Thomas Meunier

[Zed 101]

Pretty much this. Teams literally never have to worry about our right side because even if we switch play out there, we never have anyone there (Lingard, Mata doing shit number 10 impressions) or Young who will do absolutely nothing with the ball. As a result the left hand side gets so crowded.

Football is pretty simple, you stretch teams out by making the pitch as wide as possible making the opposition team defend as much space as possible. It's what City do through their wide players and Liverpool do via their full backs. Teams get so tired tucking in then sprinting out to get to these players chances are made. We instead have an attack where everyone thinks they're Riquelme, playing off a non existent front man, trying one twos in the most crowded part of the pitch making it super easy to defend against. This is why the only decent football we've played under Ole is on the break, we still have no clue how to build an attack.

A right back that actually stretches the right side and holds width would help with this massively.

Agreed evidenced by the impact Dalot had when coming on as sub, suddenly we had somebody who was actually sticking to the right wing, Dalot/Meunier as a right side combo would be very solid defensively and offer plenty going forward, for 25mil it seems like a no brainer, Meunier also seems like a pretty good sort willing to give his all, wants to play for Utd, that would be nice for a change

 

[Ballache]

Or we could just negotiate for Wan Bissaka. Why get a guy that can't defend, will cost more in wages, and will have to be replaced in a year or two anyway? AWB could be bought for less than 60m, and has 10 years at the highest level left. If United go for Meunier now it would be indicative that nothing has changed.

We have two young and talented RBs at the club already. I, and many more, would argue that signing Meunier is ideal for Dalot and Laird (who is very highly rated).

 

[Jammiedodger]

As much as I would love to just throw the youngsters in all across the pitch and say to hell with it, let them learn, you do need a spine of mature players and Meunier for me would be one of them.

Its a no brainer at £20-25m even if we only got 3 good seasons out of him, he's instantly going to be miles better than Young.

I say we buy him and with the cash we've saved not having to fork out £50m on another RB/RWB, use the remaining money to throw it on top of the De Ligt offer.
Go all out for De Ligt and instantly you have a solid back 4 of Shaw - Lindelof - De Ligt - Meunier.

Meunier can be the mature voice amongst that lot and its still relatively young in age.
We can then bench Young/Smalling/Jones and use them as good squad options rather than starting 11.

Everybody wins. Its a total no brainer for me.

 

[Lennon7]

We have two young and talented RBs at the club already. I, and many more, would argue that signing Meunier is ideal for Dalot and Laird (who is very highly rated).

Aye that’s it really. Meunier wouldn’t need replacing in 2 years either, he’d be 29 for feck sake. He’d be the ideal right back signing for me given our current situation.

 

[Aloysius's Back 3]

Or we could just negotiate for Wan Bissaka. Why get a guy that can't defend, will cost more in wages, and will have to be replaced in a year or two anyway? AWB could be bought for less than 60m, and has 10 years at the highest level left. If United go for Meunier now it would be indicative that nothing has changed.

Exactly - I don't see what the difference is between Dalot & Meunier; they have similar strengths and weaknesses even though one is easily at his prime. On the other hand AWB is different to both so fills an aspect of the squad that is missing.

Shaw & AWB - solid FB
Sessegnon & Dalot - attacking wingbacks

Get rid of Darmian, Valencia & Young eventually and we have a whole new bunch of fullbacks & wingbacks with different styles of play.

 

[StrettyEnder07]

That is a straight up lie. He is a far worse defender than every one on that least safe for Young. and that is only because Young is now old and past it.


Id rather bring back Rafael from Lyon. Florenzi at Roma. Or get Youcef Atal. Or go for the young french kid Salibba. Or go for like Malcuit from Napoli. Heck Id rather raid Norwich for Max Aarons then get this guy

How the f*ck is that a lie, its an opinion! And it's a lie because you have an opinion that differs from mine, not even worthy of a response, do one.

 

[bosnian_red]

Meunier is pretty much ideal when it comes to age, and his fitness levels and physicality pretty much perfect for the prem too. Perfect age for Dalot and Laird to develop, he's only £25m which is big considering we need a lot of signings, and he is actually a really good player going forward (and pretty versatile anyway).

Wan Bissaka would cost probably more than twice his price, would be writing off Dalot who we spent £20m on last year, no path for Laird, and the attacking part of his game is lacking (not ideal for a big team to have 2 fullbacks who are good defensively but don't do much going forward, like Shaw and AWB).

 

[SuperiorXI]

Daniel James just made his breakthrough season in the championship but you think the risk is worth it. What's the difference? The transfer fee? The expected responsibility? AWB is a young player who has proven himself in the PL. If he comes good that RB position will be sorted for years.

