Thiago Alcantara to Bayern Munich?

 

The Spanish Under-21’s golden boy, Thiago Alcantara’s summer of speculation has taken another turn this week with Pep Guardiola publicly declaring that he wants to bring the midfielder to Bayern Munich.

Although all summer we have heard nothing from Thiago himself in regards to his future, reports are suggesting that the Italian born midfielder will reunite with Guardiola.

It does appear that now Manchester United and Bayern Munich will fight it out for the 22-year-old’s signature but which club will attract him more?

Looking at Bayern Munich, they are European and German champions with a squad that has only been improved by the arrival of midfielder Mario Götze and manager Guardiola. The draws to the German club for Thiago are first of all an opportunity to work with his former manager again. Pep Guardiola was a huge success and a very popular character at Barcelona. Secondly Thiago would be joining the best team in Europe and his chances of winning silverware would be very high.

There is however a reason why the Spaniard may not choose Bayern Munich. The reason that Thiago wishes to leave Barcelona is to gain more playing time but will he really be able to achieve this at Bayern Munich? 

With central midfielders such as Javi Martinez, Toni Kroos, Luiz Gustavo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Götze to contend with Thiago could see himself still struggling to make the starting 11.

Now let’s look at what could bring him to Manchester United. First of all the opportunity to work with Spanish under-21 team mate and friend, David De Gea who left a message for Thiago on the match ball he received for scoring a hat trick in the European under-21 Championship Final. The Manchester United goalkeeper who cheekily wrote ‘Nos Vemos en Manchester’ which translates to ‘see you in Manchester’ would like to see the Barcelona midfielder come to Old Trafford.

Secondly, I feel that Thiago will be able to obtain more starting 11 opportunities at United. With Michael Carrick being the Red’s only consistent central midfielder in the starting 11, Thiago would slip straight into the first 11 and would probably be a key player. I feel that United need him more than Bayern and could offer him what he wants in terms of minutes on the pitch. 

Also after the Lucas Moura fiasco of last summer if United loose out on another top talent, the Old Trafford faithful will be very disgruntled and concerned.

 

Tell me what you think…

 

Thiago Alcantara and Kevin Strootman to strengthen Manchester United midfield

All eyes are on 22-year-old Barcelona midfielder, Thiago Alcantara, after a number of impressive displays in the Under-21 European Championships in Israel. The Barcelona starlet who had been a stand out performer in the tournament, saved his best for the final as he scored a first half hat-trick to put Spain on their way to beating Italy.

It seems as though Thiago has enjoyed being the centre piece of the team and has really flurished as captain of Spain’s Under-21’s side. The son of Brazil World Cup winner Mazinho, Thiago has shown the world what he is capable of and Manchester United who have been long admirers of the Spaniard are looking to swoop this summer.

With competition at Barcelona being so intense, Thiago has found it hard to break into the first team with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas keeping him out. It has surfaced this summer that the initial buy out clause of  £77million in Thiago’s contract has dropped to £15million – which opens him up to be the bargain of the window.

Thiago is now tipped to be David Moyes’ first signing as Manchester United Manager as he was an admirer of the Spaniards talents for many years as Everton boss.

Speculation also grew when on the match ball – that Thiago recieved for his hat-trick in the European Under-21s Championship final – was a message from United goalkeeper David De Gea. The message read ‘Nos Vemos en Manchester’ which translates to ‘see you in Manchester’. Could this be a result of a conversation between the two? Or is it just simply a joke between team mates. Either way Thiago unlike Cesc Fabregas has not denied the rumours which could indicate that a move to Old Trafford to secure first team football is on the cards. Is this finally the replacement for Paul Scholes?

It looks like United are also poised to capture another national team captain. Kevin Strootman (23) who captained the Holland Under-21s side in the European Champions is set to move to Old Trafford this summer.

There are a number of clubs queing for the PSV Eidhoven midfielder, including Napoli as well as clubs in France and Russia but Strootmans agent, Chiel Dekker has revealed that England attracts him.

“He is focussed on England because that would suit his style,” said Dekker.

“He has the physique, the character and the fitness for it. I am certainly not afraid he could handle that level.”, he added.

Manchester Uniteds Chief Scout, Jim Lawlor watched Strootman play in Israel for the Holland Under-21s side and it is said that he liked what he saw.

