Dutchman eyes United move, £5m slap in the face for United & Michael Owen’s omission is insulting – Best of MUFC

An extraordinary week at Old Trafford has ended with the right result, as far as Manchester United fans are concerned, with Wayne Rooney committing his long term future to the football club. United’s No.10 has certainly put supporters through the mill, before yesterday’s dramatic U-Turn.

This week at FFC we have seen a mixed bag of Man United blogs which has included…Reason behind Rooney’s injury; a final slap in the face for Michael Owen and PSV star puts United on alert.

Plus we have taken a look at the best Man United stories on the Web this week

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Featured Articles of the week:

Man United’s WAG Arena just gets better and better

The reason behind Wayne Rooney’s injury?

The only way Manchester United can move forward

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Other Manchester United Blogs

Fergie’s FIVE transfer options to fill inevitable void

Deconstructing Wayne Rooney’s statement

The Parasites Ruining Football

PSV star puts Liverpool and Man United on transfer alert

A final slap in the face for Michael Owen?

A £5m slap in the face for Manchester United

Who makes YOUR ‘Ultimate Premier League XI’ – You Decide!

Caption Competition: The moment that Fergie changed Rooney’s mind

Top TEN players ‘loved by their clubs, simply hated by others’

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Click here to see the Best MANCHESTER UNITED around the Web this week

Best of WEB

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Ravel Morrison: ‘The most gifted teenager in the country’ – The Busby Way

Top Journos Reflect On Rooney Madness For RoM – RoM

The Romance Of United – The United Religion

Hate Rooney if you want, just hate the Glazers more – United Rant

Obertan: the forgotten man – United Rant

Say what you want, Roy Keane loves Man United – The Busby Way

Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley and Brentford Football Tickets Giveaway!

We’re three months into the 2010/11 Football League season and the Championship, League One and League Two tables are now starting to take shape with promotion candidates making their cases across all three leagues.

Here at FootballFanCast we have teamed up with npower to offer fans of Championship and League One teams the chance to win a Pair of Tickets for three lucky home fans to the following three matches that are taking place on Saturday 13th November:

Burnley v Watford (Championship) Sheffield Wednesday v Rochdale (League One) Brentford v MK Dons (League One)

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to answer the following question correctly:

Which team are nicknamed the Owls?

A) Burnley

B) Sheffield Wednesday

C) Brentford

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Email your answer along with the game you would like to watch (either the match at Turf Moor, Hillsborough or Griffin Park) to [email protected].

The competition closes on Tuesday 9th November and as there is only one pair of tickets to give away for each match you’ll need to make sure you get your answers in now!

How to spend Sir Alex Ferguson’s £100m kitty

Could one of the most turbulent weeks in recent history at Manchester United actually turn the club around in a very positive way. After convincing Wayne Rooney to say, the Glazer family have pledged to give Sir Alex Ferguson a reported £100 million to spend on new players. Top class players being back on the radar of Sir Alex Ferguson is exactly what Manchester United fans want to be seeing. In the next couple of transfer windows, Manchester United are going to be under the microscope, to see what players they can attract with the cash released by the Glazers.

Here, we table where Manchester United would be wise to spend the cash, and who are the best alternatives. These are the players that Sir Alex Ferguson should be looking to sign.

Without a doubt Sir Alex Ferguson has to seriously consider the successor to Edwin van der Sar. The obvious choice is Igor Akinfeev. The 24 year old goalkeeper is a phenomenal shot stopper and has been on Ferguson’s radar for some time. Akinfeev has impressed Ferguson first hand, after an exceptional display during CSKA Moscow’s 3-3 draw at Old Trafford in November 2009. Ferguson has publicly stated his admiration for the keeper and with Edwin van der Sar due to retire at the end of the season, it seems now is the time for Ferguson to make his long awaited move for the goalkeeper.

With the imminent retirement of Paul Scholes and injury to Owen Hargreaves, Manchester United need a dynamic midfielder – Sneijder fits the bill perfectly. Sneijder has yet to sign a new deal with Inter Milan and has two and a half years remaining on his contract. Sneijder will be seen as a long term replacement for Paul Scholes and will offer United a great deal in the middle of the park. The Inter Milan midfielder would suit the English game with his dynamic approach, as well as a great eye for a pass. His performance in last seasons Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge was as close to perfection as a midfielder will get. The Dutchman would bring a new dimension to United’s midfield and would add goals from that position.

