Manchester United : Who Will Step into the Ginger Prince Boots?

Manchester United- Class of 92 then and now.

Manchester United, a club that produces one of the finest talents in world football. A club with great history, great players and fans. As their fans say, the beautiful football taught by Sir Matt Busby, 3 European Cups, a record 19 League titles and 11 FA Cup’s, United are the most successful English club.

Many legends were born at the Theatre of dreams, namely Duncan Edwards, George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Bryan Robson, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and the list doesn’t stop here. Let me start with the class of ’92 of Manchester United. As you all know the 6 big stars of United which include David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt, they were all fantastic players and have done great service towards the club.

However, David Beckham has left for Real Madrid in 2004 and Nicky Butt was sold to Newcastle later in 2005. Same was the case with Phil Neville who later on moved to Everton. After Becks departure, Manchester United had signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon as a replacement and he did live upto the expectations of the fans. Then we saw the departure of Captain fantastic Roy Keane who was replaced by Michael Carrick at the club. That’s what makes the club different from others. A replacement was always found, and the club still remains as a strong force to be reckoned with. Similarly now, in 2011, replacements were made to retired stars and to the other names who were transferred to other clubs.

To be honest, a golden era — which saw the club win 4 EPL titles in 5 years– has come to an end at Manchester United with the retirement of Edwin Van der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes and transfers of great servants to the club like John O’Shea and Wes Brown as well. A replacement for the flying Dutchman has been found, in the form of Spanish keeper David de Gea, whom Van der Sar himself has said that he has complete faith in him and a future Gary Neville could be Rafael or Fabio. But the question that remains is, who will fill the space left by Paul Scholes?! The midfield maestro! The Ginger Prince! The man who scored 150 goals for the club? The man with inch perfect cross field passes? The man with a penchant for the long range? Who will replace him? He is irreplacable, isn’t he?

"It would be impossible to get another Paul Scholes, but if we can get a player along similiar lines in terms of the quality of his passing and vision, then yes, we'd have to do something." – Sir Alex Ferguson

Paul Scholes is regarded as one of the best midfielders that has ever graced in European football. We don’t find many players as good as him, his techinique, skills, passing, vision, playmaking, his assists, his long rangers will all be missed. A Premier League season without Paul Scholes, Manchester United will miss him, and so will all the football fans across the world. A true gentleman. All these years Manchester United have won 10 Premier League titles, 2 UEFA Champions League, 3 FA Cup’s and 1 Intercontinental cup with Scholes playing a crucial role. Now that he has retired, how would the Manchester United midfield be like? How would the club cope up without the presence of this midfield maestro?

Let’s have a look at the possible players who can fill in the space left by Scholes at Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson is very well known for his quality in bringing up players from the academy or turn the youngsters within the team into world class players. Here, after Scholes’s retirement, Sir Alex has two options, either a chance to his fledgling , Tom Cleverley or fund a huge transfer to bring in an already ‘established’ star midfielder.Let’s begin!

1] TOM CLEVERLEY:

A very promising young talent, who has a great potential to fulfill. After his loan-spell at Wigan last season, Tom has improved a lot and has what it takes to be an excellent young midfielder. Now that Tom is back from loan, and has taken part in the pre-season games of United, he looks very impressive and Sir Alex is confident and has put great belief in his abilities. He had an outstanding match against Barcelona at the pre-season friendly and had an assist.

Cleverley vs. Barcelona: 44 passes – 80% pass completion – 1 assist – 6 tackles (most in the game) – 4 tackles won. Umm, great isn’t it? He certainly has what it takes to be a great box to box midfielder, and would be given more chances to cement his place in the team this season. Fergie had said that Cleverley was United’s “best player” against Barcelona and he indicated that there is a strong possibility that Cleverley could be among the starting eleven in the opening round fixture of the Premier League season against WBA.

Future star for both England and Manchester United. A player to watch out this season for sure.

2] WESLEY SNEIJDER:

He is one of the best midfielders in the world at the moment. Manchester United have been linked with a move for the Dutchman since a long time now, and at the end of the summer transfer window this time we may actually see Sneijder in an United jersey. Sneijder certainly has what it takes to fill in the space left by Scholes. Sneijder is a world class midfielder, and has got everything what United are looking for at the moment in the centre space of the field. Manchester United would also find a solution to the set pieces after his arrival.

