Sneijder

I'm not keen on him. In all honesty, I'm not that keen on Modric either. Why spend 30+ million on him when we've got plenty for the middle of the park?

I think we should see a bit of Mikel as a forward playmaker - that's the position he played when Chelsea and United fought so hard over him and when he was so highly rated, so why not give him a go? Also, if we bring in Modric one of our youth players slips down the pecking order.

We've got two players for each position at the moment (granted, Oriol and McEachran are young ones) and I think Yossi is criminally underrated. Let's give him a proper chance first.

Oh, and not to mention Piazon's arrival - I know he'll take a while to bed in, but it seems silly to have 3 young (and expensive) midfielders just lounging around while we fork out a fortune on another.

think we should see a bit of Mikel as a forward playmaker - that's the position he played when Chelsea and United fought so hard over him and when he was so highly rated, so why not give him a go?
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Mate with all due respect I think that you are having a laugh. Mikel doesn't do forward passing, just sideways and backwards, like a crab. He also cannot shoot anywhere near the goal, hence his goalscoring record with us. So playing him further forward would not make any difference, and as for being highly rated, well he may have been when we nicked him from the Mancs, but I have been watching him every week and I haven't rated him for years!!

That's because he's been pushed into a position that wasn't his natural best. Jose fancied him as a defensive midfielder and he played pretty well under Scolari as a deep-lying playmaker. Look at Ashley Cole when he first arrived - he wasn't half the player he is now.

Everyone felt that Mikel should replace Makelele and as a result he sat in front of the back four and never looked forward. Also, as a side note, it's interesting that Mikel gets abuse for being a crab and yet Ray 'the crab' Wilkins was idolised!

Or right-angle Ray for that matter. Anyway, regardless of Mikel, we don't need Modric. I'd rather wait a year and get the youngsters playing together and gelled as a group than get yet another stop-gap signing.

it's interesting that Mikel gets abuse for being a crab and yet Ray 'the crab' Wilkins was idolised!
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Did you ever watch Wilkins when he played at Chelsea? If so, you would have known that he only became a crab after he left us. With us, he was played just behind the front 2, and was far more of an attacking player (and scored more goals than he did later at Man U in a more defensive role). To this day I don't know why the emphasis on Wilkins game was changed. When we had him he was a far more exciting player than he was to become.

Afraid I'm too young for him - my first game was february 1998 for my birthday. Lost to United but have been hooked since.

Back to Modric though - what are your thoughts on the middle?

My thoughts on the middle are that given a choice I would prefer Sniejder to Modric, but I don't honestly think that we will get either!! I think that it will end up with some sort of fudge of say Benayoun trying to be the playmaker. Whether that will work I'm not sure.

Why 1969? Sneijder is in poor form and is not PL Proven. Like Adebayor and Tevez he gets unsettled easily and would probably be gone within at the most 3 years.

I rate Mikel, he's a good player.

I know you do BK. I know some fans like Mikel, but for me the problem with Mikel is that he slows our attacking down too much by going sideways and backwards a lot of the time. I also think that this is part of the reason why we are having a slight compatibility problem with Torres. He likes the ball put forward a lot quicker so that he can run at pace at 1 or 2 defenders, whereas the time that we have finished counter attacking quite ponderously and slowly, he is having to try to break down 2 banks of 4. Mikel isn't the only one guilty of this as Lampard and the back 4 seem to like to knock the ball around aimlessly at the back, giving people a chance to get back into position. At times as a team we are too over-elaborate and play at a very slow tempo, which I believe can make us predictable and easy to stop, for the more tactically clued-up teams like Man U.

I watch Mikel every week and just don't think that he gives us enough options to mix it up. I also think that playing a holding midfielder just in front of the back 4 in routine home games is tactically negative. Away from home at places like OT, Anfield etc. yes but at home to someone like Stoke, No.