Stick or Twist? - The Buy/Sell Saga

Seems the story of the season in Man City's title winning campaign was another little argentine git that was being a pain to english fans. Carlos Tevez. Everyone can recall that debacle in Munich last year and yet Tevez remains a City player and a title winner with them. Many said Mancini was insane to keep him. Historically however these things happen and sometimes has selling or buying been the best idea? I present these examples:

Eric Cantona - Leeds to Man Utd 1992. This was a move that shocked many. £1.2M was what Cantona cost Man Utd and the returns were invaluable to the club. Story goes that the Leeds chairman contacted Man Utd about the availability of Denis Irwin only for Sir Alex to decline and cheekily ask if Cantona was available as he had failed with bids for Brian Deane and Matt Le Tissier. Days later Cantona became a Man Utd player and Leeds struggled to retain their title.

Andy Cole - Newcastle to Man Utd 1995. Every Newcastle fan was shocked. One of there most prolific strikers ever was suddenly sold to Man Utd for £6M plus Keith Gillespie. Who could forget King Kev justifying to the fans the decision. Later in that summer Newcastle secured the signing of Les Ferdinand who proved more than a worthy replacement for King Cole.

Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal to Real Madrid 1999. Anelka was signed for £500k by Arsenal in 1997 at the age of 17. One of Wengers greatest buys. In the 1997-98 season he was just sheer magic and looked in good nick in the 1998-99 season. Then when Real Madrid came sniffing about, Anelka had his brothers act as his agents and this saga proved to be the first of many surrounding Anelka. Sold for a record £23M to Real Madrid. Wenger need not panic as he then went and bought an out of form Thierry Henry with the funds.

Emannuel Petit/Marc Overmars - Arsenal to Barcelona 2000. Again Wenger was gradually dismantling the team that saw him achieve the double success of 1997-98 season. Overmars was starting to waiver and become frequently injured and Petit started to lose some of the magic. Both were sold to Barcelona for the combined sum of £30M. Arsenal endured another trophiless season, but new signings in Wiltord/Pires and the form of Henry made up for another piece of shrew business by Wenger in 2001/2002 season.

Roy Keane Saga - 2001 summer. Who could forget the re-negotiation of Man Utd's tailismatic skipper. I remember this saga. Roy with a year left on his current deal wanted an earth shattering £52,000 per week for his sevices over the next 4 years. Arguably at the time their best player and had lead Utd to 3 consecutive championships, was instrumental in their treble winning season and was by far the best midfielder in the PL at that time. Martin Edwards and Fergie tried hard to resist being held to ransom maintaining the 'No-one is bigger than the club' mantra, but eventually Roy got his way and to the delight of many Utd fans remained with them till his depature in 2005.

Jaap Stam - Man Utd to Lazio 2001. Now this one for me remains the most un-certain as to what actually was the main driver for this sale. Was it his book or was it the failed drug test later that year? Either way some were dumbfounded by this move as his replacement Laurent Blanc was much older and not the commanding force Stam was. Utd were trophiless in 2001/02, but signed a much better prospect in Rio Ferdinand in 2002.

David Beckham - Man Utd - Real Madrid 2003. What a pain in Fergie's arss this guy was. Tabloid goal. Image orientated. After Beckham's attempted heroics in the CL Quarter Final against Real Madrid, Fergie had had enough of brand Beckham. After the infamous boot to the head Fergie had lost patience. Que a bidding war between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Laporta promising Beckham for the Barcelona fans. Beckham eventually joined Real Madrid for £25M and the Galacticos era and Barcelona had to settle for Ronaldinho. We all know how that ended up. Fergie then signed unknown Cristiano Ronaldo for £12.5M.

Patrick Vieira - Arsenal - Inter Milan 2005. Arsenal pipped Man Utd to the only trophy available after the new financial muscle that was Chelsea was swept the board. After one of the dullest cup finals in recent memory, Vieira scored the winning penalty that secured the FA Cup. Afterwards Wenger decided to part with his captain marvel and sell him to Inter Milan for £16M. Since then Arsenal have endured a long trophiless drought which saw other Arsenal captains in Henry and Fabregas leave for pastures new.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Man Utd - Real Madrid 2009. Ronaldo after the 2006 World Cup peed of many Utd fans with his annual summer of love with Real Madrid. After a stunning season in 2007-2008 and to then go to the most selfish cup final performance in 2009, Man Utd recieved an offer of £80M for him and decided it was too good of an offer to turn down. Utd still went on to win the league without the winker!

