Firmino should come to united
Free Agents in Summer
- Thread starter croadyman
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
None of them look particularly appealing when compared to players who would actually cost money.
Money is finite and we desperately need to improve our depth, so we can't really afford to turn our noses up at some of those players on a free.
Yeah but we're not some skint mid table club that has to indulge in Harry Redknapp style wheeler & dealer fantasies. If ETH wants a particular player, he will buy him.
Thanks bud.
Assuming Benzema extends, dembele and Thuram could be decent additions to the CF/attack.
Rabiot is a face we may see at Old Trafford. ETH was ready to bet on him last summer
The issue my friend is that we don’t just need one player, we need about 5 or 6.
I’d love to sign Osimhen, De Jong, Kudus, Kim Min-Jae, Frimpong and Diogo Costa, but that’s not realistic, as that would cost likely £375m.
The point of this thread is about what players are available for free this summer that could plug some of these gaps to a decent enough level.
So let’s say we have a budget of £250m as that’s going to be our max realistically due to FFP, so unfortunately can’t afford all of our preferred targets. By making some compromises and using the free agent market, we could possibly achieve something like this:
Osimhen, Rabiot, Kamada, Kim Min Jae, Frimpong, Diogo Costa.
I’d say that’s a pretty good summer don’t you?
People still want Tielemans? Are you guys even watching him these days or is it purely based on the name ?
If you want to sign a midfielder for free, Rabiot is the man. Feck, even Kamada would be probably be a better pick than Tielemans.
If you want to sign a midfielder for free, Rabiot is the man. Feck, even Kamada would be probably be a better pick than Tielemans.
We need what the manager assesses we need. If he thinks we need a proper striker then so be it. What defines a pretty good summer will be our accomplishments at the end of the 23/24 season, not how many players we buy in the offseason.
I think that will depend on whether we keep Fred and sign Sabitzer. If we retain both along side McTominay and with the return of Eriksen, I don't think there will be room - espcially with young players like Mainoo coming through as well
Is Benzema for 2 years actually that crazy? Madrid might just want Ramos, Kane or Osimhen and the other 2 don't move (or even all 3 not moving) or maybe Bayern or PSG get involved for one?
If that happens, then I think Benzema might be the most logical name? Big money, short deal and then he takes a ton of money in Asia or the MLS or ends his career more romantically in France.
My Madrid fan says has decline has set in, but he was so great last year that getting 2 years out of him seems plausible. I guess the Cristiano thing was such a gigantic headache that it is implausible, but would you bet on David, Sesko, Toney or Thuram actually outplaying him over the next 2 seasons, or the guy who just won the Ballon D'or and has a great first touch hanging on and giving us 2 Zlatan-y quality years?
Rabiot is a solid player, if we keep Sancho and sell Fred and McTominay and kept the more attacking Sabitzer, this makes sense to me:
-------------------------Bruno(Eriksen)-----------------
Eriksen/Sabitzer/Rabiot----Casemiro(Rabiot)
and Bruno gets some sub games, Rabiot is the defensive option, Sabitzer the compromise option and it's 5 guys for 3 spots so that should be enough minutes for everyone, and then I guess Mainoo given actual minutes as the 6th or 7th guy since Sancho can play as a 10 when we need more attacking (say when Bruno, Eriksen and Sabitzer aren't all on the field and it's Rabiot and Casemiro in a really solid boring 2 and we play more on the break).
Come out about plus 20M on the midfield in fees (give it all back in wages and sign on fees so break even) and I guess big money on a striker and maybe a big signing we're less expecting but seems plausible like GK, RB, RCB (Ten Hag might be terrified of Varane's injury record), and maybe some extra money for a 2nd #9 who's healthier than Martial and quicker than Weghorst.
I guess ETH sees Rabiot as an upgrade from what the various Fred, McT and Sabitzer offer on the pitch. Not a big fan of him honestly, but I would not be contrariated if he comes as a free agent
2nd 9 would be Thuram for me
Didn't look declining with that cool finish at Anfield
Id sign Grimaldo, mainly because it sounds like a name that could have been used to describe the end of CR7's United career!
Shame Ndicka has been snapped up.
I hope we are still looking at Tielemans, as I think it would be dreamland stuff if we were to sign both Caciedo and Rice. One of the two will do, and Tielemans on a free would give us a quality midfield unit to choose from.
I haven't seen enough of Dahoud recently, though I remember he was highly rated when he was on the come-up. How has he been over the last few seasons?
