Our new approach to signings - for or against?

DoomSlayer

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What's next? Sir Alex Ferguson was a raging racist and xenophobe because we had times when the approach was to get British players?
He's left out the foreign players we've been linked with as well. As well as the youth team foreign guy that has been signed.
I'm lost for words mate. It's not the first time I read stuff like this on the Caf and it really saddens me that some fans will go in that direction.
 

Willdigg

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I'm for investing in the very best young talent with massive potential, whatever the cost, wherever they are from, ahead of ready-made players.

I'm not in favor of using buzzwords or nationality as a way to justify a lower transfer budget and bring down expectations.

Remains to be seen which one is our real new policy. AWB is promising and I'm all for Daniel James too. We just need to be ready to spend 100m on the next Mbappe if we are going all in on this.
 

sideshow_bob

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Personally I like it and I'm not English. In fact this club's focus on developing domestic talents and their own youths is part of the reason I stuck with and eventually grew fond of it - and I must admit I've lost some of that enthusiasm towards it these last years as I've increasingly felt it's grown more and more in the direction of "plastic fantastic generic top club #123443456".

Xenophobia? Maybe - if you're being extremely dramatic about it and overly sensitive towards the concept. There are degrees of everything you see - and having a preference towards local talents is not xenophobic as far as I'm concerned. As long as one doesn't devalue or actively discriminate against foreign players I'd say this falls more within "favoritism" than "xenophobia" - the prior being a matter of preference (or even a question of culture / identity) while the latter is something way more hostile and sinister.
Seriously? Counting the OP, your comment is the 4th time that I've seen someone outright call or suggest Ole is xenophobic or racist. We are accusing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on a Manchester United forum nonetheless, that he is some sort of racist?

This is incredibly aggravating and bothersome to me.
.

I must point out that the use of the word xenophobia was in error. This thread is meant to be about meritocracy
 

Josep Dowling

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I think it’s terrible personally. AWB improves our first 11 but how exactly does James and Langstaff?

We need better first 11 players. Why all of a sudden we are trying to buy potential is ridiculous. It’s not the right time. I don’t mind buying someone like James if we have bought 4 top class players but we haven’t.

We still haven’t targeted a RW when that should be the focal point for me.

Alderweireld is available at £25m. Surely that could have been wrapped up by now. That is unbelievably cheap for one of the best CB in the league. But no apparently we need a CM with 9 first team appearances for the same money. And for anyone moaning about his salary we are about to give Rashford £250k a week. A 21 year old who has done nothing for this club yet.

And where was the clear out we were promised by Solskjaer? All a load of bollocks. Club has gone to the dogs. De Gea will be gone next season so we will need to spend £100m on a new keeper to replace him. Can’t see any progress for years.
 

limerickcitykid

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My friend, you need maguire's signing to prove this to you? Only then?

Jones + Smalling are not good enough examples of less talented British players over foreign alternatives that can be gotten for the same price?
You mean like the talented foreign Rojo, Bailly, and Darmian? That foreign trio of absolute crap?
 

Treble

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Nothing to do with xenophobia.

I'm a bit sceptical about the new strategy though. If you look at Liverpool and City, the players who make them tick are mostly non-British. You can be young and British and still complacent, or old and non-British and a proper leader on the pitch. Nationality shouldn't be a decidng factor in United's transfer strategy.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

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Hmm. So if the plan is to buy young, raw, fast, inexperienced at EPL level, affordable players from a certain region not known for its flair/skill/joga-bonito,
but they play fast & direct, with great attitude & professionalism, giving their all on the pitch,
& place 7th you will be ok with it?
The plan is that the players will good enough to finish higher than 7th, you’d think.
 

Eckers99

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There has to be a balance. I'm all for signing the best young talent from anywhere. And we'll still need to buy experienced players who meet an immediate need, irrespective of nationality.
 

sideshow_bob

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If there is a plan then that will be good because up to now, there has been non. Just signing random players for random reasons.
I doubt very much that we will get anywhere near signing all those players but it makes sense to go for younger hungrier players.
A British core would be good but the priority must be getting the best we can afford whatever the nationality.
Yes, previously there was no plan. So now because there's a plan it's going to be better? What if the plan is flawed?

We already have a British core. Jones, Smalling, young, Shaw, Lingard , Rashford, McT. They suck.
 

dogwithabone

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Buy English, not British.

Don't help the Welsh or Scottish national teams by making their players better.

I couldn’t give a s*it about impact on any country.

If by buying Dan James it means Wales knock England out of a tournament but Manchester United benefit then that’s all I’m bothered about.
 

SolskjaerHasDoneIt

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Why would anyone have a problem with targeting British players? The history of the club is built by British/homegrown talent, I feel it'd be a step in the right direction when it comes to getting our identity back.

Whether or not the players that we've been linked with are good enough remains to be seen though.
 
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Hmm. So if the plan is to buy young, raw, fast, inexperienced at EPL level, affordable players from a certain region not known for its flair/skill/joga-bonito,
but they play fast & direct, with great attitude & professionalism, giving their all on the pitch,
& place 7th you will be ok with it?
He never said or implied that though. Seems like you have a view (which you're entitled to) but aren't going to consider alternative views.

