United have missed out on signing Thiago Alcantara, who completed his transfer from Barcelona to Bayern Munich on Sunday for £21.6M
Central midfield is the area in need of recruitment in light of Paul Scholes' retirement at the end of the 2012/13 season, Darren Fletchers illness, Andersons injury problems and inconsistency, Cleverley’s consistency and Kagawa’s newness.
For a share of United Fans, Thiago Alcantara represented so much of what United’s midfield requires presently. Attacking flair, creativity, defence splitting passes and crucially Goals. This was exemplified by his recent hat-trick for Spain in their U-21 European Championship final victory.
Guardiola has said that Thiago was the ‘only’ player he wanted, that Thiago is a ‘special’ player, and that he can play in four or five positions, and will add something different to the Bayern team. Guardiola, in negotiations, must have acceded to Alcantara’s demands for a regular place in the Bayern team. After all, that is why Alcantara was so determined in his efforts to secure a move away from Barcelona in the first place. Praise indeed from Alcantara’s former mentor, the man who knows him best.
Once again though, it’s a transfer set-back for Man Utd. It follows in a long line of purchase failures, when indeed, the opposite looked certain. There was Eden Hazard (who eventually went to Chelsea) and Lucas Moura (who eventually went to PSG) just last summer. Before that, it was Alexis Sanchez who escaped to Barcelona, and Samir Nasri who decided on Manchester City. The one recent success we can lay claim to is Robin Van Persie.
It’s disappointingly back to the somewhat familiar drawing board.