He's quick and obviously what he will be like in 2/3 years - we don't know. But the fact he can go either way, makes it tough for defenders/goalkeepers to read his intention. A goalkeeper can root himself and prepare to make a save but it's very difficult for them. He may get stronger/quicker but that alone - the ability to go either way is very few people genuinely have.
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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.
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Assuming we get through the cup competitions, United have up to 11 games left to play this season.
I think the possibility of Greenwood joining Rashford and Martial on 20+ goals is very real.
I think the possibility of Greenwood joining Rashford and Martial on 20+ goals is very real.
He'd be good at literally everything in an attacking sense if he manages to become decent at headers 
Absolutely love the way Ole's handled the development of the likes of him, Martial and Rashfords as attackers.
He seems quite invested in their continued improvement and is always pushing them to become better versions of themselves with the perfect touch and its paying dividends
Absolutely love the way Ole's handled the development of the likes of him, Martial and Rashfords as attackers.
He seems quite invested in their continued improvement and is always pushing them to become better versions of themselves with the perfect touch and its paying dividends
With this sort of player, it is as much order of availability as order of priority. Internet fans are forever saying ‘why did we just sign a this, we need a that more’, or ‘why have we sold x when we should be selling y more urgently’. I don’t think it follows an order like that. We probably have a 2 year plan of who we want to sign and sell, and the players become available at different times for different reasons. If Sancho is one we want to bring in at some point and he’s available now, then we should be doing it.
The fact that you have added a question mark by Ronaldo’s name has personally offended me. He was the best of all at 18!
It's pretty much a preference in this case for me. I like our current forwards more than him and I wouldn't want the club to spend so much money on Sancho, who would no doubt displace Greenwood in the starting 11.
Like I said in this and other threads, I'd much rather we invest in a left-footed player, that can play from the right or instead of Bruno. Someone similar to Mata, who just can't be a regular for us anymore, it would bring balance and a different kind of dimension to our squad.
If we didn't have 1 of our current attacking trio, I'd be all over this guy. But as things stand, I'd rather we look at other more pressing priorities when it comes to spending huge amounts of money. It's about complimenting the squad we have and the style of football we want to play, a left-footed forward on the right will allow AWB or whoever the RB is to overlap a lot more effectively. Like I said, these are all my personal preferences. Sancho is a top player, but I don't want us to eventually lose one of Martial or Rashford, like it happened with Sane at City. I just like them too much. In my eyes, Greenwood can become even better than Sancho, could be bias, but it is what it is.
You have every right to. But I was not following soccer at that time, so didn't know how old he was at PSV and barca
I was a bit relaxed about this lad but am coming round quickly.
Needs to develop physically of course, but when he gets it around the area, he finishes like noone you've seen for a long while. Either foot too, phew!
Biggest compliment is all of us pausing for a moment to consider if Sancho at just 2 years older is still a key buy. We all know he is still, but Greenwood is very much a good option now - a huge development in a season
Needs to develop physically of course, but when he gets it around the area, he finishes like noone you've seen for a long while. Either foot too, phew!
Biggest compliment is all of us pausing for a moment to consider if Sancho at just 2 years older is still a key buy. We all know he is still, but Greenwood is very much a good option now - a huge development in a season
No worries, I wasn’t being entirely serious anyway. But for information sake, he was the best player in the world pretty much from the very beginning of his career, and I’m sure had won a Balon D’or as a teenager.
Indeed. if it was up to me I'd still be going all-out for Sancho, but if we did missed out on him I don't think it'd be the end of the world. Having Martial, Sancho, Rashford and Greenwood competing for 4 spots wouldn't do us any harm, especially considering how versatile they all are.
That 4 would be an absolute superb draft, with Ighalo providing a key extra element.
So much better than the ludicrous position at the start of this season where we only had Martial and Rashford, with Greenwood not only not trusted, but clearly too soon.
It's funny how Bruno coming in has had the effect of brightening the whole picture up totally.
