Potential CB Options

croadyman

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There seems to be a few names being thrown around because don't think Maguire & Lindelof is Ole's ideal partnership. They are both capable seperately but just don't think they work together.

So want to get some views and opinions on who people think we could bring in,also interested to hear whether people that should be next month or wait for the summer.
 

Web of Bissaka

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Apologies couldn't think of a name.

Seeing this two seasons good transfer records (sort of), I'm back to trusting our scouts and the "transfer discussion circle" at the club (don't remember what they called it, transfer committee or something) to get us a good CB at a good age.

I do however felt sure Ole is really happy with Mag + Lind partnership. And is just hoping for Axel to finally get over his injury problems to be the 3rd choice. I don't know but I think the fact that we're ignoring that position seems to suggest it's not a priority.

Transfers
Before getting another CB, our 5 transfers are...

RW: Pellistri and Diallo (after Sancho deal failed)
CAM: VDB (a priority but not really after Lingard and Pereira failures)
CF: Cavani (Ighalo is not enough)
LB: Telles (despite having Williams)

Priorities?
RW seems to be our highest priority, but the club are naive enough too confident they'll win the Sancho deal delaying to the final days, while we just accepted VDB being offered easily to conveniently replace Pereira and Lingard just to shut down/minimize the bad reputations around that time. CF and LB are not really priorities, but possibly the next priorities after RW. It's also likely that we got Cavani just because he's available and no doubt a high class player, meaning to say CF is not a priority at all as we already have Ighalo.

CB? zero... not sure if we're linked with anyone either, according to the reliable reports but there are reports about Pau Torres or something, despite it's widely know we're only playing Lind and Mag. Sometimes Bailly last season when we're lucky. Doesn't seem like a priority at all. Or possibly this is due to the difficulties of getting targets? or the players not interested in joining, but Telles and Cavani definitely want to join us.
 

flappyjay

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January only if there is a good deal available like Bruno and Haaland last year. Other than that wait for the summer. Clear out Pogba, Jesse, Andreas etc get a CB, dm and rw.
 

Gopher Brown

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If either one of them needs replaced, it’s Maguire. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.
 

Inigo Montoya

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January only if there is a good deal available like Bruno and Haaland last year. Other than that wait for the summer. Clear out Pogba, Jesse, Andreas etc get a CB, dm and rw.
A CDM is being worked on right now with Caicedo.

CB appears to be a conundrum which won’t be fixed until the summer
 

Lash

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Said it in a few threads and I'd look to get Saliba on the cheap. He was more talented than Fofana, who's doing alright at Leicester and we were interested in him prior to Arsenal.

Otherwise, I think we can wait until the summer.
 

Inigo Montoya

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If either one of them needs replaced, it’s Maguire. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.
What, the CB with the most consistent defensive clearances in the PL? Lindelhof is good in some games but lacks pace and can’t jump! What he can do well is read the game quite well. There’s a reason they’re constantly paired together despite the call for Axel.

What we need is an athletic CB to partner Maguire and rotate, not get rid of him.
 

Mylock

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I believe now is the time to bring in a new CB, we're in big trouble if either of Lidelof or McGuire get injured, I don't think they are suited to play together. I rate Tuanzebe highly, but he's very injury prone, Bailly is even worse. Bring in Pau Torres and offload Bailly. This would set us up to give the league areal push over the next 6 months.
 

CM10

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I doubt we'll see anyone arrive in January but wouldn't be surprised to see us go for Upamecano in the summer when that clause kicks in.
 

Trequarista10

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If either one of them needs replaced, it’s Maguire. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.
Maguire is comfortably better than Lindelof, and I quite like Lindelof.

However, if we buy a CB who is proficient aerially and has pace then we'll have someone who could form a decent partnership with either, which would be a big advantage across a 50+ game season.
 

Freak

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Milenkovic being mentioned in the papers/gossip/rumours. I think the Florentina president (or someone associated with that club) mentioned previously that we did submit an offer for him during the summer. So we might be going back again for him.
 

AneRu

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Milenkovic being mentioned in the papers/gossip/rumours. I think the Florentina president (or someone associated with that club) mentioned previously that we did submit an offer for him during the summer. So we might be going back again for him.
A €25m fee being touted, good in the air, aggressive and relatively quick. If we could do a deal then we'd be set for a few years because Maguire, Lindelof, Milenkovic and Tuanzebe is a good set of CBs.

The reasonable fee enables us to go big for a Haaland type of player in the summer and push on to challenge for the title.
 

Freak

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A €25m fee being touted, good in the air, aggressive and relatively quick. If we could do a deal then we'd be set for a few years because Maguire, Lindelof, Milenkovic and Tuanzebe is a good set of CBs.

The reasonable fee enables us to go big for a Haaland type of player in the summer and push on to challenge for the title.
I can't say I know much about Milenkovic other than YouTube videos but I really hope whoever we get for CB is the right fit. I feel like our defence (and defensive midfield) is the major weakness of our current team so the right CB could be the difference between us challenging for the top spot or us challenging for top 4 only.
 

