At the time of writing this, there are also strong rumours that United are about to sign Michael Owen. Whilst it's not quite a gamble at 50k a week, and if it's only a 1-2 year contract, the fact that we are left chasing Owen (of all people) is telling, and very disappointing. I want to believe that he will score 10-15 goals and prove his critics wrong, but deep down, I suspect SAF is bending over for sentiment's sake, and Owen will prove quite to be the 'over-the-hill' ex-prodigy that he is.
Edit: -
It seems we have completed the signing of Michael Owen - surprisingly, his medical wasn't an issue at all. Hopefully, hopefully ....
