That would also be my ideal scenario! However, I don't see both getting sold. I think we would do well to ship one of them! My opinion is that Tuanzebe and Fosu-Mensah won't get much playing time this season. I hope I am wrong but if I am correct, then I believe either one of them or both should go out on loan, ideally to a Premier League club, but they have to be playing regularly.
Maguire | NOT McGuire or MacGuire
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Rojo would be the one I let go. He's barely featured for us and he has a Pepe-like tendency of rash challenges. Most people are saying Jones, but I reckon Jones is pretty decent as a backup CB.
Of course, if we're playing with a back 3 then we won't sell any of them.
Jones needs to be the first defender out the door - always injured and when he does play he makes too many mistakes.
When your central defenders are dawdling on the ball and ultimately passing it sideways more often than not, doesn't that indicate a lack of movement from the midfield and/or attack rather than an issue with the player himself?
Maguire is extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet, he proved that for Leicester last season and Hull before that. He recorded a record number of successful passes for a Leicester City defender (1000+) and he finished the season with 5 assists, which is impressive for any central defender.
His fitness record is exemplary and his leadership qualities will prove useful to a backline that is very much lacking in that department. He is also a significant threat from set-pieces - yet another area we are rather weak in. Last but not least, he has time on his side with which to improve his many positive attributes.
Maguire's rise is clearly no accident. He is a player on the up and most certainly an upgrade on the majority of out central defensive options.
I know where you are coming from. I rate Jones more than Rojo, when Jones gets a run of games he is very good but you just know another injury is around the corner! Since Rojo has been at the club he has played 19 more games than Jones. Considering Jones is usually Mourinho's or any of our past managers starting CB when fit, it shows how often he is injured when you also take into account Rojo doesn't always start when he is even fit.
What brings my piss to a boil is we could have signed him for peanuts only a year ago instead of ~£60m now. Surely our board must look at that and ask what our manager/scouts are playing at.
Bailly, Rojo, Jones, Smalling, Lindelof, Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe. Even if we ditched one of them -- Smalling makes the most sense -- we still have enough central defenders, two of whom are still young but are very promising.
Better to focus our transfer muppetry to greater areas of need.
Better to focus our transfer muppetry to greater areas of need.
That it took a successful world cup by him and his England teammates in order to gain the recognition he deserved is unfortunate.
Then again, there were many on here singing his praises before the world cup expedition. As far back as his Hull City days if I recall correctly.
Smelling is probably our best CB at the moment!
There are so many talented players who simply do not realize their potential. Signing one of them is a bit tricky as you can never tell how they would turn out. You'd also have to consider how much playing time a player who is not a star and just has potential will get at a club like Manchester United.
Take Lindelof for example. He wasn't always starting games here last season and when he made a mistake he was slammed from pillar to post by both media and fans. It's a big club with big expectations and loads of pressure comes with it. Not the easiest place to establish yourself.
Maguire didn't have the perfect season. He made mistakes at times that would have seen him benched at Manchester United but he didn't have such obstacles at Leicester. He was able to take the opportunity to play regularly in the league and develop himself so that he made it into the England setup and, of course, he went on to perform well in the World Cup.
From Manchester United's perspective, we would be signing a player who is ready to start for us now and is ready to hit the ground running, which may not have been the case a season back. Sure, we are spending more, but we are now signing a player who will definitely start for us in my view compared to signing a player with potential who may or may not work out here. And that is worth the price in this crazy market.
So he's Smelling of Roses then.
What??? We are signing Danny Rose? Why??
No need for another CB in my opinion unless it's a truly top level guy like a Godin, Alderweireld, Varane type. I don't think Maguire fits into this bracket.
We still have too many for my liking and not enough cover at full back (especially as Valencia seems to be permanently semi injured)
We still have too many for my liking and not enough cover at full back (especially as Valencia seems to be permanently semi injured)
Has any player conceded more PL goals in the last two seasons?
True - but you don't know till you try.
We don't seem to know when to buy and when to sell players this seems to be one of our major problems. We should/could have bought the likes of Eriksen, KDB, Maguire etc when they we're at their previous clubs but we didn't even try. Then when when it comes to selling players it's the same issue. Blind and Darmian should have been sold end of last season, Mata should have been sold but we extended his contract, same with Rojo and Fellaini. It really is a poor show.
Huh?
He looks like he's got a bit about him tbf. Quite vocal. Good in the air in both boxes. Pretty good on the ball.
It's definitely silly money but that's the going rate now within the PL. Age is on his side so he'd hold a fair chunk of his value so he could be worth a risk.
It's definitely silly money but that's the going rate now within the PL. Age is on his side so he'd hold a fair chunk of his value so he could be worth a risk.
After failing with all our English players, I have certainly lost some amount of faith in these type of signings.
Over all he's a good talent but I think in the long term he could be like one of those over prized English players city signed like Stones or Sterling in the end with some deficiencies in his game. I could be wrong but as of now I would refrain from spending huge on him just on the back of the world cup performances. I could be wrong as I have not seen enough of him but unless your are really getting a Ferdinand or Terry esque potential with fantastic attitude I see this signing equivalent to the stones signing where we get a good ball playing player but who could not be totally dependent upon as a defensive Rock specially for huge prices which are being quoted around. I'd rather take a proven reliable defender who can pass the ball from the back than him.
