Poll - What are realistic ambitions next season if we spend 200m?

What is a realistic ambition next season if we spend 200m?


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Bastian

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Can this be a poll? 200M 1) Title challenge 2) Top 4 ambitions

Of course there are various factors but we've not gone for out-of-the-blue signings we've scouted on the sly in ages, so we'll likely be competing for the known talent with a host of other clubs. And we've got a recent history of paying premium and using the press in a very counter-productive way.

I'm curious to know if people think the rumoured "biggest transfer spend the club's history" (200m) is enough for a title challenge or if it's just enough for a top 4 challenge.
 

Invictus

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tl;dr answer, IMO: depends on how that 200m is spent. We can definitely mount a reasonable challenge with a combination of astute acquisitions, good fortune, and superior coaching.
 

Snow

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It won't be enough, nor for next season at least. It would be more realistic but spending 200m wouldn't suddenly make us as good as City who have a spent a lot more than that and have a team that has already gelled. If United were to spend big some, if not most of the signings would take time to work. It also won't do a huge amount of difference if none of that money is spent to improve the defense.

200m is only about 4 players after all.
 

dove

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Top 4, no chance of a serious title challenge.
 

Red Stone

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Fred, di Maria, Schneiderlin, Mata and Bailly cost us roughly £200 million combined. If that's how we spend it this summer we're going to be stuck in the same mess as the last six years. Woodward has a lot to answer for considering how grotesquely he's failed at hiring managers and signing players since he took the job. He's the biggest reason we're currently so far behind where we should be, imo.
 

Bastian

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tl;dr answer, IMO: depends on how that 200m is spent. We can definitely mount a reasonable challenge with a combination of astute acquisitions, good fortune, and superior coaching.
I know. But in light of recent history, paying over the odds, advertising in the media we've got an x amount to spend, and the players we're linked with (some of which might cost half that budget), I think it's a fair question, even if it's a guessing game.

I'm not saying we have to spend x amount. If the ambition is to make the top 4 next season, I think a 200m recruitment window is good work. If we really aim to compete for the title, I think it's not going to be close.
 

bond19821982

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Easily title challenge, if spent wisely. Our issues are mainly due to coaching and not players .

Take for e.g. todays line up - 3 CBs, 1 B2B, 3 attacking mid, 2 strikers and 1 wing back.

Talk about having a balance!
 

Ali Dia

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Say if we got sancho or felix and De Ligt and Tierney for 200m that’s still a pretty major upgrade to our first 11. Is it enough to mount a title challenge? More than likely not. If we go another smart 200 the following summer we should be getting there with a good young team. I reckon we will spend 300 this summer and then 150 the following summer. The scrutiny on the glazers and Woodward is huge at the minute so they will cough up big time I reckon. It’s there for all to see we are way off and have wasted money all over the shop so I hope they’ll stick with ole now for a few years whatever happens
 

freeurmind

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For a title challenge we need at least 1 World class CB so 75mill+, 1 world class cm 75mill+, a right-back 40mill +; A world class right winger 75mill+; back up left back 30 mill +. So that's around 300 million.
 

Jaae

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This will be evolution rather than revolution. £200m would probably get you four players in the current climate. That's not going to be enough to bridge the gap to City and Liverpool judging by the players we're being linked with. A lot of 'potential' rather than ready made quality.

It should be enough to see us comfortably finish top four next season though. We can build from there.
 

Antisocial

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Top 4 only; we have too much to do to expect to challenge for the title so soon. The holes in the squad that exist already combined with the contractual issues we're having with the players already here means even if we spent £200m (which we won't) there'd still be issues in the squad; plus we'd need to gel a largely new starting XI, which will take time.

Added to that our main rivals are better positioned to challenge for the title than we are: City will of course spend a tonne of their owner's money on their already brilliant squad, and Liverpool are incredibly well run and will be hugely motivated to build on this season and add the 20th title. Chelsea will lose their best player and have a transfer ban, but they've also just discovered that they have an academy so lets see what comes of that; Arsenal will be back in the Champions League so might react strongly in the market, and Spurs will be interesting if the finally invest in their squad.

We have a lot to do to compete.
 

MrSingh2002

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Buy 5 young players who can start games with potential to be world class in the future.

5 x £40m average on a player sounds like a good deal for Ole if you ask me.

Approx 18 to 24 year old
CB - De Ligt
CM - Doucoure
RW - Sancho
RB - Wan Bissaka
CDM - Rodri

De Gea
Dalot/RB CB Lindelof Shaw
CM McTominay/CDM Pogba
RW Rashford Martial​
 

PaulScholes99

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Buy 5 young players who can start games with potential to be world class in the future.

5 x £40m average on a player sounds like a good deal for Ole if you ask me.

Approx 18 to 24 year old
CB - De Ligt
CM - Doucoure
RW - Sancho
RB - Wan Bissaka
CDM - Rodri

De Gea
Dalot/RB CB Lindelof Shaw
CM McTominay/CDM Pogba
RW Rashford Martial​
200 mil for these 5 players? Not in this world. De ligt + Sancho alone nearly 200.
 

