With time now of the essence to finalise one or two of the ‘will-he won’t-he’ deals to finalise his squad for the season, events in Spain last night could offer David Moyes the opportunity to grab himself a last-minute bargain regardless of what develops with Wayne Rooney.
During Real Madrid’s fixture versus Grenada last night, Mesut Ozil trudged despondently down the tunnel signalling his dissatisfaction at the decision to substitute him.
Did this trigger the opportunity for Ozil to welcome offers from interested parties?
Ozil chose Real Madrid ahead of United three summers ago but has since shown only glimpses of his impressive World Cup form which alerted Europe’s top club’s and ultimately persuaded Madrid to pay in the region of £12 million for his services.
With Madrid’s record-breaking £90 million-plus purchase of Gareth Bale looking imminent and their interest in Luis Suarez apparent, it’s unlikely they would frown upon offers for players on the periphery of the first team in an effort to fund the investment.
Despite his talent and decent performances during last season that’s exactly where Ozil finds himself. With player unhappy and club willing to listen to sensible offers surely there’s a chance United could land the young German playmaker for a snip of the fee they were prepared to fork out for Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas thus leaving ample funds for Fellaini or others.
As one of Tom Cleverley’s biggest fans it was disappointing to see such a negative performance from him last night. It took until the 28th minute before Cleverley threaded a neat ball forwards which coincidentally offered United, and more specifically Wayne Rooney, the first real sight of goal. The half-chance was scuppered but those opportunities to slide forward passes into feet at the edge of the area were all-to-often ignored by Cleverley who seems to be similarly confused with his game and his role as Michael Carrick was three years ago.
With that in mind, Ozil is a fantastic option to not only strengthen our midfield but also assist the development of Tom Cleverley. Without the addition of such a creative, forward thinking player such as Ozil there’s a real chance players like Cleverley will suffer due a lack of personnel ahead of them to learn from. With Scholes retiring and dropping further and further back during his latter years plus the lengthy neglect of our entire midfield, players such as Anderson and Cleverley have suffered and been expected to develop without being inspired or coached on the field by any respected peers who possess the desire and know-how to drive forward and take a game by the scruff of the neck. Our midfield knows nothing other than ‘intercept and play it simple’, an art Michael Carrick has mastered during his spell but a skill that will only take a team so far.
It’s a known fact players improve by playing with better players, if we want our potentially brilliant youngsters to keep improving Moyes needs to insert the kind of quality Ozil will provide and at what, £15 million(?), he definitely represents the ‘value’ the club seem hell bent on finding.
If, and it’s only an if, United do use the final week of the transfer market to introduce the kind of attributes I’m talking about, two from either Mata, Ozil and Fellaini would be a huge boost to a squad that just needs that little added impetus to give it a definite seal of quality capable of challenging every club it meets in any competition. If it doesn’t however…… let the pessimists begin their torrent of abuse and anger!