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Even with Wayne Rooney signing a new deal, United need to invest in another top quality striker. At present they have Berbatov and Rooney, and behind them rising stars. United need strong alternatives and another top class striker would alleviate the goal scoring pressures from Wayne Rooney. Luiz Suarez is hot on Manchester United’s radar. What Luiz Suarez will offer Manchester United is goals. Suarez has an incredible goal scoring record for Ajax netting 81 goals in 104 appearances. Suarez proved his abilities at this summer World Cup Finals – scoring three goals in six World Cup matches, and was a star for Uruguay as they reached the semi finals. As well as goals, the Uruguayan has a very decent assist record and would fit into the Manchester United ethos. Suarez has continued his form this season, scoring 11 times in 14 appearances. Suarez should be on the top of Ferguson’s shopping list.

Manchester United need to enter the transfer market as soon as possible. With the golden generation at Old Trafford coming to an end, its time for Sir Alex Ferguson to create a new team once again. The squad as it stands has a lot of potential but it needs a couple of key signings to push the club forward. If Manchester United can alleviate the pressures of loosing such key individuals by buying well, the future looks very bright for Manchester United.

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BB Round-up – Arsenal bid snubbed, Liverpool eye French ace, West Ham SOS call to be answered by Di Canio

Harry Redknapp could be excused for thinking there is some sort of curse against him as Tom Huddlestone’s injury setback makes it 11 first team players on the sidelines for the Tottenham boss. Huddlestone is out for three months as he has an operation on a long standing ankle problem.

Elsewhere the Glazers look to pay off PIK loan, Nasri criticises Ancelotti’s squad and Di Canio is ready to answer West Ham’s SOS.

Glazer family to pay off £220m PIK loan – Guardian

Nasri criticises Ancelotti’s Chelsea squad – Daily Telegraph

Comolli claims no Hodgson threat – Sky Sports

Di Canio ready to answer Hammers SOS – Mirror

Huddlestone out for three months – Daily Telegraph

Wenger hit by Afellay snub – Sun

Hodgson eyes up Fanni as Johnson replacement – Mirror

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Cap on agents’ fees may save clubs £60m – Guardian

Theo: My Gun-ho pals for England – Sun

Carroll honoured by England call – Daily Telegraph

Ciao Elena – Bernardo’s woman puts the Premiership wags in the shade

Continuing our look into the foreign wags that put the Premier League ones to shame…

Bernardo Corradi, as Man City fans will testify, is a pretty unremarkable footballer who is currently plying his trade with Serie A side Udinese; however the same certainly cannot be said of the experienced striker’s other half, the beautiful Elena Santarelli.

Miss Santarelli is a model and TV personality in her native Italy and I’m sure you’ll agree by flicking through the gallery that she more that puts the Premier League WAGs firmly in the shade.

While Mr Corradi currently does little than warm the bench at Udinese these days, I’m certain Bernardo must take a lot of comfort knowing the little lady he has waiting at home for him.

Click on Miss Santarelli below to see her in all her glory

Tottenham star’s demands jeopardises move

Robbie Keane’s proposed move to Birmingham City has hit a snag after the Irish striker reportedly demanded a wage increase.

Spurs accepted a £6 million approach for the striker from Birmingham City on Friday and the deal seemed set to go through in the days following. However, Keane’s desire to increase his current £65,000 a-week salary means that the move could now be at risk of collapsing.

The snag is likely to be frustrating to both teams involved in the deal. Tottenham are desperate to bring in a new striker in January and getting Keane off of the wage bill, plus any money earned from the sale, would help in funding a move for potential targets Andy Carroll or Luis Suarez. Birmingham too are keen to add striking talents to their ranks and with a move for Rangers forward Kenny Miller falling through, the expected arrival of Keane would have been a big boost for the club.

Keane’s only goal this season came in a League Cup encounter with Arsenal and he has found his first team action severely limited since the start of the season. Keane is behind Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko in the pecking order at Spurs and, despite his reported wage demands, is likely to be moving to be moving on before the window shuts.

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Arsenal v Everton – Who’s Your Money On?

