Athletic: Man Utd are all in on Ten Hag -- they almost doubled transfer budget after awful start

[Jcrossley94]

Just because EtH wanted, everyone knew we needed, and it was obvious we needed 2 CM, doesn't mean the plan was to get Casemiro. I mean we almost got Rabiot no? That was going to be his midfielder. So what changed? The defeats.

If Casemiro was the plan all along, why didn't we sign him earlier?

rabiot isn’t a defensive midfielder so unlikely to have affected the Casemiro signing.

if you accept that we were always likely to buy a defensive midfielder, then I’m not sure how reactionary it is to go out and buy one of the best there is…

accept you’ve got your view on it, and understand your thought process. I just think it’s less reactionary, more incompetence from our recruitment team - because I think we were always going to sign a DM

 

[Bastian]

It was the protests and the anti-Glazer sentiment from all quarters, with Ratcliffe and Musk making headlines. They could have bought all these players at the beginning of the window for likely a lot less. Just no planning and reactionary spending.

I'm not worried about the money spend as long as calls for them to feck off and interested parties are circling around the club continues.

 

[mav_9me]

Frenkie decided to stay. We could only afford one of them.

Maybe

We were in contact with Casemiro much earlier than people seem to realise.

It would have been Rabiot plus another.

Maybe

rabiot isn’t a defensive midfielder so unlikely to have affected the Casemiro signing.

if you accept that we were always likely to buy a defensive midfielder, then I’m not sure how reactionary it is to go out and buy one of the best there is…

accept you’ve got your view on it, and understand your thought process. I just think it’s less reactionary, more incompetence from our recruitment team - because I think we were always going to sign a DM

I think its change in budget from Glazers who panicked.

 

[TheReligion]

Just because EtH wanted, everyone knew we needed, and it was obvious we needed 2 CM, doesn't mean the plan was to get Casemiro. I mean we almost got Rabiot no? That was going to be his midfielder. So what changed? The defeats.

If Casemiro was the plan all along, why didn't we sign him earlier?

Nope

 

[Jcrossley94]

I think its change in budget from Glazers who panicked.

could have been. Just disagree, there’s no evidence either way - apart from the fact we desperately needed someone in that position and he was the first we were linked with.

perfectly possible I’m wrong

 

[Chief123]

Although we have overpaid again this summer, I do think improvement in the team and developing as a cohesive team will mean our desperation will decrease in following windows. Hopefully it will allow us to stop getting ripped off as we’ll be in a position to walk away from deals as we won’t be carrying out desperate surgery to the team. That’s the hope anyway.

 

[redsunited]

With so many holes in the squad and under performers, you have to wonder what, or how the owners/upper management thought how far a £120m budget was going to take us in the current market conditions (& prices).

Shows how inept the board managing United are. That budget would have been 9th in spending out of 20 PL clubs.

 

[Leftback99]

We were in contact with Casemiro much earlier than people seem to realise.

It would have been Rabiot plus another.

It wouldn't. Eriksen was the other midfielder. Like the article says, Casemiro only became an option the day we dropped Rabiot.

 

[The Irish Connection]

More evidence that the Glazers are poison. They genuinely thought that 120m would be enough. Arnautovic and Rabiot would have been enough. Ratcliffe shows public interest, the fans protest and we lose the first two games and suddenly they release more of the club’s funds. So reactionary.
I really hope we keep up the pressure on them to sell, we desperately need Ratcliffe.
Interesting that Nice hijacked Leeds signing Gakpo…

 

[TheReligion]

It wouldn't. Eriksen was the other midfielder. Like the article says, Casemiro only became an option the day we dropped Rabiot.

The Luckhurst article suggests otherwise

 

[Fluctuation0161]

I like Martinez. He might be small but he is rock hard.

Something you have in common?

*sorry couldn't resist*

 

[horsechoker]

More evidence that the Glazers are poison. They genuinely thought that 120m would be enough. Arnautovic and Rabiot would have been enough. Ratcliffe shows public interest, the fans protest and we lose the first two games and suddenly they release more of the club’s funds. So reactionary.
I really hope we keep up the pressure on them to sell, we desperately need Ratcliffe.
Interesting that Nice hijacked Leeds signing Gakpo…

My worry is if we have a good season, the Glazers will tighten the purse strings. We're trapped in a vicious cycle.