He won his first one at 21, I believe, the second came later in 2002 (which was a bit suspect given he didn't play for a good chunk of the year). R9 probably became the best player in the world between 19-20 until he got hurt years later at Inter.
He developed his body massively at PSV when he was 18 which allowed him to become pretty much the full package of speed, technique, and strength by the time he got to Barcelona. He's statistically the only one above Mbappe when it comes to goals scored by professionals under 21 years old. If Greenwood keeps this up, he could challenge them for that top spot.
Displacing Greenwood means nothing.It's pretty much a preference in this case for me. I like our current forwards more than him and I wouldn't want the club to spend so much money on Sancho, who would no doubt displace Greenwood in the starting 11.
Like I said in this and other threads, I'd much rather we invest in a left-footed player, that can play from the right or instead of Bruno. Someone similar to Mata, who just can't be a regular for us anymore, it would bring balance and a different kind of dimension to our squad.
If we didn't have 1 of our current attacking trio, I'd be all over this guy. But as things stand, I'd rather we look at other more pressing priorities when it comes to spending huge amounts of money. It's about complimenting the squad we have and the style of football we want to play, a left-footed forward on the right will allow AWB or whoever the RB is to overlap a lot more effectively. Like I said, these are all my personal preferences. Sancho is a top player, but I don't want us to eventually lose one of Martial or Rashford, like it happened with Sane at City. I just like them too much. In my eyes, Greenwood can become even better than Sancho, could be bias, but it is what it is.
Let's say United play 55 matches next season
Sancho Martial Greenwood - 18 games
Rashford Martial Sancho - 18 games
Martial & Sancho = 36 starts thus far
Rashford Greenwood whoever - 19 games (55 matches - 18 - 18 = 19)
That leaves 36 starts for Rashford, Greenwood, Martial, and Sancho within 55 matches next season. Not including any subs. Sancho only had 36 starts for Dortmund this year and it's not possible for Greenwood to have a total of 36 starts this season. Meaning that Greenwood would have an improvement of starts next season even with Sancho in the team.
You're worrying about nothing when it comes to minutes.
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I feel like my arguments have been detailed enough already and I get the same response every time.
Only thing I would add is that Rashford will be 23 in October and Martial will be 25 in December. It's a part of their careers, in which neither would be happy unless they play every single minute possible.
A player like Sancho, who would cost a crazy amount of money, would also have to play every time he is available, so this thing about rotation just doesn't sit right with me. In my opinion, we need to spend our money in a smart and efficient way, considering the extraordinary situation that the whole world is in, which heavily affect football as well.
As I said, I want an addition for the RW/RF spot who can rotate with Greenwood and allow him to develop properly. But I also think that Mason is just an insane talent and will properly establish himself next season, which makes an expensive transfer of a forward absolutely redundant and inefficient in terms of costs.
So you're saying 3200 minutes for each player isn't sufficient enough? So it's no longer about Greenwood's development like you initially said? Because it makes no sense for you to say it wouldn't develop him properly. First, there would be less pressure on him because a guy like Sancho is around. Secondly, 3200 minutes for Greenwood is an improvement from where he's at right now (2000 minutes).
That's assuming nobody gets injured and not taking into account Bruno's position, which gives more minutes to someone like Sancho allowing for even more minutes for Greenwood.
Sancho costing a crazy amount of money means nothing. Sancho would repay that by virtue of the fact that he's a super talent barely going to go into his age 20 season. That's potentially 10+ years of service. It's the same reason why I don't care about AWB's transfer fee. He's young and quality. Same with Martial when we bought him.
Sancho is a bigger talent than those two based on evidence of their careers thus far. When a player like that is available, you go after him. You will regret it should someone like Liverpool or Chelsea get him next year. Lesser talents are much easier to acquire as they come around far more often.
What if Bruno gets an injury? What if Martial stops scoring for a while and Greenwood challenge him for his spot as a striker, who will play on the right? What if Rashford gets injured again?
