Did we waste €200 million this summer?

Leftback99 said:
Our 1992-2013 success was built on buying the best talent from the lower clubs in the PL.

The type of moves we've gone away from in the last 10 years in favour of expensive flops from inferior leagues.

Premier league proven is huge but so many turn their noses up at it.
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Because the league is now awash with money and buying those players costs as much now as players from other leagues. See Rice and Caicedo prices. Sometimes buying from other leagues is cheaper also.
 
roseguy64 said:
Because the league is now awash with money and buying those players costs as much now as players from other leagues. See Rice and Caicedo prices. Sometimes buying from other leagues is cheaper also.
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Now it is but we've also blown our advantage we had over the rest in the last 10 years. Buying from other leagues might be cheaper but has mostly been a disaster for us.
 
Leftback99 said:
Now it is but we've also blown our advantage we had over the rest in the last 10 years. Buying from other leagues might be cheaper but has mostly been a disaster for us.
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Buying in general has been a disaster for us.
 
Waynne said:
Can't help but think in the hands of a competent manager these players would perform.
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Hojlund still think has 2 years of development in him. He just doesn't make the right runs and doesn't have the positioning yet. I do not think it's manager related.

Anthony showed in a much weaker league that he can perform, thing is, his confidence is 100% shot and most of the EPL figured him out so, unless he brings something new to his game, his career here is already ended, no matter who's the manager.

Casemiro, Varane and Martinez are non debatable, they should perform better in a functioning team, same with Amrabaat.
 
Worried about Rasmus but not hitting the panic button yet. 72m is a lot of money.
 
Another colossal waste of money, to add to Ole's trash heap.

Anthony, Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Sancho, Maguire = £450 mil worth of prime talent.

More than £100 mil a season we're splurging and not a single one would get into a Liverpool, Arsenal or City side.
 
The problem with Manchester United is that the club is run by amateurs. I looked at the transfers in and out since the 17/18 season at https://www.transfermarkt.com/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985, and ManUtd have spent a total of about 1.2 billion euros on transfers - 1.2 billion euros! They've earned about 290 million euros. That's a transfer deficit of more than 900 million euros! During this time, ManUtd finished 3rd twice, 6th twice, and 2nd twice in the league - currently, they are again 6th in the league table (and out of the CL). Of course, it must be noted that the competition with clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool is strong, although, for example, Liverpool has spent 'only' about 845 million euros (with about 460 million in transfer revenue) in the same period and achieved much more. By the way, Manchester City also had about 1.2 billion euros in transfer expenses in the same period but won almost everything. Manchester United has been inefficient with their budget for many years, whereas other clubs have done significantly better work. So, before shooting the next millions into the wind, maybe ManUtd should change the management or get a proper and wise squad planner (aside from the right coach).
 
We will keep repeating the same mistake season after season until the club and fans stop thinking marquee signings is the answer, it constantly puts us in a weak position with throwing money at players to come tonus for all the wrong reasons and then feel they are doing the club a favour just being signed to the club.

I want us to chase after the mid and lower table players that look like they are too good (outgrown) to be in such a side, no more madrid or Chelsea cast offs, no more overhyped dortmund players. No more trying to do battle for players with the current top European sides as the only way they choose us over them ends up being for the wrong reasons. Go and grab a mitoma who looks a real humble and hardworking professional on top of his quality, same with bowen who is constantly always racking up a good level of assists and goals in the premier league.
 
shaggy said:
Another colossal waste of money, to add to Ole's trash heap.

Anthony, Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Sancho, Maguire = £450 mil worth of prime talent.

More than £100 mil a season we're splurging and not a single one would get into a Liverpool, Arsenal or City side.
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In fairness Maguire has not been a big waste though not exactly a huge success either but he has had a couple good seasons here and after this current season we could probably move him on for a good fee as his reputation has gone right up again.
 
