Put a price on how much it would cost us to genuinely compete for the title

For 2/3 months we looked like we had the spine for a title challenge but the squad is massively light you only compete or win by having the best players in each position and then a back up that that would probably get into another top 4 team. Currently we have one Left back who would start for city, one wide left striker and at a push a CDM but probably a top 4 starter like Bruno, Varane and Martinez and a young superstar coming through. That’s 7 players at best that are capable, you can carry maybe 2 or 3 more in the squad who have the potential to improve like AWB, D Dalot and Antony/Sancho. We need an awful lot to challenge consistently through a long season with the game changing so much now with the use of 5 Subs and 9 named Subs. Let’s remember City sold Zincenko, Jesus and Stirling cast them away without so much as of dithering thought for £140m and replaced them with better players that improved the squad depth and squad dynamics.

This Squad Challenges or Wins an EPL;
Goalkeepers -
(Mike Maignan, D De Gea, T Heaton) cost £65m

Defenders - (D DumFries, D Dalot, AWB, KMJ, R Varane, L Martinez, M Ghuei, L Shaw, Alphonso Davies) Cost £150m

Midfielders - (Casemeiro, M Caciedo, Ericsen, Bruno, FDJ, J Ramsey, E Le Fey)
Cost £180m

Attackers - (Rashford, V Oshimen, O Dembele, Antony, Ganaucho, R Hojlund, J Sancho, M Thurham. Cost £205m Squad has 8 HG players

We would sell D Henderson, B Williams, V Lindelof, E Bailey, A Teles, H Maguire, DVB, Fred, S Mctominay, A Martial, A Elanga Total £150-200m

The cost is £600m - £150/200m so £450/500m net spend which is what incidentally the Glazers think as they play with other peoples money as rumours are they can spend £400-500m after a mass sale of players!
They have apparently informed SJ and SJR which is crazy as they intend to sign off a huge spend then leave or worse go upstairs in the background with 20% minority shares! we need to look at HG talent much earlier as well !
 
To challenge for the title on a one-off or a consistent basis?

If it’s to win a single PL title and then go another decade without winning it, then with the right recruitment we can challenge with around £300m being spent on top quality players in a few areas.The reason I’m saying this figure minimum is because of how far City are to the rest. If it was only Arsenal ahead of us for example, we could get away with spending almost half that amount, providing we recruit in the right areas.

If we want to continuously challenge for the PL then we are talking at least £1 billion. This included getting things sorted off the pitch too as that’s important to be able to have some of the best facilities in the world for our existing players and also to attract the very best talent to want to come to us.
 
We can challenge for the title next season, however, it depends who the new owners are, the current owners and possibly Ratcliffe realistically gets us 3 players max (Rabiot, Kane, Thuram?),
Alternatively, if its Qatar, then I would be expecting a blockbuster of a transfer window for Utd, (Kane, Mount, Min-Jae, a new GK, Timber, maybe even De Jong).
 
All it takes is a really good manager. So, around 10 million, I'd say.
 
Osimhen - €120m
Rice - €100m
Zubimendi - €60m
Caicedo - €80m
Min Jae - €45m
Frimpong - €45m
D. Costa - €55m

About half a billion euros.
 
2 games in and it’s already obvious we will not be competing for the League this season.

Makes that 11 years without even a title challenge for the ‘biggest club in the World.’
 
Right now I’d say if the Glazers did the right thing and actually left this summer, giving new owners like Qatar a winter window and. Summer window 2024 we would need to sign and sell the following ;

Sell - D Henderson(20m), H Maguire(25m), DVB(10m), T Malacia(15m),
V Lindelof(20m), C Ericsen(10m),
M Greenwood (20m), B Williams(10m),
S Mctominay(40m), Antony (40m),
M Mount (50m), A Martial (10m), F Pellistri (20m),
Total £270-280m

Buy - D Costa (65m), A Davies(75m),
J Frimpong(40m), A Silva (70m)
Jean Todibo(40m), N Barella(85m)
A Tchouameni (85m), J Ramsey(55m),
J Enciso (60m), V Osimhen (125m),
R Laeo (75m), F Chiesa (60m)
Total £825-840m
Net spend £540-560m winter and summer spend under Qatar is the only way we will compete for a title ?

