Some sense sprinkled in amongst the nonsense.
I agree we likely have the financial muscle, but are unwilling to use it for the players available. I don’t see that as penny pinching, I see that as being level headed and sensible for the first time in over a decade. Which I actually applaud.
And comparing our midfield rebuild to that of a club owned by an oil rich nation state and guilty of over a hundred financial rule breaches, isn’t exactly a sensible barometer.
Anderson 116m and 350k a week. You want to compete for that? For reference, I believe Mainoo is every bit as good and potentially better.
Enzo. 125m and probably 300-400k in wages. Sound like a good deal to you? Is he that much better than Tielemans at 35m and 185k a week? Better age, sure, but statistically Tielemans was better in most relevant data sets last season.
Bouaddi. 100m and 200k a week. How is this any better a signing than Baleba, who cost 30ish million less. He has less experience, and has never played at a level above Ligue 1, while Baleba already has two full PL campaigns under his belt, one of which was close to sensational. Bouaddi is all potential, but that has to be realised. I doubt many of us have actually watched him play much at all. What we do have from Ligue 1 is limited, and it’s Ligue 1, and during the World Cup all he did was slowly pass it backwards and sideways and move around somewhat competently. He might end up being a cracking player, but there’s a long way between there and where we are.
Santos meanwhile is a 22 year old Brazil international, who was very good when he played last season in the PL, a player fans and coaches of his club didn’t want to sell, is very highly rated within the game, has an excellent data sets from the PL last year, and already performed in Ligue 1 for a season way above the levels Bouaddi achieved. And somehow he’s a shit signing at half the price?
Just because a deal isn’t marquee, or didn’t cost a lot, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad or bargain basement signing. We’ve literally lauded other clubs for their smart transfer approaches for years. “Why did we sign Antony for 80m, City got Cherki for 30! Why can’t we do these sorts of deals?” - Then we do do those sorts of deals, and the criticism pivots to “shopping at Poundland”, “Broke, skint, a joke of a club”, “penny pinching”, “scraping the barrel for rejects”.
Fans lie to themselves about what they want. They say they want smart, data driven signings for sensible fees. To find gaps and opportunities in the market like other clubs. To be smarter. But deep down that’s all just copium for when a big signing doesn’t work out, or another club signs a high profile expensive player. What most fans want, and what they won’t admit, is for United to enter - and win - the dick swinging contest that is the transfer window. To say “we spent the most, we signed the flashiest players, we won the transfer window! Look how big and important we are.” And that is its own form of copium for years of getting outperformed by smarter clubs with sustainable, data driven recruitment.
The club makes some mistakes. They all do. But we are getting much more right now than we are getting wrong. Until recently we were getting nearly all of it wrong.
I am glad the club doesn’t seem to give a shit about (a) briefing the press and participating in the transfer circus, or (b) pandering to mouth frothing demands of fickle fans. Instead we are getting on with executing a sustainable long term strategy. I actually find it amusing how outraged and conspiratorial some of you get about it.
Transfer window was excellent on the whole. The lack of a left back is bad however. That said, never is a new way of operating tested more intensely than when under pressure. And while in the short term it is far from ideal withg he left back issue, I am genuinely glad we didn’t panic buy.
I expect the defence to be addressed next summer.