Manchester United have started to the search to replace their veteran goalkeeper, Edwin Van Der Saar. Van Der Saar, 39, could well be playing his last season in the Premier League when things open up again in August and United have already been in talks with Barcelona and Real Madrid over the signing of either Victor Valdes or Iker Casillas.

A deal for Valdes was actually nearly done but it was thought that United would not match the keeper’s £150,000 a week salary, that he currently gets at Barcelona. This would make him the second best paid player in the Premier League behind Robinho at Manchester City and is clearly not a risk that United would be willing to take.

It seems that they are now focusing on taking Casillas away from Madrid to offer him a new way of life in the Premier League. The Spanish captain is also ageing slightly but would be a good replacement for the Dutchman and would probably sign a long contract as he would see any move to United as the last move of his career.

However, Madrid will not be so willing to let one of their best players go at a time when they are clearly trying to restructure the club and reorganise the playing staff. It would be senseless and would counter the positive signings that they have made already.

United would do well to look into their own squad and show a little bit of faith to the likes of Ben Foster. Foster is clearly under rated as a goalkeeper in the Premier League and apart from his loan spell at Watford, he has never been given an extended run in the side. Whenever he has played he has always looked the part and has even made it into one or two Fabio Capello England squads, even though he was not in the Manchester United first team at the time.

This says bundles about his potential as a keeper and his ability to cope with pressure at the top of the modern game. It could also prove that the names mentioned above are purely speculation and without truth as United panic to try and keep their squad at a good quality ahead of the new season. Foster would be the first person to put his hand up and ask to be shown some faith and United must not forget how good he actually is.

Foster is not a small man and he has the ability to dominate the penalty area and his defence in the same way Peter Schmeichel used to do when he wore the United jersey. Tactically Foster is very good and he is rarely caught out of position when United are defending an attack. He has also had the benefit of listening to Van Der Saar’s abundant wealth of knowledge and experience and you have to say that even though the other two targets mentioned are higher in calibre, he may have more determination and enthusiasm for the job.

Now that the crying is all over with, all the arrests have been made and life is back to normal for most Manchester United fans, what’s next for the Red Devils? Before going on though, I must mention the Barcelona supporters who were killed in Nigeria, by some lunatic who ran them over while celebrating their team’s victory. Our sympathy goes out to all of their family and friends.

On the pitch, we see that manager Sir Alex Ferguson has blamed the Champions League loss on poor defending, while Portuguese superstar and the team’s top marksman Ronaldo has blamed bad tactics. Well, they’re both right, but the players and manager need to take a good look in the mirror and watch a tape of the game to see how lifeless and disappointing they really were. At least they both acknowledged that Barcelona was the better team on the night.

But, will United realistically bounce back next season, or was this the last kick at the can for a while now? Well, a lot of things really depend on who goes and who stays. Ronaldo has again been rumoured to be heading to Real Madrid and has also been rumoured to have said he wants to stay at United.

This should basically be the team’s decision as he’s under contract until 2012, but is there really a buyout clause in this contract that will allow the player to head elsewhere. United will have to think this one over long and hard before making a decision. Is Ronaldo really that good and does he inspire his teammates?





Well after watching him since he broke in as a rookie, I must say he has matured quite a bit, but still seems to be very inconsistent in his play. I also think he hit his peak last year with 42 goals and it’s highly unlikely he’ll reach that number again. Perhaps the time is right to sell him before his play and goal tally slips even further. Take the money and run while the offer’s still on the table.

If he does go though, how will this affect the team and who will replace his lost goals. Well, United can either bite the bullet and go with what they have for a year or two until some of their youngsters like Macheda develop, or they can go out and spend on new players, which of course is the likely scenario.

And if Ronaldo does leave, what happens with Tevez, can you afford to lose them both at once? And where does Nani fit in, or doesn’t he? Owen Hargreaves should finally be ready to come back next season, but he’s not really an offensive threat. They also have Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, and Paul Scholes, who are all longer in the tooth these days. Next season could well be the last for all three of them. And let’s not forget Edwin van der Sar in net, he’s not going to last too much longer, but I think if Ben Foster can stay healthy, United looks pretty good in goal

While United have bought quite a few top-notch players over the years, they’ve also developed some pretty good youngsters of their own. I think it’s a good balance that has served the team well, and that’s why United hasn’t really been perceived as a team that has bought its way to championships.

