Van Gaal, Red Devils Still Say Vidal Is The Answer
Manchester United is just possible the biggest name in the footballing world, not to mention the world at large.
The Red Devils have their own brick-&-mortar stores -- not just airport shops, but megastores -- in key points of the globe. It's the only English club to compete with the Spanish and German giants in football success and blows them away in franchising ubiquity.
But recently, Manchester United have been suffering through a crisis or two. For now, let's just go local and just look at midfield.
Times have changed for the Reds. The evergreen manager, Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, and most of the legends -- Nemanja Vidić, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, and Ryan Giggs -- have left the club.
And now, does this sound like the sort of advice a manager needs to give to England's highest-profile player?
It seems so.
The problem with Manchester United midfield is they have too many players in the same position. The likes of Marauane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa, and Juan Mata are all center attacking midfielders, and to add more to this problem, Wayne Rooney, England's best striker, is in the mix with them.
New manager Louis van Gaal knows he needs to make choices for center midfield, but from what? The likes of Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher are so injury prone, while Tom Cleverly and Anderson are not consistent at all. Other midfielders like Jesse Lingard and Nick Powell lack the experience in first team football.
So, there is a great need for a box-to-box player in the lineup to support the defense as well as assist the attack.
Arturo Vidal is regarded as one of the best midfielders of this new generation. Although the Chilean had his moments, his was a relatively quiet World Cup campaign. But Vidal is highly praised for his work rate. His tackling ability and techniques, for example, are amazing. He's one of the cleanest tacklers in the game, a rather dying art these days. And he mixes them in with his ball skills quite nicely.
If there's a negative, it's his temper. And what with Rooney's short fuse, this could be a volatile mix at Old Trafford.
But no one can doubt Vidal's credentials:
- European Sports Media Team of the Year: 2014
- The best midfielder of the season by Goal.com: 2012–13
- Serie A Team of the Year: 2012–13
- Juventus Player of the Year: 2012–13
- All-star team of the Bundesliga: 2010–11
- Chilean player of the year 2010
Obviously, Juventus are keen to keep Vidal, with their star midfielder, Andrea Pirlo aging towards retirement. But they're up against a Red Devil money machine that has put him in its sights. The rumored transfer sum is in the neighborhood of €60million.
If this deal closes, then it would be the biggest transfer fee that United have ever paid for a player, exceeding their outlay of £37million for Juan Mata from Chelsea