Who are the real summer targets?

Sassy Colin said:

I don't mean anyone with a Dutch passport who Ten Hag once smiled at.

Nor do I mean £100M+ players who we are never going to go for.

Realistic transfer targets who are attainable and are the sort of player who will fit into Ten Hag's philosophy.

Enlighten me.

Click to expand...

Nobody knows. If we sign 4 players this summer, I'd wager 3 of those players will be outside of those being rumoured presently

I'd say Timber and De Jong are the only players we're looking at right now. I think we were looking at Phillips and Rice but we've been told to feck off by the former and priced out of a move for the latter.

I'd wager there's something in the Nunez links as well, seeing as how RB put a stop the Nkunku.

Anyone that means I don't have to watch Telles attempt a 1v1 ever again!
If I'm being honest, I do think the ones we're genuinely trying for at the moment are FdJ and Timber. Everything else just seems like paper talk.

De Jong is obviously the marque signing of the summer, I hope to god ETH has a suitable alternative as FDJ still feels like a bit of a pipe dream for now

Timber I fully expect to happen

Nunez feels like there's a real desire to sign but then we've been burnt by links to players playing in Portugal before (Gaitan anyone?)

De Jong, Timber and Nunez.

FDJ is this seasons Fabregas

Timber and Anthony I'd say

Listening to Dutch reporter on Talk of the Devils earlier and he suggested that ETH had been making noises about Ajax players moving on

i get your pain,two or three seem like there may be truth in them.

A lot seems lazy journalism though, few weeks ago it was all German players, especially Leipzig youngsters, now its all Dutch players with Ten Hag plus Phillips and Rice to a degree.

Rice is too expensive, Phillips (i hope anyway) isnt comign as is a Leeds fan, DejOng feel there is truth in the rumours but dotn see him coming here, dont know much about the Dutch players but feel Timber/Antony may be possibilities, Nunez not seen a huge amount of but dont get....then the other rumours we are gettign all the time is Milenkovic at ridiculous fees and same with Omsimhen or however you say his name at crazy prices.

Bar very tentative links with Kamara and Nkunku at Leipzig, seems very little in the way of links with French youngsters and there are a fair few at decent prices for me.

My hope is there are elaborate smokescreens behind closed doors to keep our targets secret.....my fear is we are literally going after 3/4 bigger signings which I dont think works....hurry up, season end and lets not have a long summer with no action and a rush at the end

FrankDrebin said:

De Jong, Timber and Nunez.

Click to expand...

This. Obviously none of us know where these players want to go and what would be doable to get them, but assuming what think we is realistic this would be trio. We're not going in for 5 or 6 major buys and there's no point in 5-6 minor buys of players who might come good 2-3 seasons from now. These three won't lead us toward a treble next season but if they can help us land a top comfortable top four position next season we might be able to bring in the next 2-3 top players -- while we bring up whoever from the youth ranks who prove their worth -- who would then take us to the next level of competing for the PL trophy the following season.

What's absent from this list of three is that holding mid at least most of us believe we need. If there's a value buy out there, fantastic. If there isn't and we need to spend 50m for the right man for the job, then one of De Jong, Timber and Nunez are beyond our reach. I'd say Timber as at least I believe we need a player of Frenkie's quality and a goal scoring machine to back up and succeed Ronaldo. Maguire might just restore his reputation.

I hope that ETH brings some of the players he had his eye on for Ajax to United. Some hidden gems who suddenly become a success.

charlenefan said:

De Jong is obviously the marque signing of the summer, I hope to god ETH has a suitable alternative as FDJ still feels like a bit of a pipe dream for now

Timber I fully expect to happen

Nunez feels like there's a real desire to sign but then we've been burnt by links to players playing in Portugal before (Gaitan anyone?)

Click to expand...

Yeah still not enough positive vibes

Koulibaly would be one to add to the list. He's getting on a bit in football terms but we need someone who will dominate in the air. Savic as well. We need actual defenders who will fight tooth and nail, not wimps who will pussy out of confrontations.

It's about signing players with the right attitude, above all. Fergie was good at identifying players who would run through brick walls and hopefully Ten Hag is the same.

2 MF in the range of 50-70m, so talking about De Jong, Neves class. VDB will be returning will be as good as a USEFUL addition.

CB at the expense of Bailly (possibly Maguire, but this is for rest of the season).

Not so sure about striker, because there is really none in the market. Will see, but we do need 1 upfront, either RW or striker, preferably someone can do both.

I have no doubt that we are indeed making enquiries on names touted in the papers.

But few out of many would actually made it to the dotted line. Many things are beyond our control. Players dont want to come, clubs dont want to sell, price is not right etc

So yes we are looking for several and several more alternatives

As if we'd have a clue

Raoul said:

Nunes, Torres, Neves, De Jong

Click to expand...

That will be mine as well.

Alternate… Nkunku, Antony, Ibrahim Sangare, Bissouma, Ndicka.

As usual, most of the reports of various players linked to Utd will have been made up by journo’s, or result from agents feeding the press.
I’m inclined to believe that Utd have finally taken note of past, expensive failures and are not going to go after expensive or overpriced signings.
The huge amount of money being freed up on the wages bill, from players leaving, should be spent wisely and not frittered away on overpriced contracts.
Forget the likes of Rice (who doesn’t want to come here anyway), superstars and anyone else priced over £50/60m.
We should be fishing for competent, solid, reliable and highly motivated squad players and highly rated, up and coming young talent.

