Players you're glad we didn't sign

Falcow

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Messages
1,338
Location
Dublin
And Yes Sancho, hugely overrated by CAF and overpriced by Dortmund.
This.

£108m for the guy with sleeping issues in the middle of a global economic meltdown. So glad we didnt.

The meltdown in here over not signing him was almost as bad as the aforementioned economic meltdown.

Fabregas also was another one I was glad we didnt sign at any point. Wanted Bale first two times but not the second two or three times.
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,203
Going by Havertz and Werner we have dodged a serious bullet by not getting Sancho.
Bale
Dybala
Boateng
 

Pavl3n

Full Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2015
Messages
1,899
Me too. Not because he's been bad this season, but because the price tag would've put enormous pressure on him and he would've received endless criticism on here, online and on tv from all the pundits.
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,203
What's he got to do with them? Playing in the same country?
Among other things like the money Dortmund wanted for him and his reported behaviour in general.
I do not need to go back and look at older posts but there was plenty of posters on here creaming their pants about the window Chelsea had in the summer with the acquisition of the mentioned players and they were excelling in the same league that Sancho was so that is pretty obvious. There are a lot of players who simply do not take their club form to their new club and that is why we should never have entertained the idea in the first place when we were quoted that ridiculous price.
 

SAFMUTD

New Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2018
Messages
11,787
Nabil Fekir, I must admit I was between the ones that thought he was going to be a great player with his skills and leadership. I my mind he was going to be everything Bruno is.

Gladly I dont run our transfers.
 

mu4c_20le

Full Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
42,729
Among other things like the money Dortmund wanted for him and his reported behaviour in general.
I do not need to go back and look at older posts but there was plenty of posters on here creaming their pants about the window Chelsea had in the summer with the acquisition of the mentioned players and they were excelling in the same league that Sancho was so that is pretty obvious. There are a lot of players who simply do not take their club form to their new club and that is why we should never have entertained the idea in the first place when we were quoted that ridiculous price.
If it were up to you we'd never sign Bruno
 

lsd

The Oracle
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
10,784
Sancho
Haaland
Rice
Longstaff
Trippier
Kane
 

Tallis

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2020
Messages
982
Sancho
Haaland
Rice
Longstaff
Trippier
Kane
Haaland seems like a jerk the way he behaves in interviews etc and has the ultimate douche agent but I can’t deny that he is going to achieve big things in his career and whoever signs him will have a great chance of winning trophies.
 

united for life

Full Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
2,226
Longstaff. He’s just overrated. Actually was overrated. Now everyone knows he’s average
 

Chief123

Full Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
12,789
Adama Traore. He is more hype than anything. On his day he’s very dangerous. Unfortunately his day comes once a year.
 

lex talionis

Full Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
13,615
Longstaff is a great shout. We were heavily linked with him for more than a month I believe. And I don’t think he’s even average.
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,203
If it were up to you we'd never sign Bruno
I was happy with the price we eventually signed him for.
If it was up to you we would pay any price that a club quotes us for their players and we would get rinsed every six months.
 

Gazza

Full Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2000
Messages
32,644
Location
'tis a silly place
I wanted us to sign W Sneijder and was pissed off when we didn’t. He pretty much fell off a cliff for Inter and chased money at Fenerbache after we didn’t sign him.
 

pav1790

Full Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2015
Messages
375
Location
San Diego
I think Shearer was the biggest missed opportunity in all the years I’ve been watching United. Twat or not he would have been incredible for us.

I‘d go for Dybala in recent transfers as it would have likely blocked Bruno coming in and was destined to be an epic failure. He’d have been on the disgruntled step with his buddy Pogba in no time.
Gave us the line for the best chant I’ve had the pleasure of hearing in a game, second only to white pele chant on Rooney.
 
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
13,122
I cant fathom people here naming Sancho.
in 5 years time when he’s playing for Southampton, we can revaluate. :D

Sancho was SO hyped, and we all got giddy about signing him, so it’s understandable. It was too much money, and granted we should have walked away earlier. He’s not been playing well thus far, so he’s hardly been showing us “what we’ve been missing”.

i think we may go back in for him in the summer, but only if Dortmund get realistic about third price.
 

