Let’s sign Gareth Bale

Bilbo

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There are only 2 clubs in England that Bale wouldn't instantly improve. We are not one of them.

I think fans have a huge tendency to pigeonhole players these days. Above 27? Too old. Had injuries? Finished. In this case there is also a common assumption that Bale has lost his hunger. Based on what exactly?

He turned us down twice they say. The sheer nerve of a player who is stacking up piles of Euros and CL winners medals not wanting to leave that! He's not for us. We only want players that will crawl to Manchester. Seriously.....

Frankly I find it staggering that so many are against this given what we have available to us. Taking a punt on Bale (if you see it that way) has to be better than another season of Mata and Lingard playing out of position, because that's what we have.

City and Liverpool are off in the distance. If any of our other rivals sign Bale and he plays to his ability, then they finish above us. It's that simple.

We've been burnt by Sanchez and its affecting peoples judgement. This one would be worth the risk. If we can get this guy on loan for a reasonable fee, it's an absolute no-brainer.
 

Cliche Guevara

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Haha. We do still get between 10%-15% but even then research has shown that star players don't increase shirt sales significantly, what tends to happen is that fans who were planning to buy the shirt, still buy it, but chose to have the new star player's name on their back.
It’s actually between 1 and 1.5% over a certain number of sales. In effect it’s nothing.

I saw a breakdown of who makes what out of a shirt and there are a number of involved parties. Adidas. Manufacturer. Distributor. Retailer. Even if we didn’t have the deal we have, and got all our share of shirt sales, it wouldn’t be much more than 10%.
 
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charlenefan

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There are only 2 clubs in England that Bale wouldn't instantly improve. We are not one of them.

I think fans have a huge tendency to pigeonhole players these days. Above 27? Too old. Had injuries? Finished. In this case there is also a common assumption that Bale has lost his hunger. Based on what exactly?

He turned us down twice they say. The sheer nerve of a player who is stacking up piles of Euros and CL winners medals not wanting to leave that! He's not for us. We only want players that will crawl to Manchester. Seriously.....

Frankly I find it staggering that so many are against this given what we have available to us. Taking a punt on Bale (if you see it that way) has to be better than another season of Mata and Lingard playing out of position, because that's what we have.

City and Liverpool are off in the distance. If any of our other rivals sign Bale and he plays to his ability, then they finish above us. It's that simple.

We've been burnt by Sanchez and its affecting peoples judgement. This one would be worth the risk. If we can get this guy on loan for a reasonable fee, it's an absolute no-brainer.
Ironically people said the exact same about Sanchez (and probably Di Maria and Falcao before him) but for what it's worth I agree, especially on a loan what do we have to loose other than a years worth of wages?
 

Cliche Guevara

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Ironically people said the exact same about Sanchez (and probably Di Maria and Falcao before him) but for what it's worth I agree, especially on a loan what do we have to loose other than a years worth of wages?
I don’t know if anyone actually said that at all about Sanchez. The deal came pretty much out of the blue, and the figures only really came to light after he was signed. Sanchez didn’t have a reputation for being injury prone and the view he’d chosen United over City didn’t suggest he didn’t want to be here and wanted to stay at Arsenal.

I don’t really see a comparison at all, other than age.
 

JMack1234

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I can't see why we wouldn't sign him on loan if that was possible.

We sign Bale on loan, with no obligation to buy and could potentially have a world class player to slot in on the right and be a mentor for James.

And if it goes wrong and he spends all his time on the treatment table then you send him back to Madrid and no harm is done. Of course whether or not Bale or Real would be up for that is a totally different story but if they are open to it, then why not?
 

MadMike

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I can't see why we wouldn't sign him on loan if that was possible.

We sign Bale on loan, with no obligation to buy and could potentially have a world class player to slot in on the right and be a mentor for James.

