Manchester United Transfer News: Toni Kroos Failure Rued by Paul Scholes | Bleacher Report
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Manchester United legend Paul Scholes wishes the club had signed Toni Kroos, indicating the club's recent acquisitions of Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw aren't "anything like the quality" of Bayern Munich's controlling midfielder.
Scholes, who is branded the "no-nonsense" pundit in his
column, praised Kroos' multi-faceted game in the latest submission to the betting site:
I love watching Toni Kroos. I think he&s brilliant. I love the way he controls the ball and controls games. He can really play a pass and has superb vision. Kroos is capable of scoring goals too, from outside the box on either foot. I just wish Man United had signed him (Yes, it is good to see United bringing in new players, but they haven&t signed anything like the quality of Kroos).
United were linked with Kroos throughout the
transfer window, and up until recently, they looked to be interested in the 24-year-old who has failed to agree a new contract at the Allianz Arena. Louis van Gaal was said to have ended the Red Devils' previous interest in Kroos before bringing Herrera to the club, reported by
of the Guardian.
of the Daily Mail believes Kroos is now ready to link up with Real Madrid, a transfer also reported by Germany-based pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft:
Yes, Toni Kroos's agent talking with Real (as I told you 6 weeks ago). Understand Bayern will only be in for Vidal IF Kroos leaves& Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft)
They have tried hard, Paul...“: Man United should have tried harder to sign Kroos, says Scholes:
”& Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft)
Scholes' comments suggest United should have taken the opportunity to sign Kroos more seriously. It's a sentiment many supporters will follow, especially as Herrera's name isn't as internationally recognised as the German star. It's likely the club could have snapped Kroos up for a similar fee to the &28.85 million paid for Herrera, a player who missed out on Spain's World Cup squad, per .
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Guillem Balague, Spanish football expert and Bleacher Report UK guest columnist, outlines Herrera as the "natural successor" to Andres Iniesta at international level in his article for the . While United fans will hope he can replace the Barcelona man with similar quality for Spain, there's no denying he'll have to quickly prove himself at Old Trafford if the doubters are to be silenced.
Blessed with an avid work rate, excellent vision and the versatility United need in midfield, Herrera has the ability to be a star in the Premier League.
Scholes' comments continue to draw attention after he criticised Jack Wilshere, per . His words are given more emphasis due to the relative infancy of his media career. This is not a man who has traditionally spoken about his feelings surrounding United and wider football matters, so now he is beginning to open up, people are listening.
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Many supporters will be pleased with the club's recent signings. Van Gaal's era is yet to officially begin and he has already brought in two players to help address major squad shortcomings, the same total of new personnel acquired in David Moyes' entire reign. Both Herrera and Shaw offer proven quality with the promise to become world-renowned stars, certainly an exciting prospect for the club's future.
It is likely Van Gaal will continue to strengthen after his duties with the Netherlands are complete. His substitutions continue to win matches for the Dutch at the World Cup, providing hope that United will soon return to the never-say-die attitude that Sir Alex Ferguson made so famous during his legendary tenure as boss.
Scholes' comments certainly point toward what could have been with Kroos, but at least the club is now moving in the right direction at the onset of a busy summer period.
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can give you the edge you need to get ahead.Wes Thomas: Had goal disallowed and was sent off
Gary Rowett was happy with Birmingham's performance in their 0-0 draw against Cardiff but rued Wes Thomas' sending-off and his earlier disallowed goal.
