Dybala or Fernandes

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elnorte

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I know there's been some debate so to whether both players could be accommodated productively in the same team without negating either one or the other's best qualities.

However, if you could only choose one of them which would it be? I'm leaning towards Fernades personally due to his apparent superior versatility and also because I'm more convinced he'd like to join United than Dybala which is a quality that should not be undermined.
 

Snafu17

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I feel like we need some energy at 10 if we're going to play Pogba in a midfield 2. So I would prefer Fernandes. Ideally both.
 

Steven-UK

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Both if they are available.

Neither are proven in this league so it would be a gamble for each one, but I'd go all in for them.
 

2 man midfield

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I’d prefer both, but if it came down to it I think we need a CM slightly more.
 

charlenefan

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Fernandes

I was thinking about this earlier and right now I'd be happy with Maguire in and no one else but of the 3 Bruno is the one I'd want next. I know very little about him but from what I've read on here he ticks all the boxes. I created a thread on why I'm not sure about Dybala which was cruelly closed :(
 

Van Piorsing

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We've lost Herrera and Lukaku is heading to Italy. Both are needed and it's logical why, but if I could only go for one, in the end it's Dybala also for the sake of providing Pogba a player which he'll develop best understanding on the pitch.

That being said Bruno would make our attack and transitions extremely fluid. That choice is seriously killing me as this team have so much holes in a creativity department.
 

bosnian_red

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Genuinely dont understand why anyone would want Bruno Fernandes over Dybala. Most likely they have the wrong image of what Bruno Fernandes actually is.
If we play a 4231 or a 4312, they'll basically play the same position. That's as the #10. So assuming Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Pogba and McTominay are the other 5 attackers/midfielders, how can anyone e look at that and think we need Bruno Fernandes more?

Dybala is far more proven, in a bigger league, while there is less than a year between them in age. Dybala has far more talent and potential talent ability for the level that he can reach. Dybala is far better technically, and a better goalscorer, and far more dynamic than Bruno.

Bruno Fernandes is a good player, don't get me wrong, but it's very much up in the air what his level actually is, and whether he could perform well in a tougher league, let alone the premier league. He previously played at Udinese and Sampdoria as an actual midfielder and didn't do all that well, and went back to the Portuguese league with Sporting, where he played as a #10. The same position that Dybala would play in. Last season he had a great season, but one that is very unsustainable from a statistical point of view because of how much he over performed in terms of his shooting. So many shots from range turned into goals because of shite goalkeeping in the Portuguese league and against weaker opposition. He has Memphis mk2 all over him IMO. A decent player who had a great output in a weak league but won't be able to transfer that to the Premier League, especially not if he's asked to play as an actual midfielder (as that's not his best position). Postion wise for him, think Eriksen type of player. In terms of play style, a looser, less refined, much more shot focused rather than creative version of Eriksen. That's not at all what we need and I just think he'd flop here, partly because of the type he is, but also a large part because his type isn't what United need right now. Would suit Liverpool more in their set up IMO.
 

Kill 'em all

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Dybala is the much better player and has proven himself at the highest level. We can play him as a striker.
 

WR10

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It’s not even close.

Dybala and Pogba together is in a tier of its own. There’s no ‘if’ about them elevating our attack. There is a massive ‘if’ about Bruno working with a Pogba in midfield
 

Igor Drefljak

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If I had to go for one, it'd be Dybala, but honestly, why not both?
I think we can fit them all into the same system, even with Pogba.
It'd require work rate, team work and an attacking, high line style of football, but it could be put together
 

Jacob

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Genuinely dont understand why anyone would want Bruno Fernandes over Dybala. Most likely they have the wrong image of what Bruno Fernandes actually is.
If we play a 4231 or a 4312, they'll basically play the same position. That's as the #10. So assuming Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Pogba and McTominay are the other 5 attackers/midfielders, how can anyone e look at that and think we need Bruno Fernandes more?