Yep. 15m is nothing in comparison to what AWB will cost.

 

[Roboc7]

I don’t understand the argument that signing this guy instead of AWB is better for Laird and Dalot. Their still not going to play regularly so how they are developed will be the same whether that’s loans or rotation no matter who the RB is. If we sign no one Yo

If one of them develops into a good player there’s room for more than one good RB in the squad.

Think Meunier’s reputation exceeds his ability, no doubt he improves us going forward but it’s adding another poor defender to a defence that already leaks too many goals.

 

[Gandalf]

Meunier is pretty much ideal when it comes to age, and his fitness levels and physicality pretty much perfect for the prem too. Perfect age for Dalot and Laird to develop, he's only £25m which is big considering we need a lot of signings, and he is actually a really good player going forward (and pretty versatile anyway).

Wan Bissaka would cost probably more than twice his price, would be writing off Dalot who we spent £20m on last year, no path for Laird, and the attacking part of his game is lacking (not ideal for a big team to have 2 fullbacks who are good defensively but don't do much going forward, like Shaw and AWB).

We shipped a ton of goals last season and we are worrying about how many assists we can get from our new FB and ignoring the fact that Meunier is a liability defensively. Cannot wrap my head around the fact that people think that at 21 AWB has no room to improve. He would do a lot to fix our defensive issues and the attacking side of his game can be developed. Andy Robertson was hardly an assist machine at Hull and look at him now.

 

[dev1l]

Watched some Meunier clips....looks a bit like Dalot.
With the ball in his feet, he s excellent and we LL find his height useful when defending corners.
However he looks a bit too gangly for a right back and looks also a bit clumsy and slow.
I can't see him dealing with small, fast nippy wingers with low centre of gravity.
Having said that, I haven't watched much of him.

 

[acnumber9]

Watched some Meunier clips....looks a bit like Dalot.
With the ball in his feet, he s excellent and we LL find his height useful when defending corners.
However he looks a bit too gangly for a right back and looks also a bit clumsy and slow.
I can't see him dealing with small, fast nippy wingers with low centre of gravity.
Having said that, I haven't watched much of him.

I’d guess most of the people who want him have only seen clips of him. It reminds me of the clamour to sign Serve Aurier two years ago based on a you tube clip or two. Or when the scouting geniuses on here were desperately happy with Darmian.

 

[Loublaze]

Yep. 15m is nothing in comparison to what AWB will cost.

Not my money, not yours. 50M for the best RB in the PL in his age group is not much these days. Why should it bother you? Ole will be backed this transfer window and if United don't think AWB is worth 50M they'll look elsewhere or possibly try and sign him in another window

 

[bosnian_red]

We shipped a ton of goals last season and we are worrying about how many assists we can get from our new FB and ignoring the fact that Meunier is a liability defensively. Cannot wrap my head around the fact that people think that at 21 AWB has no room to improve. He would do a lot to fix our defensive issues and the attacking side of his game can be developed. Andy Robertson was hardly an assist machine at Hull and look at him now.

Andy Robertson was very good going forward but improved a lot with a better team system defensively. I'd say there are WAY more examples of young attacking fullbacks developing the defensive side of their games to become top fullbacks, whereas the strong defensive fullbacks rarely turn into much of an attacking force (if they didn't have it before). Shaw has improved but he is still pretty shit going forward if we're honest.

Also another issue to our defence is our shit center backs, our shit midfield from a defensive POV (especially with Herrera gone), and even us not being able to sustain attacking momentum (which not having a right flank at all from both an attacking or defensive POV probably plays a big part in).

 

[bosnian_red]

Not my money, not yours. 50M for the best RB in the PL in his age group is not much these days. Why should it bother you? Ole will be backed this transfer window and if United don't think AWB is worth 50M they'll look elsewhere or possibly try and sign him in another window

Trent Alexander Arnold is ahead of Wan Bissaka without a doubt... hes promising, but not more so than TAA.

 

[Loublaze]

Trent Alexander Arnold is ahead of Wan Bissaka without a doubt... hes promising, but not more so than TAA.

He's ahead of him indeed but not by much. TAA gets noticed more because of his superior attacking prowess playing in a team firing on all cylinders. They have almost the same overall rating on whoscored for instance (7.28 for TAA AND 7.27 for AWB). AWB has the far more impressive defensive stats, beats TAA in every defensive category from blocks, interceptions, clearances, tackles, aerial duels, etc. TAA commits less fouls per game and its still close

 

[jderbyshire]

Get them both. Get rid of Valencia, Darmian - and tell Young to go away until with have an injury crisis.

