Manchester is undesirable but Liverpool isn’t?

[Stretender]

I’ll admit that this thread is highly knee-jerk, but damn, shouldn’t we be the top destination for most top players? I realize I’m opening up myself for abuse, and maybe I’m living in the past, but deck me, we should be able to lure players to our club over Pool/City without our manager being in the discussion

You have to be a very deluded individual to think that Pep and Klopp have the same pull as Ole. Those 2 are world class managers.

I also don't know a player who has gone to Liverpool instead of Manchester United.

Players don't just turn up at your ground. You have to bid for them.

 

[Achilles McCool]

Come on, are you really serious? Klopp and Guardiola are the best managers in the world, both have won the Champions League and titles in more countries, both have charisma in their own way. Solskjær is a nobody as manager on all these counts.

Pep came in as Barca manager and was able to dismiss Eto, Deco and Ronaldinho and Deco to bring in other superstars before he had won anything other than with Barca B the season before.
Klopp meanwhile in his first managerial stint kept Mainz barely away from relegation from the 2nd division. After that he finished 11th twice in the Bundesliga and resigned. We can all goggle Klopp’s achievements, but he didn’t set the world on fire when he first started (neither did Ferguson when he arrived in England) but given time, Klopp made a name for himself. Why does Ole not deserve time?
Again, I don’t want this to descend into a “Ole vs. others” thread.
I just want to know if what I perceive (players preferring life in London, but willing to go to Liverpool/City over United) is me being ignorant, or if there really is discrimination over moving to United due to X, Y, and Z

 

[Achilles McCool]

This thread, shaking my head. Ceteris paribus you pick London over Manchester or Liverpoo. There's nothing controversial about this statement whatsoever.

The key here is for you to understand that attractiveness of the city isn't the only variable involved when choosing a club. Once you come to this riveting realisation, you'll have a great time.

Latin phrases and shaking your head makes for a poor argument (and yes, I know what the phrase means; I took Latin as a 15 year old too)
The “riveting realization” must be beyond me though, you absolute snob.
Again, Ole and United shouldn't be 2 or 3 tiers below the others just because United haven’t won majors lately. If that were the case, Klopp should’ve been finished after resigning from Mainz or not fulfilling the potential at Dortmund.

 

[Rektsanwalt]

Pep came in as Barca manager and was able to dismiss Eto, Deco and Ronaldinho and Deco to bring in other superstars before he had won anything other than with Barca B the season before.
Klopp meanwhile in his first managerial stint kept Mainz barely away from relegation from the 2nd division. After that he finished 11th twice in the Bundesliga and resigned. We can all goggle Klopp’s achievements, but he didn’t set the world on fire when he first started (neither did Ferguson when he arrived in England) but given time, Klopp made a name for himself. Why does Ole not deserve time?
Again, I don’t want this to descend into a “Ole vs. others” thread.
I just want to know if what I perceive (players preferring life in London, but willing to go to Liverpool/City over United) is me being ignorant, or if there really is discrimination over moving to United due to X, Y, and Z

It's Manchester United, not Mainz. A club that size with that financial backing in the last 10 years needs success much faster. He's coach since december 18! Man Utd need to show serious improvement this season, at least a very strong trend, otherwise he's just not the right man for the job.

 

[njred]

The fact that united can’t guarantee CL football has a lot to do with it but yes the original poster has a point with location also. 10-20 years ago players went to united because they were manchester united. The name was one of the two biggest names in the world and always had been up untill recently. They might be one of the biggest names but I see less and less shirts, talk, and overall sentiment about united these days.
I think younger players don’t care about the name and go for where they have the best chance of getting into Europe and getting exposure. United can’t promise that anymore.

 

[duffer]

I view it as Ole being in the same spot that Pep/Klopp were in when they initially started their managerial careers.

Why? Ole has been a manager for a decade.

If Liverpool is more attractive at the moment, it's because they're a lot better. That's it.

 

[Siorac]

Latin phrases and shaking your head makes for a poor argument (and yes, I know what the phrase means; I took Latin as a 15 year old too)
The “riveting realization” must be beyond me though, you absolute snob.
Again, Ole and United shouldn't be 2 or 3 tiers below the others just because United haven’t won majors lately. If that were the case, Klopp should’ve been finished after resigning from Mainz or not fulfilling the potential at Dortmund.

So first, how did Klopp not fulfil his or the club's potential at Dortmund? He won everything there except the Champions League and he got close to that as well.

Second, we're not two or three tiers below Liverpool when it comes to attracting players. We still sign high-profile players quite frequently, from Di María to Pogba, from Schweinsteiger to Sanchez. That they don't work out is a different discussion.

For Thiago - who seems to have triggered this thread -, Liverpool were more attractive because at 29 he probably thought he couldn't afford to take a gamble on a project like ours. He wanted a complete team that is guaranteed to challenge for honours. Which is fair enough, really.

 

[Skills]

We're not a good club to play for. Your reputation as a player gets hammered by the media and the clubs own fanbase. Our fanbase treats the clubs players like crap - Liverpool's fanbase (even when they were shit) hardly shat on their players, like ours do.

