You've made various great points in this thread and I agree with most of what you've said.
Are we the most debt-ridden club in the world?
Aurelien Tchouameni | signs new contract til 2031, to be official after the World Cup
- Thread starter Tom Van Persie
- Start date
Are we the most debt-ridden club in the world?
I genuinely think a lot of United fans are not quite giving Carrick his flowers, right now we are a Top 3 to Top 6 team with lots of options and great young players coming through like Lacey and Thwaites who will emerge this season.
Now add a proper left back like Lewis Hall, a mobile physical defensive midfielder like Camavinga, Kone or Tchouameni and a genuine striker who wants to compete for our number 9 like Watkins or Endrick and you have a Top 3 team that might compete for a PL, I use the word compete not win but those three positions with the right type of players definitely move the needle massively.
Right now if we started against hull and everyone is fit this would be the team and bench on fitness and current form;
Starting 11;
S Lames(GK), N Mazroui(RB), H Maguire(CB), L Martinez(CB), L Shaw(LB)
A Santos(CM), M Mount(8/BTB), Bruno(10), B Mbeumo(RWS), B Sesko(CF), P Dorgu(LWS)
Bench(9) : K Darlow(GK), L Yoro(RB/CB),
D Dalot(RB/LB), Y Tielemans(CM/8),
K Mainoo(CM/8) , Amad(RW/10/LW),
S Lacey(10/RWS) M Cunha(10/9/LWS),
M Rashford(RW/CF/LW)
Now add 2/3 more players and A Heaven, JJ Gabriel, T Heaton, MDL, when he returns and you have a squad of 26/27 providing you sell Zirkzee, Vitek and a few other under 21 players who clearly just doesn’t fit Carrick’s plans, he likes pace up front.
Right now we are ok, but add Lewis Hall(£70m), E Camavinga(£55m) and Endrick on loan with an obligation (£5m loan plus £35m). Thats a seriously strong flexible squad that have boundless youthful energy and the net spend this summer might only be £130-140m after selling Zirkzee, Ratek, Hojlund and sell on fee from Greenwood.
More importantly by hopefully adding Lewis Hall, Camavinga and Endrick you have players who will all still fit under that £200k per week wage ceiling and be hungry to improve and establish themselves in the game as a truly elite player.
1. Cement their place in the first 11 by playing well and competing with no guarantee of being a starter every game
2. Work hard to improve and then earn a new contract as they are young improving players.
I’m not so bothered by Tchouameni, think he’s massively overrated especially if he’s £90m and £300k per week, rather have Camavinga or Kone for £45-55m, Go all out for Lewis Hall for £70m then go get Endrick , I can’t ever forget the Bobby Charlton comment and think the boy is a star about to emerge and clearly Madrid just don’t want him, Get a loan with an obligation to buy completed for him before De Zerbi nicks him, he might be a genuine game changer in a year or two and is an instant upgrade on Zirkzee.
Liverpool had to break 2 transfer World records to win the league. Money doesn't guarantee success but it helps!
I agree with you regarding tactical flexibilty, and that only works with players who are real “players”. I think where we disagree is on Tchouamenis tactical acumen and flexibility. He’s got much more to his game than just tackling. In many ways I think his other aspects are quite underrated in the same way Casemiro’s were. No one expected him to be our best passer from deep, but he was excellent at that + a big goal scoring threat too.
Can't wait until the window closes. This is a non-starter
So who is that third player do you think?
Who says we'll get a third? I think there are no more signings unfortunately.
Nah no chance that's the case, you are definitely in a minority in thinking that without a doubt. Yes this deal looks unlikely, however when that's finally confirmed then we will switch to a Baleba/Camavinga/Kone heck maybe even Berge. So quite where you are getting belief we are done in early August from I haven't got a clue.
We will have at least 2-3 more signings (DM, LB, CF), 3+ outgoings (Zirkzee, Bayindir, Vitek, Collyer, Wheatley maybe Amass) and several loans (Chido Obi, Kamason, Thwaites, etc.)
I admire the optimism
Been a few briefs, Ornstein and Stone have said it after Tielemans Im quite sure.
