Just came across this. He looks incredible imo. We should have bought him instead of Sancho or Antony I think. What a shot at 1:30 
Moussa Diaby
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
He is very good and will offer us something both Sancho and Antony can't give us ; SPEED.
Diaby is very good but he's not even close to Sancho at Dortmund. At least two levels between them if not more. And I'm saying that as a fan of the club Diaby is playing for.
I'd subscribe to some Redcafe+ premium model, just to read the player thread, if United were to sign Diaby for Antony/Sancho money.
When you see how they project all their frustration on Dortmund and celebrate every minor and major failure... they would probably be so full of hate on Leverkusen it would make even your opinions on us seem (somewhat) reasonable
Do you mean he's not very good?
Tbh I don't watch the Bundes but based on that clip he looks really incredible. Extremely fast, a real baller, a terrific left foot and a very good right foot as well. He's still very young too I think.
Some could do well here and not there. And vice versa. Sancho has been mere imo because he doesn't have much pace or strength. It's just very hard to play in the PL if you are not at least strong or fast. Diaby would do really well here imo. He's really fast and looks quite strong/robust too despite his size which reminds me a lot of Kante. He got what it takes to play in the PL I think.
He's a very good player but you said you should have gotten him instead of Sancho. And Diaby is not even in the same ball park as Sancho. Sancho was probably a top 5 talent I've seen in the Bundesliga in my lifetime, for me alongside Götze, Haaland, Wirtz and one of Özil, Kroos, Musiala or de Bruyne. Diaby wouldn't even make my personal top 20 - and as a Leverkusen fan I should be biased towards him.
I haven't watched the video you posted but Diaby is a highlight player. He can be extremely erratic and was downright abysmal in the first half of the season. Very wasteful with the ball, negative body language towards his team mates, likes to run down closed alleys, not very good in tight spaces, bad touches, etc. Wouldn't say he'd necessarily be a bad signing at a reasonable price but he's simply levels below Sancho, that's all. An adequate comparison would probably be someone like Raphinha or maybe St. Maximin.
I'd take your words on this but imo his issues seem it's more about decision making and consistency I think. With a good coach he could become an excellent winger/forward imo. He definitely got the physical and technical for the PL. After all the PL is still more or less kick and rush. And you must have a powerful shot to play as a forward in the PL. He has that too I think.
And I'd disagree with Sancho being levels above him. Sancho is much better on the ball and passing. But he's not fast while Diaby is really really fast. Imo he's probably as fast as or even faster than Rashford.
Well, I've seen probably more than 50 games of Sancho live and more than a hundred from Diaby, so it'll be hard for you to change my mind on this one
Yeah, if Diaby suddenly developed excellent decision making, vision and awareness, he could become great although his technique will still be a bit erratic. But realistically he won't suddenly go from meh to excellent in that discipline. I disagree with the stuff about the EPL considering how City dominates the league. Pace isn't everything. But yeah, Diaby is probably even faster than Rashford.
Thats nonsense.
Sancho scored 17/17 one season and that with significantly less minutes than Diaby needed for significantly worse outputs in his highest scoring seasons. And Sancho did much more outside of scorers, played much deeper on the pitch than Diaby and participated much more in the build up. Sancho should be compared to Wirtz (although I think Wirtz is even better), not to Diaby.
Sancho was considered one of the biggest talents in the world at Dortmund. Diaby isn't even close to that.
The period when City truly dominated the league came with Sane, Sterling, Aguero, Jesus, Mahrez as their forwards. All of them were extremely fast. Then there was Liverpool with Mane and Salah. Both are also insanely fast.Well, I've seen probably more than 50 games of Sancho live and more than a hundred from Diaby, so it'll be hard for you to change my mind on this one
I disagree with the stuff about the EPL considering how City dominates the league. Pace isn't everything. But yeah, Diaby is probably even faster than Rashford.
Of course I agree pace is not everything but surely it's a huge part of being a winger/fast forward. Without enough pace it's very very hard to get past a defender in the PL because most defenders here are also very fast and strong. There's a reason most wingers or fast forwards lose their starting place when they start to lose their pace.
