He seems to have played every game since November. I think it’s more the fact Brighton can’t buy a win at the moment and Bissouma hasn’t been particularly impressive since. The horde have moved on to their next target.
Luckhurst: United prepared to move for a holding midfielder in January
- Thread starter Valar Morghulis
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
I'm expecting a high energy unknown midfielder, let Rangnick do his magic and unearth some gems.
Oh the old, let's tell the football world which player we must sign at any cost so they can raise their starting price before we even start bidding for them. Next; sign Declan Rice for 100m.
United in a nutshell.
United in a nutshell.
Still dont think we need to buy a DM. When the whole team learns to press and close down angles, you dont need a ngolo kante or an out and out DM. Bring back someone like Dylan levitt and ditch Mctominay. If we must buy, we dont need someone expensive. Frank kessie or bissouma will work perfectly. Actually united should learn to sign players on a free when their contracts run down
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What made you think Bellingham would join when he got offers from clubbs like Pool, Chelsea. I know they are not better than us but if you look at from player p[erspective they pick those clubs ahead of us for now
I hate to say this but we are bit behind over last 9 years so better we go after realistic targets and become a better team.
I like R|alf's attitude of signing players who are keen to play for us...so I am sure we bring in some energetic youung players who are dying to play for a club like UTD and from there he will build on
I dont think McTom would take much to oust.
Happy to see "unlock pogba" phrase missing from this thread.
When was the last time a player chose another club ahead of us?
Sancho was rumoured to have admirers at Liverpool, Lukaku when we signed him had interest from Chelsea, City wanted Maguire, clubs wanted Pogba. Just this summer Ronaldo chose us over City.
If the footballing project is in line with what the player is thinking and wanting to achieve, he'll move to United.
And where exactly he would play ? Hendo and Fab is pretty much a lock in , when fit. They also have Thiago and their own youth products to come in. He isn't coming for less than 100m and I don't think Liverpool will spend that much for a player they don't need.
If we have CL and if we are making progress under a good coach, he will pick us. In 2023.
Pogba if he goes won't do that in January. He'll make a decision months from now.
I'm not sure about knowing everything about them mate, but both players have been around for several years now, and are at the right age and correct profile to come into the team and potentially improve us, without costing a lot.I only just learned about them through the caf - I have no knowledge from watching them. I’ve seen couple of tactical videos and I’d say that Haidara would suits Rangnick’s style of play. That other player Kamara seems to have good potential.
I mean, I’m sure @Adnan could tell you everything there is to know about them, if he wants, eh Adnan?
Haidara is a high energy midfielder who is decent on the ball and very good without the ball, where he's utilised to enforce pressure, be it in a wide pressing trap or vertically pressing the opposing midfielder, which he's very good at. So he does fit into the 'heavy metal' football approach that Rangnick wants to implement. But if Rangnick is only here until the end of the season, then i'm not sure signing Haidara would be the best idea, because someone like ten Hag (assuming it's him) seems to prefer his second #6 in midfield to play with a little bit more craft and guile, without sacrificing too much intensity out of possession. So it'll be interesting to see how things develop in the coming weeks/months in that regard.
Kamara I feel can be utilised by both Rangnick and ten Hag as the primary #6. He's been around for several years now and started of as a CB, before being utilised as the most defensive minded midfielder, which is a role that has now become his default role in the Marseille team. He's also playing under a very good coach (Jorge Sampaoli) who is very demanding, and who also coaches/teaches a play style in a variety of different structures, which helps young players like Kamara improve upon the tactical facets of the game, both in and out of possession. He's only recently turned 22, and has experience of playing as the lone DM flanked by two #8s, or being the more defensive minded midfielder in a two man midfield under a coach who expects his team to press high and play with high intensity. On a free transfer in the summer or a potential low fee in January, he'd be a good acquisition, who would be low risk, high reward type of potential.
It's about creating a well oiled machine with a clear blue print in mind. And if the future is Erik ten Hag, then a potential double swoop for Kamara and Frenkie de Jong for a combined £60m? in transfer fees would be interesting to create that dynamic imo, and it would likely leave us with money to spare to further improve the team/squad.
I don't buy the logic that since McTominay is so shit, whoever we buy doesn't have to be that good.
With Kamara, I note that he was made available this summer for not a lot of money, and there were no takers (but interest from pre-Saudi Newcastle, among others). Which makes me a bit sceptical. But hey, I could be wrong.
With Kamara, I note that he was made available this summer for not a lot of money, and there were no takers (but interest from pre-Saudi Newcastle, among others). Which makes me a bit sceptical. But hey, I could be wrong.
Boubacar Kamara deal to be done in next few days.
10 million is a bargain, hope this is true.
10 million is a bargain, hope this is true.
Source ?
I don't rate a single player we buy until they prove to do it with us -
However, if we can get any player for 10 million that's already a positive.
If true, it's been several years since we signed any player (who's not ending his career) for 10m. It's a remarkable shift in approach to fill backups with players who want to prove themselves.
10m seems steep for a player out of contract in the summer, no?
Probably read the media news bulletin from the United app this morning. 442 claim £10m deal in course
Be very surprised if 442 somehow snagged an exclusive on United.
There was talk of 20m this summer, if I remember correctly. With no takers. So that could make sense.
