Whats Alban Lefont like, is he good enough for the Premier League?
Let's talk 'keepers: who do we buy and why?
- Thread starter Katy Cat
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Nik (@Rood), Jamie (@Vault Dweller) and Ed (@That'sHernandez) give their end of season awards out! They celebrate the best players, goals and moments of the season (there were some, honestly) and also give out awards for the worst and most disappointing players/moments of the season.
They then discuss all the latest transfer rumours and get into the potential ins and outs this summer at Old Trafford.
Whats Alban Lefont like, is he good enough for the Premier League?
Probably on enormous wages for a second choice goalkeeper and we already know he's not good enough to start for us. We need to be smarter with our resources.
Slightly different situation for Arsenal when they already have a settled number one. There isn't the same level of jeopardy.
Really ? I get that he's not a world class GK but to slowly climb back the table this should have been a no brainer, whatever Onana decides to do.
5M, maybe 120/150k wages to get rid of the clown is pocket change.
I'm happy enough we're getting him, very experienced, good enough, knows the PL and Europe, spanish so 0 adaptation needed. It will be nice to throw him in the cups or the league if Raya gets injured without feeling a massive downgrade.
No he’s trash, you guys always hyping up some mediocre player. I would rather an academy player be number 2 than this trash keeper. There is a reason why Chelsea need a keeper but are desperately to sell him and there’s also a reason why he’s going to Arsenal as a number 2. There is also a reason why Real Madrid got him on loan as a number 1 but within a few games was number 2 to their number 2. Because he’s bad!
Well he lost the starting spot at Nantes, not his fault in my opinion. He went through a rough spell but mostly because Anthony Lopes is a bigger name and our president is an absolute idiot so when he saw the opportunity to bring Lopes on a free he didnt hesitate to sign him and make him our 2nd highest paid player
Lafont is better, I think Lopes is very overrated.I can't see Lafont going straight to a PL club after sitting on the bench most of the season, I think he needs to go somewhere where he can start first. I still think he's a very good keeper with still room to grow as he's only 26.
Of course the situation are different and I think he's making £75k/w at Chelsea which is a lot for a backup GK but he might have agreed to a paycut with Arsenal if he's going to be a backup. In the current state of things he'd start for you.
What do you mean really? Like it’s some weird statement he made, he’s not good to be a starter for Manchester United and that’s a fact! Chelsea who need a keeper are desperate to let him go. Went to Real Madrid as number 1 and ended up as number 2 within few matches and you are shocked we don’t want him to start for us? Really?
Yes i'm really shocked a club finishing 15th with a keeper solo losing many games and a challenging transfer budget did not jump at the occasion to sign a 5M keeper that is good enough to start for United (if only for a season or two). Maybe you have somebody else lined up but if your plan is to go another full season of Onana then it's a shocking oversight.
I don't know why you're pointing to the Chelsea situation that is a circus and are already targeting an actual WC keeper in Maignan and Madrid where he had to win his place over Thibaut fecking Courtois (and Lunin who is a really good option)
Kepa had release clause, surely Manchester United could get more money for Onana.
Onana has been poor for us and I'd like to see him replaced but if you want a job done, do it properly. Kepa solves no problems for us and isn't better than Onana. It's amazing what a half decent season for a midtable club can do for perceptions.
Kepa will be fine as a backup for you in your situation (albeit on expensive wages) but this is not a guy a top club would want to hang their hat on - hence why Chelsea got rid of him in the first place.
We never go for obvious transfers like that.
Hearing Chelsea aren't willing to match the €25m asking price for Maignan has me puzzled. I'm hoping we're looking at that deal as I think he'd be the ideal option.
He’s missed a fair few matches the past few years due to injury which is odd for a keeper. Might not be the player he once was. He was pretty dodgy against Spain the other day although admittedly that’s all I’ve seen of him lately. I would prefer Chevalier or Lammens personally. I guess Bułka is a no-go due to that stupid agreement Jimbo made with UEFA.
Fair point, that is a bit odd.
Chevalier would be terrific and I think rumoured to be around the same ballpark price wise. What's Lammens like?
I also like Bulka a lot, and wonder if that agreement still applies with us being out of Europe. Would see daft if so but who knows with these things.
I have absolutely no idea honestly but I do wonder with him if he is just one of those players that everyone just sort of assumes is good.
