In the first part of our FM scouting series, we looked at United's new DP forward Hamdi Salihi. Now it's time to turn our attention to central defender Emiliano Dudar...

click to enlarge

What jumps out immediately is Dudar's marking ability and aerial power, the later of which, given his size, was to be expected.

While I'm relatively certain that most dedicated followers of MLS will know what United are getting with the likes of Maicon Santos and Danny Cruz, there's still an element of mystery surrounding the acquisitions from the mid-tier Euro-leagues. Most of us see precious little from Swiss or Austrian clubs outside of perhaps the odd Europa League highlight.

Still no left back, but the slight defensive midfield depth issue has been addressed with the signing of Brazilian journeyman Marcelo Saragosa. Given that Kitchen will surely miss time for Olympic qualifiers (and the big show in London if we qualify) and isn't exactly a sure thing as he steps into his first year in the role for which he's being groomed, depth was a concern.

Does this man have your goals?

So are they done?

United ticked one of the two big "need" boxes by acquiring Albanian international striker Hamdi Salihi as a designated player (wait, I thought Uncle Will wasn't going to splash the cash?). Given his impressive rate of return wherever he's played, he certainly seems to fit the poacher's bill, though he also has decent size.

The boxes are being ticked, slowly but surely. With the addition of central defender Emiliano Dudar, the depth acquisition project seems all but complete. Still, the two biggest needs, left back and finisher the ones we've been pointing to all offseason, remain frustratingly unfilled. Stefan Jerome, recently arrived on trial, would be a nice project up top (can't believe he's only 19 my memories of him as a U 17 seem distant), but isn't the finished product.

Missile Swap: Out with the Clydewinder, in with the Cruz?

Don't look now, but the glacial pace of United's roster assembly is starting to pick up. Hot on the heels of the Maicon Santos acquisition comes the signing of former Dynamo right mid Danny Cruz1, leaving the current roster + trialists looking like this.

First the good.
In acquiring Danny Cruz, United looks to have settled the flank depth question, initially addressed by the drafting of Nick DeLeon as Pontius' backup. A regular starter for the MLS Cup finalists from Houston, Cruz provides excellent cover for Najar, who will likely be away for Olympic and possibly World Cup duty with Honduras and may even attract interest from abroad this summer.

Finally another addition hits the roster with United's acquisition of Maicon Santos. In another time, with a different club, I might be pleased with this pickup. As it stands, I'm just left feeling suspicious.
Why?
While Santos has a reasonable history with the league (and so will not have to suffer through a period of adapting to the style of play), his mediocre goal tally (14 goals in 2.

Photo: Earl Gardner

With the signing of Porfirio Lopez yesterday, the Philadelphia Union continued a busy offseason that has already addressed many glaring needs.

Since the 2011 season ended in defeat at Houston, the Union have parted ways with Justin Mapp, purchased the rights to a Costa Rican striker, a Costa Rican fullback, and a Panamanian utilityman, signed a Tanzanian winger through the re-entry draft, and added a homegrown player.

Peter Nowak spoke to the press today, only hours after the Union announced Costa Rican left back Porfirio Lopez as the team's fifth offseason signing.

"Porfirio [Lopez] has a great capacity going back and forth and taking pride at defending, and that's a part we take a look at very closely," Nowak said.

Despite all the talk about the potential effect of the loss of van Persie or other players like Song and Walcott to injury (to Arsenal's ambitions), Arsene Wenger has still ruled out signing players to back up the key men in the January transfer window. "At the moment, I do nothing in January," he said.

They're up for grabs now! Wenger, right at the end. An unbelievable climax to the transfer window

I can safely say I can't recall the like. What began with the low of an abject eight-goal capitulation at Old Trafford has ended with the high of five new faces to bolster the ranks.

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal

‘Will you quit?', Wenger was asked following Arsenal's worst league defeat since 1896. That Wenger's future is now being routinely debated and he is being asked to his face tells you all you need to know about the situation at the club.

In last week's Sports Illustrated, Tom Verducci argued that baseball fans need to back off and give 18-year old phenom Bryce Harper room to make mistakes and grow.

When Freddy Adu was 18, he was already the highest paid player in MLS and agitating for playing time. His coach, Peter Nowak, famously responded, "nobody is above this team.

Wow, well hopefully you haven't been using the Offside as your sole source for MLS news (as I know many of you do), because I haven't been very diligent in updating you on all things Red Bull New York. With the Bulls facing some adversity (understatement of the year?), the front office has taken action and enlisted the help of German backstop Frank Rost.

