I am really happy that Smalling, Young and Mata are staying, Dan James signed, and Longstaff is being pursued. I am also happy that De Gea, Pogba and Lukaku are likely to be sold. They will be the core of the new United next season. I don't want Prima donnas, I am looking for Team United, and I am quite hopeful of what is going to happen.
Juan Mata | Official: Signs two-year contract with option of a third
- Thread starter kouroux
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If we get rid of Mata we either:
A) Play a youth player instead, which doesn't improve our quality as we could do that with Mata in the squad anyway.
B) Spend some of our limited money on replacing Mata, in which case someone else doesn't get replaced and the the quality in that position doesn't improve.
The problem is that we have more players we want to get rid of than time and resources with which to replace them. If you want to upgrade Mata that's fine but then you'd realistically just have to pick a different crap player to keep instead.
Why is Herrera seen as some knight in shining armour all of a sudden 
34 years old Mata will be slower than me, running with one leg.
Yeah thats a fair worry, I hadn't thought about it that way.
Like a new signing used to be one of Fergies favourites if I remember right
I’ll reluctantly accept it if Mata is seen as just a squad depth option and nothing more, and/or we actually are getting rid of Lukaku and Pogba so we have to keep him for the sake of making up numbers. If he’s yet again being a figurative square peg being squeezed into the figurative round hole of right wing then feck it all.
As I mentioned in the big transfer tweet thread, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being kept around to keep DDG from seriously rocking boat about leaving this summer, on top of his mate Herrera leaving and Lukaku and Pogba potentially leaving.
As I mentioned in the big transfer tweet thread, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being kept around to keep DDG from seriously rocking boat about leaving this summer, on top of his mate Herrera leaving and Lukaku and Pogba potentially leaving.
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All depends on how cost friendly the extension is. If it's £90k/wk or so I'd say it's a decent deal as long as we don't sell Pogba.
RB, RW, CM are all higher priorities than an AM currently. Then we'd probably need to get rid of Lukaku, De Gea, 1 CB, then figure out replacements for them. With Matic, Darmian, in a seSanchez players also needing replacement. Too many players to turnover so smart move.
RB, RW, CM are all higher priorities than an AM currently. Then we'd probably need to get rid of Lukaku, De Gea, 1 CB, then figure out replacements for them. With Matic, Darmian, in a seSanchez players also needing replacement. Too many players to turnover so smart move.
Only if we buy into your premise that we're so cash strapped that we can't fill 4 key positions in one transfer market. Let's not forget we did feck all last summer and then January.
Our right wing has been absent for years it needs fixing.
I'd rather keep Pogba than Mata. Not even a contest really. Mata is shit
Maybe. But you chose a very niche hill to die on.
I've considered watching the season as a neutral this year
I despair and wouldn’t blame any young player (i.e. Gomes) wanting to move from this mess of the club.
Fair play but still depressing to contemplate.
I'd rather play a young player. At least there'd some hope of developping a good player. Mata ain't getting better, he is way past it
That's a bit over the top . Alot of posters on here like myself will remember supporting pre-fergie trust me that wasnt a bed of Rose's. Even when times are Dark we all need to get behind the team .
Don't understand Mata staying when we could swap him out for Angel Gomes over a season and worst case scenario, we'd have no loss (because Mata was pointless last season essentially) but a lot of potentisl benefit.
I like Mata but it's absolutely mad to offer him a 3 year contract at this stage of his career where his output is what it is. Soon enough we'll be complaining about why we cannot get rid of the deadwood while we've extended contracts for Young, Jones and now Mata. I probably forgot some other shite too.
We have targeted four signings in each of the last two summers and failed to sign all four on both occasions. That's the most relevant measure of our capacity in the transfer market we have.
In that context, we have close to a dozen players we may have to or want to replace. Fellaini, Herrera and Valencia gone already. Pogba and Lukaku have asked to leave. De Gea may follow. Then the rest of the dross like Sanchez, Rojo, Bailly, Darmian, etc.
The idea that we could replace all of them at once is based on a fantasy idea of what we "should" be able to do rather than the real world where we are constrained by both time and resources in a given summer. It also ignores the fact that some of our targets (perhaps Sancho, for example) may simply not be available this summer.
There is no getting around the fact that we will have to keep some of our lesser players for a while yet, so you have to prioritize. If people want Mata replaced now then that's fine but it is absolutely inevitable that spending money on that player this summer will stop us from buying someone else in a different position.
It's an easy choice to pick A. Give all of his minutes to Angel Gomes. I promise you we won't miss Mata for anything, he did nothing last season. To gain we'd give chances to an 18 year old highly rated talent (on cheap wages) with potential to grow and really progress now.