 

[ForeverRed1]

Had to be done and it will need to be done a few times over to compete with this city team.

 

[Leftback99]

The Luckhurst article suggests otherwise

Well here we are with just two midfielders.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

We won't make a few signings in the next summer window?

I meant lucky with our signings working out this season

 

[Catt]

I meant lucky with our signings working out this season

Ah, makes sense!

 

[NotQuiteManc]

Good transfer window overall, and thank God for mama Rabiot!

 

[villain]

Humans in history with the most dawg in them:
1. DMX
2. Licha Martinez

love that nobody got this, I’ll give them 6-9 months to catch on

 

[Ish]

Shows how inept the board managing United are. That budget would have been 9th in spending out of 20 PL clubs.

If the stories are true of course, it’s sad that it took those 2 losses for them to wake the hell up. A positive is at least they’re backing EtH.

 

[Giggsy13]

Can’t believe the morons running the club thought ten Hag could turn it around with a £100 million budget in one summer

 

[pocco]

love that nobody got this, I’ll give them 6-9 months to catch on

Which bit is so difficult?

 

[pascell]

I like Martinez. He might be small but he is rock hard.

Louis van Gaal likes this.

 

[Lecland07]

Not sure I believe this, to be honest. We had already bid for Antony before the start of the season, so that throws shade on the idea. We had also bid for De Jong and had it accepted at this point - this all happened before the start of the season. It is not really adding up.

De Jong - £65m
Antony - £51m (July bid)
Martinez - £57m
Malacia - £13m

Total prepared to pay before season starts: £186m

Doubling that would be £372m - that is nowhere near what we ended up spending. Unless what they are saying is that we were actually willing to spend up to this amount.

 

[villain]

Which bit is so difficult?

didn’t say anything about difficulty.

 

[Member 125398]

Cringey that you believe this.

They even say that they talked to some agents who had nothing to do with anything and reported what they would have done as news.

 

[pocco]

didn’t say anything about difficulty.

Why will it take 6-9 months for everyone else to catch on?

 

[Tarrou]

Not sure I believe this, to be honest. We had already bid for Antony before the start of the season, so that throws shade on the idea. We had also bid for De Jong and had it accepted at this point - this all happened before the start of the season. It is not really adding up.

De Jong - £65m
Antony - £51m (July bid)
Martinez - £57m
Malacia - £13m

Total prepared to pay before season starts: £186m

Doubling that would be £372m - that is nowhere near what we ended up spending. Unless what they are saying is that we were actually willing to spend up to this amount.

if we're going by the article we prioritised Martinez over Antony earlier in the summer, because Ajax would only sell one

 

[Sviken]

Oh, so again the club was reactive rather than proactive. Just as I suspected. If this article was meant to portray the Glazers in a good light, it did exactly the opposite.

 

[DWelbz19]

love that nobody got this, I’ll give them 6-9 months to catch on

It’s all good if they don’t get it yet. That’s what we do, Villain. We wait for them to catch up.

 

[Dannn411]

Horsesh**. The Glazers saw total disaster staring them in the face after those first two games and realised that their latest attempt to cut corners on the pitch would most likely lead to a relegation battle. So they panicked and raised the budget number.

 

[The Urban Goose]

Heh. That's a funny paywall - just open the page, right-click, then "Print" and save as pdf.

But damn, Lisandro Martinez is a pretty fearless and direct character.

"Martinez had to do his bit too, pressing his insistence on leaving for a suitable offer — as had been promised by Marc Overmars before his departure as Ajax sporting director. According to De Telegraaf, Martinez unleashed on Ajax’s new technical director Gerry Hamstra, who was blocking the transfer. “You’re a fecking nobody,” Martinez was reported as saying. “You’re only here because Marc Overmars had to go.” Martinez moved two days later."

I'm in love with Martinez.

 

[Tarrou]

Horsesh**. The Glazers saw total disaster staring them in the face after those first two games and realised that their latest attempt to cut corners on the pitch would most likely lead to a relegation battle. So they panicked and raised the budget number.