Over all he's a good talent but I think in the long term he could be like one of those over prized English players city signed like Stones or Sterling in the end with some deficiencies in his game. I could be wrong but as of now I would refrain from spending huge on him just on the back of the world cup performances. I could be wrong as I have not seen enough of him but unless your are really getting a Ferdinand or Terry esque potential with fantastic attitude I see this signing equivalent to the stones signing where we get a good ball playing player but who could not be totally dependent upon as a defensive Rock specially for huge prices which are being quoted around. I'd rather take a proven reliable defender who can pass the ball from the back than him.
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He scored 18 goals and got 11 assists in the league last season. I don't think City will consider him too overpriced, especially considering he's 23.
Didn't knew he is that good until saw his performance in World Cup. If we sign him, we need to sell one out of Rojo, Jones or Smalling. I will say Rojo as he is the most indiscipline of all three. He make unnecessary fouls and take bookings. Also his passing from back is one of the worst I have seen. He always tries long passes which never comes off. So I think 35M+ Rojo would be a good deal for us.
Genuinely couldn’t care less which out of Rojo, Jones and Smalling go, all of the same average quality
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In normal circumstances I would have been excited by this but the thought of it being our last transfer business this summer makes it underwhelming to say the least.
I would love to see us get rid of the lots, we have talking about jones and smalling potential since they got here, still making the same silly mistakes. As for rogo should never have been signed in the first place. Bailly, lindelof, tuanzebe and a new centre half.
That won't necessarily be the case, though. I'm sure Jose has another target lined up beyond a CB.
Smalling and Jones have shown a lot more quality for us than Lindelof has. I have no idea why you would want to get rid of those two and keep Lindelof.
Not what I thought we'd go for, but he has massive **** hero potential. The headers, the name, the face, the dribbles. Yep, could surprise us all even though most want Alderweireld or some other big name.
Best,
Mister Positive.
Best,
Mister Positive.
Lindelof has only been here one season, so people still have room to hope he's capable of dramatic improvement.
Whereas Smalling and Jones have been here long enough that we know exactly what they bring, with no room available for even false hope of improvement.
Lindelof is the dreamer's choice.
Totally disagree with all that.
I didnt realize Harry Maguire was so big. He is very comfortable on the ball too and a threat in the box. I think we should go all in for him.
Totally disagree with this!
Really?
I completely disagree. I think Maguire's ability to play out from the back, stride forward with the ball and pick a good pass, his confidence to do all this naturally would speed us up massively.
It's Smalling and Jones who literally get blurred vision when they have the ball at their feet which slows us down. Their limited ability force much less intelligent passes to happen and cut off our midfield and attack.
Why do you think Valencia ends up with the ball at his feet sideways passing? It's because the defence don't have the ability to pick a better pass than shove it towards Tony.
I'd love to see Maguire striding up past the half way line, bypassing our midfield and knocking a ball up to our wingers/attacker.
I think his agent would prefer a move to United than a better contract at Leicester though.
Maguire will cancel out far more attacks than Smalling by losing the ball inside his own half trying passes that are risky.
We have had incredible passers at the club and they all ended up smashing it over to Valencia. He's a ball magnet for whatever reason. Blaming the fact that he gets plenty of the ball on our CBs is yet another absurd suggestion where people are clutching at straws to downplay our players. You obviously dont like Smalling and Jones but you dont have to make up excuses not to like them.
We also have extremely significant cash invested into our midfield over the past 5 years. Now you want a CB to bypass midfield and attempt to play the ball to strikers.
Don't you think a passing specialist midfielder is more likely to make that pass?
That's like every big club in world football saying "there's no point buying a big tall strong defender who can pass the ball competently to our attackers because we have just spent x amount on our midfield". Of course you want a defender that can do more than just defend. Bypassing our midfield can lead to faster counter-attacks, a variation of play. Of course I wouldn't like to see our midfield bypassed every single time, I'd just like to see a new dimension to our play in comparison to our very poor ball-playing CB's we currently have. Lindelof plays the ball well and I look forward to seeing him develop further.
We haven't had incredible passers at the club in quite a while actually. Incredible is a word that rightfully describes someone like Michael Carrick or Paul Scholes - they certainly didn't "all end up smashing it over to Valencia", they looked for a fast paced forward pass whenever possible.
I see Smalling hopelessly pass it out to Valencia a shedload more than I see other players play it out to Valencia.
Just off the top of my head I can say that Maguire is better than Smalling and Jones at: defensive headers, striding out of the defence with the ball, passing ability, confidence on the ball, attacking headers, injury proneness.
I've watched Maguire for a few years closely now and appreciated his ability well before the world cup. It's no coincidence he popped one in against us at the death last season and our CB's couldn't get near him.
I do not want us to sign Maguire because I think Lindelof and Baily should be tried as our first choice CB pair but, on the whole ball playing Centreback discussion. While it is great if your CB can get it forward to the feet of strikers that is not what really separates defenders. Mostly what separates CBs who are good on the ball from the ones who are not the ones who are good usually make the pass into midfield to start the attack while the ones who are meh just pass it sideways to the other CB or the FB which slows down the attack.
Would love his to happen.
Care to explain how 2 central defenders who simply aren't very good in the air can be a paring in the premier league?
Maguire is a massive upgrade on Lindelhof. Better at every aspect of the game, only time Lindelhof would get near him would be in a foot race, as they're not blessed with pace.
They're still both better than Smalling an Jones.
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