Expensive Signings

[SAred]

United have had more misses then successes with these expensive signings. Rather then splashing out on the likes of the Paul's and Harry's of this world lets see if this new approach brings more success.
Exciting times.

 

[Lentwood]

It’s not really a “new approach” (i.e. new for this window) but I tend to agree

All the muppets and their conspiracy theories about cost-cutting and ambitions just to scrape 4th might not see it but the future of football is NOT spending £100m+ on one player. It’s an extraordinary amount of money to spend and as we’ve seen, it doesn’t guarantee success. Far from it, if you look at all of the £70m+ transfers in world football, I bet you will find most would only be classed as qualified successes at best, with many falling well short of expectations.

The future is developing your own players through the Academy and through bringing in young talent from around the world. By my rough calculations we have signed 10+ players for money to add to the academy over the last 12-18mnths and I can’t argue with that as a strategy - it’s exactly how I would run the club

 

[MUFC OK]

Aside from Rooney and Rio (who were expensive in a british context but not a global one), we've found little success with this route. That said I would spend big bucks on Upamecano or Kounde as they look like two of the best up and coming CB's in world football.

 

[Ish]

It’s not really a “new approach” (i.e. new for this window) but I tend to agree

All the muppets and their conspiracy theories about cost-cutting and ambitions just to scrape 4th might not see it but the future of football is NOT spending £100m+ on one player. It’s an extraordinary amount of money to spend and as we’ve seen, it doesn’t guarantee success. Far from it, if you look at all of the £70m+ transfers in world football, I bet you will find most would only be classed as qualified successes at best, with many falling well short of expectations.

The future is developing your own players through the Academy and through bringing in young talent from around the world. By my rough calculations we have signed 10+ players for money to add to the academy over the last 12-18mnths and I can’t argue with that as a strategy - it’s exactly how I would run the club

Yep, and as has been shown - a collective football system can implemented which makes the sum of the whole, greater than any contribution by an individual. Just need to work towards it and getting players that will suit the system. They don't have to be world record signings either.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

History will be written by the winner. Our spend is £75.15m in this window before performance related add-ons. We've signed 5 players. It may yet turn out to be our most shrewd window yet. When you consider past big fees on single players £96m on Pogba, 80m on Maguire, 50m on Fred and AWB, £40m on Matic.

 

[MUFC OK]

History will be written by the winner. Our spend is £75.15m in this window before performance related add-ons. We've signed 5 players. It may yet turn out to be our most shrewd window yet. When you consider past big fees on single players £96m on Pogba, 80m on Maguire, 50m on Fred and AWB, £40m on Matic.

He's actually been a good signing but we could have had Fabinho and similarly Partey, who in my opinion is the best CDM in the world currently.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Aside from Rooney and Rio (who were expensive in a british context but not a global one), we've found little success with this route. That said I would spend big bucks on Upamecano or Kounde as they look like two of the best up and coming CB's in world football.

Rio was the worlds most expensive defender. Was Rooney the worlds most expensive teenager at the time? These were massive signings on a global basis. I may be remembering this incorrectly, and happy to be proven wrong.

Sancho would have been a similar type of signing.

We do need to bring in younger, hungrier players. Augmented with the occasional star player.

We’ve also spent far to much on the likes of Lindelof, Matic, Fred, Bailly - players that are never going to be great players but who are costing £30-50m just to be squad players. That’s a terrible waste of money.

 

[Stadjer]

Roy Keane was signed for a British record fee wasnt he? Buying class players for a lot money has worked out for Manchester United. Rio and Rooney werent cheap either for that time. Wouldnt Rio actually still be the most expensive defender alltime if you take in account the inflation (more money needed for less quality players)?

Buying not so good players for way too much money (Maguire for example) isnt a good idea in my opinion.

 

[Lentwood]

Yep, and as has been shown - a collective football system can implemented which makes the sum of the whole, greater than any contribution by an individual. Just need to work towards it and getting players that will suit the system. They don't have to be world record signings either.

Yep, there are several advantes.

