Centre Back... Who do we go for?

[In Rainbows]

I won't de-rail this any further, but I don't understand why you're separating the two arguments. They work very much in tandem. If you have a player who's not very good at defending and great going forward and playing left wing, why would you buy him to try and make him a left back? That would be like saying why don't we make Chong a right back because he's not better than what we currently have on the right - he's young enough to learn how to defend right?

I never said they were separate and you only have to be good at one. I just tackled two points because a modern fullback has two sides to his game and you stated he was wasted at LB (in attack) and wasn't good enough defensively. So if I believe Sessegnon is good enough in attack, then the only reason to believe he's not good enough to be a LB is due to his defensive inability. So yes they are a tandem when evaluating a fullback.

We have a need for a right winger. And Chong hasn't proven himself at first team level. On the other hand, Sessegnon has a lot of experience at LB. Fulham fans were bragging about how he can play all over the pitch last year. It's just that his attacking ability was so good that it was a waste for him to be a LB for Fulham. A better comparison is Bale rather than Chong. Difference is, Bale proved himself to be world class as an attacker. Sessegnon hasn't proven that yet so making him a LB isn't out of the question as it stands. Instead of looking at it as a waste of Sessegnon's ability, look at it as acquiring the best future attacking LB in the game. His twin brother is also a fullback but on the right side of defense.

Whoever signs De Ligt will have a top 3 future CB in their squad. I really hope it will be us but my gut feeling says we will miss out as usual and go for some crap player.

Bit similar to Varane. Signed at age 18 and he's only 25 right now. I hope we're in for him. Teams like Bayern are already starting to look toward the future and I feel we have a younger core of players compared to most big clubs at the moment.

 

[Random Task]

No that has been scrapped starting from this season.

If that's the case then we should make a beeline for Koulibaily's signature as soon as possible.

And De Ligt while we're at it. And Varane. We should definitely go for Varane. That French lad with the funny name, Umtiti(?), he ain't half bad either.

Let's do this.

 

[KingMinger22]

Maguire and Alderweild.

Need a right back, CM and right winger (Sancho) too.

With that in place, we should battle for top 4 better next year. I don’t think it’s realsitic to think we will close the mammoth gap in quality between us and City in one or two windows.

 

[jeff gurr]

Maguire in January is a must. I reckon the price quoted in the summer has come down and 55m will do it.

Get him settled in over the next few months, then go for a top European CB in the summer to play along side him.
Job done!

Not sure Leicester will want to deal in January as his replacement, Filip Benkovic is out on loan to Celtic & they must recall in the first two weeks or he is there for the season.

 

[Nick.]

Frustrating that we are being priced out of signing Koulibaly. He could have a huge impact on the end result of our season.

 

[mu4c_20le]

MEN thinks Woody wants de Ligt, and is willing to pay the Koulibaly money for him. No idea if theres any truth there but i'd be delighted with it.. this is why we gave Smalling an extension. Suddenly we are young and exciting again.

 

[onemanarmy]

MEN thinks Woody wants de Ligt, and is willing to pay the Koulibaly money for him. No idea if theres any truth there but i'd be delighted with it.. this is why we gave Smalling an extension. Suddenly we are young and exciting again.

That would be the perfect scenario.

 

[damageinc.]

Diego Godin will sign for Inter from next june. Almost done according to Di Marzio.

 

[Infra-red]

MEN thinks Woody wants de Ligt, and is willing to pay the Koulibaly money for him. No idea if theres any truth there but i'd be delighted with it.. this is why we gave Smalling an extension. Suddenly we are young and exciting again.

Likely to be a future great, but I'm loathe to give that fat slug Raiola any more money.

Ultimately, I think he'll end up elsewhere.

 

[Adnan]

MEN thinks Woody wants de Ligt, and is willing to pay the Koulibaly money for him. No idea if theres any truth there but i'd be delighted with it.. this is why we gave Smalling an extension. Suddenly we are young and exciting again.

According to Bleacher report..

 

[minoo-utd]

Surely we need to sign someone this month?

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Surely we need to sign someone this month?

