Our transfer strategy under ole looks as directionless as it did under the previous manager

[Lee565]

There seems to be this notion from fans that ole's transfer business has been big plus but I am not seeing it.

We all aware that we have a big issue in midfield for good knows how long and yet ole has had countless opportunities to rectify it but has wasted these opportunities.

during the summer before last season he could have had about 60-70 million to spend on a defensive midfielder had he sold Henderson after his loan spell who has gone on to just rotting on the bench and wasting away his potential he may have had as a goal keeper along with his market value, as well as instead of wasting money on vdb who has barely made over 10 starts for united and amad diallo who has had to make do with playing in the youth team despite showing more quality than daniel james and has even less chance of playing time in the first 11 any time soon with the acquisitions of sancho and ronaldo.

Then come this summer he again had the opportunity to sort out the midfield situation but thought best to use 75-80 million on sancho instead who was not necessity when we had Greenwood coming of age and a clearly talented amad diallo waiting in the wings and with the inclusion ronaldo it has created a situation of wondering if sancho would even be a first choice player in our best 11 when everyone is fit.

Then there is the second biggest issue in our side, the right back position, ole spent 40 million on bissaka who isn't even as good as Antonio Valencia who wasn't even a natural right back for a large majority of his career and was in his early 30's whilst playing in that position and we saw over the past windows ole has tried to sign trippier as it is clear bissaka is not good enough.

Then there is the case that saul niguez was available on loan from Atletico but instead we decided to go for ronaldo instead despite being stacked in attacking positions (especially with ole deciding to keep lingard at club?) and already having one too many luxury players who's work ethic already needs to compensated for by others in the pitch and saul fitted in better over Ronaldo in terms of implementing a set up of pressing high up as team.

The likes of van gaal and Mourinho were criticised for a supposed scatter gun approach in the transfer market with signing like di maria, dalot, schweinsteiger, sanchez etc.. but I see very little difference at this point with ole in charge.

 

[Skills]

His first transfer window (i.e. the much acclaimed greatest transfer window of all time) looks worse with every season.

 

[Idxomer]

All good points and you could also look at the strikers he purchased or got on loan so far

Ighalo
Cavani
Ronaldo

Have you ever seen a top team getting three 30+ stopgap strikers after selling their main one who was only 26 at the time?

 

[Massive Spanner]

I've always said his transfer activity is overrated.

I keep seeing a narrative that he's going to leave our next manager with a much better squad. Well, in some ways maybe, but he's leaving him with an awful midfield and a totally bloated attack, 5 CBs, 2 keepers on big wages, one half functional right back, no long term striker. It's stunning that we've spent over £300m net, have the biggest wage bill in the PL and are still so unbalanced. Not only that but he let Pogba's contract wind down without trying to replace him long term so that's another big problem. It's still a top squad but I'd have expected much more in six windows with so much money spent.

How exactly is that building a great squad?

 

[charlenefan]

There seems to be this notion from fans that ole's transfer business has been big plus but I am not seeing it.

We all aware that we have a big issue in midfield for good knows how long and yet ole has had countless opportunities to rectify it but has wasted these opportunities.

He hasn't wasted them at all he's done as much as he's been allowed to do

First summer in charge he needed at least one CB, a RB, at least one CM, a creative player, a RW and a CF - we got a CB, we got a RB and we got a stop gap RW. In January we got the creative player

Second summer in charge we still needed arguably another CB, still at least one CM, still a RW and still a CF - we got a CF on deadline day on a free

Third summer in charge we still needed that CB, still at least one CM and still a RW - we got the CB and the RW

Ultimately point is it's taken 3 windows to address just some of the areas that have needed addressing since Ole arrived, you really think Ole was happy with the lack of investment in that second summer transfer window?

Captain Hindsight will say we needed a midfielder over a CB or a RW but you can guarantee if we'd of got a CM then those same people would be moaning about not getting a CB

The recruitment has been as good as it can be under the present ownership, what hasn't been good and is becoming ever more obvious though is regardless of what we still need we should still be doing better than we are. Very few sides are without their weak areas but better coaching hides these weaknesses. Under this coaching side we could stick prime Kante in this midfield and things still would look all over the place

 

[Plant0x84]

TLDR.