Strootman has also played for the senior Holland international side, with 18 caps and one goal as well as captaining Holland once.

There are reports already coming out that this is a done deal but we will have to wait and see. It’s thought that a fee in the region of around £15million would be enough for PSV Eindhoven to let their star man go.

To sum up…

If the two players above do sign for Manchester United this summer, I see the Reds dominating English football for many years to come.

Although the two mentioned players are both central midfielders, they both play a completely different game.

Thiago is the flare player of the two, a player in the mould of the likes of Juan Mata, David Silva, Santi Carzola, etc. He will find the gap between the midfield and the defense, he will both create and score goals and will add a faster pace to the passing – something which has been missing since Paul Scholes began to age. Many fans will question this signing as United already have Shinji Kagawa in that role but Thiago is a huge and young talent and for such a low price, passing up on signing him would be a big mistake.

Kevin Strootman is a different type of midfielder. I wouldn’t call him a defensive midfielder (although his tackling ability is superb) I would say he is more of a Roy Keane type player – in his early days. He can do almost anything: tackle, pass, shoot, dribble – he is more of an all-in-one central midfielder, as was Keane.

If United managed to sign Thiago and Strootman it would be huge. They are two of the hottest prospects around and would shape the Manchester United midfield for a decade – I think this could be something similar to the Scholes and Keane combination, with Carrick still controlling the game and using his experience to coach the new generation.

Possible line-up for next season:

De Gea, Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Strootman, Carrick, Thiago, Rooney, Kagawa, Van Persie

Just to add, I’m not sure when it happened or if it means anything but a video of Thiago signing a United shirt has surfaced. Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoUSGPcVAQ0

Tell me what you think…

England Under-21s, what could have been

After losing every game of the group stage of the European Under-21 Championship- with the final hammer blow coming last night, with a 1-0 defeat to hosts Israel.

England managed to score just one goal over the three games in Israel- coming from the penalty spot, with Craig Dawson tucking it away.

With no goals being scored from open play and with not a single point to their name, questions are beginning to be asked about just what went wrong.

England Under-21s Manager Stuart Pearce has not held back and has put the blame on his players. He told Sky Sports “The bottom line is you expect your players to do the basics, hold the ball up, work back into position, if you’ve asked them to defend on the halfway line in respect to the opposition corner then you don’t expect to stand in your technical area and tell them eight or nine times every time there’s a corner; its basic football knowledge.”

I have to agree with Stuart Pearce. Compared to how domminant, organised and exciting the Under-21s were in the qualifying rounds- at the tournament they were a shadow of the team that went nine games unbeaten before the European Championship.

Unfortunately it seems as though the Under-21s have the same thing that the seniour squad suffer from – a phobia of performing when it matters. You could say that the side have been their own downfall – after going nine games unbeaten in impressive style- the under-21s attracted a lot of media attention.

The English public were now aware that they had a strong under-21s side to support, which only piled pressure onto the youngsters. I feel the problem was not that England didn’t try hard enough- it’s that they tried too hard. This is the same problem that the senior squad faces.

Just like Stuart Pearce, I’m not going to defend the players or make excuses for them because ultimately they were poor and under-performed. I do feel however that the squad could have been much stronger had England taken some of their more experienced players.

The likes of Jack Wilshere, Jack Rodwell, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Wellbeck, keiran Gibbs, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling were all eligable to play at the tournament but none did. I can’t say that an under-21s team with these players in it would have won the European Championship but I certainly don’t think they would have crashed out of their group with three straight defeats. With Spain selecting players such as Thiago Allacantra, David De Gea, Isco, Tello and Morata – did England really field their best possible side?

 

Now here is the team that suffered a 1-0 defeat to Israel last night:

Steele, Clyne, Wisdom, Lees, Rose, Ince, Shelvey, Zaha, Mceachran, Chalobah, Wickham

And here is what that team could have looked like:

Buttland, Jones, Smalling, Caulker, Gibbs, Cleverly, Wilshere, Rodwell, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wellbeck, Sturridge – also Raheem Sterling

 

Just for the record I would like to point out that the likes of Wilfred Zaha, Tom Ince, Shelvey, Wisdom, Henderson are all brilliant players and would be in the squad if I picked it, I am just pointing out alternatives.