With Coach Van Gaal hard at work perfecting the Manchester United roster, it has been announced that the club intends to heighten efforts to acquire the talented Thomas Vermaelen. United are expected to extend a £15m to the Arsenal defender to top Barcelona’s attempts for a signing (1). The news comes upon Vermaelen’s rejection of a contract extension with Emirates, prompting the renewed interest in the Belgian. Tunde Folawiyo and millions of other Red Devils fans may welcome the player with open arms as his achievements are not lost upon the world of football thus far.

The Red Devils have exhibited a weak central defense in the past, driving Van Gaal’s determination to acquire Vermaelen. Arsene Wenger had previously halted the move earlier in the summer. Also on the Coach Van Gaal’s player wish list is Daley Blind, Ajax’s wing-back. Signing these two players would do tremendous things for Van Gaal’s plans for a 3-5-2 player formation that would allow two wide players to easily transition from defense to attack.

Though a Vermaelen transition to United would most likely be welcome by fans, Arsenal has displayed reluctance to part with Vermaelen, especially to a League rival. In recent years alone, six of Arsenal’s first team have moved north, further adding to their hesitation to hand over Vermaelen. Though, whilst he served as captain for the team last season, the defender made only seven appearances, adding to speculation of his reputation amongst the team.

United’s defense is undoubtedly of great concern for the new coach. Acquiring Vermaelen would provide coverage for Luke Shaw, adding strength to a defense previously seen lagging. Recent reports have suggested that as many as six of United’s players may be making a move from Old Trafford.

Vermaelen joined Ajax’s youth academy during 2000 before winning the 2003-2004 Eredivisie during his first season. He served as the club’s captain after the departure of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar during 2009. That same year, he joined team Arsenal, where he was named club captain upon the transfer of Robin van Persie to Old Trafford during August of 2012. Though he displayed great talent on the field, the success of defensive duo Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker hindered playing time. His leadership skills and goalscoring abilities as a defender make him a force to be reckoned with. Tunde Folawiyo and other loyal fans of Manchester United may hope for a Vermaelen signing to turn the team’s defense around in hopes of brighter times ahead. For more information about his varied interests, view this interview with Tunde Folawiyo.

Former Scottish footballer and famed manager of Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson retired last year after serving the team since 1986. Ferguson’s departure occurred after his 1500^th match as manager, against West Brom. Ferguson said simply that it was the right time to leave. Many consider him among the best managers in the history of football. He won the Manager of the Year award more times than any person in British history. Fans of Ferguson and Manchester United can be found in the UK and all over the world, including Tunde Folawiyo, who has been a fan since the days of Best and Charlton. For more information, please see this Tunde Folawiyo company overview.

Ferguson’s soccer career began as a player at aged 16 in the amateur league with Queen’s Park. He began his professional career after signing with Dunfermline in 1964. In 1966, Ferguson tied for the most goals scored in the Scottish League. He played for several teams in the Scottish football association before transitioning to management in 1974. He was only 32 when he began as manager for East Stirlingshire, and headed next to St. Mirren to oversee a remarkable rise in the club’s game play and base of fan support. After St. Mirren became the only football team to ever fire Ferguson, he moved on to Aberdeen, the team that claimed both the Scottish Cup and the European Super Cup in 1983.

Manchester United took Ferguson on as manager in 1986, and in his first season he brought the team from twenty-first to eleventh place. He worked with players to increase discipline and drive, and made some expensive acquisitions, including Neil Webb and Danny Wallace in 1989. After a rough start, Manchester United found its stride, and Ferguson went on to be one of the most celebrated managers in football. He has a long legacy of former players who have gone on to become managers themselves.

His former players praise his skills as a manager, his incredible passion and commitment to the game. After achieving one thousand games in 2004, he was lauded by then-captain Bryan Robson as a man who “lives and breathes for football.” Ferguson won nearly forty trophies with Manchester United. The team won the UEFA Champions League title twice under his direction and the Premier League title thirteen times.

