[funkdoctorspock]

Manchester City, Liverpool, Leeds and to a lesser extent Arsenal and Chelsea.

If a world class player or a player who is young and has a tremendous upside is available from one of these clubs. Would you respect the decision of Manchester United to put in a bid for that player if the need required?

Keep in mind that United have done this before. So state your reasoning for either yes, no or depends.

For me it, I'm going to state depends. I'll state my "logic" later on in the thread.

Have a quick read at this article which raised the question.

City risk losing Richards with offer of ONLY £50,000 a week

Manchester City are to adopt a hard-line approach with England defender Micah Richards that could spark a £20million transfer war between Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Richards, 19, is due to meet City for contract talks once the transfer window closes on Thursday, when he will be told the club are not prepared to break their pay structure to give him £70,000 a week.

He will then have to decide whether to accept a long-term deal for about £50,000 a week or leave in the summer. Indications are that City's ultimatum may work and the player will drop his initial demands and sign.

The deal offered by City would make him the highest-paid player at the club, but it is below what many of his team-mates in the England dressing-room would earn.

Richards has two-and-a-half years left on his current deal and delayed talks because he was in the process of changing agents. His availability would create the hottest transfer chase of the summer, with Avram Grant, Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson all huge fans.

Richards has become a fixture in the England team at right-back but plays in the centre of defence for City. His pace, strength and aerial ability marked him out as the best youngster to emerge since Wayne Rooney.

He will be absent today against Sheffield United, leaving the way for another of City's England hopefuls to take the limelight. Goalkeeper Joe Hart has been tipped to follow his hero David Seaman into the England team, but he is more interested in the Arsenal star's FA Cup record.

Surprisingly, Seaman is the only English goalkeeper to have won the FA Cup since 1990, something Hart can put right this season, particularly if he keeps a clean sheet to help City progress past Bryan Robson's Blades in the fourth round.

Since Les Sealey was in goal for Manchester United in 1990, the only goalkeepers to win the FA Cup apart from Seaman have been foreign. The stellar list includes Bruce Grobbelaar, Peter Schmeichel, Erik Thorstvedt, Tim Howard, Jens Lehmann, Pepe Reina and Petr Cech.

City boss Sven Goran Eriksson says Hart, 20, would not be fazed if he was called up by Fabio Capello in the Italian's first England squad to face Switzerland on February 6. With only five English keepers currently first choice in the Premier League, there is pressure on Hart's 6ft 4in frame.

But he believes Eriksson's faith in him — he is picked ahead of Sweden's Andreas Isaksson and Peter Schmeichel's son Kasper — shows English goalkeepers are up to the job.

"It's ironic that a foreign manager has been the one to give me a chance," said Hart. "It was a massive decision by him and I want to prove in every game he made the right decision.

"If I can help raise the reputation of English keepers by doing well, I'm happy. We've got enough ability in this country to provide more keepers in the Premier League. I've seen six or seven in the Championship who would do as well as some of the foreign keepers. It's a question of being given the opportunity."
Click