Matthijs De Ligt

Bondi77

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Next it will be Dybala and then Costa and then back to De Ligt again.
How boring.
 

Paxi

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Perhaps it’s woodies way of firing back at all these rumours of Pogba to Juventus? Fine you can have him but it will cost you DeLigt in return
That's probably exactly what it is.
 

NoPace

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That's probably exactly what it is.
Sadly it's probably more likely Juve are dangling De Ligt and once the Pogba move there gets more traction they won't sell and will offer worse players or some money.

Though there's already rumours Juve's financial situation is fecked now and I have read that Italy and Germany (not sure why them and not Spain?) are going to be hit hardest economically, so maybe Serie A and Bundesliga players moving to England, Spain and even France is what we should expect?
 

Rozay

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I think we would be naive to think that Raiola isn't Pogba's mouthpiece

He has 2 years left on his current deal, if no one else wants him then we simply cannot afford to lose him on a free transfer for the 2nd time
I doubt we’d get to a scenario where we lost him for free. He’d either have to sign a new deal or inform the club he has no intention of doing so, upon which point I imagine he’d be sold.

What I meant is that deeper than that, there’s no indication that he himself is a disruptive individual. Only that he seems open to leaving, which is a part of football. The bad bit, is how Raiola has acted when in a situation where a client is open to leaving. If that is your concern, then getting De Ligt is just kicking the can down the road. If we are not challenging in a few years, he will want to leave too, and Raiola will then click into motion again. The only way you can avoid that is by being a top side that players like Pogba, De Ligt don’t want to leave - or by being of a view that De Ligt cares more about United than Pogba, which he likely doesn’t.

Basically, if unhappy with Raiola’s antics, I wouldn’t replace Pogba with another of his clients. We will be in the same situation again. Me personally, I don’t care that much about Mino, and would get De Ligt if we could, but if he upsets some, better for them we stay away from his clients.
 

KennyBurner

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good footballer but not the one for us. What we need is an aggressive defender and not another good on the ball/tidy defender that we already have enough of. Most of the teams we face in the league have physical attackers that already have their way with lindelof and maguire. We need more aggression to balance things out.
 

golden_blunder

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good footballer but not the one for us. What we need is an aggressive defender and not another good on the ball/tidy defender that we already have enough of. Most of the teams we face in the league have physical attackers that already have their way with lindelof and maguire. We need more aggression to balance things out.
He is an aggressive defender, certainly not passive like the Swedish lad
 

James Peril

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good footballer but not the one for us. What we need is an aggressive defender and not another good on the ball/tidy defender that we already have enough of. Most of the teams we face in the league have physical attackers that already have their way with lindelof and maguire. We need more aggression to balance things out.
De Ligt is the kind of guy that would head the ball even though he knows his nose will break at the same time. Lindelöf is a chicken and can’t be compared to him at all. Our problem isn’t Troy Deeney messing with our players, it’s letting Troy Deeney get chances to do so. Better players, more control, less Deeney with the ball in the box.
 

KennyBurner

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De Ligt is the kind of guy that would head the ball even though he knows his nose will break at the same time. Lindelöf is a chicken and can’t be compared to him at all. Our problem isn’t Troy Deeney messing with our players, it’s letting Troy Deeney get chances to do so. Better players, more control, less Deeney with the ball in the box.
But we already have better players yet troy deeney and vardy still find a way to slip in and push Lindelof off the ball with maguire nowhere in sight. It will always happens and so what we need is a defender that likes to tackle. The only defender we have that tackles at a good level is bailly but he is too inconsistent and lacks in the air. I just checked whoscored.com and it indicates he is good in the air but poor at tackling. Dont watch him other than a few highlights so dont know how accurate the report is.

Also City with all their control of the ball still get bullied by martial and rashford because their defense lacks balance. If bailly could just step up and cut out the lack of concentration we wouldn't need to entertain this transfer.
 

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He's a generational talent. United need to flex their muscle in the next transfer window. CB isn't a priority right now but these players don't come along very often and when they do they usually get snapped up by the big Spanish teams.

I know it's not a particularly moral way of looking at the current situation but I really feel United could potentially get a jump on a lot of the less financially sound clubs when things start up again in the football world.

