Summer Transfer Window

[Tango80]

Are we though?

We came into this transfer window needing a striker, a midfielder and a keeper. We got all three of those. Nice and early as well.

I don't get the bed wetting, I really don't. We need a few potential ins to replace a few potential outs and that's it. I'm not going to lose sleep over that. Backup keeper if Henderson goes, defender if Maguire goes, midfielder if Scotty goes. The keeper one looks to be happening and the other two don't. I'm fine with that.

This is the problem with doing your business early. Everyone then panics when you have a few weeks of little transfer action.

Unfortunate with the injuries we've had but that's just bad luck.

 

[JimiboyX]

We came into this transfer window needing a striker, a midfielder and a keeper. We got all three of those. Nice and early as well.

The evidence thus far (albeit limited) would suggest that we signed a midfielder who didn't fit. For big money, at a time when we can't afford to be making any more expensive mistakes.

To the extent that the scrabbling around for Hojbjerg is about Mount's injury and not a panic buy based on the evidence of the first two games (highly questionable), then I don't think you can put that down to bad luck. It means we were literally one injury away from hitting the panic button, which raises serious squad depth questions and again, casts doubt on 60M for Mount being a good use of money.

Beyond that we have a striker who is a very expensive punt at best and who hasn't pulled on the shirt yet.

Plus I think it always feels a bit disheartening (albeit occassionally sensible) to sign "rejects" of rivals. Mount, Cucucrella and Hojbjerg in a single Summer would be a new level.

So yeah. I don't think filling three broad positions and doing so earlier than usual is much of an indication of anything to lots of people.

 

[mitchmouse]

My guess is we aer going to miss out on Sofyan Amrabat...

 

[Tango80]

My guess is we aer going to miss out on Sofyan Amrabat...

We were never in from him. 100% all from his agent.

The fact Fiorentina are so keen to offload him so cheaply rings alarm bells a bit as well.

 

[Garethw]

A top quality striker and a rotation option/successor to Casemiro were the two most important summer transfers in my opinion.

We’ve signed a rookie striker that barely hit double figures last season (understandable for a 20 year old) and McTominay is still Casemiro’s understudy, despite not actually being a DM.

That's a terribly underwhelming window.

As things stand we are completely fecked if Casemiro picks up a long term injury.

Terrible terrible squad planning by Murtough and ETH.

The jury is still out on whether the goalkeeper position has been sorted out long term.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Are we though?

We came into this transfer window needing a striker, a midfielder and a keeper. We got all three of those. Nice and early as well.

I don't get the bed wetting, I really don't. We need a few potential ins to replace a few potential outs and that's it. I'm not going to lose sleep over that. Backup keeper if Henderson goes, defender if Maguire goes, midfielder if Scotty goes. The keeper one looks to be happening and the other two don't. I'm fine with that.

This is the problem with doing your business early. Everyone then panics when you have a few weeks of little transfer action.

Unfortunate with the injuries we've had but that's just bad luck.

We needed a central midfielder more than another utility attacking midfielder

 

[Drizzle]

We were never in from him. 100% all from his agent.

The fact Fiorentina are so keen to offload him so cheaply rings alarm bells a bit as well.

I'm not convinced this was all agent talk. We are definitely in the market for another midfielder should we manage to sell McTominay. The fact that we haven't managed to sell him means Amrabat remains on the backburner. If we do somehow sell McT I still think Amrabat is our favoured option.

My guess is our only realistic option now, given FFP and Glazernomics, is a loan. Gravenberch or somebody else that hasn't even been mentioned yet.

 

[humdinger]

Doesn’t give much confidence to see the club scrabbling for deadline day loans and several players who should have moved still here. Some of our injuries may well be unfortunate but our planning seems poor.

 

[Tango80]

We needed a central midfielder more than another utility attacking midfielder

We needed a more energetic midfielder to take the load off Eriksen. Mount was that player. Writing him off/saying he doesn't fit the system after just 2 competitive games is insane.

A month or so ago everyone was saying this was a 7/8 out of 10 window, now because we've started badly it's a terrible window all of a sudden?

