Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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ti vu

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I think the poster is insinuating we have seen players take this career path and lose motivation after this simply, we don't know how driven he is a as a person and whether it not working (as he would have liked) at Barca considering they deem him an expendable asset that it could hit him mentally.
Fair point, which I am not in position to say those have that view is wrong.

Just a hope that EtH knowing FdJ previously, he knows a bit more about FdJ sporting ambition and character in person, than just scouts gathering data, info externally or via a third person.
 

jackal&hyde

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Not being in the CL is bad enough, but some of our losses this season were super ugly. These guys watch football too.

4-1 to Watford
5-0 to Liverpool
4-0 to Liverpool
4-1 to City
4-0 to Brighton

I’m sure that in their group chats plenty of players must have hit guys that play for us with “WTF bro”. Being courted by/linked with Manchester United these days must be annoying if you’re at the top of your game/believe in your abilities. It’s like when you’re a kid and people ask if you’re going out with that not so attractive person and you reply “eww” by reflex.
Nah, that's just us fans being completely demoralized and for good reason.

The truth is that on a last 3 year timeline we've finished 3ed, 2ed and probably 6th. We are Manchester United, one of the richest and most famous clubs in the World with now having one of the hottest prospects of a manager. No matter how dark things look, remember that being a huge club, like Liverpool or Barca or Inter in the past, have had no issues with attracting top level talent.

Even with a rookie as a manager last summer we've attracted the likes of Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo.

The key is in financial ability and, a well thought out footballing project. We now have both IMO and it's best to forget about this horrible season and look ahead.

Also, the English media is in complete orgasm seeing United doing badly and are kicking as much as possible. I'm not crying conspiracy here, it's probably just a very lucrative thing to do giving how down and hungry for blood United fans are.

With the exception of City, Pool, Madrid and Bayern, I see no other club starting from a much better position then us next season. We do our job right in the transfer market and on the training pitch and we should be nailed on top 4 favorited and build from there. De Jong will be a great starting point.
 

AngeloHenriquez

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Fair point, which I am not in position to say those have that view is wrong.

Just a hope that EtH knowing FdJ previously, he knows a bit more about FdJ sporting ambition and character in person, than just scouts gathering data, info externally or via a third person.
100% I think it's a valid concern but we have to back our manager, if he want's the player then I think we hope he has done his due diligence and we should respect that
 

Tarrou

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I'm not saying we would be his top choice if he had Real, Chelsea and Liverpool all offering the same. However it appears Real want him to wait a year because they're having to pay for Mbappe, I think the Liverpool link is more press noise than anything else due to their overstocked midfield. It then becomes a straight choice between us and Chelsea. Normally, he would choose Chelsea but maybe the uncertain ownership situation puts him in two minds. That's why I think we still have a chance. According Ten Hag really likes him, so why not don't the club get Ten Hag to call him and explain his philosophy and how he would fit in. Don't just sell him the club, but sell him on playing style and opportunity.
I expect we’ll enquire just like all the top clubs, but we’d really need to get him to buy into the project which is gonna be hard because we’re a mess right now, and a big gamble if he has his pick, and he’ll have seen what happened to Pogba too.
 

Zlatattack

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So if FDJ leaves Barca, whom he loves, he should either just retire or go to China or something? He still needs to find a club to play football and do the best in his career.
Pogba came to us instead of going to Real Madrid like he really wanted to. Look what we got.

Sanchez moved to us, what did we get?

If it's true that Barca are forcing him out, and he doesn't want to leave, then his choices as a player are limited by who bids for him and who can afford to pay his fee.

As a club our options are not limited in this situation. If we have an inkling that the player isn't keen to join our club, we should not sign him.

It requires an open, honest conversation.
 

the_cliff

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Bet VDB hasn't helped this situation
Why not ?

From what I've seen of DVB he seems to be happy in Manchester and loves the fans, his only problem was with not been given enough chances to start which was everyone's problem, with ETH here I think he'll be loving life next season. If Donny wanted to leave there'd be news about him wanting out like there was in the winter when he wanted a new club where he can play consistently, wouldn't be surprised if ETH has already had a chat with him.
 

jackal&hyde

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Bet VDB hasn't helped this situation
Why not? His issues, if any, should be with the managers, Ole and RR. Getting ETH to the club must have been one of Donny's biggest dreams. The manager he was so successful with plus some of the players he played with must be an amazing situation for him. If I'm him, I do all I can to convince my former mates to join.
 

DWelbz19

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"Would we really want a player who only came because we offered the most money?" people ask, in the week Sergio Aguero has his statue unveiled.
:lol:
“How on earth did City keep hold of him all those years????”
 

