Erling Haaland | Dortmund player

Jambalaya

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What is problem of having a WC player in the team for 2 years?Would people rule out Mbape or Messi if its only for 2 years?Weird logic.
 

Bestietom

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He is looking impressive, just not sure we would produce the number of chances for him. He would score certainly, but there I can see at least two goals in most games.
Yes, your right. We would probably need a good winger to feed him crosses, but with Pogba and Fernandes in the middle feeding him, I would expect enough goals to win games that we are losing now.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Yes, your right. We would probably need a good winger to feed him crosses, but with Pogba and Fernandes in the middle feeding him, I would expect enough goals to win games that we are losing now.
I think this lad just enjoys scoring goals, if he misses the chance he will follow in to make sure he gets his goal. Some miss and stand there looking disgusted when sometimes the chance of a goal is still there.
 

Cnaiür urs Skiötha

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I think he might have snubbed us as he knew we are not creating any chances. Zero.
Our coaching has no clue how to set up in a way to unlock defenses.
Haaland is someone who will give a huge amount of goals if he gets the service.

The only small consolation is that his goal rate dropped a bit in the Austrian league I think once the clubs figured out his runs etc.

But he is a goal machine and so young that he is going to improve his overall game.
 

Reynoldo

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Yes, your right. We would probably need a good winger to feed him crosses, but with Pogba and Fernandes in the middle feeding him, I would expect enough goals to win games that we are losing now.
And imagine being so organised as to have signed both him and Fernandes in early Jan. Could have had top 4 practically locked down at this stage.
 

tenpoless

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Well done Eddie, you are almost the first millionaire to win Who wants to be a millionaire. Absolutely pointless that We are even showing this on TV, but I bet the audiences have been twitching their arses in anticipation and in constipation. Keep in mind that you still have phone a friend. And now, the last question, for 1 million pounds!

Dudududuuuuuuuuu

You are the CEO of a football club. Your team is currently struggling to achieve it's target due to a dysfunctional attack, mainly caused by the shortage of Central Forwards. The January window is open. Choose the correct answer that will give your team the most chance to fix the problem without forgetting about your long term vision :
A. Spend 80m+ for Haaland, the best young striker talent in the world
B. Spend 30m for a mediocre striker
C. Loan Odion Ighalo from a Chinese League club
D. Not spending at all

Ed : "Hmm.. yes it's a very hard question indeed.. I'm thinking of going C but there are other answers that seem correct too.. hmmm.. We all know 30m for talent gambling is always worth it.. Loaning Odion is a very smart move too... saving money is also good, who doesn't want to have more money in hands? I can't decide, I'll use phone a friend"

Dudududuuuuuuuuuu

Joel : "Hello?"
Ed : "Hello Joel, it's me Ed"
Joel : "Hello Ed, It's me Joel. You are about to become 1 million richer I see"
Ed : "Hmm yes but I need your help, which is the correct answer according to you?"
Joel : "Hmm.. yes it's a very hard question indeed.. I'm thinking of going C but there are other answers that seem correct too.. hmmm.. We all know 30m for talent gambling is always worth it.. Loaning Odion is a very smart move too... saving money is also good, who doesn't want to have more money in hands? I'm going with C"
Ed : "Oh wow, You think the same way as I do, it must be correct! I choose C. Final answer"

C for 1 million pounds... and the answer is.... A! I'm sorry Ed, better luck next time, or when Dortmund finally decides to sell to your club. :boring:
 

Pexbo

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Well done Eddie, you are almost the first millionaire to win Who wants to be a millionaire. Absolutely pointless that We are even showing this on TV, but I bet the audiences have been twitching their arses in anticipation and in constipation. Keep in mind that you still have phone a friend. And now, the last question, for 1 million pounds!

