Ivan Rakitić

harms

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He won't be a bad option is it's for reasonable fee. Something closer to 25-30 millions, considering his age and recent form.
 

RedTillI'mDead

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He is just 31 in March. Giggs lasted till 40 when he retired.

Plan:
Step 1: Sign Rakitic
Step 2: Sign Giggs as Yoga coach
Step 3: Profit?

Reality...
Positives...
1) Leader? Captain?
2) Quality
3) Great free kick taker ....James will win us lots of those
4) Could be a great influence to the younger lads...McTominay, Fred, Pogba (show him what a proper professional looks like), Longstaff?, Garner

Negatives
1) Old as fcuk. Good for what 2 years after which point you are already in to the bonus zone. At £30m, that is £15m a year which is reasonable for a top top player, but awful if falls short of expectation.
2) Can't really build a long term future around a player without a long term future! Being the hub of the team you are then left rebuilding your core again in 2 or 3 years. That said, as per the positive we might already be lining up the future and Rakitic would be like a quality player/ coach.

On balance I can actually see some real positives. The real negativity comes from it being another high risk move in the mold of Schweinsteiger, Sanchez, Falcao.

It's easy to look at positives and see why it could work out, but if it doesn't you also have to consider the impact...no resale value, no loan value, no opportunity to improve/ develop.

The biggest question has to come from why Barcelona would consider selling if they believed he still had plenty to offer.
 
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Gandalf

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Not a fan of this to be honest. Like the Bale rumors you are talking about a guy who is clearly better than what we have but could only be considered short term thinking. If we were knocking on the door of winning the CL then a couple of expensive veterans to have one mad dash for the title makes sense but when you are in a full rebuild you don't shop in the old peoples home.
 

shamans

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Although his comments were cnutish nothing he says is illegal or not what a lot of people think anyway. He said he'd rather not have gay people in his life but wouldn't leave a team because of that.

I think that just makes him an asshole. It becomes a problem if he says something like gay people don't deserve rights or whatever.
 

Ishdalar

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I like Rakitic. Intelligent player but is showing signs of slowing down. Coming to the PL, showing signs of slowing down in La Liga would make it super tough to make it here. Especially when we are going through a rebuild and require players to carry their weight or maybe more.

Edit: however, if he is who Ole wants, sign him up! Back the manager!

Edit 2: I’d like to add that if we are going to go through a successful rebuild project, we will have to buy some older players who can help provide experience and leadership. They have to be able to adapt quickly to help make us somewhat competitive while the younger players grow and develop. This was always my argument in support of Jose’s asks for his list of seasoned players with certain profiles.
He hasn't slowed down, his last year he's been running even more than before, after his deep WC run he was our hardest worker until March, it's only logical that a player with +6k minutes and a World Cup final in his last seasons hasn't looked as fresh as in January.

I don't think he's what United needs right now, if he goes he should move to a contender that lacks midfield (PSG for example). Might have 2 world class years in his legs, not a lot more.
 

NYAS

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Ugh, no thanks. Inter player if I ever saw one.
 

Bwuk

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If he was a free then yeah.

But to spend 30m on a 31yo isn’t the wisest move.
 

Ishdalar

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Our current options are:
Pogba
Fred
Matic
Mctominay
Pereira
I mean, he's a player that can do a hell of a job for a team that lacks his specific role to win titles, I don't think it's wise to sign Rakitic to play him with Fred, Rashford, Martial, Dalot, Mctominay... by the time United are back in the top of the league, they'd need to replace Rakitic.

Rakitic is a fair player, but right now, Utd would do a better investment of that money nurturing a player that can be like rakitic for the next 6 years, not to waste his last couple years of good football fighting for the 4th spot.
 

el3mel

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Good player, not sure at 31 he'll be able to adapt to PL quickly though.
 

northender

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Generally better to avoid signing players of this age, but if it's just one and not loads of them then it's fine.

Also, Rakitic could probably still be excellent until he's 34-35, given his technical ability and the type of player he is.

The United midfield has lacked composure on the ball in big games and he would provide that.
 

Seth.R

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In our current position - one (or two) older heads who can still offer quality to the first team would actually be crucial. Yes, we’re rebuilding, but not every player needs to be here for 5+ years.

Zlatan’s year here was great for the dressing room. Rakitic for a decent fee (around £20-25m) would be a great signing - we lack leadership in midfield (and in general).

You can point to Schweinsteiger, but he was barely getting games for Bayern cos of his fitness issues before he signed. Alexis and Matic were already showing signs of being weary before they signed.

Any time I’ve watched Barca, Rakitic has looked in great condition and like he can run for days - plus he has great quality with the ball. Barca are notoriously bad sellers (like us), so we can probably get a good deal, especially as they’ll want to clear his wages.
 
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Devil may care

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Past his best and isn't interested in leaving Barcelona, they just want shot of him as they know he's past it and have already bought his replacements. A player who has won everything, doesn't want to leave the club he's at and would only be comng for the money would just be a repeat of the mistakes we've been making for years.
 

MyDevil

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Imagine him and Matic in midfield. Let's recall Scholes too.
 

Bojan11

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Barca fans want him gone. His legs looked like they were gone along with Busquets.
 

Red_toad

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A comment he made when he was 24 shouldn't be used as a yardstick to judge him for all his life. Everyone makes mistakes. I used to have certain opinions about certain subjects because that's all I heard from my parents growing up but they changed as I got older.
If he joins United, then the media will roundly judge and execute him. People lose their jobs on a regular basis for things they’ve put on social media previously as certain companies want to be right on pc.