Yakuza_devils

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We shouldn't even be talking about title challenge considering how far Man City and Liverpool are ahead of us in term of squad, style of play and manager.

We should be building to be a consistent TOP 4 team and see where it goes from there. Sadly, we are not the giant of English game anymore and in fact we are not even the big 4 now. Based on result for the past few years we are now the big 6.
 

bosnian_red

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Top 4 still. You need a transition season in a positive sense. We can make all the right signings, we'll still be realistically a full transition season away from the new team, manager and play style settling and adapting into a proper top team like what City and Liverpool have become.
 

ErranMorad

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Looking at the way things are going I don't think we can hope to mount a serious challenge. Before signings, what is needed is work on our style of play. Our passing, movement, pressing, forward play, ideas in the final third - all need to improve from what we have seen so far. These things take time as we have seen with Liverpool & City. It took Pep one season to get used the league, develop City's style of play & get the squad he wants (He had three transfer windows before his second season begin). At Liverpool it has taken almost 3 seasons. I would say that our squad is in a much better shape than Liverpool's was when Klopp joined, so Ole should be able to do it in one season.

At time of joining, Ole and Klopp's mandates were different too. Ole is under pressure to get us a top 4 from what was a near impossible position. With games coming in quick succession & injuries he hasn't had the chance to fully implement his vision. He tried in the beginning but the players started dropping like flies after a few games. A few like Herrera and Matic, who were essential to our early form under Ole, have been on and off. These six months is basically an assessment period to judge which of squad is up for it.

I know we all want, me included, for us to drop £300m-£350m and improve the squad in one go to mount a title challenge. Thinking about it, it may be an unrealistic expectation. £200m + money from sales should be a good starting point for Ole to start improving the squad. Getting four players - a top CB, a top RB, a dominant midfielder & a versatile attacker - would be a fine start. Four is a good number of players to integrate in the first team and get going.

This is my expectation from the summer window:

Sold/Let go - Valencia, Mata, Herrera, Darmian, Rojo & Bailly.

In - CB, RB, CM & AM (preferably someone who can play on the right)

Squad -

De Gea/ Romero / Grant
RB/Dalot Smalling/Lindelof CB/Jones Shaw/Young
Fred/McTommy CM/Matic
RW/Lingard Pogba/Pereira Martial/Sanchez
Rashford/Lukaku
For me the most essential signing for us is getting a dominant midfielder who can free up Pogba to play in attack. Pogba does well in the midfield but he is at his best when he has freedom to join the attack and get in the box at regular intervals. It's not a coincidence that our uptick in goals and assists has dropped off since he has had to move deeper.

That squad should be good enough for a top three position and a good run in the cups, imo. If we are lucky Rashford and Martial will have breakout seasons and we will be able to achieve more.
 
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Amadaeus

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If we spend around £200m on players listed below:

Joao Felix or Sancho £80m
Cancelo or Youcef atall £40m
Rabiot free
Tonali £15m
De ligt or Koulibaly £80m

We have no excuse but to challenge or win the league if we can keep hold of players like Lukaku and/or Sanchez to offer us depth and experience. Moreover Get the best out of Pogba. Our squad is already good and adding £200m worth of talent would make it stronger enough to challenge for the title.

De Gea
Cancelo - Linderlof - De Ligt - Shaw
Fred
Rabiot - Pogba
Felix
Rashford - Martial

Romero
Dalot - Jones - Smalling - Young???
Tonali
McTominay - Pereira/Gomes
Lingard/Chong - Lukaku/Greenwood - Sanchez/Lingard
 
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Ekeke

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If we spend that much and its much more than the other teams around us, we need to challenge for the title.

If we spend £200 million but the other teams do also then I guess top 4 is reasonable
 

Steerpike

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Our ambitions next season should be to mount a serious challenge on all fronts, and that's irrespective of what we spend. Regarding spending, that should be determined by the personnel that are identified as being required to enable us to achieve those ambitions. Also, we should not be afraid to promote from within (big money signings are not always the only, or even the best, answer).

Realistically, there are a lot of changes needed, and it is rare for any team which undergoes a lot of change to be serious title challengers straight away. I'd settle for a team that's performing better and achieves a top four finish next season, but my expectation is that it would kick on the following season. If we're still talking about needing to change half a dozen players after next season, we will basically have wasted a year.
 

gajender

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We need to become a team which is comfortably getting above 80 points regularly and it should start from next season ideally if it's good enough for title challenge great otherwise build it from there for all the talk of league having two great teams and how far we are from them, only City looks like a team which would be hard to catch for us Liverpool not so much for me they are having a great season but they are far more likely to come back into mix then City.
 

devilish

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I think if we're smart and we are lucky then maybe we'll be able to compete for top honours. The priorities should be

a- Get DDG to sign a long term contract
b- Get rid of the deadwood
c- buy young talent whose got the hunger to win
 

redshaw

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Top 3 or a more comfortable top 4.

I'm not sure we can get some of the players banded about. It might take a little longer for Ole to prove he's going places and also finding the right players.

