First Rossi, Now Alan Smith. Carlos Tevez Better Bring Some Friends
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by Ea34
Man, Carlos Tevez must be better than anybody thought! But he is still just one guy, right?
A day after sending Italian striker Giuseppe Rossi to Villareal for £6.75 million ($13.5 million), Manchester United has agreed to sell another member of its attack, Alan Smith, to Newcastle United in a deal worth £6 million ($12 million). In a previous post, written prior to these two transfers, I’d commented that ManU lacked depth at the striker position. Following these departures, it appears that Manchester United will be hitching its wagon to a rather small group of world-class attackers, without a whole lot of experience in support. The departures of Rossi and Smith leave United with an attack force led by the world-class duo of Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, with Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer behind them. Saha is a world-class striker, but there has been speculation that the Frenchman may, in the not too distant future, seek a move to a club where he will be provided the opportunity to be primary attacking option. Solskjaer, who turned 34 in February, is not getting any younger and has been plagued by serious knee injuries in recent years.
With the question marks surrounding both Saha and Solskjaer, it would serve United well to bolster its collection of strikers, a problem that not only has yet to be addressed, but has been compounded by BOTH of the club’s young, but experienced strikers. With both Rossi and Smith gone, United’s most viable option at striker after Saha and Solskjaer becomes the young Brazilian, Anderson. A recent transfer from Porto, Anderson is certainly an abundantly gifted footballer, but he’s neither experienced in the English Premier League, nor is he a pure striker in the mold of the club’s four previously mentioned attackers. It must be noted that, given his financial resources as well as his football acumen, Alex Ferguson could very well have an ace up his sleeve in the form of another new striker in addition to Tevez, but that is hardly a safe assumption to make right now.
Granted, a healthy portion of Manchester United’s goal-scoring is provided by its midfield stars, like Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Also, this trio should receive some help in the scoring department from the newly acquired Portuguese winger Nani, as well as Chris Eagles. The problem is this- none of these gifted midfielders will be able to move up front and fill the holes that would be created in the event of a rash of injuries to the United strikers.
ManU had better hope that Carlos Tevez brings some friends!