Substitute Thomas had a close-range goal disallowed for offside before compounding his own misery with a silly 90th-minute red card for raising his hand to defender Sean Morrison.The visitors, without a Sky Bet Championship away win all season, edged the first half but were pegged back in the second as Birmingham tried unsuccessfully to follow Tuesday's win over Watford with another home victory.Rowett, who recently replaced Lee Clark, said: "I'm disappointed with the sending off. I haven't seen the incident again so I'll have to watch it before I make any judgement."Wes' reaction suggested he was a bit disappointed to have let one or two people down with what happened."There was no real need for him to raise his hand and it meant four or five minutes of hanging on rather than trying to get the winner."Rowett was much more frustrated with the earlier disallowed goal."I'm not disappointed with the performance," he said. "It's a point and a step in the right direction as we look to build on the games we've had so far."I think for our goal, Wes was level. He was not offside at all. It was a very easy one to give, at the back post. It should have been a goal and then the game would have been different."They got it wrong. It was quite clearly onside."Goalkeeper Darren Randolph was arguably Birmingham's man of the match as he impressively denied Cardiff three times in the first period, producing saves from Federico Macheda, Adam Le Fondre and a deflection off his team-mate Paul Robinson.Macheda saw the flag raised as he fired in after a scramble in the box early in the second half, but Rowett's introduction of Thomas and Demarai Gray from the bench turned the game in Birmingham's favour.Livewire Gray caused the visitors headaches and he had two or three half-chances, before whipping in a cross from the right in the 64th minute which Thomas smashed home only to be denied by the assistant referee.Cardiff boss Russell Slade disagreed with his opposite number's assessment of that offside decision, but conceded his own side's disallowed goal was the right decision."I think we should have drawn first blood in the match," he said."We had two one-on-ones in the first half and should have taken one."In the second half it was a bit end-to-end with two offside goals which were actually offside."It's a clean sheet away from home though and that's important. It shows definite progress."Slade dismissed any suggestion Morrison may have exaggerated Thomas' infringement by revealing the defender has a sore eye."It's swollen up and he's struggling to see," he said. "It's probably a bit bloodshot so he clearly caught him. He's a big lump of a centre-half but he needed treatment."Eddie Howe: Was happy to see Ritchie get on the scoresheet
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Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe singled out Matt Ritchie for praise in his side's 1-1 draw with south coast rivals Brighton in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday.Ashley Barnes scored a superb solo second-half effort to cancel out Ritchie's opener in the Bournemouth forward's first start of the season.
Ritchie had fired a 20-yard strike past Tomasz Kuszczak in the 29th minute before Barnes netted his fourth goal of the campaign in style in the 55th minute, swivelling and then lashing home an equaliser.
Bournemouth had the clearer of the chances in the match and Brett Pitman should have scored just prior to Barnes' leveller when played clear by Ritchie. But Kuszczak rushed from his line to deny Pitman from 15 yards.
Kuszczak also had to scramble the ball off the line as Ritchie almost doubled his tally in the first half from Ryan Fraser's dangerous left-wing cross.
The draw means Bournemouth will enter December without a win from the previous month and manager Howe rued the absence of top-scorer Lewis Grabban who was ill.
"Whenever you are without your best players you miss them, especially when you have a squad that is quite small without Championship experience," said Howe.
Howe was, however, delighted to see his key man Ritchie back at his best.
"He surprised me not in terms of his performance because in training he has been absolutely electric but in terms of his fitness levels. To be able to play 90 minutes surprised me," Howe said.
"It was a great time to score and he is a real threat from set-plays."
Howe said of Brighton's equaliser: "We always needed a second goal. We did not front screen the striker from the throw-in, which is disappointing from our point of view, but it is a great goal, so credit to him.
"I felt the positive was that we did look like we were going to score and in the previous home games we had struggled to break teams down."
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Steve Clarke felt that West Brom created enough chances to equalise against Arsenal after watching his side lose 2-1 at the Hawthorns.
Arsenal were controlling the game but, after Per Mertesacker was sent off and James Morrison scored the penalty that followed his tackle, the Baggies were handed a lifeline back into the match.
However, despite creating good chances late on through Romelu Lukaku, Shane Long and Gareth McAuley, amongst others, West Brom were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority as Arsenal held on.
Clarke admitted that, without the penalty decision, his side would have struggled to get back into the game, but felt that the Baggies created more than enough opportunities to have expected at least a draw.
"Obviously with the penalty decision came the red card, and I don't think anyone could argue with that," Clarke said.
"From there, with 11 against 10 we had a right go. We created chances through good football and we created chances through just getting the ball into the box.
"Chances fell to people that you would normally expect to score. Perhaps today just wasn't our day."
West Brom remain in eighth position, but Clarke insists he will not allow the season to end tamely.
He said: "If you had asked me that after the West Ham game last week, I would have said yes.
"The response was good today. The performance today deserved to get something from the game. I don't think you can say we took it easy or didn't display a determination to get something from the game."