Smith To Toon? | Jones’ Tribute to United

I’ll keep this post small, because there is nothing spectacular to talk about. From our club’s side that is. Although, over at Highbury, things are buzzing with activity what with Henry’s apparent departure for a meagre 16 million. Well, one might argue that Ruud went for 10 and Sheva came here for 30, but Sheva went to Chelsea. Although, it’s worth noting that the Spanish seem to pay way less in relation to English clubs.

Anyway, expect optimistic Arsenal fans to draw parallels with Ruud’s exit and the way we were written off. Even the pattern we mentioned a few posts back seems to be in their favor! Damn!

Getting back to United related news, Smith seems to have been signed by Newcastle for just £3.5 million, according to the Mirror, who first broke the news. I would say, it is disappointing we are now selling players at cut-price rates. If Smith goes for £3.5M, then how much would Richardson go for? £1M? When you can have Championship level players like Curtis Davies (who is a defender by the way) and Nugent who command prices on the upwards of £6M, then why not someone like Smith? Nothing is certain about the transfer, although for Smith’s sake, I feel a move to Newcastle doesn’t make sense if they manage to keep Owen, Martins (and Viduka). So he wouldn’t really be guaranteed of a first team slot. Clubs like Bolton, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Everton might represent better moves to him. Even Tottenham, with Berbatov, Defoe and Keane have a relatively settled forward line. Now, of course, there is Arsenal too. 🙂

The only thing that makes sense here is Newcastle’s propensity to buy players with high chances of getting crocked.

Dave Jones thanks United for giving him the right environment to nurture his talent. I think he was among the most talented of the lot to have emerged from our youth ranks, and I was shocked when I heard he was sold to Derby, last season, without even getting anything as much as a look-in. He might have fitted in nicely in place of Fletcher or O’ Shea in midfield when Scholes was injured for a while. Ahmed’s paid a small tribute to him in Soccerlens. I’d say he’ll be among the players to watch out for, come next season.

And again, this time on the official site, No United Bid for Quagliarella.

Didn’t we tell you so, a couple of posts back? 🙂

Although, much of the uncertainty surrounding Quag’s position could also be due to the uncertainty involving his ownership. And that just got resolved as Udinese outbid Sampdoria to his signature.

Will we have any more smoke without the fire?