And if it goes wrong and he spends all his time on the treatment table then you send him back to Madrid and no harm is done. Of course whether or not Bale or Real would be up for that is a totally different story but if they are open to it, then why not?
Because Real would want some type of loan fee and Bale is also on over £25m a year salary. How can you say "no harm is done"?

Firstly it's a shit tonne of money that could go elsewhere and secondly, what will happen to our other players' demands when they find out Bale is on 3-4 times the salary just sitting on the sidelines collecting a paycheck? Learnt nothing from the Sanchez saga I guess and want more of the same?
 

JMack1234

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Because Real would want some type of loan fee and Bale is also on over £25m a year salary. How can you say "no harm is done"?

Firstly it's a shit tonne of money that could go elsewhere and secondly, what will happen to our other players' demands when they find out Bale is on 3-4 times the salary just sitting on the sidelines collecting a paycheck? Learnt nothing from the Sanchez saga I guess and want more of the same?
It would be very different.

First of all there is no way we could/would pay his full wages they'd have to be subsidised by Real. Secondly the other players would need to be reminded that he isn't actually a Manchester United player so the circumstances aren't the same.
 

jem

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Exactly what so many Madrid fans are saying yet the Caf is chomping at the bit to take on yet another absolute albatross of a signing.
I hardly get the impression the CAF is chomping at the bit for this signing.
 

Irwin99

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He was booed like 3 or 4 times, by a relatively small group of people, and in reaction to specific incidents were he showed poor attitude/team spirit. That is not a turbulent relationship. He had and still has a fantastic relationship with the vast majority of us
A big enough group of people for him to notice it and to be affected by it.
 

manutddjw

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I’d rather Bale than our current options but the issue is he’s shown zero desire to leave Madrid at all even after they’ve publicly vilified him this season. In that case there’s zero point in essentially doing a favour for Madrid after all the trouble they’ve caused us in recent years.
 

Patrick08

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Real Madrid want to get rid of bale because of his wages and injury proneness itself, hoping them to subsidize major part of his wages on loan is a fantasy. Even half of his wages on our board is not worth it given his no desire to play for united or leave Madrid and ressurect his career elsewhere while bing such a massive crock who will get even more injured in this weather and league.
 

red_de_pologne

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There are only 2 clubs in England that Bale wouldn't instantly improve. We are not one of them.

I think fans have a huge tendency to pigeonhole players these days. Above 27? Too old. Had injuries? Finished. In this case there is also a common assumption that Bale has lost his hunger. Based on what exactly?

He turned us down twice they say. The sheer nerve of a player who is stacking up piles of Euros and CL winners medals not wanting to leave that! He's not for us. We only want players that will crawl to Manchester. Seriously.....

Frankly I find it staggering that so many are against this given what we have available to us. Taking a punt on Bale (if you see it that way) has to be better than another season of Mata and Lingard playing out of position, because that's what we have.

City and Liverpool are off in the distance. If any of our other rivals sign Bale and he plays to his ability, then they finish above us. It's that simple.

We've been burnt by Sanchez and its affecting peoples judgement. This one would be worth the risk. If we can get this guy on loan for a reasonable fee, it's an absolute no-brainer.
You forget to mention us taking Bale would mean us losing Pogba. The risk would be the part of fee for Pogba, I think this is what worries some of us. We're doing Real a favour, we're losing our best player and we're failing to get as high fee as possible.
 

Patrick08

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He rejected us so that he could win 3 x CL titles in a row. We need to let that go.
Then better keep collecting his wages from them only and stay there and not look for us as an option when kicked out for not being good enough to replace Ronaldo while being a massive crock.
 

NinjaZombie

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This stinks of an Alexis Sanchez, Di Maria transfer. A high profile signing that won't work out.

I fully expect fecking Woodward to go through with it.
 

giorno

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When a player has multiple run ins with the fans and directly addresses them because he's not happy, I'd say it's a fair comment.
A big enough group of people for him to notice it and to be affected by it.
Damn. I guess you two have had turbulent relantionships with pretty much everyone, all throughout your lives...
 

