Let's talk 'keepers: who do we buy and why?

I hope this time we won't get blinded with the only parameter for our new GK to be good with his feet and his ballplaying skills like last time (and even in that parameter Onana hasn't impressed in our shirt).
 
I just want a keeper who commands his box, comes and claims crosses and makes the routine saves with a worldie thrown in every so often.
 
Tuttosport says Vanja Milinković Savić has a release clause around 20 million euros. For that money he is an interesting option, especially because we need the money for other positions. People that are following the italian league are saying that he is on of the best, if not the best GK in Serie A this season. He was also our player 10 years ago.
 
Big Andy said:
I just want a keeper who commands his box, comes and claims crosses and makes the routine saves with a worldie thrown in every so often.
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Yeah and if he can do a bit with his feet then it should be a bonus not essential. I wish we could have lured Donnarumma before he ended up at PSG.
 
dovaris said:
Tuttosport says Vanja Milinković Savić has a release clause around 20 million euros. For that money he is an interesting option, especially because we need the money for other positions. People that are following the italian league are saying that he is on of the best, if not the best GK in Serie A this season. He was also our player 10 years ago.
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Does the latter bring with it any benefits in terms of homgrown quotas or wasn't he here long enough?
 
I haven't watched Malinkovic Savic apart from highlights but does anyone find him slow when diving to the bottom corners of the net?

He is very tall and physical possibly weighing quite alot so almost looks like it takes him longer to dive in to deeper more lower positions.
 
Quagmaguire said:
I haven't watched Malinkovic Savic apart from highlights but does anyone find him slow when diving to the bottom corners of the net?

He is very tall and physical possibly weighing quite alot so almost looks like it takes him longer to dive in to deeper more lower positions.
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My concern is that he's 28 and he's spent the bulk of his playing career at Torino.

He's not even first choice for Serbia either.
 
Quagmaguire said:
I haven't watched Malinkovic Savic apart from highlights but does anyone find him slow when diving to the bottom corners of the net?

He is very tall and physical possibly weighing quite alot so almost looks like it takes him longer to dive in to deeper more lower positions.
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I watched a a few YouTube clips of him. he looks slow getting down and very slow getting back up. One clip he'd to swing his legs from in front of himself to behind to get up. Like a breakdance move. I'm not sure he's the answer. I know we are broke and onana is crap,so we are desperate.
 
daba said:
Loads of options out there that will likely require fees between 20-35m:

Svilar
Milinkovic-Savic
Flekken
Chevalier
Joan Garcia
Yehvann Diouf

If we can get a cool £25m for Onana from Saudi and £5m from Bayindir then we’re should at a minimum break even on fees and wages.
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But we’d still owe just over 25m for Onana so it won’t be a true break even
 
Vanja makes perfect sense. He's a 6ft8 giant whose amazing in air and has a certain leadership around him. That's something that our defense especially if Maguire had to leave which would then strip us with the only guy whose good in air. He comes from a football family (Sergej is his brother), he's got Manchester United experience at academy level and he's got the best saving percentage in the Serie A at 77.2% (Onana is at 68% while Alisson is at 74%). On top of that he's on cheap and he's not on a huge salary which means that he can easily switch from no 1 to no 2 if we find someone better.

My only issue with him is his injury record but when one takes the package deal around him he's fully worth it
 
crackers0seven said:
I watched a a few YouTube clips of him. he looks slow getting down and very slow getting back up. One clip he'd to swing his legs from in front of himself to behind to get up. Like a breakdance move. I'm not sure he's the answer. I know we are broke and onana is crap,so we are desperate.
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Yeah he's a lump no doubt, and that's the trade off you make in having such an imposing figure between the sticks. I don't watch Serie A so like you, have just been going off highlights and stats.

My gut feeling is that we could do better with a bit of decent scouting, but certainly do worse. I'd take him in a heartbeat ahead of our current lot.
 
golden_blunder said:
We have around 25m still left to pay for him right?
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His book value is around 26m but if we bought a keeper for 25m we wouldn’t be paying 25m this year it would be for example 5m this year if they got a 5 year contract

If we sold Onana for 25m we would take just over 1m book loss.
 
jderbyshire said:
Just get the guy we should have got in 2023 instead of Onana (Costa)
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A big risk for the fees involved. Looked very shaky for Portugal and was dreadful when we played them. Coupled with the fact they would want 50m+
 
I see teams like Brigton change keepers every season and they aren't doing bad .. a low key .. solid ..goalkeeper is good enough i feel
 
FortunaUtd said:
Does the latter bring with it any benefits in terms of homgrown quotas or wasn't he here long enough?
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He wouldn't count as homegrown. Signed in the summer of 2014 and loaned back to his club for the season, got released in November 2015 because he couldn't get a work permit.
 
Cassidy said:
His book value is around 26m but if we bought a keeper for 25m we wouldn’t be paying 25m this year it would be for example 5m this year if they got a 5 year contract

If we sold Onana for 25m we would take just over 1m book loss.
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Which is why I said they don’t exactly even out.
 