Dybala is far more proven, in a bigger league, while there is less than a year between them in age. Dybala has far more talent and potential talent ability for the level that he can reach. Dybala is far better technically, and a better goalscorer, and far more dynamic than Bruno.

Bruno Fernandes is a good player, don't get me wrong, but it's very much up in the air what his level actually is, and whether he could perform well in a tougher league, let alone the premier league. He previously played at Udinese and Sampdoria as an actual midfielder and didn't do all that well, and went back to the Portuguese league with Sporting, where he played as a #10. The same position that Dybala would play in. Last season he had a great season, but one that is very unsustainable from a statistical point of view because of how much he over performed in terms of his shooting. So many shots from range turned into goals because of shite goalkeeping in the Portuguese league and against weaker opposition. He has Memphis mk2 all over him IMO. A decent player who had a great output in a weak league but won't be able to transfer that to the Premier League, especially not if he's asked to play as an actual midfielder (as that's not his best position). Postion wise for him, think Eriksen type of player. In terms of play style, a looser, less refined, much more shot focused rather than creative version of Eriksen. That's not at all what we need and I just think he'd flop here, partly because of the type he is, but also a large part because his type isn't what United need right now. Would suit Liverpool more in their set up IMO.
You have a few fair points about Bruno being an unknown quantity but look at B. Silva. I wouldn't say the French league is far better, he managed to become one of the PL's best players right off the bat still.
 

bosnian_red

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If I had to go for one, it'd be Dybala, but honestly, why not both?
I think we can fit them all into the same system, even with Pogba.
It'd require work rate, team work and an attacking, high line style of football, but it could be put together
Personally wouldn't want both. Dybala would be a dream signing, Bruno Fernandes would be meh. If we sign Dybala and Maguire, what we need for our midfield would be a top holding mid IMO. Having Martial, Rashford, Dybala, Pogba and Bruno Fernandes in the team together just wouldn't work, not even with Kante as the defensive mid. Having Martial, Rashford, Dybala as the 3 main attackers and Pogba as the main creative mid can work in a few ways, but pretty much every way would need the other 2 players to be defensive minded or work horses and foil players, not another creative head who has license to roam. Getting Bruno Fernandes to be a support player would be a Fred level flop IMO. Just not the role that he's actually excelled in at Sporting (being the focal point of every attack, having the freedom to roam, a pure #10). Not to mention that I have very big doubts if his season last year would actually be able to transfer to the premier league. So many of his goals came about due to awful goalkeeping/defending and broken plays that just wouldn't happen anywhere close to as often in the premier league. Still a good player, but he's being ridiculously hyped because of his stats, and those stats just wouldn't transfer, similar to how it didn't for Memphis.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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In term of versatility, Dybala is more versatile. He can play as a no 9, no 10, fales 9 & on the right. Bruno on the other hand plays as no 8 or no 10.

I think it depends on how we play as well. If we are playing 4231 like how we play so far in pre season, Dybala is more suitable to put him in that no 10 role & we can also use him on the right & no 9 role. Bruno also suit on that no 10 role but that's it, he will only play one position & less versatile.

If it's based on last season where we play 433, Bruno is probably more ideal than Dybala.

I'm more towards Dybala since we are likely to play 4231 based on the pre season & it's likely to be straight swap deal. The player does show some respect to us last year on Twitter though.
 

Fooza

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I'll be honest I haven't watched Bruno at all (apart from youtube) to even make a judgement between the two. I'm surprised a lot of people on here seem confident enough that he's good/even better than Dybala. I'll take both, seeing as Dybala is a swap with Lukaku and see how well he does for us.
 

bosnian_red

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You have a few fair points about Bruno being an unknown quantity but look at B. Silva. I wouldn't say the French league is far better, he managed to become one of the PL's best players right off the bat still.
French league is definitely better than the portuguese league, but also Bernardo Silva went from the portuguese league to developing at Monaco for a few years until that breakout year with everyone where they won the league ahead of one of the top teams in Europe and reached the Champions League semi finals. In that team, he looked a brilliant player technically, far ahead of anything Bruno Fernandes has every shown, and he looked like a brilliantly creative player. Even still, when he joined the prem, he was relatively ineffective for a year until he adapted to the premier league.

