So a second striker instead of this holding midfielder ?
Sean Longstaff
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Some just like to see themselves as scouts and talk up young talent giving in depth (empty) analysis even if they've only watched a few games. Something that's occurring on here with increasing frequency.
Yes. I don’t subscribe to this group of fans that have a particular view on football execs, not beyond the obvious anyway.
I have no reason to doubt that Ed Woodward wants to support his manager to strengthen his squad. That doesn’t mean we will get Longstaff. If Woodward ‘fails’ to get Longstaff because Newcastle maintain that they will only accept a fee above what we have agreed to go to as a club, then perhaps, another exec could possibly get the deal done if they just gave Newcastle any amount of money they ask for. I don’t believe that is a Woodward problem per se, I don’t think another exec becomes a ‘better’ exec because they just go around offering any ridiculous fee that a club asks for their player. Under Woodward, we have shown, on many occasions, that we will pay a lot of money, including more money than ever paid for a footballer, if we feel the player is worth it.
In my honest opinion, I think there’s a disappointing faction of posters on the caf that don’t appear to think and really ask themselves why they are mad at Ed at times. Saying you have ‘no faith in Woodward’ to get a deal done, what does that mean? I think he will go into talks wanting to get the player for his manager, and on many occasion, has done. If Newcastle are willing to compromise a bit and be reasonable, I expect Woodward, or any executive we could have instead of him, to get Longstaff. If they are not, then I suspect that he, or any other exec, will not. Nobody will sign a player if their club demands more than we are willing to pay.
I think ultimately, it comes down to wanting us to sign ‘all the players’ and win ‘all the trophies’. Anything less, in this current climate, leaves the board open to criticism, some fair, some not no much. No matter how many Christmas presents Woodward delivers, how much money we spend, every one of them is quickly forgotten, and he will go back to being ‘clueless in the market’ until we are again a good enough football team for the most intricate detail of our negotiations to not be a news or forum topic, just as nobody gave a shite under Gill, or just as the person/s who fail/succeed to get deals done at say Liverpool or City are irrelevant, non-celebrity execs.
It’s not beyond Woodward to sign Longstaff of course. He’s signed Mata from a rival, at a time where they were actively trying to buy our star player in return, he’s signed Sanchez from a rival, he’s signed Lukaku from a PL ‘rival’, and ahead of a PL trophy rival. Schneiderlin, Shaw etc. If anyone thinks about it rationally, I believe it is utterly baseless to just say ‘I don’t trust Woody to get it done’, or more likely, emotional venting from a lot of fans that allow consensus to do their thinking for them.
Much longer answer than you expected but I am a fan of detail and was on a roll!
If Ole is convinced he's the right player I can see us eventually paying what it takes. Ole's comments today suggest he's identified the players he wants and is focused on getting them and not just moving on to alternative targets to boost numbers.
Can someone summarize @Rozay post
I think Maguire is the only player we're actively trying to sign now. It's only a couple of weeks until the window closes.
Someone would have to read it first and who has the time?
Good point
Unfortunately the days of us buying the right players in the right positions look to be long gone.
I totally agree with what you are saying about James & Longstaff,does seem a complete shambles they haven't prioritised signing first teamers rather than potential ones.
Targets could have been so much better if we hadn't completely gassed out in April & May due to the squad not being fit enough to play 90+ mins.
its what ive been thinking. cant we demand the player submit a transfer request?
Not sure if I would have been satisfied with this if you asked me back in June, but would be more than happy enough with now.
Hopefully the person it was written to, but thanks.
Criticism of Woodward is not a result of his (perceived) incompetance but tather a consequence of fan impatience and expectations being too high.
Expectations being too high? It is Manchester United, not Peterborough United. There could be only one expectation: trophies and challenging in all competitions
I’m not convinced that this is a deal that makes sense for us.
It seems a lot of money for someone we don’t even feel would start for us. We’ve got another £50m asset in Fred that will get another chance and also Garner coming through. I’d be shocked if Longstaff is a serious target.
It seems a lot of money for someone we don’t even feel would start for us. We’ve got another £50m asset in Fred that will get another chance and also Garner coming through. I’d be shocked if Longstaff is a serious target.
