MONTHS of behind the scenes wheeler-dealing came to a head in just 15 hours when United announced the capture of Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves.
M.E.N. Sport has taken a look at what United can expect for their £50m outlay and the prospects for United fans look mouthwatering.
NANI
THE shirt letterers at Old Trafford next season will be able to retire if two of United's new signings become instant hits.
Following Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira to the 'Theatre of Dreams' is Luis Carlos Almeida da Cunha, otherwise known as Nani. Almost 18 months older than the Brazilian, Nani has spent his entire, albeit brief career, in Portugal.
Born on November 17, 1986 in Amadora, he first kicked a ball with Real de Massama, a minor league club in Sintra on the outskirts of Lisbon.
The next step was either Benfica or Sporting Lisbon and he chose to wear the green and white of the 2005 UEFA Cup runners-up. An attacking left side midfielder, he is seen as potentially a successor to Ryan Giggs.
And if Nani is half as successful as two other former Sporting wingers - Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo - then he should be some player. Indeed, there have been comparisons with Ronaldo. Adept on either wing, his assets are said to be his speed, trickery and the scoring of spectacular goals.
Given his first team debut at the age of 18, he is a fully fledged Portuguese international. Indeed, Nani was voted man of the match on his debut against Denmark.
He now has five caps and one goal. However Fergie may order him to cut-out his trademark backflip goal celebrations to protect his new asset.
Serie A champions Inter Milan were believed to be rival suitors for the youngster. This prompted Sporting president Soares Franco to insist Nani was not for sale.
He installed a reported buy out clause of 25 million euro into a new three-year contract.
He wore 18 for Sporting but is unlikely to take Paul Scholes' number just yet.
ANDERSON
Brazilian wonderkid with the full name of Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira.
And while Sir Alex Ferguson failed to prevent Ronaldinho joining Barcelona from Paris St Germain, he may just have bought the heir apparent to Brazil's number one superstar.
There are certainly plenty of similarities between the two South Americans.
Both were born in the city of Porto Alegre and both first made an impression with the Gremio club.
Ronaldinho eventually left for France and Anderson followed him to Europe to join Portuguese greats, FC Porto.
And while Ronaldinho twice went on to become FIFA World Player of the Year, his 19-year-old compatriot was voted Player of the Tournament at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2005.
After a semi-final man-of-the- match display against Holland, he lasted only 15 minutes of the Under 17 final before being carried off on a stretcher.
Mexico, who clearly knew Brazil's dangerman, won the game 3-0.
Just for good measure Anderson and Ronaldinho are both left side attacking midfielders-cum-strikers.
It may be early to make these comparisons but Anderson is poised to follow Ronaldinho into the Brazilian national side.
He has already been called up for the forthcoming Copa America game in Venezuela though won't feature for the former World Cup winners against England at Wembley.
Anderson signed for Porto in December 2005 after helping Gremio back into the top tier of Brazilian football.
His goal beat Nautico 1-0 to gain promotion, a match that saw FOUR Gremio players sent-off.
In September 2006 he made his Champions League debut against CSKA Moscow and also played against Arsenal.
Anderson leaves Porto on a high after helping Jose Mourinho's former club to a Portuguese Superliga and Cup double.
HARGREAVES
Owen Hargreaves is coming home, albeit to a home where he never lived! Much has been made of Hargreaves' Bolton roots when, in fact, he's the only member of the family not born in the UK.
His mother Margaret was born in Wales. So too was his eldest brother Darren.
Dad Colin and other sibling Neil are of Lancashire stock while Owen was born in Calgary, Canada on January 20, 1981.
Colin played for Bolton's youth team before his work took him to North America, initially to Toronto and then to Calgary.
Wanderers wanted to sign Darren, a promising teenage striker who represented Canada at youth level, only for injury to wreck his pro career.
So, it was that basketball playing Owen became the footballing star of the family.
He was recommended to Bayern Munich and at the age of 15 flew to Germany for trials. Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen were also interested but never got a look in. Bayern liked what they saw and signed him in the summer of 1997.
With his multi-national up-bringing and German residency, Hargreaves had the pick of countries to represent internationally.