 

[Andycoleno9]

We needed a more energetic midfielder to take the load off Eriksen. Mount was that player. Writing him off/saying he doesn't fit the system after just 2 competitive games is insane.

A month or so ago everyone was saying this was a 7/8 out of 10 window, now because we've started badly it's a terrible window all of a sudden?

Mount is completely different type than Eriksen. We needed classic central midfielder who is more a playmaker and who can help Case in defence. Mount has a lot of qualities but he is not central midfielder. He is more no10. With him we look wide open in the middle.
We needed proven goalscorer. We decided to gamble on potential.
We didn't replace McT and Maguire with backups who are more suited to our style.

Regarding incomings, this is truly a window where time will tell is it a big hit or a big miss. Depending how Mount and Hojlund will settle in.
Not selling McT and Maguire is a miss. No matter how you spin it.

 

[oreon]

Are we though?

We came into this transfer window needing a striker, a midfielder and a keeper. We got all three of those. Nice and early as well.

I don't get the bed wetting, I really don't. We need a few potential ins to replace a few potential outs and that's it. I'm not going to lose sleep over that. Backup keeper if Henderson goes, defender if Maguire goes, midfielder if Scotty goes. The keeper one looks to be happening and the other two don't. I'm fine with that.

This is the problem with doing your business early. Everyone then panics when you have a few weeks of little transfer action.

Unfortunate with the injuries we've had but that's just bad luck.

The bedwetting is because for 3 games we see an obvious weakness in midfield. They are way too open and easy to counterattack. Casemiro can't cover all that ground by himself. These are the shots and shots on target allowed through 3 games: 23(6), 22(6),9(4)
That's way too many. We got away with it with Wolves and Nottingham was a weak opponent so it doesn't matter. But the results will catch up. Most of us agree that Casemiro needs another holding midfielder beside him to bring more defensive stability and control in that midfield. If we don't get an additional midfielder, ETH needs to address with tactics or lineup change. Either Bruno, Eriksen do more to help Casemiro or McTominay plays more. But the performances cry out that something needs to be done.

 

[Devil You Know]

I think we've desperately needed a window like this to reset the image of the club after the mismanagement under Woodward.

For too long now, everybody has looked at United as easy marks. There's a United tax that gets applied to every transfer fee, and a United bonus that gets applied to every salary.

We've also been awful negotiators because selling clubs have known that we get obsessed with particular players and rarely look at 2nd or 3rd options if the price gets too high (Maguire, Fellaini, De Jong, Antony, etc).

The fact that we're now walking away from our targets and putting in derisory loan bids is exactly what we've needed to do for years. It may mean that summer 2023 is a difficult window, but winter 2024 and summer 2024 will be significantly easier as a result. Selling clubs are going to need to start meeting us halfway if they want to get paid for their players. No more of United just paying whatever the initial asking price is.

I know that there's a lot of negativity about Murtough and Arnold right now. But they're like a responsible government that's course correcting for the previous government's mistakes - it's going to hurt their reputation in the short term, but will hopefully be recognised for the good they do in the long term.

 

[Hal9000]

Doesn’t give much confidence to see the club scrabbling for deadline day loans and several players who should have moved still here. Some of our injuries may well be unfortunate but our planning seems poor.

More to do with Woodward giving players silly wages that other teams lower down won't touch. Hence some players are happy to be 4th choice or even never play. Like Maguire and Baily.

 

[NewGlory]

Incomings:

1. Gamble on Chelsea midfielder that hasn't solved anything, kinda created more chaos short-term and is currently injured
2. A great goal-keeper that was clearly welcome but very unnecessary luxury, we had no money to afford
3. A very young striker that will take time to develop, while we need at least 2-3 experienced ones to hit the ground running. Injured and unavailable

Outgoings:

We sold handful for absolute peanuts and Maguire, McT, even Donny are still here.

