Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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BlueHaze

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Fabrizio Romano has all of a sudden become a top reliable source now? They guy who just regurgitates other sources. Hornstein is more reliable fair enough but never seen Romano as a particular credible source.
 

AltiUn

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Fabrizio Romano has all of a sudden become a top reliable source now? They guy who just regurgitates other sources. Hornstein is more reliable fair enough but never seen Romano as a particular credible source.
Romano's always been a reliable source.
 

Berbaclass

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Either this quickly gets shot down by British-based media sources or it will be done very quickly. Exciting times.
 

Berbaclass

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Fabrizio Romano has all of a sudden become a top reliable source now? They guy who just regurgitates other sources. Hornstein is more reliable fair enough but never seen Romano as a particular credible source.
Wrong guy. This is Gerard Romero
 

Adnan

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He did report that United had a better offer than Barcelona did for the player, but that doesn't always mean that we would have been strong favourites, especially when the other teams were still in for him. At the end, our offers were usurped by Juventus and PSG to name two clubs.

This is why I don't lean on reporters like Simon Mullock, Chris Wheeler, Alex Shaw, Mark Odgen, etc. even if they mainly report on United.
He didn't say we were 'strong favourites' but rather we were more likely to sign the player ahead of Barca. But it didn't seem like we were even in the running according to the top English journos.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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In Ajax he played most of his games as a DM right? How would ETH line up our midfield, if we sign FDJ? Could it be something along these lines:

When in possession:

Bruno (CAM)

Van de Beek (CM) - Frenkie de Jong (CM)

When out of possession:

Bruno (CM) - Van de Beek (CM)
Frenkie de Jong (DM)
He plays like a libero where he will be the deepest player to get the ball but at the same time given role to roam forward to carry the ball. Schone usually the one that sits more to provide balance if FDJ end up roaming forward. This is why I think VDB wouldn't suit the Schone role (may be). So I would say:

New Midfield - FDJ
Sancho - VDB - Bruno
Ronaldo

A complete new midfield and I will play Bruno as wide playmaker like Tadic or Ziyech.​
 

Dempsey19

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Fabrizio Romano has all of a sudden become a top reliable source now? They guy who just regurgitates other sources. Hornstein is more reliable fair enough but never seen Romano as a particular credible source.
You're mixing up Romano with Romero.
 

Giggs' right foot

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We really gonna pretend VDB is able to play in this league to a high enough level?
He won't be able to hold the midfield on his own in those cases.
Yeah, I share the sentiment. I'm also not sold with VdB, but I think ETH will give him a fair share of games to at least see, if he's up for it.

If he's not, it'll probably be Fred, taking his minutes besides FDJ (IF we sign him), because I don't see us buying a whopping two midfielders ready for our starting 11. If we sign FDJ our next focus will probably be a CB and a ST - and who knows, maybe those three positions are the only ones addressed this summer.
 

Rozay

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Even if Barca are open to this, I can’t imagine we’d be allowed a free run. Chelsea, City and Paris will likely stick their noses in.
 

In Rainbows

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Sounds too good to be true. All the talk of destroyers, DMs etc but I've always wanted a playmaker at United. Someone with that intelligence and weight of pass. Utterly neglected area.
There's nothing wrong with a DM, but it's not necessarily needed. United need to look at the midfield as a 3, with all the different qualities covered within those 3. How you do it is up to the club/manager. Therefore, a DM could be needed, or not. It all depends on the other 2 midfielders, or as I stated, the collective qualities the entire midfield brings.

For example,
1. Juve in 2013-15 had Pogba, Pirlo, and Vidal.
Qualities: Pogba brought moments of magic, and helped with creation, scoring, adding steel. Pirlo brought creativity from the back, brought a defensive presence by not venturing forward too often (due to legs being gone), and helped spread the ball around. Vidal brought energy that Pogba and Pirlo did not have. He brought goal scoring, and helped defend through his energy. Their end product probably was their best value.

2. Barca - Iniesta, Xavi, and Busquets. All 3 were great at recycling possession. Busquets could break up attacks through anticipating attacks and quickly distributed the ball after winning it back. Iniesta provided dribbling in the final third, and creativity. Xavi was the more constant ball distributor always providing a get out of jail free card to his teammates.