Rozay

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Pogba came to us instead of going to Real Madrid like he really wanted to. Look what we got.

Sanchez moved to us, what did we get?

If it's true that Barca are forcing him out, and he doesn't want to leave, then his choices as a player are limited by who bids for him and who can afford to pay his fee.

As a club our options are not limited in this situation. If we have an inkling that the player isn't keen to join our club, we should not sign him.

It requires an open, honest conversation.
That Pogba ‘really wanted to go to Madrid’ is totally made up and baseless.

Sanchez moved to us and it didn’t work out. So what? He didn’t come here kicking and screaming.

Maybe Bruno Fernandes would have preferred to go to Real Madrid instead of Manchester United, if given the choice at the time. That doesn’t mean that any club other than Real Madrid he will not bother with football.

Ousmane Dembele left Dortmund kicking and screaming to get to Barcelona, his dream club. Then his professionalism was questioned.

Fans need to stop looking at every football decision as some sort of romantically driven choice. It is a huge business, and is their job. Some players are more professional than others. That is literally all that matters. If a player is professional and genuinely cares about football, he will be honest enough to himself to train and play well.

Tomas Souceck made a career decision to join West Ham, as coming to England made sense as a career move for him. He’d probably have preferred to go to Liverpool or Chelsea, but he got West Ham, and he has come and given his best not because he grew up blowing bubbles, but because he is a professional.

And Manchester United have bought players from various clubs for various fees and it hasn’t worked out. Especially of late. And De Jong isn’t being ‘forced’ out. He can honour his contract if he wishes. Him choosing to come here would be because in light of current circumstances, it now makes more sense for him to come to United where he is wanted than stay at Barcelona where he isn’t. If that was not the case, he’d stay.
 

Redlyn

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VDB and Klaassen superb for Ajax but cannot blow out a candle in England and yet this guy can come and tear it up in a Utd shirt......groundhog day :houllier:
You do realise he is playing for Barca right.
 

JPRouve

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That Pogba ‘really wanted to go to Madrid’ is totally made up and baseless.

Sanchez moved to us and it didn’t work out. So what? He didn’t come here kicking and screaming.

Maybe Bruno Fernandes would have preferred to go to Real Madrid instead of Manchester United, if given the choice at the time. That doesn’t mean that any club other than Real Madrid he will not bother with football.

Ousmane Dembele left Dortmund kicking and screaming to get to Barcelona, his dream club. Then his professionalism was questioned.

Fans need to stop looking at every football decision as some sort of romantically driven choice. It is a huge business, and is their job. Some players are more professional than others. That is literally all that matters. If a player is professional and genuinely cares about football, he will be honest enough to himself to train and play well.

Tomas Souceck made a career decision to join West Ham, as coming to England made sense as a career move for him. He’d probably have preferred to go to Liverpool or Chelsea, but he got West Ham, and he has come and given his best not because he grew up blowing bubbles, but because he is a professional.

And Manchester United have bought players from various clubs for various fees and it hasn’t worked out. Especially of late. And De Jong isn’t being ‘forced’ out. He can honour his contract if he wishes. Him choosing to come here would be because in light of current circumstances, it now makes more sense for him to come to United where he is wanted than stay at Barcelona where he isn’t. If that was not the case, he’d stay.
I would add that the vast majority of players at all professional levels are competitors, they want to win. Even the ones that lack maturity and need guidance when it comes to professionalism want to win because that's what they know, that's how they reached the top of professional sport.

Sometimes people forget that even the worst player in a top league is a top athlete and competitor.
 

SER19

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Non football but can't believe people are calling Paris a shithole. Parts are, like in every city, but in the main, Paris embarrasses most European cities. Old world grandeur and great bars, restaurants etc
 

Rozay

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I would add that the vast majority of players at all professional levels are competitors, they want to win. Even the ones that lack maturity and need guidance when it comes to professionalism want to win because that's what they know, that's how they reached the top of professional sport.

Sometimes people forget that even the worst player in a top league is a top athlete and competitor.
Indeed. And the vast majority of players are also not playing football at the club if their dreams, no more than the majority of us are not working at the jobs of our dreams.

It’s football fans who always need a storyline. ‘Haaland chose City because his dad played for them’. That kind of stuff. People forget that every player needs a club. They need to work somewhere. No player is forced to join any club, or signs against their will. They simply don’t always get their first choice, that’s all.

Your point about professionalism is also correct. They have all fought massively to get to where they are. All we can ask is for players to be professional. They don’t need to grow up with Cantona posters. Ighalo did, and many fans wanted him out quite quickly.
 

