"One of the best signings we could make"
Boubacar Kamara | Signs for Aston Villa
- Thread starter Adnan
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I think the fact him being free is what's driven some to suggest he's the answer. Has anyone actually watched him play, and moreover - would they still be interested if he weren't available on a free?
We shouldn't just sign every player who's on a free. Granted we're light in midfield, but its possible that we (and I potentially include Ten Hag's assessment) have come to the conclusion he's either not good enough or not what we need?
We shouldn't just sign every player who's on a free. Granted we're light in midfield, but its possible that we (and I potentially include Ten Hag's assessment) have come to the conclusion he's either not good enough or not what we need?
He looks good in highlight videos, his stats are very good, he's young, going on a free AND plays in a position we've been lacking in for years, one which we desperately need two signings this summer, with a limited budget to spread across many struggling areas..
Yeah, it's fair to see why people would question us missing out on this one. But hey, we could have tried, who knows? I think he'll do well for what it's worth.
Yeah, it's fair to see why people would question us missing out on this one. But hey, we could have tried, who knows? I think he'll do well for what it's worth.
He's signing for Atletico Madrid, who have a much better team and midfield than us, I'm sure if he's a good enough option for them he could have managed to squeeze his way past Mctominay.
Are you actually serious? There are a million reasons why they don’t want him, and at the top of them is probably the fact that he is Boubakar Kamara. Not Aurelian Tchouameni, Declan Rice, Frenkie De Jong or any other midfielder who is recognised as a top quality midfielder. If it were one of them, there may even be a greater basis for bemusement as to why we would not be interested. Turns out, barely any other club of note is interested either in Kamara, and I doubt they have all just missed the memo that he is free.
And I doubt they ‘get it wrong’ nearly as many times as you do. What makes you so qualified to determine that we must sign him? Do you have extensive scouting reports?Do you have dedicated scouts living in France watching all the games since he made his debut? Or have you just heard that he’s free?
Its not necessarily as simple as that though. Remember Gaitan? The Benfica midfielder we were perpetually linked with for years? Well he eventually got a move - to Atletico (who at the time were also a better team than us with better midfielders) and he was a massive flop.
You mean someone like Frenkie who does not actually want us? And some are really missing the point of posters wanting the club to sign this guy. In a inflated market like the football transfer market, you really need to be an opportunist and snatch good players when they are free. Juventus have been doing this for more than a decade, and you see the likes of Madrid doing it more and more often. So when you have a team with a midfield consisting of Fred and McT, not sure what is so shocking when fans are calling for a smart free transfer.
Are you actually implying that the fact that a 25m euros rated CDM is available on a free should have zero significance to a football club operating on a budget with a midfield consisting of Fred and MCT?
Naturally, common sense would dictate that if Frenkie is our first choice and we cannot get him, then we will move to the next choice. The next choice will of course be the next player that WE WANT. The price and availability of Kamara is completely irrelevant if he is a footballer that does not interest us. As is the same for Juventus, or any club with common sense. They do not pursue and then sign out of contract players whom they are not actually interested in.
Precisely.
If the club and the manager have decided he's not a worthwhile target then that should be that. We tried a scattergun approach to signings with previous managers in the last decade or so, it hasn't worked. The fact he's available on a free and we need midfield targets doesn't mean we should pull all stops to sign him.
Have I feck, never even watched him play and he's exactly what we need!
What is to say Kamara hasn't already rejected us now he has the chance at CL football next year?
We could do a Chelsea on it and kidnap one or two of them and force them to sign for us.
This might also be a possibility, in which case it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't be having a meltdown over us not going for him.
I've had enough frustration with average midfielders to not care about his signing. We need to proper first team midfielders, he is not that, he is not the DM we need right now.
The price and availability of said players is always relevant unless you play career mode on fifa and you can always load the last save. The price and availability of a promising CDM like Kamara should have relevance to a team like United who has absolutely shambolic midfield, needs a CM. a CDM, needs a Striker/Winger, at least one full back and a CB. Yeah unless you think we have a budget of 300m yes opportunities like this one should be exploited.
The price and availability of a player we do not want in our squad is and will always be of zero relevance to us. Naturally.
It's not the end of the world if we don't get him. I'm surprised we've not made a bigger effort to sign him, when Rice is supposedly well regarded within our recruitment team. A real value signing, but I imagine ETH fancies another player for that role, so fair enough.