It’s not even the individual players but spending big on several positions while our overall game is as poor as before is baffling. We have no bigger plan, not on and not off the pitch.
 
roseguy64 said:
Because the league is now awash with money and buying those players costs as much now as players from other leagues. See Rice and Caicedo prices. Sometimes buying from other leagues is cheaper also.
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The cheaper abroad buys are getting more and more rare though. For the minor difference sometimes just go for proven.

Antony vs Bowen.

I reckon the latter would have been cheaper.
 
Lee565 said:
In fairness Maguire has not been a big waste though not exactly a huge success either but he has had a couple good seasons here and after this current season we could probably move him on for a good fee as his reputation has gone right up again.
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Why do you think we would move Maguire? The board must be jizzing over his resurgence. 1 less position to neglect and worry about for them.
 
ayushreddevil9 said:
Why do you think we would move Maguire? The board must be jizzing over his resurgence. 1 less position to neglect and worry about for them.
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Cause he is not that good, will be 31 next summer, entering his final year of his contract.

Which probably means we will give him a new contract in increased wages.
 
shaggy said:
Another colossal waste of money, to add to Ole's trash heap.

Anthony, Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Sancho, Maguire = £450 mil worth of prime talent.

More than £100 mil a season we're splurging and not a single one would get into a Liverpool, Arsenal or City side.
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Maguire had a really good first season, good 2nd season, then he struggled enormously before pulling out one of the best mental victories ever in the Prem to get back to where he is now. Its a bit unfair to call Maguire a waste.

On the other hand, if the objective is to win trophies (CL,PL) then every transfer so far has been a complete waste of time.
 
shaggy said:
Another colossal waste of money, to add to Ole's trash heap.

Anthony, Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Sancho, Maguire = £450 mil worth of prime talent.

More than £100 mil a season we're splurging and not a single one would get into a Liverpool, Arsenal or City side.
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As matter of fact, those are the price I would pay at that time, and its not even on hindsight of how they failed badly here:

Anthony - 40m, and thats already on high side base on his rather underwelming stats for a dominate side in a very poor league
Mount - we should wait for free transfer next summer
Onana - under 25m, and we should have bought him for free the summer before when ETH took over here anyway
Hojlund - I think 50m is fine for his potential, he is long term signing, but we should have got him for peanuts when we scouted him at Copehagen
Sancho - lets be honest, we all want him here, and most of us here thought 75m is a bargain
Maguire - 40-50m
 
Lee565 said:
In fairness Maguire has not been a big waste though not exactly a huge success either but he has had a couple good seasons here and after this current season we could probably move him on for a good fee as his reputation has gone right up again.
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Of course he has been a big waste of money. We overpaid obscenely for him. I agree, he had one good season and some decent phases but still - he embodies the mistakes we made. Letting a situation get so out of hand that you are forced to act. It is almost funny seeing we managed to "achieve" the same perk then again with Antony.

I don't really see the sense to evaluate stuff like that from hindsight. Lets try to make as few mistakes as possible right now and going forward. Bringing in Onana is only a waste because he struggles now. But in the summer, while it might have been a bit of a gamble, it certainly wasn't a mistake. He was named by Pep as one of the standout players in Inters CL run. And lets face it, Maignan or Costa would have been even more expensive.
 
NZT-One said:
Of course he has been a big waste of money. We overpaid obscenely for him. I agree, he had one good season and some decent phases but still - he embodies the mistakes we made. Letting a situation get so out of hand that you are forced to act. It is almost funny seeing we managed to "achieve" the same perk then again with Antony.

I don't really see the sense to evaluate stuff like that from hindsight. Lets try to make as few mistakes as possible right now and going forward. Bringing in Onana is only a waste because he struggles now. But in the summer, while it might have been a bit of a gamble, it certainly wasn't a mistake. He was named by Pep as one of the standout players in Inters CL run. And lets face it, Maignan or Costa would have been even more expensive.
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Put Onana's mistakes to one side and ask yourself, is the United team, especially defence and midfield, able to benefit from a ball playing goalkeeper?

The fact we have so few press resistant midfielders who are comfortable receiving the ball facing their own goal, tells me that we were never ready for a keeper like Onana.