Based on the title alone, no. It isnt.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

It's Bruno the undoubted success, the rest duds or question marks.

 

[Smores]

For the amount we've spent his transfers haven't been great but i wouldn't say terrible 6/10. The cost of his signings has meant we've filled less positions overall.

AWB signing was terrible business as he just doesn't fit in with our play at all so god knows what Ole was thinking. For that amount you want your perfect RB.

VDB and Sancho it doesn't look like were signed with any plan in place or understanding of what made them effective.

So 3 expensive signings that were signed because of their performances in other teams without an actual assessment of fit. Maybe 6/10 is generous after all.

 

[GazTheLegend]

No, disagree. I just think we and Ole are overwhelmed a bit by our choices.

How can you drop Greenwood right now, with his scoring rate and potential?

How can you drop 77 million Bundesliga superstar Sancho?

Alex Ferguson himself complains if we drop Cristiano Ronaldo.

And yet if you're going to play the guys who were basically our talismans last season or the season before in Rashford and Cavani, that's what you have to decide. And 10 goals in half a season Lingard .
And then there's midfield. Fred and McTominay play together and the internet explodes - yet without them, our defence is just a gaping hole waiting to get fecked. Pogba and Matic just don't offer enough, and if you have too many risk takers, you just take turns giving the ball away sometimes.

Maguire was our best defender in the 30 game unbeaten away run. He isn't fit, but we need to make a decision on Bailly.

Basically we are being CRUSHED by choice, and those choices are going to upset too many people. We need to make decisions and rid ourselves for their good AND ours of Lingard, Pogba, Bailly, Matic, Jones and Dalot. We need to look at either ready made first team players or reserve and youth team players to fill those gaps.

Our transfer buying was savvy, but we are a bloated mess of a squad. That needs rectifying soon, maybe as soon as January.

 

[elmo]

No, disagree. I just think we and Ole are overwhelmed a bit by our choices.

How can you drop Greenwood right now, with his scoring rate and potential?

How can you drop 77 million Bundesliga superstar Sancho?

Alex Ferguson himself complains if we drop Cristiano Ronaldo.

And yet if you're going to play the guys who were basically our talismans last season or the season before in Rashford and Cavani, that's what you have to decide. And 10 goals in half a season Lingard .
And then there's midfield. Fred and McTominay play together and the internet explodes - yet without them, our defence is just a gaping hole waiting to get fecked. Pogba and Matic just don't offer enough, and if you have too many risk takers, you just take turns giving the ball away sometimes.

Maguire was our best defender in the 30 game unbeaten away run. He isn't fit, but we need to make a decision on Bailly.

Basically we are being CRUSHED by choice, and those choices are going to upset too many people. We need to make decisions and rid ourselves for their good AND ours of Lingard, Pogba, Bailly, Matic, Jones and Dalot. We need to look at either ready made first team players or reserve and youth team players to fill those gaps.

Our transfer buying was savvy, but we are a bloated mess of a squad. That needs rectifying soon, maybe as soon as January.

So our problem is that we've too much options now?

Ole just needs to man the feck up and pick players based on their performance and not try to squeeze all his favourites into the starting lineup. That's what a competent manager would do, which probably explains why he isn't doing it.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Disagree. This is the best group of players we’ve had by some distance post SAF, it just needs tactical direction and a less passive figurehead.

 

[YeahYeah]

Well I do get that Ronaldo changed everything. He will most likely require us to change formation as well. Ole doesnt know how to use him and its as if we play with 10 men.

If we knew we were getting Ronaldo dont think we would have gone for Sancho either however even without Ronaldo why did we go for a player that is more of a left winger?
And what happened, Greenwood already surpassed him too.

Yeah, not a great transfer strategy except for Bruno and Cavani. Even AWB and Maguire so so. Especially Wan Bissaka.

 

[Sky1981]

Well I do get that Ronaldo changed everything. He will most likely require us to change formation as well. Ole doesnt know how to use him and its as if we play with 10 men.

If we knew we were getting Ronaldo dont think we would have gone for Sancho either however even without Ronaldo why did we go for a player that is more of a left winger?
And what happened, Greenwood already surpassed him too.