Dudududuuuuuuuuu

You are the CEO of a football club. Your team is currently struggling to achieve it's target due to a dysfunctional attack, mainly caused by the shortage of Central Forwards. The January window is open. Choose the correct answer that will give your team the most chance to fix the problem without forgetting about your long term vision :
A. Spend 80m+ for Haaland, the best young striker talent in the world
B. Spend 30m for a mediocre striker
C. Loan Odion Ighalo from a Chinese League club
D. Not spending at all

Ed : "Hmm.. yes it's a very hard question indeed.. I'm thinking of going C but there are other answers that seem correct too.. hmmm.. We all know 30m for talent gambling is always worth it.. Loaning Odion is a very smart move too... saving money is also good, who doesn't want to have more money in hands? I can't decide, I'll use phone a friend"

Dudududuuuuuuuuuu

Joel : "Hello?"
Ed : "Hello Joel, it's me Ed"
Joel : "Hello Ed, It's me Joel. You are about to become 1 million richer I see"
Ed : "Hmm yes but I need your help, which is the correct answer according to you?"
Joel : "Hmm.. yes it's a very hard question indeed.. I'm thinking of going C but there are other answers that seem correct too.. hmmm.. We all know 30m for talent gambling is always worth it.. Loaning Odion is a very smart move too... saving money is also good, who doesn't want to have more money in hands? I'm going with C"
Ed : "Oh wow, You think the same way as I do, it must be correct! I choose C. Final answer"

C for 1 million pounds... and the answer is.... A! I'm sorry Ed, better luck next time, or when Dortmund finally decides to sell to your club. :boring:

£80m? When he was available for £20m? Lovely story though.

You do know we tried to buy him and worked on the deal for a couple of months before he signed for Dortmund but ultimately he chose them because they felt Bundesliga and Dortmund was better for his development and Raiola and his father wanted him to move to a willing stepping stone club that were open to him moving on in a couple of years and Raiola and his family being the main ones to profit from it?

It's incredible how many people are so misinformed and get upset for things they make up in their own head.
 

NewGlory

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From his pov, I think he'd struggle to knock Martial off the first team. Then we have Greenwood as well.
Every team has strikers. We don't have anybody who he should have been afraid of. Haaland would have walked into our team, easily, seeing how well he does at Dortmund. Martial clearly isn't irreplacable and Ole doesnt even start Greenwood most of the time. Ours would have been the easiest big team to establish himself in.

This idiotic notion we have that we cannot have competition for key positions is ridiculous. No big team operates like that. Ole should know better, considering his own career at United
 

Handré1990

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What is problem of having a WC player in the team for 2 years?Would people rule out Mbape or Messi if its only for 2 years?Weird logic.
Agreed. I’m in it for the fun of football, not the pride of Manchester United.

I think he might have snubbed us as he knew we are not creating any chances. Zero.
Our coaching has no clue how to set up in a way to unlock defenses.
Haaland is someone who will give a huge amount of goals if he gets the service.

The only small consolation is that his goal rate dropped a bit in the Austrian league I think once the clubs figured out his runs etc.

But he is a goal machine and so young that he is going to improve his overall game.
It didn’t.
 

Swarm

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I don't know if you are aware of Dortmunds recent history, but the club was basically bankrupt 15 years ago and a far cry from being on par with anyone. Reason for that bankruptcy was that we signed players for more money than we had and started selling goods like the stadium to investors. When there were no goods left to sell, BVB imploded.

We had a bit of luck and some exceptional decisions.
1. Aki Watzke the leader of the club managed to steer the club into safe financial waters, everything expensive had to go.
2. 3 years after the breakdown we signed Juergen Klopp, the television coach who was way too casual for other clubs that did not like his appearance.
3. Even though Klopp carried us to new heights, it was a big problem that we could match the financial power of other clubs, so we had our best players taken from us again and again. Huge example was Mario Götze who was basically valued as the next Messi and who transferred to Bayern via exit clause, which was by far lower than his market value. Here the leaders of the club decided to never accept exit clauses any more.
4. Our first money went into paying off debt and it took nine years till we finally paid the last bit
5. The next money went into infrastructure. BVB has one of the best scouting and training teams soccer has to offer. Even top players that have seen other big clubs are impressed about our infrastructure.
6. Now we started paying more money for our top players, but it was still not enough. We lost Hummels, Mhkitaryan, Gündogan in one season and that was a huge throwback for us.
7. Luckily we also invested heavily into the future of soccer: big talent. So we were able to snatch Dembele who was absolutely amazing. Yet again, our weakness of not being a star club and not able to pay top wages caught up with us again and Dembele left us one year later. The same year when Dembele left, we bought Sancho from Chelsea.
8. Inbetween we try to buy players who might want to stay with the club so that we have a solid ground to build a team. There were many decision that were a bit unlucky: Schürrle, Rode and others failed to meet expectations
9. Due to bigger financial power we managed to sign Brandt and now Can, who are arguably not from the top shelf of players, but still amazing signings for the BVB.
10. We signed Haaland and this has torn the fans in half, because as everyone knows, he has an exit clause and as a BVB fan, those exit clauses have hurt us a lot. But since we were in desperate need of a striker, I guess our leaders decided that it was worth the risk. To be honest, still after his first amazing games, I don't feel entirely comfortable with that decision. We'll see how this will work out, but I completely understand Uniteds sentiment to stay away from the transfer.

