Phil Jones to Sign with Manchester United


What, no hug goodbye? Alternate caption, "Samba just mad that Jones made the exit before he did."

Premier League - Jones 'undergoing United medical' - Yahoo! Eurosport
Blackburn Rovers defender Phil Jones is at Manchester United to undergo a medical, according to various reports on Wednesday afternoon.

Jones, 19, was supposed to travel with his England Under-21 team-mates to Denmark for the European Championship finals on Wednesday.

However, he has been given permission to go to Carrington and undergo the necessary tests before finalising a transfer to the Premier League champions.
This updates our earlier post about Liverpool's transfer activity. So it seems that they've lost Jones, the player that made sense for them, and nabbed Henderson, whom we don't see fitting into the side.

A few more quick thoughts:

  • Does this make Gary Cahill the next obvious target for Liverpool?
  • Long-term, United are banking on a Jones/Smalling pairing. But with Ferdinand/Vidic as the bedrock of today's Manchester United, will Jones find himself replacing Michael Carrick in the starting eleven?
  • What mid- to lower- table team is going get Johnny Evans next season, and can he rehabilitate his reputation?
  • Rovers now have the money to make Jermaine Jones' loan permanent. Is that a good thing? I just watched him last night play for the USA against Canada. He plays really well in stretches but can switch off at the wrong times and will lose the ball or make a bad pass. Turnovers in midfield are killer and I worry about his concentration.
  • At center-back, Rovers will need another players. Nelsen, Givet and Samba are ageing. The first two are becoming injury prone, and the latter isn't expected to be at the club come next season. Maybe Johnny Evans moves in the other direction?
What do you think of the deal?

4 comments:

  1. Part of me hopes that this is Rio's ticket out of Manchester.

    Fergie is likely to keep faith with Evans as a rotational player - see O'Shea and Brown.

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  2. "and Samba are ageing"

    Samba is only 27....

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  3. Great signing for United as much as I hate to say it. Could be the immediate solution at holding midfielder when United want to play more defensively. If he turns into everything he is supposed to then Vidic/Smalling/Jones/Evans is very solid depth once Rio leaves.

    I agree with @Birty above that Evans likely stays around as 4th/5th CB (depending on where Jones plays immediately). That's great depth to have and the appetite for buying him is probably not huge (although Sunderland are always options as they do like their ex-United players).

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  4. Suddenly this move doesn't look quite done and dusted yet.

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