Yeah, not a great transfer strategy except for Bruno and Cavani. Even AWB and Maguire so so. Especially Wan Bissaka.

We're clueless before ronaldo comes btw

 

[Ixion]

The lack of transfers for our central midfield is criminal. It isn't like he is working on a shoestring budget, and we've known for a long time it needed strengthening. He is working with more resources than 99% of managers in the world, it gets really overstated what an amazing job he's done.

 

[RUCK4444]

Nonsense, it’s the best squad we’ve had by a distance since SAF left.

DM has been largely ignored, I think he felt Matic could still do a job but it’s proven his legs have gone.

DM is the one area you can really have a dig at the manager for not addressing although we have many midfielders to choose from and he has done well at improving all the other areas of the pitch that needed addressing.

Let’s not pretend he’s built a poor squad, it’s a DM away from being arguably the strongest in the league on paper at least.

Ironically the DM position would have us playing a lot better than we are currently, anybody watching us yesterday or any game in recent memory can tell we are absolutely crying out for a DM.

All the things were lacking can be improved with a top DM;

1. We’re being passed through at will in midfield
2. Gaining controlled possession
3. Sustaining attacks

 

[AneRu]

He hasn't wasted them at all he's done as much as he's been allowed to do

First summer in charge he needed at least one CB, a RB, at least one CM, a creative player, a RW and a CF - we got a CB, we got a RB and we got a stop gap RW. In January we got the creative player

Second summer in charge we still needed arguably another CB, still at least one CM, still a RW and still a CF - we got a CF on deadline day on a free

Third summer in charge we still needed that CB, still at least one CM and still a RW - we got the CB and the RW

Ultimately point is it's taken 3 windows to address just some of the areas that have needed addressing since Ole arrived, you really think Ole was happy with the lack of investment in that second summer transfer window?

Captain Hindsight will say we needed a midfielder over a CB or a RW but you can guarantee if we'd of got a CM then those same people would be moaning about not getting a CB

The recruitment has been as good as it can be under the present ownership, what hasn't been good and is becoming ever more obvious though is regardless of what we still need we should still be doing better than we are. Very few sides are without their weak areas but better coaching hides these weaknesses. Under this coaching side we could stick prime Kante in this midfield and things still would look all over the place

It's taken three windows because he has been paying over the odds for average talent. We said this in 2019 but we're shouted down, Maguire is worth nothing more than £50m and paying £50m for AWB? That's not good business at all, you get similarly talented players on the continent for half the price. Once you do that you are left with £70m to spend on a DM and partly fund the signing of Bruno.

Last summer he effectively threw £70m down the drain because he spent it on players he didn't even trust with a squad role. We are not in a position to be wasting resources like he has been doing.

 

[Bebestation]

He tried to go for bloody Haaland and got rejected because it was only Ole who apparently wanted him

Then talking about Cavani as some shit business. Mad.

 

[led_scholes]

Bruno, James and Cavani have only been the successful ones for me. I do believe that Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane will be too. But not selling Lingard, Henderson, Romero, Baily, Martial, DvB, Dallot when you know they are going to be considered bench players or even out registration is just incompetence by Ole and the organization. Does he need a 200 million bench to secure top 4? Awb and Maguire are just so poor compared to their price. Seriously, 55 millions for a RB who had played roughly 40 games in a defensive team is criminal.

 

[Revan]

He has been okay, but not great. I would say:

Maguire - decent player but probably overpriced for 40m. At best, marginally better than Lindelof, so should be second/third choice.

AWB - no business being at United.

James - had no business being here

Bruno - great signing.

VDB - why did he sign him in the first place?

Diallo and Pellestri - what was the point on signing them and never playing them, especially with other talented kids coming from the academy.

Cavani - very good signing.

Telles - possibly ok backup.

Varane - should be a great signing, although I don’t think there would have been a single manager who needed a CB, and had the opportunity to sign him who would not have done so.

Sancho - what was the point on signing a system player if you don’t have a system in the first place. We also have Rashford and Greenwood who are better than him, in addition to Martial, Lingard, Diallo, Pellestri and Mata who play in the same positions as him. All players signed, promoted or given a contract by Ole.

