Saul Niguez

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UNITED ACADEMY

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I agree to an extent that there's more to a player than stats and I have seen the player bits and pieces in the past but at the same time stats provide hard evidence beyond style which is largely a matter of taste, of what a player actually contributed in factual output. In Saul's case 4 goals and just one assist in the league. About 45 passes a match. That's not great by any standards. 2.5 tackles a game is pretty good but not special. I've not seen his running stats but obviously the way athletico play you'd expect him to be a busy player but that's not a special or remarkable attribute. I'm just not seeing how this player improves us more than a lot of the players a fraction of the price.
He’s more of a CM than AM, I don’t like how you mentioned goals & assists like it’s necessary to mention them for CM. 2.5 tackles basically the same as Herrera.

Saúl is more of a mix Pogba & Herrera, he has Herrera’s defending ability & working hard attitude but also Pogba’s skills, dribbling & offer good aerial duel despite he doesn’t look like Fellaini. He has attitude of bringing the ball forward instead of playing too much safe. He’s not those player like Scholes & Xavi with great vision & passing ability, he’s more of a Klopp type of midfielder than Pep.

Losing Herrera & Pogba are big loss and this guy can do both players ability. Him & another signing in creative AM, we basically upgrade our midfield to top 4 midfield quality contender.

Although, can’t see us signing this guy.
 

Fer

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Can he play in a midfield of 2? And how much he would cost?
 

Kidders

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Saul & Bruno could be good for us in midfield, and they should be available for the Pogba money, we would still need a Matic upgrade, and I still can't get my head round not trying for Rodri !
 

w1thout

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He basically risked his life for 2years, playing for Atletico with a kidney problem.
He pissed blood for the whole period just so he can wear their shirt.

No way he's leaving.
 

jesperjaap

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He basically risked his life for 2years, playing for Atletico with a kidney problem.
He pissed blood for the whole period just so he can wear their shirt.

No way he's leaving.
Yeah, these rumours just kind of remind me of a few years back when we got heavily linked with Koke. Both kind of ideal players for what we needed in both periods....both absolute nonstarters in my opinion, not happening
 

#07

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Saul is a brilliant player. However, have we done due diligence here? Like other posters have said Saul is a loyal lad. Are we sure there's interest? Even if Atleti decides to cash in is Saul going to be cool with that? We used to do extensive background checks on players, making sure they had the character and desire to play for United. To my knowledge Saul has never implied he wanted to leave Atleti or La Liga. On paper this sounds a great deal. Yet is he going to end up being another guy wanting out within a year if we can make it happen..?
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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Saul is a brilliant player. However, have we done due diligence here? Like other posters have said Saul is a loyal lad. Are we sure there's interest? Even if Atleti decides to cash in is Saul going to be cool with that? We used to do extensive background checks on players, making sure they had the character and desire to play for United. To my knowledge Saul has never implied he wanted to leave Atleti or La Liga. On paper this sounds a great deal. Yet is he going to end up being another guy wanting out within a year if we can make it happen..?
I'm sure he is on the radar and has been scouted heavily. The name kept coming up over the last three transfer windows even back when we bought Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger and it can't all be coincidence.
 

dasty

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This guy signed a 9 year contract with Atletico. Imagine reading rumours about clubs trying to sign Paul Scholes from us 15 years ago. That's probably what this sounds like to other fans.
 

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Signs probably the longest contract in football history, constantly gushes about Atletico, shot down Barca when they were interested. Cant see him wanting a move out of Spain at all.
 

Godfather

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Another one we get linked to every other summer. Not going to happen in a million years.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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His clause is really interesting, 40% is owned by QSI. So if we bid £135m (which is his clause) and if Saúl says no but QSI says yes then ATL Madrid will be forced to pay the 40% to buy the player in place of United. Paying £54m for nothing just to keep the player or tell the player he needs to leave and take the £81m. United should piss them off try to pay his release clause and we will see what happen.
 

Andersons Dietician

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We’ve been linked with this guy since the Moyes days. He even sent Phil to go watch him at Rayo but I can’t see him leaving now and the papers are pushing it as a Pogba replacement which if anything he should have been a guy we were buying with Ndombele to play with Pogba.
If it comes off brilliant as he is just one of those players that makes everything else around him work and as such he’ll probably be under appreciated by many but would love it if we got him.
 

prateik

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His clause is really interesting, 40% is owned by QSI. So if we bid £135m (which is his clause) and if Saúl says no but QSI says yes then ATL Madrid will be forced to pay the 40% to buy the player in place of United. Paying £54m for nothing just to keep the player or tell the player he needs to leave and take the £81m. United should piss them off try to pay his release clause and we will see what happen.
Why? What a dickish thing to do.

If the player wants to move, there is a clause. If he doesnt, what do we gain by pissing a spanish club off? Or getting a player who has been forced to leave and doesnt want to move.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Why? What a dickish thing to do.

If the player wants to move, there is a clause. If he doesnt, what do we gain by pissing a spanish club off? Or getting a player who has been forced to leave and doesnt want to move.
It’s not if we want the player. He’s quality, we need Saúl type of player, and he’s definitely in a profile of how Ole wants from his midfield. Of course atl madrid will be forced to sell rather than paying £54m for nothing.

