Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

[cyberman]

It's not his fault, it's the club's fault. He may very well be a great manager but being one does not necessarily mean you're a great scout. Sure it is okay to give a manager one to three picks in signings every once in awhile, even the best managed clubs like Bayern, City, Barcelona at its prime do that. However, the overall management of the squad lies at the hands of the club, the DOF and his staff. We are not just giving him picks in players, we're allowing him to handle the entire squad building process. It's his players or nothing. Seriously, how many clubs at the top level actually do this? None. At Ajax Ten Hag didn't have control of the transfers, it was Overmars that had complete control. And yet at United, at supposedly a "bigger stage" in football, it's his way or the highway? Look at Campos in PSG, first summer at PSG and midfield has been his one and only focus because that's where their biggest weakness lies.

Yet here we are with one of the worst midfields in the top 10 and we've signed Eriksen on a free transfer to fix it. It's incompetence at the highest level from the club.

To be fair, if he can bring in a higher calibre of player than we have been able to approach then why not use him? Bayern have been raiding his club all summer for his players.
As a club we would be stupid not to listen to him when Eric says we can get a top target due to his relationship with the player. We gave him more than enough time to get in the ear of the player. The failure to change his mind is on Eric and as long as we do get in whatever target we would have signed anyway then I suppose there’s no harm done on the clubs end. Hopefully there’s a lesson for Ten Hag in all of this.
On a side note I think moving from a smaller league to a massive club is a bit jarring for him. I can see him thinking of all the players he’s had under him that were forced to move or players from Dutch rivals that he would love at Ajax and if he were able to create a Ten Hag super team they would be unstoppable. At big, English clubs you can think broader than that.

 

[Escobar]

When he says Chelsea are confident he means of striking a fee with Barcelona. Not the player side. Nobody knows what’s going on there.

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Of course it is easy, as our deal is well known and can be copied. Lets see

 

[sewey89]

When he says Chelsea are confident he means of striking a fee with Barcelona. Not the player side. Nobody knows what’s going on there.

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Chelsea going after a player who doesn’t want to join them? Joke of a club.

In all seriousness, that makes me feel better. If he stays at Barca, fine. But it’d hurt if he went to Chelsea

 

[Mickeza]

Shock. Chelsea might face the same problems we've had for months?

Possibly. But Chelsea aren’t in desperate need of a midfielder so this’ll just be a lovely additional bonus to their 300m plus spend elsewhere.

 

[Cypriot]

It'll be hard to pip Chelsea given they have CL footy. They also have tons of cash having lost out of a few deals they were willing to spend on. Not positive about this one given we've spent so long not getting it done but let's see.

Our pulling points were always:

1) The manager
2) Guaranteed starter
3) High wages

We're still in this, but we'll see.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Feel like we need to look to move on from this now. Getting ridiculous.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Unrelated but Todd Boehly looks like Nathan from Southpark though.

 

[golden_blunder]

Its not 50/50 with Ornstein

He’s a journo regurgitating what has already been written. Yes his name is generally more reliable but he doesn’t get everything correct. Besides he’s only talking about club agreements

 

[Shakesy]

Soo, it’s on the club then? You just said it - if a random guy on a football forum can see that he doesn’t want to come (time will tell, but likely that’s the case), then how the feck can the club allow anyone to waste 3 months on this, nevermind not working on a plan B.

Are you saying some random guy on a football forum knows FdJ's wishes better than people at our club who have actually talked to him?!

 

[Borys]

Yup. He's let the club down, hopefully this experience humbles him and he doesn't overstep his mark from now on (that's if he makes the next summer window)

Yeah I agree. But I don't think that's a big issue if we still can get a midfielder. ETH football can hardly rely on getting one player surely?
Also, I didn't want us to sign a player who doesn't want to be here and would prefer many other options which simply are not available to him. He would've escaped on first occasion anyway.

 

[Judas]

In theory any team could strike an agreement with Barca if they offer the money. That’s the easy bit, we achieved that ages ago.

 

[golden_blunder]

I wonder is it possible to merge posters

 

[UnitedSofa]

Good. Now we can stop using FDJ as an excuse for not signing the attacker and midfielder we should have signed 2 fecking months ago. An absolute clusterfeck of a window.

Spin it, twist it, double-think it all you want - this is a fact.

No it’s not

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Anyone saying that is an idiot. That would get ETH rightly sacked.

There is an awful lot saying it. I agree with you there though.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Chelsea will make sure either Barcelona or FDJ are well compensated. They wouldn't get involved if they didn't know what they have to do.

This goose is cooked.

Chelsea signed Sterling for 50M, Koulibaly for 35M, made a bid of 50M for Cucurella, that is 135M almost gone.

