No Mourinho and attacking again - how appealing do you think we are to top tier talent now?

Fortitude

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I'm sure some will wade in saying we pay a lot of money, not acknowledging we don't pay beyond the going rate. Given we're in a precarious position in terms of Champions League qualification and we also have no 'manager of repute' players actively seek to play under, how likely do you think it is that we can shop for the elite pool of talent as those we'd like to call our peers will in the summer?

If you enter the transfer section, some have hope that abounds to the very best talent that will be available - others 'knowingly' put them straight and state we have no chance; where would you stand in such a discussion? Do you think our summer window is determinant on what happens between now and May regarding the football we play and where we manage to finish, or is it independent of that?
 

L1nk

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Regardless of Mourinho being here, i can't see us being a draw for top tier talent based on anything we've seen, yes we have OGS in at the moment and not only are we doing well but as you say, we are actually playing good entertaining football too. However, look at the big picture, we're languishing mid table, we've sacked 3 managers in a short space of time, our recruitment has been all over the place, so has our form, we've played consistently awful football for years now and we've fallen behind all of our contemporaries here and on the continent. A few games of attacking football won't change this, we haven't even got a permanent manager yet, any smart world talent will look at us and see us for the mess we currently are, we have no consistency in the senses that we have no idea what to expect season after season currently, I'm afraid a few good games of football this past month or so isn't going to change that, we need to show we've actually changed, and that we actually mean business again, before the top tier talent will truly think of Manchester United again.

Maybe I'm wrong and we'll get a signing that proves me wrong, but honestly, as much as I love this club, if I was a young footballer with ambition I'd stay clear away currently, because we've lost our way big time and we need to really find our feet again, a great appointment, both manager and DoF over the coming months is a good start.
 

SadlerMUFC

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I don't want us to sing "the best players in the world". I want us to sign players who become the best players in the world while at United.
 

SAFMUTD

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Not great really, of course Manchester United will always be appealing but if we are comparing ourselves with the current top top sides like Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, City, Juve I think in equal circumstances they would choose them over us.

But we can always compete with money and getting ourselves back at the top, that's the way to become really attractive again. Right now we are in a position where we should define what do we wan’t to be, either a competitive side that aims for top 4, or a winning side that aims to win every single competition.
 

Joseunited

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Regardless of Mourinho being here, i can't see us being a draw for top tier talent based on anything we've seen, yes we have OGS in at the moment and not only are we doing well but as you say, we are actually playing good entertaining football too. However, look at the big picture, we're languishing mid table, we've sacked 3 managers in a short space of time, our recruitment has been all over the place, so has our form, we've played consistently awful football for years now and we've fallen behind all of our contemporaries here and on the continent. A few games of attacking football won't change this, we haven't even got a permanent manager yet, any smart world talent will look at us and see us for the mess we currently are, we have no consistency in the senses that we have no idea what to expect season after season currently, I'm afraid a few good games of football this past month or so isn't going to change that, we need to show we've actually changed, and that we actually mean business again, before the top tier talent will truly think of Manchester United again.

Maybe I'm wrong and we'll get a signing that proves me wrong, but honestly, as much as I love this club, if I was a young footballer with ambition I'd stay clear away currently, because we've lost our way big time and we need to really find our feet again, a great appointment, both manager and DoF over the coming months is a good start.
Get a grip:lol:
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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I think there's still a lot of uncertainty on who the next manager is going to be, until that gets settled it won't change much.
 

lex talionis

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I don't think a whole has changed yet from the point of view of "being attractive to top tier talent" if one means by that established top talent such as Neymar, Bale or Varane. But the potential is there if we scrape top four or win the CL this season (not suggesting this is likely, of course). But we still have a ways to dig out of the mess we've found ourselves in with the calamitous appointment of Moyes and his two failed successors.
 

Touseef

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I don't want us to sing "the best players in the world". I want us to sign players who become the best players in the world while at United.
I agree with your overall sentiment but I'd rather have Ronaldo's Real Madrid stint than his Man Utd stint.

Curious. Which bucket would you have put an Mbappe? Or De Ligt, De Jong?
 

Eric's Seagull

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I think that we will always have a certain amount of appeal because of our history.

Also most players would have of the age of doing seeing Sir Alex do so well when he managed us.

My personal opinion is that some players may want to help want to come to us as the challenge appeals to them.

They can come here and say that they played a massive part contributing to our first title since Sir Alex.

This might appeal as these hungry players want to go down in history as ones who made Manchester United great again.
 

norm87cro

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It's very simple. No CL football no appeal. Sorry to say but the style is secondary to that
 

redasian

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Even with Jose around we'd still have appeal because Jose was/is a big name. We still have appeal now simply because we're Man Utd. I'll bet there are still some guys who don't know that City exist :) (remember Robinho? or was it Yaya?)

The coach matters and the club matters. Imagine an agent telling his player that he's signing for Guardiola, that'll get anyone to sit up, even if the club is City. Likewise tell a player he's signing for Real Madrid and he won't really care that the coach is Solari.

Zlatan signed because of Jose.
Pogba re-signed because we were Man Utd.

