Is signing no one better than just signing anyone?

[VanDeBank]

Absolutely. We have enough merely 'decent' players as it is, we need to be signing big improvements in order to push on. If we can't do that, then make peace with it and let's see how good a coach EtH really is.

Best case scenario with these types of signings is that we make CL. At that point they are no longer good enough and we will just have more dead weight we can't shift. And we all know how bad we are at that aspect.

Do we though?

I'd say the following are decent:

Rashford Ronnie Martial Sancho
Bruno/Eriksen
Fred
Shaw Malacia Martinez Varane
DDG

And that's stretching it with Rashford/Martial as they've shown feck all for 2 years now) Fred, DDG, Ronaldo are limited. The others are a bit shit. Dalot is backup RB quality.

We need a "decent" DM (or two actually), a RB and RW at least.

So to summarize, we can't even field a first XI of just decent players when everyone is fit. The depth is only there at LB, CB, CAM RW/CF (if Ronaldo stays).

Sure i'd prefer world beaters, but upgrading on McTominay and Dalot is an absolute must and not that hard to do.

 

[BuzzKillington]

Yes, would rather play Iqbal, Garnacho etc. We are building from scratch, stop gap signings make no sense.

I would too, but I think it’s very important we are able to play them when we want to, rather than having to parachute them into a Manchester derby in the middle of a crisis of injuries and results. We could end up destroying their confidence and careers early.

Signings like Rabiot, Arnautovic and this Guido dude, are cheap signings, who we should be able to get rid of quickly, who will provide adequate cover or rotation with what he have currently. With hopefully no expectation of being a guaranteed first team pick.

The key thing for me is making sure their salaries are either low, so they can be moved on (Guido) or they’re brought in on very short contracts for low transfer fees (Arnautovic) and we can just release them when they’re no longer required. I don’t see how Rabiot fits in to either of those scenarios and he’s not good enough to be a long term solution for us.

 

[Denis79]

I don't know about anyone else but as shit as yesterday was and as shit as it could get if we don't sign anyone I'd honestly prefer no one over Rabiot and Arnautovic

So what's the consensus is signing just anyone better than no one?

I rather sign no one and give youth a go instead of signing fecking Arnautovic.

 

[RedPed]

Everybody's already talking about not shifting the deadwood out of the club fast enough, so why would we want to make the situation worse by being stuck with even more deadwood.

I would rather promote from the youth any day of the week, even if they take a while to adapt.

 

[DiceRoller]

Honestly I'd prefer us to play Garner

Second that. I see zero difference between Garner and Rabiot. Proven performances for Forest part season and a club man. I’d play Garner every day of the week.

 

[Ekeke]

I don't know about anyone else but as shit as yesterday was and as shit as it could get if we don't sign anyone I'd honestly prefer no one over Rabiot and Arnautovic

So what's the consensus is signing just anyone better than no one?

Depends if that means we're going to try more of the options we already have.

I'd rather sign new people im not sure about and give them a game than Fred and McTom together in midfield. Because I'm sure thats not a midfield that gets you better than 6th

If Van De Beek and Garner were going to get as many chances as those 2 then okay. But if not signing anyone means we play McTom and Fred together most weeks, frankly I'd rather eat my own puke

 

[wangyu]

It is time to use the millions Utd invests in the youth academy otherwise I see no reason why to have youth teams in the first place. It costs millions to produce players and most of them leave on a free. In my book that is not wise.
A farmer sells his potatoes he doesn't throw them away either

 

[The Brown Bull]

I don't know about anyone else but as shit as yesterday was and as shit as it could get if we don't sign anyone I'd honestly prefer no one over Rabiot and Arnautovic

So what's the consensus is signing just anyone better than no one?

Agreed.
On his best day Arnautovic wasn’t good enough for United. Don’t think Rabiot was either.
Play the kids.

 

[stoinz]

Yes I rather we sign no one than we panic buy again.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Would rather play Garner than Rabiot
[/QUOTE
Yep.

 

[BlueHaze]

Second that. I see zero difference between Garner and Rabiot. Proven performances for Forest part season and a club man. I’d play Garner every day of the week.

Garner really is the only one of the current young ones with a full season experience at pro level. I hope he features more. He is imo a better player than both mctom and fred.

 

[Yagami]

100%

We don't need anymore average players who we will struggle shifting in a few years. We need quality.

 

[Stig]

Better to save the money to cover the dividends.

We get dividends ? Nice.

 

[Rocksy]

I don't know about anyone else but as shit as yesterday was and as shit as it could get if we don't sign anyone I'd honestly prefer no one over Rabiot and Arnautovic

So what's the consensus is signing just anyone better than no one?