Squad 24/25 season
Goalkeepers (3)
(A Onana, D Costa, T Heaton HG)

Defenders (9)
(D Dalot, AWB HG, J Frimpong HG,
J Todibo, R Varane, L Martinez, A Silva,
L Shaw HG, A Davies)

Midfielders (8)
(K Mainoo HG, Casemiro, Bruno, N Barella, J Ramsey HG, A Tchouameni, S Amrabat
J Enciso HG
Attackers (8)
J Sancho HG, M Rashford HG, Amad
A Garnaucho HG, F Chiesa, V Osimhen,
R Hojlund, R Laeo

28 players 10 Homegrown this squad competes for the title
 
Honestly if our manager could implement an effective tactical plan then we'd be a lot closer. Nobody had Arsenal down as a better team and were predicting Arteta would get sacked. Instead Arteta had them playing good football with some weak positions, and they challenged.
 
groovyalbert said:
£6bn and the Glazers out. Then we can start talking.
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:lol:

It probably does about sum it up further than any transfer budget could. We've been chasing our own tail for years as far as directing money at problems so at this point it is fair to ask whether any amount of money would matter. If we weren't so incompetent strategically and in recruitment it would almost appear as a curse it has been that consistent that players come here and don't work out. Fortunately we can very much put our finger on where it is falling down.
 
Forget new signings

Good owners and a good executive level structure is the prerequisite l.
 
In hindsight, for an awful lot less than the money we've spent, we could have had a realistic (linked at some point) first team right now of

Onana

Trippier
Varane
Martinez
Shaw

Caicedo
Casemiro
Bruno

Raphinha
Osmihen
Rashford

At the times we were linked with trippier, caicedo, raphinha and osmihen, collectively they would have cost no more than 120-140m.

Missing out on caicedo is one of the biggest mistakes this club has made in years, don't give a feck about his agents being difficult to deal with. Him beside Casemiro in this team makes us contenders IMO, plus a more reliable trippier and modern no.9....Raphinha was and always will be better than Antony, and cost around half. go figure.
 
FriedClams said:
In hindsight, for an awful lot less than the money we've spent, we could have had a realistic (linked at some point) first team right now of

Onana

Trippier
Varane
Martinez
Shaw

Caicedo
Casemiro
Bruno

Raphinha
Osmihen
Rashford

At the times we were linked with trippier, caicedo, raphinha and osmihen, collectively they would have cost no more than 120-140m.

Missing out on caicedo is one of the biggest mistakes this club has made in years, don't give a feck about his agents being difficult to deal with. Him beside Casemiro in this team makes us contenders IMO, plus a more reliable trippier and modern no.9....Raphinha was and always will be better than Antony, and cost around half. go figure.
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£4.5m and not being prepared to find out what complexities have to be overcome is shocking
 
More money won't help for the following reason. We used to be one of the top 2 clubs worldwide where the best players wanted to go. Now we are perhaps top 10, with at least 2 local competitors above us. That means that the only players we are likely to pull are the ones who either a) aren't wanted at better clubs, b) are after the money, or c) don't have the self-confidence to compete against world class players for a starting spot. I believe we've spent more money than any other side in the wolrd over the past decade on players acquisition, so adding even more money will not help.
 
FriedClams said:
In hindsight, for an awful lot less than the money we've spent, we could have had a realistic (linked at some point) first team right now of

Onana

Trippier
Varane
Martinez
Shaw

Caicedo
Casemiro
Bruno

Raphinha
Osmihen
Rashford

At the times we were linked with trippier, caicedo, raphinha and osmihen, collectively they would have cost no more than 120-140m.

Missing out on caicedo is one of the biggest mistakes this club has made in years, don't give a feck about his agents being difficult to deal with. Him beside Casemiro in this team makes us contenders IMO, plus a more reliable trippier and modern no.9....Raphinha was and always will be better than Antony, and cost around half. go figure.
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Raphinha didn't want to come here.
 
1) Transfer Decisions should be in the hands of a committee, of which manager is a part and not sole decider. We need to have a long term vision that isn't just Manager is all in all. We spend enough, we just waste it because of having no consistent philosophy. We went from LVG to Jose FFS.
2) United are treated differently in the media. Look how City are media darlings. United need to start doing the same, have few journalists on the payroll to counter any negative press.
3) Train former players to be advocates for the club and not be f****** Neville. They can bring about points like how dismissing referees for a decision in favour of United will result in referees reluctant to give us decisions in the future.
 
