Nope, £40m+ might have made Barca think twice but I still reckon he was always going to cost more than £50m with the sell-on fee Arsenal had put into the contract. Certainly not £25m we tried to get him for and I still cannot figure out why we did that.
It's not as bad as you think... seriously
- Thread starter That'sHernandez
- Start date
Oh god, best not.
Another thing - apparently we put £28m bid for Baines and Fellaini because it's a common negotiating strategy to start low and meet in the middle, how come we ended up paying £27.5m for Fellaini alone?
I've no idea how some of you survived the summer where all we did was confirm deals for a Mexican lesbian nobody had ever heard of and Fulham's third choice CB.
I'd have preferred that summer by a million times. Or any other summer.
We did not have a managerial change after more than 26 years that summer. Also, the midfield situation, though desperate, wasn't quite as bad as it is right now. We had Fletcher and Scholes and many people still had hopes for Anderson.
1. We're the reigning champions.
2. We managed to keep Rooney, Nani and Evra, all players who looked like they were about to leave.
3. We actually signed a midfielder, at last!
4. Nani finally seems to be back from his injury spell.
5. Valencia seem to have found his old form.
6. Cleverley also seems more matured defensively and plays well enough with Carrick.
7. Both Zaha and Januzaj seems to be some of the best youngster we've had for a while.
8. But most importanly: we still have the best set of players in the PL. And pretty comfortably so, in my opinion.
Sure, we're probably not gonna win the CL with this squad(though if Chelsea could, then so can we). But that shouldn't be the main objective either, seeing as we have a new manager now. Give it some time! Right now, Moyes needs to settle down properly. That also means that signing a bunch of new players is a bad idea. Would it be nice with 1 or 2 more signings? Sure, but realistically, who could we have gotten in CM? We can't just sign for the sake of signing. Especially if we knew that Fellaini was coming all along..
2. We managed to keep Rooney, Nani and Evra, all players who looked like they were about to leave.
3. We actually signed a midfielder, at last!
4. Nani finally seems to be back from his injury spell.
5. Valencia seem to have found his old form.
6. Cleverley also seems more matured defensively and plays well enough with Carrick.
7. Both Zaha and Januzaj seems to be some of the best youngster we've had for a while.
8. But most importanly: we still have the best set of players in the PL. And pretty comfortably so, in my opinion.
Sure, we're probably not gonna win the CL with this squad(though if Chelsea could, then so can we). But that shouldn't be the main objective either, seeing as we have a new manager now. Give it some time! Right now, Moyes needs to settle down properly. That also means that signing a bunch of new players is a bad idea. Would it be nice with 1 or 2 more signings? Sure, but realistically, who could we have gotten in CM? We can't just sign for the sake of signing. Especially if we knew that Fellaini was coming all along..
Well Fellaini isn't a bad purchase because our team has been screaming out for a purchase like that for a long time.
No offensive players feel safe with Cleverley/Carrick in the middle because they aren't very strong defensively. So every play is scared of losing the ball and we end up playing our most defensive wingers every game which means we play 4 defensive players on the midfield which then means the distance between attack and midfield is too far.
With Fellaini/Carrick we will have one of the worlds strongest defensive partnerships which will allow us to play Nani/Zaha in free roles. I don't love the purchase but I certainly don't hate it.
No offensive players feel safe with Cleverley/Carrick in the middle because they aren't very strong defensively. So every play is scared of losing the ball and we end up playing our most defensive wingers every game which means we play 4 defensive players on the midfield which then means the distance between attack and midfield is too far.
With Fellaini/Carrick we will have one of the worlds strongest defensive partnerships which will allow us to play Nani/Zaha in free roles. I don't love the purchase but I certainly don't hate it.
I don't care who we sign or don't, I'm just really disappointed at how we handled our business this window. In the eyes of a neutral observer, we look completely amateurish and clueless.
I agree with this. A useful base to build on and this will probably allow more creative players like Kagawa to be used more often.
We're gonna be doing well to win the Premier League. let alone the Champions League. Ok, set aside new signings. We have a manager that thinks playing Giggs and Young wide in a four-man midfield was the way to go against Liverpool...
There were a lot of moaners back then though. Remember all the "value" "jokes". But the thing is we had Fergie then. So at the back of your mind you were relaxed and always knew that "Fergie knew".
Yeah I think it has been evident for a long time now that neither SAF or Moyes trust in Cleverley/Carrick to put in a defensive shift to cover for some "purely offensive players".
Fellaini/Carrick is defensively going to be absolutely incredible. Carrick because of his positioning and long range of passing which allows him to stay back and still be efficient in his distribution. Fellaini and Carrick are both giants so the extremely dangerous second wave during crosses is going to be safer than ever.
Not a lot of strikers/midfielders will be able to compete for the second balls with 188 CM Carrick and 194 CM Fellaini.
We have for a long time tried to play maximum one creative winger at any given moment, usually trying to get one of Valencia/Young to always be on the pitch simply for our defensive necessity.
Seriously doubt that we have the best of players in the league.....
