Centre Midfielder Transfer Links

I think Sander Berge would be a good signing. Looks a more natural replacement for Casemiro than most. If were bring in a Baleba or Anderson would be good to have a more experienced midfielder knocking about.
Not convinced hes top quality but think he'd be a useful player to have in the mix
 
Chelsea appears to be under heavy pressure financially. They will have to sell. If they don’t make it into the CL you could make a case for Caicedo.
 
Not convinced hes top quality but think he'd be a useful player to have in the mix

I don't understand this thinking.

United need top quality if they're to compete at the top of the table.

If they're not top quality then better save the dosh for someone who is.
 
I don't understand this thinking.

United need top quality if they're to compete at the top of the table.

If they're not top quality then better save the dosh for someone who is.
Not so much. We need top quality sprinkled through the team and good players who'll do a job and help balance out them world class players. I'm not convinced there is a midfielder who is really world class on the market. Anderson and Baleba could become top tier but neither are at this moment and baleba hasn't even been good this season.
I'd still go for baleba or anderson or that potentially world class midfielder first. But the second midfielder would be a good pro who fits the team and our needs and is a safe bet - so berge.
 
I'm not convinced there is a midfielder who is really world class on the market.

You're correct there, but most the very top teams do have at least one world class CM.

Anderson is at least nearer to that. Berge clearly isn't and won't ever be.
 
Just like the Striker position there's a dearth of very good and available midfielders in the market.Apart from the obvious ones like Aanderson,Baleba and Wharton. Has anybody watched Fulham's Berge and Forest's Sangare?I have been impressed the little time I watched them,especially Berge.

We might have to spread our tentacles and search in Europe
 
You're correct there, but most the very top teams do have at least one world class CM.

Anderson is at least nearer to that. Berge clearly isn't and won't ever be.
I think if your looking for a better version of berge your talking about rodri. Who isn't available obviously. Berge seems as good a bet as anyone in that position, in that role. By all means give anderson a go but i dont see us taking 2 gambles like that. He's a different kind of player and i suspect his best midfield partner would be someone like berge anyway.
I'm not saying target berge instead of anderson. I'm saying target him as well
 
I think if your looking for a better version of berge your talking about rodri. Who isn't available obviously. Berge seems as good a bet as anyone in that position, in that role. By all means give anderson a go but i dont see us taking 2 gambles like that. He's a different kind of player and i suspect his best midfield partner would be someone like berge anyway.
I'm not saying target berge instead of anderson. I'm saying target him as well

Sander Berge is only at 56th percentile in the Premier League for Pass-Adjusted Tackles+Assists per 90.

Presuming you're taking him for his ball-winning, his ball-winning is good, but not incredible by CM standards.

Even out of less fashionable 27 year-old PL players, Janelt and Stach both have arguably better defensive stats than Berge, as well as being similarly strong in the air and generally having more strings to their bow in terms of their overall game.
 
Sander Berge is only at 56th percentile in the Premier League for Pass-Adjusted Tackles+Assists per 90.

Presuming you're taking him for his ball-winning, his ball-winning is good, but not incredible by CM standards.

Even out of less fashionable 27 year-old PL players, Janelt and Stach both have arguably better defensive stats than Berge, as well as being similarly strong in the air and generally having more strings to their bow in terms of their overall game.
Not especially. I'd expect fletcher to have won the ball more and made more tackles than carrick in previous teams. I'd be looking to buy a carrick - so i dont necessarily expect his tackle stats to be noteworthy. I'd be actively looking to avoid bringing in a ugarte for instance who probably has great tackling stats. Maybe interceptions would fit more? Aerial Challenges i expected to be fairly measurable and that looked strong and passing which was better than expected.
I'm going off the eye test more than anything in terms of positioning and timing with challenges i guess.
Not as impressed by janelt but I think he's the kind of player we should be looking at for a second midfielder. Barely watched leeds this season.
 
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Been a few links to Lucien Agoume from Sevilla over the past 24 hours, I can’t say I’ve watched anything of him as Sevilla aren’t what they were a few years ago so if anyone would like to fill us in on him ?
 
Been a few links to Lucien Agoume from Sevilla over the past 24 hours, I can’t say I’ve watched anything of him as Sevilla aren’t what they were a few years ago so if anyone would like to fill us in on him ?
We were linked with him last summer and before he moved to Inter.

