One minute he pledges his future to Inter Milan, the next he demands his ‘dream’ move to Manchester United and the respective club representatives seem to be locked in a game of verbal tennis too. Sir Alex Ferguson has seemingly expressed interest in Wesley on some occasions, on others he suggests otherwise.
On the 15th July Sir Alex suggested: “The situation is that there is no real interest in Wesley Sneijder at this moment in time for a lot of reasons.’’
To me it is fairly obvious that the great Scott was referring to Sneijder huge wage demands reported to be around £200,000-a-week along with a hefty but maybe justified price tag of around £30million.
The purpose of this article is to weigh up the pro’s and con’s to Manchester United of signing the Dutch international and although I’m sure most United fans don’t need convincing it seems Sir Alex and Manchester United do.
I’ve touched upon his wage and transfer fee in the most brief of encounters as no one really seems to know exactly or vaguely accurately how much Wesley earns a week and what his price tag is so I will move swiftly on to his age, 27.
There are two sides to every story or debate and Sneijder’s age is an interesting one. At the ripe but not yet fragile age of twenty-seven Sneijder might just boast the perfect experience mixed with enough years ahead of him to repay his handsome transfer fee.
It’s seems clear that United don’t need young players in midfield as Brazilian Anderson becomes ever present while Tom Cleverly started United’s opening Barclays Premier League win against West Bromwich Albion and much is raged about French starlet Paul Pogba who at the age of 18 looks a player for the future.
But maybe it is youth rather than experience that Sir Alex is after. If it is experience then let me tell you Wesley Sneijder is exactly what United are looking for.
Firstly, he like United has what I like to call: ‘Treble Fever’ having achieved this with Inter Milan in 2009/10 where he was integral in Inter securing Serie A, Coppa Italia and the Uefa Champions League, he’s won La Liga with Real Madrid in 2007/2008 and played in a World Cup final in 2010.
Having won everything there is to win at Inter it’s time for a new challenge for the Dutchman and with United looking to replace their darling Paul Scholes, Old Trafford seems a good fit.
Sneijder’s ability to spot a pass and score goals is undeniably first class meaning he certainly fits the bill in terms of creativity and experience as a replacement for the retired Scholes for Sir Alex but would United be a good fit for Sneijder?
Having won domestic titles in two of the three major leagues in world football where else would he be looking but England and who better than the Champions?
As it seems at early glance Ashley Young will be operating not as he did in the latter stages of his Aston Villa career – through the middle but wide, the only problem I can see is that Sneijder although certainly capable to receive the ball deep and dictate play prefers to operate further up the pitch, behind the striker/s where he can score and create goals. This of course is where Wayne Rooney resides.
Rooney has been a magnificent provider for Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and co playing a deeper role in proceedings although none the less affective in recent years but you only have to look back to the 2009/2010 season when Wayne hit 26 Barclays Premier League goals to realise how capable he is ‘up top’, maybe Sneijder’s arrival will force Rooney up the pitch which as we’ve learnt will be to lethal affect.
The list of beneficiaries if Sneijder joins United is plentiful as the Premier League and Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson gain a genuine world class talent while Wesley himself joins a club in a rich vein of form having been crowned Premier League Champion’s last time out while losing out to Barcelona in the Uefa Champions League Final.
The verdict: Manchester United need Sneijder and he needs United so let’s hope Sir Alex delves in to his pocket once more.
COMMENTS