Federico Macheda An Inter Milan Target

I read with shock this evening that according to the Telegraph, Federico Macheda is wanted by Inter Milan's Jose Mourinho. Apparently, the former Chelsea manager is keen to take Macheda back to his native Italy.

The news seems to have broken via People.co.uk, who also say that the Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson, believes Macheda is one of the most gifted youngsters of his generation. Both sites say that Ferguson will fight to keep Macheda. With the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez, Fergie will be reluctant to lose the promising youngster.

Of course, Fergie now has some money in his pocket and I'd be surprised if he didn't buy another quality striker during the off season, pushing Macheda back down the order again. However, I can't see Fergie being willing to let him go.

The catch may be that both papers say that friends of Kiko have indicated that he may be interested in a move back to Italy. He's only 17 years old and living in a foreign country can't be easy. A chance of a move back to one of the top clubs in Italy must be appealing - although despite Inter's great form this season and the undeniable fact that Mourinho is a great coach, I can't see Inter as a bigger club than Man Utd right now. I know which one I'd rather play for! (Fergie use the email address in the contact section to let me know if you want to sign me).

On a personal level, I'd be sad to see Kiko go, especially after his emergence this year. I just get the sense that he will become a huge superstar and I'd love to keep him at Manchester United. I guess only time will tell whether this is a groundless rumour or whether it is a real possibility. Stay Kiko, stay!

Federico Macheda Mentioned On BBC 5 Live Podcast

I was recently listening to the BBC 5 Live Football Daily Podcast (11th June edition), talking about Cristiano Ronaldo's imminent move to Real Madrid. As the discussion turned to whether Manchester United would miss Ronaldo's match winning abilities, Federico Macheda's name popped up.

Note: I don't like linking directly to the Podcast download, but it seems that the BBC don't have a permanent page to go along with their podcasts. The only have a single page which lists the last episode.

The position was put forward that over recent seasons Ronaldo had won many games off his own boot, which Manchester United would not have won otherwise. The question was posed whether the fans would miss Ronaldo's match winning abilities when they are in similar situations next season.

The response, by Liam Bradford (the Assistant Editor of the Red News Fanzine), was as follows:

I suppose it's a possibility, but we were in a position that we didn't want to be in at Christmas time this season and we were pulled out of the mire not by Cristiano Ronaldo, but by a lad called Federico Macheda, against Aston Villa, so there are other players there.

Now, that's not in any way suggesting that Macheda himself will ever replace Ronaldo, it's just saying that there are some other very talented players at Manchester United. However, it was interesting that Federico Macheda was the example used.

I think Kiko is a very exciting player and one who will go on to become a great player - although I'll stop short of suggesting that he can reach Ronaldo's level. Ronaldo has to be one of the best players to have ever played the game. A pity that his attitude let him down.

Maybe Ronaldo leaving will mean more time for youngsters such as Macheda, although there are still a lot of talented strikers in front of him and Alex Ferguson has at least £50 million burning a hole in his pocket, so we'll have to wait and see what transpires.

Anyway, if Ronaldo doesn't want to be here, then we're better off without him. We'll just rely on Fergie's wisdom, the rest of the squad and the bright young stars that he's already brought to the club, including Federico Macheda.

Update On The Federico Macheda Blog

Well it's been a while since I've updated the Federico Macheda blog.

I launched the blog after Kiko's sensational goal on debut against Aston Villa. I know he followed up on that with another match winner at Sunderland, but at around that time we had a new arrival in the family and my priorities switched away from blogging. I'm hoping to get back to blogging a little more regularly.

Before I disappeared, I had created some draft posts about some of the news articles on Macheda. I was thinking of going back and finishing these off now, but those articles were all from April.

I think it's best to just leave those behind and write about any new Federico Macheda items that come up.