Paul Scholes och Ryan Giggs, tillsammans med Sir Bobby Charlton de tre mesta spelarna i världen finaste fotbollsförening, har så pass hög status att de tillfrågades när Robin van Persie var på gång att komma till United. Så här säger Rene Meulensteen:
”The boss and I tested that before we made a move for him. We dropped Robin’s name with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
‘We said to them, “What would you think if Robin van Persie comes here?” They both said the same thing. They both thought it would be outrageous if Robin came to United, and later so did all the other players.
‘The reason we discussed it with Ryan and Paul is because they stand for the culture of Manchester United in the dressing room. They keep that culture and protect it.”
Vackert värre och intrycket av att det fortfarande är en familjär förening på insidan förstärks. Förhoppningsvis kan RvP stanna i fem-sex år och själv föra stafettpinnen som kulturbärare vidare. Försvinner MUFC-känslan försvinner framgångarna.
Jag är mer orolig över det än över vem som ska ta över när Alexander calls it. Även om det är den svåraste headhuntingen som genomförts i engelsk fotboll. Ever.
* Meulensteen är inte oväntat rätt nöjd med att ha fått in sin landsman:
”Robin has a phenomenal eye for free space. I don’t know another player who creates space for himself so well. As a coach that was one of the first challenges for me. Trying to show to the other players what kind of striker Robin is and how they have to play with him in the team.”
”Robin gives the team an invincible feeling. All the players have that same buzz. They think “we’ve got Van Persie. With him we are always going to score. We can always give him the ball and he will always do something magical with it. It was time for Manchester United to have a big-name player like Robin van Persie again.”
* Rio d.ä, en av dessa bärare i omklädningsrummet efter elva år i klubben och snart på 18:e plats i listan över flest matcher ever, har tagit ut sin drömelva av de spelare han haft som lagkamrater. Åtta Unitedpojkar får plats:
Edwin
Gary – Sulzeer – Vidic – Cole
Ronaldo – Scholes – Keane – Giggs
van Nistelrooy – Rooney
Om Scholes: ”This is possibly the hardest place to select. I’m leaving Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard out of my all-time team. But Paul Scholes is my favourite footballer I’ve ever played with. Watching him turn, open up and then just smash one over to the winger is just beautiful. I commentate while I’m playing and if a bit of skill gets done on the pitch I’m all over the place!”
Om Keane: ”I can’t leave him out. I remember my first training session: I got the ball from the ’keeper, I passed it to Gary Neville at right-back and Keane just exploded, saying ’you passed it sideways, that’s the easy pass! You’re not at Leeds or West Ham now!’ At the time I thought ’what’s he talking about?’ Then when I got home, I sat and thought about it and thought ’yeah, you’ve got to try and affect the game’. For that he has to get in my team.”
Om Ruud: ”Robbie Fowler was a great player, as was Michael Owen. The two of them were brilliant goal-scorers and great players. People talk about young players now, saying ’he’s going to be the saviour of football, English or European’ but those two were scoring hat-tricks every other week when they were 18 or 19 years old. But I’m going to have to go with Ruud van Nistelrooy. He was the ’mad’ finisher. He’d get the ball and just smash it home, side-foot or volley. If you won 1-0 and he didn’t score, he wasn’t happy. His goal-scoring record at Man Utd was phenomenal.”
Inga större konstigheter i den elvan alls faktiskt. Helt med på hans val, även om det var tajt mellan Cole och Evra. ”It’s a toss of a coin between Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole” sa Rio själv.
* Och så har Begovic tydligen bestämt sig (vännerna är alltså exalterade!) över att han vill till United i sommar.
Gäsp.
* Snart lottning.
Hörs efter det. Leeds kanske?