It is a bit chicken or egg, but I think you improve the midfield first, then bring in the keeper. Ten Hag did it the other way round.
 
shaggy said:
Another colossal waste of money, to add to Ole's trash heap.

Anthony, Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Sancho, Maguire = £450 mil worth of prime talent.

More than £100 mil a season we're splurging and not a single one would get into a Liverpool, Arsenal or City side.
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At this time, non would get in a Liverpool side.

But if they had been signed by Liverpool, under Klopp's philosophy, and come into a happy dressing room and functioning team, then there is every chance most would have had success.
 
gaffs said:
At this time, non would get in a Liverpool side.

But if they had been signed by Liverpool, under Klopp's philosophy, and come into a happy dressing room and functioning team, then there is every chance most would have had success.
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Mount probably has the highest chance to be successful there.
 
gaffs said:
Put Onana's mistakes to one side and ask yourself, is the United team, especially defence and midfield, able to benefit from a ball playing goalkeeper?

The fact we have so few press resistant midfielders who are comfortable receiving the ball facing their own goal, tells me that we were never ready for a keeper like Onana.

It is a bit chicken or egg, but I think you improve the midfield first, then bring in the keeper. Ten Hag did it the other way round.
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Was going to argue with this post but thinking about it you're completely spot on. A ball playing goalkeeper is a luxury, we'd need comfortable centre backs, midfielders and full backs to ever benefit. I'm not convinced wan Bissaka, Maguire, Dalot, McTominay, or whoever else in our squad are comfortable enough in possession to ever make a ball playing goalkeeper worth it. What's the point having a GK get 100% pass completion if your players just lose the ball 10 seconds later anyway. Then you've got the basic goalkeeping errors when the ball comes back the other way too, it's just been a disaster of a signing.
 
gaffs said:
Put Onana's mistakes to one side and ask yourself, is the United team, especially defence and midfield, able to benefit from a ball playing goalkeeper?
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I think they definitely could be. Martinez is at least a level above Maguire and especially Lindelof so losing him and Shaw effected the backline pretty heavily. But I get your point, Onanas standout features are his ball playing ability. And currently, we aren't ready to play him to his strength. I am not sure though, if it would have made sense to go for different solution. I'd argue that you don't make any experiments in this position and you are only bringing in players you consider ready to be a longterm solution.

gaffs said:
The fact we have so few press resistant midfielders who are comfortable receiving the ball facing their own goal, tells me that we were never ready for a keeper like Onana.
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I agree, the odds weren't great. But to be fair, the midfield quality was also effected by injuries. And a few other systematic things. I see your point but who would you have gone for? Raya for 40 million? Diogo Costa or Maignan for even more money? There were no obvious candidates in my eyes (and still aren't). Onana is a good keeper and a standout in terms of ball playing ability. So it isn't like he hasn't something going for him. He fecked up a few times this season and he isn't perfect, I agree. And paying 50 million hurt a bit but it is the keeper, you don't try to save a few bucks with this. It seems his attitude is good, he is brave, good on the ball and his usefulness will increase even more the better we get as a ball playing team.

gaffs said:
It is a bit chicken or egg, but I think you improve the midfield first, then bring in the keeper. Ten Hag did it the other way round.
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Good point. There are few people who thought it may have been more sensible to stick to Henderson for another year and improve defense and midfield first. To be fair, ETH brought in Mount who (for sure) isn't hurting the teams ball playing abilities. Also Hendo was a bit burned and DDG was so bad with his feet that I understand ETHs wish to improve there.

I can understand though, that people come to another conclusion in this specific aspect.
 
GazTheLegend said:
Was going to argue with this post but thinking about it you're completely spot on. A ball playing goalkeeper is a luxury, we'd need comfortable centre backs, midfielders and full backs to ever benefit. I'm not convinced wan Bissaka, Maguire, Dalot, McTominay, or whoever else in our squad are comfortable enough in possession to ever make a ball playing goalkeeper worth it. What's the point having a GK get 100% pass completion if your players just lose the ball 10 seconds later anyway. Then you've got the basic goalkeeping errors when the ball comes back the other way too, it's just been a disaster of a signing.
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Bingo! We got it wrong with Onana as we just don’t have the squad to play to his strengths. Onana, or a young ball playing keeper, should have been brought in behind De Gea to push for and eventually take the job. As it is, Onana is now fukked in the head and he’s conceding a ridiculous number of goals. We pushed him into the fast lane if the autobahn and it’s not at all hard to see him take the same early off-ramp as Carroll and Howard who had a little something to their game but were in way over their heads.
 