RkkMan

Full Member
Joined
May 16, 2019
Messages
2,179
If it were up to you we'd never sign Bruno
To be fair the money Sporting initially asked for was excessive(80m euros up front) taking it down to 55m euros up front and the rest as add ons was good business. If BVB were willing to accept a similar deal for Sancho we`d have gotten him but 120m up front was simply not feasible not just for Utd but ANY club at this time
 

NoPace

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
9,340
Also, bit of an dissenting take, but part of me still would have liked to see Morata at United.

I was actually a little gutted that we opted for Lukaku over him and genuinely felt he would have suited us better than Chelsea. In fact it seems both the Lukaku and Morata transfers were the wrong way round. Morata also seemed more keen to move us too (that premature red hair dye :lol: ).
Same. Watching Morata's clever hold up play for Juve in the CL was enough for me, and I always prefer strikers who get good chances and don't score to finishers who don't get chances, since I think the former is more likely to change over time.
 

Pughnichi

Full Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2016
Messages
1,460
Steven Nzonzi. After Blackburn he found himself at Seville. 1 decent season later and the media were raving about him and linking him to us.
 

Redcy

Full Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,614
Same. Watching Morata's clever hold up play for Juve in the CL was enough for me, and I always prefer strikers who get good chances and don't score to finishers who don't get chances, since I think the former is more likely to change over time.
morata has been bang average and would have done less in our shit show. Very few strikers become more prolific
 

Houdini

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 20, 2017
Messages
2,163
To be fair the money Sporting initially asked for was excessive(80m euros up front) taking it down to 55m euros up front and the rest as add ons was good business. If BVB were willing to accept a similar deal for Sancho we`d have gotten him but 120m up front was simply not feasible not just for Utd but ANY club at this time
They missed the golden opportunity. No club will pay that sum anytime soon (because of covid). It was the fail of the year.
 

NoPace

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
9,340
Steven Nzonzi. After Blackburn he found himself at Seville. 1 decent season later and the media were raving about him and linking him to us.
He'd have been a great signing from Blackburn in 2012 at age 23 for 3M like Stoke smartly bought or from Stoke for 7M at age 26M like Sevilla smartly jumped on. No Schneiderlin debacle for one, probably no Fellaini either, that's like 50+M saved in fees and then a couple dozen in wages, goddamn you can get a very sexy player for that kinda scratch.
 

Canagel

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
13,888
Griezmann
De Ligt
De Jong
Perisic
Arnautovic
Dybala
Bale
Werner
Sancho
Rice
 

pav1790

Full Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2015
Messages
375
Location
San Diego
Among other things like the money Dortmund wanted for him and his reported behaviour in general.
I do not need to go back and look at older posts but there was plenty of posters on here creaming their pants about the window Chelsea had in the summer with the acquisition of the mentioned players and they were excelling in the same league that Sancho was so that is pretty obvious. There are a lot of players who simply do not take their club form to their new club and that is why we should never have entertained the idea in the first place when we were quoted that ridiculous price.
My only gripe with club last transfer window. Just fken walk away. You will save yourself a lot of time by doing that.
 

Wittmann45

Full Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
6,814
Location
'Keep the flag flying Jimmy'
Sneijder - He was linked to United, along with Robben, when Ronaldo left for Real Madrid and then became part of one of the the longest, more tedious transfer sagas in United's history at his height under SAF. There were even some links when Van Gaal came in. Seems like he was perpetually linked to United, and I loved him as a player, especially in that team that Jose built at Inter and for his performances in the 2010 WC. He deserved more recognition for the Ballon d'or in 2010. Also, the SneijderCafe was legendary and fun, but, in retrospect, he would have ended up being a terrible signing

