Matheus Cunha

[Laurencio]

Exactly. Everyone moans we overpay yet no one actually says how they would approach clubs and get those fees down.

Start of the window, before we played any matches, we probably could have landed one or two really good players - now we're screwed.

We are trying to sell playing for a club that lost 4-0 against Brentford, which Cristiano desperately wants to leave because he thinks our squad's attitude is shit, a club where quite literally everyone who has walked through the door in the past 10 years has become a worse player, a graveyard for talent where significant talent stagnate, a club where manager's careers are set-back years and a club that will spend ages penny-pinching for no discernable reason what so ever.

We're a bad sell, and the only way to attract anyone is to pay over the odds. The sooner we realise that, the less concerned we can be about overpaying. It's not about overpaying, but paying for the right players. Not that we should be confident that we are getting the right people. This guy is likely our 7th-8th choice - behind Nunez (Liverpool), Haaland (City), Lautaro (Refused), Dembele (refused), Werner (Leipzig) and Sesko (Leipzig), that Brazilian prodigy (too raw), could be more.

Given how superstitious some players are, I wouldn't be at all surprised if a solid chunk of them believe the club is cursed.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Could be worse. Could be a £100m Lukaku..

Which is only slightly worse than a £75m Lukaku. We win!

 

[2 man midfield]

50€¿

Que?

Is there any way we can avoid disclosing which club we’re from until a fee is agreed? Tell Cunha and his agent to keep quiet while our guys plead poverty.

 

[TheReligion]

Which is only slightly worse than a £75m Lukaku. We win!

We got it back!

They are paying his wages whilst he bangs then in for Inter!

 

[antohan]

Cool. So you'll call them in May and say......?

"Hi, I'm calling from Manchester United and I'm interested in X player....."

You think because it's May, they won't screw is?

I'm not sure what your question is here.

If you have a plan, multiple targets/options, work steadily on squad building, time approaches correctly (e.g. not a guy who just renewed, or not panic buy weeks after a lower release clause) and you are ready and willing to walk away/move on at the drop of a hat... you shouldn't have as much trouble negotiating deals. Pretty much every other big/rich club in the world manages to do that competently.

If your point is that given we've done everything wrong for a decade it's hard to change then yeah, no shit Sherlock, but you've got to start somewhere.

Here's a clue how NOT to start turning it around: back in June we openly announced FDJ was the single most important/unconditional request from ETH. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work out we were heading up the creek without a paddle.

 

[Blood Mage]

We definitely need a workhorse pressing forward. We should really have signed Luis Diaz before Pool did but if Cunha is a similar type of player that's good.

 

[Massive Spanner]

We got it back!

They are paying his wages whilst he bangs then in for Inter!

The only real winners of the “signing Lukaku for a lot of money” sagas are Inter, then

 

[Mike1976]

All I've seen of him is the Olympic tournament in 2020 which Brazil won. In that he was the most underwhelming attacking option in my opinion that Brazil had. Whenever he came on he was fairly bland. Hard working, but not creating much that I can recall. I'd also worry that he can supposedly play in all attacking positions. Sounds like a jack of all traders, master of none and from what little I've seen of him that about matches up with what I saw. A good squad player, but not the instant upgrade to the starting XI that United desperately need. Based on that I wouldn't spend 50 million on him. The price that Atletico paid for him sounds about right.

For reference the attackers for Brazil U23 in 2020:

Paulinho
Cunha
Richarlison
Antony
Malcom
Martinelli

 

[frostbite]

Exactly. Everyone moans we overpay yet no one actually says how they would approach clubs and get those fees down.

1. Start early. Long before the window opens.
2. Work on 2-3 options for each position in parallel.
3. When window opens, sign your first choices.
4. If there are problems with the first choices just drop them, and sign the second or third option.

 

[::sonny::]

Looks like Luis Diaz

 

[Woodzy]

Looks like this is Cunha happen

 

[NotQuiteManc]

Cunha smell it-lalalalala?!

 

[Laurencio]

1. Start early. Long before the window opens.
2. Work on 2-3 options for each position in parallel.
3. When window opens, sign your first choices.
4. If there are problems with the first choices just drop them, and sign the second or third option.

All signs indicate we're getting very far down on that list. Arnautovic and Rabiot was most likely not a top three of all possible recruitment targets in their respective positions.

 

[Semper Fudge]

No idea who he is but judging by the stats €50m is about €40m too much.

This would actually be a good signing? I’m confused.

I love football.

 

[SirScholes]

I like him
Looks hungry for the game we need people like that
Rashford martial Ronaldo Bruno just mope around

 

[Ekeke]

I will say that with Atletico paying 26 million euros before he doesnt make it as a starter, we obviously shouldnt be paying much more than that

 

[frostbite]

All signs indicate we're getting very far down on that list. Arnautovic and Rabiot was most likely not a top three of all possible recruitment targets in their respective positions.

Because we had terrible preparation.

For example, is it so hard to identify in February three defensive midfielders that will improve us and that would want to join us for a reasonable fee? Working on that from February to April, we can be ready to finalize things in May.

On the other hand, if you start in August...

 

[Amarsdd]

First time I've felt we're interested in and looking to sign championship manager regens. No clue who some on these players linked to us are.

 

[Acole9]

Not sure about this, he's going to be 30 in seven years.

 

[AndyMUFC]

Know very little about him but he's young and apparently a pressing forward. I mean we're desperate at this point.

 

[Laurencio]

Because we had terrible preparation.

For example, is it so hard to identify in February three defensive midfielders that will improve us and that would want to join us for a reasonable fee? Working on that from February to April, we can be ready to finalize things in May.