Bearded One

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Let's get on it. I'd much rather we took risks than us, stood still, overanalyzing things while our so-called competitors (I say this because there is a real possibility that we drop to Arsenal, Everton levels if we do not act).

He is a monster on the left and right even though he has been hard hit with injuries. If we manage to get him fit, he massively improves our chances for a title challenge.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Ironically people said the exact same about Sanchez (and probably Di Maria and Falcao before him) but for what it's worth I agree, especially on a loan what do we have to loose other than a years worth of wages?
Yep. The risk is not worth the potential benefit considering his age, current level and injury record. It's not people being too choosy or having too many arbitrary issues - it's just being sensible, something we should be more than we are.
 

ryansgirl

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NO let's not. Paul Pogba should never be sold for someone like Gareth Bale, if we sell Paul at all. That should be a gigantic if.

Stick to demanding the earth for Pogba and keep him when clubs don't bite. He is a proven winner with big-time nerves and in a winning Manchester United culture again will perform. Gareth Bale has some years ahead of him but is more injury-prone than some, is good for Wales but United is not the Welsh team.

He will be an under-performing luxury and seems to have attitude problems. I know it would be difficult to live in Spain for many players from the UK but at least try to communicate with your team in their lingo. Correct me if I am wrong but Gareth seems to have the Mark Hughes attitude - doesn't want to learn the Spanish language - and at least in Mark's time there were far less connections with Europe and clubs abroad made less of an effort to integrate Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish players.

I live outside my own country and have done so for some time. It's much easier when you make an effort to learn at least the daily language of your new country. Gareth apparently doesn't say more than a greeting or thanks in Spanish.
 

ryansgirl

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Because Real would want some type of loan fee and Bale is also on over £25m a year salary. How can you say "no harm is done"?

Firstly it's a shit tonne of money that could go elsewhere and secondly, what will happen to our other players' demands when they find out Bale is on 3-4 times the salary just sitting on the sidelines collecting a paycheck? Learnt nothing from the Sanchez saga I guess and want more of the same?
Stop making sense!
 

sugar_kane

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Warming to this one now (fool me once, I know....)

Provided we make the right signings elsewhere he could do a job for a season if we take him on loan and don’t pay all his wages

If it’s a full on signing with huge wages I’m definitely not interested
 

Kostov

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Ideally if we can bring him in, without a fee on a loan with partially paying his wages I would take him in a heartbeat. That would never happen though.
 

sherrinford

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Ideally if we can bring him in, without a fee on a loan with partially paying his wages I would take him in a heartbeat. That would never happen though.
It shouldn’t really be outside the realm of possibility - I would like to think there won’t be a queue of clubs willing to pay a fee for either a loan or permanent transfer, and his wages are astronomical with Zidane having virtually no use for him. If they can find someone to pay a fee or all of his wages they will have done very well. Offering to pay half his wages for a year-long loan with no fee is a reasonable saving for them. If they’re not happy with something like that just tell them to ram it.
 

GM K

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When I read posts these days about whether or not we should buy players, I hardly ever see comments related to whether or not those players want to join United (or stay at United in the case of the conversations about selling players).

I think this should be a major criterion. I am tired of players who don't really want to play for the shirt. What is the point of getting or keeping them? Haven't we learnt our lessons in the last few years?

For me, a crucial question is: does Bale really want to come to United? However immense his talents could be, what is the point in debating his coming when he does not show any interest in joining United? Same with the 'Should Pogba stay or go?' conversation. The question is, does Pogba want to stay and fight for United?

Maybe this is the issue with our club today. Maybe the super stars no longer find us appealing. Maybe we have lost our shine.

This can be a good thing though. It might give us the opportunity to change our transfer strategy and look for young, hungry talented players who find United appealing. Let's get them but this time around, create the structures that can keep them happy and winning.
 

Adisa

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He would cost €30m in wages alone excluding a loan fee. Signing him is madness.