You're also ignoring the non British players we've been linked to and worst, you're assuming that all of the British players that the media have quoted are true. Why believe them, they're just guessing like we are.
Quality of coaching is not being discussed on this thread. But yes I agree with your first statement.

You don't buy my xenophobic argument why again?
I'm saying this window's transfer policy of being exclusive to Brits, if true, is shocking to me. Nothing at all to do with what we've won or how we won it. Talk to me about this supposed all-british policy
"If". There's your answer.
 

Buster15

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Yes, previously there was no plan. So now because there's a plan it's going to be better? What if the plan is flawed?

We already have a British core. Jones, Smalling, young, Shaw, Lingard , Rashford, McT. They suck.
The plan I was referring to was to sign younger hungrier players.
And I did say that the priority must be getting the best players whatever the nationality.
Clear now?
 

lysglimt

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From the looks of things, we're seemingly changing our mindset on who we target & bring into the club.

AWB, Dan James already done.
Links to Longstaff, Rice, Maddison, Brooks, Maguire, Sancho.

Young, Jones, Shaw & soon Rashford on new contracts. No sign of Smalling or Lingard getting the boot soon either.

(Mostly)
Young, British & Hungry seems to be the new policy.

To me (if this is true), it is a a shocking recruitment policy for a club that's supported all over the world. (I'm not sure what's the right term in English for how I see this - nationalistic? Xenophobic? Exclusive?)

Not to mention I think it makes no financial sense. Sancho? Will cost 100m over. Maguire? 80m. Rice? 60m. Maddison & Brooks will cost lots more than AWB too. I mean 9 game Longstaff is valued in excess of 25m! In general, foreign players from outside epl will cost you less wages-wise & in transfer fees.

Anyway, how do you feel about this new approach. For or against?

Edit: apologies for using the term xenophobia. I meant a disregard for Meritocracy instead

Last time I checked - OGS were more than happy to keep VNL, Pogba, De Gea, Herrera (who didn't want to stay), Bailly, Pereira, Martial...we made an offer to DeLigt and we apparently are after Fernandes. So this thread is just stupid.

Yes we have signed 1 welsh and 1 English player….which is perfectly fine if they are good enough.
 

settembrini

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Since Ferguson retired we have almost completely ignored the British transfer market to focus on foreign players and it's been an expensive disaster.

I am very pleased that Solskjaer seems to have been paying attention to that and has learnt from the mistakes of his predecessors.
 

ReallyUSA

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Spain didn't work, French didn't work, South America didn't work. The mega signings didn't work. I am all for change with young British players and a rebuild. Chasing and chasing has been our downfall.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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I'll wait until the window closes before making judgement.

I would be surprised if every signing made this summer was British.
 

Crashoutcassius

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We won't just buy british ffs.

I'm behind the strategy since we won't be left with players like martial and pogba who don't care about the club and want to play in easier leagues. It is the same approach barce, juve and bayern take
 

Valar Morghulis

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I like the idea of signing young British talent because they generally don't require a huge amount of persuasion to join us, they're less likely to need to be sold on the club and in theory would be more likely to remain at the club once they become stars (This is far from a guarantee but the odds are in our favour)

However I'd much rather and suspect it is in fact the case, that we are targeting young, hungry players from every nation, why limit ourselves? I really hope we persist with such a strategy as it embodies what the entire club has been built on.

We definitely can't get sucked into the trap of believing "Britishness" alone is a really important factor due to them being more likely to love the club though.

Because go out and find me a former player that loves the club more than Patrice Evra does and I'll call you a liar.
 

Irwin99

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Depends if they're good enough but I can see a certain logic in it in some ways. English players rarely move between the top 6 clubs unless they're deemed surplus to requirements and although the culture seems to be changing nowadays, I still think the majority of British players would rather play in England than move to another country. It's a safer bet than getting the likes of Lukaku, Pogba, Griezman and Hazard who seem to flirt with other clubs at every opportunity. I believe the idea is to get players who can grow up together and are more likely to stay at the club and build a continuity rather than have a revolving door of ins and outs.

On the other hand we had numerous young British talents when Fergie left that were meant to be the foundation of our defence for years to come in Smalling, Jones and Evans and look where that got us. Add to this JLingz and Young who are generally unpopular with their own fans and it's proof that you can have a sizeable collection of British players and still have a really crap dressing room and a poor mentality.
 

Greck

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Depends if they're good enough but I can see a certain logic in it in some ways. English players rarely move between the top 6 clubs unless they're deemed surplus to requirements and although the culture seems to be changing nowadays, I still think the majority of British players would rather play in England than move to another country. It's a safer bet than getting the likes of Lukaku, Pogba, Griezman and Hazard who seem to flirt with other clubs at every opportunity. I believe the idea is to get players who can grow up together and are more likely to stay at the club and build a continuity rather than have a revolving door of ins and outs.