Arsenal will hope to keep up with the Premier League pace setters Manchester United with a victory at home to Everton tonight. The Gunners are just 5 points behind their old rivals but will face a tough test against an in form Everton side. The Toffees have only suffered one defeat since November and were unlucky not to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup at the weekend.

Samir Nasri limped off during Arsenal’s FA Cup win over Huddersfield and faces a month on the sidelines, which could prove costly as he is their leading goal scorer this season. Also missing tonight will be central defender Sebastien Squillaci, who is suspended and that could mean Alex Song dropping back from midfield as cover.

David Moyes has questioned their lack of firing power to win games and this may be the case tonight; his side came close to winning at the Emirates last season when Arsenal scored a last minute equaliser. Tim Cahill is back from international duty but will be rested for the game so an unchanged team from Saturday is expected.

Prediction: 1-1

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Will Tottenham fans shed a tear if he was to leave WHL?

Today there have been stories linking Jermaine Jenas in a transfer to Aston Villa. My question today is, would Spurs fans shed a tear if Jenas moved on?

At this minute Modric is probably one of Redknapp’s first names on the team sheet, along with Bale and Van Der Vaart. This realistically does not allow for Huddlestone, Palacios, Jenas, Sandro, O’Hara , Kranjcar and Piennar (if he is tried them in the middle), to play in the centre of midfield.

Importantly, Aston Villa appear willing to splash a good amount of cash on Jenas. While I would not call for his head before others (particularly O’Hara after his comments last year), if Jenas represents the best value for money, it should be him that makes way. If Tottenham get an offer around £8-10 million then they would be unwise to turn it down.

Since Harry has made it clear that he does not want to sell Crouch in this window, and since the policy of ‘sell before you buy’ seems to be in place at White Hart Lane this year, the option of £8-10m for a squad player seems very reasonable.

It seems this year that Redknapp has real ambitions of breaking into the top four and a desire to bring in experienced and/or world class players. Diarra is a name that has been linked with Spurs and he is an option that would definitely improve the Spurs squad and move them in the right direction.

People may feel that an anchoring midfielder like Diarra is just a better version of Palacios, and if Diarra comes in it should be Palacios that goes. However, Jenas at £8-10m would prove better business. Furthermore, if Harry is looking to strengthen with players other than Diarra, the loss of Jenas would prove less of a blow than that of Palacios. Yes, Jenas may be better at keeping possession, but Palacios remains superb at winning the ball. The winning of the ball in the defensive half of the pitch will be crucial to Tottenham’s counter-attacking style.

The worry for a Tottenham fan if they lose Jenas is that he is just coming back to full fitness and has looked brighter this season than last and he is always willing to try his best. Plus, he is English which is important for the ‘home-grown players’ ruling. Add that to the fact that he is eligible to play for Spurs in the Champions League, something that a cup-tied player like Diarra is not, and you can see how he may be missed.

So if a Spurs fan has ambitions to succeed in Europe, they may well have a strong case in bemoaning the sale of Jenas. However, if you believe Spurs to have a genuine chance to finish in the top 4, the sale of Jenas for a good price would be a smart option and would allow for a better midfielder. If Harry wants to bring more playersin , the sale of Jenas would allow him to do that. If he is not looking to further strengthen the squad, he will need Jenas.

Either way, time is running out for Spurs and they will have to make a decision quickly, but that seems to be the way with the transfer window these days.

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Premier League: Tottenham 2 Bolton 1

Niko Kranjcar emerged from the bench to score Tottenham’s last-minute winner against Bolton at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

An early Rafael van der Vaart penalty had been cancelled out by Daniel Sturridge’s second-half effort but substitute Kranjcar, who had only been on the pitch for 12 minutes, scored a spectacular 93rd-minute goal to give Spurs all three points in their 2-1 triumph.

The home side could not have asked for a better start and took the lead with only four minutes on the clock.

Van der Vaart’s free-kick form the edge of the area caused panic in the box, the ball striking Kevin Davies on the arm leaving referee Mark Clattenburg no choice but to point to the spot. The Dutchman coolly dispatched the penalty for his 10th English Premier League goal this season.

Immediately from the re-start, Bolton lost possession to Aaron Lennon who surged at Wanderers’ back-line and tricked his way into the box.

Bolton defender Sam Ricketts stuck out a leg in attempt to stop the winger but was a fraction too late and sent Lennon flying.

