Today in the Football Transfer Tavern, our resident Manchester United fans are recalling the name ‘Mesut Ozil’ but why we hear you cry?
Well, for the fact that in the summer transfer window of 2013, the then Real Madrid playmaker wasn’t involved in any transfer speculation throughout the whole summer, only to then become available right at the end of the window where Arsenal swooped for him in their most high profile capture ever.
Our United fans are hoping a similar situation unfolds with long-term target Mats Hummels who is still yet to arrive at Old Trafford despite being linked with the Red Devils for what seems like the last 1000 transfer windows.
Borussia Dortmund’s German international centre back has most recently claimed that he’s been ‘honoured’ to have been linked with a United switch of late but WON’T be making a transfer this summer.
As reported by The Telegraph, Hummels claimed: “When the big clubs, and Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, is interested in you, it’s an honour and it’s a kind of an acceptance of what you play – so it’s a good thing.
“There’s always been rumours for the last years about almost every one of our players but I decided not to make a move this year and that’s the only thing I can say about that.”
But as transfer window veterans now, if we believed everything footballers said, we’d be morons right?
Just look at the Fabian Delph situation and with United’s ever desperate need for centre back reinforcements, we;ve devised a list of five reasons why Louis van Gaal should ignore everything the player says while offering Thomas Tuchel and Dortmund an offer they simply can’t reguse.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 reasons Manchester United simply must sign Mats Hummels this summer.
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Because Sergio Ramos was always going to be a long shot
The tavern went into overdrive a few weeks back when BBC Sport confirmed that United were chasing the signatures of both Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sergio Ramos this summer.
While United have been part successful in their capture of Schweinsteiger, the same can’t be said about Ramos who at one stage claimed he wanted to move to Old Trafford this summer.
Then conflicting this stance with the claim that all was well at Real Madrid, this very public pursuit of the Spanish international has wound Red Devils fans up if anything this summer.
With David De Gea set to remain at Old Trafford this summer, any talk of a swap deal now seems to be on hold with the Ramos rumours now having disappeared from the forefront of the transfer talk.
Because Valencia are playing hardball
With United failing in their efforts to lure Sergio Ramos away from the Bernabeu, it seems all of their focus is on prising Nicolas Otamendi away from Valencia right now.
The Argentine centre back is a leading candidate to marshal the Red Devils’ back line next term but at present, The Independent have reported that Los Che will order him to return to pre-season training amid reports he was going on strike to force through a move.
With the players’ head clearly turned, we’ve seen in the past that it can go one of two ways when such a situation materialises.
Either the club can give in to player power or they can take a zero tolerance stance while ordering the player to train with the reserves so with this deal touch and go at the moment, perhaps United are better served by stacking all of their chips on Hummels?
Because he’s been ‘honoured’ by Old Trafford talk
As mentioned at the outset of the article, Mats Hummels has already come out and claimed he’s been ‘honoured’ to have been linked with a summer switch to Manchester United.
With the player being that rare thing nowadays of being loyal to his current club Dortmund that have served him so well over the years, he clearly isn’t intent on screwing up his relationship with the Yellow Wall right now while saying all the right things but surely he knows he must go on to that next level deep down?
Performing admirably at the World Cup with Germany, Dortmund have fell from grace in recent years with Bayern Munich rising again to be the top dogs in the Bundesliga and having seen Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski depart Signal Iduna Park, surely Hummels knows there is bigger and better challenges out there?
If he did experience a sudden change of heart, given United’s interest in him for a few windows now, surely he’d want to a move to a side that have trailed him ever so closely so we think van Gaal should be putting the ball in their court.
Because he’ll immediately improve United’s back line
They were always going to prove difficult to replace but United have struggled to effectively sign up players who can emulate the abilities that Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic displayed in their successful partnership down the years.
At present, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones still look works in progress despite the former defender starting to impress on much more of a consistent basis towards the end of last season.
With Marcos Rojo set to play more of a role this term and Jonny Evans still error prone, United are crying out for a top class ready-made reinforcement such as Hummels that could immediately address the Red Devils’ problem of conceding far more goals than they ever did under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Somebody like Hummels is also a natural born leader and could inspire and get the best out of partners such as Jones, Smalling, Rojo and even up-and-coming duo Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair.
Because German players bring a winning mentality
Louis van Gaal has spoken about new arrival Bastian Schweinsteiger in glowing terms since sealing his switch from Bayern Munich and in truth, the same could be said about Mats Hummels.
After all, following their World Cup triumph last summer, German players boast even more of a winning mentality than they usually do and Hummels is one of those players who visibly looks well suited to English football.
A tough and rugged defender, Hummels gets stuck in and is quite the presence standing at 6 ft 3 in.
It’s clear that van Gaal is looking to instil a potent mix of youth and experience in his side and with Memphis Depay being complimented by the likes of Schweinsteiger, Hummels is another who could lend his experience to younger members of this Red Devils squad.
