I’m with you on this
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 13
- Assists
- 18
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Red cards
- 3
-
Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
What is all this Saudi stuff based on?
We need quality. It's really as simple as that. And Bruno is far better than any player we have. And even if we magically become wizards in the transfer market, he is probably better than the next 10 players we sign. Even from a ruthlessly pragmatic business point of view I don't think it makes much sense to sell him.
And then there's the bigger picture. He is by all accounts an excellent leader and team mate, the fans love him and he's a great example for the club. It's hard to put a price tag on this.
Lastly, the only ones capable of paying anything worth a consideration are the Saudis. If Bruno don't want to go there (which I suspect), then our only option is to try and force him out behind the scenes. If our club is this callous (which I doubt), can you imagine the damage this will do in the dressing room? Or for the club's public image?
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It’s not really as ‘simple’ as that tbh. We need the right qualities. We need a team. We do need quality, but we also need strength, we need speed etc, and we need different things in different areas on the pitch. Which is why this team would not have simply signed Mesut Ozil and put him in the centre of midfield on the basis that he has more quality than everyone else. Which he does (did). Bruno being ‘better’ than the next 10 players we sign is subjective anyway. Being a better fit is a different question. Would you compare G/A or ‘moments if genius’ when taking a decision of whether to replace Bruno with Camavinga, for example? If Bruno was sold, looking at our formation - I think it’s common sense to presume that he will not be replaced with the same profile of player. We’d either get a proper centre midfielder, or a proper forward. The benefits of which need to be considered against just the pure quality of either player, and even then - with the money we’d have, I’d expect the player to have quality too!
As for the second paragraph, it’s not hard to put a price tag. I think it’s easy, you make it a very high one.
Thirdly, obviously if nobody meets our valuation then he won’t leave. This is a changing of conversation. Nobody is advocating forcing him out (which we couldn’t anyway). The question is what to do in the event this suitable offer does arrive.
And again, even in this utopian world where we resist all offers, how many years do you think he has left here anyway? I don’t think a team miles off where it needs to be dismisses £100m+ offers for 31 year old midfielders without consideration.
The quality of any individual player in a team that finishes 8th then 17th isn’t really relevant. It’s a condemned project that needs to be started again anyway.
It's a good thing that Bruno has proven to be versatile then. He's not a specialist.
The problem is not selling him,the problem is I dont trust us to buy adequate replacement, we might sell for 150m and use the money and do two Antony type of transfer.
Without Bruno this season,we would have been flirting with relegation
Without Bruno this season,we would have been flirting with relegation
If you are a football agent, you dont want to piss Al Hilal off by not accepting a meeting with them, as Bruno's agent probably has other clients that he wants to sell to Al Hilal, and they are one of the top 3 clubs in Saudi at the moment. So he took the meeting with them, and he will present their case to Bruno. He can save face, and he can politely say, My client is not currently looking to change scenery, and he thanks you for the offer. Win-win for everyone. I'm sure that it's not only Bruno being discussed in these meetings, other players for sure.
It's a bit unsettling that this is 2 years in a row now that Saudi links have popped up. Last year, right before he signed that new contract with us. But I guess his agent has to make his money and has his clients' interests at best.
He wont go to Saudi and he loves the club. But I do think unless INEOS show some ambition in the summer then next season could be his last here. I hope I'm wrong and dreading the thought of it even being a possibility.
But he deserves better and deserves to be winning major honours. They can't afford to feck this up.
He deserves the Europa more than anyone else but he'll want to he playing champions league football
But he deserves better and deserves to be winning major honours. They can't afford to feck this up.
He deserves the Europa more than anyone else but he'll want to he playing champions league football
I'm not so sure, because we see with similar systems like Conte, who made Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso some of the best players in the league. I do think the more defensive security allows for a bit more leeway in players. I think in a 4-3-3, all your front 6 have to be good going forward and back for it to truly work. Maybe that's a naive view, but I think 4-3-3's get smashed to bits when they're not 100% and your back 3 formations can get away with meh performances that they don't lose.
I agree that he won't, but he stretches the pitch and creates the space for the attackers to come into. Your son's, mane's and rashford's were the threat in behind and also expected to finish it off too. I'm not sure there's too many players out there that do that. Also that does require a team to give you space in behind, which doesn't happen as often anymore, unless you willfully cede possession.