Ronaldo - should be a great signing if you manage to feed him.

So in general, I think that except Bruno and Varane (I think Varane would be great under any manager), all others have questions marked. A bunch of player he has no intention to play (VDB, Diallo, Pellestri), system players who he has no idea how to use (VDB, Sancho, Ronaldo), ok player but get Beckenbauer treatment and cost the moon (Maguire), okay backups (Cavani, Telles), and bad signings (AWB, James). It is probably not terrible like Van Gaal’s signings were, but nothing special too.

He also was not happy to sell players we didn’t need. Henderson should have been sold cause he could have fetched good money, while clearly not being good enough for us. No one can explain why Jones, Bailly and Mata got new contracts, and no one knows why Lingard got offered a new one. All players that should have binned with immediate effect when we had the chance.

 

[RepardReece]

Have to disagree to be honest, this squad is the best we have had post-SAF.

Either way, I really don't think it's appropriate to judge the players right now when it's so so clear we do not have a proper system in place. You lot really like to deflect from the fact Ole is the issue here and until we have a competent manager in place, it's really unfair to take aim at the players. To put this into perspective, I can guarantee Chelsea fans were saying the same thing under Lampard, but look at them flying now with the same squad under Tuchel.

Also, what's with people constantly taking a dig at AWB? Little unfair.

 

[MUFC OK]

All good points and you could also look at the strikers he purchased or got on loan so far

Ighalo
Cavani
Ronaldo

Have you ever seen a top team getting three 30+ stopgap strikers after selling their main one who was only 26 at the time?

He could have signed Werner instead of Cavani..

 

[padzilla]

The signings of AWB and VDB are looking questionable to say the least.

Maguire was an okay signing but not a great one, especially considering the cost involved.

Sancho has been pretty awful so far but it's only two months in.

Ighalo never scored in the league for us, he got praised for working hard which says it all about his quality - see also Fred, McTominay, who are in that bracket and shouldn't be starting for us.

James was good business in the sense we got a profit for him despite him being well off the standard required.

Ronaldo hit the ground running and has nothing to prove but seems to be wasted under our current set up.

Bruno was undoubtedly a great signing.

Cavani's a good signing when fit.

His signings have been hit and miss to say the least but he's got good PR behind him.

More worryingly, there's not one signing that you would say was great work by the scouts, he is paying premium prices for average to good players.

 

[thesheriffjw]

Its the best squad but the most lopsided.

Sancho excelled at dortmund on the right. Ole is playing him left??

If he continues the 4-2-3-1, he will have to drop pogba or fernandes. There is no room for both.

Ole has brought in maguire, awb, fernandes who have been reasonably successful.

The rest? Massive question marks

 

[Bobcat]

Disagree. This is the best group of players we’ve had by some distance post SAF, it just needs tactical direction and a less passive figurehead.

+1

We are one good DM away from being a really, really good side. The problem is that we dont have a good midfield pairing, whoever we put there something is lacking, because we really dont have any allround midfielders. You could argue McTomminay is, but hes been gash for a long time now

 

[Robbie Boy]

Nah, this is the first squad post-SAF that should be mounting a serious title challenge. Given what he's spent, I suppose you could say, that's expected.

I do feel the whole 'cultural reset'/'awesome signings' narrative is overrated by some, though. The problem is: the main defense of Ole revolves around these two aspects, as he's had no discernible on-field success, to which a defense of him can be mounted. It is still utterly ludicrous that 3 years into a Manchester United managers tenure, the main defence of him is his squad building and cultural reset, as opposed to his on-field success. I can't fathom Chelsea or City fans having a carbon copy of our last 3 years, and still be defending a manager by talking about squad harmony, squad building, a cultural reset etc. Some of our fans have used very fecking weird metrics to judge Ole by, and these metrics seem to be tailored to make him look as good as possible. It's weird and not objective whatsoever.