Basically we made a virtue out of necessity and at one point said "alright, we are a feeder club, so lets be the best feeder club the world has ever seen".
This won't be sustainable longterm, because maybe you will hit a dry spell and won't be so lucky that Dembele comes after Gündogan and Sancho comes after Dembele and this is the point here this model might collapse. If we have a look in soccers history, it happened to a lot of teams, FC Porto coming to my mind immediately.

So yeah, short version: No, BVB has not been reduced to be a stepping stone, we have risen to be a stepping stone and we managed to crawl slowly into the top 15 of Europe financially. And since BVB in some recent history was only able to keep its players when we overshot our budget by a lot which nearly ruined the club, no we have not been on par with the top 10 in Europe any time in the last 30 years.

To come back to Haaland. This guy has a way of making score goals look really easy. Always seems to be ahead of the defense he is playing against. But as much as I am happy for every goal, I am also thinking about the exit clause, so I am not 100% happy, only 85%.
Excellent post, the post you were quoting irked me when I read it but I did not feel like putting in the time to correct them (or rather inform them, they did not seem to mean any harm). I might not agree with everything precisely but it is still a rather good summary of the last 15 years of our clubs history.
What I may have enjoyed most was your 8th bullet point where you point out that Dortmund don't exclusively sign players in order to form them into world class players and sell them for a huge fee. It may not seem this way to Manchester United supporters but Dortmund indeed remains a competitive football clubs with sporting goals they are trying to reach. We want to win the league or the cup and do well in the CL. Therefore the basis for players like Dembele, Sancho or Haaland to thrive upon has to be laid and there are always transfers bringing in players that may see Dortmund as their ultimate destination, oftentimes these players are german or a little older. We have had quite a few disappointments in this regard (Schürrle, Rode due to injuries, Kagawa's second stint, Götze's second stint, Wolf, Philipp) but also players where this has worked quite well (Witsel, Hummels' second stint, Delaney, Toprak, Sokratis). Something that I have noticed this season is that the quality of these players that I assume the board want to be part of this backbone has improved. For example I can see both Brandt and Hazard as that type of signing and especially Brandt was a really exciting signing that is starting to go off now, I hope we will be seeing him in Dortmund for a long time. Can is another example of these players, hopefully a good one.

To come back to topic, of course I am enjoying Haalands current success in Dortmund immensely. On the other hand it of course has to be put into context, we can't expect the same amount of productivity from him for the rest of the season. It is fair to state that the three teams he has faced to date (Augsburg, Köln, Union) have been some of the weakest the league has to offer and for his first two matches he faced exhausted sides which explains why their defenses were in such disarray. It will be interesting to see him against the likes of Bayern, Leipzig or Schalke, next weekend Leverkusen should be a tougher match up as well, even though their defense isn't exactly great either. Additionally teams will be adapting to him more and try to counter him more. For Dortmund that may not be much of a disadvantage either way because the attention the opposition dedicates towards Haaland can free up the likes of Sancho or Brandt to become even more threatening. He simply gives the opposition team one more huge threat to worry about which is awesome.
 

tenpoless

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You do know we tried to buy him and worked on the deal for a couple of months before he signed for Dortmund but ultimately he chose them because they felt Bundesliga and Dortmund was better for his development and Raiola and his father wanted him to move to a willing stepping stone club that were open to him moving on in a couple of years and Raiola and his family being the main ones to profit from it?
Yes I do know about the decision. That's why We should have offered £80m! £90m! even £100m + Lingard and add ons while We're at it. Seven goals in 135 minutes... the little muppet inside of me died.
 

troylocker

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Quote them please
Surely signing him would block Greenwood’s path considering both are young and play in the same position?
Shouldn’t we be going for someone more experienced? If we believe Greenwood will be everything we expect him to be then surely Haland would block his development? I’d have thought we’d go for a Dembele or Mandzukic type player.
Champagne Football: What happens to Greenwood if we sign Halaand?