I don’t know about “signing no one”, but signing Rodrigues, Rabiot, Arnautovic, and SMS is a disaster, given that the club’s supposed “strategy” is to bring young players through. I find it hard to believe these are the players United are going for when Vitinha, Vieira, Sanches, Fernandez, Palhinha, Ruiz and whoever else have all been available for low fees at points through the summer.

 

[Stig]

A good thread that highlights without wild ridiculous comments what is wrong with the club. The i newspaper has obviously read it as they have two articles saying much of what was said here. Either that or the mess is obvious to everyone but our owners.

 

[wolvored]

If we keep playing McFred then all the moaning you had after that first game would intensify and a lot of posters who said get no one in would be crying out why havent we replaced them.
If Rabiot is signed on a 2 year contract and only better than either one of McFred half of the time, its still better. This then gives TH a season to assess the youth and plan early for next summer.

 

[Johan77]

The problem is that United fans are complaining whoever we are linked with, no one is good enough. Lets face it, which player really wants to play for this club in the current state, who at the same time are good enough for United fans? By "good enough" I mean they are:
1. cheap, as if it's their bloody money
2. are a million times better then what we already got
3. aren't aloud to have done nothing wrong in their career in terms of complaining, have a bad agent, had a fallout with a coach years ago etc...
4. plays one bad game this season, but the whole last season they were really great

I can add much more to the list. We have the last few days been linked with about 5-6 players, most of them would start in United today, and most of them would make United much better. We have one player who were superb last year and were hailed as the best winger in the league, had a bad game yesterday so f'**k him. We have one player who were his teams best player and hailed as the biggest reason their team finished 5th in La liga, he starts in Argentina and allowes them to play with their biggest offensive players because of his superb defensive skills. We have one player who have been a regular in both PSG and Juventus and have played more than 175 times for the last six years combined.
NONE of these are deemed good enough for United fans. The fact is that the "best" players are really hard to get with the state our club is in, and has been for the last years.
The way are club has been run with throwing money away on new contracts, overpaying because otherwise we don't get new players and so on. We know about the shitheads highest up in the yop, but as long as they are still there, we have to at least try.

I'm from Sweden and has supported this club since 1985, I have NEVER seen a midfield as bad as our is right now through the years. It's laughable really. We have a brasilian guy who can be really great if he's paired with someone with a football brain, the guy is brilliant in the national team so he must do something right. Next to him we have the worst central midfielder I've seen starting regulary for "my" club, the guy have NOTHING to offer, ZERO. Behind them we have a bunch of unproven kids, which are really hard to play and develop and at the same time try to end up as high in the PL-table as possible.
Yet the United fans don't approve any player we are linked with, a part from De Jong and Fabian Ruiz. 2 brilliant players, but why do they want to play for us right now?

 

[Hughes35]

100% it's better to sign nobody than sign rubbish. Otherwise you end up with players that you can't get rid of.

 

[M Bison]

Absolutely agree, I’d rather be mid table and anonymous all season than sign another Ronaldo/Pogba/Sanchez/Falcao on silly money that we’re stuck with.

Invest in the youth (Iqbal/Garner/Hannibal/Laird), get Sancho and Rashford back to their best and make sure we get it right gradually, evolution not revolution underpinned by our youth team, is how I’d approach it.

 

[elmo]

i would yes if: the club told ten Hag was safe regardless of results and that he was free to freeze out all the crap on the roster and work on developing his system all year. spend the season scouting properly and get deals negotiated early for the follow season.

Yeah, that’s not happening with our club.

 

[Hawks2008]

Signing the 'right' players is ideal but honestly we have to be practical.

Its been nearly a decade since our last league total win, in that time we've missed CL qualifications multiple times and gone though multiple coaches. A lot of the young players breaking through now aren't going to have the image of us as a great side or a destination club. Players entering the prime years who want to maximise their chance to win might not view us as the place to do that. Of course we are not an entirely unattractive prospect and there is allure to playing at this club. Just this window we saw Malacia and Martinez reject other clubs to join United.

Though I still think the upper echelon of players on the market will be closed to us as long as we aren't a cemented CL team. I think until then it could be wise to find maybe less glamorous options who still fit a profile, or have traits we identify as important, and then trust that along with the coaching of ETH they can become more than the sum of its parts. Then we can hopefully climb to the level where we can access the 'right players' regularly.

Sticking with this group of players is a death wish, the potential is spent and these players have proven many times that they don't have the ability or the will to win and compete at the highest level.

 

[OpenIntrovert]

I don't know about anyone else but as shit as yesterday was and as shit as it could get if we don't sign anyone I'd honestly prefer no one over Rabiot and Arnautovic

So what's the consensus is signing just anyone better than no one?

Its about whether the squad needs those players urgently and can the players be found in the academy. It is dependent on ETH's assessment as well.

If you ask me, we are just trying to make the squad's depth more complete rather than a urgent need. So i would say it is not necessary now since the academy players can make the step up.