Such as?
Based on what? Nothing I’ve seen points to this nonsense.
Tbf it is not the same club as it was then, very different
What have I missed here?
It's the classic: make up a scenario that hasn't happened and then proceed to get angry about it.
Well in fairness the biggest rumours have been De Jong, Tchouameni and previously Rice. All really good players sure but hardly need much scouting. And everything at the moment suggests we might get none of them. If we go into next season without a decent DM option again Ten Hag will struggle to make it out of his first season. I think also the fact this lad could cover at CB as well was appealing.
People just want a defensive midfielder, after needing one for years and seeing countless DMs passed up for other positions that don't suit us. With Kamara, it makes sense on so many levels that it's annoying to see us not interested. Just like it was annoying not to be interested in Guimaraes when analytically, everything about him looked perfect for United, and yet, 0 interest. Lo and behold, Newcastle sign him for a low price, and he is absolutely smashing it in his first half season and would walk in our midfield.
Considering the amount of work we need in our team, you want to see some smart signings to address problem areas. Declan Rice isn't happening. Tchouameni isn't happening. De Jong is our hope, but there is a long way to go and he's not a DM anyway. Kessie on a free is gone. Brozović extended his contract. Mazraoui on a free is gone. Gravenberch on a cheap deal is gone. United over the years just keep missing out on the no brainer deals (like when so many wanted Fabinho over Matic yet the club went for PL proven Matic), and it's part of the problem. I have a lot of optimism in us going forward, but it gets dented when we keep missing out on smart transfers.
The problem is I doubt our scouts have either. I doubt our scouts watched much of Guimaraes before Newcastle signed him despite him being gold from an analytical standpoint for the past year. I doubt they watched much of Fabinho when they passed him up to sign Matic at the end of his career.
Agree completely. Beginning to fear no CDM this year either.
Where’s Tchouameni going?
De Jong for 80mil springs to mind, and he doesn't even want to come here.
This is all an ‘in principle’ argument, but in reality, if Kamara is a player we have looked at and decide we do not rate, then he is simply not a ‘smart signing’. At least not in the club’s eyes. He’s only in that category if we think he’s a good enough player, but we seemingly do not, which would then make his price of little relevance.
I’m sure the people at the club are not completely brainless in that if Kamara was considered one of the best DMs by us and was free that we would not enquire. We should pursue who we want. We can speak about no-brainer signings if we like. I’m sure there are several cheap/free defenders Liverpool could have signed instead of spending 75m on Van Dijk, but they wanted that one, so they bought that one. The club is active in the market and nobody is saying we are unable to pursue our targets so if we have to spend some money then so be it.
But Kamara does?
Prove it.
Liverpool is the strongest rumor
That's fine to reserve judgement until the end of the window and I get your point. Put it this way, I have doubts that we'll address it properly. De Jong would be a fantastic signing if it happens, but it still wouldn't address the issue (and lack of depth). And I don't see us spending 200m. So I guess "we'll see".
I promise you scouts working at a professional football club in the Premier League have seen a lot more of these footballers than blokes on the Caf. Fabinho and Bruno Guimares were hardly unknowns playing in the arse end of Russia or something.
Didn't say it was.
But a highly rated young midfielder on a free at a time where our squad needs an overhaul just screams logic to me, obviously I and many other here haven't scouted this guy extensively, which is why I'd hope a club like United have been, but them sticking with McFred for the past few years doesn't fill me with confidence that they know what they're doing.
Going by media reports we're yet again chasing big money moves like FDJ but we need to invest in smarter buys too, complimenting cheaper buys with the expensive one, seems like we're going to be losing about 5 players on free transfers this summer alone and will only be able to sign 3 if we're going for 50m+ players.
Neither is Nkunku, yet all the stories came out how we haven't been scouting him at all. And if they had properly seen them, it doesn't exactly make sense why we didn't show interest in them when they would address a position of need for a reasonable price. Whether it's the scouting, scouting being ignored, recruitment team ignoring "smarter options" in search of the dream option like Rice for 150m... It's been an ongoing issue, and one that led to United having the highest transfer spend and massive wages with nothing to show for it.
“All the stories” being an article from Mark Ogden, despite the fact that one of our scouts was part of the team that took Nkunku to PSG.
Not sure how there's 17 pages for a guy we have no links for.
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