One of the more intriguing rumors going around the transfer period is Manchester United looking to grab Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder to replace recently retired Paul Scholes.
Sneijder, who spent a good chunk of time injured last year at Inter, has allegedly expressed his desire to leave and has supposedly spoken to an Inter about choice real estate according to newspaper rumors. Sneijder would join recent signings Phil Jones, Ashley Young and goalkeeper David De Gea if he makes the move. An unnamed teammate of Sneijder was quoted as saying that “everyone expects Wesley’s move to United to be announced soon.”
Regardless of the rumors and the legitimacy of the “unnamed sources” involved, let’s play hypothetical. Sneijder would be an interesting fit for the team but would require a lot of reshuffling from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Ostensibly playing near or at the same position as Wayne Rooney, Sneijder isn’t really a “running midfielder” but more of a playmaker which would leave Rooney to do the bulk of the wandering up front, with Hernandez and possibly Young up there as well. As far as replacing Scholes, Sneijder definitely fits the bill and would provide United with a rotation consisting of him, Nani, Valencia, Berbatov and the previously mentioned Rooney, Hernandez and Young. This level of depth would also seemingly allow for the fact that Sneijder only played 25 games last year and would still be coming back from injuries.
Of course these are all rumors, as United has been linked to almost every player that has been mentioned in transfer talks to the point where when I read about a player looking to leave I always expect the “and Chelsea, Man City and United are interested” to follow. It’s definitely a great pickup, and if signed Sneijder could end up being the final piece to an already intimidating team that looks to repeat as Premier League champions.
