James Maddison

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Ekeke

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Tielemans has been creating chances at a faster rate and through balls too. but his is a smaller sample size. yet Tielmans has been a big talent for years and plays for Belgium. I'd gamble on him preferably
More throughballs, but much less chances created in general play



 

JoaquinJoaquin

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Ideally I would want to see Maddison play so well for one more season before we sign him, but at this point I think we have to seriously consider him. He is much better than what we currently have.
 

Lennon7

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They both play Pogba's role. The most attacking part of a midfield 3
Pogba is an excellent Carrick/later Scholes type midfielder too, though. Just look at his passing range from deeper positions, evident in the vids I've seen recently for France vs Bolivia. I think he'd really excel with a solid, hard working defensive midfielder (so a huge upgrade on Matic), and a creative spark in front of him. We'd just need to get the balance right in terms of the defense because it's pointless expecting him to defend.

That's assuming he stays, of course.
 

JoaquinJoaquin

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If we are aiming to get into the CL next season, then buying Maddison would do nothing. £60m for a set piece specialist, regardless of how much we need one. Simply
put, he is not what we need, and if we buy him, these rumours of OGS/Woodward/owners prefering English players might be true. Would rather have Odegaard.

Would take Maddison as a squad option for 25m though.
I think there is a very strong chance that is true from everything we have read and heard so far.
 

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Maddison would presumably be one of many signings. Again, he wouldn't be the answer to all of our prayers. We're buying for the near future and I fully approve of this.

Players like this plus 1 or 2 players that could make an instant impact would be a great window. We can't just spunk a load on a Di Maria, Sanchez etc. and expect to be good for the next few years - because if it doesn't work out (inevitably) we'd be fecked.
Why spend £60m on him, when we could get Sarabia for £15m?

Better and cheaper options available. Was more inclined to sign him last summer, and he was mentioned on this site quite a lot.
If you are buying for the near future, then buy players could compete at the highest level in the future. For £60m you could get players that are far better than Maddison.
 

devilish

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This is a really weird post, championing Chelsea for winning the Europa League but apparently our British core didnt do anything despite coming 2nd in the league the season before last and winning the Europa league themselves before that :houllier:

Lets see how long Liverpool and Chelsea's best foreign players want to stick around when Madrid and Barcelona come calling.
These days top players leave all the time. The only one who remain are those no one wants like for example our current 'long servants of the club'. Its up for the club to find adequate replacements for them. My point is that this 'British core' is an outdated concept no one apart from us believe in. Look at City, Liverpool and co who have a group of very talented and determined players who produce the goods despite being foreign. We should be focusing on talent not nationality.
 

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These days top players leave all the time. The only one who remain are those no one wants like for example our current 'long servants of the club'. Its up for the club to find adequate replacements for them. My point is that this 'British core' is an outdated concept no one apart from us believe in. Look at City, Liverpool and co who have a group of very talented and determined players who produce the goods despite being foreign. We should be focusing on talent not nationality.
City do, they've managed to keep foreign players happy like David Silva and Aguero

Liverpool have only just got to the top level so we dont know how their foreign players will react to interest from the big spanish clubs.
 

sherrinford

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It isnt. We have a history of having a British core and there are advantages in terms of a player wanting to spend their whole career here, instead of growing up dreaming of Madrid and Barcelona and then leaving us the moment they come calling.
It is. Having a British core historically means nothing. And the possibility of a player one day wanting to leave for Spain shouldn’t be considered with regards to recruitment.
 

Josep Dowling

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Real Madrid buy Jovic for £62m, we are trying to buy Maddison for £60m. This is difference to why we are becoming shit.
 

Adam-Utd

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Real Madrid buy Jovic for £62m, we are trying to buy Maddison for £60m. This is difference to why we are becoming shit.
English clubs have more money, it's that simple.

Frankfurt couldn't turn it down, Leicester can.
 

Fosu-Mens

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Real Madrid buy Jovic for £62m, we are trying to buy Maddison for £60m. This is difference to why we are becoming shit.
We bought Fred last season for £52m when we could have bought Torreira for £23m. The people making recruitment decisions at the club (Owners or managers or Woodward etc) seriously need some help.
 

Mainoldo

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Thats because we havent been at that level and Chelsea + City dont have a culture of nurturing those home nation talents. They'll just buy 1 or 2. They've tried to buy instant success and the British players they have signed have not been the most important players. I guess Chelsea tried to sign Rooney from us and Gerrard from Liverpool but were denied - maybe thats the issue. That the British clubs tend to be very stubborn and keep hold of the best British talents, so its hard to just buy them and add them. Thats why signing one at 22 years old when hes just had 1 year in the premier league makes sense.