Taking on Abu Dhabi and Pep, who have the resources to keep everything bubbling is tough but Klopp has shown it can be matched with time to tune a squad. Klopp is also probably underrated, he's got the better of Pep and Jose multiple times in his career. Pep and Klopp are very hard taskmasters.

If one of them slips under the strain next season we still have one left to match. It's two very well drilled sides at the top right now.
 
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Interval

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Best case: easy top 4
Worst case: where we are now.

For a sustainable title challenge, you need years of consistent team building with some underlying direction. It can be done with 200mn a year or 50mn a year depending on how well you spend the money.
 

berbatrick

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We desperately need a new right side, both RB and RW. Unless that RW is a goal machine we also need a very good striker. If Herrera leaves, we need a top-class replacement, and I would prefer a deep-lying playmaker like Carrick instead of a box-to-box.
Apart from that, it would be good to have another CB instead of Rojo, and maybe a backup LB (both those positions could be taken care of if he hadn't sold Blind).

All this will cost more than 200m, and would barely put us equal with City.
 

Thepinhead

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Other teams will strengthen as well. I think we need one more transfer window. But if we get 3 good players I think we can mount a title challenge. We need a very good CB RW and midfielder and we need to keep pogba and de Gea

-----------------de gea--------------
Dalot----smalling---CB---shaw
-------------------neves---------------
-------------fred-----pogba--------
Eriksen----rashford---martial

This team should be able to challenge for the title or atleast be comfortable top 3
 
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beergod

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3rd - 5th. Prices are high for the type of players we need to take us forward and we have so many gaping holes to fill that it will take multiple windows of investment before we can think of seriously challenging for the title.
 

PaulRich

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I think we can start the upwards curve with that kind of investment but would need another 200m injection the season after to put us back in with a title contending team. We are literally miles away from City and Liverpool.
 

Fridge chutney

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200M will ideally buy us:

Sancho
Alderweireld
De Ligt
Neves or Rice
Good right back (AWB?)
And we can fund Eriksen from outbound sales plus leftover.
 

gajender

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I think we can start the upwards curve with that kind of investment but would need another 200m injection the season after to put us back in with a title contending team. We are literally miles away from City and Liverpool.
Liverpool are a good team who are having great season but the notion we or other teams like Tottenham , Chelsea are miles away from them is simply laughable they are more likely to come back into mix then have similar season like this one we can certainly catch them with some smart additions.
 

PaulRich

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Liverpool are a good team who are having great season but the notion we or other teams like Tottenham , Chelsea are miles away from them is simply laughable they are more likely to come back into mix then have similar season like this one we can certainly catch them with some smart additions.
As much as I hate to say it I'm going to have to agree to disagree. City are way ahead although some of their squad is aging, so they'll be looking over summer. Liverpool wont stand still and will add to their squad over summer, as will Spurs and Chelsea. They'll also be likely, as it stands, to have the carrot of ECL football.

Just as an acid test take yesterdays performance from us, then watch Chelsea and Liverpool today and come back with which United player would beat any of his counterparts to a place in a combined 11. Even the shoe in of de Gea looks dodgy in light of his recent performances.
 

Nytram Shakes

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Depends how we spend 200m and how they are used.

It doesn't look like we are getting a director of football, and even if we do now its gonna be a bit rushed for them to come in and have a plan. Which really only leaves Ole and Woodward, neither of them have the track record I would really trust to spend the 200m wisely.

Also depends on whether Ole is gonna turn out to be the manager we all want him to be, or are his best days as united manager already behind him and is was rash to give him the job.

But Its possible we could a title challenging squad if we spent 200m yes, but I think the structural issues at united will prevent that money been spent and used well.
 

gajender

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As much as I hate to say it I'm going to have to agree to disagree. City are way ahead although some of their squad is aging, so they'll be looking over summer. Liverpool wont stand still and will add to their squad over summer, as will Spurs and Chelsea. They'll also be likely, as it stands, to have the carrot of ECL football.

Just as an acid test take yesterdays performance from us, then watch Chelsea and Liverpool today and come back with which United player would beat any of his counterparts to a place in a combined 11. Even the shoe in of de Gea looks dodgy in light of his recent performances.
Do you genuinely believe this current Liverpool team is capable of regularly breaching 90 points barrier because thats what they are on course for this season, combined 11 would always favour teams who are doing well currently we finished ahead of scousers last season. I concede that they are a good team but with our resources and some good coaching it's not that unreasonable to expect us to finish ahead of them even if they strengthen in Summer.
 

Hernandez - BFA

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For us to be title challengers, our squad needs a revamp. That revamp won’t happen alone in one summer - it’ll take a couple of more summers, and they actually need to be smart ones.

Big turnover required but we can’t realistically see half the squad being sold in a summer.
 

Isotope

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Why do we need scouts, if we end up with a list of expensive players?

Why can’t we get the vidic, evra, carrick, VDS, Nistelrooy, and Yorke like? Established players who don’t cost world record, who are not another 5 yrs “project”, but just need bigger stage to show case their their true talent?
 
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UNITED ACADEMY

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Is this net spend? That will be title challenge. At least have decent period of time challenging the title.