1) As you say, players can develop together and learn how to play 'the United way' whatever we (or more specifically, our coaches) decide that is

2) Spending money on 'names' hardly ever works. I can't think of many 'finished articles' that have moved for big money to Utd and been unqualified successes. Even big money players like Rio Ferdinand were still young and developing

3) Transfer fees will keep going up because there is more money in the game than ever. Smaller/middle tier clubs can't be bullied anymore. If you want players they have developed into PL regulars, you're going to have to pay well above their actual market value. Clubs that don't develop players themselves will be burned by this over and over again

4) It's a fairly low-risk strategy. If we sign a player for £7m from Uruguay and he's the worst player in the world, it doesn't really matter too much. Plus, you would probably get that money back or more selling to middle-tier European clubs in today's market

5) Even players that fall short of first XI standard can be used to fill-out the squad (and allow funds to be focused elsewhere) and/or sold on at a big profit. I'm not suggesting we do sell these players, but how much would Garner and Williams already be worth in today's market? Must be £15m/£20m each. How much are Rashford and Greenwood worth? I'd argue Greenwood is already a £100m player, based on age, current ability and future ceiling.

6) These players have more loyalty to the club. They are less likely to keep agitating for moves or better contracts, like some of the mercenaries we have resorted to purchasing over the last few years

 

[MUFC OK]

Rio was the worlds most expensive defender. Was Rooney the worlds most expensive teenager at the time? These were massive signings on a global basis. I may be remembering this incorrectly, and happy to be proven wrong.

Sancho would have been a similar type of signing.

We do need to bring in younger, hungrier players. Augmented with the occasional star player.

We’ve also spent far to much on the likes of Lindelof, Matic, Fred, Bailly - players that are never going to be great players but who are costing £30-50m just to be squad players. That’s a terrible waste of money.

Correct, Rio was. I think when spending the big money it is wisest to do so on talents proven in this league, which is notoriously difficult to adapt to and excel in - that was SAF's strategy, Veron aside. Sancho could have been great - 30m on this traore lad is baffling, it's a huge risk.

But assuming you're buying players that other clubs don't want to sell, who does go for below 30m these days? Unless they are in the last year of their contract of course.

 

[Wittmann45]

It’s not really a “new approach” (i.e. new for this window) but I tend to agree

All the muppets and their conspiracy theories about cost-cutting and ambitions just to scrape 4th might not see it but the future of football is NOT spending £100m+ on one player. It’s an extraordinary amount of money to spend and as we’ve seen, it doesn’t guarantee success. Far from it, if you look at all of the £70m+ transfers in world football, I bet you will find most would only be classed as qualified successes at best, with many falling well short of expectations.

The future is developing your own players through the Academy and through bringing in young talent from around the world. By my rough calculations we have signed 10+ players for money to add to the academy over the last 12-18mnths and I can’t argue with that as a strategy - it’s exactly how I would run the club

I'd tend to agree if there haven't been 20 odd transfers in the last few years alone that have been over 70 million euros. Additionally, I think the success rate of those players are probably very similar to the success rate of spending lots of money on 18 years old that haven't yet made a handful of senior appearances for their club

I also think people are upset by the lack of direction and the fact that the RW has been a glaring issue for years and, once again, the board has failed to bring in a player that can actually contribute to a solution immediately. Instead, United are going to be relying on a 19 year striker to play RW

I have no issue with not buying Sancho and especially Dembele, but the complete lack of alternatives, or the way United acted with the Sancho signing, is troubling. United bought a couple of really exciting RW talents, but it really just looks like panic buys instead of being part of a clear vision for the club. United bought a number of young talents, which is great, but there are glaring holes in the squad and this transfer window was important. Add to that, this year is going to be incredibly trying and depth is going to be essential, and besides CM and LB, this team lacks depth throughout. It is worrying.

 

[georgipep]

It’s not really a “new approach” (i.e. new for this window) but I tend to agree

All the muppets and their conspiracy theories about cost-cutting and ambitions just to scrape 4th might not see it but the future of football is NOT spending £100m+ on one player. It’s an extraordinary amount of money to spend and as we’ve seen, it doesn’t guarantee success. Far from it, if you look at all of the £70m+ transfers in world football, I bet you will find most would only be classed as qualified successes at best, with many falling well short of expectations.

The future is developing your own players through the Academy and through bringing in young talent from around the world. By my rough calculations we have signed 10+ players for money to add to the academy over the last 12-18mnths and I can’t argue with that as a strategy - it’s exactly how I would run the club

Completely agree and am super excited for the three youngsters we bought on deadline day. The 16 year old CB is a huge talent while the two 18 year old wingers are both considered among the best in their regions. Hope we get to see Pellistri soon and Traore too before the end of this season.