Sneijder always is and always has been a “BIG GAME PLAYER”. A very consistent performer, just like Paul Scholes. His sublime passes, crosses have all drawn him comparison with the Ginger Prince. He’s incredibly skilled at beating his man off the dribble, and his work rate is fantastic. He’s a skilled passer who will immediately boost United’s ability to create and take chances out of the midfield, and his eye for goal will make him a fantastic addition to the club. However, after two years of being heavily linked with the Devils, United appears closer than ever to landing the playmaker that manager Sir Alex Ferguson has sought all summer long and makes this club even more of a force on the international scene than it was previously. If United can seal the deal, it will bring an end to one of the longest transfer battles in our recent times (Fabregas is an exception of course).

3] SAMIR NASRI:

There has been wide spread speculation this summer that Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri wanted to leave the club as he is concerned about the teams lack of trophies in recent seasons. Nasri, who has just an year left in his contract is yet to sign a new deal which will keep the gunner at Emirates. However if Wenger doesn’t offload him this summer, Nasri will have to leave the club for free next season. Wenger had stated previously that he is reluctant to sell Nasri to any English club.

however, Nasri has been linked with several top clubs from Europe which includes Inter Milan, Manchester City and Manchester United. But as of now nothing has changed and Nasri is yet to put the pen to paper on a new deal at Emirates. Samir Nasri was bought from Marseille in the summer of 2008 for a fee of around £12 million. Although Nasri hasn’t ruled out the possibilty of leaving Arsenal this summer, Arsene Wenger is confident that his player would not leave the club.

The Frenchman has been widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the Premier league and would be a great addition to United if they can lure his services by the end of this summer.

4] LUKA MODRIC:

One of the most wanted midfielders in Europe presently. Modric is the kind of player who gets deep into the opposition half, and has the ability to orchestrate the attack well and to maintain possesion for a long period, which is exactly what Manchester United lacked at Wembley against Barcelona. Several journalists have claimed that Modric would be the perfect replacement for Paul Scholes at the Theatre of dreams.

Well, the situation of Luka is kind of similar to the Nasri transfer saga. Modric also, had recently stated his desire to move to Chelsea, if they come up with a formal bid for him. Already having a £22 million bid rejected by Tottenham for the Croatian midfielder, Modric looks unlikely to move to an another club this summer. However, if Manchester United launch a £30 million+ bid for Modric, Tottenham may be tempted to sell him although Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has stated “Modric will not be sold at any price.”

5] JOEY BARTON:

The ex-Manchester City player had signed for Newcastle United in 2007 for a fee of around £5.8 million. Barton is one of the hottest prospects in Europe and is at the peak of his powers at the moment. Joey Barton was forced to train alone at the Newcastle training ground on Tuesday, just one day after being released from his contract. Barton, perhaps the most notorious bad boy in the Premier League (or hard man, if you’re trying to appear sympathetic to his cause), earned himself a ticket away from Tyneside by continuously badmouthing the Newcastle board in public, and this morning the metaphor of his exile was brought to real life as he performed his exercises away from the rest of the senior squad.

Willie McKay (who stands to profit from arranging another contract, by the way) called Newcastle’s decision “a wee bit suicidal.” Barton would now be free to leave for any club. It is rumoured that Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenha, Malaga and Paris St. Germain have all contacted Barton’s agent regarding a transfer. Barton is a really outstanding midfielfer who could play both in the centre midfield position and also in the wings.

Well, Barton’s character is not a very pleasing one, not everyone around likes him, but nonetheless he’s a fantastic player who is at his peak and any club which would be able to gather his services would be really lucky to have a player of his quality in their squad, a move to Manchester United would be the best choice for a player like Joey Barton where Sir Alex would be there to guide him and could completely shape up his approach to the game on and off the field. The Scottish master has done that with several players including Wayne Rooney and Eric Cantona. Is Joey going to be the next man that’s going to step up and take the responsibility of filling the boots left by the Ginger Prince? Only time will tell.Out of this 5, whom do you think will replace the Ginger Prince at Old trafford? Well, a big choice for the gaffer to make, he has done it time and time again after the retirement/transfers of several players, however there is no doubt Sir Alex will surely find the perfect man to take up that responsibilty, but who is that player going to be? The question still remains. Will Cleverley make it to starting 11 or will Sir Alex bring in a big name this summer? We will have to wait and see.

But one thing is for sure, no hurdle will stand in between the champions march towards success. Glory Glory Manchester United!