Apart from Willian I think those players were priced accordingly to the current market. Wouldn't it be better to pay 20% more for players and improve loads then have none at all? Keeping money in the bank just not to spend it again next year because of the inflated fees.
There is a failing somewhere along the line.... it's either in the targets identified by our scouting departments/Jose (I mean, you can't tell me that there aren't attainable players out there that would improve us and we won't have to pay over the odds for) or in Woodward for not being able to negotiate deals for said attainable players (if he was provided with them), or in the board for just not wanting to put the cash up.
I get your point but they didn't even sign alternatives for those targets?
See edit!
I doubt it, but a competent DoF would've found proper alternatives early on in the window.
Isn't Shaqiri Liverpool's alternative to Fekir?
I agree. I was talking in terms of a CB signing we probably didn't need.
I get you. I do think we are seeing this reflected across all the similar clubs in the league though. Chelsea just paid 72m release clause of a decent young keeper. It took city a year and 60m to get a player from Leicester. Spurs can't do any deals. We are richer and under more pressure than all of them. I don't think the answer can just be as simple as pay whatever they ask, 80m for 29 year old willian, 85m for Maguire, etc. And in the eyes of Ed, especially not when other players he has signed are sitting on the wage bill years later doing nothing - we can't move on all these average players that we signed and it turned out they that never improved us on the first place !
This is the wrong approach. Just because we identified the need for a CB does not mean we go and pay a club whatever they want for what is potentially 2nd or 3rd choice on the list.
Doubtful as well. We have only Smalling who looks to be reliable and can play 40-50 matches a season. Jones and Bailly got injured all the time, Rojo is a crap defender and we still don't know how Lindelof will do. Let's not forget De Gea was one of the biggest reasons our defense looks well.
I didn't say I'd want the club to spend 90m on Maguire, me personally wouldn't want us to sign Maguire at all but it's irrelevant what I want, if he's who the manager wants even if he's 3rd or 4th on the list then that's the market we're dealing with and the prices we have to pay if we want to improve
You can see why the board is reluctant though. Hasn’t Jose bought defenders already and made a complete mess of it?
net spend of 53m
Fair enough if that's there excuse for the CB position but what about RB? LB? RW?
Well both Malcolm and mahrez moved for decent fees in this market
I don’t think anybody knows exactly what has happened. I can only guess negotiations with clubs has been difficult, and that prices quotes for certain players have been ridiculous.
I don't think any of the players we've been linked with, short of Bale, would've improved us significantly. It's not the players that stink the place up every weekend anyway, it's the tactics.
pretty sure we spent the best part of £20m on a fullback
If Poch can't even win any trophies with a squad as strong as Spurs', what chance has he got with ours? Anyway, if the board have no faith in Jose, they should be replacing him asap, not writing off an entire season by refusing to back him with funds.
A 19 years old right back who won't play anything more 18-20 matches this season.
Any evidence that malcom is better than mata rashford martial?
im not entirely convinced we can play 2 top fullbacks on both sides immediately -
It’s the price necessary to have a good chance of winning the league though. The transfer market can’t continue as it is, but in the meanwhile it is necessary.
These 18-20 matches will be spread on the league cup, Fa Cup, and useless CL matches in the group with very few league games. Darmian played 17 matches last season as well, with only 5 starts in the league among them. I assume Dalot will get the same number or maybe even less as Darmian seems to stick around.
He would have signed the likes of Delot and we would go into meltdown!
Give this man a cookie!
Helps when you buy Ronaldo and Bale for world record fees, have only one real rival for the league title and can pick the best young Spanish players for your team each year. Real continually replaces their aging players and can sell for a huge profit because in many cases because they buy well. This helps net spend. United lacks a clear transfer strategy and it shows. While you might say the biggest improvement comes from within, I can't see our current team winning the champions league, can you?
was there any evidence that Salah would be better than the 3 last season?
Bale was on 2013, so that should be included. We can also sign Spanish players, and players from every nationality, bargains exist anywhere (see, Spurs). It is not true that Real has only one rival, on the last 5 years they have won the league as many times as Atletico (who Btw reached UCL finals twice, double that of all English clubs combined).