This will be a very important summer for the club, but I will be somewhat surprised if they can repeat this year’s successes again next season. At least they have something to aim for though, as they would become the first English team to win four straight league championships.

Manchester United won their record-tying, overall 18th championship today (May 16th) at Old Trafford after a 0-0 draw with Arsenal, killing any hopes of a Liverpool miracle comeback. That’s it, it’s all over for this year and it’s really pretty hard to say that it’s not deserved.

Yes, Man United may have dropped quite a few points to the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal during the course of this season, but they beat the teams they’re supposed to beat all season long instead of drawing with them, and this is basically how they earned enough points to take their 11th Premier League title. Liverpool only have themselves to blame after a series of uninspiring 0-0 draws earlier this season with some of the dregs of the league.

While United definitely didn’t look like world beaters today, they did enough against Arsenal to earn the draw and the right to celebrate. The Londoners had quite an edge in possession, but didn’t really create anything out of all the time they had the ball.

Andrei Arshavin came close for the Gunners, while Wayne Rooney almost put the home side in front with a header that just missed the post. Ronaldo saw a free kick curl just wide of the post and Cesc Fabregas slammed a shot off of the upright for Arsenal with a few minutes to go. Robin van Persie shot directly at United keeper Edwin van der Sar about a minute later and that was basically it as far as the offense went. It should also be noted that Arsenal received five yellow cards to none for United.

Though it came as no surprise really that the trophy stays at Old Trafford, it will be interesting to see who’s still around next season to defend it. Will Ronaldo still be there to lead the team in scoring, and will Carlos Tevez be hung on to as a source of energy from the bench? It appears Gary Neville may as well hang up his boots now as he’s fighting injury after injury and his recovery time is taking longer now because of his age. Wes Brown and Owen Hargreaves might as well be shipped out as well as they don’t seem to want to put in the effort to play, injured or not. They strike me as players who are perfectly satisfied in cashing their paycheques instead of working hard on their fitness, and are constantly injured because of it.

For United to improve, they need to cut the dead wood and give more playing time to youngsters such as Fabio, Rafael, Jonathan Evans, Rodrigo Possebon, Federico Macheda, goalkeeper Ben Foster, and perhaps striker Danny Welbeck. Of course, it’s hard to argue with Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial record, but he can also show some improvement by taking every FA Cup and League Cup game seriously. He needs to at least dress his best players and have them ready on the bench just in case they’re needed, instead of leaving them at home.

With a combination of excellent depth, youth, and experience, there’s no reason United can’t hang onto the title again next year as well.

It seems like 33-year-old David Beckham has made a fine impression over in Italy with AC Milan by scoring two goals in his first four games. Beckham is under a five-year contract to the Los Angeles Galaxy of the North American Major League Soccer, but it seems the Italian giants are trying to persuade him to stay in Serie A and are willing to pay a £4.5m transfer fee. But so far there’s been no deal.

Since England has spent tons of money on the new Wembley Stadium, they want to put the pitch to good use, so the country has officially submitted their bid for the 2018 World Cup to FIFA. The deadline for submitting bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is February 2, and it’s believed that the USA is interested in bidding on both of them.

Wembley has been chosen by UEFA to host the 2011 Champions League final though.

It was chosen ahead of Munich’s Allianz Arena and Berlin’s Olympiastadion. Dublin’s Lansdowne Road will host the 2011 Europa League final, which is the new name for the UEFA Cup. In 2012, Munich will hold the Champions League final and Bucharest’s National Stadium will get the Europa League final.

Man United kept their grip on the top of the table with a convincing 5-0 drubbing of West Brom at The Hawthorns on Tuesday. During the game the team set a new top-flight English league record as it was their 11th consecutive game without conceding a goal and keeper Edwin Van der Sar broke Chelsea keeper Petr Cech’s record of going 1, 025 minutes without being beaten.