I would integrate Sancho who is quality into a squad that is seemingly working with the mindset that the team is the most important thing. Everyone wants to play with the best players, that means they wont complain if they face competition, they know they have to fight through it. Matic talked some shite early on, got frozen out but worked himself back into the squad by showing the right kind of mentality and he is awarded with a new contract. If someone performs better than they do, it's a challenge. If they don't agree they shouldn't be at the club. The main goal is trophies. If we get Sancho rather than specialised backup's, we have more class and creativity in attack even with Bruno injured.
I don't consider Sancho a bigger talent than any one of Greenwood, Rashford or Martial. Dembele was also supposed to be a generational talent, look at him now.
At this point, it's down to opinion. You've got yours, I've got mine and I laid out my arguments quite clearly. Sancho would simply be a luxury purchase in my eyes, when we have more pressing concerns to deal with.
Would you really be happy with losing one from our current attacking trio? Look at City losing Sane to Bayern, that's definitely not a good look on them or Guardiola.
I just don't rate Sancho as highly as some do, obviously. Not sure what makes him world class and worth a club record fee, especially when noone in the football world knows how the pandemic will continue to affect the financial stability of the market.
At 18 he scored 35 goals in 36 games playing for PSV
At 19 he scored 19 goals in 21 games for PSV
At 20 he scored 47 goals in 49 games for Barcelona.
People's jaws drop at the sight of seeing Messi and Ronaldo putting numbers north of 50 while Original Ronaldo was pulling off those number as a kid, that's how ridiculously special Ronaldo was.
Nothing come close to teenager OG Rolando, talent wise. He was an absolute phenomenon. Il Fenomeno
How is Sancho not a bigger talent than Rashford or Martial? Being a bigger talent doesn't mean is a better player right now. They're two different things. Is Greenwood better than Rashford right now? Maybe not, but he is the bigger talent.
We know this because Sancho at age 18-19 was more impressive than either Rashford or Martial at the same ages. It's the same with Greenwood compared to Rashford and Martial at ages 18-19.
Honestly feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. We're talking about a player from Angel Gomes and Brandon Williams generation (born 2000), averaging about 3 dribbles per game and with a total of 34 goals and 43 assists in 99 appearances for Dortmund. What Greenwood is doing at age 18 is frightening and what Sancho did at age 18-19 was frightening too. Two different kinds of players, but prodigious none the less.
The consensus amongst football fans around the world is that it goes Mbappe, Sancho, and then Haaland in terms of football talents. That's above players like TAA, Havertz, Odegaard, etc...
City's rotation was Aguero, Jesus, Sterling, Bernardo, Mahrez, and Sane for the top 3 positions. That's 6 players. We're talking about 4 players for 3 positions. Not the same situation at all as Sane.
Hooray! Another United player making a mockery of xG. Love it!
His second against Bournemouth had an xG of 11%. It's madness that it went in when he was essentially dribbling away from goal before he hit it.
Uh huh.
Have you watched him?
Lets not get carried away here. Sancho is not a bigger talent than Martial,Greenwood and Rashford, that is some serious overating going on there. I have watched Sancho in an England Shirt and he has not stood out and impressed. I have a feeling he would struggle to post the same numbers in the Premier League as he does in Bundesliga. We have been here before with Kagawa and Mikhi. The Bundesliga for all its fan fare is a poor league with rubbish defences. By all means he is a decent player but he has not reached the level where Barcelona and Real Madrid are asking their banks for loans to finance his purchase.In fact apart from United there is no other serious team after him, may be Chelsea.
Clearly hasnt watched much of him
I've seen Rashford and Sancho play together with England. Rashford always looked the better talent. I also rate Martial highly and I'm sure he will finally establish himself as a proper world class player next season.
I'm just extremely happy with our current first 11 forwards and want the club to spend our budget in other areas first. With what is left, get a player for the right side of the attack that will compliment the rest of the team and we can challenge on all fronts next season.
Just buying Sancho changes nothing and it's a huge gamble, considering the monetary investment we will have to make in a single player. I'm sure the club has learned from its' past mistakes and from the mistakes some other big clubs have made recently, like Barcelona for example.