We have 5 CBs I am pretty sure we can survive the rest of the season.

 

[Rafeeq RSA]

De Ligt please.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

We should sign Koulibaly now then loan him back to Napoli until the end of the season. Other clubs do this, we never seem to and risk losing the player.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

We should sign Koulibaly now then loan him back to Napoli until the end of the season. Other clubs do this, we never seem to and risk losing the player.

Would be great to see us get Koulibaly any way and if this is the approach to get him then so be it.
I read somewhere Napoli supposedly want £135m. Will we pay that much if it is true, I was willing to go to £120m but the price may change by the end of the season. By doing this they are supposedly trying to over price him got anybody. Would you be willing to pay anywhere near £135m for him?

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Would be great to see us get Koulibaly any way and if this is the approach to get him then so be it.
I read somewhere Napoli supposedly want £135m. Will we pay that much if it is true, I was willing to go to £120m but the price may change by the end of the season. By doing this they are supposedly trying to over price him got anybody. Would you be willing to pay anywhere near £135m for him?

It sounds an insane amount of money but as he's just signed a new contract they hold the cards. I don't think we should pay that much if it's true.

 

[Eric's Seagull]

It sounds an insane amount of money but as he's just signed a new contract they hold the cards. I don't think we should pay that much if it's true.

I couldn't see Woody forking out that much money. I said before I would go £120m. £135m is very steep but I think I'd just push it that high. Although there is a chance if we were to agree on £135m, they might demand more right at the end. The bit you mentioned in bold is correct and gives them the upper hand and a massive bargaining tool.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I've been watching this lad for the alittle while and he looks a top prospect. He just turned 19 afew days ago and isn't someone that could be relied upon immediately. But someone could pick him up for a reasonable fee due to him being at Toulouse. I could see Dortmund picking him up and selling him on in a few years for a very high fee.

I hope we tried to sign him, eventhough Barca got him. Looks more impressive than Milenkovic and many of the other supposed wonderkids. Physically dominant and can deliver a good pass for sure. Not many of those around.

 

[TrebleFan99]

We have 5 CBs I am pretty sure we can survive the rest of the season.

Our CBs don't have the best fitness records so I wouldn't be so sure. Either way 'surviving' is just not good enough for Man United.

 

[TrebleFan99]

MEN thinks Woody wants de Ligt, and is willing to pay the Koulibaly money for him. No idea if theres any truth there but i'd be delighted with it.. this is why we gave Smalling an extension. Suddenly we are young and exciting again.

I would be thrilled with either signing - including a loan back for the rest of the season if necessary. There's a real buzz about the club again and a big transfer announcement would give everyone another lift imo

 

[mostar94]

It's worrying 3 managers in and we still can't recruit the correct CB to sort us out. Hopefully it doesn't take another 3 to sort out the RW position.

 

[Nirv]

With our current CB options and often porous defence, I often wonder which one of our past CBs (if we can turn back time) can slot right in and make an immediate difference. There are Rio, Vidic, Stam, Pallister, Bruce etc.

A prime Rio is the one always on my mind. His elegance on the ball, intelligence in reading situations, staying on his feet, not needing to jump into tackles, and leadership at the back are traits I always admire and long for in our current CBs.

De Ligt, Skriniar and Koulibaly seems to be the most discussed targets but which one of them has such traits? I know there will never be another Rio, but I guess I’m unconsciously always longing for us to have someone similar eversince he retired.

Varane is probably the closest I have seen, but also the least obtainable unfortunately.

 

[Member 115509]

I keep thinking that it is unlikely that United will make signings in this window, unless the identity of the next manager is already known. To give Solskjaer money to spend on a few players now when you don't know if the manager who is going to be in charge next season will want them doesn't make sense, unless OGS is staying on permanently.
Either that or he will be restricted to loan signings.

 

[Seven Seas Sardines]

We have 5 CBs I am pretty sure we can survive the rest of the season.

Four of whom are injured, and two who are permanently injured. Need to get Rojones and Darmian + cash swap with some gullible Italian club. Fiorentina, Inter or Napoli?