Thought this was the Vini thread
If we don’t get a few more signings then we can kiss goodbye to another top three finish.
The squad is pretty bare when it comes to quality.
We absolutely need another midfielder, left back and striker, probably another central defender but have to be realistic that we are well stacked in that position - sadly the stacking comes from injury prone players who are only sporadically fit and even when they are they are seldom match fit.
So far our signings have been a Chelsea fringe player we bought for five times what they paid for him and a 29 year old getting a five year contract because we are still mugs despite what the club PR machine would have you believe.
The squad is pretty bare when it comes to quality.
We absolutely need another midfielder, left back and striker, probably another central defender but have to be realistic that we are well stacked in that position - sadly the stacking comes from injury prone players who are only sporadically fit and even when they are they are seldom match fit.
So far our signings have been a Chelsea fringe player we bought for five times what they paid for him and a 29 year old getting a five year contract because we are still mugs despite what the club PR machine would have you believe.
Why? We did it last season. You never know how a season will go. Did anyone think we were getting top 3 last season at any point until the last month or two of the season. Your league position is almost as much a reflection of all the other teams as it is your own form/quality.
To not even have Heaven on the bench is a terrible omission. Having such injury prone players as Mazraoui, Martinez, Shaw & Mount all in your first choice XI is just asking for trouble. You'll never have a settled side with that approach, that lot can't stay fit as a group for any length of time. Despite the quality of their play, they can't be trusted and must be rotation options at best. I'd much rather start with Dalot, Heaven & Mainoo - the players who just helped United finish third.
Without patent improvement at the positions mentioned (i.e. RB, CB & CM), continuity is even more important.
I think we were under the radar and had a free hit under Carrick thanks to Amorim’s shit show.
We won’t have that luxury this time. Will have to be on it a bit more.
This is not my selection, I’m merely stating that as things stand right now, this is the team that I see Carrick starting the PL season with?
If Martinez is not fit he’ll select Aiden Heaven but Carrick last year was happy to leave out Heaven for more experienced Options!
We are not
Barcelona is, then Spurs, then Madrid. I believe we're 4th
The difference is that Spurs, Madrid, and (to a lesser extent) Barcelona used much of their debt to get new or upgraded stadiums - so that incremental revenue *should* ultimately pay them back and make them stronger in the long run
All we got was the Glazers
From Theatre of Dreams to The Glazers Terminal Stadium
Well this could royally cock-up the domino-effect.
What domino effect, we're done this summer.
Domino effect? You actually believed that cock and bull story?
I hoped…
Says who
Pascell of the Caf
Tier?
Multiple tears
Think you've mistaken me for @croadyman
You'd think the domino effect might still be alive if Barca sign Rodri . Surely, given their financial situation, Barca would have to sell if they buy. Who, is the question?
Weird one here but how come his contract still hasn't been announced ?
They've already announced Vinis and they just agreed to it yesterday.
They've already announced Vinis and they just agreed to it yesterday.
I think it all depends about Rodri's situation. If they will announce Tchouameni's contract soon, for me it means Rodri is staying or going to Barcelona. Our only hope is that Rodri moves to Madrid. Without that Tchou is definitely staying.
From all the reports from Fabrizio and coming out of Spain that makes no sense though. They want to sell Camavinga and replace him with Rodri not Tchouameni and the reason they're penny pinching and out of the race is because he doesn't want to leave.
Hopefully Rodri goes to Barca. Tchouameni is so overrated
I haven't seen a ton of Bernal, but I wonder if we could get him - even if only on loan - if they can't get rid of Frenkie De Jong. He'd be our most natural backup to Santos. We don't have another 6'4 DM who has a Spain cap. Save us from spending 45M on Berge the last day of the window or some other nonsense that will eat up money we need for LB, LW, a backup #9 and another defender (some of which obviously we won't get to until next year, annoyingly);
And they wouldn't be sending him somewhere he'd have to play 45 games which they may not want at this stage with his age. 1300 minutes last year in all competitions. Maybe get a similar amount here if Santos is healthy all season.
More likely he starts every game for Celta or Betis, though.
Why hasn’t his new contract been announced liked Vini’s?
He hasn't signed one yet