On the other hand, if you start in August...

August? We've been preparing since December We even skipped a window just so that we could identify the right targets as early as possible. We're just really bad at this.

Not sure about this, he's going to be 30 in seven years.

Clearly past it

 

[BayernFan87]

Cunha is what we call in Germany a "Schönwetterfussballer", basically the opposite of a player who can do it on a cold and stormy night in Stoke.

On his day he looks like a Neymar light, but these days occur like 3 or 4 times a season. At least that was the case for Leipzig and Hertha, I haven't really followed him at Atletico.

He's also a player who needs a functioning system around him.

He's not at all a player that would help you right now.

Arnautovic, Rabiot, Cunha,...even if I tried to I probably couldn't think of players that would suit your current team and situation worse.

Who ever is in charge of your scouting and squad planning needs to be fired asap in my opinion.

 

[Artimities]

A lager company with a billionaire owner needs to buy United. We can drink our sorrows to fill their pockets to buy more players!

 

[Adam-Utd]

I will say that with Atletico paying 26 million euros before he doesnt make it as a starter, we obviously shouldnt be paying much more than that

yeah you’d like to think we’d give them their money back and perhaps a little extra for their trouble, but not a huge amount more

 

[VP89]

Asked my Bundasliga viewing friend (Hertha fan) about this guy. He said hes an "absolute clown" whilst he was with Hertha. Said he will try for 5 mins and then laze about.

Tried pointing to his work rate and he just slammed me with https://bulinews.com/news/9602/pal-dardai-slams-matheus-cunha-for-strolling-during-herthas-loss-köln

In any case hope he works out if he comes.

 

[BayernFan87]

Asked my Bundasliga viewing friend (Hertha fan) about this guy. He said hes an "absolute clown" whilst he was with Hertha. Said he will try for 5 mins and then laze about.

Tried pointing to his work rate and he just slammed me with https://bulinews.com/news/9602/pal-dardai-slams-matheus-cunha-for-strolling-during-herthas-loss-köln

In any case hope he works out if he comes.

Yeah I don't know where some "he's running and pressing all game" takes on here come from.

He's quick, but he's lazy.

 

[Chief123]

How on earth do United approach clubs for players and not get price gouged.

I'm asking all the people moaning about the fee......please explain how you, a United representative would go about this....?

We simply don’t get around it.

Every club knows we earn the most revenue and pay the most on transfer fees. There’s only so much edge we can gain by getting a good director of football in but ultimately we can’t really hold our cards to our chest because everyone knows the cards we hold.

We can refuse to pay it and keep trying to find young talent on the cheap but it ain’t easy at a big club as you’ll experience many failures before you find a success. It ain’t easy to rebuild a team using young talent.

 

[Chief123]

Yeah I don't know where some "he's running and pressing all game" takes on here come from.

He's quick, but he's lazy.

I guess that’s why we’re signing him then. He knows how to play the “Manchester Utd way”.

 

[SinNombre]

The signing could make sense but how does his price go from €25m to €50m after spending the season on Atletico’s bench.

Same as Rabiot for €19m - Juventus would have let him go for free given his wages

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

The signing could make sense but how does his price go from €25m to €50m after spending the season on Atletico’s bench.

Same as Rabiot for €19m - Juventus would have let him go for free given his wages

Wouldn’t surprised me if it’s €30m plus €15m adds on or something.

 

[CM]

Yeah I don't know where some "he's running and pressing all game" takes on here come from.

He's quick, but he's lazy.

95th percentile for pressures on fbref. Maybe a consequence of working with Simeone but it demonstrates he's at least capable of it

 

[Adam-Utd]

Asked my Bundasliga viewing friend (Hertha fan) about this guy. He said hes an "absolute clown" whilst he was with Hertha. Said he will try for 5 mins and then laze about.

Tried pointing to his work rate and he just slammed me with https://bulinews.com/news/9602/pal-dardai-slams-matheus-cunha-for-strolling-during-herthas-loss-köln

In any case hope he works out if he comes.

the stats don’t lie when it comes to pressing. maybe he just had a bad game and dropped his head? i’d certainly believe the stats over a disgruntled ex fan anyway

 

[RC89]

Yeah I don't know where some "he's running and pressing all game" takes on here come from.

He's quick, but he's lazy.

Will fit right in then

 

[2 man midfield]

The signing could make sense but how does his price go from €25m to €50m after spending the season on Atletico’s bench.

Same as Rabiot for €19m - Juventus would have let him go for free given his wages

Same reason Barca are making a profit on De Jong despite the world knowing they want to sell him - United are desperate.

 

[Sassy Colin]

50M? Literally, who the feck is he, never heard of him.

 

[Plant0x84]

50M? Literally, who the feck is he, never heard of him.

Exciting, isn’t it?!!

 

[gaffs]

Also how is he a cast off, it’s not like they’re actively pushing him to leave.

Aren't they? How do we know how this potential transfer materialized?

We know we have zero scouting ability, so likely we are being let to available players via agents.

 

[croadyman]

We definitely need a workhorse pressing forward. We should really have signed Luis Diaz before Pool did but if Cunha is a similar type of player that's good.

Can't do anything about the club completely ignoring Ralf's advice on Diaz, certainly not getting the impression he is a workhorse pressing forward from posters who watched him in Berlin.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Atl Madrid fans on reddit are not too happy that he’s leaving. Although, some said 50m would help them to sign new centre back or another position.

 

[RC89]

50M? Literally, who the feck is he, never heard of him.

Same as Martial when we signed him and look how well... Oh wait.

Seriously though, I'm past caring now, I'd be excited to see us sign pretty much anyone.