Other Wingers?

wolvored

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I would have a look at Tierney from Celtic. He has already shown he is a good left wingback, and if Shaw got his fitness back, he could play as an out and out winger. Bale started out like this, and hes better than Bale at a similar age. £30 million would probably get him as well. The downside is hes done this in a poor league, so it might be making him look better than he is, I dont know.
 

ti vu

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I would have a look at Tierney from Celtic. He has already shown he is a good left wingback, and if Shaw got his fitness back, he could play as an out and out winger. Bale started out like this, and hes better than Bale at a similar age. £30 million would probably get him as well. The downside is hes done this in a poor league, so it might be making him look better than he is, I dont know.
This guy seems to be on our radar if the rumour to be believed. The thing is Mourinho want a sure thing for this season than experiment and seems like Shaw is getting last chance. If a left back being bought then one of our current options would be sold.
 

ti vu

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In a world where PSG are about to sign Neymar from Barcelona....you don't think that we (a bigger club) can buy Dembele from Dortmund??

In the words of Adrian Durham..."Do me a favour"
Paying release clause which club can't do nothing is different than persuade a club to sell...
 

red4ever 79

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We have already missed the boat with Costa moving. This is the 3rd season in a row now where players have been sold that would have improved us ten fold. De Bruyne, Kante, Costa

Cant understand the logic behind our window. I mean Bonucci has moved this summer for christ sake, and we get Lindelof
 

Hawks2008

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In a world where PSG are about to sign Neymar from Barcelona....you don't think that we (a bigger club) can buy Dembele from Dortmund??

In the words of Adrian Durham..."Do me a favour"
I'd love Dembele here but Dortmund don't need to sell and if he continues developing in the same way his value will appreciate. Quite simply he isn't available and Dortmund would be stupid to sell him.
 

ravi2

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We have already missed the boat with Costa moving. This is the 3rd season in a row now where players have been sold that would have improved us ten fold. De Bruyne, Kante, Costa

Cant understand the logic behind our window. I mean Bonucci has moved this summer for christ sake, and we get Lindelof
Costa wants to go back to Atletico and you are assuming he wants to come here and that chelsea would sell to a direct rival.

Kante decided to go to Chelsea before Jose came on board.

Bonucci wanted to stay in Italy. We can only purchase players that want to come here.
 

ti vu

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We have already missed the boat with Costa moving. This is the 3rd season in a row now where players have been sold that would have improved us ten fold. De Bruyne, Kante, Costa

Cant understand the logic behind our window. I mean Bonucci has moved this summer for christ sake, and we get Lindelof
Costa had a tinker of season. He is a big risk, given Brazillian generally doesn't enjoy long career,w which he is not that young comparedto Perisic. By the sound of it Mourinho tried for Kante but he chose Chelsea. KDB was under LVG so you can't link to Mourinho who has his own ideas. For example, Zlatan would never join a LVG team. LVG blocked Renato deal while Mourinho publicly showed his admiration, or Herrera being benched under LVG for Rooney to play in midfield while he is now a Mourinho mainstay.

Bonucci as Italian doesn't fancy moving abroad. Italian club despite their rivalry often exchange their players than selling to foreign teams. Different culture. Their pride for their league is differentthan British. Chelsea & City at one point wanted Bonucci but didn't receive any positive news
 
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wolvored

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Costa wants to go back to Atletico and you are assuming he wants to come here and that chelsea would sell to a direct rival.

Kante decided to go to Chelsea before Jose came on board.

Bonucci wanted to stay in Italy. We can only purchase players that want to come here.
May be on about Douglas Costa
 

giorno

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He's not? And I thought he just played our last friendly there…
If Mourinho plays him as a left winger than that means he's lost, plain and simple. He's no winger, he needs freedom. If the plan is to stick him to the touchline and make him track back like a midfielder, might as well sell him now

And Martial rarely played as a LW last season, so i don't think he will this season
 

red4ever 79

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Costa wants to go back to Atletico and you are assuming he wants to come here and that chelsea would sell to a direct rival.

Kante decided to go to Chelsea before Jose came on board.