If Leicester do well next season and finish above us and he improves, he might end up another English player that just isnt available.
No my beef is there not good enough. The only players from England’s last talent pool who can claim a big trophy being a first team player is Jordan Henderson.

So can you imagine if we adapted the tactic we are doing now. We would have the Lee Cattemoles with Ross Barkley’s of This world. It would be productive. I’m just saying I hope this really isn’t then philosophy.
 

Josep Dowling

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English clubs have more money, it's that simple.

Frankfurt couldn't turn it down, Leicester can.
Just isn't true, Real Madrid are the wealthier club in the world yet can get decent players for decent money. If Premier League clubs want a premium for above average players go elsewhere in Europe and get decent players for the same money. We overpay for every single transfer, even the likes of Dalot. It's poor recruitment by us, simple as that. And our current transfer news is getting more and more depressing by the week. We need decent players not someone because of their nationality and attitude. If that made a good team we would have 11 Ashley Youngs and win the league.

Maddison doesn't even fit into a system Solskjaer plays. He clearly prefers 4-3-3. Our priority targets with that formation is RB and RW, then we need betters players at CB and DM. Club is absolutely clueless at the moment and there is no sign of any change for the better.
 

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I think this is (another) poor Man Utd deal. He is no more than an above average player, on a good day. Someone stated that another season may do him good before casting judgement. He benefits from a strong end of the season for leicester, but he hardly inspired it.

He plays a few really, really good games a season. Does not score many goals. Does not seem to me, to be able to dictate and drive a game. Doesn't strike me as a leader.

Just another, possibly good player.

What will Maddison provide for Man Utd? Goals? Power? Creativity (maybe a tiny bit..) Experience? Leadership? Prescence?

Maddison, Winks, Barkley, Lallana... much of a muchness.

What about the boy at Wolves? Tilemans has something about him. Loftus-Cheek could be a top player (but he's crocked for months...).. possibly Brooks at Bournemouth... these are the young midfielders I would look at... as for the others though, we seem to live in an age where average is good enough for some.
 

devilish

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City do, they've managed to keep foreign players happy like David Silva and Aguero

Liverpool have only just got to the top level so we dont know how their foreign players will react to interest from the big spanish clubs.
If we tie loyalty to nationality then we'll be insulting a horde of players who gave United their soul. That include Eric Cantona whom, unlike most of our legends, retired early rather then risked becoming a burden on the club, Ole who would have rather accepted a humble 4th striker role then leave United and Stam who allowed his reputation to be put in question instead of spilling the beans that the reason why the club was selling him was not because of some book or some shady doping issue but because the club forced Sir Alex hand to sell one of his stars. I would consider these players to be more loyal to the club then other legends who were happy to overstay at the club on top salary for a year or two until calling the day or/and they expected the club to give them a coaching/managerial job after their football career was over despite having no experience about coaching.

Now if there's two players of equal talent and a relatively equal fee, one of which is a foreigner and the other is British then I'll choose the latter. The reason being that he's more likely to settle down in Manchester and the EPL then someone who had never played there. However I don't think that a club should ever settle for less talent or overspend to a ridiculous level just to have a local core. That would be silly.
 

devilish

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English clubs have more money, it's that simple.

Frankfurt couldn't turn it down, Leicester can.
Real Madrid are wealthy as well.

Real are more attractive then we do. They have more history then we do, Madrid is more beautiful then Manchester is and La Liga is far less physical then the EPL is which means that a player tend to pick less injuries in it. However there's more to that. Clubs like Real and Bayern know their stuff around the transfer market. They identify their target early on, they court those players and by the time summer come most of these players would only want to join them. That means that the seller will have a choice of either keeping an unhappy player within their ranks or sell on the buyer's terms. I can't help thinking that we are still amateur on that regard.
 

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If we tie loyalty to nationality then we'll be insulting a horde of players who gave United their soul. That include Eric Cantona whom, unlike most of our legends, retired early rather then risked becoming a burden on the club, Ole who would have rather accepted a humble 4th striker role then leave United and Stam who allowed his reputation to be put in question instead of spilling the beans that the reason why the club was selling him was not because of some book or some shady doping issue but because the club forced Sir Alex hand to sell one of his stars. I would consider these players to be more loyal to the club then other legends who were happy to overstay at the club on top salary for a year or two until calling the day or/and they expected the club to give them a coaching/managerial job after their football career was over despite having no experience about coaching.

Now if there's two players of equal talent and a relatively equal fee, one of which is a foreigner and the other is British then I'll choose the latter. The reason being that he's more likely to settle down in Manchester and the EPL then someone who had never played there. However I don't think that a club should ever settle for less talent or overspend to a ridiculous level just to have a local core. That would be silly.
So give me examples of where Madrid and Barcelona came after our foreign players and they werent interested in the past 10 years? They were interested. We kept some when they wanted to leave like De Gea. Some we couldnt keep and sold.
 