We still have huge pulling power. The current generation of footballers grew up watching Beckham and RVN, Ronaldo and Rooney - any of them's going to think, I can own that no 7 or 10.
 

Red_Legion

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Most probably to the tier below world class; Good enough to win things with if given the right environment but do not have the drive and determination to be the very top on their own. Easy to fill up a squad and do well with but we still need to have 1 or 2 really top tier players to finish the picture if we wanna compete regularly.

I wonder how much that kinda describes our current players now that Mou is gone. I'd say De Gea and Pogba fit the world class tag but idk how many are good enough to fit in the "below world class" category.
 

DBT85

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Top talent won't be paying any attention to whats happened in the last 2 weeks, they don't even know yet if Ole is permanent. Even if he is, Ole doesn't yet have the cache to be the draw for a top player. Zidane, Pep, Klopp etc etc have that draw.

If Ole was here for a couple of years and really put us on the front foot and we were actually challenging then his stock will rise in the marketplace and people will want to play for him as well as for the club and the crazy wages we pay.
 

roonster09

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Hazard signed for Chelsea when they didn't have any manager, it was before confirming Di Matteo was their manager. Obviously managerial choice and few other things matter but end of the day the biggest pull is money and how the future plans are sold to the players.
 

tattico

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I think Top talents (with a good agent) not only want to make a lot of money asap, they also want to develop their skillset and become better. ManUtd became some kind of a "chaos club" to me. With a good sporting director (long term) and a progressive coach (short and middle term) could things change again. Remembering how SAF developed great players back in the days, could be a good starting point to transform this model into the future.
 

Robbo's Shoulder

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A club like United will always appeal to a certain extent as will a manager like Mourinho. I don’t think it's as clear cut as in past years just due to power agents hold in the game.
I get the impression that the modern player will go where his agent tells him to go, especially if it's mutually beneficial finance wise. So basically, which club is willing to pay the higher agents fees? Saying that, i just may be a cynical old hasbeen who's become disconnected in the way modern transfers come about.
 

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We haven't been among Europe's elite for many years. We can't offer trophies or even regular CL football. Nobody will care about the managerial situation or even notice the fact that we put a few goals past some relegation fodder in the last couple of weeks.

On the other hand, we are willing to part with massive amounts of cash, to players and agents, which overall makes us pretty attractive still.
 

Eric's Seagull

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Hazard signed for Chelsea when they didn't have any manager, it was before confirming Di Matteo was their manager. Obviously managerial choice and few other things matter but end of the day the biggest pull is money and how the future plans are sold to the players.
Obviously money has a massive pull and we pay some of the best about, but that should not be the only pull.
People should want to come to us because we are Manchester United not because e.g Ed offers them £20,000 per week more and offers the agent another £2m.

I totally agree on the last part and that is where I believe a good DoF will come into play. We need to make sure once these plans are made that we stick to them and once the idea is in place get the players to buy into it and help make us great again.
 

Kapardin

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Its' only been 3 league games against relatively easy opposition and 1 cup game against a Championship side under a caretaker manager. I doubt any "top tier talent" are making knee-jerk decisions about us based on these factors at the moment.
 

GailSpaceWynand

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Plus I think we are not that far off our successes considering we won 2 trophies recently - albeit smaller ones. We are not at ACM level yet.
 

roonster09

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Obviously money has a massive pull and we pay some of the best about, but that should not be the only pull.
People should want to come to us because we are Manchester United not because e.g Ed offers them £20,000 per week more and offers the agent another £2m.

I totally agree on the last part and that is where I believe a good DoF will come into play. We need to make sure once these plans are made that we stick to them and once the idea is in place get the players to buy into it and help make us great again.
Yeah, agree with your point but tbf money is always the biggest pull. There are so many other factors too but they are all good add ons.
 

Fortitude

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Hazard signed for Chelsea when they didn't have any manager, it was before confirming Di Matteo was their manager. Obviously managerial choice and few other things matter but end of the day the biggest pull is money and how the future plans are sold to the players.
"I'm signing for the champions of Europe."

He made no secret of the main reason he went to Chelsea. We didn't pay the agent fees, which looks ridiculous now, but he was drawn to the euphoria and upward trajectory of the club, not just money.
 

roonster09

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"I'm signing for the champions of Europe."

He made no secret of the main reason he went to Chelsea. We didn't pay the agent fees, which looks ridiculous now, but he was drawn to the euphoria and upward trajectory of the club, not just money.
IIRC there were so many reports that it was between City and United, 2 teams who were ahead of every other team in the league and we matched everything except agent fee. Out of nowhere Chelsea paid the fee and he signed for them.

ManUtd won the league and were runners up losing on GD with GOAT manager. City won the league with big plans for future. Chelsea didn't even name their permanent manager when the deal was announced. In any case it was Di Matteo.

Chelsea won CL and finished 6th or something in the league. Yeah Chelsea winning CL (and qualifying for CL) helped but it looked money was the biggest factor. I didnt say Money is the only pull, it's the biggest one.
 