WIlliam Carvalho and Miguel Veloso - both were linked to United around the late 2000s, especially 2008/2009. I remember watching Veloso and liking that he could play multiple positions. Who knows, maybe SAF would have turned him into a great squad player, but neither turned out
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,203
Sneijder - He was linked to United, along with Robben, when Ronaldo left for Real Madrid and then became part of one of the the longest, more tedious transfer sagas in United's history at his height under SAF. There were even some links when Van Gaal came in. Seems like he was perpetually linked to United, and I loved him as a player, especially in that team that Jose built at Inter and for his performances in the 2010 WC. He deserved more recognition for the Ballon d'or in 2010. Also, the SneijderCafe was legendary and fun, but, in retrospect, he would have ended up being a terrible signing

WIlliam Carvalho and Miguel Veloso - both were linked to United around the late 2000s, especially 2008/2009. I remember watching Veloso and liking that he could play multiple positions. Who knows, maybe SAF would have turned him into a great squad player, but neither turned out
So you are glad we did not sign them?
 

::sonny::

Full Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
17,868
Location
Milan
Ake
Dybala
Longstaff
Garay
Gaitan
Perisic
Sancho
Griezmann
Willian
M.Keane
Emre Can
 

Red Pumpkin

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
320
Supports
Bayern Munchen
Thomas Müller. I probably watched 99 out of his 100 first appearances for Bayern, including all the friendlies. He is a great player but he isn't really a player that would have fit United and I think the expectations would have been wrongly set from the get go. He doesn't beat players with pace or trickery, he moves intelligently into spaces and makes runs to free up team mates.

It's different playing with NT midfield maestros like Özil and Kroos, great target players like Klose and Lewa and wingers like Robben and Ribéry compared to the United teams of 2014-2020. RvP with Müller would have been absolutely amazing, prime Mata and Kagawa would also be able to bring the best out of him. Martial, Rashford, Fellaini wouldn't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sultan

Red Pumpkin

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
320
Supports
Bayern Munchen
Remember the French pretty boy midfielder? Was it gourcuff?
Great player to be honest. Played like Zidane, Riquelme, James Rodriguez, Özil, Diego Ribas.

Sadly was mentally broken down by Ribéry, Anelka and Henry according to Domenech. He was to well behaved, pretty and nice for the french team.

With a team built around him, an enforcer midfield colleague like van Bommel, Vieira or Gattuso and with a managers arm around his shoulder he could have led United to a couple of Premier Leagues and a Champions League. Some players need to be pushed like Zlatan or Keane, others need to be loved like Messi or Gourcuff.
 

Relevated

fixated with venom and phalluses
Joined
May 3, 2011
Messages
25,995
Location
18M1955/JU5
Great player to be honest. Played like Zidane, Riquelme, James Rodriguez, Özil, Diego Ribas.

Sadly was mentally broken down by Ribéry, Anelka and Henry according to Domenech. He was to well behaved, pretty and nice for the french team.

With a team built around him, an enforcer midfield colleague like van Bommel, Vieira or Gattuso and with a managers arm around his shoulder he could have led United to a couple of Premier Leagues and a Champions League. Some players need to be pushed like Zlatan or Keane, others need to be loved like Messi or Gourcuff.
Thats interesting, i didn't know that. What did they do to him in the NT?
 

Red Pumpkin

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
320
Supports
Bayern Munchen
Thats interesting, i didn't know that. What did they do to him in the NT?
Apparently after Zidanes retirement Gourcuff was handed the key to the team by NT manager Domenech. Some players couldn't stand it, especially Ribéry who probably saw himself as the most deserving heir after his exploits during WC 2006 and at Bayern. Who was Gourcuff, a pretty boy as well as a kid from a privileged background with a doctor mom and ex-pro turned football manager dad to jump ahead in line?

Bullying. They refused to speak or pass to him, essentially froze him out.
It all culminated during the World Cup 2010 farce when several players went on a strike and some were expelled.

Irish Times - Resentment over Gourcuff treatment behind implosion
 
Last edited: