leighmanc:

 it was obvious fergie knew the deal for ronaldo was in place around december time last year, calderon had mentioned this and ronaldo in january had registered CR9 as his trademark coz madrid was giving him the number 9 shirt, so wouldn't it been better if ferguson tried to strike up deals for players during the latter stages of last season before the ronaldo transfer details where publicized to the world which made every other club with a star player hike up the price of them.

And how do you know that no attempt was made at all?  Not too mention that since the Ronaldo deal was  less than a well kept secret (come on was anyone on this planet suprised when this was announced?) you don't think that other teams were sitting back waiting to see what the price for Ronaldo was before pricing their players?  I mean that is good business right.  I also have read that the player and his agent get part of the transfer fee (at least in many cases), so of course they would have reason to want to wait on any deals until they get a feel for the market.   You do know that the folks who represent footballers and the folks who run other teams are not all complete morons?

And who in the world can replace Ronaldo, no one.

Only 2 who are close to his level are Ribery and Pato, both who would cost 40-50 million and aren't proven in our league, country or club; that is quite an expensive gamble.

Aguero doesn't play anything like him.

Who knows what Fergie has planned in terms of tactics and formations or even future trasnfers, the fact of the matter is we don't even know how much money he has been given, all we have is newspaper specultation which is rubbish at best.

I'd much prefer to trust Fergie and our coaching staffs opinions rather than someone who would seem to have been happy so long as we spend 30-40+ million.

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Northern Red:

We clearly had, the fact that Valencia has come out and said that Fergie almost signed him last summer is all the inidication you need to see that Fergie has clearly earmarked him as Ronaldo's replacement.

That and he was the first player we signed once the Ronaldo deal was completed and had the money in the bank.

As for the Tevez, we offered him a contract so you don't normally try to replace someone you intended to sign.

 

As for the utter garbage of Fergie trying to sort deals at the back end of the season. Think he might have been busy winning us the League and concentrating on the Champions League. All it would have done would have to been to distract him and unsettled out current players if any of the stories had broken.

 

as i said it could of been done closely after the champions league and as for ferguson planning ronaldo's departure by bringing in valencia that slightly worries me coz he ain't no replacement for ronaldo, with 80 million to spend he could of brought a real quality player worth about 30 - 40 million coz after the ronaldo deal was done clubs raised their prices for players worth about 30 - 40 million to be worth 55 - 65 million.

 I thought so earlier,when talk of benzema was going on.but looking back,I think benzema was always going to madrid.think that must have been sealed earlier due to the good relations between the 2 presidents.

Where we might actually hurt, is if in reality we are trying for aguero(though would have preferred the hunter). cause in normal circumstances, there would not be talk about amounts such as 50 mil for him. But am having my doubts as to whether we will go for aguero. would be surprised if we spent so much on a single player.I feel IF 1 more striker is signed it will be a cheaper option and we will then use the surplus money plus next year's transfer kitty to replace VDS, Neville,Scholes and Giggs. I know that the last 3 arent anyways playing much,but it is depth of the squad. without them we will have only Ando,carrick, Hargo(injury?????),fletcher in midfield and only young da silva and brown at RB.

fredered:

It seems to me he did, fergie had been tracking Valencia for nearly a year, I guess he's the one he see's as Ronaldo's replacement.

 

Heavens above, valencia a replacement for ronaldo? crazy.

We clearly had, the fact that Valencia has come out and said that Fergie almost signed him last summer is all the inidication you need to see that Fergie has clearly earmarked him as Ronaldo's replacement.

That and he was the first player we signed once the Ronaldo deal was completed and had the money in the bank.

As for the Tevez, we offered him a contract so you don't normally try to replace someone you intended to sign.

 

As for the utter garbage of Fergie trying to sort deals at the back end of the season. Think he might have been busy winning us the League and concentrating on the Champions League. All it would have done would have to been to distract him and unsettled out current players if any of the stories had broken.

 

 I agree.

 it wouldn't of had to be during the season but just after the champions league final would of been a good time to make deals and if we had mae deals before the ronaldo deal was confirmed worldwide we would of been able to buy players for less money than after when everyone knew ronaldo was being sold for 80 million, we could of even got benzema coz madrid was so wrapped up in trying to buy kaka and villa (their 1st choice striker) at that time.

Most teams don't negotiate until the begining of June anyway, it unsettles players and fans during the season, imagine if you found out you were going to be sold with 4 games left of the season? don't think you'd put in quite the same amount of effort.

Either way it's upto the other clubs to accept the offers and it's not all down to Sir Alex. He was more bothered about the Champions league and Premier league, we're doing fine and we've still got well over a month to seal all deals

It seems to me he did, fergie had been tracking Valencia for nearly a year, I guess he's the one he see's as Ronaldo's replacement.

 it was obvious fergie knew the deal for ronaldo was in place around december time last year, calderon had mentioned this and ronaldo in january had registered CR9 as his trademark coz madrid was giving him the number 9 shirt, so wouldn't it been better if ferguson tried to strike up deals for players during the latter stages of last season before the ronaldo transfer details where publicized to the world which made every other club with a star player hike up the price of them.