Manred: He is not the right profile of a striker we should be adding. We have Greenwood as a youngster who is coming up in the ranks.

Romufc: If Martial performs up top then no need to sign anyone because Greenwood can be integrated.

GBBQ: We have enough potential in Rashford, Martial and Greenwood but we need someone with a proven record of consistent seasons to get us through this season.

Romufc: So we should spend £60m on a19 year old striker when we have a 24 year old and 18 year old coming through? Shall we sell Greenwood without giving him a chance?

Fosu Mens: We have 2 decent options up front in Martial and Rashford, and Greenwood as a talented player. It is not like he would improve our starting 11 if we bought him this January.

There is plenty more, but this is some examples from the original Haaland thread and the first few pages of his transfer thread. Funny re-read. Still very early, but I think he's put more evidence of his qualities on the table since this fall. Would be fun to know if any of the many doubters in those threads still don't rate him. Anyone care to step forward?
 

Ludens the Red

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Every team has strikers. We don't have anybody who he should have been afraid of. Haaland would have walked into our team, easily, seeing how well he does at Dortmund. Martial clearly isn't irreplacable and Ole doesnt even start Greenwood most of the time. Ours would have been the easiest big team to establish himself in.

This idiotic notion we have that we cannot have competition for key positions is ridiculous. No big team operates like that. Ole should know better, considering his own career at United
Huge issues this atm, worryingly it’s not just our fans who have this mentality, the club do too. under Mourinho when rashford wasn’t having to play 90 mins of every game you had pundits saying he should leave and fans saying he was being held back. Now we’re totally reliant on him and overplayed him and now he’s out for three months and we have mediocre cover for him. A situation completely avoidable had we had strong other options.
 

MadDogg

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Those of you turning up your noses about him because of the release clause, in our current situation I doubt we have any chance of signing any world class player (or youngster who looks like he will be world class) without agreeing to one. They will all be looking at Pogba and not wanting to be in the same situation.

We have been shit for seven years now and from a neutral point of view (and the view from many of our own fans) there is nothing indicating we will turn that around any time soon. Unfortunately that is simple fact. Top players might be willing to come to us and try to help us turn that around, but only if they are able to get out after a few years if the club continues to be a mess. Would you guys put the most important time of your short career in the hands of Ed Woodward without keeping some power to yourselves?

If we want to sign Sancho this summer, I highly doubt that's a possibility without agreeing to a release clause. Why would he agree to it? Obviously his preference would then be that we do turn it around and he then probably signs a new contract without the clause, but if it doesn't happen then he'll want to be able to get out. Just like Pogba's preference would obviously have been to help us get back to the top but he's now wanting to leave but basically can't because we've priced him out of a move (his own inconsistency has obviously played some part in that as well).
 

romufc

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There is plenty more, but this is some examples from the original Haaland thread and the first few pages of his transfer thread. Funny re-read
On that note, we shouldn't have sold Lukaku? He is scoring for fun in Italy.

On another note, you can't force someone to come here. His first choice was Italy, then Germany. We were never in the running to sign him.
 

Handré1990

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Those of you turning up your noses about him because of the release clause, in our current situation I doubt we have any chance of signing any world class player (or youngster who looks like he will be world class) without agreeing to one. They will all be looking at Pogba and not wanting to be in the same situation.

We have been shit for seven years now and from a neutral point of view (and the view from many of our own fans) there is nothing indicating we will turn that around any time soon. Unfortunately that is simple fact. Top players might be willing to come to us and try to help us turn that around, but only if they are able to get out after a few years if the club continues to be a mess. Would you guys put the most important time of your short career in the hands of Ed Woodward without keeping some power to yourselves?