Look at our league positions and Transfer success rate since he took over as ceo.Just look at Real Madrid and Barcelona rebuilding job in contrast.
Excellent post. Perhaps I'm just of an older generation, but the want it, and want it now crowd are very vocal on here. We have to accept that there are limits that the club will go to. If teams are asking for stupid moneys for players we're interested in, what are we supposed to do? Just bend over and pay whatever? Woodward is in a no win situation. Pay the money and he's clueless at negotiations. Don't pay the money, we're unambitious and he's just lining the Glazers (generally spelt Glaziers with added drool from the side of the mouth) pockets.
Real Madrid have mortgaged themselves to the hilt and are now desperate to get rid of players. Don't be surprised to see them offering bargain bucket prices at the end of the window just to reduce their massive wage bill.
Just look at Real Madrid and Barcelona rebuilding job in contrast.
Barca have done lots of window dressing without addressing their leaky defence. How the hell are they going to keep all those egos happy, especially if they get Neymar.
City have signed one player, Arsenal no one, Chelsea one player, Liverpool no one, Spurs one player. Honestly the spoilt brats on here are getting me down.
Really? Then why does it takes over 4 weeks?
Didn't Barcelona recently spend close to £340mill for Coutinho, Dembele, Paulinho and Malcolm ? Yeah, proper mint.
Just look at Real Madrid and Barcelona rebuilding job in contrast.
This is really annoying on here and various other forums twitter etc.
"From, what I've seen of him he's a pivot midfielder who can play in a 3 or 4, I don't think he's suited................blah blah!
feck off.
I was summarising someone else's post (per the post I quoted) not stating my own views.
Just look at Real Madrid and Barcelona rebuilding job in contrast.
I mean that's just ignoring the context completely innit? City and Liverpool are both coming off of great seasons, Spurs generally don't have as much money as United, Chelsea have a transfer ban and Arsenal have been an example of a badly run club for years. We finished sixth last season an lost an important first team player. We have the money and we clearly need an investment. Complaining over the lack of signings, considering our situation, is completely fecking reasonable.
I cant believe this story is still going. I think there is more chance of us getting Neymar. At least he is available. Seriously why would they sell? They would alienate there already pissed off fans, lose their best local young talent and not be able to replace him with anyone decent for that money. He also doesn't want to leave. He is Newcastle through and through. If we thew 50/60 mill at them then maybe but who would be mad enough to pay that. Wan B was hard enough but he wanted to leave. No club these days has to sell their best talent.
Our rivals lack of business is a stark reminder of how little work they need to do, and how much of a hole we're in.
Exactly. City and Liverpool don't need major investment Spurs already have a strong side that requires just a few tweaks here and there. Chelsea have actually signed 2 players (Pulisic and Kovacic) and are implementing a youth strategy so they're a bit of a wild card. Arsenal are on the verge of getting Ceballos on loan among other cheap signings which is still going to improve them (not by much).
Meanwhile we've signed 1 guaranteed starter and have lost 1 guaranteed starter. We're in a position to truly strengthen our team and cement top 4 but we're dilly-dallying as usual. 2 weeks left ffs.
None of them finished 6th and is out of champions league football for 4 seasons out of 6 years and got eliminated in group stage or last 16.
Barcelona just won the La liga again, so their defense is not urgent for them to address and this argument is non sense.
Real have replaced the deadwood already and are in a position to sell deadwood without their season being on the verge of finishing outside ucl spots.
Our team will finish 8th below Everton and wolves with what we have in our squad , their is every chance of that with absolute pathetic state of our midfield.
Excuses excuses and excuses for an incompetent clown, nothing else. If he knew Newcastle is not ready to part with their midfielder than he should have not waited so long and handed competitive advantage for the likes of Tottenham getting ndombele.
We will act like a total clueless idiot in the transfer market and plant roots of finishing below Everton and wolves but we won't address the midfield as the the prices being asked out of our own total sheer incompetence in the market is way beyond our range.
Laughable strategy and execution.
Why? Why is their lack of activity a symbol that they're getting it right, and we're not? I don't understand that viewpoint. If we're using inactivity as a sign of a badly run club, surely it cuts both ways?