3. Real Madrid - Modric, Casemiro, and Kroos. Similar to Barca with Casemiro being slightly different to Busquets, as well as Modric and Kroos being more of a blend between Iniesta and Xavi. Unlike Juve, do not have such differences in energy, but because all provide more energy than Pogba and Pirlo, do not need a Vidal type player.

These 3 midfields were very different, but still were considered the best at one point (for Barca a longer amount of time). However, if you were to look at providing defensive cover, providing energy, providing ball distribution, providing the safest pair of hands to receive the ball, providing creativity, etc... they all provide that. They just have different types of players who shine together.

As long as our collective midfield is rather complete, with the members providing cover (to varying levels) for one another across all areas the midfield is supposed to provide, what each type is does not matter.
 

OverratedOpinion

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For those posting doubtful sentiments.

Please god just let us have our little fantasy for a few hours until he comes out and says he wants to stay at Barca. It has been a long season :(
 

Cassidy

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De Jong + Kamara/Tchuameni would be excellent
 

mazhar13

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He didn't say we were 'strong favourites' but rather we were more likely to sign the player ahead of Barca. But it didn't seem like we were even in the running according to the top English journos.
Yeah, fair enough. The Barcelona-based journalists often mention us when we aren't even strongly in the running for a player, so this doesn't surprise me.
 

Giggs' right foot

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He plays like a libero where he will be the deepest player to get the ball but at the same time given role to roam forward to carry the ball. Schone usually the one that sits more to provide balance if FDJ end up roaming forward. This is why I think VDB wouldn't suit the Schone role (may be). So I would say:

New Midfield - FDJ
Sancho - VDB - Bruno
Ronaldo

A complete new midfield and I will play Bruno as wide playmaker like Tadic or Ziyech.​
Could very well be! I'm too locked in my ways - I like wingers on the wing, so the prospect of Bruno out there seems iffy to me, but again - the hell do I know. It's worked before for many other clubs.
 

Decomposing In Paris

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If I was ETH coming into this club right now, the first thing I would want is people I can trust. If he trusts De Jong, De Ligt, whoever… if they’ve got the fortitude for the fight, & the transfer is possible… then that’s who we need to get first.

Would be a masterstroke. Gets you dreaming doesn’t it?
 

Cassidy

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He plays like a libero where he will be the deepest player to get the ball but at the same time given role to roam forward to carry the ball. Schone usually the one that sits more to provide balance if FDJ end up roaming forward. This is why I think VDB wouldn't suit the Schone role (may be). So I would say:

New Midfield - FDJ
Sancho - VDB - Bruno
Ronaldo

A complete new midfield and I will play Bruno as wide playmaker like Tadic or Ziyech.​
Sancho will be the wide playmaker I reckon
 

bond19821982

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Even if Barca are open to this, I can’t imagine we’d be allowed a free run. Chelsea, City and Paris will likely stick their noses in.
This is my problem too. But having ETH is a big bonus.
 

Waynne

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It's all such a non-United thing to do, wrap up ten Haag early and then get his star midfielder early, it's too efficient.
This.
I'm so used to seeing other clubs doing their business as early as possible and us fumbling around until deadline day.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Could very well be! I'm too locked in my ways - I like wingers on the wing, so the prospect of Bruno out there seems iffy to me, but again - the hell do I know. It's worked before for many other clubs.
I watched Ajax fans on Youtube talked about how United might play under Ten Hag little bit and two people said that the wingers under Ten Hag will operate like no 10. May be their intepretation is different to what I hear.
 

STaphouse

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Fabrizio Romano has all of a sudden become a top reliable source now? They guy who just regurgitates other sources. Hornstein is more reliable fair enough but never seen Romano as a particular credible source.
Romano isn’t the one reporting this….
 

NoPace

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This is like if we'd signed Veron but were Parma or Lazio instead of good and trying to fit him in.

If our summer was just signing De Jong and a decent left-footed CB that's at least an A- grade imo.
 

Adnan

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Yeah, fair enough. The Barcelona-based journalists often mention us when we aren't even strongly in the running for a player, so this doesn't surprise me.
But he (Romero) is one of the better journos for Barcelona.
 

Waynne

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A perfect summer window:

--------------Tchouameni ------ De Jong ------------------

-------------------- Bruno / V.D Beek ------------------------

--- Antony ---------------------------------------- Sancho ---

---------------------------- Ronaldo ----------------------------
 
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