I think he deserves credit for some good work: steadied the ship, built a good side etc. But lets be honest, he's up against two toxic previous regimes, so instilling 'positivity' wasn't an overly hard feat, once you're not Jose or LvG. Also, given the money he's spent, it's fair to say that another manager would actually have us in a far better position by now. I'm not downplaying what he's done - I appreciate some of his work - but come on, it's become the stuff of legend around here, and has started to be judged totally disproportionately. While his good work is commendable, unfortunately using it as a barometer to judge him by, has long passed. It's time to deliver now, and it's becoming increasingly clear that he's not the man for that. Thanks for building a good squad, but it's probably time to move on.

 

[EyeToldYou]

I agree with the original post.

Any manager can come in and spend £440 million on big names, for big prices. That's only half the story. It takes more than that to put a winning team together.

Real Madrid were ridiculed for years because of their desire to put together a collection of names ahead of a well functioning team. I see a similar trend with this United team, and the managers transfers have directly contributed to the huge imbalances within the team.

You have two number 9's in Ronaldo and Cavani that need to play.
Two midfielders in Bruno and Pogba that need to play.
You've also got Rashford, Sancho and Greenwood. Rashford appears to be a certain starter on the left when fit. And it's very clear Greenwood is favoured on the right hand side.

So along with a £35 million Dutch midfielder who can't get a look in, despite some rancid performances from those in front him, we also have a £73 million winger who also seems lost at sea due to the manager not knowing where to play him.

I see very little future planning in the above signings, it seems more like the first thought was to bring them into the club - and we'll work out how to get them to play together once they're here.

That's on the manager, no-one else. He's been backed.

 

[Greck]

So now it's because we didn't sign a DM that we're underperforming. This club might be as spoilt as it is thick. Spend spend spend like it's a videogame. We finally got that worldclass striker and Sancho everyone was crying for last season and we might even look worse in attack. This isn't a game, If you're only one player away from winning things then you should already be a good team on the pitch. Think how Liverpool looked promising even when they had Karius in goal. There's nothing promising here and we might even be trending backwards relative to what we've spent. A DM was never going to fix our play but let's fork out 80m for another galactico to find out the obvious.

 

[JB7]

Its the best squad but the most lopsided.

Sancho excelled at dortmund on the right. Ole is playing him left??

How do you drop Greenwood who are been comfortably our best player so far this season?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

How do you drop Greenwood who are been comfortably our best player so far this season?

Then you don't sign Sancho and use the money to get a DM.

 

[Flytan]

It's Bruno the undoubted success, the rest duds or question marks.

I'd argue that his longterm place is this squad will be hard to accommodate unless he evolves how he plays. Overall a great transfer because he saved a season but the way he plays isn't sustainable in this era

I think the squad will be in a better position after he's gone but only because we spent 400m, which any manager could do. It's not like ole scouted unknown gems or something, all he did was overpay for known talent

 

[Zen86]

I don’t really understand how people can say this team is strong enough to be challenging for the league against City, Liverpool, and Chelsea, and yet claim our transfer strategy has been “directionless”. Ole has built a predominantly youthful team capable of challenging for the league, I don’t really see how you can argue there. Some transfers don’t work out, it happens. The only red herring really is Ronaldo, who was most certainly a opportunistic signing.

 

[JB7]

Then you don't sign Sancho and use the money to get a DM.

What you're suggesting involves the use of a time machine, so if you know of the existence of one them maybe you should suggest it to the club.

 

[soapythecat]

He’s made the squad unbalanced now. Too many attacking players and not enough quality elsewhere. We are still lacking any kind of effective central midfield. Our defence is full of average players and our RB has a free run of games without any competition.
Look at the money we’ve blown on young talent that will prob never get a chance due to swollen numbers of first teamers: Diallo, Palestri, Hannibal etc

 

[ThatsGreat]

Thats not entirely on Ole though is it. With Utd the matter of optics plays a large role in the transfer dealings. Neither Sancho(city youth product) or Ronaldo(to stop him going to City) were needed. But it was so important to show that Utd had got one over City, that that affected the entire transfer business. Its a repeat of the Sanchez transfer once again. A fleeting moment of glory followed by a season full of pain.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

What you're suggesting involves the use of a time machine, so if you know of the existence of one them maybe you should suggest it to the club.