 

[SATA]

Sign him and tell Palace to piss off with the 50 or 70m

 

[bosnian_red]

He's ahead of him indeed but not by much. TAA gets noticed more because of his superior attacking prowess playing in a team firing on all cylinders. They have almost the same overall rating on whoscored for instance (7.28 for TAA AND 7.27 for AWB). AWB has the far more impressive defensive stats, beats TAA in every defensive category from blocks, interceptions, clearances, tackles, aerial duels, etc. TAA commits less fouls per game and its still close

Yeah but pretty much every single top team would prefer a fullback who is brilliant going forward and average defensively compared to one who is average going forward but brilliant defensively. Which is why I've always been pretty meh about Shaw. His peak potential level is still pretty average going forward, it'll just be really good defensively (which at the end of the day, if you come up against someone like Messi, he'll make a fool out of you anyway). Plus you're also reliant on your centerbacks defensively, and a shit CB pair will make the fullbacks look worse defensively whereas it doesn't impact them much in an attacking sense.

 

[Gandalf]

But that is predicated on the notion that AWB cannot improve going forward and I don't see why you would think that. He has been a regular starter for one season and was required to play the role defensively by the system he was in. There is no reason he cannot be a very effective attacking FB with his pace and a little more experience.

 

[Loublaze]

Yeah but pretty much every single top team would prefer a fullback who is brilliant going forward and average defensively compared to one who is average going forward but brilliant defensively. Which is why I've always been pretty meh about Shaw. His peak potential level is still pretty average going forward, it'll just be really good defensively (which at the end of the day, if you come up against someone like Messi, he'll make a fool out of you anyway). Plus you're also reliant on your centerbacks defensively, and a shit CB pair will make the fullbacks look worse defensively whereas it doesn't impact them much in an attacking sense.

Crystal Palace play more on the backfoot than Liverpool and other big teams so their fullbacks would be expected to be better defensively. He's 21 and played as a winger in his youth so I doubt he wouldn't shine in an attacking setup

 

[Van Piorsing]

Get them both. Get rid of Valencia, Darmian - and tell Young to go away until with have an injury crisis.

In two months Young will be 34. He's not gonna play the entirety of season, surely ? I hope Ole sees this and considering some overhaul.

Getting both would actually mean we're pushing for better defense in a Pep's manner: Get solid portion of quality, worry about the rest later.

 

[bosnian_red]

Crystal Palace play more on the backfoot than Liverpool and other big teams so their fullbacks would be expected to be better defensively. He's 21 and played as a winger in his youth so I doubt he wouldn't shine in an attacking setup

That's all hypothetical. He is a really good prospect, but he's just not on TAA's level, who set a record for creating chances and most assists from any fullback in the premier league. They're worlds apart when it comes to suiting a top team as of now, though that doesn't mean I don't want AWB. He would be a very good signing, though I still think Meunier just makes more sense.

 

[SuperiorXI]

Not my money, not yours. 50M for the best RB in the PL in his age group is not much these days. Why should it bother you? Ole will be backed this transfer window and if United don't think AWB is worth 50M they'll look elsewhere or possibly try and sign him in another window

It's part of a budget we need to spend wisely and of course it's my money. Where do you think United get all their money from? Magical money trees?

 

[Loublaze]

That's all hypothetical. He is a really good prospect, but he's just not on TAA's level, who set a record for creating chances and most assists from any fullback in the premier league. They're worlds apart when it comes to suiting a top team as of now, though that doesn't mean I don't want AWB. He would be a very good signing, though I still think Meunier just makes more sense.

I don't think it makes more sense if we can just get a young PL proven player instead, English to boot. Muinier is entering his prime years and is looking for a bigger check IMO and is name dropping us, Juventus and Dortmund in an effort to achieve this. I doubt he'll end up at united

 

[Gandalf]

Interested in why people are so certain he is available for a low fee. I can't see anything about release clauses and his estimated value on most of the sites I have looked at is 40 million. Throw in the usual United tax and he might cost the same as AWB.

 

[Loublaze]

It's part of a budget we need to spend wisely and of course it's my money. Where do you think United get all their money from? Magical money trees?

All we have is opinions, no say so or power whatsoever on the club's transfer dealings and how they spend 'our' money. We choose to part with our hard earned money in support of this club, its not an enforced tax. 30-50M for a player of his profile seems to be the going rate these days.

 

[Fer]

We released Valencia, Young shouldn't be near the 1st eleven and Dalot could be better to cover the right wing position. For 25m, I think we could try and get both. Similar with Alderweireld.

 

[Infra-red]

Interested in why people are so certain he is available for a low fee. I can't see anything about release clauses and his estimated value on most of the sites I have looked at is 40 million. Throw in the usual United tax and he might cost the same as AWB.

He only has a year left on his deal, so can start negotiating a free transfer in 6 months time.

