If we follow your logic, we would have never bought Martinez.
Cody Gakpo | OFFICIAL: Liverpool player
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We had 2 injury-free CBs in Lindelof and Maguire with a hope that Varane will stay injury-free. Clearly there was a space for Martinez. Currently we have Sancho, Rashford and Garnacho for one spot (not 2 as in the case of CBs).
If we are going for Gakpo then we need to move someone, in my opinion.
However and not who standing the above, if this is what ETH is pushing for then I will trust him. All his signings so far are great.
City have Haaland and Alvarez as number 9s and Silva/Mahrez/Grealish/Foden for two wide positions.
We have no number 9s because Martial is crocked and Rashford is a winger not a striker. Gakpo is as well of course so the question of whether he'd be more suited as a number 9 is important, but whoever it ends up being we have to sign a proper striker who will score goals or there will be zero chance of top four.
The CB options was different , we were crying out for a new CB . Lindelof and Maguire were our CB’s last year for the majority of the year because Varane was constantly injured .
I think some people are judging him on more than that - he was also poor in both legs vs Arsenal and Rangers for instance.
Yes I'm hoping this is agent talk or paper fabrication. Unless Utd have a bottomless pit of money to spend on players in Jan and next summer then it should be put to more needed types of players.
Rashford was useless last year and Sancho was underwhelming at best. We need better attackers just like how we needed better centre backs.
Why would we go by the first half of the season? We have 2 fit strikers right now. And yes Martial is more injury prone than your average striker, for sure, but saying that “he has shown no assurances he can remain fit for more than a couple of games” is rather absurd. History did not start on the 7th of Aug 2022.
Huge sample of games
Well it’s even more absurd to bury your head in the sand and pretend what’s consistently been happening doesn’t happen again. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s been injury prone.
Martial is currently fit and Rashford has played a lot as a striker in his career. The “we have no number 9s” statement is absurd. And if we have no #9s now, we’ll also have no #9s with Gakpo so back to square one.
Like I said, City had only an out-of-favour Jesus as striker last season and played with KDB or Gundogan as false 9, yet they won the league. It might be suboptimal, okay, but it’s nowhere near the level of tragedy some make it out to be.
CF - Martial, Rashford
LW - Gakpo, Garnacho
RW - Antony, Elanga
I’d be happy enough with that until summer.
LW - Gakpo, Garnacho
RW - Antony, Elanga
I’d be happy enough with that until summer.
Martial misses an average of ~12 games a season through injury (*). A quarter of the season. If saying that he will likely be available for a most of the second half based on all precedent, is an absurd statement or me burying my head in the sand, then I’d like to see what you’re basing the assertion that he can’t stay fit for more than 2 games on.
* based on the last 4 seasons. He was healthier before. The most he ever missed was 17.
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Swap Gakpo for Sancho and you literally have our current options. The suggestion that Gakpo will come in and be better than Sancho, is based on absolutely nothing.
A lot of the people that were expecting Sancho to come in and replicate his Dortmund form, are now expecting Gakpo to come mid-season and replicate his PSV form. Chances are slim. Different league, different level, different team. I’d rather persist with the young player we already have and that we shelled out 70m for. At least until the end of the season that is.
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Elanga over Sancho?
Just drop ETH an email mate. Let him know we don’t need anyone, we good.
This is like when we were chasing Rabiot and when that failed we ended up signing our plan B in Casemiro!
Plan B is significantly better than Plan A!
We have no number 9s. Martial will be lucky to start 5 games in the second half of the season because he will spend most of it injured.
Nothing, other than Sancho's abysmal form since coming to United, and Gakpo being the best player in the Eredivisie.
Yeah it's a different league, so what? RVN, RVP, Robben, Suarez all came from the Eredivisie. But so did Depay. De Bruyne came from the Bundesliga, but so did Sane, Schurle, Werner, Havertz, Mkhitaryan and Kagawa. And now Sancho.
If ETH thinks Gakpo is the best option for us in January and sees a long term number 9 there, then best to trust his judgement, especially when the short term stop gap options - Depay, Moussa Dembele etc - are shit.
I'd rather keep Sancho than buy Gakpo
What on earth are you talking about?
Something about that seems so weird it makes me think we was just preparing for signing him on free next summer.This is like when we were chasing Rabiot and when that failed we ended up signing our plan B in Casemiro!
Okay, if you say so
None of what any of us say here is based on what ETH thinks. We are not privy to his thoughts. He was interested in Gakpo according to sources but nothing solid has emerged since we signed Antony. Since then Garnacho has emerged too. We don’t know if we’re still interested. It’s all generated by the fans and the player’s side at the moment.
If he’s still interested in Gakpo, I’m sure the club will support him and we’ll support him and the player too. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own opinions. I don’t see a striker’s skillset in Gakpo based on what I’ve seen of him, not at EPL level for sure. That’s my opinion.