Images like this :


Add the multiple accounts of our own alleged fans racially abusing our own players must be extremely off-putting for players - especially if you're a player who's got options.

 

[Canagel]

Look at who's managing them.

/End thread

 

[Redfan94]

Champions League and multiple league title winning managers aren’t a million miles away from Ole. My god.

We’ve become RAWK.

 

[Moonwalker]

Latin phrases and shaking your head makes for a poor argument (and yes, I know what the phrase means; I took Latin as a 15 year old too)
The “riveting realization” must be beyond me though, you absolute snob.
Again, Ole and United shouldn't be 2 or 3 tiers below the others just because United haven’t won majors lately. If that were the case, Klopp should’ve been finished after resigning from Mainz or not fulfilling the potential at Dortmund.

If you knew what it meant you wouldn't be making such a stupid thread.

 

[JPRouve]

The premises of the OP are wrong, United has no issue signing international players, at least not compared to Liverpool or City. United have signed those players for a long time and still does, our last two signings are pretty good international players. But if we ignore that, in general the profile of the player and his family will be key points, a player in his late 20s/early 30s is unlikely to be interested in a rebuild, while some families may not want to live in a particular country or outside a particular culture which is fair enough.

 

[TheLiverBird]

Liverpool and City are not only at the top of their game and securing silverware, but they are also managed by the best managers in the world

United are far from the top of their game being managed by a manager yet to prove anything

It’s really not hard to see why top players would choose Liverpool and City over United

Just like I didn’t find it hard to see why players chose United over Liverpool several years ago

You had the best manager in history and a squad winning things

 

[Munkehboi]

Let's rewind some years back when SAF was in charge and we wre signing the likes of Veron whilst Liverpool we're signing Milan Baros.

Who would an international sign for? SAF or Gerard Houllier. I'm sure Liverppol fans then were saying what you're saying now. Of course, they were probably defending the fact that Houllier wasn't that far off as a manager as SAF either.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

There are that don’t want to come to England.

There are those that only want to go to London. It’s the best city in the world, it’s understandable especially when you have millions of pounds of disposable income.

Lots of British players will rather be in one part of the country because of friends and family.

However for most players it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference. They will be living in a £3m mansion in Cheshire, not a council flat in a high rise.

It’s a lazy excuse.

 

[Jim Beam]

We're not a good club to play for. Your reputation as a player gets hammered by the media and the clubs own fanbase. Our fanbase treats the clubs players like crap - Liverpool's fanbase (even when they were shit) hardly shat on their players, like ours do.

Erm, when they were shit and that wasn't long ago, their players got a ton of abuse from their own fanbase. Nothing different in that sense, you have idiots everywhere.

As for OP, we signed much more high profile players than City and especially Liverpool during last few seasons (Di Maria, Falcao, Bastian, Pogba, Zlatan, Sanchez...). Actually, that very list answers your question. And if we continued with it we would probably now watch Bale in our shirt. We clearly moved away from that model and rightly so.
Thiago is the first high profile player who moved to Liverpool from purely footballing reasons and that is the consequence of their recent success and Klopp. We had that same advantage in Fergie years and it is understandable. It also hurts, but things can change with the right approach and more success on the pitch.

 

[Baneofthegame]

Because we are thirty points off the pace and squandered a lot of our money with poor recruitment.

If you were a neutral player you want to be competing for titles. Or the majority of them should be.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Let’s move the team to London

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Wasn’t expecting the “Ole Out” brigade that soon, but alright. Why can Klopp and Pep recruit but Ole can’t? How do they convince the move where Ole fails?

Pep and Klopp are probably the best coaches on the planet at the moment, that will make a big difference to a footballer.

 

[11101]

Liverpool and Manchester will always suffer from their location and certain players wont want to come. Liverpool suffered it for years and are now getting around it because they won something, same as we did for all those years. City get around it by opening secret slush funds for their players.

 

[POF]

In reality, location has very little to do with it. The issue is that United have never been particularly shrewd or savvy in the transfer market and "he didn't want to move to Manchester" is an easy excuse.

United has a reputation for overpaying for players and letting players go for peanuts. Every time a player wants an improved contract or a team want to create a bidding war, they are linked with United. When United come in for a player the asking price goes up. There's a reason for all of that.

 

[Verminator]

As with most things, reporters just write shit with the name, Manchester United, and it is like printing money, because we have the most fans and the most haters.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Thiago for starters. Aguero is one that has always bothered me.
Ive read that players have turned down a move to Manchester solely due to it’s location but I’ve never heard of a player turning down a move to City or Liverpool for such a personal reason. Lately it seems that United struggle with such recruitment and our location is used as an excuse, but others seem to have no difficulty with selling their club to potential players.
I will admit that I might be focused on potential United signings and getting angry that certain players turn down the transfer to move to a larger city (Paris, Madrid, London, Grimsby) but I’m curious how the recruitment differs between United and other elite “northern “ clubs.
If I’m ranting, please explain that I’m insane and the optics aren’t as I see them.

Thiago wanted to joined arguably the best club in Europe on the pitch. Yes they lost to Atletico last year but they can dominate for years with that squad.