BarstoolProphet

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Non football but can't believe people are calling Paris a shithole. Parts are, like in every city, but in the main, Paris embarrasses most European cities. Old world grandeur and great bars, restaurants etc
The central areas are quite nice, quite possibly the nicest in Europe, but the outskirts have fallen off a cliff which reduces the total view on the city significantly. Granted, most footballers and rich probably will never visit those parts though.
 

Banana Republic

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Barca want/need to sell.
Player is happy there and doesn't want to leave.
Xavi wants to keep him.
Player doesn't fancy Utd.

All press speculation and rumours at the moment, even taking into account "no smoke without fire" etc.

Just one comment.
City have a key midfield vacancy coming up.
Will FDJ not fancy that opportunity if it came up?


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Paul778

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There are lots of reasons players chose a team, and if you were in FdJ situation imagine the various considerations. There are the usual ones of:
  • Are they going to pay me enough?
  • Am I going to be (more or less) guaranteed to play?
  • Do I buy into the manager?
  • Am I going to win things there?
All of the above are pretty standard, but also you need to consider legacy and for a lot of players, if sold correctly I believe would top all of the above. If Pogba/FdJ/Harland go to Man City, they are a footnote. They are another player who is contributing to an already successful setup visible in the team on match day, and in the management of the club.

However, if they can be sold the vision of a club, their ego can be stroked by being seen as the catalyst which converts an unsuccessful club to a successful one

Effectively, do you want to be a Darron Gibson or Danny Welbeck (who both have EPL medals without contributing a great deal relatively to an already successful team) or do you want to be an instrumental cog in changing the fortunes of a club (obvious example is Eric Cantona).
 

JPRouve

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The central areas are quite nice, quite possibly the nicest in Europe, but the outskirts have fallen off a cliff which reduces the total view on the city significantly. Granted, most footballers and rich probably will never visit those parts though.
The outskirts haven't fallen off any cliff, it's no different to other large cities. Some parts are nice and others aren't, that's the consequences of a large concentration of people living in a fairly limited area.
 

The Boy

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You do realise he is playing for Barca right.
To be fair he hasn't turned into the the player we all thought he could, it's similar with de Ligt, both amazing at Ajax, but neither have exactly stood out since their moves to Barca and Juve. It's very noticable that Barca will do anything to hang on to Pedri and Gavi but De Jong is expendable.

Maybe De Jong will feel he can reignite his career under ETH again.
 

Paul778

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I wouldn't be surprised if FdJ is offered the Captaincy within six months as part of joining.
 

Kaushal

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Pogba came to us instead of going to Real Madrid like he really wanted to. Look what we got.

Sanchez moved to us, what did we get?

If it's true that Barca are forcing him out, and he doesn't want to leave, then his choices as a player are limited by who bids for him and who can afford to pay his fee.

As a club our options are not limited in this situation. If we have an inkling that the player isn't keen to join our club, we should not sign him.

It requires an open, honest conversation.
I get where you are coming from but it’s still a bizarre logic. It’s like the reasoning Neville and some fans do when he says Manutd have gone for the tried and tested route with managers and look what happened. The point is it all depends on the culture at the club the accountability the professionalism from the people at the club. From the manager to the higher ups it all depends on them. So all the examples you have cited with us previously don’t count because the problem was football never being the top priority for the Ed regime. It ultimately tricked down to the players and explain their lack of professionalism.

It’s funny you mentioned Sanchez. Sanchez didn’t want to leave Barca either and sign for Arsenal. Was he not one of the league’s best player there ?
Ronaldo wanted to go to Madrid since 2006. Was he not successful here ?

Suarez didn’t want to leave Barca, Yaya toure didn’t want to leave Barca, Robben didn’t want to leave Madrid, Sneijder didn’t want to leave Madrid etc. They all did and yet they all flourished somewhere else. In the end it all comes down to your professionalism and club’s professionalism who is signing you. You create an environment of football with responsibility and accountability and I don’t see a problem at all whether the said player wanted to leave the club or not.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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If Barcelona want to sell then I doubt Xavi alone can stop the board’s decision. Pretty sure Koeman didn’t want Messi to leave but the board said he has to leave and he left. I think the board already purposely planned for this by signing Kessie.
 

Banana Republic

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We're becoming an acronym team.

Erik ten Hag = ETH
Donny van de Beek = DVB
Frenkie de Jong = FDJ
Aaron Wan-Bissaka = AWB
David de Gea = DDG
Christiano Ronaldo = CR7
Harry Maguire = SHIT


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