If you look at Bruno Fernandes' highlights from last season, so many of his big moments were from broken plays like goalkeeping errors off of his long shots, being in loads of space because of shite defences or low pressure on him, and he played as a pure #10 because he's nowhere close to as good playing deeper. He's fine at pressing from the front, and a good player, but I'm not convinced he's a "top player". Bernardo Silva at Monaco, every time he touched the ball it looked obvious how talented he was and that he had everything to become a top player. We've had loads of "good players" here the last few years, but there is a big difference between that and a top player. Bruno Fernandes just doesn't strike me as a player that is technically amazing on the ball or a super creative player or one that can offer Bernardo Silva type qualities. His best qualities are his shooting from range and finishing, but before he came to the premier league, both Memphis had the exact same "best qualities". Pogba as well had a long history of scoring screamers, he's scored a handful in 3 seasons at United though. It's not something you can count on to be repeatable over a season, and at actual "midfielding work", Bruno Fernandes isn't anything special.
 

settembrini

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Close call but I would go with Fernandes.

He's the more creative player with a better range of passing, his work rate is better, he's more of a leader. Plus last season he got more goals and assists than Dybala has ever managed in a year despite Dybala being the more attacking player. And I think if we bought him it would be because he really wanted to play for us while Dybala is basically being forced out of Juventus.

Dybala is a class player too and I can see why people would choose him. More proven as a goal scorer, more versatile, better dribbler. But Fernandes edges it for me.
 

Canagel

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Dybala of course. He's already proven to have a great relationship and chemistry with our best player and he has the extra class that our attack is missing. Our players our always making stupid decisions or running into blind alleys , he would rectify that. Bruno is a good player but if we want to play 4-2-3-1 like this whole pre season it's a no brainer imo. Dybala centrally is deadly.
 

Ish

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Dybala is the better/more proven player at this moment - so it should be him.

But considering our needs, the probable difference in wages - if we could only get 1, it would make sense to get Bruno. Also feels like Dybala is being “forced” out of Juve, which should count against him.
 

LJJT

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I’d prefer Bruno, we need midfielders. Think dybala is a massive gamble in the problematic no 10 position, think it will take him a season to adapt
 

Adnan

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I haven't seen enough of Dybala since he moved to Juventus to form a opinion. Fernandes I've seen quite a bit of and have given my thoughts on him in the relevant thread.

I don't see the logic in signing both players especially with a super talent like Gomes already at the club. Gomes for me is gonna develop into a play-making #8 or #10 and will be better than either player as far as controlling a game is concerned.
 

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Dybala's first touch and passing are on a completely different level to Bruno's (who frequently gives the ball away cheaply from what I've seen).

I don't think there's any chance of us signing both unless Pogba has been earmarked for sale.
 

redshaw

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Seems like Bruno is desperate to come to England's Premier League and make it happen at a big club. Also he's not just an attacker, he closes down a lot across the whole pitch similar to Herrera but is better on the ball and taking shots.

Dybala could be mega if we can get 20+ goals out of him like Juve were before Ronaldo took over. Has a super left foot strike and amazing free kicks, I've admired him for years but have some doubts over him settling, us utilizing him and difference with him being pushed out and Bruno seemingly wanting to step up.

You never know though, Bruno could have an amazing season and be desperate to play for Madrid or something. We know they don't go for City players.
 

Thepinhead

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I think Fernandes would suit our team well in a high pressing team. It looks like he works slightly harder than dybala off the ball. However dybala is a top top player and has played well with pogba before. So if dybala coming here means we keep pogba for many years then I would rather have him. I just think the whole pogba saga this summer has been and attempt to put pressure on the club to do something or else he won't waste any more years here. The dybala transfer could be what is needed to keep him happy.
 
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