Bonucci wanted to stay in Italy. We can only purchase players that want to come here.
I was referring to Douglas Costa the winger.
 

roonster09

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If Mourinho plays him as a left winger than that means he's lost, plain and simple. He's no winger, he needs freedom. If the plan is to stick him to the touchline and make him track back like a midfielder, might as well sell him now

And Martial rarely played as a LW last season, so i don't think he will this season
Martial played his best season as LW, even last season he played many games as LW. It's just he isn't a winger who hugs the touchline and whips the crosses, more like he cuts inside and either shoots or cuts back.
 

giorno

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Martial played his best season as LW, even last season he played many games as LW. It's just he isn't a winger who hugs the touchline and whips the crosses, more like he cuts inside and either shoots or cuts back.
He played as a forward starting from the left. Which is different than playing as a winger. He mostly played in the left-middle channels, not out on the wing. Last season most of the time he was basically a SS, playing a lot closer to Zlatan than people here seem think
 

ypsipeos

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Draxler - injury prone but offers good squad depth. Intelligent and technically gifted winger. Price fallen?

Domenico Berrardi - Scores goals, creates assists, quick thinking, quick feet. His last season was worse than his previous two which were fabulous. Price fallen?
 
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roonster09

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He played as a forward starting from the left. Which is different than playing as a winger. He mostly played in the left-middle channels, not out on the wing. Last season most of the time he was basically a SS, playing a lot closer to Zlatan than people here seem think
He wasn't a forward, he was winger when Zlatan was fit.

Jsut taking few games as example when he played with Zlatan, check his heat map and average position. Obviously he drifts inside just like any winger who played for us but most of the time he stayed wide.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...er-League-2016-2017-Manchester-United-Watford
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...-League-2016-2017-Manchester-United-Liverpool

I can go on and post more links but you can check them when he played with Zlatan.
 

Adam-Utd

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Sorry about that, I agree that d Costa should have been one of our very first picks for a winger. Not sure why Jose wasn't in for him
Attitude problems and doesn't work hard enough defensively.

Whether people like it or not Jose won't sign a player who isn't a team player. Costa had a good first season at Bayern but since Pep left he's gone downhill quite sharply.
 

TheForgottenOne

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One way to solve this would be to have our LB be as attacking as our RB asnd offer some rwal overlapping thread.
Fully onboard with this. I actually have a firm belief that getting a good overlapping LB would solve the LW 'problem' instantly. Even Depay played fairly decent when Shaw was still fit and came forward tons of times. It presents problems for the defence and forces them to make a choice, resulting in space to do something. In my mind, Martial would benefit enormously if we managed to get a good attacking LB and would become a great threat at LW.
 

tob

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First off, half the players listed in here are not real wingers. Most of them play on the opposite side to their good foot and thus rarely race down the touch line to whip in a cross.

Secondly, I'm not even convinced that what we need is an old school winger.

There's a reason not many are coming through and those that could play as such don't any more (see Ronaldo, Bale, Sanchez etc. who all started as classic wingers but now play as inside forwards)

The role of providing width has been passed from wingers to fullbacks/wingbacks. So instead of looking for a unicorn (a top class player both capable and willing to play as traditional winger) we need to get on with the times and purchase a LB/LWB capable of doing that.

If it means changing the system to a 3-4-3/3-5-2 to accommodate two attacking wing backs, so be it. We have like 7 CBs so it's not exactly a problem.

Go get someone like Mendy or Bertrand or such and just give them freedom to roam like with Tony V on the other side.
100% spot on.

If Mourinho wanted a "winger" in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 he would have more options and, I guess, be more willing to bring in one of the players mentioned in this thread. However, it seems he's more interested in buying a player who offers something different than what we've already got. A player capable of playing both as a winger and as a wing back, who is good on both defending and attacking. For that role he's chosen Peresic - which I believe is the right player - but paying that amount on a player who possibly wouldn't be first choice in all formations is perhaps a bit too much.

Peresic, as I see it, wouldn't be our first choice in a 4-3-3. I would rather have Martial, Rashford or Mkhitaryan on that left sided attacking spot. In a 4-2-3-1 I'd play with Peresic as the left sided winger, as well as he would be my first choice as a wingback in a 3-4-3/3-5-2. But perhaps Mourinho is planing on using the 4-3-3 as his main system this season and thinks it's a bit too much to spend on a player who's not in his mind for that system.