Van der Vaart clinically tucked his second penalty of the day past Jussi Jaaskelainen, however Clattenberg ordered a re-take due to an encroachment by Wilson Palacios.

The Dutchman sent the ball exactly the same way, but unlike his other two successful penalties, this third attempt flew inches wide of the post to keep Bolton in the game.

Tottenham’s bad luck continued as striker Jermain Defoe had a header ruled out for offside after a precise van der Vaart cross, while Peter Crouch dallied on the ball when one-on-one with Jaaskelainen allowing Paul Robinson to come to the visitors’ rescue with an excellent sliding challenge.

Just before half-time, Clattenberg was pointing to the spot again after a Gary Cahill handball, but the referee hadn’t seen the linesman’s flag which had been raised moments earlier for an offside.

Steven Pienaar made his home debut, coming on at half-time for van der Vaart who had a calf problem, and was immediately causing problems.

But it was another player signed in January, Bolton’s Daniel Sturridge, who had the bigger impact, as the striker on-loan from Chelsea levelled 10 minutes into the second half.

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A Bolton break saw Mark Davies feed the former Manchester City player in space on the edge of the area, and the young forward curled the ball low into the corner past the despairing dive of Heurelho Gomes.

Moments later Cahill was booked for diving in the box, while at the other end Defoe flashed an effort over from 20 yards as both sides threatened to take the lead.

Jermaine Jenas then came closest to breaking the deadlock as he rattled the post from a free-kick and Pienaar almost capped his White Hart Lane debut with a goal but was denied down low by Jaaskelainen.

It was left then to Kranjcar to seal the win deep into stoppage time; the Croatian dancing passed two defenders before releasing a long-range effort Jaaskelainen could only palm into the net.

‘Six of the best’ – United starlets set to make the grade at Old Trafford

It seems to be all about the youngsters these days, doesn’t it? Gareth Bale came along and made Maicon amongst others looks worthless, Jack Wilshere continues to do his Xavi impression for Arsenal week in week out and the Championship currently plays host to one of the most promising looking English strikers we’ve seen since the days of Wayne Rooney in Connor Wickham. So who should we expect to be seeing come off the Manchester United production line next?

Sir Alex Ferguson currently has a couple of good prospects out on loan in the shape of Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley. Whilst those are expecting to make it in the Premier League in some way, shape or form, the United manager seems to have a few other youngsters ready to make the step up. To bring through yet another team must be one of Fergie’s last ambitions. To do it with a spine of players who have come through the ranks, not too dissimilar to his most famous of fledglings with Beckham, Scholes, the Nevilles, etc would further add to the legacy left by the club’s most successful manager. So who are these players? Below is a list of six youngsters you will be seeing turning out in the Premier League sooner rather than later. Feel free to add your choices below if I’ve missed any!

Paul Pogba – The French midfielder has been causing a bit of a fuss around Old Trafford of late. He loves a shot, can dribble and is built like a powerhouse. The 17-year-old is being tipped as Paul Scholes’ replacement and recently found himself warming the bench for the FA Cup tie against Crawley Town.

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Ravel Morrison – Another youngster who you may have heard about, Morrison is being tipped to be another great Manchester United striker. He has unbelievable pace and feet and has been scoring for fun in the academy and reserve sides. Morrison has also been promoted to the senior side, but there are question marks over the player’s attitude towards the game after a troubled upbringing.

Ryan Tunnicliffe – The midfielder has recently been handed the number 46 shirt in the senior squad. Another player who made the bench for the Crawley tie, Tunnicliffe has been likened to Roy Keane for his aggressive style and box-to-box energy.

Joshua King – The Norwegian striker was signed in the hope he would progress into an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer type player and although he is yet to show his talents in the Premier League, there is certainly still time. The 19-year-old has been scoring for fun in the reserves and was another to make the bench in the recent FA Cup tie.

Davide Petrucci – The Italian struggled when he first came to United with horrible luck with injuries, but the midfielder has been back amongst the action and putting in some good performances which has earned him praise from coach Warren Joyce. The 19-year-old is a tricky customer who can operate on the left but play with both feet.

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Robert Brady – The tricky Irish winger is highly rated at Old Trafford but is another who has been hit with injuries. In October 2010 he was given a squad number and has been a regular fixture this season in the reserves, netting a few along the way.

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