Lash

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A €25m fee being touted, good in the air, aggressive and relatively quick. If we could do a deal then we'd be set for a few years because Maguire, Lindelof, Milenkovic and Tuanzebe is a good set of CBs.

The reasonable fee enables us to go big for a Haaland type of player in the summer and push on to challenge for the title.
I think you're being hopeful. I very much doubt there will any big money signings this summer, with a whole season behind closed doors looking more and more likely. Its more likely we sign youngsters and cheaper options like expiring contracts.
 

MikeKing

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What about that Dortmund CB? We might want to do a triple swap with him, Sancho and Haaland. Dortmund can get Pogba, VDB, James and Williams on loan.
 

bond19821982

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Koulibaly, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Akanji, Dunk , Upamecano, Konate

All are gettable and would be strong options for us. Ofcourse some of them would be very costly but it depends on our budget.
 

Ekeke

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Several younger CBs who are doing well this season so far. We obviously shouldnt sign them all based on 10-15 games, but we should be keeping a close eye on them and seeing if they can be consistent over the season and make sure they dont make too many individual errors

Sven Botman - Lille
Ibanez - Roma
Loic Bade - Lens

All 22 or under and arent hyped up enough yet to cost the earth

Vestergaard is the obvious one from the premier league but his price has been going up by the week I'm sure
 

Macedonian Red

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Koulibaly, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Akanji, Dunk , Upamecano, Konate

All are gettable and would be strong options for us. Ofcourse some of them would be very costly but it depends on our budget.
Vestergaard is beter then all of them.
 

AneRu

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I think you're being hopeful. I very much doubt there will any big money signings this summer, with a whole season behind closed doors looking more and more likely. Its more likely we sign youngsters and cheaper options like expiring contracts.
I think we will sell Pogba and we wont need a like for like replacement so if we are able to get the CB signing done for less than £30m we could squeeze in a big signing.
 

giorno

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Koulibaly, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Akanji, Dunk , Upamecano, Konate

All are gettable and would be strong options for us. Ofcourse some of them would be very costly but it depends on our budget.
Akanji is outright bad and Diego Carlos is another Aurier, generally good but too prone to unthinkable brain farts

Kounde is great, really great, but he's small. It's not much of an issue with the whistle-happy spanish refs, he's smart and deceptively strong, and really quick, but in england? With english refs? I'm not sure he wouldn't get eaten alive
 

dal

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Buying central defenders outside the premier league for big money is always a risk.

I don’t think we’d spend over £30 million outside the premier league. So many seem to fail that I feel it would be fruitless.

I actually quite like the Maguire, Lindelof partnership and feel that it’s very solid.

We can change tactics against the better teams as we did against city.
 

SkybrokenPendulum

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Would get an orgasm if we buy Kounde. Guy is a freakin genius. Just please make him not wear that silly haircut from last season. Carlos is brutal, but he gets crazy every second game.
Torres is my second option. Would love Balbuena also
 

Rocknrolla69er

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What's happened with Saliba at Arsenal , that was seen as abit of a catch , even with injurys they've played the likes of Holding over him , could be a shrewd signing us taking him.

Was toying with the idea of Vestergaard yesterday, too familiar too Maguire?
 

sammsky1

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I signed up this Turkish kid who plays at Juventus called Merih Demiral in my latest FM2021 team and he is phenomenal. is stats are better than Maguire's and he makes the perfect partnership for him.

I've also been tracking him in real life for a while and really like him. Sadly he suffered a bad injury a few weeks ago, but I really hope he is on our shortlist as I think he could become one the next big things.

@Adnan @Samid do you guys know of him?
 

Sea-Cow

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Koulibaly, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Akanji, Dunk , Upamecano, Konate

All are gettable and would be strong options for us. Ofcourse some of them would be very costly but it depends on our budget.
Not to be annoying but Koulibaly is old and frankly looks slow and terrible, the few times I've seen him.

Diego Carlos was awful against us, and in the final. He is more of red card threat than Rojo.

Dunk just isn't that great, I don't think.

I like Kounde but as someone else mentioned, he is very short and that might be a hindrance in the prem.

Akanji I don't know anything about.

And the Red Bull lads, I am just not sure on. I think they could be either brilliant for ten years, or fail miserably.
 

dev1l

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Milenkovic being mentioned in the papers/gossip/rumours. I think the Florentina president (or someone associated with that club) mentioned previously that we did submit an offer for him during the summer. So we might be going back again for him.
United started monitoring Milenkovic when Jose was still here.(apparently Spurs are very interested now..not a coincidence)
Up to a couple of years ago he was rated at around 40-50m euro. Now it seems his stock us down.
I watched him a couple of times and apart from CB, he was also deployed at Rb but I don't think Rb is his best position.
 
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What about Conner Coady?