 

[bosnian_red]

I don't think it makes more sense if we can just get a young PL proven player instead, English to boot. Muinier is entering his prime years and is looking for a bigger check IMO and is name dropping us, Juventus and Dortmund in an effort to achieve this. I doubt he'll end up at united

It makes sense because we have so many things to figure out, to get a £25m option instead of a £60m option (who isn't leaving this season if we don't pay up). Signing AWB means Dalot is essentially a pointless signing. Signing Meunier basically means that Meunier is at the perfect age for Dalot and Laird to develop and get game time and transition into the spot while Meunier is the main guy for a few years. That's why it makes sense.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

How the f*ck is that a lie....its an opinion!

Than you should have QUALIFIED it by saying it was merely your opinion. Rather than posting it as a claim, moreover a claim that doesn't tally with reality on the ground for that matter.....

....
And it's a lie because you have an opinion that differs from mine, not even worthy of a response, do one.

You are wrong, I'm afraid. Its a lie because its factually untrue. You are entitled to your own opinion. Never your own facts.

Claiming Meunier defends better than Smalling for example is just ludicrous in the extreme

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

We shipped a ton of goals last season and we are worrying about how many assists we can get from our new FB and ignoring the fact that Meunier is a liability defensively. Cannot wrap my head around the fact that people think that at 21 AWB has no room to improve. He would do a lot to fix our defensive issues and the attacking side of his game can be developed. Andy Robertson was hardly an assist machine at Hull and look at him now.

this

 

[Le Red]

Than you should have QUALIFIED it by saying it was merely your opinion. Rather than posting it as a claim, moreover a claim that doesn't tally with reality on the ground for that matter.....


You are wrong, I'm afraid. Its a lie because its factually untrue. You are entitled to your own opinion. Never your own facts.

Claiming Meunier defends better than Smalling for example is just ludicrous in the extreme

Yes, everyone should have to announce in a football forum that what they are writing actually constitutes a mere opinion.

DISCLAIMER: This post merely reflects the opinion of its user and is by no means a professional analysis or a claim that the statement reflects the truth regarding any matter.

 

[devilish]

I don't think that our defence can afford an attacking full back at the moment especially with DDG probably leaving.

 

[Stadjer]

I don't think that our defence can afford an attacking full back at the moment especially with DDG probably leaving.

Shaw is more of a defensive full back anyway. Shaw can stay back and the RB can go more forward.

 

[devilish]

Shaw is more of a defensive full back anyway. Shaw can stay back and the RB can go more forward.

Still.

We've seen how vulnerable our defence is when DDG messes up. If DDG leaves and De Ligt comes (ie a young defender) then we need some solidity at the back. Also is it wise to buy a nearly 28 year old FB who can't defend? Pace is the first thing to go in a player. So we'll be left with a fullback who can't go forward anymore and who can't defend shit.

We should just spend an extra 25m on AWB.

 

[Big Andy]

Still.

We've seen how vulnerable our defence is when DDG messes up. If DDG leaves and De Ligt comes (ie a young defender) then we need some solidity at the back. Also is it wise to buy a nearly 28 year old FB who can't defend? Pace is the first thing to go in a player. So we'll be left with a fullback who can't go forward anymore and who can't defend shit.

We should just spend an extra 25m on AWB.

He’s 27 years old...pace doesn’t just stop at 30 ffs...he’s in his prime right now...

Get him in for £25m and play him...

 

[devilish]

He’s 27 years old...pace doesn’t just stop at 30 ffs...he’s in his prime right now...

Get him in for £25m and play him...

It starts waning once it hits 30.

In my opinion we should build for the future. A near 28 year old who defends like a 18 year old is hardly a wise decision considering we've already have enough of these gentlemen in our defense (Jones, Rojo etc)

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Yes, everyone should have to announce in a football forum that what they are writing actually constitutes a mere opinion.
......

Rather anyone who gets sensitive when their opinion is called a lie should start with such a disclaimer

 

[Loublaze]

It makes sense because we have so many things to figure out, to get a £25m option instead of a £60m option (who isn't leaving this season if we don't pay up). Signing AWB means Dalot is essentially a pointless signing. Signing Meunier basically means that Meunier is at the perfect age for Dalot and Laird to develop and get game time and transition into the spot while Meunier is the main guy for a few years. That's why it makes sense.

Do you want the best RB available for the manager or the RB at the right age to develop others who might not even be good enough? Dalot will not be pointless whether we sign AWB or not, so if Solskjaer wants to sign his own he should be backed.
I really don't think Solksjaer trusts Dalot defensively seeing as he's deployed him as a RW more. AWB is superior defensively and competition is not bad, let them duke it out for that spot if it comes down to it