So do people think a Delap isn't good enough to play for a top 6 team for £30m ?
Liam Delap | Official: signed for Chelsea
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So do people think a Delap isn't good enough to play for a top 6 team for £30m ?
To lead the line? Absolutely not
I‘d say £35m for Watkins and/or Mateta (out of contract end of June '26) around £30m, I suppose.
He's good enough to be a squad option, but we need a proven goalscorer.
We've already signed 2 forwards who haven't ever broken 15 league goals and they've been a disaster, why would we make the same mistake again.
I get budget constraints are at play, but if there is a position to look behind the sofa for spare change, then it's getting an established CF.
Reasonable fees
Mateta may be a bit cheaper if he's coming to the end of his contract then yeah, but I think keeping for a year is more valuable to Palace than letting him go for £30m.
I don't see Villa letting their main striker go for £35m. They don't need the cash.
As a first choice striker? For a team whos goal is to be in top 5?
Not a chance. We would be laughing to Liverpool or Arsenal if he was their number 1 choice.
Villa rejected a bid of £50 million or more for Watkins in Jan and then subsequently sold their back-up striker for £64 million, so not sure why you think he would be available for £35 million now?
According to the bbc (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c047vkkq63vo) Palace triggered an extension in Mateta's contract in December and so he actually has 2 years left on his contract. Would be very surprised if he's available for £30 million.
Rotation with Hojlund really... I dont think we have the funds / pull to do anything more.
Yes... the difference is Liverpool and Arsenal are going for the league... we are going for top 6.
Palace will sell Guehi this summer (year left on contract), and I think Eze will also go - so palace are very unlikely to sell any of their other top players.
Watkins will be significantly more than £35m - and only if Villa get a replacement in.
Watkins is going nowhere this summer unless Villa surprise us all and sign Gyokeres and Palace have briefed they would not entertain offers below 60M for Mateta as they do expect they will be losing Eze this summer and don't want to watch all the goals walk out of their team.
Yeah we definitely do
I’m not against Delap, but he simply cannot be our only striker signing this summer. Ideally it’s him and a more established player.
If we can only afford one, it needs to be the established striker.
If we can only afford one, it needs to be the established striker.
No chance. It's the kind of signing we should make if we already had a top class CF and maybe needed a young back-up with potential.
That being said, we will probably end up signing him. He will then do a bit better than Højlund but not anywhere near the level needed.
Waste of money. I’d just go for Osimen
Exactly how I see it. Will be ok, score 10-12, be better than hojlund but still nowhere near what we need to be competitive. The same fans will say we aren't giving him a chance as we live with mediocrity
Id take a one legged pensioner over Hojlund
I'd be fine with Delap as our third choice striker, but it seems like we have plenty of those at the moment.
We need two CFs and do everything to bring Hojlund out of the club.
We desperately need a new striker. Holy hell Højlund is out of his depth.
How much more do Wilcox and Vivell need to see for the lightbulb to go off about two strikers. Listen you two this guy can't do it on his own, so please get him some support.
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Eze will be sold to allow Esse to be their next Championship player who turns into good PL player project.
Mateta going nowhere in that scenario.
Think Eze is really starting to turn into the real deal, a player I’d genuinely love to see play for my team.
Will be tuning into the final today only because he’s playing
Delap won’t be enough to make the improvements United need.
If next season the CF’s are Delap, Hojlund and Zirkzee then that is not the marginal gains I was hoping for when INEOS took over football operations.
If next season the CF’s are Delap, Hojlund and Zirkzee then that is not the marginal gains I was hoping for when INEOS took over football operations.
I'm with you but Osimen is a risk as he's not played in the PL and might struggle to adapt. His record is hardly outstanding either, but I do feel he would be worth the extra coin ahead of Delap who could well collapse like Hojund has.
Whoever we get in will play ahead of Hojlund so they need to be a huge upgrade and I'm not sure Delap is.
A striker who makes half decent runs AND has decent link up play would improve us so much, they don't even need to be that good. I like Zirkzee but he's not a natural goalscorer at all and Hojlund has been hopeless under Amorim for both his movement and link up play.
I'd love to sign Osimhen but he and Gyokeres likely aren't attainable.
You're forgetting Obi and if we get Cunha and Semenyo then they can play as striker if required I.e. injures.
Please let’s not mention Obi. United are 16th in the table and need drastic measures this summer to rectify it, Obi has no place whatsoever in this discussion.
Also I’m talking about CF and Delap, so I’ll ignore the wide players names you mentioned.
Though I'm no huge fan of his, financially it makes a lot of sense.
Even if he doesn't work out we can sell for a profit.
He's also done pretty well in the pl.
Even if he doesn't work out we can sell for a profit.
He's also done pretty well in the pl.
Is Osimhen (proven in 3 different leagues, one of the most physically ready CFs and one of the best CFs in general) a risk, because he has no EPL experience? While Delap is not because he just had his first decent pro season at 22 scoring 12 goals and 2 assists in 38 games (after a season at Hull City in the Championship where he scored 8 league goals)? I would rather give the former a big paycheck instead of going into the next season with another inexperienced CF with the burden of scoring goals. He could surely be an upgrade on Hojlund, but coming from a relegated side he won't transform us to top 6 contenders. Osimhen seems off to Saudi but if we win UEL and there's any chance left I would definitely try to get him.
Mediocrity is what we went through over the past 12 years, right now we are woeful so living through mediocrity will be a massive improvement. In my view, we are never going to attract a ready made goalscorer that takes us from 17th to 4th so it needs to be a staggered rebuild.
Get Delap, finish around 7th and compete for the Cups. Improve again, by signing a few more starters next term and get fourth. I don't think you need a 30 goal striker to finish 5th. Earn a couple back to back CL qualifications and then look to sign a true superstar from a position of strength. This is a three or four year rebuild so for where we are right now, Delap would be adequate.
Obi is a centre forward for Utd and will get more game time next season. He's part of the squad. Not sure how you cherry pick and remove players. Bizarre take.
You can choose to ignore Cunha and Semenyo, however with the fluid positional movements that are in vogue at the moment, the no10's (,whoever they will be) will contribute goals and there will be lots of switching of positions during games.
Inter against Barcelona, stuck to their overlapping centre back ethos and a 37 cb scored the winning goal.
This signing is a waste of space. Won’t get us anywhere near top 5. Be lucky if he gets us 10 goals in the season. We need a powerhouse… unrealistic I know but a Osimhen or Gyokeres instantly closes the gap on the teams above us
If United have to rely on Obi next season then prepare for the Championship!
So we shouldnt develop players by giving them PL game time?
Whoosh!
My point was adding Delap to the CF options is not going to be enough, especially for a team in 16th.
You are then asking me if United shouldn't develop youth? It's so far off my post I wouldn't know where to begin with a reply tbh.
Well Utd scouting team and player anaylsis guys obviously disagree with you as delap is oir no1 target.
Not including Obi in the CF options when listing the CF options for the club? Thats bizarre.
With that take might as well remove amass from lwb options when assessing that position.
They never got anything wrong before, phew
That’s kinda the point though - we don’t have the money needed to get everything we need in every position. Us going for Delap instead of someone two or three times his cost (once you account for wages) is a reflection of that, because it frees up money to invest in other attacking positions where we’re also desperately lacking.
Buying someone like Gyokeres doesn’t guarantee anything either, as no one knows how his Portuguese scoring record will translate to the PL. And if the money we save on Delap allows an extra goal scoring player to be brought in at 10, then that may benefit us more than putting more eggs in fewer baskets.
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