All talks about "rebuild" and shit yet Mata, Young, Jones, Phil Jones getting new contracts. They're squad players but they also don't improve this team. What the feck did they do last season?
I refuse to believe there ain't better options but that's required actual scouting and background works to find the correct profiles. We don't seem to have that
No wonder club going nowhere. Ruthless approach 10-in 10-out my arse
I refuse to believe there ain't better options but that's required actual scouting and background works to find the correct profiles. We don't seem to have that
No wonder club going nowhere. Ruthless approach 10-in 10-out my arse
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Manchester Utd, rewarding mediocrity since 2014.
That
That why we are not citizens but united not because they did a change..they might spend 200mill for a back 4. We will do it differently
I'm fully behind the team, but I'm not gonna emotionally invest myself for a year in the same shite as last season. If a decent attempt to fix the on field performance isn't made then I'll cheer them on from afar. I'd much prefer to enjoy the game of football than be constantly moaning about a single club
Right, so lets accept we play Gomes ahead of Mata this season and the team is better for it. All fine.
Selling Mata still doesn't gain us anything. We don't need to sell him to play others ahead of him, as evidenced by the fact that he hasn't been a first choice player at all under Ole. Meanwhile we have a 60 game season ahead and are short on bodies. So why get rid? You'd just be removing him from the squad to no end.
Some of those are barely part of the squad and have replacements in the squad already.
I get there's plenty of business to do but our attack being lopsided has been a key cause behind our poor attack for so long it's madness to ignore it again. As for targets not available it's fecking bollocks we've heard before.
Fair enough that's your choice . I would love the club to be run better too in fairness and I totally understand the frustration. Personally a couple of rough years doesn't effect how much I love United and I also hope we can get it together soon
Where's your white text or do you enjoy Championship football that much?
How is it bollocks? Let's say Sancho is our main target for RW and he doesn't want to move this summer. What the hell do you expect the club to do?
They either opt for what they consider a lesser signing just so they can strengthen that position this summer (at the cost of strengthening elsewhere because again we are inevitably operating under some constraints). Or they wait a year, knowing they have plenty of other strengthening to do in a rebuild they have openly said will take years regardless.
I think we were too late to decide, should have had him signed up while he still had a couple of years left on his contract.
We're an absolute shambles
Im not quite sure if this post is full off sarcasm or are you being serious ? If you are being serious id guess you are in a small percentage of fans
Who the hell said anything about a ten in ten out approach?
In what world does it make sense to let Mata leave with Herrera & Fellaini already gone and Pogba possibly following them out?
In a world where people don't actually have to manage the squad, they just have to complain about all the players they don't like still being here.
Genuinely find this place baffling at the moment.
If we’re linked with top level players they’re just money grabbers, if we’re linked with good PL players who’d be upgrades on what we’ve got they’re massively overpriced and we should look elsewhere and if we’re linked with young players they’re just not good enough and it’s a sign of how far we’ve fallen.
I’m no fan of how we’ve been operating as a club but I feel like they can’t win at the moment.
Of course it gains us many things, among them a clear sign that the club is serious about moving the deadwood out of the club.
Our club needs ruthlessness and not be seen as a retirement home for finished footballers.
We need a serious clearing if we wanna change the whole identity and direction of the club.
Extending the likes of Mata isn't helping at all.
I'm actually fine with Mata staying. Can't ship out everyone and Mata is fine as a veteran depth player.
I won't be dying, I'll just find other things to do with those two hours a day I spend reading and discussing United news. And I don't have anything particular against Mata; there are numerous hypothetical decisions that would display a level of incompetency to make me consider whether it's worth investing my time. It just so happens that giving a washed up Mata a 3 year contract is one of them.
Totally fine to have him part of the squad as a senior figure or really the senior figure. He and Ashley Young should be limited to one start every couple of weeks with being a key sub during match days. Allow the older players to focus and put in all their effort during limited/fixed match time. Less is more so to speak.
It makes complete sense to retain him. I may be biased but you can't be looking forward to selling half the side. The club realizes that Rom is leaving, we'll sell Sanchez if any offer comes in, so we can't just sell half our front 6. Add to that, the club isn't sure about Pogba's future and the ruckus he might create. People keep harping about Gomes, but he isn't good enough yet. Chong isn't physically ready to make 30 odd appearances yet for us, atleast based on his limited appearances in senior football. Greenwood is, but they aren't competing for the same position. No one knows how good James will be, and Lingard isn't a mature enough player.
Now, I hope it's not a 3 year deal, but in case it's a 1+1 year contract, it's an understandable action taken by the club
Now, I hope it's not a 3 year deal, but in case it's a 1+1 year contract, it's an understandable action taken by the club