If you factor in that a lot of the Spanish and Italian teams are going to feel the impact of this, a huge amount of clubs will be looking to sell their talents, then add to that the City FFP issue - if we can dig really deep in our pockets we could acquire a lot of what we need all in one window.

At least that's the way I would be looking at it if I were Ed, from a strictly business perspective it may present it's own set of opportunities.
 

Cliche Guevara

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He's a generational talent. United need to flex their muscle in the next transfer window. CB isn't a priority right now but these players don't come along very often and when they do they usually get snapped up by the big Spanish teams.

I know it's not a particularly moral way of looking at the current situation but I really feel United could potentially get a jump on a lot of the less financially sound clubs when things start up again in the football world.

If you factor in that a lot of the Spanish and Italian teams are going to feel the impact of this, a huge amount of clubs will be looking to sell their talents, then add to that the City FFP issue - if we can dig really deep in our pockets we could acquire a lot of what we need all in one window.

At least that's the way I would be looking at it if I were Ed, from a strictly business perspective it may present it's own set of opportunities.
When you say generational talent what exactly do you mean?
 

Adnan

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Ibrahima Konate > Matthijs de Ligt.

It really doesn't make sense for us to sign De Ligt right now. He isn't the quickest and has issues dealing with aerial balls. Pairing him up with Maguire would also offer very little flexibility, especially playing the high line with both Maguire and De Ligt vulnerable at defending space due to a lack of pace.

Ibrahima Konate is the clear no brainer signing as far as I'm concerned. He's lightening quick, fantastic at bringing the ball out from defence and brilliant aerially and has a real presence about him. He would be brilliant in a highline or in a deep line.
 

Dve

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My worry one year ago when we were linked with De Ligt, was the fact that he was playing in an Ajax team clearly over-performing. Semi final in the Champions League is not Ajax´ normal standard. Their normal standard is Europe League. Why would half an Ajax team suddenly be good enough for the biggest clubs in the world? How would their players perform if taken out of this team, with all the momentum in the world? Are we sure De Ligt is actually any better than what we´ve already got in Bailly, Lindeløf and Tuanzebe?
 

Rocknrolla69er

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Should change the poll to would you swap Pogba for De Ligt and Ramsey

Id snap their hands off, itd improve us massively. De Ligt and Maguire would be brilliant, dont come at me with the pace argument or aggression both would tackle a bus, and De Ligt is far from slow i think itd be a solid partnership, with Ramsey adding bite and end product in midfield
 

Isotope

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Should change the poll to would you swap Pogba for De Ligt and Ramsey

Id snap their hands off, itd improve us massively. De Ligt and Maguire would be brilliant, dont come at me with the pace argument or aggression both would tackle a bus, and De Ligt is far from slow i think itd be a solid partnership, with Ramsey adding bite and end product in midfield
Ramsey is on 400k/wk. He's also 29 y.o. I'm not sure at his age and injury record, he's worth it.
 

cyberman

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Should change the poll to would you swap Pogba for De Ligt and Ramsey

Id snap their hands off, itd improve us massively. De Ligt and Maguire would be brilliant, dont come at me with the pace argument or aggression both would tackle a bus, and De Ligt is far from slow i think itd be a solid partnership, with Ramsey adding bite and end product in midfield
So not only would we would take two expensive flops off their hands but also give them Pogba in return?
 

RUCK4444

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When you say generational talent what exactly do you mean?
A player who has been head and shoulders above amongst his peers within his generation right through to first team football.

A complete player in his position, young with room and time to improve further.
 

davidmichael

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We’ve just become settled defensively and concentrating on our attack so as good as De Ligt is and potentially even better he isn’t our priority and he’s probably being linked with us so Barca go in for him, I can’t see Raiola pushing for one of his players to come join us right now.
 

Cliche Guevara

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A player who has been head and shoulders above amongst his peers within his generation right through to first team football.

A complete player in his position, young with room and time to improve further.
Sorry, what do you mean by generation?
 

Paxi

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Football fans are fickle. Just this time last year this forum was frothing at the mouth at the prospect of signing him.
 

RUCK4444

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sound like about 24 months by his definition.
See my last reply to Cliche, it’s clear he’s been playing at a much higher standard than anybody in his age group.

Ya know, perhaps that’s why every club in Europe wanted to sign him, and when I say that I mean they wanted him to be a first team starter, as a feckin teenager.