RoShaun Williams, only fifteen years old, is a youth player for Manchester United and England who is in the news today for clocking a 10.99 second time in a 100m dash at his school. The record is more that significant—it beats the 11.13 second time set by Darren Campbell, who won an Olympic gold in 2004 in the 100m relay. Williams’ accomplishment has many looking forward to his possible future as a professional footballer. Williams cites newly retired United star Ryan Giggs as a personal hero. Thinking toward the club’s future will merit some recounting of its historic past.

In 1878, some employees at a wagon works started a football team called Newton Heath that played against other employees at rail companies at a North Road pitch, but quickly gained a reputation when they entered the Manchester Cup in 1885, and won it the following year. The team did not have the chops to join the Football League, but started the Football Alliance with a dozen other town teams. After nearing bankruptcy in 1902, the club reorganized and became Manchester United. The team first won the title of League Champions in 1908.

Old Trafford was destroyed in a bombing during World War II, and when the league resumed at the end of the war, Manchester came back to finish in second place, and they went on to win in 1952. A plane crash in 1958 devastated the team, but they fought to recover, and ten years later the team became the first in all of England to ever win the European cup, sealing their place in football history. Currently the team is among the richest football clubs in the world, and also the most valuable. It also has one of the largest fan bases of any sports team in the world. Fans of the club aren’t just local, but hail from all over the world, including Tunde Folawiyo. Interested readers can see uploads from Tunde Folawiyo for more information on his work and interests.

Manchester’s crest is modelled after a city council crest, and features a ship. The club colours varied in the early years but settled on today’s red, white and black in 1902, along with the team name. Manchester United still plays at Old Trafford, which has seen extensive remodelling over the years. The stadium sees the second highest fan population of any European football club.

Ryan Giggs is in the news recently, amid rumours that Manchester United is considering retiring the number 11 shirt in honour of Giggs, whose twenty-three year football career ended in retirement last year. Giggs has stated that he is interested to see who will take over the number, and says he can imagine inheriting the number 11 shirt could come with a great deal of pressure. But he does not think the team should retire it, given their high turnover of fantastic players. The retirement rumours are thought to have started in a push from excited fans. Now that he is retired, Giggs has joined the Manchester United coaching staff under Louis Van Gaal.

Ryan Giggs was born in Canton, Cardiff in 1973. His father, Danny Wilson, played union rugby for Cardiff RFC, and Giggs was a player of both rugby and football from a young age. Giggs was offered associate schoolboy forms on his fourteenth birthday and his first professional contract on his seventeenth birthday. He made his league debut for Manchester on March 2, 1991, and was voted the PFA Young Player of the year in 1992 and 1993. By 2002, Giggs was the longest serving player on United, and in 2004 he became one of only two players to have one the FA cup more than three times. Giggs’ unquestionable skills and long duration in the game have made him the holder of numerous league records, including league titles, and was awarded PFA player of the year in 2009.

Giggs retired in 2014 at age 40, in an open letter to friends and supporters that announced both his retirement and his position as assistant manager of Manchester United. In the letter, he referred to his pride at representing United in 963 games, and Wales in 64, fulfilling a life-long dream and playing among the greatest players in the football world. He is pleased to be going on to work alongside van Gaal, and his efforts on the field, spanning two decades, are sure to be remembered for a long time to come. Long-time fan and business owner Tunde Folawiyo is among the many that cite Giggs as the greatest Manchester United player of all time, for his longevity in such a competitive climate. Giggs was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

After a staggering 24 year stint for Manchester United, 40 year old Ryan Giggs is set to pass his renowned number 11 shirt to 19 year old Belgian, Adnan Januzaj. Red Devils enthusiasts the world over like Tunde Folawiyo will be waiting with baited breath to see how this promising young player will fare trying to fill such illustrious boots.

