Matthijs de Ligt / signs for Juventus, lowering their average age to 56

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ArjenIsM3

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It's not ridiculous, but the players that take their careers more seriously will see the quality of the city as a secondary factor rather than the main reason to make a move.
And come on, it's Manchester we're talking about, a lot of people would love to live there. A lot of the demeaning comments about the city come from a spoiled "first-world problem" perspective.
I never said it was the main reason, I simply stated it was A factor. One of many. And when the clubs are all huge, they all pay exceptional amounts, and they all play football at a very high level as is the case here, it's lesser factors such as these that can tip the scales.

And yeah, nothing wrong with Manchester, but it definitely loses out to the likes of Paris and Barcelona.
 

Grylte

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I've seen students make a decision heavily impacting their education based on what city they wanted to be in. I've seen people give up their jobs and take a huge financial risk just so they could move to their dream city. However when it's suggested that the location is a factor in deciding where footballers want to play it's ridiculous all of a sudden? Or is it because you think 20 year olds haven't grown a brain yet?
I think playing in the top 2 leagues, if he has offers from those, would be a better decision, than to move to a beautiful city. He'll earn a shit tonne of money in any of them.
it's not all of a sudden, i have been of this opinion for a long time. It's better to move to a better league than a nice city, or weather.... maybe because i grew up a place with a lot of rain, and don't really care much about the weather ;)
 

ArjenIsM3

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I think playing in the top 2 leagues, if he has offers from those, would be a better decision, than to move to a beautiful city. He'll earn a shit tonne of money in any of them.
it's not all of a sudden, i have been of this opinion for a long time. It's better to move to a better league than a nice city, or weather.... maybe because i grew up a place with a lot of rain, and don't really care much about the weather ;)
Surely you realize that there's more to it than that? Okay so we're a big club in a top two league. The Ligue 1 may be a lesser league but it's still a step up for him, he'd get to play with better players, he'd be guaranteed CL footy year in year out and he'd be joining a club that isn't at it's lowest point in years. Location isn't PSG's only advantage
 

Grylte

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Surely you realize that there's more to it than that? Okay so we're a big club in a top two league. The Ligue 1 may be a lesser league but it's still a step up for him, he'd get to play with better players, he'd be guaranteed CL footy year in year out and he'd be joining a club that isn't at it's lowest point in years. Location isn't PSG's only advantage
Sure, it's a step up, but not sure the Barcelonas or PSGs are the best career move, they expect the finished product, and i don't think he is yet.
 

elnorte

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Be funny if we signed him and he did shite. After all the hype
Given recent history I don't think such a scenario is particularly unlikely. Although I'm not sure how funny we'd find it happening for the umpteenth time.
 

ArjenIsM3

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Sure, it's a step up, but not sure the Barcelonas or PSGs are the best career move, they expect the finished product, and i don't think he is yet.
Do they? And don't we? It's not like they haven't bought and played talented youngsters before. Mbappe, Dembele..
 

balaks

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I find it interesting how people on here think that 19-20 year old football players thinks about how nice a city is, when chosing football team :lol:
You don't think he would take where he would be living for the next 5 years or so into consideration?
 

Saddy

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5Million pound "footballer's mansion" in Prestbury, Alderley Edge, Bowdon or Hale with your manager and team mates next door - 15 minutes from Manchester Airport gets you anywhere in the world and only 25 minutes from Carrington Training or MUFC - what's not to like ?
 

minh_loc_xoay

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I've not really been following football recently and I haven't seen this guy play. Is he really as good as everyone here is saying? Only 19 years old, feels like people are going overboard but maybe he's genuinely that special?
He's like Nesta and Maldini rolled into one player, with the leadership presence of Franco Baresi.
 

Neil_Buchanan

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Be funny if we signed him and he did shite. After all the hype
I have never seen people so certain that a player will fulfill his potential than with this lad so there must be something there. Having said that the hype is ridiculous for someone who plays in the Dutch league.
 

Lash

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I have never seen people so certain that a player will fulfill his potential than with this lad so there must be something there. Having said that the hype is ridiculous for someone who plays in the Dutch league.
He also played in a Semi of the CL and got to the final of the Nations league. It's not like he's only playing Willem II and VVV Venlo every week. Hype is justified on this and he's going for nearly half of what Joao Felix costs :houllier:.
 

Adam-Utd

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Because you guys suck right now and you’re desperate for a little excitement and positivity.
If only we had a 1 horse league, maybe we could have it easy also :(

Oh well at least we've always got our memories... 20 years worth to be precise ;)
 

Ultimate_L

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Surely you realize that there's more to it than that? Okay so we're a big club in a top two league. The Ligue 1 may be a lesser league but it's still a step up for him, he'd get to play with better players, he'd be guaranteed CL footy year in year out and he'd be joining a club that isn't at it's lowest point in years. Location isn't PSG's only advantage
I agree with this message - however, how are we to improve our fortunes unless we coup players like him in order to improve our squad. We won't ever let Ed have time to actually try and improve matters unless he leaves or delivers the promises he actually set out with OGS to do... Crazy this! We are in the middle of a crisis and I would say that Man Utd getting this player would help us forget.. at least for a short time that there are more major issues now to deal with... Or we sign Diop and stick with Young and Smalling/Jones at the back with Shaw :annoyed: and improve nothing and fall down even more so.
 

sp_107

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5Million pound "footballer's mansion" in Prestbury, Alderley Edge, Bowdon or Hale with your manager and team mates next door - 15 minutes from Manchester Airport gets you anywhere in the world and only 25 minutes from Carrington Training or MUFC - what's not to like ?
When they go out and start talking to mancunian women? Ronaldhino wouldn't have lasted here for more than a year ;)
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Surely you realize that there's more to it than that? Okay so we're a big club in a top two league. The Ligue 1 may be a lesser league but it's still a step up for him, he'd get to play with better players, he'd be guaranteed CL footy year in year out and he'd be joining a club that isn't at it's lowest point in years. Location isn't PSG's only advantage
PSG doesn’t have a location advantage over Amsterdam.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Not many players would go to Juve if it was so important.