The possibility, as MadMike points out, is to get a player like Mendy. I don't disagree with that, but as a few on here already has pointed out - where would that leave Shaw. Now, I'm not convinced by Shaw at this point. Before he broke his leg, he was on the road to becoming something great. But ever since then, I've not seen anything suggesting he'll get back to that point. But, if Mourinho feels that he can trust Shaw and is willing to give him this season, then I'm fine with that. But I would welcome a player like Mendy if Peresic is not possible.
 

Physiocrat

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We have this discussion on this board quite often on here lately. The idea is Valencia is to provide width for right wing with a wide attacker (not out out winger) to provide penetration. On the left wing, our attacking left back options will be out for awhile & haven't impressed. There is no player who can provide width in attacking phase; and Pogba has the tendency to drift left more. Therefore it would be a bit crowded with all the players on left wing cut inside, overstepping each other. An out out left winger should help give the team balance.
Sense spoken at last. We need balance.

On a related matter, if a team starts playing trad wingers and winning the Caf will love wingers as it they're the second coming. Since teams are winning with attacking full backs at present makes many people think it is the only way. Similarly, the recent line was you can't win with three at the back as you lose the midfield battle. Now Chelsea won with it and everyone loves 352.
 

TheForgottenOne

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This guy seems to be on our radar if the rumour to be believed. The thing is Mourinho want a sure thing for this season than experiment and seems like Shaw is getting last chance. If a left back being bought then one of our current options would be sold.
I would not mind having 2 of them sold. Get rid of Darmian and Blind, get back 1 better option for LB. Both Darmian and Blind still have some value now. Another year on the bench would ruin their value. We should have picked up Ricardo Rodriguez in my opinion. Solid defender and good crosser. Already picked up by Milan for 18 mil Euro's. Jose Gaya from Valencia could be a talented option, but he has been pretty injury prone so we might risk getting stuck with Shaw nr 2.

Very cheap option would be Willems from PSV. Played for the Dutch national team when he was 18. Torn a ligament and was out for the 2014 World Cup. Has had some problems since, but I am confident he will step up when he gets presented with higher level opponents. Very good going forward and a good crosser. Would not mind to take a cheap shot on him.

Might also be able to get a real RB as alternative for Valencia then. Fosu-Mensah is not a real RB and we don't have many other options. Cancelo from Valencia might be an option. Good attacking defender, 23 years old and Valencia needs to sell I believe.
 

Escobar

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I would not mind having 2 of them sold. Get rid of Darmian and Blind, get back 1 better option for LB. Both Darmian and Blind still have some value now. Another year on the bench would ruin their value. We should have picked up Ricardo Rodriguez in my opinion. Solid defender and good crosser. Already picked up by Milan for 18 mil Euro's. Jose Gaya from Valencia could be a talented option, but he has been pretty injury prone so we might risk getting stuck with Shaw nr 2.

Very cheap option would be Willems from PSV. Played for the Dutch national team when he was 18. Torn a ligament and was out for the 2014 World Cup. Has had some problems since, but I am confident he will step up when he gets presented with higher level opponents. Very good going forward and a good crosser. Would not mind to take a cheap shot on him.

Might also be able to get a real RB as alternative for Valencia then. Fosu-Mensah is not a real RB and we don't have many other options. Cancelo from Valencia might be an option. Good attacking defender, 23 years old and Valencia needs to sell I believe.
If you come up with a new name, at least ensure he has not just moved about 2 weeks ago to a new club. On the other han, Rodriguez is very average, has not developed in the past years
 

TheForgottenOne

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If you come up with a new name, at least ensure he has not just moved about 2 weeks ago to a new club. On the other han, Rodriguez is very average, has not developed in the past years
If you bother to respond to a post, please make sure you actually read it before wrongfully correcting someone.
My post clearly said 'Should have', indicating he is no longer available. Which is clear because I also said Milan already picked him up right after that.