That’s the definition of what I mean when I say generational talent.
You don’t have to watch out the entirety of a players career to make that observation.
 

Adnan

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Football fans are fickle. Just this time last year this forum was frothing at the mouth at the prospect of signing him.
Tbf mate, I was quite concerned with his lack of pace last year and even mentioned it in a few posts. His aerial ability is also something that was a concern. We also have the benefit of seeing him at Juventus in that time and he hasn't been anywhere close to being as good as the hype suggested. I think it would be fair to say that Chris Smalling has been better than him in Serie A.
 

DarkXaero

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I badly wanted us to sign De Ligt, and I would still take him in a heartbeat here despite his underwhelming debut season at Juve. He's only 20, and his potential is still incredible. I think the PL suits him better than Serie A as well.
 

beingshe7don

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Ibrahima Konate has a even higher ceiling than either IMO.
Hey Adnan - If you had to compare Konate, Demiral and Upamecano, who's the fastest? I feel since we already have Maguire whose not the fastest, we need someone whose got that quick acceleration to recover when Maguire is caught off guard or got skinned by a striker. De Ligt is probably the slowest among the aforementioned list, so I won't include him in this conversation.
 

Adnan

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Hey Adnan - If you had to compare Konate, Demiral and Upamecano, who's the fastest? I feel since we already have Maguire whose not the fastest, we need someone whose got that quick acceleration to recover when Maguire is caught off guard or got skinned by a striker. De Ligt is probably the slowest among the aforementioned list, so I won't include him in this conversation.
I need to see Demiral abit more before passing judgment on his pace but Konate and Upamecano are on the same level when it comes to pace IMO. Both French CBs have excellent pace and would keep up with the paciest players from what I've seen.

Konate for me looks to have the potential to reach Van Dyke levels in the future. At 6'4, he's very strong in the air, fantastic at bringing the ball out from defence and excellent at defending space in a high press due to his searing pace. He's also very powerful physically which is a added bonus. Personally I'm hoping we prioritise the signing of Konate if we're looking at signing a CB.
 

Bondi77

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Should change the poll to would you swap Pogba for De Ligt and Ramsey

Id snap their hands off, itd improve us massively. De Ligt and Maguire would be brilliant, dont come at me with the pace argument or aggression both would tackle a bus, and De Ligt is far from slow i think itd be a solid partnership, with Ramsey adding bite and end product in midfield
I am down with that
De Ligt was a monster with Ajax and I would rather have Ramsey over Pogba anyway.
 

thepolice123

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He is 20 and in his first season at Juve ffs. He partnered Blind for most parts in Ajax. While Blind wasn't a bad defender, he definitely needs a partner who's fast and strong in the air.
 

Tony247

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Maguire needs a partner who is quick. Does DL has speed to compensate for HM?
 

onemanarmy

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Tbf mate, I was quite concerned with his lack of pace last year and even mentioned it in a few posts. His aerial ability is also something that was a concern. We also have the benefit of seeing him at Juventus in that time and he hasn't been anywhere close to being as good as the hype suggested. I think it would be fair to say that Chris Smalling has been better than him in Serie A.
He was 19 when he moved to the Serie A, Smalling 29. De Ligt has a lot more competition for a place in the team than Smalling. Smalling is a very experienced player who has been playing with immense pressure in an extremely hard PL for a long time. You really want to compare both players' first season? What did you expect? Jesus Christ.

This forum... One year ago De Ligt was the biggest talent in the world, now he's a slow player that can't head a ball.
 

Rocknrolla69er

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I am down with that
De Ligt was a monster with Ajax and I would rather have Ramsey over Pogba anyway.
Yaaaaay somebody else with superior judgement, hello there haha

Those knocking a twenty year old lad whos not setttled quickly into a tough league in another country and written him off, keep it coming, great entertainment.
And the one labelling De Ligt and Ramsey as flops hahaha ones won the best young centreback in europe amd the other one of the best central midfielders in the prem, look at the stats stop being a fool/lazy
 

red woppit

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Just can't see this happening, think the press boys have nothing else to write about (I see we're linked with Muenier again this morning). Although I'm still unsure about Lindelof's capabilities, (I prefer a fully fit Baillie anyway) with Tuanzebe (love to see him play in a few games) and Mengi as back up, think we are well stocked in those areas, an attacking right sided player is first on the list in my opinion.