OleGunnar20 said:
Yeah he's a lump no doubt, and that's the trade off you make in having such an imposing figure between the sticks. I don't watch Serie A so like you, have just been going off highlights and stats.

My gut feeling is that we could do better with a bit of decent scouting, but certainly do worse. I'd take him in a heartbeat ahead of our current lot.
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Yeah,but do we want to be in same situation in 2yrs. Rather we went for a top young prospect. And if it's an extra 10m to 15m so be it. If we are going for a cheap expierenced older keeper might aswel go for Leno,think he's contract is nearing the end and knows the PL. Very hard to judge Italian league players.
 
crackers0seven said:
Yeah,but do we want to be in same situation in 2yrs. Rather we went for a top young prospect. And if it's an extra 10m to 15m so be it. If we are going for a cheap expierenced older keeper might aswel go for Leno,think he's contract is nearing the end and knows the PL. Very hard to judge Italian league players.
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Sure, I largely agree, but even if the scouting is spot on young keepers are always difficult to call. The likes of Meslier, Lafont, Kepa etc in recent years talked up as the next big thing and didn't make it big.

If our scouts think a Chavalier is good enough to perform now with room to grow in the years to come, awesome let's do that. Otherwise if nobody stands out I'd like to see a solid, experienced keeper with a proven track record.
 
Why on earth are people quoting save percentage? Not sure Milinkovic-Savic would be one I'd move for personally.
 
JB7 said:
Why on earth are people quoting save percentage? Not sure Milinkovic-Savic would be one I'd move for personally.
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It’s hardly a terrible metric to go off is it?

Of course you need to take into account the context behind the stats and look at a range of metrics and not just save percentage - eg. Crosses Stopped %, PSxG etc.

For context, Allison had a Save % of 81.5% the season before Liverpool bought him, which is ridiculous. Anything above 75% is generally very high.
 
An experienced older keeper like when we signed VdS or like Inter signing Sommer wouldn’t be too bad if we’re struggling for cash. Just imagine if we’d payed 6 million for Sommer instead of the 50 million or whatever it was for Onana.
 
daba said:
It’s hardly a terrible metric to go off is it?

Of course you need to take into account the context behind the stats and look at a range of metrics and not just save percentage - eg. Crosses Stopped %, PSxG etc.

For context, Allison had a Save % of 81.5% the season before Liverpool bought him, which is ridiculous. Anything above 75% is generally very high.
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Yeah it is a pretty poor metric to look at, particularly in isolation. The other two you mentioned are both far more important for me.
 
bucky said:


It's Bild, so take it with a pinch of salt.
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I guess it's likely that they talked and that United is generally interested in him. But I also believe it's highly unlikely that a transfer happens, because Santos now has quite a long contract (extented after that alleged beginning of United's interest), is just now successful in the process of replacing club legend Kevin Trapp, is more likely to play CL in Frankfurt than in Manchester next season (as things look right now) and generally Krösche is quite good at selling, it would be massively expensive.

But personally I think he is a huge talent, so it wouldn't be a wrong move to go for him.
 
Do the smart thing - buy old. Minimum 32 years old. Long history of top flight football. Someone like Sommer would've made sense when we bought Onana.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Experienced, old and boring.
 
Really need an imposing keeper. Some big fecker who will dominate the box. Allisson, Martinez, Donnaruma, Courtois, all top keepers for their respective teams and all are giants. Can't deal with Tiny keepers.
 
Vivell monitors this thread. The good thing about United being linked is that there's finally a compilation video of him.



Top 1% of keepers for crosses claimed, Top 4% for goals prevented. No other keeper in Europe is in the Top 5% for both.
 
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Xeque_279 said:
Really need an imposing keeper. Some big fecker who will dominate the box. Allisson, Martinez, Donnaruma, Courtois, all top keepers for their respective teams and all are giants. Can't deal with Tiny keepers.
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Kaua Santos is 1.98m, so only Courtois is bigger of those you mentioned. If the report above is correct then United is keeping an eye on that "giant category".
 
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OleGunnar20 said:
Sure, I largely agree, but even if the scouting is spot on young keepers are always difficult to call. The likes of Meslier, Lafont, Kepa etc in recent years talked up as the next big thing and didn't make it big.

If our scouts think a Chavalier is good enough to perform now with room to grow in the years to come, awesome let's do that. Otherwise if nobody stands out I'd like to see a solid, experienced keeper with a proven track record.
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A list like that without mentioning Diogo Costa, who hasn't been talked about for ages even though he was talked about in context of 60-70 million transfer fees. It is going to be tricky, bring in a young keeper, then he needs to play to develop. Inexperienced keepers come with their own issues and given the negative climate around United, it would be a hell of a challenge. I remenber some of the scrutiny that DDG faced early on, will probably be much more than that these days. I'd bring in an older keeper with a good track record who could be a real alternative to Onana. I'd honestly stick with the guy but emphasize the shift in play style where Onana can show his actual strength before getting rid. People calling low-level-keepers forget that those guys also make mistakes but they mostly go unnoticed.
 
