With Manchester United taking their time in deciding who they will splash out BIG money on, I'd thought it'd be interesting to take a different approach.

So, I contacted my pals at Electronic Arts in Burnaby, BC who are putting the finishing touches on "FIFA 10".  I asked them if they could send over the updated player ratings for CR9 (that's his new number and moniker at Real Madrid) and four other potential United targets - David Villa, Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Antonio Valencia.  Now, you have to understand, EA's 'Player Ratings' are a closely guarded secret.  The spreadsheets containing all the player info (we're talking thousands of players) is akin to a professional football team's playbook - they don't mess around when it comes to this and they don't give these out just willy-nilly.

Lucky for me (and you perhaps) they enjoy the show and were willing to fulfill my request.  So, first off a BIG thanks to Steve Frost and his guys working on FIFA 10 (which looks AMAZING by the way!).  Much appreciated.

Now onto the analysis.

Each player is rated out of 100 in 19 different categories and then handed an overall rating.

Let's start with our constant - CR9

Overall - 90
Acceleration - 95
Aggression - 54
Agility - 96
Balance - 87
Ball Control - 95
Composure - 78
Crossing - 89
Curve - 90
Dribbling - 97
Finishing - 91
Free Kick Accuracy - 93
Heading accuracy - 82
Jumping - 88
Long Passing - 71
Long Shots - 84
Marking - 22
Penalties - 88
Positioning - 73
Reactions - 84
Short Passing - 84
Shot Power - 90
Slide Tackling - 23
Sprint Speed - 94
Stamina - 89
Standing tackle - 31
Strength - 76
Tactical Awareness - 68
Vision - 86
Volleys - 87

Now, according to the updated ratings, the closest fit would be Franck Ribery.  But would Ribery be the BEST fit?  Let's break it down a little closer and look at 10 ratings that are likely KEY for the role he would play - which would be a winger like CR9:

Aggression - this is more for perhaps tracking back.
Composure - he will suffer a fair amount of tackles and fouls, but will need to maintain poise in front of goal.
Crossing - key skill for the position.
Dribbling - again, key skill for taking on defenders.
Finishing - key for any attacking player.
Positioning - is he too far forward or not forward enough?
Short Passing - bringing his MF mates into the game.
Sprint Speed - break away and maintain.
Tactical Awareness - being an attack-minded player this is a no-brainer.
Vision - seeing the big picture.

Here's how Ribery rated in those categories - and the difference (+/-) to CR9:
Agg - 66 (+12)
Comp - 84 (+6)
Crossing - 87 (-2)
Dribb - 94 (-3)
Finish - 72 (-19)
Position - 86 (+13)
Short Pass - 88 (+4)
Sprint - 93 (-1)
Tactical - 88 (+20)
Vision (+3)
OVERALL RATING: 88 (-2)

The three HUGE variations were in finishing, positioning and tactical awareness.  Here's where you see what CR9 really brought to United - and what Ribery would bring.  You'd likely get a more varied scoring distribution with him and certainly more assists (CR9 had 8, Ribery had 13).  He'd also likely bring more of his teammates into the game - he's more of a team guy.  But you'd sacrifice the goals because he's not the kind of player who could lead United's line.  They would rely more heavily on production from Rooney and Berbatov for sure - and NEED a more balanced attack.

Now how about Antonio Valencia?  I said in my earlier article that he is more of a 'Wal-Mart' buy - and the ratings would show this to be true.  They also show United would be taking a HUGE gamble by bringing him in.  The question for Ferguson being - what do you expect out of him?  Here's how he rated:

Agg - 51 (-3)
Comp - 77 (-1)
Cross - 81 (-8)
Dribb - 86 (-13)
Finish - 64 (-27)
Position - 74 (+1)
Short Pass - 70 (-14)
Sprint - 82 (-12)
Tactical - 73 (+5)
Vision - 79 (-7)
OVERALL RATING - 79 (-11)

You can see with Valencia he rates lower in 8 of the 10 categories - and is no where near the dribbler, finisher, passer or speedster that Ronaldo is.  United would sacrifice possession, goals & outside speed with Valencia - three things that are key to how they operate.  This perhaps goes to show that being a success at Wigan is one thing, but being a success at United is completely different.

Now, in Karim Benzema, we're talking about a striker who would likely be given more of a free role with United - as Ronaldo was.  He and Rooney would likely do plenty of switching (much to Rooney's chagrin perhaps) and opposition defences would basically have to operate the same way to defend against United.