He chose England and Howard Wilkinson gave him a first England Under-21 cap in August 2000.
Almost 12 months later he made his full debut against Holland and in doing so he became the first England international neither to have lived in England nor to have played club football there.
He made a Bundesliga debut for Bayern in August 2000 and the same season achieved a Champions League triumph over Real Madrid. He and Steve McManaman remain the only two Englishmen to have won a Champions League medal with a non-English side.
Domestic honours followed with Munich but so did some unfortunate injuries, including a broken leg last year.
Hargreaves' selection by England for the 2006 World Cup in Germany wasn't greeted with universal approval.
But he won over the notorious fans to become England's player of the tournament. He was also voted England's player of 2006.
Comments
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the purchase of these 3 will give fergie time to introduce the next batch of home grown talent in the next 2/3 years . we have the basis of a squad that can see us through the next 5/6 years.
these lads along with our established players plus our upcoming talent, should enable united to play to OUR strengths in europe. i can therefore look forward to next seasons cl with a lot more confidence. hopefully the cagey stuff we have witnessed these last 5 years has finally been consigned to the bin.
saw report in newspapers today that andersons status for work permit could be a problem..any late news on this situation..some reports are liking this situation to tevez problems
Patrick, the work permit issue is different to the problems around Tevez.
Last I heard, Anderson is unlikely to be granted a worl permit because he hasn't played enough international football but United are confident he will get one on appeal (presumably because he has been selected for Copa America and is so highly rated in world football)
The other stuff is about third-part involvement. This is about the deal which saw him joing Porto from Gremio, when he was part-owned by a separate Brazilian company. The deal between us and Porto is not in any doubt (bearing in mind it isn't actually finalised yet!) and I reckon the only reason the Prem are interested is because they made such an ungodly mess of the Tevez fiasco, so want to be seen to be extra-vigilant in any similar cases in the future.
The latest deals confirm Carlos Q's growing influence at OT. Considering that Fergie will stop in a couple of seasons, the long term investments in portughese based players may mean that CQ is designated to eventually take over from Fergie.
Ronaldo, Anderson and Nani will be a spectacle to watch, but I m a bit concerned about their defensive duties. No team today can compete with 3-4 players ball-watching when the opponents have the ball (Ask Brazil in the last world cup).
Joe;I think Hargreaves is a dynamic midfield defender.He should provide good cover for the back four and hopefully the attacking players will be free to express themselves.Anderson is said to be strong on the ball and we've needed that too.
Joe thats the beauty of buying them so young. Fergie will be able to mould them and I am sure playing with our experienced players, they will not neglect defensive duties. I know Ronaldo doesn't always track back, but I feel thats more to do with the pace he has and when we lose the ball, he stays forward while the others get back, as you need an outlet when the ball is won back. Or maybe I am being too kind and he should run his lazy ass back and help out. One thing for sure, he defends alot more then the likes of people like Ronaldhino,Kaka etc..
hi fellas ... all i wana say is i am as excited as u all but we have to be patient with these kids. Ronaldo took his time and i believe they will take couple of years too .... also i just hope Rossi gets his chance next season. he deserves it and i certainly believe he can be as good as rooney for us ...
I would say that the three players signed this week will help us enormously next season and in seasons to come. 3 fantastic signings. It is now time that we ship out some of the dead wood that is hanging around the club. Starting with Richardson, O'shea and Fletcher. That would then enable us to bring through some of our own young players. I have been wanting to see Rossi and Pique play in our first team for a couple of years now. Also, Eagles and Lee look like great players in there own right too. Its time we gave them the chance. I have to say next season is going to be extremely exciting. Especially if we sign another striker, which I think is highly likely. Just imagine a front line of Rossi, Rooney, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Ronaldo. Wow!
Hows buying the Leauge now? No one has mentioned it? Hypocrites
That's "League". Why is it not surprising that a City fan can't even spell the word? Been a long time hasn't it?
Anyway, how can you buy something you've already won?
I think the poor blue meant "Who's buying the league". Shame it has been a long time!!
well city fans getting jealous. We must be doing things right!
