Some fans just feel so god damn entitled on here these days. We managed to fill in two holes in January and we were never getting some world beaters mid-season realistically. I actually prefer a Premier League proven striker to finish the season, who's dream was to play for United, 'til we can find a long-term solution.
Now that's what I call a January window
- Thread starter Regulus Arcturus Black
- Start date
Amen brother.
I think Bruno is a huge signing for us even if it did take some time to complete. Ighalo is more of a need since we needed a backup striker so no qualms there even if I do not know anything about the player.
Overall it was a decent January window although things could have been done better (tying Bruno up earlier/searching for a striker earlier in the window).
Overall it was a decent January window although things could have been done better (tying Bruno up earlier/searching for a striker earlier in the window).
I'll be more positive after the coming summer if we end up with a balanced squad. Next summer will be Ole's 4th transfer window.
PS: A balanced squad, for me, is having 2 players for each position, including 2 right wingers.
It could had been worse but the whole transfer policy seems all over the place or at least it seems poorly done.
Yes I'd consider this as a good winter window. We have strengthen the area we need most:
no.10/midfielder -> from Lingard/Pereira to Bruno, its massive upgrade
forward -> well at least we have a decent backup now while Rashford is out, better than nothing. Its still Martial+Greenwood+James up front most of the time, but Ighalo could be decent standby from the bench, or squad rotation in less important games
no.10/midfielder -> from Lingard/Pereira to Bruno, its massive upgrade
forward -> well at least we have a decent backup now while Rashford is out, better than nothing. Its still Martial+Greenwood+James up front most of the time, but Ighalo could be decent standby from the bench, or squad rotation in less important games
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Good window for us. Cleared som deadwood, and got a most needed creative force in midtfield, and a backup striker.
I also believe, that we were close to getting Haaland. If he had come to Old Trafford to, instead of Dortmund, then I actually think we would have had, one of the best transferwindows in about a decade.
BUT it would, our injurycrisis in mention, had been nice to complete Bruno in primo January. But hey, you can’t get everything right.
I also believe, that we were close to getting Haaland. If he had come to Old Trafford to, instead of Dortmund, then I actually think we would have had, one of the best transferwindows in about a decade.
BUT it would, our injurycrisis in mention, had been nice to complete Bruno in primo January. But hey, you can’t get everything right.
Yes, but it's not a position that they needed. What they needed was a striker...
January is a difficult window, no one wants to lose a key player. So I'm more than happy that we gave ourselves a chance to be more competitive in 2020 with the addition of a player that should fill an immediate need and a serviceable backup upfront.
First off, Sporting's own president confirmed they turned down a similar offer from Spurs in the Summer so please stop repeating the nonsense that "it would have been cheaper", it clearly wouldn't and United clearly got themselves a very good deal there.
Secondly, the vast majority of reports claimed Sporting were demanding £55million plus add-ons (€65m), we paid €10m less and managed to include the CL qualification add-ons etc that Sporting apparently deemed unrealistic just 10 days or so ago.
Thirdly, it's a basic negotiating ploy to hold out as long as possible and show you are not prepared to sell unless the buyer pays the price so what would you all have the club do if Sporting simply refused to sell at anything less than 65m euros + add ons until this week? Do we just pay up whatever the selling clubs demands on 1st January? As another poster said yesterday, I think we too often consider that buying players is like going to costco, it's not, you are often trying to take other clubs best players from them and most will dig their heals in.
The final thing I'll say on it in response to el3mel claiming we weren't working on anything else. How on Earth do we know that after Haaland we didn't sound out our striker targets 2, 3, 4 & 5 and get completely rebuffed by either the player or clubs being unprepared to do anything mid-season? Which is why we then switched our attentions to getting Ole the loan deal striker he then demanded (fair play to him putting this pressure on them), and some credit must go to them for beating Spurs and Inter to his signature and securing that deal in the last minute to back their manager no?
At the end of the day, just be happy that in January, always a tough window for anyone, we managed to do the following and balance out the squad somewhat:
Fernandes CAM -> Ashley Young FB
Ighalo CF -> Marcus Rojo FB/CB
Yours truly,
Matthew Judge
It staggers me that any fan would say that this was a good transfer window.
I can only say that some people are very easy to please and/or their standards are extremely low.
Bruno, who should've been bought in the Summer, gets bought for at least the same amount (or more), in January, does not constitute a good transfer.
The fact that we've signed him now and not 5 months ago, is an indication of how much we are failing.
Had Bruno arrived last Summer, we'd almost certainly been in the top 4 today and THAT would've been a good transfer window.
Now, if we signed Lionel Messi....I'd be impressed.