Well we did do something extremely positive....We got shot of Bebe
We have the best goalkeeper, the best set of defenders, the best central midfielder, the best set of strikers, and(if they can get back to their old form) a set of wingers who can challenge any of the other top teams right now. We also have a lot of more options on the bench.
It's hard to argue that we don't have the best set of players then...
He does make a good point does MW...
He fails to observe that Moyes' team selections may not be the "best"...Ashley Young???
He is an anomaly in life, let alone our squad.
I think someone may change the forum to "He's not as bad as you think...seriously"...those who think he is even a good squad player.
Goalkeeper yes, our defence is indeed the best from all topclubs. Our midfield isn't, as attackers only RVP and Rooney stick out, and Rooney has to get back into form.
Atacking options aren't just strikers, it is about attacking midfielders aswell, and i really don't think we have the best wingers either. If you look at Chelsea with Hazard, Willian and Oscar, they have better options us. Nani, valencia have alot to proof this season, as has kagawa. Zaha is a question mark. Young (and a 40 year old giggs) wouldn't get into any of the other top 4 teams.
We needed a ball winner and now we have one
Our transfer dealings over the whole Summer were nothing short of appalling.
Managing to keep Rooney and Nani is a huge plus of course.
As for those who say we have a title winning team - we already lost the biggest and most important part of that team.
Managing to keep Rooney and Nani is a huge plus of course.
As for those who say we have a title winning team - we already lost the biggest and most important part of that team.
Yup. With Sir Alex at the helm, even if we signed nobody, you knew that United would always fight for the title, and you always knew who was in charge. Even though the outcome of this summer will piss a lot of people (including me) off, the way that it was all conducted is the worst part. Had we simply brought in Fellaini for his release clause in June or July and then gone about our business like we normally did under Sir Alex, maybe even pulled out of the Herrera deal because it was too much, then most of us would be fine I think. That's probably what would have happened under Sir Alex. But here we wait until the last second of the transfer window to bring in a player we all knew would come, and end up spending 4 million more then what we should have gotten him for. We also couldn't simply say that we weren't willing to pay Herrera's full release clause, but instead make it seem like we're willing to, agree everything, and then send in lawyers to try and bring the price back down and then pretend like we don't know who they were.
With Sir Alex, everyone knew we would be okay no matter what happened in the summer. Now that he's gone, everything has changed.
Jesus Christ is this what the next month or so is going to be like on here? People desperately scrabbling for social capital by boldly declaring that the summer was a successful one, and don't criticise the club because oh look we didn't let go several players who were already under contract with us anyway?
It went tits up. Even if Fellaini was our only target we ended up paying 4 million more than we should have. We failed to get Herrera because apparently there was a fundamental misunderstanding about what a release clause is (although after the Fellaini stuff I'm not shocked). We spent a great deal of the summer very publicly pursuing a player who a) didn't really want to come to the club and b) who we made several laughably low bids for. We managed to cock up a deal for a left back that we didn't even need AFTER THE TRANSFER WINDOW HAD CLOSED.
These are just the things we know, never mind assorted speculation elsewhere.
No one is saying our season will crash and burn. No one is swing that they're going to sack it off and support City now. No one is saying #moyesout. No one is saying that this has sealed relegation and we're never going to win again. People are rightly saying that by all appearances it was an extremely ineptly handled transfer window, which is a valid point.
It went tits up. Even if Fellaini was our only target we ended up paying 4 million more than we should have. We failed to get Herrera because apparently there was a fundamental misunderstanding about what a release clause is (although after the Fellaini stuff I'm not shocked). We spent a great deal of the summer very publicly pursuing a player who a) didn't really want to come to the club and b) who we made several laughably low bids for. We managed to cock up a deal for a left back that we didn't even need AFTER THE TRANSFER WINDOW HAD CLOSED.
These are just the things we know, never mind assorted speculation elsewhere.
No one is saying our season will crash and burn. No one is swing that they're going to sack it off and support City now. No one is saying #moyesout. No one is saying that this has sealed relegation and we're never going to win again. People are rightly saying that by all appearances it was an extremely ineptly handled transfer window, which is a valid point.
Still, at least nobody is blaming Moyes for this fiasco. It's him I feel sorry for. Herrera too, the guy was willing to reduce the terms he had negotiated to come here and we still couldn't get it done.
I think what is obvious is we don't have the money we allegedly did. We probably didn't want to pay for Fellaini in full which we would have with the release clause so waited to negotiate and use add ons. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what happened with Herrera too and the reason we couldn't, or wouldn't, agree.
United never pay big money out right.
Anyway, still a very amateurish window. Publicly chasing Fabregas and having nothing arranged properly until deadline day is bizarre and not the way we do things here. Let's hope those who need to have learnt from it.
United never pay big money out right.
Anyway, still a very amateurish window. Publicly chasing Fabregas and having nothing arranged properly until deadline day is bizarre and not the way we do things here. Let's hope those who need to have learnt from it.
The way we went about things and the stories that are creeping out of the woodward .... its probably alot worse than I think it is.
For whatever reason, I can't bring myself to care, it's just funny right now(yes I have nothing better to do) to read all the "shambles", "embarrassing" posts and laugh. Meltdowns are hilarious and I've not seen this level in a long time 
Maybe if United underachieve this season, then I'll come back to this moment and care, but right now, posts are really funny to read. Carry on.
