21 August 2008

Silvestre v Heinze

Alex Ferguson would have rather slit his wrists than sell Gabriel Heinze to Liverpool last summer, but was more than willing to let Mikael Silvestre go to Arsenal yesterday.

I had thought that Arsenal would strengthen their backline over the summer, but it looked as if Wenger had ruled out a new centerback two months ago. It’s not surprising he’s had a change of heart or that he’s bought another Frenchman, but what’s surprising is where the signing came from.

There’s so much fun that can be read into this. Does Ferguson think Silvestre is past it, and can’t hurt his side (or help Arsenal’s)? Does he not even consider Arsenal a threat to his team’s title chances? Or does he just hate Liverpool so much he’d never sell a player to them, whereas Arsenal just doesn’t raise enough enmity?

United hadn’t sold a player to the Arse since Brian Kidd in 1974, while the last player transferred between United and Liverpool was Phil Chisnall ten years before Kidd.

And don’t think I’ve forgotten Silvestre’s brace against Liverpool in Benitez’s first season.

I am very, very curious to see how this turns out. My initial guess is that Ferguson’s just a prick about all things Liverpudlian, but that’s an easy guess.

3 comments :

Manton said...

Just because it's the easy answer doesn't mean it's not the right one, too. Cause it surely is.

Anonymous said...

Silvestre has been taking salary for nothing for the last year or so. He's just dead wood in Man U team. I guess this was good business for him and Fergi. This way, Silvestre will get some games to play so that he feels he's earning a living playing football and Man U is not burdened by his salary. Another important factor would be he'd not improve the Arsenal team by playing for him in Fergi's opinion. This was obviously not true in the case of Heinze for LFC as he'd have definitely improved our team.

It does not matter anyway to us though.

Heard a rumor that Quaresma is being touted as the next LFC signing in the next 3 days according to some portuguese paper. Hope its true. :)

Anonymous said...

Q is a talent for sure...highlights of him only using the outside of his foot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNoFJTOEUPg

He's cocky and can be lazy too. I'm okay with cocky, in fact, a little bit would help, but I'd be more concerned about his often negative attitude. LFC thought about getting him last year, interviewed him and decided he wasn't worth the risk.

From an interview:

Quaresma: You must be talking about Liverpool? Well yes their representative came to me, and we spoke. They did not reject me, I believe they wanted to kind of change my role; they wanted me to be less expressive on the pitch and be more aggressive.

Alberto de Silva: What is wrong with that, after all most clubs would want to see you doing less of the tricks and more of the work. Scolari didn't like it that is why you upset him in Switzerland.

Quaresma: I didn't upset him, I just tried something different and it didn't work. If Liverpool had come to me and said they wanted me to be me, I would've moved, they are doing something special and their fans are incredible, I know of no other team with fans who care so much. I remember Fernando Torres scoring against us and the noise was defening. They were incredible.

He's a diver as well. I'd still pull the trigger for 15-16 though.

-jp2