Photo by Mauricicho

Reports this week have surfaced that Manchester United have tabled a £15million offer for Barcelona starlet Thiago Alcantara. If this rumour turns out to be true and the Spanish sensation does end up at Old Trafford, then it won’t be long until Sir Alex Ferguson is ruling Europe once again.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has dubbed the young midfielder the ‘Magician’ during the Under-21 Euro championship after the 20-year-old guided Spain to glory with a cheeky, yet beautiful free kick in the 2-0 victory over Switzerland in the final. Thiago showed the arrogance to lob the keeper with a punched shot from 30 yards out to take everyone by surprise and send the Spain fans into raptures.

This type of flair and creativity is exactly what the midfield at Old Trafford is missing.

Thiago shares similar traits to Manchester United player’s player of the year Nani in terms of personality as they share this ability to use arrogance on the football pitch as a way of expressing freedom in their play. The Portuguese winger may have been left out of crucial games in the latter half of the season but there is a reason why his team-mates see him as the most effective player on the pitch and that is down to his confidence in his own ability to create something out of nothing and win the game in an instant. Thiago shares this drive and determination to turn a game on its head in the blink of an eye, and this is what makes him special.

It is clear for all to see that the Barcelona youth product is a star in the making and Pep Guardiola will not want to lose him to a Champions League rival. The constant pursuit of Cesc Fabregas could be the catalyst in the deal that could lead Thiago to link up with Spanish under-21 team-mate David De Gea at Old Trafford.

Guardiola sees Fabregas as the long-term replacement for Xavi and so another world class addition to the midfield set up at Camp Nou would leave the Spaniard with few first team opportunities. The Barcelona hierarchy would prefer to let the youngster go out on loan and integrate him into the squad in the coming seasons but as he is now in his twenties, the midfielder is in need of first team action at the highest level.

The one man that can give him that is Sir Alex Ferguson. When you are at Barcelona, the only place to go is down, except for Manchester United.

Ferguson accepts that his side are currently second best in the grand scheme of things and knows he needs to rejuvenate his side to overhaul Barcelona on the European stage. With time running out for the Scotsman, who is unlikely to stay at the club for more than three more seasons, he is determined to make sure he creates a lasting legacy at the club full of the next stars of the game.

After finally knocking Liverpool off their perch domestically, Manchester United’s attention now turns to Europe and overtaking Barcelona, and the best way to start is by stealing one of their own.

With the class of ’92 slowly drifting away from Old Trafford, it is time to create the new superstars at the Theatre of Dreams starting with the ‘Magician’ lighting up the void left by Paul Scholes. And finally bringing back that arrogance to the Manchester United way of playing that the club so desperately needs.

Firstly I want to make it clear that I am not an English fan, I am from Ireland, but what I heard whenever I was watching the England game on Saturday on TV was one of the worse things that I have ever heard at a football match.

So Ashley Cole makes a mistake and presents the ball straight into the path of an opposition player, but does that give the England fans the right to lay into him and boo him for it?

I may be wrong, but I seriously thought that the point of being a football supporter is to support your team no matter the result, no matter the outcome and no matter the mistakes that are made.  England won 5-1 for pity sake and still this happens to a player.

I for one hope that these fans are looking at themselves today and are feeling a tad embarrassed.

With the season well underway and the league table starting to take some sort of shape, it is quite a surprise to see an unfamiliar team sitting in third place in the league.  At the start of the season everyone is asking whether the big four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool can be separated and if so would the usual suspects of Everton, Tottenham, Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa be the ones to do it.  Then on transfer deadline day comes a new contender on the scene when Manchester City are taken over and spend a British record transfer fee on Robinho.

However, two months into the season, none of those teams mentioned, with the exception of Aston Villa, can truly say that they are setting the league table alight.  In fact you have to look at the table upside down to see Tottenham anywhere near the top.  Their worst start to the season since 1912 leaves them in bottom place (I guess you can say that they are the strongest team in the league).  So who am I getting at?

The answer to that question is Hull City.  A team that never played a top flight game until this season are currently sitting proudly in that 3rd place spot.  The most refreshing part of the whole story is that they are approaching games in the correct way.  There will not be too many games that will go to both the Emirates Stadium and White Hart Lane this season and win both games, but that honour does go well and truly to Hull.  They go on the pitch for each game with the same attitude.  We are here to enjoy ourselves and no one is going to stop this dream from happening.You just have to look at the current league form and in particular the away form table.  Hull City are currently joint top with Liverpool with a total of 10 points from 4 games, only currently Premiership leaders, Chelsea, boast a 100% record from their 3 games played.

So what will happen to Hull City for the rest of the season??  The future is uncertain, but what odds would you give for them to be the team to break the Stamford Bridge hoodoo for teams, and I am a Chelsea fan.  I will be keeping a keen eye on Hull.  Good luck for the season and I for one think it is certainly a blessing in disguise.