I can only say that some people are very easy to please and/or their standards are extremely low.
Bruno, who should've been bought in the Summer, gets bought for at least the same amount (or more), in January, does not constitute a good transfer.
The fact that we've signed him now and not 5 months ago, is an indication of how much we are failing.
Had Bruno arrived last Summer, we'd almost certainly been in the top 4 today and THAT would've been a good transfer window.
Now, if we signed Lionel Messi....I'd be impressed.
Does anyone even bother to read the older posts in threads before wading in and offering their opinion, despite not being privy to all the relevant info?
It's like going to a gun fight and someone forgot the guns then all of a sudden finds a few knives. Yeah got to be happy in a way but we should have started in summer with a few Ak47's. We have an unproven lazy striker in Martial, a 17 year old kid and Iggy pop and we are all giddy. Wonder what would happen if they start handing out free lolly pops.
He wouldn't know what that is like being an Arse fan
It’s been a decent window for anyone with a shred of sense. The moaners always find something to cry about.
Just thinking if we had Rashford, Pogba and McTominay fit our squad is starting to take shape.
It’s like Liverpool losing Mane, Henderson and Fabinho or City losing Sterling, Fernandinho and Silva for the entire season.
On Monday morning if someone had said we'd sign a midfielder and a striker I'd have laughed. I hope we look back at the end of the season and call this window a big success.
So many words for such a shit post
Did well to get Bruno (in the end).
Loan signing is better than nothing and hope the guy does well.
Biggest concern is for a club that talks about doing ‘the right deals’, we bid nearly £30m for Josh King on deadline day.
Loan signing is better than nothing and hope the guy does well.
Biggest concern is for a club that talks about doing ‘the right deals’, we bid nearly £30m for Josh King on deadline day.
Good to get Bruno finally and Bishop for the future too. I’d have stuck with what we have striker wise - you were never going to get anyone decent in January to be fair and we haven’t . I just don’t rate Ighalo, sorry. Bang average.
Yep, we got rid of Young, a player who gave everything for us, just he was past his sell by date. If only the rest of them had have played with his effort for those last few games of last season. Glad Rojo is gone too.
The low: Ighalo and Ole saying Sanchez will come back.
A reasonable January window.
Yep, we got rid of Young, a player who gave everything for us, just he was past his sell by date. If only the rest of them had have played with his effort for those last few games of last season. Glad Rojo is gone too.
The low: Ighalo and Ole saying Sanchez will come back.
A reasonable January window.
Reliable reports were changing to say it was actually a loan deal proposed, and Bournemouth refused it.
Some fans see this window as a success, with Ighalo only a six months loan stand in.
In six months time it will be a year after we sold Rom, loaned Sanchez and ran our remaining forwards into the ground leaving them with severe injuries and exhaustion, and the ongoing mystery of Pogba.
This window is only a delay to facing the inevitable of having to buy several top players to compete for honours.
For a club of our size and ambition this ‘make do‘ strategy and a lightweight squad will lead nowhere.
In six months time it will be a year after we sold Rom, loaned Sanchez and ran our remaining forwards into the ground leaving them with severe injuries and exhaustion, and the ongoing mystery of Pogba.
This window is only a delay to facing the inevitable of having to buy several top players to compete for honours.
For a club of our size and ambition this ‘make do‘ strategy and a lightweight squad will lead nowhere.
So youd have preferred us to buy who in January?
Larsson, Scholes and Blanc all say hi, from a club our size.
Both insightful and articulate. You should really post more. Great post. Would read again.
If you told me at the start of January we’d sign Fernandes and a covering striker I’d have been incredibly impressed
Good business especially considering our rivals failed to strengthen and I am a bit more optimistic about our season
Next window a few more like last year and we should become a really dangerous side. As we are now with Pogba McTominay and Bruno fit we already have a great midfield on paper.
Good business especially considering our rivals failed to strengthen and I am a bit more optimistic about our season
Next window a few more like last year and we should become a really dangerous side. As we are now with Pogba McTominay and Bruno fit we already have a great midfield on paper.
Were they available this window?
Happy to be proven wrong but we didn't do enough to make top4. Before January it was clear what we needed to make top 4 was creativity. Rashford got injured and we stopped scoring well enough. So what we really needed this January for top 4 challenge was creativity and goals. We signed Bruno for creativity. Ighalo on the other hand I don't think will bring us goals. Unless Martial steps up and starts scoring well enough we won't make top 4.
I would have preferred an immediate replacement strategy for the players we released in the summer.
Wasn’t it after the defeat at Everton that Ole told us better players were lining up to join us?
He is also 38.
Nope, but they were all stop gaps once upon a time and they served a purpose, Giggs played until he was 38 also.