People also tend to forget that Cheshire is absolutely beautiful, and a great “private” place for footballers to live.
Cheshire is not even vaguely comparable to Amsterdam. In the latter you can live in one of the coolest Cities on the planet, cycle and walk around, get on the water, be among people without paparazzi stalking you. It’s far more private than Cheshire for that fact alone.

No 19 year old earning £100k a week is going to get excited over leaving Amsterdam to go to Cheshire.
 

MUFC OK

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Really looking forward to see how Woody chooses to approach unveiling video. Maybe a flickering light bulb to reveal him in full kit with a joint and doing kick ups in a pair of clogs. Would generate soo much interaction :drool:
 

sp_107

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Hopefully it wont be like singing Lukaku but not buying a winger who can provide proper assists.

Even we get players like Delegit/Rabiot, we still need to buy decent players for RW,RB,ACM,ST positions.

If we sell Pogba/Lukaku, I would be happy to buy 6 players in total (CD,RB,CM,ACM,RW,ST), You guys think we still need more than 6?
 

Adam-Utd

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Really looking forward to see how Woody chooses to approach unveiling video. Maybe a flickering light bulb to reveal him in full kit with a joint and doing kick ups in a pair of clogs. Would generate soo much interaction :drool:
Makes sense why the announcement is taking so long, so many creative options. Bet he's pulling his hair out!
 

U-N-I-T-E-D

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Really looking forward to see how Woody chooses to approach unveiling video. Maybe a flickering light bulb to reveal him in full kit with a joint and doing kick ups in a pair of clogs. Would generate soo much interaction :drool:
I think I want him to sign even more. Can you imagine a shot walking down a street in Manchester then seeing a window lit up in red and DeLigt appears in a United shirt with a whip...
 

MUFC OK

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I think I want him to sign even more. Can you imagine a shot walking down a street in Manchester then seeing a window lit up in red and DeLigt appears in a United shirt with a whip...
Ahh red flickering lightbulb! This is good, I like where these ideas are going. #RedDeLigtDistrict :devil:
 
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Cheshire is not even vaguely comparable to Amsterdam. In the latter you can live in one of the coolest Cities on the planet, cycle and walk around, get on the water, be among people without paparazzi stalking you. It’s far more private than Cheshire for that fact alone.

No 19 year old earning £100k a week is going to get excited over leaving Amsterdam to go to Cheshire.
Why the fexk are you talking about Amsterdam you weirdo?
 

Havak

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Man, this thread.

I'm still hoping we can pull off a swoop for this lad as he'll be cheaper than Maguire and Koulibaly, while being better than both IMO. Pretty crazy. PSG seems like the biggest draw at the moment as I think they will outdo us by in excess of £100k in weekly wages and can offer Champion's League football (even if they have a low chance of winning it IMO). You can understand a 19-year-old lad wanting to go to a place with slightly better weather, Champion's League football and probably earn £5million more a season. I really think our club is trying to sort out the wage structure, hence de Gea taking so long to sign as we are negotiating hard (and if Sanchez goes I think our top end will be reduced). I can't see us having more than four or five players on in excess of £200k a week (and five is only if Sanchez leaves so that can allow us to spread the wage bill out more).

On the flip-side, de Ligt knows he can go where he wants and probably get a pay rise in the future anyway, he's going to earn enough money regardless of where he goes. I can understand the PSG draw but I'd hope at his age he makes his decision based on more factors. I do also think that there is possibly a 'defensive budget' at United where we only want to spend roughly half of our transfer kitty on the two defensive positions. If we do sign Aaron's instead of AWB, it makes me think we have lined up an expensive Centre Back. If we sign AWB, I think we'd sign Alderweireld or some lesser known player keep the cost down.
 

ArjenIsM3

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I agree with this message - however, how are we to improve our fortunes unless we coup players like him in order to improve our squad. We won't ever let Ed have time to actually try and improve matters unless he leaves or delivers the promises he actually set out with OGS to do... Crazy this! We are in the middle of a crisis and I would say that Man Utd getting this player would help us forget.. at least for a short time that there are more major issues now to deal with... Or we sign Diop and stick with Young and Smalling/Jones at the back with Shaw :annoyed: and improve nothing and fall down even more so.
I think the best way for us to get out of this crisis is to do some sensible deals (instead of massively overpaying for past it stars like Bale). I'm fine with Andersen instead of De Ligt. Or Hysaj/Meunier instead of Wan-Bissaka. We have tried the superstar approach and sure signing one appeases the fans but for how long? A few weeks into the season until they realise we're still not good enough?

If we can start playing attractive football again that would go a long way into fixing public perception of the club. I think we need a DoF to help Ole do just that and speed up the process. And I think this would give us some stability. Build from there. If Ole is unable to do that then we should let the DoF bring in a new manager.
 
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