NZT-One said:
A list like that without mentioning Diogo Costa, who hasn't been talked about for ages even though he was talked about in context of 60-70 million transfer fees. It is going to be tricky, bring in a young keeper, then he needs to play to develop. Inexperienced keepers come with their own issues and given the negative climate around United, it would be a hell of a challenge. I remenber some of the scrutiny that DDG faced early on, will probably be much more than that these days. I'd bring in an older keeper with a good track record who could be a real alternative to Onana. I'd honestly stick with the guy but emphasize the shift in play style where Onana can show his actual strength before getting rid. People calling low-level-keepers forget that those guys also make mistakes but they mostly go unnoticed.
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Sure, perhaps he's worth mentioning. I don't keep tabs on portuguese football but feel he's still in the wait and see phase, though you'd think he'd need his big move soon if it's going to happen.

I'm surprised you'd stick with Onana, I haven't seen many still backing him. Who knows maybe we'll be forced to and he'll find a way to cut out the mistakes.

Personally I think his technique has been proven to be so fundamentally flawed that this is just not going to happen. He's always going to have these inexplicable errors in him, and that's the first thing I'd want to cut out of any starting keeper.
 
OleGunnar20 said:
Sure, perhaps he's worth mentioning. I don't keep tabs on portuguese football but feel he's still in the wait and see phase, though you'd think he'd need his big move soon if it's going to happen.
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Agreed
OleGunnar20 said:
I'm surprised you'd stick with Onana, I haven't seen many still backing him. Who knows maybe we'll be forced to and he'll find a way to cut out the mistakes.
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Don't get me wrong, it isn't an expression of affection but rather of "he's here, getting rid is going to hurt so we might as well give it a shot" mindset. He didn't stood out at Inter or Ajax for his goal keeping skills but for his ability on the ball. I'd agree if somebody states that even that aspect seems to have decreased but we know he had a very high level on that but at United, we never really made any effort in making use of that. A playing keeper makes playing a higher line easier, playing a high line also helps with pressing so I think, going down that route is the way to go anyway so force that now and then look if Onanas strength is able to balance out his weaknesses. Based on his career with us, I don't think, we would be able to bring in a good fee anyways so getting rid is without having a sure-shot alternative lined up is more than tricky.
OleGunnar20 said:
Personally I think his technique has been proven to be so fundamentally flawed that this is just not going to happen. He's always going to have these inexplicable errors in him, and that's the first thing I'd want to cut out of any starting keeper.
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I definitely can see where you are coming from and that take is understandable. But I know I don't want to see the Turkish guy being our number one, not even for a year. My point is that we are losing games for multiple reasons and no doubt, Onanas mistakes are of those reasons but given the outlay we made and the fact that he at least is a modern player, I'd put him in the "can bear for a little longer" category. I'm not attached to him though, so if we bring in somebody else, I'd be fine with it but in times of limited funds, I don't think a keeper switch will have a big impact on the bigger picture.
 
NZT-One said:
Agreed

Don't get me wrong, it isn't an expression of affection but rather of "he's here, getting rid is going to hurt so we might as well give it a shot" mindset. He didn't stood out at Inter or Ajax for his goal keeping skills but for his ability on the ball. I'd agree if somebody states that even that aspect seems to have decreased but we know he had a very high level on that but at United, we never really made any effort in making use of that. A playing keeper makes playing a higher line easier, playing a high line also helps with pressing so I think, going down that route is the way to go anyway so force that now and then look if Onanas strength is able to balance out his weaknesses. Based on his career with us, I don't think, we would be able to bring in a good fee anyways so getting rid is without having a sure-shot alternative lined up is more than tricky.

I definitely can see where you are coming from and that take is understandable. But I know I don't want to see the Turkish guy being our number one, not even for a year. My point is that we are losing games for multiple reasons and no doubt, Onanas mistakes are of those reasons but given the outlay we made and the fact that he at least is a modern player, I'd put him in the "can bear for a little longer" category. I'm not attached to him though, so if we bring in somebody else, I'd be fine with it but in times of limited funds, I don't think a keeper switch will have a big impact on the bigger picture.
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Fair enough all round I think. His distribution has been strangely conservative, its weird. That lob in his pre season seemed to get in his head and back him off and maybe he's adjusted since? Agreed that it negates his supposed major strength as a ball playing keeper.

One thing for sure with Onana is that he's a massive confidence player, so maybe we just need to line him up against Hojlund in 1 on 1s for the rest of the seasons training and get that good and built up..

I was very excited for his signing given DDGs high profile mistakes and overall drop off. It's a shame it doesn't seem to be working out, but United is a beast and particularly so for keepers. You need a Schmeichel arrogance or VDS ultimate calm to be sure of filling the role I think.

If anyone knows of any mentality monster keepers about please point me in the right direction. Martinez springs to mind.
 
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