ESPN: Man United missed all of Solskjaer's targets including Sancho, Grealish - sources

The Irish Connection

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This was our best chance, of late, to close the gap on the top two.

Instead, teams below and around us have strengthened their first team, while we added maybe one player that will slot into the first XI. Telles. Maybe.

Ole has been shafted, much the same as Mourinho was in his final year.

The board seems to invest just enough for us to be in the top 4, as challenging for titles is seen bad from a financial standpoint as it costs much more to build a team capable of that. We achieved top 4, miraculously, last season - so why would the board think we need to invest heavily? I get the feeling we'd have spent more money on transfers, had we not made top 4, than if we did - as crazy as that sounds.
The need for director of football/recruitment specialist is painfully obvious.
 

MattyB1986

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Does anyone think any manager gets 100% of their 1st targets or something? :confused: :houllier: :lol:
 

Eyepopper

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Its Mourinho all over again isnt it?

Better than expected League position followed by inept investment.

Followed by poor league position.

Followed by new manager.

Rinse & repeat.
 

cyril C

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Just another journalist story. I never believe in the Grealish story, beside, with VDB there is no need of another AMF. Sancho may be true but at 100m forget it, even Barca can't afford Depay, so you think the Club, or any club, can afford 100m on 1 player?
 

alexthelion

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You don't think that if your primary targets aren't met, especially as they will all improve immediately the first XI or challenge for a first XI spot, then you would communicate that and the reasons why as soon as possible so you manage expectations internally and externally.

Also, those are the exact type of signings United needed to make to close the gap. VDB instead of Grealish, fine. Telles instead of Regulion, fine. But there was a CB and RF on that list and they were immediate first XI or on the verge of first XI positions for years to come. Cavani isn't really a RF and he's a very short term solution. United signed a teenager as a CB, who immediate goes into the U23 team and is behind Mengi and Tuanzebe who are technically first team players. And Traore and Pellestri are long term projects, not even close to being first XI players or reliable bench players.

To that, these discussions of transfer targets have been going on for months before the actually window. So if you fecking know you're gonna need wage space and some additional transfer fees to work with, then why cannot United sell players for any transfer fee aside from Smalling? Romero, Henderson, DDG, Lingard, Mata, Pereria, TFM, Rojo, Jones, James, Garner? Yeah, it's because Woodward has completely handcuffed the club in that regard.

Each transfer window must work together, must kick on and complement each other in accordance to the the needs of the team and what it takes to get better in the table.

It's this disjointed approach and disruptive behavior by Woodward that again has reared it's unacceptable and ugly fecking head.
This is so true, anyone not blaming Woodward/the board is living in cloud cookoo land.
 

alexthelion

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I don't know who leaked that story but it makes Solskjaer look like a complete idiot, as it was clear that the lack of supporters at matches was going to limit our transfer budget. We never had the money for those type of transfers; which was obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of United's average annual net spend on transfers and the likely impact of the coronavirus.

If he wanted Sancho, then his list should have been just Sancho, with the understanding that he would have to generate a lot of money through selling players that other teams were willing to pay for. If he felt that he needed 3 new players then they would have to be relatively modest fees; not glamour signings like Grealish.

In this instance, I believe Solskjaer is at fault. He should have shut down the Sancho talk long ago; simply gone on the record, saying it's not a deal we can do in the current financial environment.
There's no problem with giving that list but not expecting every player to be bought.

What is inconceivable is that Woodward/Judge/whoever got none of them them and panic bought in the last few hours.
 

MattyB1986

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Umm Frank Lampard?
His first transfer window? Chelsea missed a couple of transfer windows. I think OgS was backed in his first window? But yeah, I feel Lampard will have more of an open cheque book over our owners, obviously.
 

RedRonaldo

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His first transfer window? Chelsea missed a couple of transfer windows. I think OgS was backed in his first window? But yeah, I feel Lampard will have more of an open cheque book over our owners, obviously.
The discussion of this thread is about this summer, and to be fair, Lampard did get 100%, in response to your initial question.
 

MattyB1986

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The discussion of this thread is about this summer, and to be fair, Lampard did get 100%, in response to your initial question.
Yes! that is pretty much understood by me as well in reflection of this summer. I'm discussing the variables of the differences between why Lampard got backed more this window. Chelsea wasn't able to sign players for two seasons.

There was no way on earth United was going to sign Sancho, Grealish and Upamenco. I had a funny feeling United wasn't even going to sign Sancho when I read this. The debt of the Glazer's -sigh-

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/man...d-announce-debt-rises-to-close-to-430-million
 

united for life

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4 deadline day signings. Shows how bad we were. A team like united should clearly identify targets, approach and sign them well in advance of the deadline to properly integrate them in the team before the start of the season.
 

ghagua

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Yes, and it is hard for me to fathom why Ole would insist on pursuing Sancho if the club didnt lead him to believe that it was a possibility. Its Judge/ Ed who are leading the negotiations and Ole would rely on their word. By all accounts we thought we had the Sancho deal in the bag and Dortmund would relent during the last stages. Judge and Woodward got played like the fools that they have proven to be time after time.
Sorry have to question this bit. How did they get played like fools when Dortmund set their price and would not budge on it? Dortmund had the right to set their price, our fools thought they would get a bargain.