 

[Lentwood]

I'd tend to agree if there haven't been 20 odd transfers in the last few years alone that have been over 70 million euros. Additionally, I think the success rate of those players are probably very similar to the success rate of spending lots of money on 18 years old that haven't yet made a handful of senior appearances for their club

If you look at those transfers though, a fair chunk haven't been successful and a decent percentage have been total disasters! We can't lose sight of just how much money £100m is in the 'real' world i.e. what that could buy in terms of infrastructure (academy/stadium) and how many season tickets/replica shirts that is.

Here is a list of the world's most expensive transfers, how many clubs do you think will be completely happy with their outlay?

Neymar - £200m - Good player, hasn't delivered a Champions League. Qualified success.
Mbappe - £200m - Good players, bags of potential, £200m could look like value if broken down over 10yrs or they re-sell for a large sum. Still, no CL. Qualified success
Countinho - £145m - Disaster.
Joao Felix - £126m - Has he done much since joining? Certainly hasn't looked a £126m player yet....
Griezmann - £120m - Disaster
Dembele - £105m - Disaster
Pogba - £90m - Disaster. Hasn't delivered on the pitch, caused a headache for two managers now...nobody knows how or where to play him.
Hazard - £90m - Disaster.
Ronaldo - £90m. Huge success...but that £90m was 10yrs ago...so would be £200m+ now.
Bale - £90m. Qualified success.
Gonzalo Higuaín - £75m - Hit and miss, arguably overpriced.
Maguire - £75m - Far too much money to pay. Looking more miss than hit
Van Dijk - £75m - Unqualified success
Suarez - £75m - Qualified success
Kepa - £75m - Disaster
Pepe - £75m - Wouldn't say disaster but a LOT to prove
Lucas Hernandez - £75m - Doesn't get in the side....hard to say disaster but doesn't play!

More misses than hits amongst that lot in my opinion!

 

[Chief123]

It’s pretty astonishing to think since last summers window, we’ve spent just over £300m.

 

[Chief123]

If you look at those transfers though, a fair chunk haven't been successful and a decent percentage have been total disasters! We can't lose sight of just how much money £100m is in the 'real' world i.e. what that could buy in terms of infrastructure (academy/stadium) and how many season tickets/replica shirts that is.

Here is a list of the world's most expensive transfers, how many clubs do you think will be completely happy with their outlay?

Neymar - £200m - Good player, hasn't delivered a Champions League. Qualified success.
Mbappe - £200m - Good players, bags of potential, £200m could look like value if broken down over 10yrs or they re-sell for a large sum. Still, no CL. Qualified success
Countinho - £145m - Disaster.
Joao Felix - £126m - Has he done much since joining? Certainly hasn't looked a £126m player yet....
Griezmann - £120m - Disaster
Dembele - £105m - Disaster
Pogba - £90m - Disaster. Hasn't delivered on the pitch, caused a headache for two managers now...nobody knows how or where to play him.
Hazard - £90m - Disaster.
Ronaldo - £90m. Huge success...but that £90m was 10yrs ago...so would be £200m+ now.
Bale - £90m. Qualified success.
Gonzalo Higuaín - £75m - Hit and miss, arguably overpriced.
Maguire - £75m - Far too much money to pay. Looking more miss than hit
Van Dijk - £75m - Unqualified success
Suarez - £75m - Qualified success
Kepa - £75m - Disaster
Pepe - £75m - Wouldn't say disaster but a LOT to prove
Lucas Hernandez - £75m - Doesn't get in the side....hard to say disaster but doesn't play!

More misses than hits amongst that lot in my opinion!

Agree with most of this except VVD. I don’t think it would be right to say he’s an unqualified success. You could argue he’s already done enough to be a success as he was a major reason for them winning the European cup and league title after 30 years.

 

[Wittmann45]

If you look at those transfers though, a fair chunk haven't been successful and a decent percentage have been total disasters! We can't lose sight of just how much money £100m is in the 'real' world i.e. what that could buy in terms of infrastructure (academy/stadium) and how many season tickets/replica shirts that is.

Here is a list of the world's most expensive transfers, how many clubs do you think will be completely happy with their outlay?

My problem is not whether expensive stars work out, my disagreement is in trying to contextualize United's transfer window in some sort of trend away from big money spending towards a concerted effort towards youth development. You claim the future of football is not spending large sums on star players and that United's window is part of this future trend. Instead, what I was trying to say is that the future will continue to be huge amounts of money (and not just 100 million, but what about established players that cost 40-50?) being thrown around and that United's transfer window was something of a disaster where few of the glaring holes with depth were actually addressed.

Additionally, what I also tried to say is that the only options could not have been spending spending big on Sancho or investing lots of money in two unproven wingers. There should have been alternatives at RW when it was clear that Dortmund did not want to sell and that Dembele would not accept a loan. It was bad preparation and execution that people are trying to redeem by contextualizing it within some sort of supposed clear direction from the club/board

 

[Ish]

@Lentwood how i have always seen it, outside of maybe Madrid who went Galactico crazy at times, is that marquee/expensive signings should be made to be the "jewel" on the crown - to finish off and elevate an already booming team, with an identity. Very rarely should they be made and brought in to "fix" a mess. If that makes sense.

I think in the former category, you're more likely to find someone who fits into your style, versus the latter.

 

[VanGaalyTime]

It’s pretty astonishing to think since last summers window, we’ve spent just over £300m.

We haven't even spent 150 since last summer's window?

 

[Wittmann45]

@Lentwood how i have always seen it, outside of maybe Madrid who went Galactico crazy at times, is that marquee/expensive signings should be made to be the "jewel" on the crown - to finish off and elevate an already booming team, with an identity. Very rarely should they be made and brought in to "fix" a mess. If that makes sense.

I think in the former category, you're more likely to find someone who fits into your style, versus the latter.

100% agree. Sancho would have been great but he also would have been under immense pressure when there are issues throughout the team that need to be addressed. It is a recipe for disaster

However, could you not also say that spending big money on young players and bringing them into a "mess" is just as detrimental? I am not all that upset about not getting Sancho but what United have done as the alternative to Sancho is buying a couple 18 year old right wingers and expecting them to contribute in a meaningful way when both are coming from foreign leagues.

 

[bonothom]

I think £100 mllion for any player would be ridiculous especially in current times. I really think Sancho would have been under massive pressure to deliver all the time with that sort of price tag. I think United have dodged a bullet.

 

[Chief123]

We haven't even spent 150 since last summer's window?

I mean from beginning of last summers window to now, we’ve spent around £300m.

Maguire
AWB
James
Bruno
Telles
VDB
Traore
Pellisitri
Cavani

 

[Chief123]

I think £100 mllion for any player would be ridiculous especially in current times. I really think Sancho would have been under massive pressure to deliver all the time with that sort of price tag. I think United have dodged a bullet.

There’s not much hope for getting back to the top if we are dodging “bullets” like Sancho.

 

[Roboc7]

I mean from beginning of last summers window to now, we’ve spent around £300m.

Maguire
AWB
James
Bruno
Telles
VDB
Traore
Pellisitri
Cavani

AWB and Maguire stand out, 130m for two players that should have cost 65m and don’t actually fit way Ole is trying to play now.

Spend that money better and squad could be a lot better, two players we missed out on Bellingham and Haaland are big loss as well. Both would have improved us a lot for not much money.

 

[Dan600]

I tend to think it is wise to start being more careful with our transfer spending for the moment. I know we need to get back to the top but we need to consider the club as a whole at this point. All the while we are saddled with the Glazer's and the debt we are hamstrung whether we like it or not, and we need to be more shrewd with the money we do get to spend. Aside from the playing staff, when was the last time we spent any money on the rest of out facilities/assets? When we keep on spending like crazy left and right on a whole new team for a new manager, we keep on neglecting the other important facets of a football club.

When was the last time we spent any money on our infrastructure? On the stadium, the training facilities? We all speak about the stadium from time to time, how it is being left behind by the newer stadiums, whether the Etihad, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or even newer stadiums like The Amex. It could certainly do with a few upgrades to bring it into the 21st Century.

Then Look at clubs like Chelsea and City's state of the art facilities, then look at ours. We moved to Carrington from the Cliff in 2000, at the time £60M was a huge outlay. Yet today we have the women's team and several of the youth teams still training at the Cliff. Even the likes of Brighton have newer training facilities than us (Granted they were a LOT further behind us before that).

