student

Take into account who briefed them. Highest will be briefed by southampton and probably include all the possible clauses and assume they will be activated. The lowest will be briefed by united, they have strong ties with the guardian, and will not include the clauses. The middle ones will include the upfront fee plus the clauses which will be activated and maybe mention the ones which might be. The main fee was agreed in principle a long time ago, hence why united bid 27m and thats what was ultimately accepted, it was just how clauses activate etc

Crook says 27m upfront with it rising to 34m based on various clauses. A good deal for all involved. I still maintain that the deal was done before the world cup, Shaw had signed a precontract with united before hand which imposed a penalty on him if he didnt sign!

This is certainly along the right lines. Shaw and united sorted personal terms months ago. In terms of the fee, united were given strong suggestions from Southampton that 27m the magic number to do the deal. Important people in united, most notably woodward, thought it was a done deal and were briefing the press that it was as good as done. They believed they would announced it before the world cup and even had a press release ready for the thursday i mentioned before the world cup. This is fact. Speculating, It would seem that the hold up regards the structure of the 27m, presumably united wanted to do it 'on the cheap' with x upfront, y next year then plenty in achievement and appearance based clauses. Im guessing southampton want pretty much all of it upfront. The 34m quoted could be a new 'structured deal' with bigger achievement based clauses. United obviously don't want to pay it all upfront as they're probably going to over 100m of business this summer and cant stump all that up in cash immediately.

Fwiw all the reliable united journalists have stated that they havent increased their offer.

Keep in dreaming

So are any of you beginning to believe the info i passed on? Shaw has been talking for a long time about joining utd. The deal dates back to the january window where united were told 'not now'

To be fair he barely played barkley and didnt play wilson at all

I haven't claimed to know anything about the manager, read the post it makes assumptions and doesn't pretend to be fact. Shaw was due to play against Peru... Baines was away for family reasons so wasn't going to play but Shaw got I'll so got called back. I still maintain a deal for Shaw is done. It would have been official by now if you weren't looking for a new manager. Shaw has agreed personal terms and is looking for houses in Manchester, he's openly been talking in the England camp about joining and was at the pfa awards. Look at my posts last week, I knew the Shaw meeting was happening on Friday, United has prepared a statement to announce him in anticipation. I do concede that it will now have to wait until after the World Cup until it's official but a fee will be formally agreed shortly after the new manager is in place. It won't end nicely between Shaw and the club if they don't let him go for the fee they previously intimated they would accept

Sherwood going very short atm. I can only assume that all the people who have gone short have been interviewed. It seems to make a short list of Koeman, Poyet, Sherwood, Magath, Ranieri, Moyes. Koeman - seems to have been interviewed and seems most likely Poyet - saints made an enquiry and Sunderland quickly tied him down Sherwood - sounds like he's been interviewed and someone around him has let slip Magath - saints asked and were knocked back Ranieri - interviews/talks had Moyes - question asked and he rejected Yakin - wanted the job but seemingly was never asked Mclaren - doesn't seem to have been asked Puel - was going to be interview but then taken off list Gross - talks maybe happened. What you can be sure of is that your board is doing things the right way. They are maximising their chance of getting a manager who works. All clubs should try to be as thorough.

Magath still shortening. 11/4 on sky and koeman is 2/5. Bizarre

I do wonder if its just the bookies trying to cover their arses. Pull someone in short at the last minute and people will back it and throw money away

Anyone know the story with magath? Im assuming hes been interviewed and has told someone? Koeman must be the leading candidate by far

There is no way united will spend anything close to that. Expect it to be around 120m plus anything they get for selling players. You've got to take into accoun they've lost their two best cbs and haven't bought a good midfielder in about 7 years.

I told you about cork and fonte...

I can't see anyone paying more than 25m, I think he's already overpriced for that sum.