Sorry but thats rubbish. Arsenal and Spurs have had exactly that scenario. Why are they suddenly so much better than us? Whilst I agree that it would be great to get a couple of players in, I don't subscribe to this idea that the whole club is utterly clueless, an embarrassment, a shambles. I think we're trying to get the players in that the manager and scouts want. Not the players that the internet warriors want. So this idea that because we're such a useless club Spurs stole Ndombele from us is crazy. When were we ever in for him? Was he ever on our list? You and others have decided that since Spurs have signed him that he's going to be brilliant. They're just as likely to have signed a dud as we have in the past. He could be their own £50m Fred. Or £40m Bakayoko.
I'm not making excuses for anyone. I'm just saying that I don't like spoilt kids throwing their toys out of their prams cos they're not getting what they want now, now NOW!
Thanks for such a thorough reply. This is a post which I 100% respect. I believe that Ed Woodward cares more about making money for the club than he does about the results on the pitch, I take this from the quote "Playing performance doesn't really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business."
I agree with the point of not paying stupid money, if we agreed a fee of e.g £25m, then suddenly the selling club decided they want to change the fee to £50 million later just because they think we will pay it will bite us in the long term as every team would think that they could do us and that could effect us.
If we have a certain budget which I don't have a clue could be and clubs started demanding stupid fees above the valuation I think this could effect the amount of players we are able to purchase as if we wanted 3 players which were valued at £50 then each club said they wanted an extra £20m per player that would mean if agree to their demands we would be £60m down, thus preventing us from using that money to buy another player. I do realise that if another exec paid whatever the extra fee the selling club wanted would make them look like a better CEO in some fans eyes as he has got us the players that we wanted.
Regarding the point in bold, I know we have spent a lot of money under Woodward and I think a lot of has been wasted, due to this happening I think he feels we got conned and is reluctant to pay certain fees as he doesn't want to get bitten again and end up wasting millions like has happened before.
I believe that Woody has so much faith in his own knowledge that he is unwilling to take advice from people who know more about football than him, this is why I feel that we should have got a DoF in a long time ago and we wouldn't be in this situation. If we had a DoF in, I believe that some peoples opinion of Woodward change and he wouldn't get as much stick as he is getting now.
I think it is unrealistic for us to want all the players now and win all the trophies as this is a rebuilding process and I realise that it is going to take more than one summer transfer, although I would like few more players in so that we don'f fall further behind the big teams. I think we should keep on building and get the necessary signings and hope that each one is successful and as long as this keeps on progressing steadily, I think we will be in a position to compete for the League in the 22/23 season, which might not be to some fans liking but I think we have to have patience and faith in Ole that the job is going to get done satisfactorily.
I don't think that Woody is very good in the market and the reason I have no faith in him is that I believe that the only selling point he has is offering wages that not many other clubs are willing to pay. I believe he should try to sell the project to the player. As of the moment we are in a mess and without Champions League football, this is a major obstacle in signing players. I think Woody should try to convince a player that by coming here now by getting them to accept the challenge of trying to make us great again and that player could go down in our history as has having a significant participation in doing so and having the chance of becoming a legend here for providing a vital contribution in making us great again.
I agree with your point of us getting players from rivals but I think a lot of that is down to offering obscene wages like I mentioned above. I don't agree with us just working on one transfer at a time as think that is going to affect us which seems to be the case at the moment may leave it too late in the transfer window to complete the deal or if the deal doesn't work out should we choose to go for an alternative we will be quoted higher prices due to to the selling team knowing we are becoming desperate at that point, which I think is a fault of Woody.
He may feel that the squad is already good enough for top 4, which I feel it currently is not and this could be the reason why we are taking so long on these supposed transfers as when they don't happen he can say something like "well we tried but negotiations took too long, so we were unable to sign player x" so that he doesn't look bad in the eyes of the fans and makes it look as if we are actually trying to sign players we are not.
I personally don't think that Woody is going to to pull this off due to pace we have been working at the moment in the market, he might surprise me which I really hope he does.
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I think thay Woody belives his opinion counts more than Ole's in which players we should sign and which areas of the squad need fixing, He may believe we are good enough for top 4 which is a reason I see this transfer may not happen. But I hope he surprises me. I agree with your point in bold as that could mean those players becoming deadwood on stupid wages which we will find hard to shift.