If we want to sign Sancho this summer, I highly doubt that's a possibility without agreeing to a release clause. Why would he agree to it? Obviously his preference would then be that we do turn it around and he then probably signs a new contract without the clause, but if it doesn't happen then he'll want to be able to get out. Just like Pogba's preference would obviously have been to help us get back to the top but he's now wanting to leave but basically can't because we've priced him out of a move (his own inconsistency has obviously played some part in that as well).
Good post. Would it really be so terrible to have a scoring machine for three years? It’s not like we’re really desperate for a huge transfer sum once he left.
 

redshaw

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Those of you turning up your noses about him because of the release clause, in our current situation I doubt we have any chance of signing any world class player (or youngster who looks like he will be world class) without agreeing to one. They will all be looking at Pogba and not wanting to be in the same situation.

We have been shit for seven years now and from a neutral point of view (and the view from many of our own fans) there is nothing indicating we will turn that around any time soon. Unfortunately that is simple fact. Top players might be willing to come to us and try to help us turn that around, but only if they are able to get out after a few years if the club continues to be a mess. Would you guys put the most important time of your short career in the hands of Ed Woodward without keeping some power to yourselves?

If we want to sign Sancho this summer, I highly doubt that's a possibility without agreeing to a release clause. Why would he agree to it? Obviously his preference would then be that we do turn it around and he then probably signs a new contract without the clause, but if it doesn't happen then he'll want to be able to get out. Just like Pogba's preference would obviously have been to help us get back to the top but he's now wanting to leave but basically can't because we've priced him out of a move (his own inconsistency has obviously played some part in that as well).
We probably would have to agree to a release clause for Sancho much as we wouldn't like to.

For Pogba at one stage it looked like a mistake for Raiola to not include one or perhaps something to think about for his clients going forward. It does look like we didn't even get a 90-100 million bid though so a hypothetical clause of 120m in 2016 doesn't help him. I don't see us or anyone signing a player for 90 million and agreeing to a 60-70 million clause so Pogba is probably stuck until Juve or Madrid can stump up 90-100m, release clause or not. Might happen this summer but not last as Madrid already had spent on Hazard.

If we did sign Sancho for 100 million I wonder what kind of clause would be in place? I don't think a typical 150m helps the player. We'd have to agree to let him go for around what we paid after two to three years has passed or something. That could be a way forward for clubs that would be a gamble like, us Chelsea, Arsenal but it's hard to see United or anyone paying 100+ million and agreeing to that. It's just my suggestion to a problem as a typical release clause doesn't help Pogba or Sancho leave.
 
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romufc

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We probably would have to agree to a release clause for Sancho much as we wouldn't like to.

For Pogba at one stage it looked like a mistake for Raiola to not include one or perhaps something to think about for his clients going forward. It does like we didn't even get a 90-100 million bid though. I don't see us or anyone signing a player for 90 million and agreeing to a 60-70 million clause so Pogba is probably stuck until Juve or Madrid can stump up 90-100 release clause or not. Might happen this summer but not last as Madrid already had spent on Hazard.

If we did sign Sancho for 100 million I wonder what kind of clause would be in place. I don't think a typical 150m helps the player. We'd have to agree to let him go for around what we paid after two years has passed or something. That could be a way forward for clubs that would be a gamble like, us Chelsea, Arsenal but it's hard o see United or anyone paying 100 million and agreeing to that.
It all depends on what the club / fans want.

It seems you want short term success > Long term success and future of the club.

Currently, we might not be able to sign players like Sancho etc however; who is to say in 2 years we wont? Liverpool before Klopp were not going to attract Nike deals now they are. Things in football change.

Agreeing to a £100m Sancho release clause because we paid that makes no sense. Look what happened to Barcelona. People think if we are successful he will stay? Neymar had a £200m release clause playing in a very successful club. Once the clause is triggered there is nothing the selling club can do and then other teams know you have money and will be desperate for a replacement.

The only way we should be signing these players with release clause if the fee is something like £200m.
 

troylocker

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On that note, we shouldn't have sold Lukaku? He is scoring for fun in Italy.

On another note, you can't force someone to come here. His first choice was Italy, then Germany. We were never in the running to sign him.
I have always rated Lukaku, as I think he is a very good goalscorer. I think there is a number of reasons why we let him go though, not just his performances on the pitch, but I think he wasn't happy here and rumour has it he had some attitude problems. We have been missing a quality striker since though.