On the other hand we had numerous young British talents when Fergie left that were meant to be the foundation of our defence for years to come in Smalling, Jones and Evans and look where that got us. Add to this JLingz and Young who are generally unpopular with their own fans and it's proof that you can have a sizeable collection of British players and still have a really crap dressing room and a poor mentality.
Agree. My fear comes from the pragmatic acceptance that we aren't really a producer of talent. To focus on a region that isn't known for technical talents in an era that emphasises technical play isn't smart policy. Been burned too many times in the last decade with Rodwell, Barkley, Wilshere, Welbeck, Smalling, Jones. These young 'stars' seem to peak early and never really deliver on the initial hype. That players like Jones and Young won't flirt with Madrid is moot because they arent good enough to attract their interest in the first place.

Our majorly British history is naturally skewed by the fact that much of PL history happened before the recent globalisation of the league and the mass importation of foreign talents and managers raised the bar
 
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manutddjw

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I’m against it. We should be targeting top talent regardless of nationality. This isn’t an anti-British thing which was brought up in other threads the last few months particularly the Maguire one. If we targeted Kane, Sancho or Sterling there’d be no gripes. It has everything to do with buying British for the sake of buying British. You can’t tell me there aren’t better center halves than Maguire available and for half the price to boot.

I also find the argument about running off to Spain hilarious. Ronaldo is the only one who didn’t want to be here. If De Gea and Pogba want to leave it’s because we’re doing terribly. You think if Madrid came calling right now for Smalling he wouldn’t leave? I’m pretty sure he would even though he’s British.
 

NotQuiteManc

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Don't care too much really. United tried the foreign big names, but mostly didn't work. I would prefer they do proper scouting and pick players that would fit the system on the pitch, besides the slogan of "young and hungry".
 

charlenefan

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Well during Fergie's reign we always had the best English players playing for us and in recent years the national side has been made up mostly of Spurs and City players so yeah I'm all for it with the caveat being they are the best. I have no problem with AWB, I don't even object to Maguire if the price is right but James (not English I know) and the likes of Longstaff? Remains to be seen.

Sancho would have been the dream this summer and one we should totally go for every window until he's ours (or gone elsewhere)
 

wolvored

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I think its a look back at the class of 92. bring in hungry players who will run through brick walls. Players who look up to the great Utd sides of the 90's-2000's, rather than foreigners looking for the big payday and no effort. Supplement them with some experienced players, then we can introduce our own youth gradually. Im all for it, as we have tried the alternative.
 

roonster09

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I don't agree with the approach, PL market is inflated and it's good to buy players from other leagues. Also on the other end it's good to sign young players who proved to be among the best in the league (like AWB or Sterling for City).

Also OP has left out all the links to non British players and also the contract extensions for non British player.

Barely any news on Maddison, Rice, Brooks and Sancho links died long back. On the other hand we are linked with Bruno Fernandes, Lo Celso, Ben Yedder and few others. We have given extension to Mata too and players like Rojo are taking hefty wages without even staying fit. Thees links don't fit the narrative, so left out from OP.
 

The Don

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I think it's smart, in a way, to have a lot of your players born in the country your club is based in. Half the battle of signing new players is adjusting to the country/culture/weather etc. More importantly adjusting to the style of football.
 

oz insomniac

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The strategy to sign British players, then adding top international players to round out the team does make sense.

What is an ongoing issue appears to be the customary lowballing of offers at the outset of negotiations , no wonder there seems to be long drawn out sagas in our efforts to build a team and some clubs moving the goalposts further away when hearing the starting point.

The club doesn't appear to be in the strongest position to do this currently, and it's easy to get fearful that we may sign some targets but not the big end of the market that Citeh seem to get on board , yes even when they were mid table and building.
 

friendlytramp

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We need to build a core and expand from there. No point just adding “star” players to a squad that isn’t good enough in the first place
 

Santos J

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AWB improves our first 11 but how exactly does James and Langstaff?
They're not meant to. We need fresh squad options too.

I don’t mind buying someone like James if we have bought 4 top class players but we haven’t.
Is the window shut?

Alderweireld is available at £25m. Surely that could have been wrapped up by now. That is unbelievably cheap for one of the best CB in the league. But no apparently we need a CM with 9 first team appearances for the same money.
Who says Alderweireld wants to join? Buying Longstaff wouldn't mean we're not buying a centre back.

And where was the clear out we were promised by Solskjaer?
Again, the window isn't shut and if we're getting rid of dead wood there's not going to be a que of buyers. Valencia is gone, we're obviously willing to listen to offers for Darmian & Rojo, Sanchez would be off if anyone would pay him.
 

Leftback99

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We've bought two players who on paper look reasonable signings regardless of where they are from. I don't see the issue.

There's still an obsession on here to buy the quick fix foreign signing despite recent evidence showing it rarely works for us.
 

Rista

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Buying English players makes sense from the homegrown quotas perspective. What I don't really get is the "we've tried the expensive foreigner route and it didn't work" line of thinking. How many clubs have had success without relying on proven foreigners lately? The best club in the country is basically a bunch of expensive superstars, not young players who developed at the club. Liverpool is also always used as an example but they identified the key areas they needed to improve and spent big. If we're buying young and British just for the sake of it, then it will get us nowhere. Guess we'll have to wait until the window closes and see.