When you say real targets, there will be a list for each position and when/ if different players become available you re-jig your priorities, I'd imagine in terms of the top priorities that Nkunku, Nunez & Antony are at the top of the attackers list, De Jong, Rice & Phillips for CM and we seem to be looking at Timber mainly for CB after we enquired about Rudiger with Martinez & Torres as back up options. I think other players such as Kamara are on our list just further down, I'd imagine Tchouameni is high on our list but we don't see it as very likely, we don't have 1 target per position, we work on several deals at once with the players and when we get full approval we negotiate with the club and go with the deal we want the most...

Sneijder and Gaitan.

The title of the thread is “Who are the real summer targets?”
Most of those being speculated about on threads like this, won’t be anywhere near the real list.

Timber and possibly Antony,.

Our budget is obviously not massive this summer, so we can’t really afford to splash out loads of money, on one player.

The question is who in these posts about the real targets are the real targets. I would think that its mostly speculation about speculation but if I were to speculate on the speculation of speculation I would say we are after De Jong, Timber and Nkunku. I actually know these are the real targets. We might get them. We might not. Lots of things happen in football but we are trying for sure. Admins please put I.T.K next to my username.

I reckon there was a good chance of Konrad Laimer until Bayern decided they wanted him.

And I'd say there was something in the stories about use trying to negotiate a cash plus Bailly deal for Pau Torres as well, although such deals are notoriously difficult to get over the line.

Sneijder and Robben, at long last

Todd said:

Sneijder and Robben, at long last

Click to expand...

riquelme has been spotted at the airport

Blood Mage said:

I'd say Timber and De Jong are the only players we're looking at right now. I think we were looking at Phillips and Rice but we've been told to feck off by the former and priced out of a move for the latter.

Click to expand...

I saw somewhere that Philips is in 5k a week at Leeds. Not sure if that is true, but if it is I think he will get a move if they go down.

Jezpeza said:

riquelme has been spotted at the airport

Click to expand...

Aerial footage has uncovered 'Welcome to United!' banners being unfurled at Carrington, so I think it's fully on

Sassy Colin said:

Yeah, De Jong ain't happening. He comes under anyone who Ten Hag once smiled at.

Click to expand...

Care for a wager?

Say the £120m figure is true pre-sales. Let's also be super negative and say we don't receive a fee for any players.

And we need 4 players minimum

That makes it just £30m per player. That won't improve the squad.

Makes sense to get a free transfer in for one of the positions, if Ten Hag wants them. Seem to be some realistic ones about who can improve the squad. We'll free up the wages for them.

Crashoutcassius said:

I saw somewhere that Philips is in 5k a week at Leeds. Not sure if that is true, but if it is I think he will get a move if they go down.

Click to expand...

Doubtful. How does a PL footballer survive on that.

Sassy Colin said:

I don't mean anyone with a Dutch passport who Ten Hag once smiled at.

Nor do I mean £100M+ players who we are never going to go for.

Realistic transfer targets who are attainable and are the sort of player who will fit into Ten Hag's philosophy.

Enlighten me.

Click to expand...

I honestly think the names in the media the real targets. Any coach takes players that he knows or from his own country (when coaching in a foreign country) with him to a new club. Ten Hag even specifically said that he doesn't rule out taking Ajax players with him, even though it's very common that managers say that they will not take players with them or at least are not eying them (out of respect for the former club).

I think Frenkie de Jong is actually his main target. I don't believe these rumours are here out of thin air and also in The Netherlands these rumours are taken seriously.I believe Timber is serious as well because of his versatility and the fact that Timber is relatively cheap (he'll cost around 35M I think and if you want to buy a elite CB you're gonna need twice or three times that amount). Since Ten Hag apparently wants to strenghten quite a lot of positions, but obvoiusly the transfer budget is not unlimited, it makes sense that he would take a player that he knows and rates highly along with him knowing that he's relatively cheap compared to other potential targets as well as being able to play multiple positions.


Apparently United have 120M to spend for at least 1 CM, CB and versatile attacker. Apparently a second midfielder is also wanted, but I think that will depend more on additional funds generated from outgoing players. Frenkie de Jong seems to be the primary target. IN the scenario that this happens I can see:
1. Frenkie de Jong (60M)
2. Jurrien Timber (35M)
3. 25M left for a versatile attacker. I was going to mention Steven Bergwijn as someone else mentioned him in another thread and I do think he fits the profile as well as the money left in the budget. However I don't think Ten Hag will sign 3 players and then all of them being Dutch. But there must be other versatile attackers available with the same profile and price tag as Bergwijn. I could also see United paying 45-50M + Telles for Frenkie de Jong, then there's around 35M/40M left for a versatile attacker, which expands the options.

The second scenario where Frenkie de Jong is out of reach, then I can see United going for Nkunku instead as a top signing and then going for a less prolific DM. Remember Ten Hag has switched his systems at Ajax, so if he can't get De Jong he might go for a regular DM, adjust the tactics that he was going to apply and change the transfer targets accordingly. Then I could see happening:
1. Christopher Nkunku (60M, unless he has a lower buyout clause)
2. Jurrien Timber (35M)
3. Edson Alvarez (30M) / Ibrahim Sangare (25M)

Then if other players get sold, I reckon another midfielder + RB are next.

Realistic List of Targets:

Timber, Torres, Martinez, Neves, Tielemans, Kamara, Nunez, Nkunku, Antony

Unrealistic List of Targets:

De Ligt, Kane, Rice, De Jong, Tchouameni

We will have to operate intelligently in the market and hit on under the radar targets not mentioned. I honestly can’t think of the last time we did that well.