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Dunno why people are getting obsessed with the price. You always have to pay more for young, English, PL proven players, it's the way it's always been.

And if the club can afford him then who gives a shit?
 

Ekeke

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No my beef is there not good enough. The only players from England’s last talent pool who can claim a big trophy being a first team player is Jordan Henderson.

So can you imagine if we adapted the tactic we are doing now. We would have the Lee Cattemoles with Ross Barkley’s of This world. It would be productive. I’m just saying I hope this really isn’t then philosophy.
None of those players are as talented as the young british players weve been linked with, at least the attacking ones like Maddison and Sancho.

Nobody ever thought Cattermole was going to do anything but get stuck in against Arsenal and Barkley had talent but while people were hyping him up I noted that he doesn't know what to do with his ability and is pretty bad with his final third/final ball play. Now he's a solid option for Chelsea but not this amazing player people hyped him up to be.

But when did Barkley or Cattermole do what Maddison or Sancho did this season?

Henderson would be a pretty good comaprison with Rice.
 

Ekeke

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It is. Having a British core historically means nothing. And the possibility of a player one day wanting to leave for Spain shouldn’t be considered with regards to recruitment.
Then go support a club who don't have that philosophy. See ya
 

kafta

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Where would he play? Isn’t he a typical 10? I mean would he fit in with Pogba?
 

Ekeke

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Where would he play? Isn’t he a typical 10? I mean would he fit in with Pogba?
Same positions. He did technically play off the left for Leicester in the first half of last season, but at times they told him to go central from there and he obviously wasnt as wide as a real left winger. Perhaps he could do the same thing as Mata and Lingard playing centrally from the right as well.

But most likely he's the British replacement for Pogba
 

Needham

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The definition of a united player has been changed since the mess created post Fergie. It's not appropriate anymore to be stuck in the past.
Yeah if they haven't got a clothing line I don't want to know.
 

kafta

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Same positions. He did technically play off the left for Leicester in the first half of last season, but at times they told him to go central from there and he obviously wasnt as wide as a real left winger. Perhaps he could do the same thing as Mata and Lingard playing centrally from the right as well.

But most likely he's the British replacement for Pogba

That was my concern. If we’re gonna play with wide men, they should be natural wide men. I miss having pace out wide.

As for him replacing Pogba, that’s a bit depressing.
 

devilish

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So give me examples of where Madrid and Barcelona came after our foreign players and they werent interested in the past 10 years? They were interested. We kept some when they wanted to leave like De Gea. Some we couldnt keep and sold.
Give me an example where Madrid or Barcelona came after our local players and they weren't interested in the past 10 years? Top players attract top clubs. Since we rarely were at the head of the food chain most of these players would want to leave. That's normal.

Having said that Id rather have a Ronaldo then a JLingz ie a player who will remain here simply because no top club would want to touch him even with a bargepole
 

Fergie's Man

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Dunno why people are getting obsessed with the price. You always have to pay more for young, English, PL proven players, it's the way it's always been.

And if the club can afford him then who gives a shit?
Correct. We overpaid for Rooney, Ferdy and even Andy Cole. All three ended up bargains. It's not the price we pay, its whether the player is right for the club.
 

passing-wind

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If they bought Jovic for £62m, then £60m for Maddison makes sense.
Exactly, then you also look at Hazard costing 100+ million with basically a year left on his contract. The market is the worst it's been all together, every player from a top 4 league will go for an inflated fee.
 

Jeffthered

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Same positions. He did technically play off the left for Leicester in the first half of last season, but at times they told him to go central from there and he obviously wasnt as wide as a real left winger. Perhaps he could do the same thing as Mata and Lingard playing centrally from the right as well.

But most likely he's the British replacement for Pogba
I assume you are joking re the Pogba comparison.
 

Ekeke

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Give me an example where Madrid or Barcelona came after our local players and they weren't interested in the past 10 years? Top players attract top clubs. Since we rarely were at the head of the food chain most of these players would want to leave. That's normal.

Having said that Id rather have a Ronaldo then a JLingz ie a player who will remain here simply because no top club would want to touch him even with a bargepole
You dont go for players that you know arent available.

And no of course you wouldnt prefer Lingard to Ronaldo, but if there was someone almost as good as Ronaldo but he's British you're likely to have less issues than with the real one. So Ronaldo would be be better but likely stay around not as long. Almost a Ronaldo and Rooney comparison. Not a Ronaldo and Lingard comparison
 

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That was my concern. If we’re gonna play with wide men, they should be natural wide men. I miss having pace out wide.

As for him replacing Pogba, that’s a bit depressing.
If we are looking to build a team, then I reckon he would be a good place to start. He is young, English, and is a specialist in his role.
 