More news in the world of football includes West Ham signing German Under-20 forward Savio Nsereko from Brescia. Nsereko is only 19 and was actually born in Uganda. The player and club have hammered out four-and-a-half year deal

Transfers that you might just see in the next couple of days before the Feb. 2nd deadline comes include Manchester City manager Mark Hughes finally having his latest offer for 27-year-old Roque Santa Cruz of Blackburn being accepted. It’s reportedly up to £18.5m now. It seems City just can’t get rid of their money fast enough as they’re also trying to pry goalkeeper Shay Given away from Newcastle for £5m, so it must be burning a hole in somebody’s pocket.

And speaking of Newcastle, it appears that manager Joe Kinnear has a new soap opera on his hands as midfielder Charles N’Zogbia is crying because the Magpies manager mispronounced the 22-year-old Frenchman’s name in a TV interview. N’Zogbia insists he was insulted and would never play for Kinnear again. I say get rid of the baby. The club as also been busy in the transfer department by announcing the £4m signing of Bolton Wanderers captain Kevin Nolan. It’s believed the 26-year-old midfielder has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal and will fill the hole left by Joey Barton, who is out for 10 weeks with a broken foot.

Meanwhile Blackburn has paid Sunderland £2million for Senegalese striker El-Hadji Diouf.

After the weekend’s games in the English Premier League, Manchester has regained first spot with a 1-0 win at Upton Park in London over West Ham. Veteran Ryan Giggs supplied the winner with a marvelous goal in the 62nd minute.

At the other end of the pitch, goalie Edwin van der Sar extended his British shutout streak to 1, 212 minutes. United hasn’t conceded a goal in over 13 league games now and lead second place Liverpool by two points and also have a game in hand over their rivals.

Down south, Portsmouth blew a 2-1 lead over Liverpool with 12 minutes remaining in the game as Dirk Kuyt tied the contest in the 85th minute and Fernando Torres, who came on as a substitute in the 76th minute headed home the winner in injury time to save manger Rafael Benitez from being embarrassed for leaving his top striker on the bench for so long.

Things didn’t work out so well for Portsmouth manager Tony Adams after the game though as he was sacked for failing to win a game during his nine games in charge. I wouldn’t feel too bad for him though as he brought it upon himself by employing negative tactics in most of those games by employing one striker up front on his own. Adams leaves Pompey with 24 points, just one point out of the relegation zone.

Aston Villa jumped over Chelsea by two points in the standings and into third place with a 2-0 road win in Blackburn, who are still in the relegation zone with 23 points.

Chelsea could only manage a scoreless draw at home against hull and were roundly booed off the pitch at Stamford Park for their efforts.

Arsenal continued their mediocre season with a 0-0 draw with Tottenham in the north London derby and sit in fifth place with 44 points, 12 behind Man United.

The other two cellar dwellers, Middlesbrough and West Brom, both with 22 points, also lost. Manchester City squeaked by Middlesbrough 1-0, while west Brom were edged 3-2 at home by Newcastle.

The best individual performance belonged to Everton’s new on-loan signing of Brazilian star Jo, who scored twice in a 3-0 thumping of Bolton at Goodison Park. It was Jo’s first game with the Merseysiders after moving over from Manchester City, who bought him for 19 million pounds last year.

This shows me somebody isn’t doing a good job. You don’t pay 19 million quid for a player and then discard him halfway through the season. Either the scouts overrated him and the club paid way too much for him, or City never gave him a chance by sitting him on the bench. Either way, he’s already made them look foolish after just one game.

The David Beckham soap opera continues over in Italy as the Los Angeles Galaxy has turned down AC Milan’s offer for their star player. The two clubs are now haggling over the price for the talented midfielder.
Beckham could also be a big story this coming Wednesday as well when England travel to Spain for a midweek friendly against the Euro 2008 Champions. The 33 year old will get the chance at his 108th cap for England, which will equal the record set by Bobby Moore for an English outfield player. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton holds the all time England record with 125 caps.

Meanwhile, Carlton Cole of West Ham and Everton’s Phil Jagielka could get their first caps after being named in the squad.