I'm at a point where any midfield signing is welcome as the ones we have right now are underwhelming at best. From what little I've seen of Zakaria, he seems like an athletic footballer. I remember in the Villa match, one of their first attacks was when Buendia dribbled into the box to have a shot. Fred ran with him but couldn't dispossess him due to lack of upper body strength. The ones who have the strength like Matic and McT don't have the speed to catch up with dribblers like Buendia. If Zakaria can stop attacks like that from happening with his athleticism then he'll be a useful addition, especially for the prices reported. I know we all want the Fabinho/Fernandinho type but January is not the window for those players and we are desperate.
Denis Zakaria / signed for Juventus
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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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Would take Denis Nilsen if it means the end of McFred.
Yes please.
He has a lot in his locker.
We've already got Hannibal in our club. We don't need two meat-eaters.
You mean he's as crap as Ter Stegen, De Bruyne, Haaland, Son, Havertz, Mane, Gundogan and Firmino?
Apparently putting together an 80 mil package for Haidara of Leipzig
Who does he play for?
Full Sutton prison. At least he did until he died.
I liked him in Laughter File and It’s Alright On The Night.
What are you talking about? He played about 80% of the time this season, when he missed it was mostly due to minor injuries. He is on the market as he thinks he is ready to go for a bigger club now.
I was for signing him last summer ... Gladbach wanted 30m but I was sure we could get him for like 20 (my idea was rather get him for 25 than an premier league player for 50m-80m who's only slighlty better). This thread is funny to me. 2 years ago he was like in the Top 5 if not top 3 of the players people wanted us to sign for a dm.Most of them never saw him play and i felt like he gets overhyped a bit now its the opposite he's suddenly not good enough to even consider and I bet there are only a handfull of people who actually saw him play a full game and not just highlights.
Would take him in a heartbeat
Zakaria and Tchouameni. Then play 4231.
No team will ever outwork or bully our midfield again.
No team will ever outwork or bully our midfield again.
Yeah would absolutely take that but definitely feels like Utd are dithering on what to do about the midfield issue
Yes, I remember. I watched him a couple of times when the hype was there, he was decent I thought, powerful runner with the ball. His passing accuracy is around 90% too, even though he keeps it simple a lot. I’d be happy with him for 5m definitely.
Yeah anything between £5m-£10m we should be all over in my opinion
We need about 2 midfielders and a CB with Pogba leaving. I think it makes good business sense to get Zakaria who can play as a CB and a CDM from time to time. Haidara and Tchouameni/ Kamara would be my two midfielders which would leave us with Fred, MCT, Haidara, Tchouameni/ Kamara, and then Zakaria can play as DM when either Tchouameni/ Kamara is out. The work rate of all these players (Zakaria, Haidara, Tchouameni/ Kamara) in midfield along with quality is immense.
Zakaria - 5m
Kamara - Free
Haidara - 35m
Tchouameni - 55m
Tchouameni is a quality midfielder and even if we ditch him, we could still get 3 quality midfielders for approx. 40m. That's just ridiculous.
Zakaria - 5m
Kamara - Free
Haidara - 35m
Tchouameni - 55m
Tchouameni is a quality midfielder and even if we ditch him, we could still get 3 quality midfielders for approx. 40m. That's just ridiculous.
Need to sign this guy. He's the best out of all those you mentioned. Throw monaco a £40m bid and see what happens.
I fear that our yankee leeches don't see the same need for a drastic rebuild like we do
Tchouameni is the one I want. If we can get both then sweet, otherwise I’d rather pass on Zakaria
The catch is that without a quality midfield addition we aren't getting CL football, Tchouameni and Rice are highly sought after midfielders and we aren't getting either in a shootout with then CL clubs. If Zakaria is the best we can get then it makes sense to get him if only to add a rotation option.
You realise that we have too many players and that we had to sell Dan James and not register Phil Jones for the Champions League?
Is he a DM though?
As we usually do, we are going to pass on bargains, and finish the season with McFred.
According to the MEN, we aren't signing him or anyone else this month, probably because we are going looking to Jadon Sancho-ise Declan Rice in the summer, sign him for close to 100 million, sit back and watch him be shite.
Why would you take a punt on someone for a fraction of the price when they don't grab as much headlines?