Is Sancho worth the price they're asking, only time will tell.
 

forevrared

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Sorry have to question this bit. How did they get played like fools when Dortmund set their price and would not budge on it? Dortmund had the right to set their price, our fools thought they would get a bargain.

Is Sancho worth the price they're asking, only time will tell.
You've answered your own question there. Dortmund set their price and terms - Woodward/Judge just didn't take them seriously and didn't do any work on a reasonable backup if Sancho didn't come. Now we've not got Sancho or any attacker that will improve the first XI.
 

eltigreFalcao

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Grealish was clearly an overbuy on 80m, glad we stood out of that one. I strongly believe Vdb is going to be a better player than Grealish could be.

Sancho was clearly a target and we knew clearly right away what was the cost, it was so damn stupid to think that was going to change. That's on the negotiators.

Let's say the article says the truth and ole shortlisted two options for CB, getting none on that position is yelling lack of backing. Imagine Ake starring for City while we struggle with captian slobhead and the iceman. Reported 41m price was considered a bargain a year ago.

It would mean that Ole was not looking for a LB nor a CF.

Also, why it says 40m pounds for VdB? Was that the actual price?
 

Fracture90

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Rubbish article based on idle speculation. If it did happen to be true then I'm glad we missed Ake and Grealish for the money quoted.

Are people stupid enough to think a non oil backed club could afford to spend €240m in the middle of a fecking pandemic? We spent 150m this year which is no insignificant amount.
This is a completely stupid way of running a club and our fanbase are massively responsible for a lot of this stupid mentality.
Good to see some sensible posts in here. It appears that for the good chunk of our fanbase it's either/or scenario. Back him or sack him is such a ignorant line.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Most likely, yeah. :( Looking at the way we operate we need a new Fergie to get us back on track (or at least a modern day Klopp if I may say without being burned to the ground).

In other words, our manager would need to be someone who is both a great coach, but will also manage to successfully expand his influence even beyond that on most footballing decisions. A coach and DoF rolled into one.
Sadly that doesn't really exist in modern football. They're all mostly coaches.
Does anyone think any manager gets 100% of their 1st targets or something? :confused: :houllier: :lol:
No of course they don't. And Grealish was overpriced anyway. But Sancho is one who we should have delivered.
 

Kopral Jono

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Incompetent owners not giving an incompetent manager what he wants. United, swimming in a sea of incompetence since 2013.
 

devilish

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Assuming that Ole was happy with a CB, a RW and the AMC in that list then we were set to spend around 200m-230m. That on top of the 145m he spent to bring the two very average defenders + the Welsh Bellion he got the summer before and the 50m we spent on Bruno Fernandes. Meanwhile United were being humiliated by Palace and Spurs.

Now I criticise our board for being sluggish and incompetent but jeez can't this guy win something without splashing loads of cash at every single transfer window? I mean if Sir Alex worked that way then Ole wouldn't have had his chance with United in the first place.
 
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Yes! that is pretty much understood by me as well in reflection of this summer. I'm discussing the variables of the differences between why Lampard got backed more this window. Chelsea wasn't able to sign players for two seasons.

There was no way on earth United was going to sign Sancho, Grealish and Upamenco. I had a funny feeling United wasn't even going to sign Sancho when I read this. The debt of the Glazer's -sigh-

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/man...d-announce-debt-rises-to-close-to-430-million
Upamecano before the start of the window had a buy out clause cheaper than what we got Van de beek for United were just incompetent as usual. Our current transfer controllers seem to think the window only opens and allows business one week to it's closing.
 

Gasolin

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I fear the worst right now with those weird articles. Why destroy the serenity of the club right now? We have so much work to do... We really have to hope God helps us and the two youngsters make an instant impact.
 

RedRonaldo

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Let’s evaluate all the signings Ole has made:

James - 15m is fair price, but he isn’t good enough to start games for us - 4/10

AWB - good signing, don’t see we can easily get anyone better with 50m last summer - 7.5/10

Maguire - A joke of a defender since the start of this season. It’s first time I’ve ever gave a 1/10 rating to any player I’ve watched, since Bebe nightmare crossing show. Mega flop for 80m, will struggle to sell him for 30m now, amid the current market - 4/10

Bruno - what a great signing. Our best midfielder and greatest penalty taker - 9/10

VDB - think he is decent squad player and good signing for us. But won’t improve our first team, and will prefer to have DM instead (ie Partey) given limited budget - 6/10?

Cavani - wrong age wrong period of his career. He is experience backup though, may offer us something different - 5/10?

Telles - think he will be good signing for us, but may not add anything defensively to our already poor defense - 6/10?