From what I remember last summer, quite a few said he isn't very mobile.
 
I think Sander Berge would be a good signing. Looks a more natural replacement for Casemiro than most. If were bring in a Baleba or Anderson would be good to have a more experienced midfielder knocking about.
Not convinced hes top quality but think he'd be a useful player to have in the mix

Remember when we were linked with Berge the summer we went for Ugarte, and he went to Fulham? I was really hoping we'd go for Berge, as I felt he was a pretty decent player.

Half the price of Ugarte wasn't he?
 
Mamadou Sangare at Lens looks like a very good player, the exact type of player we watch go to another Prem team and instantly look like he's good enough to play for us.
 
We were linked with him last summer and before he moved to Inter.

From what I remember last summer, quite a few said he isn't very mobile.
He is still at Sevilla.

I think he is on a list as backup to Baleba, as a cheap alternative I wouldn't be against, I trust Vivell to select the correct profile for us.
 
Mamadou Sangare at Lens looks like a very good player, the exact type of player we watch go to another Prem team and instantly look like he's good enough to play for us.
Have we been linked to him?

Always quality Cms in France.
 
He is still at Sevilla.

I think he is on a list as backup to Baleba, as a cheap alternative I wouldn't be against, I trust Vivell to select the correct profile for us.
He should be above Baleba on a shortlist
 
I think if we get Champions League football you could argue that we need 3 CMs with Casemiro and hopefully Ugarte leaving.

Anderson would be my number 1 choice & Baleba number 2 (if he costs under 50 million)

Wharton has moved down my list as I think he fades a lot throughout games and has a few fitness issues.

I’d be looking at Sangare from Lens, Sangare from Forest, Fernandes at West Ham (if they go down) as our 3rd signing
 
What we absolutely should not be doing is approaching the market with this ‘partner for Mainoo’ approach. Mainoo is a third midfielder for me, not the first one or two. Football matches pass him by too frequently, and he has great ability but doesn’t add enough in any phase of play for me.

As a de facto first XI regular - it would need to be in an orthodox midfield 3 without a traditional 10. As one of the deeper two with a 10, a squad/development option for me.
 
What we absolutely should not be doing is approaching the market with this ‘partner for Mainoo’ approach. Mainoo is a third midfielder for me, not the first one or two. Football matches pass him by too frequently, and he has great ability but doesn’t add enough in any phase of play for me.

As a de facto first XI regular - it would need to be in an orthodox midfield 3 without a traditional 10. As one of the deeper two with a 10, a squad/development option for me.
I agree, this is something a lot of fans don't like to admit. Overall he's been alright since Carrick has taken over but I think the praise has been overblown slightly and he still has so far to go to be a CM we can rely on to win titles.

Maybe that's me wanting him to be a midfielder he isn't but he doesn't seem to want to dominate and control games. He has the tools to do it - he's press resistant, he's composed, his passing range is improving - but he takes the safe option passing backwards/sideways far too much and seems content at not being involved in the game. Yesterday when we were struggling to break Palace down he did what McTominay was accused of doing a lot in almost hiding from the ball, whereas he should be constantly moving, making space and demanding the ball.

I don't think he has warranted nor is he developing sufficiently for us to be thinking about how we "build the team around him", so I agree, we should be signing 2 new CMs with the view of them starting. What I'm not saying is we disregard how these players could work with Kobbie as all 3 will need to rotate and it is a factor, but we should be looking at it as signing 1 starting CM and 1 back-up CM because of Kobbie.
 
What we absolutely should not be doing is approaching the market with this ‘partner for Mainoo’ approach. Mainoo is a third midfielder for me, not the first one or two. Football matches pass him by too frequently, and he has great ability but doesn’t add enough in any phase of play for me.

As a de facto first XI regular - it would need to be in an orthodox midfield 3 without a traditional 10. As one of the deeper two with a 10, a squad/development option for me.
I agree with you.

He doesn’t grab the game by the scruff of the neck so to speak.

He has huge potential and in some games he can be great for us but too often it’s quite easy to forget he is playing in periods of the game (abit like Mount)
 
AS are saying we've get informal talks with Bruno Guimaraes and Tonali agents. Them along with Anderson are primary targets with Wharton and Joao Gomes back to options
 
What we absolutely should not be doing is approaching the market with this ‘partner for Mainoo’ approach. Mainoo is a third midfielder for me, not the first one or two. Football matches pass him by too frequently, and he has great ability but doesn’t add enough in any phase of play for me.