I mean, that is more or less what the article is saying happened

 

[Lecland07]

if we're going by the article we prioritised Martinez over Antony earlier in the summer, because Ajax would only sell one

Maybe that is the case, but I still have issues with it. We clearly signed Casemiro instead of De Jong, so that was always going to happen. The amounts weren't far apart, so the only thing that changed is that we went from saying we had no budget sign an Antony to 'here is €100m'.

Even with the bad start to the season, that is a hell of a swing. It seems too big to be believable.

 

[Jcrossley94]

Maybe that is the case, but I still have issues with it. We clearly signed Casemiro instead of De Jong, so that was always going to happen. The amounts weren't far apart, so the only thing that changed is that we went from saying we had no budget sign an Antony to 'here is €100m'.

Even with the bad start to the season, that is a hell of a swing. It seems too big to be believable.

this just isn’t the case is it… because we were still trying to sign FDJ after we signed Casemiro?

 

[Member 125398]

this just isn’t the case is it… because we were still trying to sign FDJ after we signed Casemiro?

Is there any evidence of that? The only thing concrete was that we withdrew our bid wasn't it?

 

[Lecland07]

this just isn’t the case is it… because we were still trying to sign FDJ after we signed Casemiro?

But essentially, we did in the end. If it is true we tried to sign De Jong, also, then our transfer budget (Martinez, Malacia, De Jong - £130m) didn't almost double. It would have more than doubled- we paid another £149m for Casemiro and Antony on top. That would be a transfer budget of about £279m for the entire summer. So, the article would be wrong.

 

[Jcrossley94]

Is there any evidence of that? The only thing concrete was that we withdrew our bid wasn't it?

Multiple sources reporting our interest was there still right up to deadline day, including Fabrizio Romano

 

[Jcrossley94]

But essentially, we did in the end. If it is true we tried to sign De Jong, also, then our transfer budget (Martinez, Malacia, De Jong - £130m) didn't almost double. It would have more than doubled- we paid another £149m for Casemiro and Antony on top. That would be a transfer budget of about £279m for the entire summer. So, the article would be wrong.

The article wouldn’t exist in the same, because it would be an entirely different conversation if we’d have spent £279m

my only point was that, it’s highly unlikely we signed Casemiro instead of De Jong considering it was reported by multiple sources we were still interested in signing him right up to deadline day

 

[Kag]

It was the protests and the anti-Glazer sentiment from all quarters, with Ratcliffe and Musk making headlines. They could have bought all these players at the beginning of the window for likely a lot less. Just no planning and reactionary spending.

I'm not worried about the money spend as long as calls for them to feck off and interested parties are circling around the club continues.

My worry is if we have a good season, the Glazers will tighten the purse strings. We're trapped in a vicious cycle.

Bang on. This time next year we’ll be listening to briefings about the expenditure during Ten Hag’s first window and how we can’t find any value in the market.

We’ve spent a fortune this summer because the club shat itself and didn’t like the talk regarding a sale. We’re a shitshow and that starts with the Glazers.

 

[Vapor trail]

Good article, and Laurie Whitwell always seems to have his finger on the pulse regarding the internal affairs at United.

Difficult to know how to feel regarding the clubs summer. On the one hand we got some well needed reinforcements through the door. Casemiro looks great on the ball and will bring some steel and composure to the midfield, Antony seems very exciting and hopefully has the strong mentality where he won't be fazed by the price tag and the undoubted media scrutiny that will bring, Martinez and Malacia look like great purchases albeit early in the season, and we all know what Eriksen will bring.

On the other hand though, you can't help but feel anxious about whether the club are going to be able to make the renovations to the stadium, the training ground and the continued investment in the squad while the Glazers are still sucking the life and money out of the club. The extensive questionnaire that the club sent out to all of us season holders was eye-opening in that they know how outdated the stadium is, and with the current level of debt and unwillingness of the owners to invest any of their own funds into the club it seems unlikely that we will see any significant improvements to the current infrastructure any time soon. You can only hope the current whispers regarding them looking to sell are true and a concrete offer comes from a suitable buyer soon (i.e Ratcliffe).

I absolutely agree with this. I have more of a conviction that it was a bad summer. Everything was reactive, their was no forward planning.