Being presented with such a prestigious shirt is, of course, a huge honour and a sign of confidence in this young player, but it will no doubt lead to extra scrutiny as he is compared with his predecessor, one of the most decorated players in footballing history.

On his 17th Birthday, Ryan Giggs received the ultimate gift. A contract with Manchester United, the team that had just lifted the FA Cup. Naturally, he accepted the contract and two days later (1st December 1990) attained many a young man’s dream, becoming a professional football player.

Giggs debuted with the team on 2nd March 1991. He managed to score in his first game. Giggs made the first team later that season, despite the fact that he was aged only 17, under the watchful eye of renowned manager, Alex Ferguson.

By 1992, Giggs had become the Red Devil’s first-choice left winger, and was recognised as one of two of the best emerging wingers in British football alongside Steve McManaman. Ferguson was fiercely protective of his key player, shielding him from the press and only allowing him to be interviewed once he had turned 20.

In a glittering career, which has spanned almost two and a half decades (almost unheard of for footballers these days), Giggs earned a string of accolades, including:

• The only player to have scored goals in 21 consecutive Premier League seasons;
• The most Premier League appearances for a player at a staggering 611;
• The first player to score 100 Premier League goals for Manchester United;
• The most appearances by a Manchester United player.

In his 24 years of play for Manchester United, Ryan Giggs was never sent off the pitch. He was awarded the OBE in 2007 for services to football, and is a shining example to all in the sport.

With Giggs now taking up the role of Assistant Manager at Manchester United and encouraging him to take the shirt, Adnan Januzaj could not wish for a better mentor. Long-time Red Devils followers such as Tunde Folawiyo will be keen to see what the future holds for this promising protégé. Readers can discover more about Manchester United enthusiast and professional Tunde Folawiyo and his recent activities.

Van Gaal has been working hard to secure the transfer of new players to United. Arturo Vidal, Juventus’ Chilean midfielder, has been high on the manager’s wish list for several weeks now, despite the fact that his current club are clearly reluctant to let him go. However, recent reports suggest that the transfer could still go ahead; it was revealed last week that Vidal had passed a series of medical examinations which were set up to see confirm that he is fit enough to join the Red Devils. This is certainly a step in the right direction, and could mean that the midfielder will be joining the team at Old Trafford in the very near future. (

As a fan of the club, Tunde Folawiyo may have heard that United are now in pursuit of Juan Cuadrado, following reports that Barcelona has failed in its attempt to sign the player. The Spanish club is thought to have been unimpressed with the price which Fiorentina has demanded for the Columbian; rumour has it that they deemed £39.5 million too excessive a sum. However, Van Gaal is eager to nab the winger, and may be able to afford it, if he manages to sell Javier Hernandez, a forward that several Spanish and Italian clubs are interested in.

Whilst the sale of Hernandez is still up in the air, the departure of Patrice Evra has been confirmed. After eight years with the Red Devils, the 33 year old has joined Juventus, at a cost of £1.2 million. Discussing the move, Evra said that although he had ‘the best memories’ of his time with United, he was thrilled by the idea of returning to the country where he first began to play football professionally.

United fans like Tunde Folawiyo are probably aware that Mats Hummels is another player whom Van Gaal is hoping to purchase during the coming weeks. The Borussia Dortmund star may be up for grabs, now that his current club are considering replacing him with another centre back named Tiago Ilori. However, Dortmund have stipulated that the transfer of Hummels will only go ahead if United agree to loan the player out to them on occasion. Hummels himself has yet to comment on the matter, but Hermann, his father, has said that a transfer is unlikely.

Although Folawiyo is an avid football fan, and enjoys watching Man United matches, he spends much of his time immersed in his own entrepreneurial activities. Those who wish to learn more about his work can read the Tunde Folawiyo company details online.

Man United enjoyed yet another win this week; under the guidance of their new manager Van Gaal, they managed to defeat Inter Milan, after a draw resulted in a penalty shootout that saw the Red Devils score five goals – two more than their opponents. Coupled with their recent win against Roma, this match will bring the team one step closer to the International Champions Cup.