We need a LCB since the only one we have spends his days burning toast, and it seems Skriniar and Milenkovic prefer to be on the right.

 

[BlueHaze]

I'd go for these with the first being top priority. De Ligt/Koulibaly/Škriniar/Milenkovic.

 

[Adnan]

John Van Loen was a former Ajax and Dutch NT player. Hopefully De Ligt takes notice..

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Devil may care]

John Van Loen was a former Ajax and Dutch NT player. Hopefully De Ligt takes notice..

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I've been a big fan of John van Loen since I read this tweet.

 

[Sanche7]

I keep thinking that it is unlikely that United will make signings in this window, unless the identity of the next manager is already known. To give Solskjaer money to spend on a few players now when you don't know if the manager who is going to be in charge next season will want them doesn't make sense, unless OGS is staying on permanently.
Either that or he will be restricted to loan signings.

Not if the player we buy we absolute top class say like Koulibaly. We lack a WC CB and for many people he's the best in the world right now, can't see any manager not playing him

 

[Sanche7]

I'd go for these with the first being top priority. De Ligt/Koulibaly/Škriniar/Milenkovic.

We seem to be going hard for Koulibaly, at least that's what the papers are telling us. So that kind of rules out De Ligt if you ask me, no way are we signing two 75 million plus CBs, especially when we still need a RB, LB, CM, RW, DM
I can see us shipping out Rojones to sign two new CBs and going by rumors, it could be Koulibaly and Milenkovic who could cost 120-140 million combined

 

[red thru&thru]

Tuanzabe is doing well for Villa. I really believe we should give him these next 5 months to try him out. But that is probably just a selfish point of view. Could be better for him to start a fresh in the summer as he’s getting plenty of game time at mo.

 

[Kostov]

Tuanzabe is doing well for Villa. I really believe we should give him these next 5 months to try him out. But that is probably just a selfish point of view. Could be better for him to start a fresh in the summer as he’s getting plenty of game time at mo.

I think he should stay at Villa for now. Sell Rojo and let Jones leave in the summer, and give him one of the spots in the squad, along with 1 or 2 new CBs signings.

 

[red thru&thru]

I think he should stay at Villa for now. Sell Rojo and let Jones leave in the summer, and give him one of the spots in the squad, along with 1 or 2 new CBs signings.

Yea, makes sense. Will stagnate his progress if we recall him back now. New CB, Lindelof, Smalling, Bailly and Tuanzabe. Great mix of youth and experience. I believe we’ll also go for a new CM which could mean Matic dropping back in the odd games, especially for league cup games and any potential rubber stamped games.

 

[ArjenIsM3]

I've been a big fan of John van Loen since I read this tweet.

Yeah, not a clue who he is but top bloke

 

[Adam-Utd]

De Ligt + Koulibaly in the summer would be absolute heaven.

Seems unrealistic.

 

[Adnan]

Tuanzabe is doing well for Villa. I really believe we should give him these next 5 months to try him out. But that is probably just a selfish point of view. Could be better for him to start a fresh in the summer as he’s getting plenty of game time at mo.

Tuanzebe is injured and won't be back for a couple of months.

 

[In Rainbows]

Tuanzebe is injured and won't be back for a couple of months.

Think he should be back the end of February.

 

[red thru&thru]

Tuanzebe is injured and won't be back for a couple of months.

Oh ok. Shame. Was in a rich vein of form by all accounts.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

De Ligt + Koulibaly in the summer would be absolute heaven.

Seems unrealistic.

Not really, Liverpool managed to buy Van Dijk.

I think we can agree that we need TWO new centre backs. None of our current crop are good enough.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Not really, Liverpool managed to buy Van Dijk.

I think we can agree that we need TWO new centre backs. None of our current crop are good enough.

Southampton are a bit different than Ajax or Napoli TBH.

I think Lindelof / Bailly are potentially good enough, but we do need an improvement on the other side.

 

[RuudRuud]

If you let Mourinho spend 400 Milion, you should at least be able to spend 80 million or whatever sum is needed to buy de Ligt.
Just buy for the future, United has a great and talented group of players now. Go for it.