Yeah, it's been absolute shit of a transfer window at a critical moment where our competitors did much better

 

[RedRonaldo]

Has been a very disappointing summer in terms of players sales.

incomings - 6/10

- Mount wasn’t what we need in midfield for no.8
- Onana is good sweeper keeper but doesn’t really change our game as people suggested
- Hojlund has good potential but we still need another goalscorer
- We failed to address our needs in more defenders and backup DM

outgoings - 1/10

- selling our young players for peanuts
- failed to offload our deadwoods
- failed to raise much needed cash on our players sales

 

[Redstain]

I think we've desperately needed a window like this to reset the image of the club after the mismanagement under Woodward.

For too long now, everybody has looked at United as easy marks. There's a United tax that gets applied to every transfer fee, and a United bonus that gets applied to every salary.

We've also been awful negotiators because selling clubs have known that we get obsessed with particular players and rarely look at 2nd or 3rd options if the price gets too high (Maguire, Fellaini, De Jong, Antony, etc).

The fact that we're now walking away from our targets and putting in derisory loan bids is exactly what we've needed to do for years. It may mean that summer 2023 is a difficult window, but winter 2024 and summer 2024 will be significantly easier as a result. Selling clubs are going to need to start meeting us halfway if they want to get paid for their players. No more of United just paying whatever the initial asking price is.

I know that there's a lot of negativity about Murtough and Arnold right now. But they're like a responsible government that's course correcting for the previous government's mistakes - it's going to hurt their reputation in the short term, but will hopefully be recognised for the good they do in the long term.

Understand where your coming from but 70 million on Casemiro, 90+ Antony, 70 Hojlund and 55 Mount (free in 12 months) most of the signings are inflated fees. The only thing that's keeping United modest is FFP as has been reported all summer. This isn't some shrewd strategy from Murtough and co it's the actions of a financial circumstance.

 

[Devil You Know]

Incomings:

1. Gamble on Chelsea midfielder that hasn't solved anything, kinda created more chaos short-term and is currently injured
2. A great goal-keeper that was clearly welcome but very unnecessary luxury, we had no money to afford
3. A very young striker that will take time to develop, while we need at least 2-3 experienced ones to hit the ground running. Injured and unavailable

Outgoings:

We sold handful for absolute peanuts and Maguire, McT, even Donny are still here.

Yeah, it's been absolute shit of a transfer window at a critical moment where our competitors did much better

All transfer windows are considered critical during the moments we're in them.

The problem we've had is treating every summer as critical and then scratching around desperately to tick off every item on our shopping list even when the price is too high because we've believed that missing out is going to make the difference between winning the league or not.

Well, the reality is that it's not. We're nowhere near close enough to be making RvP or Carrick type signings for over the top prices to put the cherry on the cake. We need accept some lean years to actually make the cake first. It's what what Arsenal did when they sold their overpaid stars and put trust in their prospects. And it's what Newcastle and City did despite all their riches giving them the freedom to throw away as much money as they want.

By treating every window as critical, we're tricking ourselves into believing that every signing is vital for our survival.

Missing out on Amrabat might cost us a handful of points over the course of the season. But we could instead invest those savings on a hungry but potential world class 20 year old next summer. Short term pain for long term gain.

 

[MancunianAngels]

It's impossible to say how good or bad a transfer window is until a few months later.

I still think we're at least a couple short but I'm still not convinced that anyone else has improved that much.

All transfer windows are considered critical during the moments we're in them.

The problem we've had is treating every summer as critical and then scratching around desperately to tick off every item on our shopping list even when the price is too high because we've believed that missing out is going to make the difference between winning the league or not.

Well, the reality is that it's not. We're nowhere near close enough to be making RvP or Carrick type signings for over the top prices to put the cherry on the cake. We need accept some lean years to actually make the cake first. It's what what Arsenal did when they sold their overpaid stars and put trust in their prospects. And it's what Newcastle and City did despite all their riches giving them the freedom to throw away as much money as they want.

By treating every window as critical, we're tricking ourselves into believing that every signing is vital for our survival.

Missing out on Amrabat might cost us a handful of points over the course of the season. But we could instead invest those savings on a hungry but potential world class 20 year old next summer. Short term pain for long term gain.