Fantastic signings 2 basically kids with a wonderful future. And Owen looks like a tough midfield player we need. We are now resembling a squad! We need a squad to survive the number of games we play in a season! You saw what happened to us in the other competitions (Champions League, FA Cup) - we will be stronger than this season! Bring on the world!
Oh dear, another bitter blue ! Shouldn't you be on your clubs thread plotting how you are going to become one of the biggest clubs in England like you keep telling us ? Discussing things like 'who would we prefer, Warnock or Jewell now that Ranieri has gone to Juventus' or 'what 2 bob players can we afford to get in next season' or 'how are we going to pay the rent next year when we have a half full stadium' but I guess you'll just talking about what happens at Utd as many of your lot do and regretting the day your dad took you to Maine Rd..... I'll expect to hear 5-1 some time soon.
Saviola anyone?
One Love, Moss Side...your logic is flawed! My whole family was red....most of my friends are red. I was brought up red but started supporting City when I was 7 and United started winning things... call me the eternal underdog but I know I follow a real football club not a brand that has become the toy of a multi-millionaire. Yes Shinwatra may buy City but it will be with his own money, which is more that can be said for Mr Glazer. Your club is effectively £500m in debt!
Joe just read an article where Anderson claims his best position is leftback in the Robero Carlos mould, now isn't that a mouthwatering prospect, it certainly throws up whole raft of new permutations. It also indicates he dosn't have a problem getting back to do his share of defending. Another report claims Spurs want both Saha and Smith and would do a deal for Berbatov I reckon go for it but toss in Richardson and take Bale as well, that would give us Sylvestre Gabby Evra Anderson and Bale that should just about cover leftback.
Is it August yet??????
Saviola? It's a possibility.I'm not against it.
Mr Vega,
Rather support a club mortgaged against its self than a club to be bought with money stolen from the impoverished Thai people. See you the Championship after next season.
How is it better from a club and fans point of view to have a multi millionare buy your club and treat it like a play thing ala Roman at Chelski. Lets be fair nothing Chelski have won has anything to do with the ckub itself or its 100 year history prior to Abramovic. While I was and still am against the Glazers takeover full stop you cant claim that there is less substance in United winning the league in the adverserty of paying for itself against a russian owned play thing that has spent a sum of 250 million on new toys. City deserve some success to be fair but hand on heart do you want it to be at the expense of your clubs history it would surely feel a little hollow. Dont get me wrong I am not advocating being 600 million in debt but the flip side of this for me means losing your clubs identity. I would have thought City fans who always bang on about the MAnchester identity and local roots of the club would have been dead against such a takeover. Seems I was wrong and that Citys fans would sell their souls to the devil for the slightest chance of success. Thats what 30 years will do to a man though.
Are there still bertie magoo's on here ? Mr Vega who shook your tree ? Aren't you lot in major debt ? I seem to remember your club going searching for hand me outs and consortium's to get with the way football has been going for years, big business ! While I don't condone what has happened at Utd, and will always be opposed to it, we were always going to be bought by somebody just a pity it was them that bought us. I wouldn't count your chickens regarding your takeover either as you should know being a City fan, things might just not happen ! As for the way you became a City fan, whats your point ? I grew up next door to Maine Rd and was dragged there at a very young age to the point where I couldn't take it anymore, I just made requests to go to derby's so I could see Utd. My comment was aimed at that ninkinpoop who calls himself ratherbedeadthanred, manchester (not london,asia,ireland,iraq,kenya) as I don't think he reads your clubs thread that often, the last time I looked you lot were from Italy, Milton Keynes, Yorkshire, Spain, USA, Tokyo, yourself being from Nottingham, and many others coming from STOCKPORT ? Now can you please concentrate on your clubs demise as you lot are wasting our time, we have more important thing to discuss like who we are going to buy next, and which trophies we should go all out to win next season !
Edski Vega, I quote you: 'I know I follow a real football club not a brand that has become the toy of a multi-millionaire. Yes Shinwatra may buy City but it will be with his own money'. Wouldn't that mean City becomes the toy of a multi-millionaire? Just checking, cos it looks like a glaring contradiction to me, and in only 2 sentences!