Haaland has turned Italy down twice now, and has stated that his dream is to play in the PL. Him choosing Dortmund over us is down to playing time and a contract where he is in control over his own future though. He's turned down money for development at both his crossroads so far. Guaranteed playing time, CL-football and service from Sancho, Reus, Hazard and Brandt doesn't sound like the worst choice for now. Let's be there when the clause is kicks in the summer 2022!
 

Bebestation

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I just don't see why he would want to come here for the same release clause for a worse team, harder league at a younger age. Literally no creativity. Him actually having a release clause indicates to me that he always preferred going to a club that has a history of selling their players so he can leave once he has improved.
 

romufc

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I have always rated Lukaku, as I think he is a very good goalscorer. I think there is a number of reasons why we let him go though, not just his performances on the pitch, but I think he wasn't happy here and rumour has it he had some attitude problems. We have been missing a quality striker since though.

Haaland has turned Italy down twice now, and has stated that his dream is to play in the PL. Him choosing Dortmund over us is down to playing time and a contract where he is in control over his own future though. He's turned down money for development at both his crossroads so far. Guaranteed playing time, CL-football and service from Sancho, Reus, Hazard and Brandt doesn't sound like the worst choice for now. Let's be there when the clause is released in the summer 2022!
I agree we are missing a striker. Someone who will stay in the box and wait for chances.

Lets be honest, career wise he made the right choice. Consistent champions league football, decent players, very good fans.

I am with you on that one, we need to make sure our team is there for when his clause comes into force, he could be the striker we need then. It looks like Ole is showing faith in Martial and we would have seen more of Greenwood.

IMO, Martial will not be a striker at United for much longer. He is not a Striker.
 

redshaw

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It all depends on what the club / fans want.

It seems you want short term success > Long term success and future of the club.

Currently, we might not be able to sign players like Sancho etc however; who is to say in 2 years we wont? Liverpool before Klopp were not going to attract Nike deals now they are. Things in football change.

Agreeing to a £100m Sancho release clause because we paid that makes no sense. Look what happened to Barcelona. People think if we are successful he will stay? Neymar had a £200m release clause playing in a very successful club. Once the clause is triggered there is nothing the selling club can do and then other teams know you have money and will be desperate for a replacement.

The only way we should be signing these players with release clause if the fee is something like £200m.
I'm not saying United should do any of this, nor am I looking for short term success. I quoted someone else talking about release clauses for Sancho, and posted how unhelpful for the player it could be unless a new precedent is taken which I just don't see happening. Pogba is probably still stuck here if he had a typical clause.
 

romufc

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I'm not saying United should do any of this, nor am I looking for short term success. I quoted someone else talking about release clauses for Sancho, and posted how unhelpful for the player it could be unless a new precedent is taken which I just don't see happening. Pogba is probably still stuck here if he had a typical clause.
Fair enough. I criticise Ed Woodward just as much as anyone else on here but if we look where we are, the job on hand is becoming difficult by the day.

Agreed it is all his making, not hiring a DoF and we have ended up with overpaid players who do not fit the style.

There are so many questions to answer before we even look at signings like Sancho.

1. Do we stick or twist with Ole
2. Can we afford to spend £90m on a player and continue to not have success.
3. DoF - it is clear one is needed.
4. What is the short term goal?
5. What is the medium term goal?

The club needs to set out a plan, Liverpool done it, City done it, Chelsea are doing it now.

It doesnt matter who our manager is and who we sign, until we get our structure right, we will struggle
 

Dve

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I find this interesting.

Solheko at Sky Sports said: “On Haaland, I got a couple of messages from an agent last week who wanted to correct me for something I had said on The Transfer Show.

“He was watching and messaged me while we were on air. We had been discussing United's search for a striker and I made the wholly unoriginal point that they should have paid whatever it took to sign Haaland - the same Haaland who has scored seven times in his first three games for Borussia Dortmund.

“He told me that United had no chance of signing Haaland.

“He said he had known the striker since he was a five-year-old boy and it had always been his dream to play in Germany.

“According to the agent, Haaland will play in the Premier League one day but the plan was always for him to move to the Bundesliga last month.

“So, as far as United are concerned, it's not a case of what might have been but a case of what could still be.”



https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...ar-solskjaer-erling-haaland-borussia-dortmund
 

Handré1990

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I find this interesting.

Solheko at Sky Sports said: “On Haaland, I got a couple of messages from an agent last week who wanted to correct me for something I had said on The Transfer Show.

