Fergie bids to find successor to Giggs on United's left
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United in £8m swoop for Serbian midfielder Tosic
Zoran Tosic has impressed playing for Serbia
Manchester United have agreed an £8million deal to sign Serbian midfielder Zoran Tosic. The 21-year-old left winger became a target for leading European clubs when he played a key role in Serbia’s run to the semi-finals of last year’s European Under 21 Championships.
Now United are ready to sign Tosic from Partizan Belgrade in January, subject to a successful work permit application next week.
The Home Office, who have appointed former England winger Chris Waddle to the panel looking at the application, demands that non-EU nationals must have played in three-quarters of their country’s matches in the last year and Tosic has appeared in only six of Serbia’s previous 14 games.
United will argue he is set to become a Serbia regular. Dead-ball specialist Tosic will then aim to prove he can be the successor to Ryan Giggs on the left.
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midfielder
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Yeah... Giggs can't last forever mah... He may retire soon also.
And Nani, more of a right footer than a natural left footer player... In fact, Park also seems like a right footer and also getting old... Currently Rooney covers the left wing at times...
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reports also say they're getting adem ljajic... who is younger than me by like a month
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Originally posted by jonchao72:
reports also say they're getting adem ljajic... who is younger than me by like a month
please tell me he's not a midfielder.
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seen more of fellow countryman, milos krsic....
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bye ronaldo..
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Originally posted by dinky1409:
bye ronaldo..
vidic pull him in one is it?
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VIDEO: Sir Alex Ferguson closes in on Zoran Tosic as he bids to find successor to Giggs on Manchester United's left
In control: Serbia's Tosic (left), who has been subject of a bid from Manchester United, holds off Bulgaria's Stanislav Manolev
Manchester United have agreed an £8million fee with Partizan Belgrade for Serbian midfielder Zoran Tosic, as revealed by Sportsmail on Saturday.
The 21-year-old has not played enough international matches to be guaranteed playing rights in this country and United will attempt to mount a successful work permit application next week.
The Home Office, who have appointed former England winger Chris Waddle to the panel looking at the application, demands that non-EU nationals must have played in three-quarters of their country’s matches in the last year and Tosic has appeared in only six of Serbia’s previous 14 games.
United will argue he is set to become a Serbia regular and the left-sided midfielder, also a dead ball specialist, could be seen as a long-term replacement for Ryan Giggs.
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You won't be getting many dead ball attenpts with ronaldo, nani and hargreaves in the lineup, better make the most of them when you actually get them
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Zoran Tosic gains permit to threaten Ryan Giggs's place at Manchester United
If the sight of 35 candles on his birthday cake today does not leave Ryan Giggs feeling old, the impending arrival of another young winger at Manchester United might just do so. The United veteran has begun to hint at retirement in recent months and, with the club confirming yesterday that Zoran Tosic, 14 years his junior, will be joining from Partizan Belgrade in January, there is an unmistakable changing-of-the-guard feel around Old Trafford.
Giggs has seven months remaining on his contract with United and, while there have been indications from the club that he may be offered another one-year deal, the two parties are calm about whether to extend their enduring relationship. Giggs has started only five of United’s 13 Barclays Premier League matches this season and, while Tosic’s arrival should not have an impact upon the 35-year-old directly, given that Sir Alex Ferguson regards him as a midfield player rather than a winger these days, the £8 million deal reflects the manager’s strategy to “phase out” players such as Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes over the next year or two.
Tosic, a left-sided player who is described on United’s website as a “renowned dead-ball specialist”, was granted a work permit yesterday, with Ferguson making a personal plea at the hearing in Sheffield. Ferguson told the hearing that Tosic, a Serbia team-mate of Nemanja Vidic, is a player of outstanding potential who will challenge for a first-team place immediately. Nani, the 22-year-old Portugal winger, might have cause to look over his shoulder, having yet to perform consistently for United since his arrival from Sporting Lisbon 18 months ago, but in reality the youngsters will compete for the role as Giggs’s long-term replacement while the elder statesman plays out his career in the centre of midfield.
United have also been monitoring another youngster from Partizan, Adem Ljajic, a 17-year-old midfield player, who may be offered a contract after impressing while on trial in Manchester this month, but Tosic was the priority signing. The 21-year-old is likely to join Old Trafford on January 1, when the transfer window opens, joining a squad that has been rejuvenated this season by the impact of Rafael Da Silva, the 18-year-old Brazilian right back; Jonny Evans, the Northern Ireland defender; and Danny Welbeck, the 18-year-old home-grown forward.
Any of those youngsters could get more exposure in the second half of the season, with Ferguson expressing concerns about the dangers of fixture congestion after his team return from the Club World Championship in Tokyo next month. United will miss only one Premier League match, at home to Wigan Athletic, because of the eight-day trip, but, having still to find a suitable date for their home fixture against Fulham, which was postponed in August because of their participation in the European Super Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg, and still in the Carling Cup as well as the FA Cup and the Champions League, United are facing a growing pile-up of fixtures.
“I am looking at playing catch-up,” Ferguson said. “Our away fixtures have been pretty fierce, particularly after European games, but the second half will be OK for us.
“We will have to make up the two games, of course, depending on our progress in the League Cup and the FA Cup, that could prove a minefield for us, trying to get dates.
“We have one or two dates pencilled in, but it really depends how we get on next Wednesday against Blackburn [in the Carling Cup], because we would then have two semi-final dates, which would be midweek games. The availability of fixtures then dries up. You are then looking into the end of February or March. If you don’t get them then, you are talking about a Rangers situation, something like eight games in 12 days last year. When we lost the league in 1992, we had something like four games in six days. We don’t want that.”
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welcome the next generation of man u players
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Speculation that Manchester United are after Serbia winger Zoran Tosic has gained momentum after reports that Sir Alex Ferguson had gone to some length to obtain a work permit for the 21-year old Partizan Belgrade player.
Tosic, who has made 12 international appearances but is yet to score for his country, is a decent player with a sweet left foot from set pieces but he appeared to be as stunned as many of my colleagues here in Belgrade after being told that Ferguson sees him as an ideal long-term replacement for Ryan Giggs.
“It’s fantastic to know that such a great coach speaks so highly of my abilities and I am truly honoured that he has so much faith in me,” Tosic told Belgrade’s daily newspapers.
Can a player yet to be tried and tested at top level fill Giggs’s boots on United’s left flank?
Will he, if United sign him, turn out to be a real asset like compatriot Nemanja Vidic or merely a fringe player?
Tosic’s diminutive and frail-looking posture suggests he could find it very difficult to adapt to the physical exertions and torrid pace of the Premier League. Croatia playmaker Luka Modric certainly found it tough at Tottenham.
United are reportedly also interested in Tosic’s 17-year old Partizan team mate Adem Ljajic, who recently broke into the first team and scored on his full debut after a 10-day trial at Old Trafford in October.
Although Ljajic has shown glimpses of extraordinary talent, he is still a far cry from living up to the billing of being “the Serbian Kaka”.
Both Tosic and Ljajic need a far more competitive environment than Serbia’s ramshackle 12-team league for any judgment to be passed and United’s board may well keep that in mind when the January transfer window opens.
http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/2008/12/02/tosic-and-ljajic-not-yet-united-class/