I do think your right with Bruno, it feels a bit like the England team discussion sometimes - he HAS to be in the side, but no one really comes up with an effective position for him or a balanced team and he doesn't obviously slot into this structure. He floats between 8-10, which is what a lot of good players do, but this system doesn't really allow for that for optimal performance. Fecked if I know the answer though!
My problem with Bruno is every time he is on the ball he tries getting a goal or an assist. I don't think there's another high volume risk taker like him. There's no patience or pause, so his decision making can be annoying. He's even worse than a younger De Bruyne at that. You can get away with it at club level when you're the main man as the #10 in a 4-2-3-1. With Portugal he plays as a CM and is a sideman.
I honestly don't see him replicating his club form for country until Ronaldo leaves. He'll be given the keys, so the play will go through him more. He'll get excused for the annoying parts of his playing style because he won't have a legend that fans expect him to play through when he gets on the ball. That will result in full freedom Bruno which should help his performances at the international stage.
Man Utd 4:1 Athletic Club
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Less of a clamour to take him off free kicks these days.
Record assist maker in the Europa league! Let's hope he gets a few more in a few weeks.
Ridiculous numbers.
19 goals and 19 assists this season.
For a team that has mostly been a total and utter shambles.
What a player he is.
For a team that has mostly been a total and utter shambles.
What a player he is.
20 and 20 would be such nice round numbers. Definitely possible.
Not great. Where would we be without him?
For once, I agree with you. Some very sloppy passes and lost the ball a few times carelessly. Definitely better when he dropped back into midfield.
Still our only world class player, obviously (with Amad and Yoro coming up the rails)
We've got four matches left to play. I assume he plays at least in three of those. He can go further.
I'd say he's the best midfielder in the league with Rodri out injured, taking into account advanced playmakers, deep playmakers or ball winning midfielders. De Bruyne has declined, Odegaard isn't better than Bruno (though is class himself)... Probably between Bruno and Palmer though I'd say Palmer is more of an attacker with Bruno more a midfielder now.
Love the guy in midfield too, just so good at it and he's really expanded his game.
Love the guy in midfield too, just so good at it and he's really expanded his game.
Was a bit quiet, I’m (obviously) not of opinion that he is our only good player. I think this is falsehood and detracts from others who are also important…however given how great he has been this year it is good to see that he can have off night and we win 4-1.
Man Utd 0:2 West Ham
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Very disappointing today - there was that moment after the Hojlund miss where he got the ball in our half and just hoisted a completely speculative shot towards their goal, in some weird, vain attempt at catching their keeper out. It came nowhere close.
I like Bruno and think he's been fantastic this year, but if we are offered 120k from Saudi, we should take it. Through no fault of his own, Bruno likely doesn't have a part to play in our moving back to the top. We're at least 3 years away (if we're being generous) and I honestly think we'd be better to take our medicine now and rebuild. That money for Bruno could buy you a top LB (Kerkez for example) as well as an attacker (who that would be, I'm not sure, but then it's not really job to know that.)
I like Bruno and think he's been fantastic this year, but if we are offered 120k from Saudi, we should take it. Through no fault of his own, Bruno likely doesn't have a part to play in our moving back to the top. We're at least 3 years away (if we're being generous) and I honestly think we'd be better to take our medicine now and rebuild. That money for Bruno could buy you a top LB (Kerkez for example) as well as an attacker (who that would be, I'm not sure, but then it's not really job to know that.)
Just such an over reliance on him. The players look to him at every opportunity.
There’s was at least 3 occasions when the cross could have gone in but instead they sent it backwards to Bruno.
He’s the best player in the squad but sometimes others need to step up and take responsibility. Passing it on to Bruno all the time is a detriment to the team.
Much like when a teams best player leaves, there is often an improvement. Happened all them years back after Everton lost Rooney they started climbing the table. And more recently look how good PSG have been despite Mbappe moving on
There’s was at least 3 occasions when the cross could have gone in but instead they sent it backwards to Bruno.
He’s the best player in the squad but sometimes others need to step up and take responsibility. Passing it on to Bruno all the time is a detriment to the team.
Much like when a teams best player leaves, there is often an improvement. Happened all them years back after Everton lost Rooney they started climbing the table. And more recently look how good PSG have been despite Mbappe moving on