Also I’m starting to think we wasted €200 million this summer. Mount could still come good, Højlund is one for the future but maybe we will see him as a bargain based on his Ballon dOr collection in 10 years time. But for now, yeah, kind of a bust.
 
Rhyme Animal said:
It was an almost unbelievably idiotic transfer window, as many pointed out and were shouted down.

I was stunned at not only how blatantly and obviously bad all of the outfield signings were, but also by how willingly people deluded themselves that they were sound deals.
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Said this in early November and stand by it.
 
It's not just the big singings but also the loan signings, we have sacrificed the opportunity for youth players to be given a chance in the side to then waste wages and loan fees on two players that are barely better than say fernandez and hannibal.
 
Majority of signings over the last 10 years have been a waste of money.
 
We've wasted obscene amounts of money. We could've kept players like Smalling, Evans, Herrera, Zaha, Dan James, and Lukaku and been no worse off for it (no, I'm not saying any of them are good enough to begin with, only they're no worse than what we have now)
We've not improved even a little from the £400m+ Ten Hag has spent. It's replacing mediocre players with more mediocre players for top tier prices. Players like Antony, Hojlund and Mount may have been ok squad players at £20-30m a pop, but £200m combined for that lot? Shambolic
 
roseguy64 said:
Because the league is now awash with money and buying those players costs as much now as players from other leagues. See Rice and Caicedo prices. Sometimes buying from other leagues is cheaper also.
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Not so much anymore when you see 70 million getting us hojlund, 80 million for Antony, 100 million for nunez, 120 million for Fernández and 65 million for szoboszlai.
 
Leftback99 said:
Our 1992-2013 success was built on buying the best talent from the lower clubs in the PL.

The type of moves we've gone away from in the last 10 years in favour of expensive flops from inferior leagues.

Premier league proven is huge but so many turn their noses up at it.
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How did the Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Schneiderlin, Sanchez moves go in your opinion?
 
2mufc0 said:
Majority of signings over the last 10 years have been a waste of money.
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It's hard to think of many signings we've made in that period that have undeniably been successes for more than a season or 2.

Bruno and Shaw are probably the main ones.
And even with them Shaw has had a few injured and poor seasons.
 
Sandikan said:
How did the Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Schneiderlin, Sanchez moves go in your opinion?
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Maguire overpriced but reliable for the majority of his time. I'd have bought him from Hull for £15m.
Wan Bissaka, ill thought out for how we'd like to play. Still far better than Dalot.
Sanchez never made sense (bought for the LW) ridiculous contract. Disaster.
Schneiderlin, thought it would have gone a lot better. Didn't lose a lot on him.

Just because we've bought the wrong ones because of our terrible management doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do. The likes of Mane, Mahrez, Stones, Grealish, Van Dijk are all transfers we could have easily made ourselves.
 
Leftback99 said:
Maguire overpriced but reliable for the majority of his time. I'd have bought him from Hull for £15m.
Wan Bissaka, ill thought out for how we'd like to play. Still far better than Dalot.
Sanchez never made sense (bought for the LW) ridiculous contract. Disaster.
Schneiderlin, thought it would have gone a lot better. Didn't lose a lot on him.

Just because we've bought the wrong ones because of our terrible management doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do. The likes of Mane, Mahrez, Stones, Grealish, Van Dijk are all transfers we could have easily made ourselves.
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You could just apply this logic to the signings from other leagues though.
 
Sandikan said:
You could just apply this logic to the signings from other leagues though.
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Maybe, point stands that domestic signings are what we mainly built our success on and far less risky. We can't afford it now anyway.
 
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