Isn't it a bit early for silly season?

I woke up today and browsed Twitter to find the latest news on Japanese GP FP3 and Q sessions. What greeted me instead was the news of Sebastian Vettel leaving Red Bull at the end of the season. It hasn't officially been announced, but reportedly RBR's Team Principal Christian Horner let it slip that Vettel is joining Ferrari for the 2015 F1 season.

Christian Horner confirms Sebastian Vettel is going to Ferrari. ##skyf1
— Rachel Brookes (@RachelBrookesTV) October 4, 2014

Even though it's technically unconfirmed, this would mean that either Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen is in turn leaving Ferrari. The former has been rumored to jump ship to McLaren for a few weeks now. Today, people are taking that rumor as a confirmed news item. Not saying that I'm not excited for the (possible) Raikkonen–Vettel partnership, it's just a shame that we never got to see a fully competitive Alonso–Rakkonen team. I don't quite know how Alonso leaving would work out for Ferrari since this season has proven that he's faster than his teammate. It could be because Alonso is more comfortable in the Ferrari, and that he helped develop the car, but we're almost at the end of the season and we haven't seen Kimi challenging Alonso at all. Alonso basically carries the team, like he has done the last few seasons. Ferrari needs a better car, a better engine, and hopefully we see that next season.

With Alonso (potentially) moving to McLaren, it seems likely that he will take Jenson Button's seat as the team's #1 driver. Button's teammate Kevin Magnussen is the rookie with potential, who is doing very well in his first season, including a podium finish in his first ever race. It makes sense for McLaren to keep Magnussen instead of Button. Unfortunately, this could mean the end of Button's F1 career, but I really hope it isn't. There's no logical team for him to move on to; there are only a few spots for so many racers, most of whom are young hopefuls.

...Daniil Kvyat will join Red Bull alongside Daniel Ricciardo #skyf1
— Michael Wise (@MikeWise71) October 4, 2014

On the Red Bull side of things, the seat left by Vettel will be filled by Daniil Kvyat currently of Toro Rosso. Kvyat's pairing with Daniel Ricciardo gives RBR quite a young (inexperienced?) team. 2015 will be Kvyat's second season in F1. However, if Kvyat comes in as Ricciardo did this season, RBR would be just fine. Ricciardo has surprised a lot of people, including myself, in how well he's doing, especially compared to teammate Vettel.

Now where does this leave Kvyat's current teammate Jean-Eric Vergne? He's just been leapfrogged by his rookie teammate to the RBR seat. Recently, Toro Rosso announced that they're giving Max Verstappen a seat in 2015, to make him the youngest ever F1 driver. It might make sense for Toro Rosso to now keep JEV to help Verstappen. On the other hand, it sucks for him if he's going to be continually leapfrogged by his younger teammates. Would it be too risky for Toro Rosso to have two rookies fill their seats?

And here I thought last season we saw huge changes in F1. It's got nothing on next season and we're only in October!

Deadline Day

I know I've recently blogged a number of times (1, 2, 3) about how much United has changed since Fergie left. But, I just can't help it. Yesterday was Deadline Day and it was insane. We signed Daley Blind and Radamel Falcao, after signing Angel Di Maria not a week ago. But we also lost Shinji Kagawa, Danny Welbeck, and Chicharito, who are all fan favorites. I honestly can't be too happy even with the amazing signings we got. Especially for Welbeck's departure to Arsenal. I mean...really? He's a local boy, only 23 years old, and is a great talent. I honestly thought he would stay at United until the end of his playing career.

To the right is a possible starting XI for United. It's just so unfamiliar! I mean, seven of the players weren't even here last summer. Not saying that it's not an exciting looking lineup (though I'd love a more solid defense), but it just doesn't really look like Manchester United.

Anyways... I'm still extremely upset about Welbeck, and the only thing that can cure it is United finally winning a match for a change. With a squad like this, we better be winning a lot of matches. I get that they need time to gel or whatever, but we can't play like we've played for the rest of the season. It would be great if half of our players aren't out/injured, too.

The new United?

The World Cup is over so now my attention is fully back to Manchester United. Their US pre-season tour starts with a game against LA Galaxy in a week. This will be the first sighting of the new kit, and the new manager. The new era. Most of us probably said the exact same thing last year, with the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and the arrival of David Moyes. But it feels different this time. Even more significant, somehow. It feels like a completely new United. Although, it could feel like this just because I want to put last season behind me; forget it ever happened. Maybe I want this season to feel like a different United because I don't want last season to repeat itself. In any case, there are a lot of changes happening at the club.

2014 World Cup

Congratulations Germany! A Mario Götze winner with 7 minutes to go in extra time caps the wonderful tournament. It really had been much better than I had expected. I was never really into international football –– my usual stance of these tournaments is that I want United players to do well and come back uninjured –– but this one was special. It felt different. It was highly entertaining, even for neutrals.

From the shocking 5-1 Netherlands victory over reigning champions Spain, to the nation's heartbreak over Neymar's tournament-ending injury that lead to Brazil's collapse, the World Cup was full of shocking dramas and great football. European nations Spain, England, Italy, and Portugal had to go home early after a disappointing tournament, unable to go through the group stages. Chile and Costa Rica, on the other hand, performed above people's expectations. The home nation Brazil, in my opinion, were incredibly lucky to be able to get to the semi final (a few decisions went their way, definitely). By that stage, all three remaining teams were better than them. The 7-1 trouncing by Germany showed the difference in quality. It was without Neymar and Thiago Silva (whose absence was more significant), but Brazil's defense was in shambles and they were unable to cope with Germany's passing game. What's more surprising was the fact that Germany didn't have an unexpectedly outstanding game; they were clinical but otherwise regular by their standards. Brazil was just terrible.

The World Cup also provided us with a few records broken. Germany's win makes this the third World Cup in a row won by a European country (Italy in 2006 and Spain in 2010), which is the most times a continent has won consecutive World Cups (both the Americas and Europe had previously won 2 in a row). Germany's Miroslav Klose surpassed the goalscoring record previously held by Ronaldo, with his 16th World Cup goal (in Brazil, no less!).

It was a magnificent sporting event, but with it being over, I can't help but be excited because this means United's preseason tour is about to start!

Two signings within two days?

And one of them is a central midfielder too! Who are you and what have you done with the United I know and love? Well done, Ed! Not that we know anything about the behind-the-scene happenings over at United, but we gave you a lot of shit for the transfer failures last summer, so you deserve props when they're actually pulled off. Well, too, without the dragged out rumors.

Yesterday, United officially announced the signing of 24 year old Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera. Today, it was 18 year old English full back Luke Shaw's turn. You're spoiling us Ed!

Not that I want to get too excited and get my hopes up, but the banner/header +Manchester United is using definitely has space for more floating heads, right? ;)