Agg - 66 (+12)
Comp - 80 (+2)
Cross - 78 (-11)
Dribb - 88 (-11)
Finish - 90 (-1)
Position - 81 (+8)
Short Pass - 81 (-3)
Sprint - 85 (-9)
Tactical - 74 (+6)
Vision - 78 (-8)
OVERALL RATING - 85 (-5)

With Benzema, United hope they wouldn't see THAT much of a drop in production (finish is good) and they'd be getting a young player (he's 21!!) who Ferguson could work with - much like he did with Ronaldo.  Much like with Ribery, initially you'd need production from other areas of the United attack.  But once Benzema got settled and became comfortable - look out!  If anyone could be 'the next Ronaldo' - it's Benzema.  The weakness originally being that Benzema could not provide the width and deep play Ronaldo can.

David Villa is an interesting prospect - and one Wayne Rooney probably has mixed feelings about.  If United DO bring in Villa, it would mean more wing play for Rooney with Villa taking a center role with Berbatov in 3-pronged attack situations.  That or Villa would replace Berbatov relegating him to more of a bench role....But that would be one expensive bench player.  However, bringing Villa in might just light that fire under Berbatov that United would like.  They would certainly be competing for the slot opposite Rooney.

For Villa, because he is more of a pure goal scorer, we have to look at some different ratings points than the other two.  For Villa we look at:

Aggression
Ball Control
Composure
Dribbling
Finishing
Free Kick Accuracy
Long Shots
Positioning
Sprint Speed
Tactical Awareness

Based on those and comparing to CR9:

Agg - 67 (+13)
Ball Cont - 87 (-8)
Composure - 86 (+8)
Dribb - 89 (-8)
Finish - 93 (+2)
FK Acc - 88 (-5)
Long Shot - 87 (+3)
Position - 88 (+15)
Sprint - 86 (-8)
Tactical - 77 (+9)
OVERALL RATING - 87

With Villa United would get as much - if not more - goal production but they would likely sacrifice some of their width at times.  Villa is similar to Ruud Van Nistelrooy in that respect - he scores a ton of goals (30G 6A last term).  But RVN is 6'2".  Villa is 5'9".  Take into account the fact that Spain is not as physically aggressive or demanding as the Premier League and there may be a significant adjustment period needed for Villa to get going.  United have shown they can recover from a slow start but with next season's title chase set to be one of the most competitive yet, they will likely need to hit the ground running with significant fixture congestion and fatigue a very REAL possibility.

When I sent this article to Bobby to 'proof', he was quick to point out that Ronaldo cannot simply be replaced like-for-like - and Ferguson would probably have to alter United's system much like he did after Beckham was shipped out.

He also wanted to remind that Ronaldo is nominally a winger and actually occupied a number of positions.  In doing that, one solution might be to go after an athletic, attack-minded RB like Maicon.

What do you think?

Who else should United target to replace Ronaldo?

The Premier League released its 2009-2010 schedule Wednesday and needless to say, it is going to be one BUSY PL campaign.  Due to the extension of the Europa League and Champions League competitions, not to mention the Carling and FA Cups, the brass at SoHo Square are going to try and squeeze 38 fixtures into 34 weeks.  It will be the tightest schedule in the history of the competition and with just a few weeks between the finish of the domestic season and the start of World Cup camps, players will have little time to recuperate - or heal up if they are injured.

That will place an extra emphasis on physios and players trying to stay in peak condition while getting ample rest when they can.  But is that even possible?  With all the various competitions, most of the PL top 4-5 will likely be going deep into multiple competitions making it near impossible for players not to get burned out.  There's a lot of talk about England's chances at the World Cup but don't be surprised if that talk fades as players start dropping like flies in February, March and April.  In the NFL, there are always 1-2 BIG name players that go down every season.  Expect the same thing in the PL (and with the England squad).

Luckily, Fabio Capello has been bleeding out a wide swath of talent so as to make sure his player pool is VERY deep for selection.

The question I have is:  Should the FA - or other associations in general - start opting out of the European and League Cup competitions in a World Cup year?

Surely we can get rid of the dreaded 'FA Cup Replay' (which has already been suggested) but for the good of the nation, and the good of the World Cup (in terms of quality of the competition) - should UEFA and the FA (and La Liga, Serie-A, Eredivisie, SPL, BWIN Liga, etc) find a better way to coordinate the European competitions so as to prevent this kind of fixture pile-up?

At the end of the day, we're the ones who lose right?  The fans?  If Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka (or any other BIG name player for that matter) go down and miss the World Cup, are we not missing out on what could have been?  Should players not be reaching their peak at the World Cup, rather than being at the point of exhaustion?

Or is money such an over-riding factor that the QUALITY of the World's most watched sporting event does not even matter anymore?  As long as UEFA, FIFA and the member clubs get their payouts from TV deals & exorbitant ticket pricing, that's most important - am I right?  Because that is how it looks to me.