And even the non-playing staff. We have a rigorous scouting network for sure. But how do handle our coaching staff. Are we regularly making sure we have the best coaches around, whether for the senior team or at youth level, Ole has appointed several new members of staff, but how are they being vetted?


We need to focus on the playing staff for sure. But we need to be angry at the lack of spending on the infrastructure too. And we need a manager (or/plus a Director of Football) who can manage the club in its entirety, and ensure the balance is right between playing budget and other areas of the club. Someone who ensures we are not just spending on players, but on the rest of the club. If we keep on switching managers and playing styles, spending vast amounts of money on players while neglecting our infrastructure, it is only going to get more difficult for us to attract the best players in future.

 

[Ish]

100% agree. Sancho would have been great but he also would have been under immense pressure when there are issues throughout the team that need to be addressed. It is a recipe for disaster

However, could you not also say that spending big money on young players and bringing them into a "mess" is just as detrimental? I am not all that upset about not getting Sancho but what United have done as the alternative to Sancho is buying a couple 18 year old right wingers and expecting them to contribute in a meaningful way when both are coming from foreign leagues.

Yeah, I am not sure what sort of impact we're expecting/hoping from them, but am intrigued to find out. And as you said, it's a lot of pressure. If they have the right sort of mentality and are good enough, it will be a great learning experience for them, but as you note, it could also be a very difficult period for them.

 

[VanGaalyTime]

I mean from beginning of last summers window to now, we’ve spent around £300m.

Maguire 80
AWB -50
James 15
Bruno 40
Telles 13
VDB 40
Traore 20
Pellisitri 7
Cavani - 0

So 265 ish.

But we need to spend much more than that obviously. And it's not even just the spending, it's the communication with fans. They want us to spend money on MUTV and on our merch but they're not bringing in players or managing the squad. Proactive fans can see what's happening and how we're clearly falling behind teams like Chelsea, Spurs, Wolves, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Arsenal and others - both in terms of spending and squad building.

 

[bonothom]

There’s not much hope for getting back to the top if we are dodging “bullets” like Sancho.

He aint worth £100million. You could buy 3 players for that amount and would improve the team more than Sancho would.

 

[Lentwood]

My problem is not whether expensive stars work out, my disagreement is in trying to contextualize United's transfer window in some sort of trend away from big money spending towards a concerted effort towards youth development. You claim the future of football is not spending large sums on star players and that United's window is part of this future trend. Instead, what I was trying to say is that the future will continue to be huge amounts of money (and not just 100 million, but what about established players that cost 40-50?) being thrown around and that United's transfer window was something of a disaster where few of the glaring holes with depth were actually addressed.

Additionally, what I also tried to say is that the only options could not have been spending spending big on Sancho or investing lots of money in two unproven wingers.

It not about trying to contextualise this window though, this has been happening at Utd for three/four windows now. It’s just that it doesn’t often get reported, or get the big headlines anyway.

In the past 12/18mnths we have bought 10+ players for the u23s. If only two of these become first team regulars that ought to be seen as a big success.

If we add five young players every year, one turns out genuine 1st team quality and one turns out to be first team squad standard then by 2023 we will be in a very strong position.

I think what the club has realised is that trying to buy a quick fix is almost always doomed to fail because it’s impossible to replicate the conditions under which a given “proven” player was successful

You have far more control over this if you develop your own players. Pogba is a prime example, carved out a niche at Juventus and did very well. United haven’t found a use for him or been able to replicate those conditions.

 

[Botim]

There's nothing wrong with spending big on players, there's something wrong with spending big on average players. No way are players like Maguire or Kepa worth £75, for example.

The last three Premier league players of the year were all big signings:

Salah (£42, club record at the time)
Van Dijk (£75, club record)
De Bruyne (£55, club record at the time)

Our best player Bruno Fernandes (£47m) wasn't exactly a bargain bin buy either.

Off course you want to add young talent as well, but you can't "plan for the future" forever. How many players have been dubbed the "next Ronaldo" only to fail at the highest level?

 

[tjb]

If you look at those transfers though, a fair chunk haven't been successful and a decent percentage have been total disasters! We can't lose sight of just how much money £100m is in the 'real' world i.e. what that could buy in terms of infrastructure (academy/stadium) and how many season tickets/replica shirts that is.