The end result of their game with Inter Milan probably came as quite a surprise to Tunde Folawiyo and other fans, as United’s performance during the first half was mediocre at best. Although they succeeded in controlling the ball most of the time, they failed to create any real scoring opportunities for themselves. Phil Jones almost took the lead once, but his header was saved by Samir Hananovic. Van Gaal clearly noticed that United were not performing as they should, as he made a total of eight changes during the interval. This was a wise decision on his part, as the Red Devils played considerably better throughout the second half.

Discussing the game afterwards, Van Gaal said that he was very pleased with the result. He praised the team for retaining possession of the ball, and said that he was happy with how the positions had been covered, noting that there was a vast improvement in comparison to previous matches. He added that he believed the performance to be the best he’s seen so far, since joining the club.

As a supporter of United, Tunde Folawiyo might be aware that in another interview, Van Gaal described the team as being ‘broken’, and explained that he has been doing his utmost to repair it, through both training, and through the selection of new players during the summer transfer window. The Dutchman also said that, in regards to transfers, he will be looking for people who will fit in on a long-term, rather than a short-term basis.

The team appear to be happy with their new manager; Chris Smalling, one of United’s defenders, has said that he is impressed by the 3-4-2-1 formation Van Gaal has chosen for the squad. This system has proven effective for the Netherlands team, and Smalling has said that he and his fellow teammates will have no trouble adapting to this formation in their own matches.

Being a sports fanatic, Folawiyo might occasionally share his opinion on his favourite teams online. To learn more about his interests, view Tunde Folawiyo’s uploads on Scribd.

Now that the newly-appointed coach Van Gaal has upheld his responsibilities to the Netherlands’ national team, Manchester United fans are undoubtedly watching his next move closely. It was announced recently that the new coach extended an offer to Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, though the forward has since ruled out a Manchester United move. Fans of United, like Tunde Folawiyo and millions of others around the globe, may find the offer to prove a step in the right direction for Van Gaal after the team’s disappointing past season.

Both United fans and players alike may find new hope in Van Gaal’s coaching capabilities after the manager led Holland to third place at the World Cup in Brazil. He admitted to the media that he made a brave attempt to bring Robben to United, though his efforts were rebuffed. Robben, however, has noted his close relationship with the coach, regarding him as the most important manager of his career. Despite this, he remains firm in his decision to stay with Bayern Munich.

As Van Gaal has stated, the offer remains on the table and Robben would certainly contribute a great deal to a team riddled with disappointment under recently sacked ex-coach David Moyes. The forward is amongst the Netherlands’ most talented players, with appearances in three UEFA Championships and three World Cups. Known for impressive dribbling skills, crossing ability and speed, the player has long demonstrated great promise on the field.

The start of his professional career began with Groningen, where he was awarded player of the year during the 2000-2001 Eredivisie season. He signed with PSV two years later, becoming among Netherland’s Young Players of the Year. The next season, Robben was pursued by a variety of English clubs before eventually joining Chelsea during 2004. Whilst his debut with the team was delayed by injury, he would later help the team to go on to achieve two Premiere League championship titles. Following his third season with the English team, Robben made the move to Spain’s Real Madrid for an estimated €35 million.

During August of 2009, he was transferred to the Bayern Munich club, scoring two goals during his debut. His first season with the team saw them win a league title – his fifth in a period of eight years. He scored a winning goal during the Champion League final and was later named amongst the Footballers of the Year for Germany. Whilst United fans such as Tunde Folawiyo may have anticipated the talent joining the ranks of the Red Devils, perhaps Coach Van Gaal has other tricks up his sleeve.