Is it going to change?  Of course not.  In fact, it will likely get worse.  UEFA and FIFA and the FA and the like know that people will pay for their sport.  We need sport.  We love sport.  I wouldn't have a job if it weren't for sport.  But I can't help but feel that we're closer to the 'tipping point' than ever before.

I guess the question now is - when will YOU, the fan, decide you've had enough.

As a United fan, I've been asked a few times in the past few days what I thought of the Cristiano Ronaldo deal to Real Madrid.  After getting over the initial shock of people actually CARING about what I think, I found myself saying, "You know what?  I'm not sure yet...." 

But after some thinking...and reading...and more thinking....and comparing....and more reading....I'm still not sure. 

Check that. 

I trust that manager Sir Alex Ferguson knows exactly what he's doing.

He watched Cantona retire on him, shipped Beckham out after 'boot-gate' and then exiled Van Nistelrooy (after he got into an altercation with CR7 coincidentally) - and United have thrived.  I believe they will continue to.

How could they not with 132m US in their pockets?  That will buy exactly what they need - even if they have to over-pay for it initially (United's top targets are listed below).  And they may ALREADY have what they need if Wayne Rooney ever decides to get a little selfish and Sir Alex plops him back into the center role he excels at with the England national team.

When it comes to Ronaldo - THIS United fan (I can NEVER speak for any of the other United fans) is not happy to see him go but I fully understand why he must.  And you know when I knew he had to go?  When he tossed the tracksuit handed to him when he was subbed out of the derby match versus Manchester City on May 10th.  His annoyed head-shaking for the TV cameras showed everyone watching that it was no longer about Manchester United - it was about Cristiano Ronaldo.  Yes, his mother was in the crowd and he wanted to keep showing off for her but with the Champions League Final around the corner, Sir Alex did what he felt was best.  And the public display of petulance was when I knew he'd be gone.  I think I even said as much to whomever was listening in the department at the time.

After that - it was easy to see Ronaldo's relationship with United was at an end.  Ferguson was displeased with his play during the Wigan match and in the Champions League Final, I was among many screaming at the big screens at Brit's Pub in Minneapolis for Ronaldo to stop being so selfish and bring his teammates into the game. 

As wise as Ferguson is - the one lesson he failed to teach the World Player of the Year is that TEAMS win games - not individuals.  And so off to Real Madrid he goes - where individuals thrive...and sometimes they briefly come together to win.  It is the perfect spot for the preening peacock - and I don't think Ferguson will lose a wink of sleep over it.

So where do United go from here?  When you think about it they've essentially lost TWO players.  Ronaldo the free-kick dynamo and Ronaldo the speedy winger.  Nani has made it known he is ready to step into Ronaldo's shoes but Nani has yet to show he can even CARRY Ronaldo's shoes let alone attempt to put them on.  No, Ferguson is going to have to reinforce his team through the transfer market - a transfer market that is well aware United have plenty to spend.  Already the prices have started to skyrocket.  Here's who I think he should target - in order of preference:

Franck Ribery - Bayern Munich
-Obvious choice - and the fact he can play either wing or as a second striker makes him an almost like for like replacement to Ronaldo - and he is a team player.  Bringing him in would also help Rooney's case to be played in a central role because of the fact HE could take the open spot on the wing.  No matter what United would have to pay, Ribery would likely be worth every penny.

Antonio Valencia - Wigan
-The most likely first buy and a 'Wal-Mart' type replacement if you will.  A right-sided forward who (unlike Ribery) has experience in the Premier League and has shown he can handle it and excel.  If he's so good, why has he been at Wigan for two years right?  Well, adjusting to life in England is never easy for South Americans but with the pressure off he has been able to grow and get better at a smaller club.  If he comes to United, he'll be ready for the pressure that goes with - and not have to worry about the issues that come with moving to a new country.  He can focus on the football with one fo the best teams in the world.  But it will be a BIG gamble for United.

Karim Benzema - Lyon
-At just 21-years old, he's seen as one of the most promising young talents in the game - and Ferguson has had his eye on him for some time.  He's the perfect package of power, skill and creativity who could REALLY establish his credentials under Ferguson.  The player himself has said he would prefer a move to Spain or to stay in France but if United come in with the right offer (40m US or so) - Lyon may be forced to sell.  Yes I know he's a forward but in the United attack he had Ronaldo and company switching all the time.  Benzema is versatile enough to do the same.

The unfortunate part is - on top of trying to fill the significant void left by Ronaldo, United also look set to lose ST Carlos Tevez (to City or Liverpool) and possibly Nemanja Vidic (Barcelona).  If so - having 132m US in your pocket will come in handy there as well!

One thing is certain - United have work to do over the summer and as time goes by, it will get harder and harder to get who you want.  As Florentino Perez has shown us all (and in the words of John Kreese - sensai of the Cobra Kai) - strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir!