Martin Demichelis confirmed

[I'm no cynic but...]

Anyone who puts up videos of players we signed saying look how good he is deserves a right big smack in the mouth.


Really grates on me this does.

I'll wait till i actually witness him playing for us till i draw a conclusion of how good or bad he is.

I will agree to some extent. Samaras looked good on video but in a blue shirt he was useless. Nevertheless, videos do give an indication of what a player is capable of, and if anyone here goes to the trouble of searching for them, then fair play to them. Give credit where it's due.

 

[taconinja]

A complete panic buy but hopefully he will only offer support, in the event of injury, to Nastasic and Kompany. Had a fantastic career so hopefully he can offer invaluable advice to the likes of Nastasic, Boyata etc

That is... not the usual definition of "panic buy." He's been bought as cover.

 

[franksinatra]

A complete panic buy but hopefully he will only offer support, in the event of injury, to Nastasic and Kompany. Had a fantastic career so hopefully he can offer invaluable advice to the likes of Nastasic, Boyata etc

That is... not the usual definition of "panic buy." He's been bought as cover.

Bought on transfer deadline day, was available on a free one month ago and we paid 4.2 million, failed to sign other targets. That is a panic buy.

 

[hallstreetblue]

So a slower and older version of Lescott, let's see if his positioning everyone is raving about is truth or myth, welcome

He is NOT slower than Lescott!!

Faster than both Lescott and Nastasic, not that pace is the main issue in our defending currently anyway.

8 years with Bayern and then La Liga comes calling. Now the Premier League. It speaks for itself. He's far from slow.
The lad is a beast and will give his all. Absolute top notch signing.

 

[MillionDollarDream]

A complete panic buy but hopefully he will only offer support, in the event of injury, to Nastasic and Kompany. Had a fantastic career so hopefully he can offer invaluable advice to the likes of Nastasic, Boyata etc

That is... not the usual definition of "panic buy." He's been bought as cover.

Wow buying a defender in La Liga's team of the season who would be 3rd choice at best to start is a panic buy? We've come a long way. It's not like we spent 10M + on this guy. We could have bought him sooner but it's not a panic buy because he had been on the radar.<br /><br />-- Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:13 pm --<br /><br />In a perfect world Isco and Demichelis were suppose to be brought in to help weave MP's plan the best, both very knowledgable players of his system, key changing room guys and a lot of talent. We missed out on Isco of course but Demichelis will almost be like a player/coach .

 

[franksinatra]

A complete panic buy but hopefully he will only offer support, in the event of injury, to Nastasic and Kompany. Had a fantastic career so hopefully he can offer invaluable advice to the likes of Nastasic, Boyata etc

That is... not the usual definition of "panic buy." He's been bought as cover.

Wow buying a defender in La Liga's team of the season who would be 3rd choice at best to start is a panic buy? We've come a long way. It's not like we spent 10M + on this guy. We could have bought him sooner but it's not a panic buy because he had been on the radar.

That is the interesting part though isn't it. He was available on a free transfer, had worked with Pellegrini before, would clearly like the opportunity to play for us in the Premier league but we did not wish to sign him and was prepared to spend 25 million instead on Pepe. For whatever reason he was not considered suitable even on a free.

Furthermore Pellegrini was not intending to use Pepe as a back up, so clearly he does not feel confident in the first choice back two either,

 

[Anonymous]

=
That is the interesting part though isn't it. He was available on a free transfer, had worked with Pellegrini before, would clearly like the opportunity to play for us in the Premier league but we did not wish to sign him and was prepared to spend 25 million instead on Pepe. For whatever reason he was not considered suitable even on a free.

You've just answered your own question and completely contradicted the notion of him being a panic buy. We obviously felt at some point that Pepe was an attainable target, so moving for Demichelis wasn't a priority. However when it became apparent that Pepe wasn't available we moved for a player the manager knows, has worked with, and who was one of the standout performers in la liga last season, in a team that overachieved quite considerably. The opposite of a panic buy.

 

[Glauber Berti]

That is... not the usual definition of "panic buy." He's been bought as cover.

Wow buying a defender in La Liga's team of the season who would be 3rd choice at best to start is a panic buy? We've come a long way. It's not like we spent 10M + on this guy. We could have bought him sooner but it's not a panic buy because he had been on the radar.

That is the interesting part though isn't it. He was available on a free transfer, had worked with Pellegrini before, would clearly like the opportunity to play for us in the Premier league but we did not wish to sign him and was prepared to spend 25 million instead on Pepe. For whatever reason he was not considered suitable even on a free.

At the time he was on a free, kompany was fit so Demechelis was surplus to requirements as we had 2 able defenders with Nastasic on his way back from injury it was only when Kompany suffered his injury that we became short at the back and at that time Demechelis wasn't available on a free it's not a question of him not being deemed suitable on a free but a fact that when he was available on said free transfer we didn't need him

 

[franksinatra]

Wow buying a defender in La Liga's team of the season who would be 3rd choice at best to start is a panic buy? We've come a long way. It's not like we spent 10M + on this guy. We could have bought him sooner but it's not a panic buy because he had been on the radar.

That is the interesting part though isn't it. He was available on a free transfer, had worked with Pellegrini before, would clearly like the opportunity to play for us in the Premier league but we did not wish to sign him and was prepared to spend 25 million instead on Pepe. For whatever reason he was not considered suitable even on a free.

At the time he was on a free, kompany was fit so Demechelis was surplus to requirements as we had 2 able defenders with Nastasic on his way back from injury it was only when Kompany suffered his injury that we became short at the back and at that time Demechelis wasn't available on a free it's not a question of him not being deemed suitable on a free but a fact that when he was available on said free transfer we didn't need him

To be honest it was always likely over the course of the season we would have an injury to one centre half, therefore this could have been actually predicted that cover was needed. Nastasic and Lescott are both fit when we signed Demichellis.

 

[taconinja]

That is the interesting part though isn't it. He was available on a free transfer, had worked with Pellegrini before, would clearly like the opportunity to play for us in the Premier league but we did not wish to sign him and was prepared to spend 25 million instead on Pepe. For whatever reason he was not considered suitable even on a free.

At the time he was on a free, kompany was fit so Demechelis was surplus to requirements as we had 2 able defenders with Nastasic on his way back from injury it was only when Kompany suffered his injury that we became short at the back and at that time Demechelis wasn't available on a free it's not a question of him not being deemed suitable on a free but a fact that when he was available on said free transfer we didn't need him

To be honest it was always likely over the course of the season we would have an injury to one centre half, therefore this could have been actually predicted that cover was needed. Nastasic and Lescott are both fit when we signed Demichellis.

But moving to a Plan B after not being able to obtain a target isn't a panic buy. It's a Plan B. Last season, we had panic buys. Scott Sinclair was a panic buy. This season, United attempted several panic buys at the last moment. Most people when they refer to a panic buy mean that the club had no interest until the last moment and felt they needed to make some sort of move regardless of the repercussions or necessity of the player. We needed cover and this is the move that worked out.

Edit: Also Lescott is a disaster. That still doesn't make this any kind of panic.