McTominay might be of interest but as an addition to Rice and Soucek.
Declan Rice
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Bruno - Rice - De Jong
My ideal 3 cm trio.
Rice to shield the back line and defend. But still against parking teams can be like Rodri for City. Come up higher in the attack.
United and every teams that play 433 and total football. Shall have RCM and LCM. Like De Bruyne and Iniesta.
Bruno and De JOng are not on the top class yet. But both of them are really close and high up there with the best.
But De Bruyne and Iniesta had a lot a lot better teammates in Messi, Xavi and Busquets. De Bruyne with City teamates.
Adding De Jong and Rice. Those 2 players will lift the level of United collective up. The qualities and level of United teammates up. Then naturally the collective will become better too.
My ideal 3 cm trio.
Rice to shield the back line and defend. But still against parking teams can be like Rodri for City. Come up higher in the attack.
United and every teams that play 433 and total football. Shall have RCM and LCM. Like De Bruyne and Iniesta.
Bruno and De JOng are not on the top class yet. But both of them are really close and high up there with the best.
But De Bruyne and Iniesta had a lot a lot better teammates in Messi, Xavi and Busquets. De Bruyne with City teamates.
Adding De Jong and Rice. Those 2 players will lift the level of United collective up. The qualities and level of United teammates up. Then naturally the collective will become better too.
IF Erik feels the likes of him, Timber at CB/RB & Antony at RW are the right choices then annoying as it is we should wait
Summer 2023 saga 
We should go all in for this kid.De Jong and Rice combo would be one of the best in Europe.
Yeah strong possibility of thatSummer 2023 saga
This is a pretty fair analysis. Him and FDJ would have made a good double pivot but we would need someone better than Bruno (in terms of possession control and creativity) ahead of them. Eriksen springs to mind. Bruno could still be useful from the right or at False 9.
Summer 2023 saga
Next summer sorted then
(i reaaaaally hate transfer sagas)Maybe we will be smart and actually get it all agreed by next summer,highly unlikely though due to jeopardy of where we finish.Next summer sorted then
Felt for ages he'll end up at Chelsea, and I still feel that way. Not this summer though.
Or just hear me out, maybe we will be smart and actually walk away from this hype job that is going to cost us over 80 million.
Nothing would make me happier! But i do not trust this club to suddenly negotiate fast or before transfer window open to be honest.
Yes instead we sign other midfielders for £75m instead which we don't need over a DM priority, which everyone seems to accept.
I'd rather have Rice now, than FDJ and bring in Eriksen.
That makes much better sense.
Hype job. Who should we sign instead?
Yeah, if he leaves West Ham I can only see it being for us. Thought maybe City would be our primary competition for him next summer but now they’ve bought Kalvin Phillips.
Kante and Jorginho are both out of contract at this time next summer so we will 100% rebuild our midfield then with Rice the obvious target. I’d be shocked if he isn’t a Chelsea player in summer 2023.
Yeah his best mate is at your place
Not Rice for sure. We have scouts who are paid thousands to identify talent, not my job.
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Glad our rumours with him have dried up.
Still not convinced, we should look elsewhere if someone similar is available.
Hopefully the French produce another wonderkid the next year.
Hopefully the French produce another wonderkid the next year.
Who would you go for out of interest?
He already declined an 8 year contract extension. His current contract is through at least 2024, with a club option through 2025.
Earliest he'll leave is next summer and should do another West Ham to Chelsea move like many before him. 10 years as a Hammer then becomes a Blue.
Earliest he'll leave is next summer and should do another West Ham to Chelsea move like many before him. 10 years as a Hammer then becomes a Blue.
United needing a more defensive midfielder relative to their style and formation was much more urgent under Mourinho and Ole. But it is projecting to be a totally different approach under EtH, which requires different players, in midfield and as a team overall.
City and Liverpool play with a back 4. Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal currently play with a back 3 and wing backs. United seemingly will play with a back 4, as they don't have proper wing backs nor enough cover at CB (considering they want to sell Jones and Bailly, and Tuanzebe's future very uncertain at United).
So a player of Rice's profile, one who doesn't venture too forward much and hasn't had to play in front of 2 CBs or with 2 other orthodox central midfielders, may not fit at United.
FdJ would be the building block of any current and future United midfield. The strengths he displayed for Ajax under EtH and for his national team, which he enjoys the best and is at his optimal level, should be complimented accordingly. And Rice wouldn't do that.
Not sure what formation ETH will go for with the players he has at his disposal at the start of the season. I’ve read a few times that he sets the formation to suit the players he has. But if we ever did want to play 4231, Rice would be the ideal double pivot partner for FDJ. They have very complimentary attributes for that formation.
I'd say he might need to run down his contract to get a move, with the price West Ham will be asking for him. Never a 100m player.
Offer them Scott Mctominay in exchange and they'd probably want 120 million.
I think the same. He'll have West Ham over a barrel if he doesn't sign a new deal by then. With one year plus an option left, they'd have to cash in to get as much as possible for him.
Unless Utd go in and submit a ridiculous offer for him this summer. Can't see that happening though.
Of all the rumours, I wish this one would die the most. I'd have Di Maria back over Rice. FdJ vibes.
There's a youngster at Saint Ettiene who could potentially be that player. He's still 18 but is showing immense potential as a midfielder who can pass comfortably with both feet but also has the physical and athletic capabilities to manage the game against the opponent's transition whilst defending a large space.
And that player is Lucas Gourna-Douath
I’d sell Fred & McTominay and use it help fund a move for Rice.
De Jong, Rice, Bruno, Donny, Eriksen & Garner would be a very strong midfield set.
De Jong, Rice, Bruno, Donny, Eriksen & Garner would be a very strong midfield set.
I still hope we’ve been counting the pennies for Frenkie to get Rice with him.
Thank you, hopefully someone from ligue 1 takes a shot at him so can keep an eye on the lad.
Hopefully we be proactive and go for him if he's up to par.
Absolutely not.
I rate Rice very highly and think he's special, but signing de Jong now is likely a one-time opportunity. Not to mention that he can play in a 2 with all of McTominay, Garner and Fred, especially the first 2. Later on we could easily add Rice to the midfield if he wants to join and the price is reasonable (either with 1 year left next summer or as a free agent in '24). I'm obviously not saying de Jong is the best midfielder in the world, but he would be such a great foundation that we could build upon for the next couple of years, and he's so unique, that I don't think there's anyone else I'd take over him right now.
Fred and McTominay has been decent. Helped us get second place, and most important of all right now they seem loyal to the manager. Not the kind of guys that'll get carried away acting all insubordinate. I get that we're sick of seeing them at this point but they'll likely be very good as more of a supporting cast I'm sure. Donny and Eriksen might be very unreliable and inconsistent as backup players.
No, just No, they’re fvcking dreadful and indicative of all that’s gone wrong with our club.. decent ? Is that the standard now for our midfield that have had absolute warriors and true legends gracing that position? The sooner this dross is out of our club then maybe, just maybe we might start becoming a proper football club again
Yeah would do that but club won't entertain it
Yeah absolutely nailed it with this post
Rice ventures forward quite a lot actually, carries the ball well. Problem is he can't usually do much with it when he gets there because he's scared to shoot and his passing isn't the most creative.
And I don't really know what you're on about regarding the bolded bit, he plays in front of a back 4 almost exclusively at West Ham and often with England too, and he usually has Soucek and a no 10 of some description in midfield with him as well for West Ham i.e. 2 midifelders.
It's scary how people's standards have fallen so low, they can utter those words
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