Ok people, there’s no need to go out and get the new printed shirt yet, but British tabloid rumour monger, The Daily Express, is weaving the following dream for Manchester United fans:
Man United deal for £60m star edges closer as club ‘happy to sell’
MANCHESTER UNITED’s chances of signing James Rodriguez are good as Real Madrid are ‘happy to sell’, claims Guillem Balague.
Rodriguez’ best positon is at number 10, behind the main striker. And while you wouldn’t necessarily call this Manchester United’s weakest area, with Mata, Fellaini, Rooney and Herrera all capable of playing there, we feel that the position needs reinvigoration.
Fellaini represents all that is bad about this United team. And Mata simply doesn’t have the power to be in a ‘great’ United front four. Herrera is hit and miss and would probably best suit a regular role in midfield. And if Jose Mourinho comes in he may decide to play Rooney at number 9 as he so desperately wanted to for his Chelsea team a few years back.
The great thing about this uber-talented young Columbian is that he also has the pace and guile to play wide. And Manchester United would most definitely be augmenting their stodgy attack if they signed him.
Rodriguez has been regularly overlooked for a starting place at Real Madrid since Rafa Benitez and, latterly, Zinedine Zidane have been in charge of Los Blancos.
But the forward, who will be 25 in July, still managed 7 goals in 25 games this season.
The Football Freak thinks it’s a no-brainer. Forget the defence and even the midfield for now. Any top team needs a top forward line first and foremost. Real Madrid, for example, have had some very poor defensive lines at times but have just reached their 6th successive Champions League semi. Why? Because they ALWAYS score goals and loads of the beauties. You can mask a dodgy defence with great forwards. But, as we have seen at United this season, a solid defence can’t compensate for a meek attack.
So while an extra defender and midfielder would be nice, Manchester United should concentrate on bringing goals to this team in the summer. Do that and they will be challenging again next season – providing they get rid of that lump of a manager.