Your suggesting in your initial reply we don’t need anyone as a replacement for Ronaldo based on the number of options we have. I disagree simply because your looking at quantity over quality.What on earth are you talking about?
It’s been pretty clear Rashford is much more comfortable and effective on the left than he is as ST. Even though he can create problems as a ST, he’s not prolific enough for us to rely on him for goals. He will play most of games from the left leaving Martial our main option as striker praying he can stay fit.
Right now there is clearly something wrong with Sancho. In 18 months we’ve had no run of performances from him to show we can be confident with him. Just moments and goals in games where he’s been mostly anonymous.
Elanga is simply not good enough for me to consider him a good option other than backup to fill a spot ineffectively.
We should not be in a position where we are relying on a teenage Garnacho to perform for us every week.
Martial, Rashford, Antony and Garnacho are our only reliable forward options who have shown performances that are good enough. That is certainly not enough to compete on all fronts to the end of the season.
Meh. Gakpo isn't really what we need. We need a physical 9 who can hold the ball up.
So easy to wind a few up
Gakpo and Leao are named as main targets for Ronaldo replacement, and it is very confusing.
Based on Transfermarket stats, both of them play on the left wing for their clubs, most of the time. A lot of forwards can play as striker if necessary, once in blue moon, but they are not strikers and do not play as strikers.
Why are we targetting another Rashford, at best?
Based on Transfermarket stats, both of them play on the left wing for their clubs, most of the time. A lot of forwards can play as striker if necessary, once in blue moon, but they are not strikers and do not play as strikers.
Why are we targetting another Rashford, at best?
Maybe ETH is planning to permanently use Rashford as a CF which would be a mistake in my opinion. So then he'd need to get in a new LW to replace Rashford in that position. But who knows.
Not true, not even close to being true.
To be fair, he is not ETHs type of player. He will be shine in more fast paced direct football.
You "forgot" Sancho?
This head-in-sand situation with #9 reminds me when the entire world knew we needed a proper DMF for years and the only ones we had were old Matic (compare to always-injured Martial) and pretend-DMF McT (compare to out of position Rashford). Then we finally bought a world class DMF in Casemiro and you can clearly see the difference.
We need a proper striker. It is our #1 priority. We have problems in other areas as well (for example: right back) but there is no doubt at all that we need a #9 above anything else!
The only reason EtH should be signing Gakpo is if he believes Gakpo is currently underutilized and wants to transform him into #9. It's a huge gamble but at least it is a plan. Buying Gakpo as a left winger and not buying a striker is insanity
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What I take from it is 2 scenarios. ETH wants Gakpo to come in and be our primary LW player and utilise Rashford as a striker more often. Or to use Rashford as LW and mould Gakpo into a roaming striker to utilise his finishing ability. He sure knows how to strike a ball. From short or long distance.
I think it's more a case of Gakpo is available and willing to join us this winter. We'll then have plenty of squad options across the front 3 and one would hope enough firepower to qualify for the Champions League next season - this will make us far more attractive to a top drawer striker who likely isn't available right now. I think people here need to zoom out a little to then see that Gakpo and Rashford will, long term, compete for that LW inside striker role. Meanwhile, maybe we'll go get Kane or Mbappe or etc etc in the summer when we can offer Champion's League
Gapko will cost a helluva aot more after the WC than next summer.
With glazers putting the club up for sale, will they allow any additional spending?
With glazers putting the club up for sale, will they allow any additional spending?
Personally don’t think he’ll be able to make the transition between positions if he’s being bought for the 9. Having said that, the links to other left wingers, although not from the highest rep sources, indicate it’s Rashford who’s being moved to the 9 and we’re looking for a winger to replace him.
This is what looks most likely to me. Especially based on reports earlier in the season when Rashford was trying to find some form again and he apparently requested to ETH to play him centrally. I believe it was for the Liverpool game. So even though Rashford seems to be more effective from the left he does have the appetite to play as striker. I think a front 3 of Gakpo, Rashford and Antony could be a nice fluid combo with Antony and Gakpo having the ability to supply from both sides.
Really enough goals for top 4?
Have to get Champions League first
Partly on a wind up but yeah.
Would be fluid and very interesting to see how MR and Cody would interchange, but I just don’t think if we want to be back among European royalty that Rashford (or Gakpo) at the 9 is what’ll get us there. If it’s one thing this World Cup has shown is that just plugging in wide players as 9s does not work, and he’s had enough games at the position (albeit each run of time there he’s been asked to do something a little different) to have a large enough sample size to show he doesn’t have the feel for playing with his back to the ball. Even this season, after his return to form, he still looks 10x more dangerous on the wing than up top.
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