Too late now. He has to let Sancho do his own stuff. He thinks everybody should be Ryan Giggs. Wingers are not all cut out of the same cloth. Except now Rashford is back so the left side might not be available. So does he now drop Greenwood who has been one of the bright spots in the team. That might be a lot of money for another bench warmer. He could move Greenwood up front and not play Ronaldo if he dares. We have a talented squad, but full of quandries. Where do you put Pogba, where do you put Bruno? Who partners Pogba? Why did he buy Donny if we weren't selling Pogba? More money wasted.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

I see very little future planning in the above signings, it seems more like the first thought was to bring them into the club - and we'll work out how to get them to play together once they're here.

That's on the manager, no-one else. He's been backed.

Aye but that’s the problem with Ole’s style of management, he’s all for bringing in top players and deciding after they arrive on what to do, or not to do with them.
You feel the likes of Klopp & Tuchel have a thorough plan when making a signing, not every signing woeks out but you know they are thinking “I need a guy to do exactly this job in my system”.
I don’t see that with Ole because he has no real system. So of course he brings in Sancho, because Sancho’s a top player, “will Sancho work in my system” I doubt Ole’s even gives a thought to.

 

[caid]

I think Bruno vs Pogba and Ronaldo are the two big 'mistakes' of the transfer policy. You can see a theme with the players he's gone for elsehwere. I can forgive him for buying Bruno and have some sympathy about Pogba effectively being stuck here, playing both every week is sabotaging the team basically and he needs to grow the balls to drop one. Ronaldo wasn't part of the plan in any way shape or form. I'm kind of glad it happened regardless. DM is another failure. Its been an obvious need from the day he walked into the job.
I always felt pretty neutral towards the transfer dealings. Been a bit sceptical of AWB for ages, 2nd season we filled out the squad with players he doesn't trust or use (i think other managers will for what thats worth). I think Varane and Sancho will prove to be great signings but picking up Ronaldo on a whim isn't entirely helpful.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Thats not entirely on Ole though is it. With Utd the matter of optics plays a large role in the transfer dealings. Neither Sancho(city youth product) or Ronaldo(to stop him going to City) were needed. But it was so important to show that Utd had got one over City, that that affected the entire transfer business. Its a repeat of the Sanchez transfer once again. A fleeting moment of glory followed by a season full of pain.

Bollocks on Sancho, he wasn’t bought “cause City” at all, he was bought because he’s a top player, the problem is that the manager decides after buying top players on what to actually do with them.

Ronaldo I’ll give you, but that wasn’t “getting one over City”, it was ensuring a United legend didn’t go there. Sanchez seemed like a no brainer for everyone so you’re playing captain hindsight on that. In fact it’s so much captain hindsight that you yourself posted the following after his signing:

Sanchez is definitely better than him, no competition. Mkhitaryan is a good player who'll be great in the right circumstances, Sanchez will be great regardless of circumstances or systems.

 

[MadDogg]

Sancho excelled at dortmund on the right. Ole is playing him left??

Sancho was excellent on both sides for Dortmund and was arguably better on the left. Playing either side is a great ability as he can easily play with either Greenwood (who is best on the right) or Rashford/Martial/Pogba (best on the left). Since he's mostly played with Greenwood so far it's ended up with Sancho mostly on the left, but now that Rashford is back I'm sure we'll start seeing him on the right more often.

 

[Bobcat]

So now it's because we didn't sign a DM that we're underperforming. This club might be as spoilt as it is thick. Spend spend spend like it's a videogame. We finally got that worldclass striker and Sancho everyone was crying for last season and we might even look worse in attack. This isn't a game, If you're only one player away from winning things then you should already be a good team on the pitch. Think how Liverpool looked promising even when they had Karius in goal. There's nothing promising here and we might even be trending backwards relative to what we've spent. A DM was never going to fix our play but let's fork out 80m for another galactico to find out the obvious.

Notifcation said you quoted me...which you haven't..weird

Anyways, yes if you are just looking at the squad, most of our woes comes from the fact that we cant put out a functioning midfield in our current set-up. Matic lacks legs, Pogba lacks the discipline and tactical awareness, McFred lacks the ability on the ball to make us tick and VdB is just a dutch ghost

Our problems run much deeper than that of course, but if we were to sign one more player a good CM/DM would have made about 10x more difference than any other position