I still can\’t get my head round this one.
I didn\’t think about it much, didn\’t talk about it much, didn\’t write about it much.
Because I hate boring sagas.
Once a blogger gets involved in a saga, he has to write about it twice a day and I was never gonna do that. The minutia don\’t turn me on. I\’m more of a big picture guy.
But now, with the transfer window closing next week, I\’m wondering : Why has Sir Alex signed Robin van Persie?
He doesn\’t fit into their style of play. He doesn\’t fit into their team. His arrival on £200,000 a week will piss off the whole dressing room.
Why did Sir Alex do that?
Did he do it to give Wayne a kick up the arse? Or does he think Wayne is on the wane? Does the Greatest Manager reckon we\’ve seen the best of Wayne Rooney?
The season has started and Manchester United have played one league game in which RVP came on as a sub. United lost 1-0 to Fellaini\’s Everton on Monday night.
Do Chelsea and Manchester City have more firepower than United? No, but they could score more goals. It\’s a team game and Chelsea already have slicker teamwork, even with new players.
So four top strikers doesn\’t guarantee more goals – football is much more complicated than that.
In 1999, when United did the treble, their momentum was generated by a uniquely balanced Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs midfield. A crosser and a cruncher and a scorer-playmaker and a scoring dribbler who could tackle. It wasn\’t just down to Cole, Yorke, Sheringham and Solskjaer.
The young, impetuous Robin van Persie was a crash-bang-wallop power player who went for 50-50 balls and got hurt.
His style then was more suited to United\’s way of playing, I reckon.
Last season he was a mature goalpoacher who strolled and waited and hovered and played within the width of the penalty area, and in the penalty area.
And the whole Arsenal team played for him, supplied him, gave him all the balls to score 37 goals .
As I say, I\’m puzzled by the deal. More so as time goes on.
Why did Sir Alex buy van Persie? I can\’t explain it.
OK, I can see why Arsenal sold him for £23 million. And I can see why Van Persie would want to join a bigger club and a team full of winners.
Last season Danny Welbeck was on £15,000 a week and playing for a new contract. Running his guts out alongside Wayne Rooney, who was on £200,000 a week.
Then RVP joined United in his position on £200,000 a week, the same as Wayne.
A week later we hear that Welbeck has signed a four-year contract on £70,000 a week and I wondered whether Robin van Persie has quadrupled Danny Welbeck’s wages.
I don\’t normally write this kind of article.
And I know what you\’re thinking: How can Myles believe that Robin van Persie is a panic buy when he was among the first to know that the Dutchman had agreed a contract with Manchester United on June 23?
Well, the transfer market is a domino game.
When something happens, something else happens after that. When something doesn\’t happen, it all stalls and nothing happens, or something unexpected happens.
Manchester United wanted Wesley Sneijder two years ago. He didn\’t come from Inter because he was too expensive. So Sir Alex wanted Lucas Moura, the 19-year old Sao Paulo midfielder, who was rated at £26 million in July.
But when Lucas didn\’t get into Brazil\’s Olympic squad but Oscar did and Oscar went to Chelsea.
Maybe Robin van Persie was a back-up option all along, a star name to fall back on.
He couldn\’t get Lucas, the right midfielder wasn\’t available, so Sir Alex bought a star striker that Juventus and Man City both wanted.
I still think Robin could struggle.
I\’ve nothing against him, don\’t blame him for leaving Arsenal, not emotional about his departure -or Song\’s.
But I think Robin could really struggle to fit in and produce consistently.
Let’s wait and see. He hasn’t started a game yet.