You really don't seem to understand why clubs buy players do you?

If Mourinho likes a player more than the ones he currently has then he may try to bring them in. Its pretty much as simple as that. Managers look for players that they can blend together or that fit the style of play he wants to achieve. Just because the club already has midfield players doesn't mean he wont try to sign others. Pogba for example.

Of course I understand why players move clubs, but thanks for the patronising post.

We were talking about moves between Liverpool and ourselves, transfers like this rarely happen, and for good reason.

Interesting theory. I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

I think you will find you began the patronising tone by telling me what a rival was!

You said you couldn't see where he fitted in because Man Utd already had midfielders that was what I was replying to, not the rivalry part which is self explanatory. If you don't think Man Utd will try to sign a midfield player because of the number they currently have then its fair to assume you don't really know how transfers work because that is the only conclusion that can be drawn!

You're right they are rare.

But the premise of 'manager wants player, bids' still applies, doesn't it?

Forgive me but from your comments it was as if you felt it would be silly to sign a CM because we already have CMs. I don't know if you're quite new to being a football fan so I don't want to sound patronising, but generally managers at top clubs don't tend to wait until a vacancy has opened if they've identified a player who they think is better than the options they already have.

If we are looking at centre-midfield options, safe to assume one or two will be going. I well-up at the thought of Mourinho seeing Fellaini as the 'useful at set-pieces' option that everyone else seems to, as I'm desperate for him to go. Carrick's signed a new contract, it'll be difficult offloading Schweinsteiger given his injury record, age and level of pay he's presumably on.

My money would be on Schneiderlin being out the door quite soon. So obviously he'll sign an 8 year contract extension tomorrow.

Blind, Mata, Schweinsteiger and Rojo have been 'made available for sale', according to the Daily Record.

I agree with you that finding a buyer for Schweinsteiger could be problematic, but shifting the other 3 shouldn't be overly taxing.

Have you ever thought of taking a self-awareness course? I'm not joking, I think you would benefit greatly from one.

Out of that list I'd be sad to see Blind go. I've always liked Mata as a player but often struggled to see what he was for. Moyes seemed to buy him simply to give his then under-fire management career at the club a boost but seemed to have no real need for him tactically. He's a top player but if I was picking my starting XI this season he wouldn't be in it.

According to Duncan Castles, Mata, Blind, Rojo and Schweinsteiger are the ones for the chop.

Nothing about Fellani, Schneiderlin, Valencia or Young though.

*Sorry Jim, didn't see your earlier post*

I wonder if they've got this from Castles, he seems to tweet a lot of Jose stuff?

I cant see how getting rid of Schweinsteiger and Blind is of benefit. Their potential usefulness would outweigh their financial return in getting rid. Mourinho would have to be fairly adamant that they had no chance of playing.

I think you've got your words mixed up - that's not what stigma means. Are you sure you did journalism at uni????

The only one I would get rid of on that list is Rojo, I like him but he seems more of a hindrance than anything.

Getting rid of Blind would be just bizarre.

Yep, I think Scheweinsteiger in particular can be a great influence in the dressing room and a leader on the field in short spells

Err no, I am fully up to speed with how how transfers work, and why they happen, I don't need a lecture about them.

I was purely saying where the heck would Allen fit in, ahead of whom in any potential pecking order?? Ahead of Carrick? Herrera?? Pogba (if he comes)?? It just seemed like a totally bizarre link, and not one that made much if any sense, particularly when you take into account where he currently is employed and the relationship between us and them (we hardly ever do any straight transfers).


No they don't tend to wait I agree, but that doesn't mean that link with Allen makes any sense when you stop and try and think about it.
I am not a new football fan, I have been supporting us since about the 1990/91 seas, (but in earnest since about the year Leeds pipped us to it).


I have not thought of one of those courses, but thanks for the tip.



We could do with a few leaders, of which Schweinsteiger is definitely one of them, I would have him higher up in those stakes then Smalling for example, so it would be sad to see high (if he does) from that kind of perspective.



Yes I did get that certificate, it was damn tough work, especially the final year!



Ah yeah, that is something that we very much have in common.

I was simply explaining where he or any other midfielder would fit in. Just because there are other midfielders at the club doesn't mean Mourinho wouldn't want to sign another of his own preference for the squad.

That said it is an unlikely looking deal although I think football fans in general have to be more receptive to the potential for deals being done between rivals these days. Foreign owners and foreign managers aren't going to be as sentimental about these things if the finances add up.

Conflicting stories about Madrid's interest in Pogba; some say they're in for him or 'weighing up' a bit, others say they're not interested in the price Juventus will demand.

I can see your train of thought, but it would still be very strange and surreal to see us and Liverpool doing business over transfers, as it is just such a highly unusual and unlikely thing.
You have seen more recent transfers between Barcelona and Real Madrid then you have between us and Liverpool.
I don't think Allen will be the one who breaks that gap (I would be beyond stunned if he were to be the one, as he is just not all that special to be deserving of that record- if we were perhaps talking about a peak Gerrard, or even a peak Fowler, fair enough, but Allen???).

Obviously we will add to the squad before we perhaps sell (see our interest in Pogba as an example of this), but there still has to be a little commonsense applied when it comes to thinking about this, and we just don't do transfers with Liverpool.



I think that they are still interested in him (who wouldn't be), but it is a steep price indeed, when the full package is taken into consideration (transfer fee, agents fee, wages, etc etc), so they would really have to go all in to get him.

Ibra is coming here with ideas possibly that he will not be able to fulfil!

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/manch...l_SportsRocket

I completely agree. I think it was a major error of judgement to weight the programme so heavily towards City. I enjoyed it despite the lack of balance and the effective absence of one very large half of the story. Nevertheless, it brought back some rather good memories ...

The point is, again, the owners of the respective clubs will have no issue with doing a deal if the money was right. The further point is its far more likely to be for a more peripheral squad member than your Gerrard or Fowler example where there would be much more of a stigma attached to selling an iconic player to a rival. If Man Utd made Jesse Lingard available and Liverpool were the highest bidder I dont think there would be a massive obstacle to him being sold.

That said I still dont see this transfer happening.

Which would show how little the respective owners know about the clubs history. Yes, that's how transfers work, but transfers between United and Liverpool just don't happen. We could have sold Heinze to them as previously stated, but Fergie wouldn't allow the club to sanction the move. Sometimes in sport these sort of things happen, it's not common but it happens.

That theory would be good if we didn't already have an example of it not being the case, Liverpool wanted to sign Heinze, and we did not want to sell him to them, and eventually within he was offloaded to Marseille (there was even a story at the time going around, involving us selling him to Palace, who would then sell him to Liverpool, to save us having to sell him directly to them).

Perhaps things have moved on since then, who knows, but as that is the most recent example we have got, then that is what have to go along with.

The player moving in the direction (either from us to them or vice-versa), would I believe have award time being accepted as a player of his new club, such is the rivalry that we have between us.

The world moves on. Thats a good thing. Im sure everyone knows both clubs history, it doesn't mean they should care about not selling to each other if the deal is right.

Heinze went to Real Madrid and that was almost a decade ago.