Ive not watched him, but he’s earned an England call up - and that’s the only time I’ve noticed him.
 

croadyman

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January only if there is a good deal available like Bruno and Haaland last year. Other than that wait for the summer. Clear out Pogba, Jesse, Andreas etc get a CB, dm and rw.
Think we could well bring in Caciedo as a CDM option, expect Diallo to be given an opportunity on RW too.

Still feel that we are going to wait until the summer for a CB even though getting one now could give us a better chance of challenging in second half of the season.Unfortunately the big problem is that decent options will be limited in the January window.
 

croadyman

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Not to be annoying but Koulibaly is old and frankly looks slow and terrible, the few times I've seen him.

Diego Carlos was awful against us, and in the final. He is more of red card threat than Rojo.

Dunk just isn't that great, I don't think.

I like Kounde but as someone else mentioned, he is very short and that might be a hindrance in the prem.

Akanji I don't know anything about.

And the Red Bull lads, I am just not sure on. I think they could be either brilliant for ten years, or fail miserably.
Who do you think we should sign
 

Rozay

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Another centre half wouldn’t hurt, but I honestly feel like most people are talking in stereotypes and cliches regarding Maguire and Lindelof, and not so much relating it to actual football.

Our central pairing is not a liability at all. Maguire or Lindelöf are a good partnership. In real life. I fee like people have looked at them, seen that neither are rapid, and from there - cannot compute that the partnership can work. Lindelöf apparently needs urgent upgrading, but he’s usually fantastic. In real life, he doesn’t spend most games being outpaced by his man. It can happen, because he’s obviously not that fast, but I feel like the fear is bigger than the reality. He’s not the best centre half in the world, but he’s a very capable defender who it took me some time to really appreciate gets a raw deal. In his first year here he was total rubbish in the main, but he’s grown and is actually a quality defender. He’s a far better player than Tuanzebe, for example, who people wanted to replace him in the team from the beginning of last season. It’s almost as if it were a compute game and some decided ‘our back line needs a player with x speed’, and ignored the fact that Lindelöf is actually better than Axel.

Anyway, I’d like to see Konate come in, all things considered, as he’s got a great profile and would cost reasonable money. But Lindelöf is a good centre half. He has had some moments of course, but in the main, he typically impresses me.
 

croadyman

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Another centre half wouldn’t hurt, but I honestly feel like most people are talking in stereotypes and cliches regarding Maguire and Lindelof, and not so much relating it to actual football.

Our central pairing is not a liability at all. Maguire or Lindelöf are a good partnership. In real life. I fee like people have looked at them, seen that neither are rapid, and from there - cannot compute that the partnership can work. Lindelöf apparently needs urgent upgrading, but he’s usually fantastic. In real life, he doesn’t spend most games being outpaced by his man. It can happen, because he’s obviously not that fast, but I feel like the fear is bigger than the reality. He’s not the best centre half in the world, but he’s a very capable defender who it took me some time to really appreciate gets a raw deal. In his first year here he was total rubbish in the main, but he’s grown and is actually a quality defender. He’s a far better player than Tuanzebe, for example, who people wanted to replace him in the team from the beginning of last season. It’s almost as if it were a compute game and some decided ‘our back line needs a player with x speed’, and ignored the fact that Lindelöf is actually better than Axel.

Anyway, I’d like to see Konate come in, all things considered, as he’s got a great profile and would cost reasonable money. But Lindelöf is a good centre half. He has had some moments of course, but in the main, he typically impresses me.
Do you not worry about the lack of pace in our CB's at all or the fact that neither of them seems commanding and capable of marshalling the defence.
 

Lash

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I think we will sell Pogba and we wont need a like for like replacement so if we are able to get the CB signing done for less than £30m we could squeeze in a big signing.
True, forgot about pogba. Things will be tight though!
 

Rozay

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Do you not worry about the lack of pace in our CB's at all or the fact that neither of them seems commanding and capable of marshalling the defence.
I worry about what I see.

Do you come away from many United games feeling that we desperately need/needed faster centre halves, or is this mainly a concern for the ever growing population of football analysts online?

The logic and rationale is clear enough, and makes sense. You don’t want a defender to theoretically lose in a race with strikers with any sort of regularity leading to concession of goals. In more than one year, has this been your observation from watching them? I mean, it’s not a trick question, maybe your answer is ‘yes’, I’m just saying that it hasn’t been my own personal observation. Mine has been that, despite majority of strikers they face probably being able to beat them in a sprint on an athletics track, they have coped with most of them just fine on the football pitch. And that has to matter above any sort of lazy opinion forming.
 

Adnan

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I signed up this Turkish kid who plays at Juventus called Merih Demiral in my latest FM2021 team and he is phenomenal. is stats are better than Maguire's and he makes the perfect partnership for him.

I've also been tracking him in real life for a while and really like him. Sadly he suffered a bad injury a few weeks ago, but I really hope he is on our shortlist as I think he could become one the next big things.

@Adnan @Samid do you guys know of him?
All I know is that he was playing really well before he suffered a bad injury last season. Not kept upto date since so it would be interesting to read a update on him.