Why would you take a punt on someone for a fraction of the price when they don't grab as much headlines?
Instead of buying a player who won't improve us in the slightest??
Because our recruitment is sh*t and our scouting network useless. Expect the usual PR about scouting 1000 players and discovering the little known Declan Rice, just like our amazing scouts noticed Maguire turning up unnanounced in an England shirt. AWB, what can one say about a player less suited to be a modern full back. Ralf needs to become DOF, not a consultant, and build a recruitment process as he did for Red Bull, a focus on youth. To include a full overhaul of our your system. The money we spend on a Pogba on fee and wages should deliver 2-3 young talents or relatiely unknown buys at least.
Except it really isn't though.
I mean, God forbid we bring in talents like Amad, Mejbri, Juarado, Fernandez, Garnacho to the youth setup based on scout recommendations,
Maguire and Bruno both very good signings for the first team despite people's agendas.
We actually do have a very good scouting setup contrary to redcafe beliefs.
What agenda are you referring to?
An agenda to want to see the captain of Manchester United and the world's most expensive defender put in regular performances of a high-class level rather that what we've seen so far?
COme off it. If you throw 100 darts blind you get the occasional double. Sure, I am exaggerating a bit but not that much. I like MAguire more than many on here, but just another example of where we play top dollar fee and wages for the obvious targets. I mean, there was not a similar quality centre back in global football for half the price? It is not just our scouting but the lack of a coherent strategy or football philosophy. Look at the City and Chelsea academies and conveyor belt of talent. We are so far behind that. It doesnt need big money compared to teh stupid wages we pay to players.
So no, we dont have a very good scouting network. AWB and Maguire show that. I like Rice but again is there noone in world football that may be a good talent? I have no agenda.
Why do people keep defending the club and Woodward? I dont get it. We are appalling run at all levels.
An agenda whereby our most consistent defender of the past two seasons gets recognised for it, rather than chastised for a handful (and it really has only been a handful) of poor performances.
The agendas spouted on here recently have really been embarrassing, people flit from one scapegoat to the next depending on who they don't like that month, it was McT for a while, now he's playing well, it was Maguire for a while (despite our defensive fragilities without him in the side) and now it's Rashford.
The fact he is our most consistent defender of the past two seasons is faint praise to say the least, when he hasn't been close to what should be the desired standard.
Other players being even worse than him is not much of an argument.
Chelsea's academy has been consistently of a high standard, only for a small minority to ever make it at the top level.
Cities academy is exactly the same, we are beginning to see some players in the first team squad but generally they don't stand a chance.
United recent recruitment in youth has been excellent, some real finds and talents with expectations that they will be part of the first team soon.
As for a CB, there really wasn't a huge selection, yes we over paid but the position we were in at the time meant we had to.
You should really have a read up on United's scouting network, as it really is impressive, it just seems to be the go to argument for anyone looking to throw shade at the club that it's not.
I think you are confusing some points here. My main point is our scouting network (and all football decision making) is poor because we claim to scout 1000s of players but then sign the most obvious targets (Maguire, Sancho, maybe Rice) or ones that are bafflingly poor or we decide cant play (AWB and VDB). THe odd gem like Fernandes does not offset this.
As for Maguire, I like him but frankly no way has he justified the fee. No way. He has not brought solidity and organisation to our defense, he is so far from say VVD. Again we could have paid half for a similar standard.
In your opinion, despite starting near enough every game when fit for both club and country?
Must be doing something right.
You don't scout 1000s of players for the first team, you scout globally in general.
Like City buying Grealish, did they pretend to scout players but just decide on Grealish as he was the obvious target?
You buy players for the first team to improve the squad, players like Amad, James at the time, Mejbri etc were all brought in with a view to be in the first team in upcoming seasons, whereas the likes of Sancho et Al were brought in to improve the team straight away.
I'm not sure I disagree with any of this to be honest!
I am sure he is, be it training or talking a good game on Instagram, but the fact remains he has been nowhere near good enough on the pitch for quite some time and there is little to suggest that is changing anytime soon.
Given the world-record fee (!!!!!!) involved and the low standard of his performances, he is a genuine candidate for one of the worst signings in the club's history.
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