I thought we had until end of August!!! we literally have 2 weeks today
What it means is that City, Liverpool & Spurs got their plans and strategies right, and have implemented them over the past few seasons.
Those clubs are now in a strong position where its difficult to think of where they need to improve their team, hence, they don't really need a flurry of new signings this window, just a tweak here and there.
So in their case, inactivity is a sign that they got previous windows correct.
United in contrast are woeful, everyone knows that we need at least 5 new players in our first XI, and that's not even taking into account the inconsistency of Pogba & Martial etc...or that fact that Pogba has publicly declared that he wants to leave.
So United needed a very busy transfer window of rebuilding, because you just cannot start football matches with the likes of Young, Jones, Matic etc and have any hope of being successful.
It's no secret that we needed a RB, CB, 2 MFs and a RW, the transfer window has been open since May, and so far we have got one first XI signing..!
We don't seem to have any credible links with MFs or a RW, and the only CB that we seem to be focused on is Maguire, and even that feels like it's just smoke & mirrors.
So in United's case, inactivity is a sign that the club are either incompetent, lack ambition and vision, or just have no money to spend..
But that's not the case. Tottenham have won precisely feck all in, for ever, and have a massive uncertainty over their best creative midfielder who wants to leave. I can't believe that if you were to ask the fans of that club that they would say that there is nowhere to improve the side.
Even City have some uncertainties. They're not as good in central defence as they were and one of their best wingers is potentially agitating to go to Bayern.
Look I don't disagree that we need more players, and I also hoped for at least 1 CM, a CB and a RW, but if we can't get the players that we want, what the hell are we supposed to do. Just buy anyone that plays those positions? I simply don't agree with this narrative that we are utterly incompetent. It's overly negative and defeatist.
Think the frustration mostly comes from the fact the majority of Utd fans only knew Ferguson. & the monster club that Fergie built should be at the level of Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Juventus, City. Thats undeniable when you look at the money we make and the wages paid.
We are not fulfilling our potential. Most of the PL top 6 are. At least City & Liverpool who are our major rivals.
When you look at Juventus for example, how well they are run, how we have a massive advantage with PL money compared to Serie A TV money yet they're far better than us. They're known for being brilliant in the transfer market. Whats our reputation in the market? When was the last time we had a genuine successful buy, like they have with a Pirlo, Pogba, Vidal, Dybala etc.
Trying to keep things more on topic, one thing I do have sympathy for us on, is that Longstaff would be easy to buy for a Juventus or Bayern. Their domestic rivals sell to them all the time while Newcastle want to fleece us. Thats the PL. But then no one is forcing us to buy from a PL club.
I'm aware it might not be enough but my main point was that 1 DM and 1 CM would be a greater difference than 1 Harry Maguire. I don't expect us to sell 5+ players and sign another 5 with 14 days to go. I am just trying to be realistic about our situation and how we can make the best of it. And imo 2 midfielders gives us a better chance of getting back into the top 4.
We have more time to sell players - transfer window closes later in other countries, and we may sell players to them.
Because at football clubs everywhere the manager always gets who they want, right? If that was the case why didn't we sell Martial for Willian and signed Eric Dier?
We have we been linked with Bruno for months for Utd to rubbish the claim only now. The club were fine with all the speculation but felt like rubbishing it with 14 days to go. It is not as simple as just saying get who the manager wants. Age, contract, fee and wages. Many factors that go into signing players.
This isn't career mode. You need to look at how our club operates. Ole was talking about some players not being here at the end of the season. - Who's left? Hardly anyone. All the so called deadwood is still here. We've only signed 2 players. We sold Fellaini and Herrera left on a free.
Teams are looking much stronger than Man Utd in midfield, I'm not convinced Longstaff is ready for such a step up with only nine games under his belt.
Wolves. Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker
Leicester: Ndidi, Maddison and Tielemans
Everton:André Gomes, Sigurðsson
Spurs: Winks, Ndombele, Lo Celso* (Potentially)
Chelsea: Kante, Loftus-Cheek, Barkley.
It looks like we have a sell before we buy approach imo. Lukaku seems like a deal that should happen but that is stalling. I just hope we don't sell Pogba last minute. Leave ourselves even shorter. Lose him and we are probably finishing 10th.
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