I hope we are still looking at Tielemans, as I think it would be dreamland stuff if we were to sign both Caciedo and Rice. One of the two will do, and Tielemans on a free would give us a quality midfield unit to choose from.
I haven't seen enough of Dahoud recently, though I remember he was highly rated when he was on the come-up. How has he been over the last few seasons?
He is also a solid LB in his prime. Unfortunately, it seems that he has made up his mind and will not renew for us
I don't know Ndicka is being snapped up but I highly doubt Ndicka will come to Arsenal as a squad option from the bench anyway. I also doubt Arteta and Edu will be actively looking at another CM while we have ESR, Vieira, Odegaard, Jorginho, Xhaka, Partey, Elneny fighting for 3 spots in the midfield. We have enough numbers there(quality is another matter). We need a right winger who can challenge/rotate with Saka badly this summer however.
No idea why any club would want Tielemans. He's another Pogba, Lingard luxury type player that is incredibly lazy off the ball.
El Neny is simply our backups backup. The sooner he is phased out the better.
We seem to be looking for another long-term midfielder given our pursuit of Caceido. Now we are being linked with Rice, so I am hoping one of the two are brought in at the end of the season.
IMO we need someone to challenge and eventually replace Xhaka, and we need someone to challenge and rotate with Partey. Jorginho is on a short term deal and is a good backup to have.
IMO a midfield unit of: Xhaka, Partey, Jorginho + Rice/Caceido and maybe Tielemans would be an excellent unit. Though maybe we just bring Patino into the fold after his impressive loan in the Championship?
I agree we need someone to give Saka a chop-out. Though if we bring Balogun back (slight chance) we could potentially move Jesus out to the right at times. Either way we do have some great forward and wide-forward options in: Saka, Martinelli, ESR, Trossard and Jesus.
Eddie is average IMO and doesn't gel well with the rest of the forwards like Jesus and Trossard do. At 100k per week I hope we consider moving him on, if possible, otherwise he is a nice back-up that is a great character and works hard.
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Very talented though and maybe a change of scenery to a better side, where he'd have to work for his games, would help get the best out of him.
Dunno Rabiot on a free looks like a genuine bargain as can play 6 or 8 and has added goals to his game this season.
Kante Modric Kroos Benzema.
Would take any of them.
Would take any of them.
I would prefer a player like Paulinha to be honest. We're never going to generate many goals from midfield and should instead be looking at Osimhen or similar player who can contribute 30-35 goals, which would alleviate a lot of pressure for Rashford to carry most of the water.
If you consider Bruno is a number 8/10 attacking midfielder then we have actually scored 26 goals from our overall total of 88 goals from 45 Games. City midfield has scored 23 goals from 106, Phil Foden has being playing mostly as a striker this season so I’ve given half his goals to the total.
So I would say united midfield with 29% of our goals this season due to the ineffective performance of Weghorst, Sancho, Antony have been vital. City struggles are because they are completely reliant on a CF for 40% of their goals, the Midfield are not scoring anywhere near what they did last year.
To be the best team in the league you need goals from everywhere especially midfield.
What about Gavi? Would be nice to piss off Laporta
Noooo!
Dani Ceballos be a useful signing as backup to Eriksen.
Wasn't that impressed with his spell at Arsenal
He has really improved, and way more consistent now. It might be something to do with the league, so there aren't any guarantees he will do as good for us as for Real Madrid.
1. Marcus Thuram
2. Marcus Thuram
3. Marcus Thuram
4. Marcus Thuram
5. Marcus Thuram
2. Marcus Thuram
3. Marcus Thuram
4. Marcus Thuram
5. Marcus Thuram
Isn’t Gavi now back on the market as a free transfer after the latest ruling against Farcelona? Back on his original youth contract, stripped of his number.
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Thought that was sorted? Could be wrong
This is the second time.
Heh
LaLiga got the Spanish court to overturn its previous decision that allowed them to register him even though he put them over their salary cap. LaLiga showed that the paperwork or something used to convince the court was not the same so the court has now ruled in LaLigas favour.
There is a clause in his youth contract that states if he isn’t registered as a first team member by June 30 2023 then he can leave for free.
I don’t think he will leave myself and somehow they’ll just register him next season but he is there to be gotten and both Liverpool and United have been linked with him or keeping an eye on the situation.
Wonder what the chances of pulling in Bellingham and Gavi to play with Cas are
Plays as a L fwd. Repeat x 5 and he is still a lwfwd.
Don't see us signing two number 9's
Muani is a winger as well, so is Rashford.
Thuram is stronger than both, I see him more as a nine.