You can't always sign the players you want so you have to make do until the players you want are available. This 'just go out and get them' attitude is tiresome and boring now.
I'm satisfied with this window. Two unwanted players out and two needed players in which is fantastic. Ole really has done a great job of shifting the deadwood, 1 or 2 more to go mind you, hopefully in the summer.
I feel what we are really missing now is someone like Zaha or Sane I.e. pacy, strong wide player who can create chances, I like James but he is limited so hopefully we can address that weakness in the summer.
Really hope Ighalo can score even 6 or 7 goals between now and the end of the season, he adds a great bit of depth to the squad, very shrewd piece of business I think. He is a united fan and will be desperate to prove himself, he will be hero worshiped in Nigeria if he does well here.
I feel what we are really missing now is someone like Zaha or Sane I.e. pacy, strong wide player who can create chances, I like James but he is limited so hopefully we can address that weakness in the summer.
Really hope Ighalo can score even 6 or 7 goals between now and the end of the season, he adds a great bit of depth to the squad, very shrewd piece of business I think. He is a united fan and will be desperate to prove himself, he will be hero worshiped in Nigeria if he does well here.
If I recall they were stop gaps in already reasonably large Fergie squads.
Ole released forwards in the summer and bought more defenders. We heaped pressure on the existing forwards and bought James. The outcome by January was a side that struggled at home against Burnley and floundered against the Scouses.
Make no mistake Ighalo is not a stop gap, this is a serious gamble to keep up.
I hope for Ole’s sake it comes off but the performances so far show a lightweight young squad seriously close to burn out with increasingly indifferent performances.
@Regulus Arcturus Black good OP. I’m happy. Plugged gaping holes, shifted more deadwood. Couldn’t get much better, if any better, quality in January anyway.
Save your breath mate.
You’ve made a valid point but the mindset of this forum is, if you see something different you’re ‘wrong’ - the narrative of this thread was set in the OP.
Anything other than praise/happiness to settle is asking ‘too much’/‘moaning’.
Signing Bruno in the usual end of deadline saga appeases some where as it doesn’t appease others; don’t see why that actually is never discussed with discounting the other side.
Lots to moan about in truth if we're actually being objective but in the context of our own incompetence I'm actually really happy with the window.
Lets hope Bruno can get us fourth, we thank Ole for his time and then set a new chapter with no excuses and less manager devotees acting the top red
Lets hope Bruno can get us fourth, we thank Ole for his time and then set a new chapter with no excuses and less manager devotees acting the top red
I hope Ighalo does well and we definitely needed to try and get a goalscorer so I don't think it's a bad move.
Is anyone else though now completely baffled as to why we passed up signing Haaland because he wanted a release clause, and then instead get another striker in on loan? How is that better?
Also if it's to cover Rashford being injured, why have we waited until deadline hour on deadline day to sign someone who won't immediately be able to travel here? Rashford got injured weeks ago. I get these things take time but if it's urgent it's urgent. Surely we could have sorted this in time for him to have played today?
Is anyone else though now completely baffled as to why we passed up signing Haaland because he wanted a release clause, and then instead get another striker in on loan? How is that better?
Also if it's to cover Rashford being injured, why have we waited until deadline hour on deadline day to sign someone who won't immediately be able to travel here? Rashford got injured weeks ago. I get these things take time but if it's urgent it's urgent. Surely we could have sorted this in time for him to have played today?
extremely biased post.
we got Bruno for less than Sporting were asking, and as far as I can see they wanted the same amount in the summer as now.
Ref Rojo and Young leaving - it’s OGS not throwing players under the bus whilst we are in the process of selling them. There’s always a good chance that a transfer won’t go through, and if these two didn’t them he didn’t want to have demotivated players on the squad.
many of your negatives are based on rumours, which by their very nature are unsubstantiated.
we have moved on two older players on big wages, one perm, and the other to put on the shop window (and we’ve been trying to ship off Rojo for 5 years).
Bought in a promising player in a key position we needed, brought in a short term striker for very little money and are paying only 1/3 of his wages. Cavani would have cost circa £65m for his transfer fee and wages.
good transfer window. To expect more is completely unrealistic.
Because the club would have been foolish to sign any player that could prized off us for only £50 million two years later. Ironically, I’d envisage that somebody like you would be the first to complain about such a brain dead strategy, if one of the (would-be) best strikers in the Premier League were to be snapped off us due to a “desperate” decision made two years prior. If not you, then somebody else will make that argument, and they’d be right to do so.
It also sets a terrible precedent. Dortmund are fine with it; we’re not.
It’s also possible that the lad just didn’t fancy playing for United at this moment in time, which is also fine.