Interesting you bring up the Carrick signing. When that was announced in 2006, most United fans were very underwhelmed.

 

[Devil You Know]

It's impossible to say how good or bad a transfer window is until a few months later.

I still think we're at least a couple short but I'm still not convinced that anyone else has improved that much.



Interesting you bring up the Carrick signing. When that was announced in 2006, most United fans were very underwhelmed.

That's why I brought it up.

Because we overpaid for a player that we were desperate for.

£16m was over the odds, but we pushed and pushed until we finally gave Levy whatever the heck he wanted. The end result was a player who tipped us over the edge into winning the CL.

Problem is, we've been taking that exceptional approach to transfer negotiations and generalised it to every single target. It's not sustainable and summer 2023 is the inevitable consequence.

 

[gerdm07]

So in the last week City sign a speedy winger and a very good midfielder. Why can't we sign a very good midfielder?

Unless something changes today, it's clear City, Arsenal and Chelsea have improved dramatically this summer. As of now, we have improved a little unless our new striker slams in 15 this season.

 

[#07]

I can't wait for the club's summer window brief to be turned into a Rob Dawson column.

The excuses being used now, around FFP etc, are not new. If the club knew it needed money why did it go after the players it did?

Was Mount really needed more than a box to box midfielder? Why can we always find money for backup keepers? Why did we turn down a perfectly reasonable offer from West Ham for Maguire and MacTominay when there was no viable market for either player at better values?

So many questions about how we spent, what we spent it on and how we imagined we'd achieve our objectives.

 

[seasidedaz]

I would say it’s a normal transfer window under the currant owners. Nothing new and no signings in January either if they are still here which I think they will be and next summer too Will be the same.

 

[TrueRed79]

We are such a badly run club. You only have to look across the city to see the stark difference between us and them. We are a big club by name only. The rest is so bang average it's ridiculous. Each day under the Glazer ownership we regress more and more. It's so stark at this stage it almost feels like self-sabotage. A club like Utd looking at 6 loan signings in the last year or so. Utterly shameful ownership for a club of our size.

 

[Red Royal]

Can't wait for the window to be over. It is the hope that hurts.
Was a decent start with Mount, Onana and then Rasmus.
Letting Fred go was unwise IMHO and the multiple injuries have been unfortunate (or an expected WC hangover/extra injury time result).
Not selling Maguire (his stubbornness) and McT (our greed) has ruined all the decent start to the window. Now we just have to hope Mainoo and Rasmus can fit in, Rashford cab get his mojo back and Bruno moments save us.

 

[Paul778]

So in the last week City sign a speedy winger and a very good midfielder. Why can't we sign a very good midfielder?

Unless something changes today, it's clear City, Arsenal and Chelsea have improved dramatically this summer. As of now, we have improved a little unless our new striker slams in 15 this season.

I would dispute that we have obviously improved at all right now.

I much prefer Onana in goal but the team are far from used to him yet. They need time to work out how to improve in and out of possession with him in the side.

Hojland on paper has the potential to be very good for us, but he will need service and that isn't really anyone other than Bruno or Eriksen do.

And Mount..

 

[red.knight]

Palmer went for £45m yet we couldn't even get £10m for Iqbal, Kovar & Emeran combined. We signed Martial for £50m, Maguire for £80m, Sancho for £75m, VDB for £40m. They've all been flops thus far & will all likely leave by next summer for half their price (at max). I looked at United in despair.

 

[Onerealunited]

Update (players in bold reflect updates since last update)

Confirmed departures of loan players (age in parentheses):

1. Jack Butland (30): End of loan. Signed for Rangers FC (Premiership)
2. Wout Weghorst (30): End of loan. Signed for Hoffenheim (Bundesliga)
3. Marcel Sabitzer (29): End of loan. Signed for Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)

Confirmed departures of first team players (age in parentheses):

