OR POSSIBLY VIDUKA? OR ROBBEN? OR…
The Times:
Already rebuffed by Fulham after one tentative offer for Louis Saha, United would not have to dip too deep to make Leeds an offer they cannot refuse for the Australia forward.
Trevor Birch, the Leeds chief executive, confirmed yesterday that he had received inquiries for Viduka and acknowledged that there would be no point in hanging on to a player if his mind was set on a move away from Elland Road.
“There’s interest in Mark Viduka but our policy is still the same — we don’t want to sell anybody unless the player puts in a transfer request,” Birch said.
“We’re assuming that all the players want to play for the club. But if you have a player who doesn’t want to play for the club, he’s going to mope around and that can be disruptive.”
Viduka would leap at the opportunity to move to Old Trafford and there are no doubts about his technical capacity to deputise for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Sharing a dressing-room with Roy Keane may have a correcting effect on his occasional lethargy and Leeds are in no position to haggle if they receive an offer much above £5 million.
They owe about £7 million to a lease company for Viduka but would hope to reinvest some of his £3 million salary in a new recruit.
Ferguson has been playing down suggestions that he will move for Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough defender, to compensate for the loss of Rio Ferdinand to an eight-month suspension. Certain to join United in the near future is Liam Miller, Celtic’s young Irish midfield player, but the transfer may be delayed until the summer.
Meanwhile PSV Eindhoven’s president Harry van Raay last night admitted that striker Arjen Robben could leave for Manchester United. When asked if Robben would leave in the January transfer window or in the summer, van Raay said: "The chance is 50 per cent."
RI readers will note that BB reported Robben and Van der Vaert as being in Manchester for talks the night before the Fulham game. The nationals have finally caught up.
From the Mirror:
Robben, 19, will travel to Old Trafford for talks with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson. Dutch international Robben has scored 16 goals in 48 league appearances for PSV and is expected to be included in Dick Advocaat's Holland squad for the Euro 2004 finals in June.
The Telegraph:
United will move for PSV Eindhoven's Arjen Robben, after inviting the Dutch teenager for a week's trial over the New Year, as Sir Alex Ferguson continues to rebuild his team with some of the best teenage footballers in Europe.
The left-sided midfielder, 19, who United hope to sign for around £5 million, looks set to become the latest in a series of young players who have been brought to the club by Ferguson despite his own under-18 team's FA Youth Cup victory last season.
Robben will travel to England with his father to train for a week at the club's Carrington headquarters with a view to signing for United but not joining the squad until the end of the season or even the summer of 2005.
As a 16-year-old, the player, who is 20 in January, had a famous debut for Groningen live on Dutch television in Dec 2000 when he dazzled Feyenoord on the left wing and led his side, who he joined from VV Bedum, to a 1-0 victory.
Robben stayed in Groningen's first team and played 46 games for them in Holland's top division over two seasons. Although he was signed by PSV in 2001 for £2.4 million, Robben stayed at Groningen for another year in order to finish his schooling.
He made his international debut in April and was called into the Dutch squad for the Euro 2004 play-off second leg victory over Scotland, but would not be eligible for the Champions League this season having already played, and scored twice, for PSV in the competition.
Robben was voted his country's young player of the year last season and finished with 12 goals from 33 games for PSV.
Although United did not have an easy time negotiating Ruud van Nistelrooy's transfer from PSV with club president Harry van Raaij in the summer of 2001, they hope to sign Robben on a five-year deal that will cost a good deal less than the £12.24 million they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer.
Not only has Ferguson invested in the Portugal international and promoted Darren Fletcher, 19, to the first-team, but he has also signed Lee Martin, 16, from Wimbledon and is set to spend as much as £2 million on Dong Fangzhuo, 18, from China.
Ferguson also chased American striker Freddie Adu, 14, by inviting the United States under-17 side to train at Carrington but the player, who is the son of Ghanian immigrants, has since opted to stay in his country with Washington's DC United.
Nevertheless, in the last year Ferguson has also secured the signature of the American defender Jonathan Spector, the under-16 Finnish international Jami Puustinen and Eintracht Frankfurt's 18-year-old striker Marcus Neumayr.