Wayne Rooney Saga 2010. Rooney had become the central attacking point for Man Utd after the departure of Ronaldo. News then broke that Rooney wanted to leave Utd as they were not 'ambitious' enough. Fergie held a press conference and for me with a stroke of genius put all the attention and emphasis on Rooney who then did a dramatic u-turn and resigned for Man Utd with a hefty pay rise to go with it.

Carlos Tevez Saga 2011/12. What a little Poopie!! A privately owned player. Blamed Fergie for not signing him on a permanent deal claiming he had 'earned' one. Went to Man City when they £ was on the table. How does the former skipper re-pay them?? By refusing to come on as a sub against Bayern Munich. Hence the most shameful act of pectulance I have seen. Tevez even spoke of retiring had he won the World Cup in 2010!! He then claimed to be homesick and when Corinthians could not stump up the £35M for him, he was cast out by Man City. After several interviews and even claiming Roberto Mancini had treated him like a dog, Manicini welcomed him back to the squad. Man City then went on to win the league title.

My question is whether any of you would've handled these saga's any differently?

Selling Viera was possibly a mistake in hindsight but he apparently didn't want to be there, so what can you do?

Selling Anelka for a profit of roughly £22 million and then buying Henry was a great bit of business.

For me Flamini stepped up to the plate and for me looked like the enforcer they needed after Vieira, but again was another one who left due to the 'lack of ambition'

The Anelka deal was a great bit of business.

as united fan will comment and what i know best

cantona- great sell by leeds!! thier fans might think differently but us united fans we were delighted.

keane- got the contract right and his depature right also, keane had said a few out of order things in the media and his knees were giving in so shipped him out to celtic where he barely played.

stam- got a year ban right after selling him and then soon declined after that. wasnt anywhere near the player we sold. fergie says its his one regret but i still dont think we did too bad getting that amount of money for a ageing defender.

beckham- again in fergie i trust!! beckham had started taking his eye off football, missing training to baby sit while posh went shopping etc. his form had also declined. one thing about beckham was he was predictable get it on his right and cross it in. highly effective if he was allowed but defenders had begun to figure him out. if it werent for the other great midfileders around him he wouldnt have had anythime to cross it in at all. we sold beckham and got ronaldo in and we all know that was a good deal. beckhams form wasnt exactly amazing for real where the first season spent most of the time on the bench. also showed that he started moving into the middle to try and become more effective showing the above was true.

ronaldo- wouldnt have sold him for all the money in the world, but he was a loyal servant who had dreams else where though. dissapointing to let him go but could well have been more damaging to keep him here.

rooney- if there was a very good offer for him i would have sold him, believe that his form has declined over recent seasons. even this season where his goal tally flatters his form. (alot of pens and tap ins). tells a story that valencia who missed the first part of the season through injury was still voted player of the year. just doesnt dictate games like he used to.

tevez- if i were mancini i would have left him to rot and sold him at the nearest possible point. said it on another thread but what message does it send to the other players who had been traing hard all year round to get in the team. what if they miss training and mancini comes down hard on them? he doesnt have a leg to stand on. if your good enough you can do what you want isnt going to work for them in the long term!!

As was selling a past his best Beckham and landing Ronaldo. My first thought on Ronaldo were 'show pony' but he proved me very very wrong.

To be honest, £23m for Beckham even if Fergie had no problem with his image was to good to turn down, IMO.

Agree there Stella. In his first season I wasn't impressed. I remember a game after Bolton when Sam failed to convincingly say anything impressive.

I thought Euro 2004 was the making of him.

And agree £23M for Beckham was too good to turn down for a very limited player.

£23 million was almost immediately paid back to Real Madrid in shirt sales though to be fair, he paid for himself Beckham. So as limited a player he was, commercially he is the best United could ever have hoped, and that does matter, case in point Park Ji Sung, who is okay, but if he wasn't a cash cow for the Asian markets he would not be playing at Manchester United right now.

Crimey wrote:£23 million was almost immediately paid back to Real Madrid in shirt sales though to be fair, he paid for himself Beckham. So as limited a player he was, commercially he is the best United could ever have hoped, and that does matter, case in point Park Ji Sung, who is okay, but if he wasn't a cash cow for the Asian markets he would not be playing at Manchester United right now.

Yeah, both teams prospered.

Didn't Stam label the Neville brothers a couple of busy C's in his book?