why do we gamble on Dutch league players but not efl championship players?

I agree with some others the premise of this thread is a bit silly. We've made tons of poor signings that didn't come from the Dutch League. The list is way too long. Our recruitment has simply been shite, regardless of where players came from.

On another note: I'm still hoping Malacia will find his way back. Honestly the one Dutch League player in recent times I actually felt showed a ton of promise when you factor in how young he still is.

At this point i'd rather we signed championship talents than players from the German/Dutch league (unless they're obviously generational talents like Bellingham and Haaland). Every single player we've signed from there has been a flopp post SAF. Depay, Schwein, Blind (probs the best) Miki, VDB, Sancho, Malacia, Antony. Our only success was Martinez.

We did. We signed Ronaldo.

A- Each league has its heights and lows. There was a time when the Dutch league was a force to be reckoned. The EPL skipped what I call its golden era (ie the time when Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard) burst into scene because most of those talent were hoovered by either Italian or Spanish clubs. However the EPL enjoyed some exceptional talent such as Stam, VDS, Bergkamp, Hasselbaink and of course the goal machine itself RVN. In our prime ie when responsible adults were doing the decision making at the club, the Dutch league was in its heights while the Championship was struggling. That means that we were focusing more on the Dutch league rather then the Championship

B- The Dutch league has the advantage of providing talent on relatively cheap and to be able to give them European football experience. That's something the Championship can't do. Whittaker might be killing it in the CH but his experience against top opposition is limited to say the least. By the time an EPL comes knocking the typical Dutch player would probably have a couple of caps with Holland and had played in the CL/Europa league.

C- Its easier for the likes of Ajax and PSV to attract good foreign talent as opposed to clubs in the Championship

D- We allow the managers to bring his own players in. Since SAF retired 2 out of 5 managers (Moyes, LVG, Mou, Ole and ETH) were Dutch.

The championship had improved in recent years. I hope that we give a close look to the likes of Leif Davis (1 year left in his contract), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Morgan Whittaker

Lee565 said:

Considering the money we have wasted on players from the Dutch league Antony, malacia and beek, why do we not gamble in the same with efl championship players when they would likely cost less and the evidence is there that you get a better success rate from the championship than the dutch league?

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Mostly because the club ignores the scouts completely and just asked ten Haag who he knew that was kinda good. He's Dutch so that mean getting mostly Dutch players.

Sassy Colin said:

He was rubbish and continues to be so. We got out of jail free with that sale.

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I meant the whole Dan James transfer. He had some moments and was sold with a profit. The gamble was 'fine'.

Stadjer said:

I meant the whole Dan James transfer. He had some moments and was sold with a profit. The gamble was 'fine'.

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I must have missed those moments

golden_blunder said:

John stones came from Everton. As did Gordon who someone else mentioned. I thought the thread was about buying from lower leagues. PL players would still cost a bomb

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Stones was at Barnsley first, and went to a PL Everton

The reason is that those Dutch players tend to have delivered on International and/or European level whereas not many Championship players have so more of a gamble

daba said:

Sorry but how is Hojlund not high potential.

Name two or even one other u21 no. 9 that has had a better season than him in Europes top 6 or 7 leagues? He’s also had to endure playing in our shambles of a system too.

I accept he’s not a low fee low risk signing but to say he’s not high potential is absurd. Remind me, what were Kane and Lewandowski doing at his age?

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I don't watch EPL games, let alone "top 6 or 7 leagues". Maybe there is no young striker with high potential out there, I am not even convinced if it made sense going for such an inexperienced striker in the first place.

Anyway, if I'm being honest, I don't see high potential in Hojlund, I see a good finisher with great physical attributes (that he doesn't use effectively) and some serious limitations to his game. We can agree to disagree on this one and I will be happy to be proven wrong.

We did this with Dan James. He was seriously better than Antony and offered about as much, and we turned a profit on him instead of losing a fortune.

I think snobbery is generally a fair assessment. There's this assumption our signings have to have huge reputations like Casemiro or Varane, but the reality is that the lines of Dan Burn and Billy Gilmour would offer us more in the long term. (Admittedly former PL players but you get the idea)

While this thread is active I will suggest that I'd be happy to see some of the top Eredivisie players join United this summer, mostly Veerman or Bakayoko from PSV who look incredible this season and/or Wieffer from Feyenoord. While I think its very true that you get more time and space than in the premier league I think Veerman and Wieffer would still be a lot better than Eriksen, McTominay and Amrabat. And I think Bakayoko would be better than any of our right wingers

Fallon d'Floor said:

We've tried it a few times. The EFL in general.

It didn't really work out for us.

Wilfried Zaha
Nick Powell
Dan James
Nathan Bishop

There are some young talents out there. Adam Wharton was a very good signing by Palace.

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They were bad choices though. Zaha could have been a good signing but he ended up shagging Moyes’ daughter if I remember correctly? Then we were daft enough to sell him for £2m rather than give him a loan initially and sell him at a higher price after he performed well.

Beek was never going to make it, he just ain't that good and never was.
Antony can make it, but maybe not in the premier league.
Malacia is a decent enough backup and didn't cost very much

Sassy Colin said:

He was rubbish and continues to be so. We got out of jail free with that sale.

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He was limited, yet probably still scored as many as any of our wingers this season, whilst working way harder.