Other than that. Rodriguez plays in a struggling Wolfsburg side and has played a lot in CB instead of LB last seaon. He also had a few injuries, which makes it harder to get into or remain in good form.
He played LB for Switserland in the Euro's and has shown there that he is still a very good LB.
 

Android1974

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If Mourinho plays him as a left winger than that means he's lost, plain and simple. He's no winger, he needs freedom. If the plan is to stick him to the touchline and make him track back like a midfielder, might as well sell him now

And Martial rarely played as a LW last season, so i don't think he will this season
Martial is a forward, a wide-forward if you want. But, unless you have a strange notion of what a LW in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is, Martial played almost every game last season there.
 

Leftback99

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I doubt that we'll go for pure winger at this point unless a big name becomes available. I think most likely we'll be back in for Perisic.

Perisic gives a lot of options, particularly the wingback role in a 3-5-2 but also on either wing in a 4-3-3. The purchase of Lindelof on top of the centre backs we already have and the seeming lack of urgency for a DM suggests Mourinho has the 3-5-2 in mind as a key formation for us. It will be interesting to see what we use against City tonight.
 

MadMike

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If Mourinho plays him as a left winger than that means he's lost, plain and simple. He's no winger, he needs freedom. If the plan is to stick him to the touchline and make him track back like a midfielder, might as well sell him now

And Martial rarely played as a LW last season, so i don't think he will this season
Martial is a forward, a wide-forward if you want. But, unless you have a strange notion of what a LW in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is, Martial played almost every game last season there.
You guys are getting caught up in arguments about semantics.

First off, Mourinho's wide forwards are not like wide forwards in other teams. He expects them to track like a midfielder, provide width and also contribute with goals/assists. It's well known he fell out with Ronaldo because Ronaldo "would not take tactical instructions" which "resulted in the team conceding a goal"... i.e. Ronaldo wouldn't track back, which sent Ronaldo into rage. Similar thing seemed to have happened with Hazard at Chelsea.

As for Martial and last year... I remember many many games where Martial, Rashford, Mata, Mkhi (whoever was playing out wide) was tracking the fullback all the way to the corner flag. In the games against Arsenal and City towards the end of the season Martial was playing almost as full-back, never mind midfielder. And Mourinho declared himself happy with Martial's contribution, despite the lad hardly leaving his own half. In other words, regardless of what you call them or where you put their dots on the line-up builder, the fact is Mourinho's wide men on a 4-3-3 defend like midfielders first and foremost. Which is the reason Lingard got so many games ahead of Martial despite horrid attacking stats, because for Mourinho defensive awareness is more important for that position.

On top of that, If you remember the games where Martial played "wide forward" with either Mkhi or Mata on the other side... then while attacking Mkhi/Mata had freedom to roam everywhere from left to right while Martial was always pinned left of centre. Same with Rashford in fact. I think WBA away was the only game where Martial played as a centre forward last season that I can recall.

So to answer @giorno, by the widely accepted definition of what a LW is, yes Martial very much played like one in the majority of games he played. I don't really think that's up for debate. Although as you said, he's lost there. That's why some of us are advocating the purchase of a wing-back and a move to a 3-5-2 which will help both Martial and Rashford, who will be partnering Lukaku up front, to show what they can do as actual forwards. Leave the defending to a wing-back who actually has the willingess and skills to defend as well support the attack.
 

giorno

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The watford game- that's a forward's heat map, not a winger's

But i checked and you're right, Martial did play most games as a winger. Not surprisingly, his best games came when he played as a forward. Either starting from the left or in middle, but always with the freedom the attack the spaces he liked

Martial is a forward, a wide-forward if you want. But, unless you have a strange notion of what a LW in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is, Martial played almost every game last season there.
It's semantics. Winger=wing player. Wide-forward=striker that starts from a wide position. Different roles on the pitch, and mostly different positions, too. Wingers tend to stick to the flank, forwards plays mostly on the inside-left channel

You guys are getting caught up in arguments about semantics.
Yes :lol:

First off, Mourinho's wide forwards are not like wide forwards in other teams. He expects them to track like a midfielder, provide width and also contribute with goals/assists. It's well known he fell out with Ronaldo because Ronaldo "would not take tactical instructions" which "resulted in the team conceding a goal"... i.e. Ronaldo wouldn't track back, which sent Ronaldo into rage. Similar thing seemed to have happened with Hazard at Chelsea.
Mourinho understood full well that Cristiano wasn't a winger, and he never asked him to play as one. Cristiano has always played with complete freedom of movement at real madrid. A striker who likes to start from the left wing, not a winger

As for Martial and last year... I remember many many games where Martial, Rashford, Mata, Mkhi (whoever was playing out wide) was tracking the fullback all the way to the corner flag. In the games against Arsenal and City towards the end of the season Martial was playing almost as full-back, never mind midfielder. And Mourinho declared himself happy with Martial's contribution, despite the lad hardly leaving his own half. In other words, regardless of what you call them or where you put their dots on the line-up builder, the fact is Mourinho's wide men on a 4-3-3 defend like midfielders first and foremost. Which is the reason Lingard got so many games ahead of Martial despite horrid attacking stats, because for Mourinho defensive awareness is more important for that position.
You're correct, and that's precisely the reason why i say that Perisic and Martial aren't mutually exclusive. Or at least they shouldn't be

On top of that, If you remember the games where Martial played "wide forward" with either Mkhi or Mata on the other side... then while attacking Mkhi/Mata had freedom to roam everywhere from left to right while Martial was always pinned left of centre. Same with Rashford in fact. I think WBA away was the only game where Martial played as a centre forward last season that I can recall.
He played a few more as the nominal CF, and one big reason for why Martial spent a lot of time playing left of centre is because that's the area of the pitch he likes to play in, where he's most comfortable. However, Rashford's heatmaps suggest that was also in part down to Mourinho's instructions, as Rashford played even more as an actual winger than Martial when deployed on the LF position, and Rashford is a more mobile and intelligent player than Martial
 

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fairly surprised we haven't been linked to Felipe Anderson, seems to be what Jose is looking for in a winger bar the height
 

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fairly surprised we haven't been linked to Felipe Anderson, seems to be what Jose is looking for in a winger bar the height
He is hard working and direct, but he barely has two brain cells to rub together and is a negligible goal threat. I assume that has counted against him.
 

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If PSG are spending £150m+ on Neymar they will surely be looking to shift one of their quality wide players- Draxler, Moura or Di Maria
 

dutchred

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I think Jose is looking for a special type of winger. Miki is the sort of player who blows hot and cold as we saw last night. Jose is looking for a steady player who will defend when necessary but can also provide crosses for Lukaku. Perisic fits that bill completely. If we need more flair in a particular situation Martial can provide it.
Having one inconsistent player but brilliant when he is good and onw who is steady and reliable seems a good solution to me. And Perisic was for me the best Croation player in Euro 16
 

VanGaalyTime

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There are so many out there that have strong potential. For example (and just mainly to introduce a new name to many of you), Niclas Eliasson. This is a guy who is making waves in Sweden. He's 21, plays left wing, is two footed and would be available for about 5-10m. 7 assists from 9 appearance at left wing. I know it's the Swedish league, but he looks a find to me.
 

Infra-red

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I think Jose is looking for a special type of winger. Miki is the sort of player who blows hot and cold as we saw last night. Jose is looking for a steady player who will defend when necessary but can also provide crosses for Lukaku. Perisic fits that bill completely. If we need more flair in a particular situation Martial can provide it.
Having one inconsistent player but brilliant when he is good and onw who is steady and reliable seems a good solution to me. And Perisic was for me the best Croation player in Euro 16
Inconsistency is one of the primary weaknesses of Perisic's game.
 

MassiveMorgan

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Ousmane Dembele. Can play anywhere across the front line, has pace, skill and would fit nicely with a more counter-attacking style it seems we're looking for based on pre-season- Was bought at a incredibly low price considering the level he was at, and now he's often tearing up the Bundesliga. Had 39 starts last season and scored 11, with 18 assists. For a 20 year old, that's solid numbers. Arjen Robben (in the more dominant Bayern team) had 36 starts, 18 goals and 9 assists. I know not a direct comparison as Robben plays RW, but Dembele was moved around a lot (and yes had a lot more sub appearances and is a direct impact player) but still. Would be an amazing signing