In surprisingly quick fashion, Arsenal have signed Gervais Yao Kouassi. Instead of the customary Five month wait for Arsenal.com to announce the signing we all knew about, the have only had to wait one month. The signing has been done at a rumored 10.8million. We should all commend the publishers at Arsenal.

‘I don't want to have an argument with Tottenham,' said Modric. ‘The supporters have been very good to me and I have enjoyed my time playing for the club, but it is for football that players leave clubs and move. It has happened to Tottenham before. It is normal for a player to dream about playing for a bigger club.

"For the first time in a while, I will be very active"

With these dozen words, spoken at the tail end of May, Wenger has kicked off a fascinating close season. I didn't think I'd be enjoying it one bit, but I appear to be doing just that.

How so? Given that as much of the current transfer eddy is whirling around players who might depart as it is around players who might join, you'd have thought the whole rumour mill would be too hair-tearing for words.

What a goldfish I am. Despite an end of season that spent most of its time reeling from one calamity to another, I appear to be hankering for the new one already. When will I ever learn?

To be fair though, some bits and bobs need to happen before I can get genuinely giddy. Namely a scythe cutting through the chaff of the squad, coupled with the club storing the wheat in a silo where nobody can steal it.

To put a big fat full stop onto the end of this season there's only one thing left to do and that's write about what I'd like to see us do in the transfer window. Last season it was clear to most that we needed at least one really good striker but unfortunately as the early stages of this window commence we're in the exact same position.

Fulham 2-2 Arsenal

So that's finished then, and as books go, I didn't much like the ending. I had high hopes there'd be a satisfying twist three quarters of the way through we were hoping for one but it finished rather predictably and it was heavy going to boot. I should have just read the last page back at the beginning of March and spared myself the effort.

‘Forward', urges the new Arsenal crest. After Sunday's reprisal of the now well-honed Collaps-o-Arsenal, perhaps ‘Sideways' would have been more apt. Some would argue ‘Backwards'. Harsh? Of couse it is. I'm just not in a particularly generous mood at the moment. But we do continue to live up to our billing as a yo-yo team.

Remember when I said that it was MLS Cup or bust for New York this year? Well folks, that sentiment should be felt now more than ever. Erik Soler made a huge splash this afternoon in anticipation to their clash with Houston by trading away Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman, and a first round draft pick in 2012 for five-time MLS Best XI midfielder Dwayne De Rosario.

Remember when I said that it was MLS Cup or bust for New York this year? Well folks, that sentiment should be felt now more than ever. Erik Soler made a huge splash this afternoon in anticipation to their clash with Houston by trading away Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman, and a first round draft pick in 2012 for five-time MLS Best XI midfielder Dwayne De Rosario.

The Philadelphia Union officially signed former MLS Most Valuable Player Carlos Ruiz before departing for Greece. Ruiz arrives on a free transfer from Aris FC. He has scored 82 goals over 155 games in his MLS career.

Ruiz gives Peter Nowak another offensive option to support Danny Mwanga and Sebastien Le Toux.

No, not them. As the offseason winds down, the Red Bulls have undergone quite a facelift. New York has added plenty of new faces and parted with some old ones as well. With all these changes, the question on many fan's minds is, "How will Hans Backe make it all work?"

First things first, the Red Bulls have officially signed long sought after striker, Luke Rodgers from Notts County in England.

I'm not exactly sure if I'm breaking this story (although I haven't seen it reported on any other site as of now), but Matt Kassel has signed with New York. According to a Facebook status update, Kassel states, "It was fun Maryland but New York Red Bulls it is!!! ..thanks for all the support everyone.

I'm not exactly sure if I'm breaking this story (although I haven't seen it reported on any other site as of now), but Matt Kassel has signed with New York. According to a Facebook status update, Kassel states, "It was fun Maryland but New York Red Bulls it is!!! ..thanks for all the support everyone.

MLS has undergone a pretty drastic transformation right before our very eyes this offseason, one that has left me asking, "Where have all the stars gone?" alla Hershey's Cookies and Cream commercials circa 1998. Many of the league's big name stars have hit the road for various reasons, leaving behind an opportunity for many of the leagues budding young talents to take their place.

MLS has undergone a pretty drastic transformation right before our very eyes this offseason, one that has left me asking, "Where have all the stars gone?" alla Hershey's Cookies and Cream commercials circa 1998. Many of the league's big name stars have hit the road for various reasons, leaving behind an opportunity for many of the leagues budding young talents to take their place.

The SuperDraft has come and gone once again and this year's edition certainly had its share of head turning moves and signings.

The Red Bulls came into the draft with four selections and came away with four fresh faces that could signal quite a bit of change throughout the organization.