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No my beef is there not good enough. The only players from England’s last talent pool who can claim a big trophy being a first team player is Jordan Henderson.

So can you imagine if we adapted the tactic we are doing now. We would have the Lee Cattemoles with Ross Barkley’s of This world. It would be productive. I’m just saying I hope this really isn’t then philosophy.
Trophies aren’t the mark of a player

The current crop of English players and the young ones coming through are probably the best pool of talent for a long time.
 

devilish

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You dont go for players that you know arent available.

And no of course you wouldnt prefer Lingard to Ronaldo, but if there was someone almost as good as Ronaldo but he's British you're likely to have less issues than with the real one. So Ronaldo would be be better but likely stay around not as long. Almost a Ronaldo and Rooney comparison. Not a Ronaldo and Lingard comparison
Very few players in the world are so loyal to a club that they would refuse any offer whatsoever. Nationality has nothing to do with that either. Cantona was courted by Inter whom they could offer way better salaries then we did. He stayed. Beckham caused all sort of mischief in his last 2 years to move to Real while Mcmanaman left Liverpool for free.

With players being guided by agents loyalty is becoming a relic of the past. I mean would you imagine 30 years ago that 18 year olds would be moving from one big club to another big foreign club despite barely ever playing first team football? Well it happened twice in recent history first with Pogba (Manchester United and then Juventus) and then Jadon Sancho (Shitty and then Dortmund). There's a chance that Angel Gomes would do the same. The latter 2 are British.
 

kafta

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If we are looking to build a team, then I reckon he would be a good place to start. He is young, English, and is a specialist in his role.
I like what I saw of him this past season. But it’s sad to have to build a team and lose our best outfield player. We should be keeping the few good players we have.
 

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Very few players in the world are so loyal to a club that they would refuse any offer whatsoever. Nationality has nothing to do with that either. Cantona was courted by Inter whom they could offer way better salaries then we did. He stayed. Beckham caused all sort of mischief in his last 2 years to move to Real while Mcmanaman left Liverpool for free.

With players being guided by agents loyalty is becoming a relic of the past. I mean would you imagine 30 years ago that 18 year olds would be moving from one big club to another big foreign club despite barely ever playing first team football? Well it happened twice in recent history first with Pogba (Manchester United and then Juventus) and then Jadon Sancho (Shitty and then Dortmund). There's a chance that Angel Gomes would do the same. The latter 2 are British.
Inter arent Madrid or Barcelona and you arent talking about within the past 10 years.

Beckham went to Madrid because Sir Alex and he had a poor relationship at that time. He got too big for his boots so the club wanted rid, it wasnt the player forcing a move it was Sir Alex.

And once again you're talking about the CORE of the side. You dont want a whole bunch of players wanting to move and causing problems at once. You only want to have a couple of Ronaldos and Pogbas on top of your settled, British core of players who you know is going to stay there for the majority of their career because they always wanted to be winning the premier league, not la liga.

If you have a core of foreign players who dont view the league the same way because they didnt grow up dreaming about just winning the premier league and staying there the entirety of their careers, then you could have a problem convincing several players at once to stay. To some extent we already have that now.

With Ander already gone, De Gea and Pogba not signing contracts, even Mata apparently has an offer and for some reason didnt sign it the moment he got it, we have a problem right this moment with tying down a bunch of our foreign players let alone if the squad was a majority foreign players and we didnt have the British players we can fall back on while the fancy lads are pouting about only earning £200k a week.
 

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I like what I saw of him this past season. But it’s sad to have to build a team and lose our best outfield player. We should be keeping the few good players we have.
Just look at Liverpool and Spurs who are doing better than we are.

Spurs have lost plenty of their best players over the last 10 years or so and are in the best position they've been in most likely. Liverpool sold who was considered their best player, Coutinho and won the champions league

Sometimes you have to sacrifice one or two great players who arent working out and arent as important to your team as they should be (De Gea poor season, Pogba good season but still not as good as for France) as getting 2 or 3 other players in who are performing at their best level.
 

UncleBob

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No idea why anyone would have an issue with us signing Maddison, apart from him not being foreign and having fancy name that is.
 

0le

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Just look at Liverpool and Spurs who are doing better than we are.

Spurs have lost plenty of their best players over the last 10 years or so and are in the best position they've been in most likely. Liverpool sold who was considered their best player, Coutinho and won the champions league

Sometimes you have to sacrifice one or two great players who arent working out and arent as important to your team as they should be (De Gea poor season, Pogba good season but still not as good as for France) as getting 2 or 3 other players in who are performing at their best level.
Yes its true, but in my opinion usually its done when the club do not otherwise have funds. We also do not know if Ole will have access to the funds from the a Pogba sale.
 
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