Following a disappointing season under recently sacked coach David Moyes, Van Gaal’s roster is slowly but surely beginning to take new form. Jorge Mendes, agent for Real Madrid player Angel di Maria, has announced his client may very well make a move to Manchester during the upcoming transfer window this summer. If this move does indeed take place, the winger would become the team’s top signing of the season. Fans of United, like Tunde Folawiyo and millions of others around the UK and beyond, may be delighted by the prospect of acquiring this renowned super talent.

Di Maria recently stated that he was unsure of his future with Real Madrid. According to reports, the winger is said to be unhappy with Real Madrid’s courtship of James Rodriguez, a breakout star during the World Cup. Whilst Di Maria experienced a wonderful season playing for Los Blancos during 2013-2014, his frustration is understandable. With four goals and an impressive 17 assists last season, it’s no wonder United is eyeing the player so closely. His talents have already been shadowed by team mates Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, three of the greatest players in the game today. It was Di Maria who came through for the team when Ronaldo was plagued with health concerns, a true testament to the Argentinian’s abilities under immense pressure.

The Argentine winger began his thriving career playing for Rosario Central before moving to Europe during 2007 to begin playing for Portugal’s Benfica. After three years with Benfica, Di Maria transferred to Real Madrid for a payout of €25 million. He played an integral role in Real Madrid’s tenth title win at the UEFA Champion League Final, further garnering popularity amongst millions of fans. As one of Argentina’s international players since 2008, the winger has earned more than 50 caps, scoring the winning goal at the Olympics of 2008. Further demonstrating his outstanding talents, he represented Argentina at two World Cup matches and the Copa America of 2011. An effective finisher, Di Maria performs best when running alongside the byline, proving instrumental in Real’s win of La Decima. If paired with Januzaj, Di Maria is expected to shine. Whilst acquiring topnotch wingers is no easy fete, Manchester United may have no choice but to jump at the chance to sign Di Maria. Tunde Folawiyo and other fans of the famed club may find a Di Maria acquisition to be a great step in the quest toward victory.

Newly appointed Coach Van Gaal has recently signed his first player as manager of Manchester United. Ander Herrera, a Spanish midfielder, has acquired the four-year commitment, joining a team with much to prove to its millions of loyal fans. After a disappointing season under recently sacked Coach David Moyes, the Red Devils are undoubtedly determined to turn things around. Rumours surrounding Van Gaal’s coaching plan are alive and well as he prepares to take the reins of Manchester United. As the first of what is sure to be many changes to United’s roster, Tunde Folawiyo and other fans of the celebrated club may find Herrera’s signing to be highly significant in the future direction of the team.

Whilst United’s previous £28.85 million United bid to acquire the 24-year-old was rejected, an improved offer has secured his signature. Born in Bilbao, Herrera played for Real Zaragoza until 2011. His career with the club saw 128 appearances and 11 goals. According to the player, signing for the Red Devils is a dream turned reality. He regards his time playing for Old Trafford during UEFA’s Europa League amongst the highlights surrounding his young career.

Manchester United had previously attempted to acquire the playmaker last year, but was unable to meet deadline requirements. Reports have suggested that the deal may have been spoiled by a group of pranksters pretending to act on behalf of the club. David Moyes, the club’s then-manager, acquired Marouane Fellaini instead. Unfortunately, his debut campaign was one riddled with disappointment. His presence failed to improve the club’s long-term issues in midfield.

When Herrera does indeed make the move to United, he will accept the challenge of bringing control to the team’s midfield, a challenging fete indeed. United megastar Ryan Giggs regards Ander as a talented young player boasting great creativity and energy. He noted him as one of United’s brightest prospects throughout Spain, expressing certainty that the 24-year-old would be a hit amongst fans. The seasoned Giggs anticipates seeing Herrera in action during the team’s summer tour in America.

Given Coach Van Gaal’s great success managing the Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup, United fans may be hopeful of a brighter season for the Red Devils in the coming months. Tunde Folawiyo and millions of others may undoubtedly still face disappointment over the past year’s record, but Van Gaal and his plans for the club may prove to be its ultimate saving grace.