Someone said he only seen him with England. Im just wondering if thats him, because if it is, he hasnt actually seen the sancho everyone else has if theyve seen any of his dortmund games
We don't have the bottomless cash pit that City have, despite what people would like to believe, so this isn't sustainable.
The scousers won a CL and PL without needing 6 world class players in attack or thereabouts. City is an outlier and they still have pretty much underachieved, considering the insane amount of money that has been spent, since even a club like Tottenham got closer to winning a CL than them.
Yes, I have. Both for England and for Dortmund. I know that his original position has always been on the left and I also know that he has been criticised inside his current club for being ill-disciplined.
In general, our whole team will benefit a lot more if we go for a natural right-sided attacker. That's how I see it.
Whenever I read about xG, I just tune right out, couldn't care less, but apparently he's smashing that so good on him.
Just like the defender shouting "dont let him turn "
hes good with both feet like i am good with both eyes. there's no difference. Truly as 2 footed as you can getWhatttI knew he was good with both feet but thats insane.
It is a fair point I guess. I've been having questions about how often Sancho plays on the right, but it's been answered and from what I've been told by folks he is at as good on the right if not better than on the left. He is also versatile and brings something different to James, Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. He has more of a playmaker instinct and is an assist king as well as being imaginative individually, which means he could provide competition for everyone in attack. He might be just a very expensive basic addition, or something like having two Rashfords, or he might becomes the best player of all of them. We don't know but to me it's worth the risk, and I think all we lose is money because really, the worst case he is just an expensive signing not really a flop when he has similar quality to our existing attackers. He still fits the profile, I'd imagine. It's not just about his quality and talent, he seems exactly the sort of player that will work within this team.
No doubt, pure talent.
You must be in the 1% of people who have that, because just like feet and hands, though not to the same degree, humans have a dominant eye.
Can we please stop using this term “generational talent” it’s up their with when people talk about ceilings.
He’s a good player, if buying him means one of Rashford, Martial or Greenwood drops to the bench, then so be - because he would have to be playing bloody brilliantly for that to happen.
When we are playing 60 games a season, and one of the players (Greenwood) is only 18, we have more than enough game time to keep all 4 very very happy. It’s not a problem.
He’s a good player, if buying him means one of Rashford, Martial or Greenwood drops to the bench, then so be - because he would have to be playing bloody brilliantly for that to happen.
When we are playing 60 games a season, and one of the players (Greenwood) is only 18, we have more than enough game time to keep all 4 very very happy. It’s not a problem.
If we were the top dogs domestically and in Europe, it could be worth the risk. Right now we are not and the current unprecedented situation in the world makes it even crazier to think about spending £100m+ on a single player, who is a 20 year old unproven talent with lots of question marks about his attitude and suitability in terms of what our squad needs, at least in my view.
We should build our team in a smart and efficient way, continuing to pay crazy amounts of money will further establish our image as a club that can be fleeced at every opportunity. We need more Bruno-type of transfers, a mix of perfect price, ability and characteristics that fit our club. It's not easy to do but it's the best way to go about things in the medium and long term.
I agree with it, but certain players just cost more money now. One of the benefits of being Man Utd is getting to quality players like Pogba and similar when others can't. You are right, we aren't the top dogs but we're close. With the emergence of Greenwood, we might not need to buy another striker or go short terming for any more striker loan deals. We just bought James and can't afford to gamble on another similar signing when we know we need more quality up front to become top dogs.
Having Sancho on top of Martial, Greenwood, and Rashford is the difference between being a good, exciting young side to becoming a possible contender. I think there's no questions Sancho should be gotten if he's available this summer, even if he isn't a priority, you're not going to get this opportunity for some time to get a talent like that if he makes his next move and United is not a part of it. Sure, the midfield could use some more reinforcements, there needs to be a reliable partner for Maguire, but those opportunities will come again. Sancho is going to be available 2-3 times in his career, and one of those times already passed when he went to Dortmund.
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