1. Phil Jones (31): Released. Future unknown
2. Axel Tuanzebe (25): Released. Future unknown
3. David de Gea (32): Released. Future unknown
4. Alex Telles (30): Sold to Al-Nassr (Saudi Pro League). Fee of €4.6m
5. Anthony Elanga (21): Sold to Nottingham Forrest (Premier League). Fee of €17.5m
6. Fred (30): Sold to Fenerbahce (Süper Lig). Fee of €9.7m
7. Dean Henderson: Sold to Crystal Palace (Premier League). Fee of €17.5m

Confirmed departures of youth team players (age in parentheses):

1. Ethan Galbraith (22): Released. Signed for Leyton Orient (League One)
2. Bernard Di’Shon (22): Released. Signed for Sheffield Wednesday (Championship)
3. Charlie Wellens (20): Released. Future unknown
4. Zidane Iqbal (20): Sold to FC Utrecht (Eredivisie). Fee of €1.0m
5. Ethan Laird (22): Sold to Birmingham City (Championship). Fee of €0.9m
6. Charlie Savage (20): Sold to FC Reading (League One). Fee undisclosed
7. Nathan Bishop (23): Sold to Sunderland (Championship). Fee undisclosed
8. Matej Kovar (23): Sold to Leverkusen (Bundesliga). Fee of €5.0m
9. Noam Emeran (20): Sold to Groningen (Eerste Division). Free transfer
10. Ondrey Mastny (21). Sold to Jihlava (FNL). Fee undisclosed
11. Björn Hardley (20): Sold to Utrecht U21. Free transfer
12. Teden Mengi (21): Sold to Luton Town (Premier League). Fee undisclosed

Total income: €56.2m

Confirmed acquisitions to the first team (age in parentheses):

1. Mason Mount (24). Fee of €64.2m
2. Andre Onana (27): Fee of €52.5m
3. Rasmus Højlund (20): Fee of €75.0m
4. Jonny Evans (35): Free

Total cost: €191.70m

 

[yamo123x]

I think we've desperately needed a window like this to reset the image of the club after the mismanagement under Woodward.

For too long now, everybody has looked at United as easy marks. There's a United tax that gets applied to every transfer fee, and a United bonus that gets applied to every salary.

We've also been awful negotiators because selling clubs have known that we get obsessed with particular players and rarely look at 2nd or 3rd options if the price gets too high (Maguire, Fellaini, De Jong, Antony, etc).

The fact that we're now walking away from our targets and putting in derisory loan bids is exactly what we've needed to do for years. It may mean that summer 2023 is a difficult window, but winter 2024 and summer 2024 will be significantly easier as a result. Selling clubs are going to need to start meeting us halfway if they want to get paid for their players. No more of United just paying whatever the initial asking price is.

I know that there's a lot of negativity about Murtough and Arnold right now. But they're like a responsible government that's course correcting for the previous government's mistakes - it's going to hurt their reputation in the short term, but will hopefully be recognised for the good they do in the long term.

Some good points here but I totally disagree with your point that we are walking away from deals now and this is gonna stop the Utd tax and stop teams from ripping us off in the future. We didn't exactly walk away from Mount,Onana and Hojlund deals did we? Paid too much for Mount, caved in to Inter for Onana and way way overpaid for Hojlund. We are a laughing stock when it comes to transfers and that hasn't changed one bit, teams see us coming a mile off

 

[bosskeano]

what a dire fecking summer window.....the one position we needed to improve we haven't, the depth concerns and scoring options we haven't, selling some of the shit we haven't...

what the actual feck were the higher ups like Murtaugh fecking doing this summer????

 

[Onerealunited]

So entering into the last week of transfer season. In UK it ends by end of day on Friday (please correct me if I am wrong)

Following players future is yet ti be decided. Week 35 update:

1. Henderson (26) -
2. Maguire (30) -
3. Bailly (29) -
4. Evans (35) -
5. Mengi (21) -
6. Williams (22) - Loaned to Ipswich
7. Fernandez (20) -
8. McTominay (26) -
9. VdB (26) -
10. Hannibal (20) -
11. Pellistri (21) -
12. Shoretire (21) -
13. Greenwood (21) -
14. Martial (27) -

Transfer window officially closed tomorrow (for incoming players). See below updates on players whose future is uncertain yet