Every contract has a risk & this is the risk that they took & we should use it as our advantage. This is not some kind of buddy nice business anymore.
 

Lennon7

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His clause is really interesting, 40% is owned by QSI. So if we bid £135m (which is his clause) and if Saúl says no but QSI says yes then ATL Madrid will be forced to pay the 40% to buy the player in place of United. Paying £54m for nothing just to keep the player or tell the player he needs to leave and take the £81m. United should piss them off try to pay his release clause and we will see what happen.
Why would you want another player who doesn’t want to play for us?
 

kirk buttercup

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Not a chance of this happening,this would be such a good signing. More likely to get SMS and Bruno and or Longstaff
 

Lennon7

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Are you implementing that if Saúl leaves he is not a type of player who won’t give 100% to the club he plays for?
I’m implying that we shouldn’t keep buying players that would rather not play for us. We have a track record of this not working, and it’s likely the biggest reason we have very little to show for the amount of money we’ve spent.

Saúl would be a great signing, but how on earth can you expect him to play with passion and love the club if we coax him over through legal loopholes? Not a good idea.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I’m implying that we shouldn’t keep buying players that would rather not play for us. We have a track record of this not working, and it’s likely the biggest reason we have very little to show for the amount of money we’ve spent.

Saúl would be a great signing, but how on earth can you expect him to play with passion and love the club if we coax him over through legal loopholes? Not a good idea.
You can’t be implementing it that way. Saúl doesn’t want to join us because he wants to stay with ATL Madrid more of his boyhood club. But doesn’t mean he doesn’t play with passion & give 100% if he is forced by the club to join us. Let’s take an example of Beckham. He didn’t want to leave United, we forced him to leave by selling him & he still gave 100% to Real.
 

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This guy signed a 9 year contract with Atletico. Imagine reading rumours about clubs trying to sign Paul Scholes from us 15 years ago. That's probably what this sounds like to other fans.
Good comparison. as much as I would like to see this happening, I think if player is willing to sign a contract that long it is sending out a message that they want to stay at club for a long time. Although strange things happen in football.
 

Lennon7

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You can’t be implementing it that way. Saúl doesn’t want to join us because he wants to stay with ATL Madrid more of his boyhood club. But doesn’t mean he doesn’t play with passion & give 100% if he is forced by the club to join us. Let’s take an example of Beckham. He didn’t want to leave United, we forced him to leave by selling him & he still gave 100% to Real.
Beckham being told to leave due to how Fergie, the manager, saw his attitude is completely different to forcing a player to leave because the money is too good to turn down. If Saúl really wants to stay at Atlético then I don’t want United to be the bad guys and prize him away with more money. We’ve done it before and it didn’t work.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Beckham being told to leave due to how Fergie, the manager, saw his attitude is completely different to forcing a player to leave because the money is too good to turn down. If Saúl really wants to stay at Atlético then I don’t want United to be the bad guys and prize him away with more money. We’ve done it before and it didn’t work.
Too good to be turned down? :lol: That was a peanut for the caliber of Beckham. Buffon & Zidane were more expensive.

The point is that if player is forced to leave then the player will leave doesn’t mean the player won’t give 100%. Saúl only want to stay because he loyal to atl Madrid.

So initial issue was you were worry about him not giving 100% & now your issue is you don’t want us be the bad guys.

Not sure how is that called bad guys, we need the player & atl madrid gets the money for the deal. It’s not like we are spending £135m for a player that we don’t need so we can take the player away and bench him. He’s perfect fit for Ole’s midfield’s profile. Not our problem that they are making such a deal in player’s contract.
 

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Ok, conspiracy theory. Saul isn't leaving, but Mendes & co want to cash in. Meanwhile, DDG holds out on signing a contract, but suddenly he's ready to sign an improved offer. Sounds like the price for DDG was for Utd to make an offer to AM to force them to pay Mendes. Or is there another Mendes involved as an agent?
 

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I'd love him at Utd but I just can't see it happening. Most likely Pogba leaving coincides with Saul wanting an improved contract or something like that.
 

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I'd love him at Utd but I just can't see it happening. Most likely Pogba leaving coincides with Saul wanting an improved contract or something like that.
If this is Saul trying to negotiate a new contract it would be interesting to see how long it is for as he will be 31 when this one expires.
 

Mr Smith

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Ok, conspiracy theory. Saul isn't leaving, but Mendes & co want to cash in. Meanwhile, DDG holds out on signing a contract, but suddenly he's ready to sign an improved offer. Sounds like the price for DDG was for Utd to make an offer to AM to force them to pay Mendes. Or is there another Mendes involved as an agent?
Wow, that is some conspiracy theory. Not entirely unbelievable either.

Here's a more optimistic (wishful thinking) one: De Gea wants to keep a Spanish contingent in the squad in order to stay; United make an approach for Saul; De Gea renews his deal :wenger:
 

youmeletsfly

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This won't happen, especially as 40% of his contract is owned by Mendes/Kenyon. I mean Atletico would want at least 70-80 mil profit, that would make us pay about 130-140 mil on him. (we won't get 140 for Pogba ffs)
 
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