United's Summer Transfer Plans

A busy summer awaits us, make no mistake. Even if United actually buy and sell nobody, there will be plenty of rumours, speculations, denials and hints. Let's have a look at the who is the most likely to leave and to arrive.

As always, the number one candidate for departure is Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid still want him and Florentino Perez has confirmed he would try to land him. Despite Ronaldo's numerous assurances that he would love to stay we can never be certain about him.

His fellow Portuguese winger Nani could also be ushered towards the exit door after a woeful season. He failed to deliver after a promising first campaign and only Fergie's patience can keep him at Old Trafford.

Carlos Tevez is almost certain to leave, as we know, though United are still negotiating, according to some reports (according to others, even the negotiations have stopped). Where he could go? We'll see.

A few hacks also urge us to cash in on Dimitar Berbatov after a moderate debut season but I don't think that Fergie will give up on him at once. True, he's somewhat of a luxury player now we don't have a settled, reliable midfield but a quality player as well and certainly deserves another season.

As for the arrivals: it looks certain that someone who is capable of playing on the wings will arrive. Park is not good enough to be a key player, he's a good tactical option to have but we need variations. Nani's horrible displays indicate that it would be a risk to rely on him next season so a wide player would be great, and it would free up Rooney to play up front. Franck Ribery or Antonio Valencia are the most likely arrivals.

I'd suggest that we should sign a central midfield but there were few such rumours. Miguel Veloso has been mentioned a few times but it looks like the papers believe Sir Alex set his sights elsewhere.

And up front. Carlos Tevez will probably leave and there's the chance that Ronaldo joins Real Madrid. That would leave us with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and the two youngsters, Danny Welbeck and Kiko Macheda. That's not enough. In an ideal world we'd buy a striker, a pacy one who might also play on the wings if necessary (Aguero or Lavezzi spring to mind of those who were linked with United).

I'd say we should let Carlos and possibly Nani leave and buy a winger, a central midfielder and a striker as well. Our attack wasn't good enough this season and we rely too heavily on Ronaldo. If he plays centrally, we lose penetration on the flanks and if he plays wide we do not have enough pace and clinical finishing up front. That's why we need two players to take some of the burden off Ronaldo. The Rooney-Berbatov pairing is fine with two quality wide players but we need backup on the bench and we cannot rely on Park and Nani.

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