Week 35 update:

1. Henderson (26) - Sold to Palace
2. Maguire (30) -
3. Bailly (29) -
4. Evans (35) -
5. Mengi (21) - Sold to Luton
6. Williams (22) - Loaned to Ipswich
7. Fernandez (20) -
8. McTominay (26) -
9. VdB (26) -
10. Hannibal (20) -
11. Pellistri (21) -
12. Shoretire (21) -
13. Greenwood (21) -
14. Martial (27) -

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Palmer went for £45m yet we couldn't even get £10m for Iqbal, Kovar & Emeran combined. We signed Martial for £50m, Maguire for £80m, Sancho for £75m, VDB for £40m. They've all been flops thus far & will all likely leave by next summer for half their price (at max). I looked at United in despair.

Because Palmer is very talented.

Martial made sense at the time and carried the team for long periods. I am sure he would prefer to not be injured. Agree with the other 3 flops.

City have widen the gap to us this summer.

 

[Red Rash]

If you ask me right now I'd say the window has been a 4/10.

If we manage to get Amrabat and Reguilon in and McTominay and Maguire out I'd maybe give it a 6/10.

We have bought in some good players but neglecting CM until the final day of the window when Amrabat has been begging to come here and Fiorentina are desperate is sell is borderline moronic.

If FFP is the problem we had a great chance to sell McT and Maguire for decent fees a few weeks ago.

We also really should have got an experienced striker as backup to help get us goals.

The good news is we cleared some of the previous generation of players like DDG, Henderson, Telles, Fred etc.

 

[dejans]

We were never in from him. 100% all from his agent.

The fact Fiorentina are so keen to offload him so cheaply rings alarm bells a bit as well.

Oh really? Never in for him?

 

[pauldyson1uk]

I think we have had a poor to bang average Transfer Window.
The signings dont make the team any better, Onana being the slight exception, but for me the jury is still out on him, I think he could cost us a good few points.
Not getting rid of the deadwood and FFP is holding us back.
Martial , Maguire , Sancho, VDB thats £200m+ of deadwood
Letting Fred go was a huge mistake for me.
Personally I think we have fell behind all the teams in the top 6 and we are going to struggle for top 4 this season.
I was hoping in the summer we would get new owners and some top class players, neither has happened.
FFS what has happened to my love of the game, 3 games in and I am already pissed off.

 

[onemanarmy]

It started off nicely, but a bit of a shambles at the end. FFP and the club sale holding us back I guess. Decent amount of outgoing (about 11) players, although very few which commanded a good fee. Should have sold Maguire and VDB at the least.
I agree with the poster above that we fell behind other top 4 candidates a bit. City improved, Arsenal improved, Newcastle improved, Chelsea improved. Kane will be a massive loss for Tottenham though.

Hojlund is a massive gamble but I feel a gamble we had to take. Fingers crossed he hits the ground running. I like Mount, but I'm not sure he is what we needed.

6/10 maybe.

 

[onemanarmy]

By the way, the squad clear out in the last 2 seasons is pretty crazy if you think of it. (not saying we shouldn't have gotten higher fees etc)

Cristiano
Garner
Pereira
Chong
Pogba
Lingard
Matic
Cavani
Mata
Henderson
Elanga
Fred
Kovar
Telles
Iqbal
Mengi
Williams
De Gea
Tuanzebe
Jones

 

[red.knight]

We need a CB and Sergio Ramos is a free agent. Would you guys take him on a free transfer?

 

[Betson]

Have we gone in for Andy Carroll yet?

It would be the kind of desperation signing you would expect us to make these days , maybe we will see it happen in January.

 

[MUFC OK]

Said on the Amrabat thread that we're a Licha/Lindelof injury away from starting Maguire or Evans.

We could face Bayern away on 19/20 September.

 

[red.knight]

Have we gone in for Andy Carroll yet?

It would be the kind of desperation signing you would expect us to make these days , maybe we will see it happen in January.

To add depth to our attack, what about Eden Hazard on loan or bringing the veteran Danny Welbeck back to united. Something is better than nothing.