When Cristiano Ronaldo was sold for 80m, one of the mitigating reasons was that the money would be used to buy big name players to offset the effect of his loss. Players like Franck Ribery and David Villa were mentioned as replacements.
The club then decided to change the policy and not sign any more players over 26 years as with advancing age the resale value would drop sharply at the end of a five or six year contract. That is why Man Utd was interested in Karim Benzema, as he was 21 years of age. At the end of a five year contract, Benzema would be 26 years, considered an age when football players peak and if sold, would command a substantial resale value like Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dimitar Berbatov was the last of the 'old boys' let in before the new policy was put into place this season. The Ribery offer was not true the club insisted even as Bayern Munich mentioned United as one of the clubs interested. Karim Benzema did not show up. Man Utd's Brazil relationship poaching talent has come for some stinging criticism from Carlos Alberto who hit out by saying that the club was 'raping Brazilian football.'
Now, Sir Alex says that there are to be no more summer signings. The explanation is the club already have a squad that can challenge for an unprecedented fourth Premiership in a row. Michael Owen will wear Cristiano Ronaldo's number 7.
My feeling is that Sir Alex has some 21 year olds in his squad that have disappointed in their present development and that his focus will be to make sure that their potential is realized. Nani and Anderson are the two major signings that have not gone as planned.
They were groomed to take over Scholes and Giggs. Especially Anderson, who was considered a huge talent with his attacking instincts at Gremio has been increasingly pushed to clean up duties at the back and is yet to score for Man Utd after two seasons. Nani, whose considerable talent is overshadowed by his selfishness and wastefulness has been an ineffective scoring threat. If the 26 year cut off that Man Utd has instituted has to come to fruition, then Sir Alex needs to start working on Anderson and Nani.
There is no point in adding more players if the present squad has players who have not lived up to expectations. Partly this has to do with the great distorting effect that Cristiano Ronaldo wrought on the positions and roles of other players. With his departure there might be a correction. If that is the case then Sir Alex needs no more players which seems to be his calculation.
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