Anyway I'd take your words on this he's not ready yet but imo this lad got huge potential. I'd love to see him here. Rashford as LW, him as RW would be lethal imo. And ETH is surely a fantastic coach.
Even better when you don't need to have a pace advantage to beat players
And City has been dominating with or without pace. David Silva, Bernardo Silva, de Bruyne and Gündogan all are on the slower side and were excellent for them. Plus from the ones you mentioned, I'd only call Sterling and Sané extremely fast. Sancho may lack intensity right now but in general, he's not slow either. Not Diaby levels of quick but a solid 8/10.
We're talking about the importance of pace with wingers/ fast forwards not midfielders mate. And Sancho imo is not fast if not quite slow for a winger. I've seen him beating any PL defender in a race. Tbh I don't think it's about lacking intensity he's just lacking both pace and strength to play as a out and out winger in the PL. In another setup or another position where he doesn't need pace to play he might be better though.Even better when you don't need to have a pace advantage to beat players
And City has been dominating with or without pace. David Silva, Bernardo Silva, de Bruyne and Gündogan all are on the slower side and were excellent for them. Plus from the ones you mentioned, I'd only call Sterling and Sané extremely fast. Sancho may lack intensity right now but in general, he's not slow either. Not Diaby levels of quick but a solid 8/10.
I'm sorry but it is simply not correct that Sancho is "quite slow" for a winger. Sancho achieves top speed of around 34-35 km/h. Diaby as one of the fastest Bundesliga players ever achieves 35-36 km/h, Mbappe 37 km/h. Salah in last season's CL campaign achieved a top speed of 33 km/h if I remember correctly.
And Sancho was never a winger in the definition you seem to have, he's always been an attacking midfielder who plays in the half spaces between the lines. And he has been infinitely more valuable for Dortmund in this position than Diaby has been for Leverkusen as a RW. I'm also still puzzled as to why people in here still see this kick'n'rush style as the go to philosophy when they have witnessed how Pep has been making a fool of the league for 5 consecutive seasons or so. It's like a car producer saying "guys, our competitors have overtaken us by selling electric cars. There can only be one answer to this: We need to double our production of petrol cars"
"Not even close" is still nonsense, despite Sancho having one season that had a better scoring output.
Diaby has an impressive 47 goals and 46 assists in 12090 minutes for us (130 minutes per scorer). Sancho in comparison 50 and 64 in 9888 (87 minutes per scorer). To top it all off, Sancho is younger than Diaby as well. Considering scoring is what Diaby does best, 21 year old Sancho outclassed 23 year old Diaby in the latter's far and away strongest discipline.
I think many already forget how ridiculously good Sancho was at Dortmund.
Now add the fact that Sancho consistently played in a better team and then again rethink the phrasing of "not even close". Diaby wouldve had more scorers if he had played at Dortmund alongside Haaland and Reus as well.
Of course it is reasonable to argue that Sanchos time at Dortmund was better than Diabys at Leverkusen and I agree with that, but to act like the difference is astronomical is ridiculous.
I think this whole Sancho comparison doesn't make a lot of sense. They have completely different styles: Sancho is (was) very good at playing football, Diaby is very good at running. There's no need to fight over this.
I believe Sancho is the only player in Bundesliga history to score 17 and 17 and he did it in 3/4 of a full season equivalent of minutes. Not even Robben or Ribery accomplished that for Bayern at their best. That alone is enough to claim that they are levels apart IMO but when you consider that Sancho was also world class in terms of offensive contribution outside of goals, it becomes even more onesided. Sancho had world class statistics in terms of ball progression, dribbling and ball retention, Diaby is actually subpar in those categories. So yeah, I do think the difference is astronomical, the same way the difference between Wirtz and Diaby is astronomical.
Sancho's downfall is one of the worst I've seen in recent years. Don't want to give up on him yet, but he was ridiculous at Dortmund.
He will improve when he has more runners around him, we really need a dynamic striker and overlapping fullbacks to get more out of Sancho/Antony.
He will improve when he has more runners around him, we really need a dynamic striker and overlapping fullbacks to get more out of Sancho/Antony.