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Dr. StrangeHate said:
1) Transfer Decisions should be in the hands of a committee of which manager is a part and not sole decider. We need to have a long term vision that isn't just Manager is all in all. We spend enough, we just waste it because of having no consistent philosophy. We went from LVG to Jose FFS.
2) United are treated differently in the media. Look how City are media darlings. United need to start doing the same, have few journalists on the payroll to counter any negative PR.
3) Train former players to be advocates for the club and not be f****** Neville. They can bring about points like how dismissing referees for a decision in favour of United will result in referees reluctant to give us decisions in the future.
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The first point is a very key one and for some bizarre reason Utd don't seem to be addressing it
 
There's something wrong with the club that money won't fix. The players are just so poor. Were talking about players that were world beaters at the prior clubs and then come here and look like non-league players; Sancho nervous breakdown; Maguire Greece and performance breakdown; Rashford playing like the ballond'or winner for half a season until he renewed his contract then nothing; multiple important players with multi-year injuries; Voldemort destroying his career and maybe life. These are things that might individually be expected, but altogether it speaks to a really badly run club where players are perhaps left to their own devices or dont receive sufficient instruction? Dont know what it is but it isnt a lack of money.
 
A season where Bellingham, Caicedo, MacAllister, Ugarte, Lavia and Tinali all moved. We get this guy :lol:
 
FriedClams said:
In hindsight, for an awful lot less than the money we've spent, we could have had a realistic (linked at some point) first team right now of

Onana

Trippier
Varane
Martinez
Shaw

Caicedo
Casemiro
Bruno

Raphinha
Osmihen
Rashford

At the times we were linked with trippier, caicedo, raphinha and osmihen, collectively they would have cost no more than 120-140m.

Missing out on caicedo is one of the biggest mistakes this club has made in years, don't give a feck about his agents being difficult to deal with. Him beside Casemiro in this team makes us contenders IMO, plus a more reliable trippier and modern no.9....Raphinha was and always will be better than Antony, and cost around half. go figure.
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not the Utd way
 
Easy, you first remove:
- Varane
- AWB
- MCT
- Bruno
- Rashy400k$$
- Martial
- Anthony

Then you replace them with a few proven players and, most importantly, young and hungry ones.
It's as easy as removing the primadonnas from the first team and replace them with men or young talent that actually have the quality to play for us.
 
pocco said:
Honestly if our manager could implement an effective tactical plan then we'd be a lot closer. Nobody had Arsenal down as a better team and were predicting Arteta would get sacked. Instead Arteta had them playing good football with some weak positions, and they challenged.
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This is a fair summary but Arsenal themselves have lot to prove even now , as much as I loathe pool and Klopp they actually are the only team which went toe to toe with City in recent times and looked their equal in the league .
 
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To salvage our season we clearly need two robust midfielders to replace the fancy trinkets presently running around like headless chickens. Then we have to go Casemiro + new guy and Bruno ahead of them. Rashford got his new contract and looks hardly arsed which is funny but not unexpected. Hope Hojlund fires.
 
It’s not even about money at this point. We have to be doing better than we have with the players we’ve got. Last season really feels like a wasted season if ETH is going to try and implement something completely new in midfield.

The worrying part is that we can’t even replace all of the players that we need to implement what Ten Hag wants now. We’re going to be in catch up constantly. By the time we get a new midfielder and right back, Varane and Casemiro will also need replacing but we won’t be getting any money in for them.
 
It’s not just about the money! It’s the decision making that’s the biggest issue and I’ve been saying this for years.

First two signings of the summer. Mount on his last year of his contract, be patient and get him next year on a free, he’s not a necessity to the squad. Onana was available on a free last season. It wouldn’t be hard to discuss transfers with Ten Hag BEFORE he joined the club and we could have signed Onana on a pre-contract before he went to Inter. Those two signings if done correctly would have saved the club over £100m! That’s Harry Kane and we would have the £70m Hojlund money to sort out a better option to Maguire and another midfielder who fits the correct profile (eg not Mount).

Take any money for Maguire, accept the bloody lost of value and move on. He’s not good enough to be in the squad. I don’t care if Henderson is injured get him out the squad with the comments he made last summer, he should never have come back into first team football.

These decision are from this summer alone. We have been making these types of mistakes for over 10 years. This is why we are no where near the elite clubs of Europe any more. The club resources are more than any club in the league bar City, and now Newcastle. Newcastle are currently hindered by FFP and still making better decisions than the clowns running our club. We are a laughing stock in world football.
 
Here is an Idea how about let's not buy any more players on Ten Hag watch until it's proven he can get this team to play good cohesive football along with getting results then revisit this in next transfer window and see how to proceed .
 
However much it would cost to pay for a scouting network on the level of Brighton's and a decent DoF. Then a few years of patience.

Otherwise it would cost probably 400-500m in bloated transfer fees to replace our piss poor wingers, midfield and add a top class striker...oh, and a new CB and RB.
 
Two proper central midfielders, a good right back, a good right winger and a change of tactics to normal tactics and we can contend at least even though we may not win but at least we should be able to keep up with City or Arsenal.
 
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