Traore - really excited with this signing, he looks like a real talent. He is not cheap though, and may not make immediate impact for us yet. But talent alone, I think he is at Sancho level, and it does feel like we have bought a 18 year old Sancho back in City time - 7/10?

Pellistri - buying for future potential, not going to dislike it, but he does look raw and unpolished, whether he will make an impact for us in future, time will tell - 5/10?
 
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devilish

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He got success from those 2. Plus Bruno who he was given way too late
3 semi finals and a 3rd place finish.
So you think that spending around 200m for a 3rd place and no trophies is success? Do we need Grealish, Upamecano and Sancho to avoid being hammered by Spurs or Palace?
 

Bobcat

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I doubt many here would have liked signing Grealish for 80m instead of VDB for 40m.

Beside missing on a 120m attacker is hard to blame the board for.

If I would blame Woodward for something it's missing most of the summer waiting for BVB to miraculously lower their price demand. Once their deadline day was reached on Aug 10th, we should have immediately moved on to other targets.
I would vert much have wanted that. VdB is not a bad signing really, hes a decent player for a decent price, but hes a bad signing for us because its pretty far down our priority list.

I said it all summer. If the Sancho deal fell through pay up for Grealish. Hes talented, a leader, young and most importantly PL proven
 

Loon

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Its Mourinho all over again isnt it?

Better than expected League position followed by inept investment.

Followed by poor league position.

Followed by new manager.

Rinse & repeat.
It certainly seems that way, plus no sponsor penalties for missing one season of CL football.
 

duffer

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The discussion of this thread is about this summer, and to be fair, Lampard did get 100%, in response to your initial question.
Chelsea head coaches don't choose the players. They get a say but not final sign off.

Lampard wanted Declan Rice more than anyone he actually got (other than possibly Chilwell). I doubt he ever saw Mendy play before his name was put forward by Cech.
 

devilish

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Its Mourinho all over again isnt it?

Better than expected League position followed by inept investment.

Followed by poor league position.

Followed by new manager.

Rinse & repeat.
Mou won trophies though as well. He didn't spent 145m in the defence only to ask for more defenders either.

United are not a Galactico club. We won't spend 100 of millions every year on big name signings especially since we seem to just threw 130m in the bin on slowpoke and tackles. Ole was backed throughout last year with an 80m CB, 50m RB, 50m midfielder and a championship level winger Ole's mate suggested. This year he got a top midfielder, a top LB and a horde of very promising kids including the most promising winger coming from the serie A.

If I was Ole I'd be more worried about why players performance tend to dip few months after he took them over. Maybe Lukaku and Sanchez complaints weren't far fetched at all
 

united for life

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Sorry have to question this bit. How did they get played like fools when Dortmund set their price and would not budge on it? Dortmund had the right to set their price, our fools thought they would get a bargain.

Is Sancho worth the price they're asking, only time will tell.
the problem is that they had no plan B. Like you said, they just waited for Dortmund to give in.
 

Leftback99

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They could write the same made up story for every club. Why didn't the list they got hold of have Messi, Neymar and Mbappe on it?

As badly as we're run, the idea that Solskjaer had a meeting on targets and came away with the idea that he could have a shopping list worth £200m+ is nonsense. Or even didn't have any discussion at all, just emailed in a list with no budget consideration.

As the transfer window shows, people will believe anything, especially if its negative.
 

Cassidy

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They could write the same made up story for every club. Why didn't the list they got hold of have Messi, Neymar and Mbappe on it?

As badly as we're run, the idea that Solskjaer had a meeting on targets and came away with the idea that he could have a shopping list worth £200m+ is nonsense. Or even didn't have any discussion at all, just emailed in a list with no budget consideration.

As the transfer window shows, people will believe anything, especially if its negative.
Indeed I mean Sancho clearly was not the number one target for RW and United had zero interest in Grealish
 

klsv

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The "do we need Sancho and Grealish to beat Palace at home" is one of the stupidest arguments doing rounds over here. There's not a manager in this world or a squad strong enough to win every match against teams they should be able to beat. Liverpool, Bayern and PSG are all capable of losing to sides like Villa, Hoffenheim and Lens. Teams they should beat every time they face then.

What we NEED is to improve to close the gap with City and Liverpool, and improve more to get ahead of them. No manager in the world is going to beat their points tally over 38 matches with our current squad. This is going to be expensive and if we won't pull our thumbs out our asses, there will soon be more teams in the leagur we need to close the gap with. We need to be more ambitious.

Sounds awfuly stupid to blame Ole for wanting too expensive signings. It's not his job to calculate the costs, we have an accountant as a CEO for that and owners who don't give two shits about football to provide the funding. Let's try to get the new manager the players he demands so could get back into CL the season after the next one, all that matters.
 

mitchmouse

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Well, we can't know exactly, since we didn't put any offers in. But, as far as I remember, Aston Villa said they value him at £80 million.
can't really know if we put in a (realistic) offer...