And running isnt a part of football I suppose?
Diaby has been carrying our offense on his back very early in the season, being the only one producing scorers and offering some kind of goal threats. He decided games basically by himself. You cant do that if youre just a pace merchant that can only run like you are implying.
Apart from that, if Sancho is the greatest thing since sliced bread why has he done nothing at United yet?
Wirtz is a completely different player, they complement each other well what kind of comparison is that?
All the fantastic through balls Wirtz is playing, he himself probably wouldnt be able to reach them. Diaby doesnt possess Wirtz creativity and close ball control but is able to beat defenders in 1v1s, reach through balls with his pace and make well-times runs into space to disrupt the opponents defense. Hes a different player than Wirtz or Sancho and you need different profiles of players in your offense to make it work. Doesnt mean he is a worse player, its just barely comparable.Just because they are different types of players doesn't mean you can't compare how good they are. I'm sure you would agree that Lionel Messi is a better player than Heiko Westermann despite them being completely different.Wirtz is a completely different player, they complement each other well what kind of comparison is that?
Diaby is very good but simply nowhere near Wirtz or Sancho level.
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His agent just putting some over time hours to ship him out.
No way we're in for him or another winger in general.
No way we're in for him or another winger in general.
I don't think we'll outprice him for interested clubs nor can I imagine we will. As good as he is with space, he can be so limited without it. I really want more attacking players who excel in tight spaces and against parked busses. Could work out well in the EPL, though.
Him and Isak with a lot of space to run into with how deep Newcastle tend to sit could be dangerous on the break. Two pacey competent ball carriers.
Considering how good his form was in recent weeks I can totally see United going for him.
Does he play on the right or the left?
Could maybe see us trying to sign another RW to rotate with Anthony, but cant see us going for a LW with Rashford. Garnacho and Sancho there.
Can't really see us buying a winger when ST,GK,CM and CB all seem to be on the priority list.
Could maybe see us trying to sign another RW to rotate with Anthony, but cant see us going for a LW with Rashford. Garnacho and Sancho there.
Can't really see us buying a winger when ST,GK,CM and CB all seem to be on the priority list.
He's a RW primarily but plays on the left a lot as well, depending on the opponent. I'd say he's better on the right these days but since he primarily relies on pace and his shooting as well as his crossing/cutting back are quite two footed, he's one of the few players who are almost equally good on both sides.
He's a great player but no way we sign another expensive winger when we need a CF, two MF, a CB, a GK and probably a RB. And we might only sign 3 of those positions.
yeah theres literally no fecking reason we should remotely even think of buying a winger this window, UNLESS EtH plans on rashford being our starting CF this year and have that be where he plays all year. Even then we would still have garnacho/antony as starting wing options, with sancho/pellistri/and hopefully amad as younger options to keep blooding in.
Cheers, maybe would make sense if we were to ship Sancho and Elanga out then. I think one or two would need to go before another came in though.
Rashford / Garnacho
Anthony / New
Doesn't sound too bad. I think we should cut our losses on Sancho while he still has value to be honest.
In general, I think you have to be mental to swap Sancho for Diaby but maybe a restart would be best for all parties. He definitely fits your squad better and I'd even say he's quite similar to Rashford, just left footed. Though I have to admit it is a bit silly to sign Antony for almost €100m and then get Diaby for at least €70m a year later for the same position.
Nobody is going to pay us anywhere near enough for Sancho to make it worth it, especially with his wages. He'll be here next season.
Signing a new RW is very low down the list of priorities. Antony will be the regular starter, Sancho will play when he doesn't, and we'll probably keep one of Pelestri or Amad as well.
Last thing we need, nothing to see here.
What sort of fee you looking for? I assume 45-50m.
We've been linked to him now and I can see the logic given beyond Watkins we're pretty light and he can play second striker or out wide. Half the forum in mass panic he's just a Leon Bailey clone.
Also was in PSG youth team when Emery was there.
We've been linked to him now and I can see the logic given beyond Watkins we're pretty light and he can play second striker or out wide. Half the forum in mass panic he's just a Leon Bailey clone.
Also was in PSG youth team when Emery was there.
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