Here is a list of the world's most expensive transfers, how many clubs do you think will be completely happy with their outlay?

Neymar - £200m - Good player, hasn't delivered a Champions League. Qualified success.
Mbappe - £200m - Good players, bags of potential, £200m could look like value if broken down over 10yrs or they re-sell for a large sum. Still, no CL. Qualified success
Countinho - £145m - Disaster.
Joao Felix - £126m - Has he done much since joining? Certainly hasn't looked a £126m player yet....
Griezmann - £120m - Disaster
Dembele - £105m - Disaster
Pogba - £90m - Disaster. Hasn't delivered on the pitch, caused a headache for two managers now...nobody knows how or where to play him.
Hazard - £90m - Disaster.
Ronaldo - £90m. Huge success...but that £90m was 10yrs ago...so would be £200m+ now.
Bale - £90m. Qualified success.
Gonzalo Higuaín - £75m - Hit and miss, arguably overpriced.
Maguire - £75m - Far too much money to pay. Looking more miss than hit
Van Dijk - £75m - Unqualified success
Suarez - £75m - Qualified success
Kepa - £75m - Disaster
Pepe - £75m - Wouldn't say disaster but a LOT to prove
Lucas Hernandez - £75m - Doesn't get in the side....hard to say disaster but doesn't play!

More misses than hits amongst that lot in my opinion!

It's worse than that btw. Ronaldo, Suarez and Neymar were already world class players. Sancho isn't yet. He's in the same boat as the Dembele's. One great season for that price was never something I was comfortable with, especially coming from the Bundesliga. Not that its a bad league, but the style and the competition may not show how good he really is. We've seen this from Mhiki and Kagawa already.

 

[Wittmann45]

It not about trying to contextualise this window though, this has been happening at Utd for three/four windows now. It’s just that it doesn’t often get reported, or get the big headlines anyway.

In the past 12/18mnths we have bought 10+ players for the u23s. If only two of these become first team regulars that ought to be seen as a big success.

If we add five young players every year, one turns out genuine 1st team quality and one turns out to be first team squad standard then by 2023 we will be in a very strong position.

I think what the club has realised is that trying to buy a quick fix is almost always doomed to fail because it’s impossible to replicate the conditions under which a given “proven” player was successful

You have far more control over this if you develop your own players. Pogba is a prime example, carved out a niche at Juventus and did very well. United haven’t found a use for him or been able to replicate those conditions.

But what are the chances of that actually happening? How likely is it that one player of first team quality is going to come through the youth team every year? You are rightly criticizing teams spending large sums of money based on how often players flop but how many highly touted prospects actually make it? Expecting one player a year is not realistic. Additionally, relying on youth is nice when you already have a great squad and a great setup.

United does not need anymore expensive flops, I understand that. But expecting youth to make up the vast difference in quality between United and a club like Liverpool is short sided. I have nothing against investing money in youth players but City and Liverpool have done similar lately (with varying degrees of success) while also spending big on key players. United need a better talent recognition and acquisition system. Like I said, I did not necessarily need Sancho for United to have had a successful window, but someone else should have been acquired as an alternative. If United had a clear plan and system with any sort of vision, there would have been viable alternatives, especially as the RW has been a consistent problem for years. There is a middle ground between 100 million pound stars and developing youth. Liverpool had a broken team when Klopp took over and they proceeded to bring through only a few youth team players while spending wisely to buy players that fit their system of play. Pogba is an example of a bad transfer but Liverpool's winning title side had one, maybe two, youth players and a number of players brought in because they excelled at their previous clubs and because they matched Klopp's style. When a manager and a management team has a vision for a team and how it should play and they cooperate, building a team through the transfer market is feasible and common

I see nothing wrong with not spending huge on single players, but almost every other top club follows a relatively consistent pattern of spending significant amounts of money on areas of need.

 

[Rolaholic]

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[sincher]

If you look at those transfers though, a fair chunk haven't been successful and a decent percentage have been total disasters! We can't lose sight of just how much money £100m is in the 'real' world i.e. what that could buy in terms of infrastructure (academy/stadium) and how many season tickets/replica shirts that is.

Here is a list of the world's most expensive transfers, how many clubs do you think will be completely happy with their outlay?