Aguero moved to City before he was a truly world class player. Also it’s been proven by the football leaks that City pay players far more than on their books so he’s probably earning a fortune no other club would match.

 

[RUCK4444]

As with most things, reporters just write shit with the name, Manchester United, and it is like printing money, because we have the most fans and the most haters.

And by far the most fans that hate their own clubs owners

I swear we fans lap up the negative press more than oppo fans do.

 

[Jacko21]

There’s plenty of Liverpool (and Everton) players who live closer to Manchester than they do Merseyside.

They’d sooner live in Cheshire/South Manchester and commute. Understandable really.

Ergo, a player does not choose Liverpool over Manchester United because of location. It’s about the state and trajectory of the club itself, amongst other things.

 

[Dante]

Manchester isn't undesirable.

 

[Morpheus 7]

It's got nothing to do with living in Manchester or Liverpool, it's because the teams are better on the pitch at the moment and winning trophies. Be coached by Pep or Klopp is more appealing for development than Ole, sad truth for now but that's the reason. Career is short of a player and winning trophies right now is desirable. If money is is a motivation then that's a different story. When United start winning trophies they will be way more appealing again. They have the history and global appeal and are bigger than Chelsea, City and as big as Liverpool if not bigger.

 

[Xaviesta]

Jurgan Klopp and Pep Guardiola have plenty of pulling power, much than that of Ole Gunnar Solskajer. Both City and Liverpool have enjoyed success recently so naturally players are going to be confident of experience success under either mananger.

 

[Needham]

Lot of foreign players put off Manchester because it's too close to Liverpool.

 

[thegregster]

Klopp has spent 500miil on players. Pep even more.


Its basically our owners holding us back not our location. Players will come once they are paid well. Look at City before Pep came. They signed loads of big name players.

The idea that you need a big name manager or CL football is a total myth.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Lot of foreign players put off Manchester because it's too close to Liverpool.

Best reply of the thread. I salute you.

 

[Amerifan]

This thread, shaking my head. Ceteris paribus you pick London over Manchester or Liverpoo. There's nothing controversial about this statement whatsoever.

The key here is for you to understand that attractiveness of the city isn't the only variable involved when choosing a club. Once you come to this riveting realisation, you'll have a great time.

Spot on.

“Ceteris paribus”. Nice.

 

[TsuWave]

Need Manchester to go through a transformation like Dubai or Shanghai

 

[jymufc20]

Thiago for starters. Aguero is one that has always bothered me.
Ive read that players have turned down a move to Manchester solely due to it’s location but I’ve never heard of a player turning down a move to City or Liverpool for such a personal reason. Lately it seems that United struggle with such recruitment and our location is used as an excuse, but others seem to have no difficulty with selling their club to potential players.
I will admit that I might be focused on potential United signings and getting angry that certain players turn down the transfer to move to a larger city (Paris, Madrid, London, Grimsby) but I’m curious how the recruitment differs between United and other elite “northern “ clubs.
If I’m ranting, please explain that I’m insane and the optics aren’t as I see them.

Your insane and the optics aren't as you see them.

 

[Cheimoon]

Is it really that simple? If so, Fergie should’ve signed every high profile player in his career?

Do you have any examples of top players turning down United during Fergie's time for reasons of the coach or weather?

Also, I think another factor is the recent instability at United (part of Håland's concerns), but that should start disappearing now - as long as there isn't a crisis this season.

 

[TheLord]

Geography of one of many factors that appeal to international players - the other obvious ones being money, club-stature, the overall project, chances of immediate silverware, the pedigree of the manager, chances of first-team selection, friends in the team, boyhood 'dream club', and so forth.

I have heard of some Spanish players refusing to come over to England because of the bad weather. So yes, geography is important, but there are also many other equally important factors. Unfortunately, some of our main rivals tick more boxes compared with us these days.

 

[Chipper]

I'm not convinced the London thing is much of a thing at all. Trophies and money are much more important than location.

 

[Dec9003]

City are proof that Manchester isn’t undesirable.
As far as I’m aware we’re not being repeatedly snubbed this window, we’re just not investing in the team. Other than Sancho which obviously isn’t going anywhere we don’t seem to be in for anyone.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Utd have always signed absolute superstars and often beaten out Liverpool and City so I really don’t understand the point of this thread. This would make sense if Utd couldn’t attract big players.

 

[90 + 5min]

Thiago for starters. Aguero is one that has always bothered me.
Ive read that players have turned down a move to Manchester solely due to it’s location but I’ve never heard of a player turning down a move to City or Liverpool for such a personal reason. Lately it seems that United struggle with such recruitment and our location is used as an excuse, but others seem to have no difficulty with selling their club to potential players.
I will admit that I might be focused on potential United signings and getting angry that certain players turn down the transfer to move to a larger city (Paris, Madrid, London, Grimsby) but I’m curious how the recruitment differs between United and other elite “northern “ clubs.
If I’m ranting, please explain that I’m insane and the optics aren’t as I see them.

It is about who is "cool" club at the moment to join and that is based on success. The other factor is friend recruit. A manager who knows player and a player loving the manager. I have to say that it is not often I read that we can't get players because of location in the country.