“He was watching and messaged me while we were on air. We had been discussing United's search for a striker and I made the wholly unoriginal point that they should have paid whatever it took to sign Haaland - the same Haaland who has scored seven times in his first three games for Borussia Dortmund.

“He told me that United had no chance of signing Haaland.

“He said he had known the striker since he was a five-year-old boy and it had always been his dream to play in Germany.

“According to the agent, Haaland will play in the Premier League one day but the plan was always for him to move to the Bundesliga last month.

“So, as far as United are concerned, it's not a case of what might have been but a case of what could still be.”



https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...ar-solskjaer-erling-haaland-borussia-dortmund
Lines up. Read a comment from Fjørtoft today, about the media circus surrounding Haaland ever since his career blew up, he said the calmest people in all of this is Haaland and his father. They have a plan and intend to follow it. Makes me happy as he’s all about development, not getting the best salary as quickly as possible. Bodes well for our national team, we deserve a break!
 

Acheron

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Champagne Football: What happens to Greenwood if we sign Halaand?

Manred: He is not the right profile of a striker we should be adding. We have Greenwood as a youngster who is coming up in the ranks.

Romufc: If Martial performs up top then no need to sign anyone because Greenwood can be integrated.

GBBQ: We have enough potential in Rashford, Martial and Greenwood but we need someone with a proven record of consistent seasons to get us through this season.

Romufc: So we should spend £60m on a19 year old striker when we have a 24 year old and 18 year old coming through? Shall we sell Greenwood without giving him a chance?

Fosu Mens: We have 2 decent options up front in Martial and Rashford, and Greenwood as a talented player. It is not like he would improve our starting 11 if we bought him this January.

There is plenty more, but this is some examples from the original Haaland thread and the first few pages of his transfer thread. Funny re-read. Still very early, but I think he's put more evidence of his qualities on the table since this fall. Would be fun to know if any of the many doubters in those threads still don't rate him. Anyone care to step forward?
Genuinely thought you were making up those quotes. :lol:
 

Bebestation

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People's fascination over this guy due to his clear rejection over us is making it harder to actually like him and watch him.

We've been rejected by players like Ronaldinho before who clearly went to a top league, top team and would never move to United afterwards.

Haaland clearly wants to play in the PL in his lifetime & I don't see why United wouldn't be a big possibility for that to happen for a longer period than the possible 2 years he might stay in the Bundesliga which is looking more and more like a mini jump up from the league he was playing before than a gigantic one the more that I look at it.
 

Handré1990

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People's fascination over this guy due to his clear rejection over us is making it harder to actually like him and watch him.

We've been rejected by players like Ronaldinho before who clearly went to a top league, top team and would never move to United afterwards.

Haaland clearly wants to play in the PL in his lifetime & I don't see why United wouldn't be a big possibility for that to happen for a longer period than the possible 2 years he might stay in the Bundesliga which is looking more and more like a mini jump up from the league he was playing before than a gigantic one the more that I look at it.
Translation: only did it in the Austrian league, and now only doing it in the Bundesliga.

Other than that, you’re right. If we get our shit together, or at least see some real progress in the team and still need a striker, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t come here.
 

Bebestation

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Translation: only did it in the Austrian league, and now only doing it in the Bundesliga.

Other than that, you’re right. If we get our shit together, or at least see some real progress in the team and still need a striker, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t come here.
Well again that's not true - but people's fascination over him makes me over analyse his goals, the space him and Dortmund get & it unfairly & poorly makes me put it down a level.

I don't enjoy watching him as I started out doing because now I find myself looking at the way some of the lower down teams in the bundesliga seem to press so incoherently, narrow, high up & leave spaces behind them etc.

Again - I'm not saying that I'm a good analyst & I'm no doubt wrong but it's just gone from me being a fan of a guy to me looking for weaknesses in his game until the inevitable next step in his career which is no doubt going to happen.
 

top1whoisman

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And he’s on at halftime... will score at least two to help Dortmund do to the next round.
 

Tom Cato

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Just scored, of course. 8 goals in his 4th game so far. Took him 22 minutes this time. Increasing his average between goals. He's fading, he will never reach those heights again. Glad we didnt sign him.

almost a 2nd. Bad miss for once.. ouch.