As a de facto first XI regular - it would need to be in an orthodox midfield 3 without a traditional 10. As one of the deeper two with a 10, a squad/development option for me.
Yeah i think mostly agree. I think he's been quite good in recent matches and happy for him to play, I think he's good enough, but i'd still want 2 starting quality midfielders. He's good enough to compete, not to be a de facto starter. I probably agree about him ultimately being a 10 or a 3rd midfielder too.
I would give some consideration for how they fit with mainoo because we have a lot of games, he'll probably play a lot.
 
I really like Alex Scott of Bournemouth, think he would be good competition for Mainoo, have been linked to him.
 
This from the gossip thread.

Juventus could be prepared to sell Dutch midfielder Teun Koopmeiners but want at least 30m euros (£26m) for the 28-year-old, who has been linked with Galatasaray and Roma. (Tuttosport - in Italian), external

I remember people suggesting him a few years ago. Don't know what he is playing like now.
 
AS are saying we've get informal talks with Bruno Guimaraes and Tonali agents. Them along with Anderson are primary targets with Wharton and Joao Gomes back to options
Hmmm apparently that Edu Burgos who reported this is considered reliable for South America so maybe something in links for Guimaraes and Gomes
 
This from the gossip thread.

Juventus could be prepared to sell Dutch midfielder Teun Koopmeiners but want at least 30m euros (£26m) for the 28-year-old, who has been linked with Galatasaray and Roma. (Tuttosport - in Italian), external

I remember people suggesting him a few years ago. Don't know what he is playing like now.
He's too slow and not physical enough for PL football. Was no success at Juventus, I guess his ceiling is a club like Atalanta.
 
AS are saying we've get informal talks with Bruno Guimaraes and Tonali agents. Them along with Anderson are primary targets with Wharton and Joao Gomes back to options

Bruno G would be an insane signing if we can make it happen. He'll be 29 in Nov, so I'm wary of spending big money on an aging player.
 
I think we need to be very careful with our choices. Signing midfielders from clubs like Nottingham Forest where there primary job is to hustle and play the ball forward quickly for a counter attack is very different to our needs when teams sit deep. We definitely need a player with legs but even more so we need a player that can unlock defences and dictate play. We need to think very carefully this summer
 
I think we need to be very careful with our choices. Signing midfielders from clubs like Nottingham Forest where there primary job is to hustle and play the ball forward quickly for a counter attack is very different to our needs when teams sit deep. We definitely need a player with legs but even more so we need a player that can unlock defences and dictate play. We need to think very carefully this summer

Anderson plays for Forest, yet is very clearly capable of unlocking defences with his passing.


What we absolutely should not be doing is approaching the market with this ‘partner for Mainoo’ approach. Mainoo is a third midfielder for me, not the first one or two. Football matches pass him by too frequently, and he has great ability but doesn’t add enough in any phase of play for me.

I am starting to wonder this with the way he's been playing lately. But the key thing still is though to get him to sign that blasted new contract before he's shunted in to a rotation option. If United sign the 2 or 3 new CMs which they really need to this summer, but with Kobbie not yet having extended, then he might end up throwing his toys out the pram again at being on the bench sometimes and refuse to put pen to paper.
 
Bruno G would be an insane signing if we can make it happen. He'll be 29 in Nov, so I'm wary of spending big money on an aging player.
Yeah think that age bracket will put them off
 
Anderson plays for Forest, yet is very clearly capable of unlocking defences with his passing.




I am starting to wonder this with the way he's been playing lately. But the key thing still is though to get him to sign that blasted new contract before he's shunted in to a rotation option. If United sign the 2 or 3 new CMs which they really need to this summer, but with Kobbie not yet having extended, then he might end up throwing his toys out the pram again at being on the bench sometimes and refuse to put pen to paper.

Good point and we need to test this before next season.
 
I think we need to be very careful with our choices. Signing midfielders from clubs like Nottingham Forest where there primary job is to hustle and play the ball forward quickly for a counter attack is very different to our needs when teams sit deep. We definitely need a player with legs but even more so we need a player that can unlock defences and dictate play. We need to think very carefully this summer
I had the same misgivings until I watched him play for England, I think he plays better with better players and would be great for us.