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Its' only been 3 league games against relatively easy opposition and 1 cup game against a Championship side under a caretaker manager. I doubt any "top tier talent" are making knee-jerk decisions about us based on these factors at the moment.
I hate to say this but anything other tha history the club next door can offer double...

United always had the appeal. But the question should be if offered the same salary would player prefers us than the other?

No point bragging about everyone wants to play for united when united is the only big club offer they had at hand.
 

red thru&thru

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We should be concentrating on the top tier talent who will be WC players whilst at United. These players more often than not will be attracted to us, as they know they will get a chance to flourish with us.
 

Sandikan

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It's very simple. No CL football no appeal. Sorry to say but the style is secondary to that
That's ludicrous. As shown the last time we missed champions league. That was a better transfer window than any we've actually qualified for in years.
 

harms

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I think that realistically we have a chance to sign any player on the market, even though Barca/Real and perhaps a few like Juve/Bayern/PSG have a better one.
I mean we've recently signed probably the best (or, at least, the most valuable) midfield talent of the generation, managed to steal the likes of Sanchez and Fred (and what matters is their reputation at the moment and not their form now) from Pep's City and kept De Gea from going to Madrid.
 

Jonas Hagman

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I don't get how some think Mourinho can attract players at a high level after what he did at United and other clubs, to be honest it sounds weird at the moment ...

Why should Solskjær not draw more attention at the current state?

I don't think there is a good answer to this really !
 

Fosu-Mens

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I'm sure some will wade in saying we pay a lot of money, not acknowledging we don't pay beyond the going rate. Given we're in a precarious position in terms of Champions League qualification and we also have no 'manager of repute' players actively seek to play under, how likely do you think it is that we can shop for the elite pool of talent as those we'd like to call our peers will in the summer?

If you enter the transfer section, some have hope that abounds to the very best talent that will be available - others 'knowingly' put them straight and state we have no chance; where would you stand in such a discussion? Do you think our summer window is determinant on what happens between now and May regarding the football we play and where we manage to finish, or is it independent of that?
Unsure until summer and a new manager/DoF/structure. Dependent on the changes and appointments made we could become very appealing appealing or not at all.

On the positive: Some notable and famous players in Pogba(most young players would not mind playing with him) and DDG would make us able to attract younger talented GKs. We do not have the best squad and talented younger players would likely be able to get regular game time with us if they play in certain positions.
 

RedNed77

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I'd echo what a few others have said insofar as we don't need to be signing established world class players such as a Griezmann for example. The United way is to make world class players not buy them. Generally when we've tried, Veron/Di Maria/Falcao it hasn't worked for us as they've thought they were better than the club or have struggled in the environment. A Pogba level of player should be what we are aiming for, just on the verge or breaking through, then provide them with a platform to develop. I think these players are available to us regardless of manager or CL qualification due to the prestige of playing for us and our ability to pay the best salaries.
 

Patrick08

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This thread annoys me. We have our life sucked out by 3 managers who failed to adapt to the requirements of this club, why is the belief getting sucked out from supporters as well?

Yes Woodward made some mistakes on the planning and execution front on the transfer side of things including terrible scouting management, but if we sort out that mess with a footballing structure synonymous to the current footballing world there is no reason we should not get back to our former standards.

Will Madrid fans ask the same questions if they can't lure the likes of Kane, pogba, debrune, Mbappé, neymar, Dybala's of the current world?

We have hired 2 ridiculous stubborn managers who refused to get the best of what we had and one who was completely out of his depth, that was our problem, not the club. Our shine is not waning down in terms of appeal as a club. Football has always run in cycles.
 
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lewwoo

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As others have already said if we dont get Champions league next season we are going to be further down the pecking order. It could lead to a downward spiral if we dont get this next appointment right and start showing the top talent we are serious about winning things again.
 

StrettyEnder07

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You're always going to attract top talent at a club like United, we do have some top players that other players would love to play with, the wages they would earn here, of course if we stink the place up over the next 6 months players will want to go somewhere else but if we at least make a fight for top 4, do well in the Cup and put up a good performance against PSG, players still want to come and play for United, especially if we get back to having a bit of identity.

We went down the route of buying ready made top players (Di Maria, Falcao, Sanchez etc.) which has not worked out, rather we get back to having an identity and buying players are fit what we are looking for, rather than buying Galactico's and hoping they fit, if this is what you're after then crack on but I want us back buying players who will give their all for the club, not look forward to pay day every week.

Seen rumours today that Manolas is being heavily linked for a summer move, 35m. That would be a good signing, would fit well next to Lindelof and maybe go after Alderweireld in the summer as well, possible midfielder and a right winger and we are not far away.

We don't need mega surgery like some seem to suggest, a few top buys and we are well on our way imo. Whoever said that were "languishing in mid-table" needs to lay off the booze!
 

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Not very appealing, with the potential of no champions league football next season and no manager in place, unless i was a fan of the club i would not give us a second glance.

I would be rich which ever club i signed for these days, so if I was a talent united were after I am pretty sure I would be looking towards the sides more likely to be playing CL next season and beyond regularly.