Strikers, Strikers and Only Strikers

It’s become a fad now. Everyone wants to link us to strikers. And it’s not just the media. Players take enormous pride either by announcing that United are interested in them, or by saying they ‘rejected’ overtures from the club.

While the barrage of rumors linking Arsenal with any player (to have clocked even 5 minutes on the pitch as a striker) is justified by the departure of Henry, only Torres has been linked with Liverpool. We, on the other hand, have strikers aplenty on our books when our forward line is relatively settled. And for those people who talk a lot about our apparent lack of a reliably deadly finisher, let me assure you that we can comfortably get through next season, while managing to contend for all four trophies till the very end. While I am not saying we will win all four, we will be in contention for each of those four trophies till late in the competition.

So dear players and media, go pick on another club.

First, Parma wouldn’t shut up about making bids for Rossi.

Alright, he came through your youth system. And we bought him from you when you guys couldn’t balance your own books. We also thank you for giving him a chance to do well during the loan spell that he spent half of last season in. We expect similar expressions of gratitude from you since, during that loan spell, he, among other players, helped dig you out of relegation. Bidding for Rossi, when he’s made his wish – to cut it at United – clear, is not the way to go. Unless, United express their intentions of selling Rossi known to you. Which is a dumb thing to do anyway. At least I would certainly not be impressed if that happens.

The next bloke, hungry enough to be in the spotlight, after spending a rather underwhelming season in Serie B, is David Trezeguet, who claims to have rejected a move to United.

Well, I seriously doubt United would be interested in a player who clearly hasn’t been spectacular for a long time. He had a good season in 05/06 but his immobility is not something that will suit Sir Alex’s playing style. He is also known to be petulant and has shown bad attitude at times (most recent case in point: the 2006 World Cup, when he was laughing from the bench when France were struggling in the group stages.) Anyhow, Juventus are happy enough to have offered him a new contract, he is happy to have accepted it, and it is beneficial for us to not have wanted him. So that keeps everyone happy.

The media cannot shut up about Tevez preferring Inter over United.

Tevez’s preference for Inter is understandable, because of the 579 Argentinians that play for them. But right now he is knee deep into helping Argentina win the Copa America, with his already dodgy ownership situation to boot. So dear journalists and Newsnow hounds, report the Tevez rumours once and shut up about it. If you really need to talk more about Tevez, either wait till he returns from his international commitments/holidays, or write about him in reference to his uncanny similarity to the Incredible Hulk. In fact, speculate that he is short listed by a Hollywood studio for the a starring role in the Incredible Hulk 2. That will make for more entertaining reading, I assure you.

The third bloke linked with our club is Eidur Gudjohnsen (again).

This time, it is ex-Bolton defender Mike Whitlow, who thinks that while he isn’t that good for scoring goals, he can create plenty:

“Some suggest he doesn’t score enough goals, […] but how much unselfish stuff did he do and how many goals did he create? Cantona was like that and I believe Eidur is a similar type of player.

Hmm… Are we actually deficient in that department? Scholes, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney, Nani, Giggs and Park are, to this gentleman, required to muck about the park, while Eidur ‘creates’ the goals. That might be an extreme reaction, but if Gudjohnsen is brought to our team, then he will continue doing the bench-warming routine that he’s gotten quite accustomed to these days. If he’s Cantona-esque, surely he could have done better than the journeyman he’s become. No thank you sir, let him be.

And while we are still discussing strikers, I managed to catch Anderson play for Brazil (against Mexico) yesterday. For those interested in the result, Brazil lost the game 2-0 despite dominating for long periods, thanks to some profligate finishing and woeful defending. Anderson came on around the 47th minute, and his presence did liven things up a bit. He might have even gone on the the score sheet, but for a good save from the keeper. His pace was good, although he is still a bit raw and needs to be moulded, from what I saw of him. Don’t expect immediate fireworks from the lad, come next season. He is still a work in progress.