West Bromwich Albion have signed United’s Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher on the last day of January transfer window for English Premiere League schedule, following his collapsed move to Upton Park. This big player signing is a relief for West Brom, following their failure to sign West Ham striker Carlton Cole and Norwich defender Martin Olsson, also on the last day.
Eventually, Fletcher was brought into Scottish national team and has made his Scotland debut in 2003. On 11 October 2003, at his second game for Scotland, he scored his first international goal against Lithuania at Hampden Park, Glasgow in a Euro 2004 qualification match. His goal was the only goal that day, which took Scotland to the play-offs for Euro 2004. Until now, Fletcher has won a total of 66 caps and scored 5 goals for Scotland.
Following his transfer, he told the media, “This is a fantastic new challenge for me in my career.”
“We know the challenge ahead of us this season and hopefully we can achieve that and look to push on next season and over the years.”
Another transfer headline on United side is obviously WilfriedZaha. He was marked by the media as the former manager Ferguson’s final signing during his career. However, just two years from joining United side, he made permanent move to his old club Crystal Palace. The 22-year-old winger, who failed to impress his managers in the United team, spent three different loan spells with the Palace, Cardiff City and again Palace, before completing his permanent switch to Selhurst Park. He signed a five-and-a-half year contract at Palace for the reported initial transfer fee of £3 million. It is £7 million less than signing fee from Palace in January 2013. We will see his performance with the new club in English premiere League in the next soccer schedule (see: complete schedule on Jadwal Bola Malam Ini website)
“For me to be a better player I need to play more games and having a gaffer that, I know, has great trust in me gives me the confidence I need to help me improve my game.”
Anderson joined United in 2007 from Portuguese team Porto for a fee around £26m at the age of just 18. One year later, he won the Golden Boy award, as the most promising young footballer in Europe. He made an initial impact after joining United, by scoring a penalty in the 2008 Champions League final shootout victory over Chelsea and then playing in the Champions League final against Barcelona the next year. He was sent out on loan to Fiorentina for the second half of last season, and made the only appearance in the league this season when he came in as a substitute in the game against Burnley in August.