Neither is Neves, though. At least Fabian Ruiz has a similar-ish sort of skill set to de Jong. Wolves have put out initial early fees as high as Barcelona want for de Jong and the players are very different type of central midfielders.
If you are lucky more like 60-90 mins
He might do, but it'll have to involve a wage cut. I guess it just depends now on how much he wants to stay. If United were to panic and pay his deferred wages, then i do wonder whether that will change his mind, but i really hope we don't do that, as it's not our place to do so
I think this is likely. People are deluded if they think the club will brief that they are walking away from the FDJ deal at this stage, because the fans all know what it will mean and they will look incompetent. Sometimes you've got to read between the lines, something many posters in here seem incapable of doing.
Chelsea also have a very good coach and a better team. More chance of winning stuff there right now.
He's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'
To be honest, it's not so outrageous that they would go over there and end up not getting the deal done. I've never really thought we would get De Jong, especially after so many stories saying he wasn't interested in coming to us.
I still think it is the deferred money that is the main thing. He is being ridiculed at Barca, even if he loves the club or city there is only so much sh** you are willing to take. His preference for Barca should be long dead by now.
Again I don't disagree with a single word of what you've said (although I would say Manchester is pretty well connected to most of the world) but how do all these things truly affect a Premier League footballer?
You are a hero.
But they're also not going to stay involved if they believe that he's going to go to Chelsea, as the fans will see that as he rejected us. Walking away would allow United to spin any excuse as to why they walked away. If they stay in for him and he chooses Chelsea, then it's going to look a lot worse in my opinionI think this is likely. People are deluded if they think the club will brief that they are walking away from the FDJ deal at this stage, because the fans all know what it will mean and they will look incompetent. Sometimes you've got to read between the lines, something many posters in here seem incapable of doing.
Chelsea also have a very good coach and a better team. More chance of winning stuff there right now.
He's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'
No, by reports he would rather play CL for Chelsea and live in London. Was dismissed by many as being @Sport propaganda but now backed up by the reputable The Athletic.
I quite like the look of Ruiz from what I have seen. He’s not really what we need most.
Isn't this what he is? From what I've seen people say about him and his stats he fits that description except maybe positional intelligent
Yeah but if we are walking away, the best way to save face is to say nothing and just sign someone else. When the phone rings from Barca, just don’t answer it.
Definitely traffic dependant
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Not really
There is nothing reputable about the Athletic when it comes to Football, they hired a bunch of hacks that we used to not trust. Now Ornstein is a good reporter but he said nothing about De Jong's preferences.
I mentioned this about a week ago. As if the club will release a statement that we're no longer interested in signing FDJ when we've chased him all summer. We'll know when we've initiated contacts for other midfielders.
We'd know pretty quick if that was happening as we'd see us making contact for other players (hopefully).
We'll sign somebody else, get the fans excited about that, then start hearing murmurs of business being finished for this summer. Probably stories about how the club see huge potential in Iqbal/Savage etc and believe their accelerated progress has pushed them into the first team picture.
Always liked Neves...
I think he’s more a marauder from what I’ve seen. He is very good, of course, but the thing we’re really lacking is the positional discipline and tactical control of the midfield.
They could offer a better wage package to compensate the player maybe. But it sounds like we never even got to that stage with the player, so not sure.
ExactlyHe's tied himself in all sorts of knots and is trying to weasel his way out, as per. 'Sorry I didn't mean to type that whole sentence, it's not what I really think'
Yeah, there's no way. It had to be done when we set these supposed deadlines. Then we look like a club that isn't going to be a pushover. I said it a while ago too and was bombarded by people that thought otherwise. It's almost some entitlement they believe they have to know every inner working. The club isn't pandering to people that spend all day on a forum micro-analysing every move and tweet. They don't want the millions to think we look like idiots and will brush this one under the carpet. Unless we end up giving Frenkie a tonne of money now to make it happen, which is also a possibility knowing our apparent desperation.
Yeah, I still think ETH will probably be up-to-date with what the player wants. I was just thinking that we fans might be the last to know.
We briefed the media when we pulled out of the Griezmann transfer, I imagine something similar will happen here.
