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Couple papers are reporting this

Nani is the latest Manchester United player to contemplate his future at Old Trafford, with the Portugal winger considering the possibility of severing his ties with the club in the summer.

The 24-year-old is intrigued by the prospect of moving to Italy and has spoken at length with his family and his agent, Jorge Mendes, about whether a move to Serie A would be possible and if it is the right point of his career to try to make it happen.

His thinking is not based on any serious discontent with his current employers, with Nani relatively settled in Manchester and enjoying his new status as one of Sir Alex Ferguson's more important players, but he is coming to the end of his fourth season in England and has started to believe it might be time for a different challenge, if not this summer then almost certainly next.

Nani's belief is that he has done as well as anyone could have been expected to filling the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo's departure and that a Premier League or European Cup winners' medal at the end of this season would leave him with little more to achieve at United.

Ferguson has talked him out of wanting to leave once before, in the 2010 January transfer window, but the player of then and now are vastly different in terms of their worth to the side. Nani's development into a wide player of penetration and confidence has led to him scoring 10 times and accumulating 15 assists this season, in contrast to his earlier days when there were only sporadic flashes of the talent that persuaded United to pay about £18m to sign him from Sporting Lisbon.

The winger, who has been declared fit for the Champions League tie against Marseille after recovering ahead of schedule from a gashed left leg, is currently playing the best football of his life, to the point where there is a firmly held belief at Old Trafford that he should be a realistic contender for the player of the season shortlist.

The Guardian broke the story of United signing the then 20-year-old Nani in 2007 and has spoken to the same sources in Portugal to establish that 12 months since signing a new four-year contract at United, he is deliberating over several scenarios depending on what happens before the end of the season. Importantly, he is willing to wait to see what pans out, in contrast to the way Ronaldo made it a personal mission to leave for Real Madrid.

In that regard similarities can be made with the cases of Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic, who were both tempted by moves to Spain before concluding that they would be better off staying in Manchester and signing new contracts. Wayne Rooney's dispute with the club in October was a more complex issue, but the fact all three decided to remain at Old Trafford is a reflection of the club's standing in the game and Ferguson's powers of persuasion when it comes to convincing players that the only direction after United is down.

Nani has won the European Cup, the Club World Club, two Premier League titles and two Carling Cups at United, and is someone Ferguson would desperately want to keep.

Even with Antonio Valencia returning from a broken leg, United are so short of options in wide positions that they are giving serious consideration to bidding for Aston Villa's Ashley Young in the summer. Ryan Giggs, at 37, has to be used sparingly while Gabriel Obertan and Bébé have struggled to impress and Park Ji-sung is not a natural winger.

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Normally you are the first person to point out that an article concerning a transfer story has no quotes

Anyone can see that now Vidic and Evra have signed new deals they have to find a new Man Utd player to do a transfer rumour on every couple weeks

Double lol @ the story at least not putting a move to Spain emulate Ronaldo or nothing some sh*t story writers

:rolleyes:

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Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard will undergo a knee operation on Thursday which will rule him out for five weeks.

The 26-year-old, signed in January's transfer window from Norwegian side Aalesund for a fee of around £3.5million, was forced to pull out of a reserve game against Blackpool last week.

Sir Alex Ferguson has recalled Ben Amos from a loan spell at Oldham to provide additional cover for Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak while Lindegaard, who has made two appearances for United's first-team, is out.

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..........................

its one of those thing thats probably gonna happen sooner or later,

whether it happens in the timeline they've outlined or not, i dunno.

he might decide to ride the wave of being one of the 1st names on the team sheet and just enjoy his time at the club, or he could realise that he's in a position of power right now, and can practically chose his destination.something that he'll lose if his form drops or his knocked out the team by Valencia or whoever else

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Guest M12 Part 2

i just hope wayne rooney leaves for 50 mill this summer so we can buy a central midfielder and a couple others and let the youngers come through

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if we sold Rooney this summer, what makes you think the money would then go into the transfer kitty,

and i beg ppl start looking at the big picture,

Ronaldo wanted out, Tevez ended up walking out, if Rooney was to leave this summer it'd look like he's walked out as well,

what would that to our ability to be able to attract the players we'd want in the future,

SAF is already reluctant to try to get into transfer bidding wars with other big teams coz compared to certain others, Manchester isn't seen as an attractive option for players next to some other cities.

whatever you think about him personally is your business and your entitled to it, but you got to remember when trying to attract top players, having top players already is an important factor.

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Guest M12 Part 2

I dont like Rooney personally although i acknowledge hes a very good player.

/

Manchester United has no pulling power outside the borders of the UK tbh. We are only attractive to young players who need a platform and English players. Selling Wayne Rooney wont change any of that. The truth of the matter is since Ronny left especially, Real Madrid, Barcelona and the two Milan teams are a far greater draw to players who have already proved themseleves to be Top class.

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Manchester United has no pulling power outside the borders of the UK tbh. We are only attractive to young players who need a platform and English players. Selling Wayne Rooney wont change any of that. The truth of the matter is since Ronny left especially, Real Madrid, Barcelona and the two Milan teams are a far greater draw to players who have already proved themseleves to be Top class.

:lol:

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Manchester United has no pulling power outside the borders of the UK tbh. We are only attractive to young players who need a platform and English players. Selling Wayne Rooney wont change any of that. The truth of the matter is since Ronny left especially, Real Madrid, Barcelona and the two Milan teams are a far greater draw to players who have already proved themseleves to be Top class.

:lol:

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fergie hit with 5 match ban

A Football Association tribunal has given Sir Alex Ferguson a five-match touchline ban for his comments about referee Martin Atkinson.

The Manchester United manager was found guilty of improper conduct for criticising Atkinson's display in the loss at Chelsea earlier this month.

"You want a fair referee, or a strong referee anyway - and we didn't get that," Ferguson told MUTV.

The ban starts on 22 March and includes the FA Cup tie against Manchester City.

The Independent Regulatory Commission's sanction is made up of a three-game ban for the Atkinson remarks and the activation of a two-game suspended ban that Ferguson was given last year for suggesting referee Alan Wiley was not "fit enough" to keep up with play.

The three-man panel also fined the 69-year-old manager £30,000.

The reasons for the decision will be sent to Ferguson in the next 24 hours and he then has 48 hours to decide if he wants to appeal. This is why the sanction does not start until after Saturday's home league game against Bolton Wanderers.

Should he accept the punishment, the Old Trafford boss will have to watch the Premier League games against West Ham, Fulham, Everton and Arsenal from the stands, as well as the semi-final against local rivals City at Wembley.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/9426939.stm

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(Analysis) Michael Carrick v Marseille: Effective from the deep

Michael-Carrick-007.jpg

Michael Carrick isn’t Mr Popular any more – but his performance for Manchester United in their 2-1 victory over Marseille on Tuesday night was more than encouraging. Below is a breakdown of his 90 minutes; looking at his passing distribution, his positional discipline and another asset of his game that goes largely unnoticed – the distances he can cover.

1. Passing remains the key asset of his game

passing.png?w=259&h=244

<Figure 1> Manchester United did struggle in parts at Old Trafford but, at times, their midfield was excellent with the ball. Wayne Rooney was instrumental, and was complimented well by the two central midfielders, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick. Carrick’s chalkboard on the left is impressive; what you can immediately interpret is his willingness to release the wingers, as shown by the many diagonal arrows to the side of the pitch.

passing-distribution1.png?w=261&h=229

Passing Distribution

<Figure 2> Much has been spoken of how Carrick is suited to the three-man midfield; but with Fletcher absent, his only central partner was Paul Scholes. He thrived alongside him, as shown by the passing distribution (the highest in the match) between the two above. Carrick also linked up well with Chris Smalling.

Chalkboard via Total Football App

Passing Distribution statistics courtesy of uefa.com

2. The Short, Back and Sides Myth

The Carrick ‘only passes short, backwards and sidewards’ criticisms are simply inconclusive and rather narrow-minded. First of all, it is absolutely necessary in the modern game that a team has possession – passing the ball back to defenders and making short passes to your team mate is crucial in order to start moves. And, judging by the chalkboard at the very above, he does in the forward direction several times.

medium-passes.png?w=222&h=232

Medium-range passes

<Figure 3> As for those arguing that he only makes short passes, they can be proved wrong by this table. Carrick made four successful ‘long’ passes (out of seven) and 30 successful ‘medium’ range (by uefa.com definition) passes here at Old Trafford.

Medium-range Passing statistics courtesy of uefa.com

3. Disciplined in the Deep

average-position.png?w=320&h=177

Carrick's and Scholes' "rectangle" overlaps

<Figure 4> Another thing that Michael Carrick offers is that he is more tactically and defensively disciplined than, say, Darren Fletcher or Darron Gibson. As you can see from the diagram, he and Scholes were in very holding similar positions allowing Wayne Rooney to play with much success as a trequartista.

heat-map1.png?w=320&h=169

<Figure 5> Above shows Carrick’s positional discipline again, showing many of his touches of the ball in a deep position and his new roe as a deep-lying playmaker.

‘Heat Map’ and ‘Average Positions’ via ESPN GameCast

4. Covering large distances

distance-covered.png?w=221&h=229

Distance Covered

<Figure 6> It is pleasing to see Michael Carrick, despite playing so deep, covering such vast distances on the pitch. In this game, we saw Carrick acting as cover for either Paul Scholes or one of the defenders. This isn’t a contradiction of the last point, either. He did stay deep but drifted whenever needed. This was, not just by observation, one of Michael Carrick’s best performances this season.

Distance Covered statistics courtesy of uefa.com

http://manutd24.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/analysis-michael-carrick-v-marseille-effective-from-the-deep/

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@GiuseppeRossi22 - how u doing bro?? Seeing you still scoring goals over there with the lil left wand!! #paintbrushleftfoot !

@rioferdy5 - my man..great to hear from u. things r goin well..if i wanna eat everyday, thats what i gotta do right? lol

@GiuseppeRossi22 - that's right!!! I hope u have improved at 2 touch...me + scholesy are still the benchmark, schooled u well though bro!

@rioferdy5 - cant believe u mentioned that..wont tell the truth to all twitterworld. lets just say #RossiTaughtU (Blame Game, Kanye's album)

@GiuseppeRossi22 - during your time at Man utd I helped u 're-upholster' your left foot with the schooling at 2 touch!! #blamegame

@rioferdy5 - man, me and scholesy were always on top. u just had "too many urkles on ur team, thats why ur wins-low". #gottalovekanye

looool

rossi's a joker

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Guest M12 Part 2

I don't know why there's such a movement to prove carrick is good. Why are guys in the media and the stats gurus all acting like carrick is their mum and someone called her a slag.

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