Maybe if United underachieve this season, then I'll come back to this moment and care, but right now, posts are really funny to read. Carry on.We will do alright despite not signing the needed creative input in midfield and quality on the wings simply due to having players that can win us games on our own.
The bad thing is that our play will still look disjointed and unimaginative for most of the season as it did last year and we will still find it hard to cope with teams that don't allow us the space to build up our game because non of the weakness of our squad has really been addressed other then the fact that we now have a midfielder that is less injury prone then the rest of them and adds some muscle/steel to our midfield and threat on set-pieces.
Non the less if you look at our closest rivals for the title almost all of them have strengthened their squads even Tottenham who lost Bale have overall improved the squad quite well and their midfield depth is far beyond anything we have to offer. The problem with this is that if you don't improve your squad while everyone else is you will start falling behind like City did last year. City failed to sign anyone of note and we signed RvP who was instrumental in winning us the league back.
The only positive thing I think we have going for us atm is that we have one of the most experienced squads in the league which exactly knows what it takes to win it.
The bad thing is that our play will still look disjointed and unimaginative for most of the season as it did last year and we will still find it hard to cope with teams that don't allow us the space to build up our game because non of the weakness of our squad has really been addressed other then the fact that we now have a midfielder that is less injury prone then the rest of them and adds some muscle/steel to our midfield and threat on set-pieces.
Non the less if you look at our closest rivals for the title almost all of them have strengthened their squads even Tottenham who lost Bale have overall improved the squad quite well and their midfield depth is far beyond anything we have to offer. The problem with this is that if you don't improve your squad while everyone else is you will start falling behind like City did last year. City failed to sign anyone of note and we signed RvP who was instrumental in winning us the league back.
The only positive thing I think we have going for us atm is that we have one of the most experienced squads in the league which exactly knows what it takes to win it.
After spending so much of the summer watch idiots call our club's conduct "embarrassing" it's somewhat disturbing to find that they may have been right. I genuinely thought these people were morons of the highest order, yet here we are. The fact that those idiots have been proven right is the biggest indictment of our conduct that I can imagine.
Have a fecking word with yourself..
Agreed. People were starting to panic once we didn't get Thiago, and that was with 2 months remaining in the window still. Most people thought that we'd for sure bring someone in between then and now, but everybody feared that we would leave it to the last second like we did.
Well if he doesn't resign I hope he gets sacked as soon as possible. The cnut deserves nothing less. What do you think happens to someone in any business when they piss away £4 million of the companies money unnecessarily? There's only one outcome and there's nobody to blame but Woodward.
Woodward has acted brilliantly. Signing a player (that everybody knew that he'll come here 2 months ago) for 4m more than his release clause was an excellent piece of business. fecking with a young lad's career who genuinely wanted to come here and creating a million problems for him is a very classy act. Making a loan move for a left back, but the loan being materialized after the deadline and so by default sanctioned is a completely right management.
Better?
It shows woodward knows feck all about signing players so far. He needs to catch up quickly or hire the right guy for the job.
Exactly. We still had plenty of time and plenty of targets, yet some people were saying stupid things like "we'll end up just signing Fellaini for 30m on transfer deadline day". They were clearly idiots, there was no way we'd spend that much when Fellaini had a release clause for less than that. It was a really, really stupid opinion. Yet they were right.
No,actually it is bad for so many different reasons.
I think it's fair to say that we are the only club to pay 20% more fees on a player who had a release clause set at 23.5 Million. In the process, we've put together ridiculously low bids for Fabregas despite a lack of interest from the player and the club. We don't know what goes behind the scenes, it looked like penny pinching at the time, and it smacks of panic buying paying 4 Million over the odds for Fellaini.
I can understand us not signing Ozil, but only if it means utilizing Kagawa, Cleverley and Anderson. Over all the messing with that we've done this summer, it's Herrera that I really feel for. By all accounts, we unsettled him, met with his representatives, made him agree to a pay cut and settled financial terms, only to go back on the deal after Bilbao refused to reduce the release clause. You have to Stevie Wonder to not realize this, especially after the last two big deals that involved Bilbao with foreign clubs.
Poor show all around, and I don't know the share of it between Moyes and Woody. As an after thought, we may have forced Powell to accept Wigan load, so that they can release Mccarthy to Everton. What a way to piss on a young player's parade.
I can understand us not signing Ozil, but only if it means utilizing Kagawa, Cleverley and Anderson. Over all the messing with that we've done this summer, it's Herrera that I really feel for. By all accounts, we unsettled him, met with his representatives, made him agree to a pay cut and settled financial terms, only to go back on the deal after Bilbao refused to reduce the release clause. You have to Stevie Wonder to not realize this, especially after the last two big deals that involved Bilbao with foreign clubs.
Poor show all around, and I don't know the share of it between Moyes and Woody. As an after thought, we may have forced Powell to accept Wigan load, so that they can release Mccarthy to Everton. What a way to piss on a young player's parade.
Is Woodward fresh out of college? I am surprised he doesn't knows how things work at United.