Neymar - £200m - Good player, hasn't delivered a Champions League. Qualified success.
Mbappe - £200m - Good players, bags of potential, £200m could look like value if broken down over 10yrs or they re-sell for a large sum. Still, no CL. Qualified success
Countinho - £145m - Disaster.
Joao Felix - £126m - Has he done much since joining? Certainly hasn't looked a £126m player yet....
Griezmann - £120m - Disaster
Dembele - £105m - Disaster
Pogba - £90m - Disaster. Hasn't delivered on the pitch, caused a headache for two managers now...nobody knows how or where to play him.
Hazard - £90m - Disaster.
Ronaldo - £90m. Huge success...but that £90m was 10yrs ago...so would be £200m+ now.
Bale - £90m. Qualified success.
Gonzalo Higuaín - £75m - Hit and miss, arguably overpriced.
Maguire - £75m - Far too much money to pay. Looking more miss than hit
Van Dijk - £75m - Unqualified success
Suarez - £75m - Qualified success
Kepa - £75m - Disaster
Pepe - £75m - Wouldn't say disaster but a LOT to prove
Lucas Hernandez - £75m - Doesn't get in the side....hard to say disaster but doesn't play!

More misses than hits amongst that lot in my opinion!

Absolutely. It is very, very expensive and very hard to buy top players now. This is why it is essential that we get them early, and this is why we have hugely increased investment in young players. We should aim for at least 3 of Mejbri, Kambwala, Garnacho, Pellistri, Diallo, Hugill, McNeill, Pye, Jurado, Carreras, Emeran, Mejia etc. to become stars.

 

[MoskvaRed]

Spending big does not guarantee success but success generally requires spending big (or hoovering up free transfers like Bayern, which is not an option for us).

I find the OP’s premise similar to the argument that, because two managers like LVG and Mourinho didn’t succeed, we shouldn’t worry about a manager’s CV.

 

[r3idy]

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Ducker can go suck a big bag of salty dicks. Another hack stealing a living off the name of Man Utd.

For me this window is a bit of mixed bag. If after the Leicester game somebody would have said this is nailed on

- Signing of a quality Left Back to challenge or take the place of Shaw, decent deal with a sound investment (Agree)
- Sign a quality Centre Mid who has champions league experience and is young, technically sound and looks like the right kind of fit. Here's Donny !!! (Agree)
- Replacement for Ighalo, short term contract but with bags of goals, experience both in champions league / international level and will not impact Greenwods, Rashfords development (Agree)
- Sign two up and coming emerging talent from Italy and South America. May come off, may not but worth a punt (Agree)
- One Marquee signing is possible but we will walk away if we are being put over a barrel for agents fees / transfer fees (position that's needed to be filled but probably the right thing to have a limit on the transfer and not be mugged off - agree)

With a bit of hindsight and the way we have paid over the odd's with stupid stupid fee's I would take the above all day long. The right quality of players and ages for the positions we need filling. Cant say we have overpaid for any of them with the exception of maybe the lad from Atalanta.

Where I have issue is HOW we have gone about it. Acted like rank amateurs. Surely you sound out Mardid and Reguillion before it goes that far. Surely if your number one transfer target is Sancho you know everything inside out on the deal before you even consider chasing him down. All the noises and briefings were, onto other targets. If that's the case, we are stood holding our dicks about Dembele.

 

[Lentwood]

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The problem with this, which I assume was posted sarcastically or to make some kind of point, is that 99% of fans were calling for a “cultural reset”, even if they didn’t use that phrase.

This forum was full of people bemoaning our lack of identity and divergence from “United values” - now the club have identified that as an issue and are seemingly attempting to remedy it people are reacting with scorn or sarcasm or worse, coming up with wild conspiracy theories

 

[Lentwood]

Agree with most of this except VVD. I don’t think it would be right to say he’s an unqualified success. You could argue he’s already done enough to be a success as he was a major reason for them winning the European cup and league title after 30 years.

The terms “qualified success” and “unqualified success” are a little misleading - “qualified” means only partly successful or successful with caveats

Unqualified success basically means success without qualification i.e. the absence of any doubt or debate about their success

So yeah...i’m saying VVD is an unqualified success...which means unquestionably a success

 

[Andy_Cole]

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I’m surprised he’s so critical seen as he seems to be our mouthpiece!