Transfer Fun Begins

It may be only May 24th but it is clear that teams are not going to be waiting until July 1st to make an impact on the transfer market.  Today a couple of major rumours were broke in regards to United making moves and at least in the case of the first one the reports seem to be very plausible and has in fact been confirmed by Sir Alex despite an official announcement not being expected until Monday.  So it seems that David De Gea will move from Athletico Madrid who he back stopped to a Europa League title in 2010 to become United's new number 1.  The other United rumour of the day is still just that, a speculative rumour, as reports are beginning the come out that United are going to sign Aston Villa winger Ashley Young.  Most people around the game think that Young is going to move this summer but United are sure to have competition to land his signature.

In the case of David De Gea the signing is not one that comes as a surprise to the fans who have paid attention to things.  The 20 year old Keeper has long been on United's radar with the club scouting him on a number of occasions in the past.  Now with Edwin Van der Sar set to play his final match for the club on Saturday it was clear that a new keeper was going to be needed.  In his press conference today SAF stated that the club liked the athleticism, composure, and youth of De Gea and see him as being capable of playing in a similar fashion to Van der Sar with the ability to cover the entire net and make the big saves.  The capture of De Gea means that the club felt he was the best option despite having also been strongly linked with signing Manuel Neuer from Shalke and Maarten Stekelenburg from Ajax.  The price for the 20 year old keeper is expected to be just a bit under 20 million pounds which is probably similar or lower then the price tag that the other two keepers would have demanded.  For fans of Athletico the move must be a painful one as they are already dealing with the news that Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan both intend to leave this summer.  That will leave the club in rough shape going forward and major change must be in store if they want to get back to the highest levels in Europe.   But this is a case of Athletico's loss being United's gain as De Gea will hopefully provide the club with solid goal keeping for many years to come.  Some United fans have already expressed doubt in the fact that such a young keeper can handle the pressure of playing at Old Trafford and being the number one for such a big club but I for one feel that his time at Athletico exposed him to a fair bit of pressure and he started the final of a European cup with them so his composure is not in question for me.  I fully expect him to find success where many senior keepers have failed and put his name in a line that contains Van der Sar and the Great Dane Peter Schmeichel.  For me this move is a great start to what should be a busy offseason that has not even begun yet.

The second report of the day really is far from being substantiated so far.  We all know that Ashley Young is at least a possibility to move this summer with both Chelsea, Liverpool and United being linked with the talented english winger.  If Young were to move to United he would join a group of wingers that already includes Nani, Park Ji-Sung, and Antonio Valencia.  He would provide an very good attacking option for the club similar to Nani and would allow Giggs to spend even more time in the central midfield which seems to suit him better as he has aged.  The day began with reports that Darren Bent would spend the international time with England trying to convince his team mate at Villa to stay for at least one year but as the day progressed the rumours of United signing him began to grow once more.  So if there is a race for Ashley Young then it appears that United have become the front runners at least for the moment.  It is clear that Liverpool are interested in Young as well but recently City have been rumoured to be in the running so until this deal is confirmed by the club I will hold off on getting excited about the potential of seeing him at Old Trafford.  Young is likely to cost in the area of 15 million pounds which in this day and age is not a crazy price for an England international and I think would be money well spent.

Along with the two rumours that took most of the headlines for today United are still regularly being linked with both Wesley Sneijder from Inter Milan as well as Jose Enrique from Newcastle.  Neither seems to be any where near a done deal but with with Sir Alex having promised to spend money these two potential signings may just be the start of a very busy summer.

United were not the only active team in the market today as Juventus confirmed that they had finalized a deal to sign Andrea Pirlo to a 3 year deal.  Pirlo had recently ended his 10 year stay at AC Milan which cleared the way for him to move to another club which was quickly speculated to be Juve.  This signing should provide a solid boost in the centre of the park for a team that has struggled of late and were disappointed to finish this season outside of European qualifying positions.  Being 32 years of age many are questioning the choice to sign Pirlo to a 3 year deal but for Juventus I am sure that they were willing to do what ever it takes to ensure that he would be playing for them for the good years that he has remaining.  Today Milan also agreed to a deal that would see them buy out the remained for the rights to Kevin-Prince Boateng from Genoa.  Boateng was bought by Genoa from Portsmouth this past summer when the club was forced to sell most of its players but he ended up at the San Siro instead as the clubs worked out an agreement which saw AC Milan become part owners.  Milan will now buy out the second half of his contract which will ensure that at least his immediate future is going to be with AC Milan.


















It is clear that despite the transfer window being a long ways away from opening the end of league seasons has ensured that the activity has already kicked off.  The rumours will now begin to swirl in earnest and it is likely that the De Gea transfer will not be the only big money deal to be confirmed in the coming weeks leading up to July 1st.