Then they need another CB (Fofana?), plus 1 or 2 forward players, I do not think they have unlimited budget to go for any player, De Jong will cost them 70M, while haven't addressed a lot of their priorities.

 

[hellhunter]

In theory any team could strike an agreement with Barca if they offer the money. That’s the easy bit, we achieved that ages ago.

And because of us, Chelsea know what's needed. So the only thing that changed is that their interest is no longer just speculation

 

[Skills]

I hope the alternative isn't Neves

 

[Siorac]

“There’s no one else who can do what he does” etc. This isn’t how recruitment works at most big or well run clubs.

The most obvious example is how Klopp had to make do with Salah instead of getting the mighty... Julian Brandt. I don't see him complaining about not getting backed.

 

[golden_blunder]

You and your lackeys would probably refuse him a visa anyway @Borys becauses he’s from nasty Europe

 

[crossy1686]

This is just funny. Serves us right for seemingly fecking around.

fecking around? He doesn’t want to join us?

 

[avgp_1]

When he says Chelsea are confident he means of striking a fee with Barcelona. Not the player side. Nobody knows what’s going on there.

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Yeah it's not 100% done at all. De Jong's preference has always been to stay and the wages could still be a sticking point.

But Chelsea joining in means they believe they have as good a chance as any if he does move. So it's no longer just Barca or us for Frenkie

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Such a weird reasoning. Did I end up in a West Ham forum.

Which of the points do you not agree with ? Note that I didn't say that overall it would be better not to get him, just that in some ways it might have positives

 

[JB7]

Chelsea have been throwing offers in for players all summer with no idea if the player wants to join them. It would almost be more if a surprise if they didn’t show an interest in him. Not overly concerned still.

 

[crossy1686]

Chelsea going after a player who doesn’t want to join them? Joke of a club.

In all seriousness, that makes me feel better. If he stays at Barca, fine. But it’d hurt if he went to Chelsea

I believe you’d also be banned if that were to happen???

 

[JPRouve]

Soo, it’s on the club then? You just said it - if a random guy on a football forum can see that he doesn’t want to come (time will tell, but likely that’s the case), then how the feck can the club allow anyone to waste 3 months on this, nevermind not working on a plan B.

A random guy sees nothing. FDJ said nothing and has shown nothing, so anyone that hasn't interacted with FDJ and claims that he knows what he wants is talking nonsense.

 

[Judas]

I refuse to see how we’ve fecked around. The only thing we could have done is found a way to pay his deferred wages, which is something most on here are/were strongly against.

 

[BaguetteBoy]

fecking around? He doesn’t want to join us?

Or he’s just waiting to get his money before moving

 

[Shakesy]

No it’s not

 

[Massive Spanner]

So not only would he prefer to stay at Barca than join us, but if he does get this deferred wage issue sorted and get shifted out, there's now a club in London that can offer CL football in for him too.

This saga should never have happened. The club should have identified different targets long ago to sign before the season started.

 

[CM]

Possibly. But Chelsea aren’t in desperate need of a midfielder so this’ll just be a lovely additional bonus to their 300m plus spend elsewhere.

Of course. It's just interesting how the mere mention of them by a respectable journalist caused such widespread panic.

 

[crossy1686]

So he wants to stay in Barcelona, and will probably take a pay cut to do so, but if Barca force him out and it’s a straight choice between London and Manchester we’ll lose that battle you would imagine.

 

[crossy1686]

Or he’s just waiting to get his money before moving

Sure…

 

[sewey89]

I believe you’d also be banned if that were to happen???

Absolutely. But this is bigger than me.

 

[crossy1686]

I refuse to see how we’ve fecked around. The only thing we could have done is found a way to pay his deferred wages, which is something most on here are/were strongly against.

The Athletic reported that United explored that option but due to the tax implications it was impossible for them to do so

 

[crossy1686]

Absolutely. But this is bigger than me.

Well I’ll vote for you to stay should it come to that

 

[Borys]

You and your lackeys would probably refuse him a visa anyway @Borys becauses he’s from nasty Europe

Say what?

 

[Jim Beam]

The most obvious example is how Klopp had to make do with Salah instead of getting the mighty... Julian Brandt. I don't see him complaining about not getting backed.

It is absolutely ridiculous that people are blaming ETH. You would imagine, especially since he is jumping from Ajax to United, that he will get massive help or a handbrake regarding recruitment and be focused on coaching.

Nope, not at United. We will let you do everything. And then blame you for everything.

 

[Rolaholic]

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[Crashoutcassius]

The Athletic reported that United explored that option but due to the tax implications it was impossible for them to do so

They could just pay 15m more fee ?

 

[TMDaines]

Ok, I feel miles better now. Welcome to the game, Chelsea.

Did you not actually read the original article? Or is everyone delirious in this thread because they are behind the paywall?