I remember when we were discussing midfield options this spring, I did a stats package on a number of players, including him. It didn't look bad, but his contributions did come across as somewhat limited in scope. Really little to no input in offensive categories. Passing accuracy same as McTominay. His strongest area was in progressive passing, where his stats were really good. Good on pressing too. Tackles and interceptions, ball involvement (ie, Touches) and progressive carries, middle of the road (among the players I looked at). All in all, measured against the other players I looked at (Camavinga, Kessie, Locatelli, Rice, Neves, Llorente, Bissouma, Bentancur, Tchouameni, Merino, Phillips, Brozovic), he seemed like one of the least attractive options. But I suppose it depends what you're looking for. And at that price, maybe there's a case he'd be a useful piece. But the counterquestion would be, does he have enough overall quality.
Huge caveat; not really seen him play anywhere enough to form an opinion based on eye test.
Pellistri was signed for around £10m.
Yeah, but Pellistri was a prospect, signed out of South America. This is an established player who would be signed out of a relatively large club in one of the European big leagues.
Eh, they don't have a backup DM and both Fabinho and Henderson have gotten hurt. He makes a ton of sense for them, I wouldn't be surprised if he picks them.
This isn't how we do business. Wait until 31st January and pay twice the price, that's the United way.
Four four two look reliable...they have an article that Ralf wants to ditch big Dave and Deano for the Leeds GK 
He does fit the profile of a Rangnick signing, in that he probably believes he can improve all those areas in his system. Eye test for me he is very similar to Rice. He's not as good as carrying the ball forward, but I would say his passing is more expansive. When you look at his numbers compared to Rice, ok he's not as good, but he's also costing about a 7th of the price and has a lot of scope for improvement. If the focus is on the team and the sum of the parts in a Rangnick system, it's a no brainer for me.
But we already have that midfielder in Fred, the kingpin in the press with boundless energy barring the consistency issues he has displayed thus far. What we need is someone who can sit, protect the defense and initiate play. Kamara seems to be a cheaper version we could get in January and then assess his impact before deciding on a more expensive option in the summer, that is if we can get him for a fee under £15m.I only just learned about them through the caf - I have no knowledge from watching them. I’ve seen couple of tactical videos and I’d say that Haidara would suits Rangnick’s style of play. That other player Kamara seems to have good potential.
I mean, I’m sure @Adnan could tell you everything there is to know about them, if he wants, eh Adnan?
I would as well.
As I said, it's just the "media talk" bulletin from the app.. I'm guessing that's where his/her post came from given timing and quoting same figure.
Don't know much about the overseas players linked with, think I'd rather have Kalvin-Phillips.
The flaw with this thought process is that you overlook the importance of a player's attributes and place more import on his level of talent. More like Berbatov was more talented that Chicharito but even a flawed Chicharito was more useful to our side because he had more pace which suited the team.
Kamara is a natural holding midfielder, he can come in and balance out our midfield and that could could good enough to raise the level of the team as teams won't be easily walking through us. Say we spend £10m on him in January but he hopefully settles and that allows us to drop £80m on Bellingham, would you still demand a higher rated player?
I think people look at things and sometimes forget the overall picture - my belief would be, say we get him for a cut price deal of around 15m and he comes in and compliments Fred and Bruno thereby giving us a balanced midfield that means that next summer we don't have to spend big on a DM so we can focus our attention on say Bellingham or another player that absolutely raises the level of the whole team won't that be a net positive for us?
United will always pay a premium on transfers but it doesn’t have to be £100m if you find these players with the qualities you need before they arrive in the PL or at a club that’s competing for major honours.
Totally agree, I am firmly in the camp you don't need to be spending record fees for a DM, because the skill set needed is not very unique in a well organised team. Flair, Creativity and goals on the other hand are very hard to come by, so it's worth spending more on those players and finding a player who's willing to be disciplined, with a core set of skills and scope for development for our DM role.
Yes, and the Op said that it had been several years since we signed any player who's not ending his career.
Thanks Adnan, and you’re being modest, if you need a scouting report — you’re the guy to go to. Always very knowledgeable and detailed. Really helpful since I’ve quit the whole transfer malarkey a while back and now I’m only relying on what others are saying — well I was doing that anyway but even more so.
I will say this, though. Looking at Rangnicks past signings, I have full confidence in any signings he makes. So if it’s either, neither or both of these guys — I’ll be right behind him. Looks like he knows a player when he sees one, more often than not.
Ditto, DMs impact a game when you have a really poor one but if you can get away with having an above average one plus Fred giving platform to a top class attacking unit and protecting a world class defense then you won't really have issues. If we have an opportunity to get a reliable DM for under £20m we should take it.
Just saw a rumor on Twitter that Ragnick will only be allowed to bring in players on loan but no permanent deals. Is there any truth to this?
True or not, it got me thinking about how we approach transfer overall. Logically speaking, if a manager is able to move on 2-3 players, they should be sure to be able to use at least a portion of the money they bring in and save on wages on new transfers. Imagine though that we just don't work that way, and the club says "you can get rid of all the players you want, but there's no guarantees about incomings." The incentive there would basically be for managers to just hold to players way too long. It's speculative I know, but I can't help but wonder if something like this (i.e. control on outgoings but no control on incomings for managers) isn't part of the reason why we have such a bloated squad with so many players now also at risk of leaving for free.
True or not, it got me thinking about how we approach transfer overall. Logically speaking, if a manager is able to move on 2-3 players, they should be sure to be able to use at least a portion of the money they bring in and save on wages on new transfers. Imagine though that we just don't work that way, and the club says "you can get rid of all the players you want, but there's no guarantees about incomings." The incentive there would basically be for managers to just hold to players way too long. It's speculative I know, but I can't help but wonder if something like this (i.e. control on outgoings but no control on incomings for managers) isn't part of the reason why we have such a bloated squad with so many players now also at risk of leaving for free.
It's probably spot on if it's a rumour on twitter.
I'm asking if people have seen corroborating reports from credible sources. No need for snide comments.