Chevalier or Suzuki if we're looking for a long-term Onana successor this summer
I do get the feeling we'll end up with Dibu Martinez as a stop gap though
I do get the feeling we'll end up with Dibu Martinez as a stop gap though
Don’t think it does as far as I know - thought that was as both United and Nice were in the Europa last season. But could be mistaken.
I liked Bulka when he was at Chelsea. Was gutted when PSG pinched him from us. Probably the only decent goalie our academy has produced.
He would count as "homegrown" in England. He was there for 3 years.
Lammens is a big lad who commands his area and is decent with the ball at his feet. All-arounder who looks a real prospect. I think he would beat Onana out and we’d be looking for a backup next summer if we managed to get him this summer.
Apparently the idiotic deal Jim agreed with UEFA runs to September 2025 so no Nice players this summer. It is ridiculous but typical. No other big club would agree to such nonsense. Which really stinks as Bułka will probably move for less than Maignan.
Maybe. Admittedly I watch very little Serie A these days. The league has gone to pot.
We need a world class experienced goalkeeper.. Therefore, Gregor Kobel (age 27) of Dortmund would be my first choice.. However, one of the top rated young keepers in Europe is Lucas Chevalier (age 23) of Lille. The club need to get this right and I'd say that Kobel is a safer bet.
So true! Onana is available on a free transfer, but instead we buy him the next summer for a record breaking 46m. I think we just love being the headline.
Yeah it’s maddening. £50m on Ugarte last summer when we could’ve signed Berge for half that. £50m on Mount the summer before with Tielemans available on a free.
And on and on and on…
Ayye I was surprised when I saw he was from your academy originally given your recent run of goalkeeping issues. I suppose you're always bound to have a few slip through the net, especially with the amount of players you have brought through the youth system.
He looks very solid indeed. Massive but not as rigid as Vanja while looking decent technically. I think he'd be a very safe upgrade for a lot of PL clubs, but maybe not as high a ceiling as a Chevalier (who looks excellent, but you never know if he'll go the way of De Gea or Kepa).
What do you think about the links to Maignan?
Thanks very much, I've just had a little nosey on YouTube and he looks very promising.
I'm torn personally. My head says we need the closest thing to VDS we can find, settle the defence and rebuild on a solid foundation. My heart however looks at the pretty good selection of potentially top class young keepers about who should be gettable, and thinks it would be amazing to land another DDG style, long term solution.
Who knows. Whatever we do though, we need a new keeper in net day one of next season, and it'll be hard to downgrade from our current pair.
Bring back Kovar from Bayer Leverkusen and have Vitek back him up. Hell no to Emi Martinez. If we buy him it will be for his name only just like Barthez when we brought that clown all those years ago. I would love Costa, but he would cost too much.
I’d be happy with a youngster like Lammens coming in. Even despite any growing pains having a keeper who isn’t a clown show technically will be a huge improvement. Just someone who does the basics properly. If he pulls a worldie every now and then great if not steady performances would be night and day to the Onana circus. Which is why I’m so nervous we won’t address it.
It’s sad state when I’m lamenting not having taken a flyer on Kepa. In truth we probably should’ve signed him and looked to bring a younger keeper in as well. Kepa and Lammens would’ve sorted us properly. Let Onana find another club or sit and stew so he finds one in January. At the end of the day I agree we will have dropped a massive bollock if Onana is still in nets to start next season.
City, Chelsea, AC Milan, Villa, Leipzig, Brighton, Forest (and many more) have done the same thing.. City for example aren't allowed to buy Girona players until Sept 2025 either. It's hardly just a daft thing only Ratcliffe has done. Many clubs have had to agree to the same thing. It's a rule that clubs have to follow if their owner's own multiple clubs. It's not even a deal really, unless you call sticking to rules making deals.
Ah you’re right I missed that with City and Girona. Weird that the requirement extends through the window after the season in which both teams are in the same UEFA competition isn’t it. Honestly I think multi-club ownership is a farce and shouldn’t be allowed at all but that’s a discussion for another thread.
Didn't city sign Savinho from Troyes? Was that before this rule came into force? I had no idea it was a blanket ruling if so. I thought at the time it was reported as a deal struck specifically regarding us and Nice.
