Man Utd rejected Mascherano offer
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Manchester United turned down the opportunity to sign Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano on two occasions during the summer.
On Thursday Mascherano, 22, along with striker Carlos Tevez, 22, signed for West Ham from Corinthians of Brazil on permanent deals for undisclosed fees.
"We were never interested in Tevez," United chief executive David Gill told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme.
"We were also offered Mascherano but we didn't want to go for him."
Gill added: "We were offered Mascherano for a significant sum at the start of the summer and also last week on a loan deal.
"We had watched him last season but the manager and his staff didn't want to pursue him.
"While he is clearly a very good player it was decided he wasn't required at the club."
Meanwhile, Gill remains upbeat over the chances of a new contract for striker Wayne Rooney.
England international Rooney, 20, wants to extend the six-season deal he signed when he joined United in August 2004.
"His eagerness to sign a long-term deal is great," said Gill. "I think there will be developments over the next few months.
"We want to tie him down to the club." -
I think MSI wanted to tie them down with the conspiracy shit but it just isn right for man u to accept such kind of buisness dealing....West Ham bought the both ofthem for free...
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so we dun need mascherano, a DMC. but we need a 14 million carrick who cant displace gerrard and lampard from the english midfield. right.
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I think there are other reasons why they don't need him, Maybe MSI wanted a lot of money, it was mentioned around $30m pounds for one player. Also could be Fergie is still intending to get Owen Hargreaves in Jan.
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Manchester United's chief executive David Gill have said:
'From Manchester United's perspective, Tevez was never on the shopping list. Mascherano we watched closely and very carefully and the experts on that area in our club determined that we did not want to go for him.'
United have refused to rule out making another bid for Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves in January.
Gill admitted their interest in the midfielder, who played a starring role in England's 5-0 defeat of Andorra at Old Trafford yesterday, would persist despite Bayern's refusal to sell this summer.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek show: 'Owen was on record as being very interested in coming to us and we were clearly very interested in Owen.
'He is a player we have had on the list for quite a while, actually.
'Obviously Bayern were very keen - and are very keen - to keep him. We will have to see.
'If that situation does not change, then obviously we will not acquire Owen.
'But Bayern have indicated to me that they will let us know if the situation changes and at that point, we hopefully can consummate a deal.
'These things do not just happen on January 1, one has discussions around the year on these particular transactions.'
Gill's comments came amid criticism from fans that the club were not active enough towards the end of the transfer window as both Chelsea and Arsenal strengthened.
However, having invested heavily in midfielder Michael Carrick and goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak following the arrivals of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra in January, Gill defended the club's activity.
He said: 'We understand the frustration of fans, who feel we should have been more active.
'But we are very conscious that the quality in our squad is very high and therefore the players we bring in must add to that quality, they must be defined as reasonably valued and very critically, we believe, they must want to be a Manchester United player.
'They are the players we are interested in.'
Gill, who insisted the club had not tried to sign France striker David Trezeguet from Juventus, further promised the cash which had not been spent this summer would be available to manager Sir Alex Ferguson in January and beyond.
He said: 'Our transfer policy evolves according to what the manager wants and the budget will allow.
'It is important to know just because we have not spent the money we had anticipated in this window, that money is not lost.
'That money will be carried forward, those funds will be available for the right player at the right time.
'I do not think our policy has changed at all.'
Meanwhile, United expect to sit down with star striker Wayne Rooney and thrash out a new long-term contract within the next few months.
The 20-year-old is currently two years into a six-year deal, but both he and his employers have shown a willingness to extend that sooner rather than later.
Gill said: 'He is a key player for us and his eagerness to sign a long-term deal is great.
'I think there will be developments on that in the course of the next two or three months.
'We want to sit down and tie him to the club for longer, and really importantly for us and for our fans, he wants to do that.' -
i dont think man u needs him.
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we need a ball winner like owen hargreaves..
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invested heavily. on carrick. overtly heavily i shld think.
quality on the team. with rooney saha smith and ole. rossi on loan. ole so old liao. smith converted midfield and back. and injury prone to boot. saha. injury prone too. rooney. talented hothead. nice strike force dun you think? -
to me, these two argies are like "washing black money".
they are parked here, and then later, Jan, if needed into teams for UCL.
consider that they are now not cup tied, only early 20+, stars of their countries, and they willing to go West Ham??
I feel alot of undercurrents, no disrespect to West Ham and Alan Pardew. -
Well, it just doesn't make sense that these 2 considered top players would be happy to join a club that is not even in the CL and to play with a team that they will be the only stars in it. Quite un-imaginable !
Anyway, they were spoted with Blues boss Jose Mourinho and his No 2 Steve Clarke in April to watch the Argie striker in action for Corinthians. Sitting in the stands alongside the BluesÂ’ management duo and MourinhoÂ’s agent Jorge Mendes was Kia Joorabchian. The Iranian multi-millionaire businessman that heads the MSI Group.
You mentioned "washing black money" ?
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lets juz hope that these 2 players juz fail n play badly for the rest of the season,to prove the david gill n co at manutd had made the right decision in not pursuing the deal
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Maybe Mascherano can't speak english or not so well. It is important that a midfielder is able to communicate with the defenders & strikers. Cos these are the players that link the team more than anyone else during a match. And also his big transfer fee they were asking... $30m.
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Ferguson reveals transfer snub
05-09-2006 11:27
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he was never interested in signing West Ham's new boys Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
The South American duo sent shockwaves through the footballing world by moving to Upton Park last week, as were both were strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford previously.
However, Ferguson has revealed there was opportunity to sign the duo, but it was never an option for the Old Trafford club.
"We were offered both Tevez and Mascherano but we have different ways of working and the offer did not interest us," claimed Ferguson.
"With (Owen) Hargreaves, we tried to get him at the end of last season actually, but there was never any inclination for Bayern Munich to sell. We kept pursuing it because we thought he would have been perfect.
"We would have preferred to add to the squad, but we've got a good squad and I am happy with it, we're doing well and we have got a good team.
"I feel we have a big, big chance of winning The Premiership, we have a good young team who are starting to mature and they have the desire."
http://www.clubcall.com/index.jsp?storyID=290090 -
nice words, SAF. we shall see
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maybe to save his face
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if they turn out to be big successes, i think he wun know where to hide his face
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they will go chelsea and not be sucessful