So because we finished 15th we should settle for a terrible keeper just because he’s better than Onana. We finished 15th but yet singed Cunha, Mbuemo rejected Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle for us so why should we settle for below average keeper just because we finished 15th?Yes i'm really shocked a club finishing 15th with a keeper solo losing many games and a challenging transfer budget did not jump at the occasion to sign a 5M keeper that is good enough to start for United (if only for a season or two). Maybe you have somebody else lined up but if your plan is to go another full season of Onana then it's a shocking oversight.
I don't know why you're pointing to the Chelsea situation that is a circus and are already targeting an actual WC keeper in Maignan and Madrid where he had to win his place over Thibaut fecking Courtois (and Lunin who is a really good option)
I never suggested Onana as number 1 next season, he needs to go!
Chelsea are targeting a better keeper and so should United so your point is?
Wasn’t Kepa signed because Courtois was injured literally for the whole season? Kepa went straight to being number 1, he didn’t have to win his place over anyone, he was just shit so got benched for Lunin. He went there as first choice but ended up third choice
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Troyes weren't qualified for any european tournament so it didn't apply.
If two teams with the same owners are playing in UEFA competitions they have to change their ownership structure and prove they're sufficiently seperated enough to be allowed to play in them, and they aren't allowed to transfer players between those clubs until the September after the season ends.
The latter rule applies even if one of the teams doesn't qualify for Europe the next season. I think it's a bit strange but the reason is that UEFA don't want any two teams competing in their competitions to be able to influence each other via their shared owners for any European campaign the season after. But because United didn't qualify for Europe next season, we're no longer under the rule after September so we can transfer players with Nice in January, which surely could influence their European campaign, e.g. if we sent Nice some players to help them out with an injury crisis. So it seems a bit weird and arbitrary to me.
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Chelsea's offer for Maignan is only €15m. Come on hijack this deal
WhoScored posted that Djordje Petrović is the best rated GK in Europe's top 5 leagues this season, apparently he had a top season in Strasbourg on loan from Chelsea. With Chelsea probably buying Maignan, could Petrović be a good option for us?
Wasn't the same thing said about Onana? I'd prefer someone with PL experience unless we were to pay for an elite keeper from Europe. To me, Maignan isn't that. My choices: Ederson if City really want rid of him, Martinez or Pope (who, it seems, will both be available). I'd even consider Ortega. But then, I'd have kept Dean Henderson which would have made all this irrelevant
This would be an absolute steal at €15mil.
Why don't we bid £20m? He's better than Martinez and €15m is a joke. If Milan accept that offer they are tpo desperate. We could pull this deal off without sales.
Unless an offer comes in I’d keep Onana and focus on getting rid of Rashford sancho and (grudgingly) Garnacho whilst trying to secure Mbeumo and Gyorkeres.
Mostly because the rest of the team were absolute pish last season I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt going into next season and seeing if he actually wants to be part of the rebuild.
Mostly because the rest of the team were absolute pish last season I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt going into next season and seeing if he actually wants to be part of the rebuild.
Ter Stegen is having a big fight with Barca, United could look to take advantage here.
He’s awful.
For the prices being quoted we should be all over Maignan
Ah I see. Thanks for that. Definitely weird and arbitrary, but I'd expect nothing less.
Sure, and I'll hold my hands up and say I was all for moving onto Onana from DDG, having only seen him a handful of times (and of course the final performance was fresh in our minds at the time). In hindsight it was a dreadful move, as I'm sure any professional could have identified his fundamental technical issues.
Similarly I haven't seen Maignan for long enough to say whether he is consistently elite, only that he's been excellent when I have watched Milan. Them being happy to sell him for such a low fee is a bit of a red flag, though I believe it's partly down to his contract situation.
Of the guys you've suggested there I've always been impressed by Pope. It'd be pretty uninspiring but a solid upgrade nevertheless, which would do just fine with where we're at currently. Martinez is also world class at times of course, but Villa fans seem to think he's on the downhill slide and I wonder what kind of wages he'd be asking to come here. He's also a lunatic of course, which isn't really what I want from a keeper (Give me VDS back, please).
The rest wouldn't be the best options I think, but I agree that if we can bring in a solid PL proven keeper for a decent fee with little fuss that'd be great. Flekken would have been good, Pope would work, I quite like Hermansen from Leicester if he'd be cheap.
Suzuki is only joining a club where he can play. He’s very young and prone to errors. He’s 100% someone we shouldn’t buy.