He's certainly considering joining us, but he's not showing that 100% commitment as of now. He'd be okay with us, but he doesn't want to let go of other suitors at this time. The longer this goes, the worse it'll get for United to find and purchase a new centre back.
Raphael Varane | Signed for United!
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Totally agree. The boat to madrid has sailed for pogba now that zidane has left.
I think he will leave on a free next summer, and then he will have a few clubs to pick from.
This hack reliable?
I'm suspicious with this one. Why is he leaving Real? What are his motivations behind this?
I think it's always something to consider when you're looking at players at massive clubs. Does he genuinely want to come here and battle for us, or is this mostly about money, whether it's getting more out of Madrid or coming to us for a massive packet?
There is a big opportunity to be part of that Madrid rebuild, surely he can be a key man within that. Yet suddenly he wants to up sticks, move to Manchester for a team that from an outside perspective probably doesn't seem particularly close to challenging for major honours. A team with a couple of French players that are disgruntled or at least not settled within the club.
It looks very strange, but hopefully these concerns are unwarranted and he wants a new challenge...
I think it's always something to consider when you're looking at players at massive clubs. Does he genuinely want to come here and battle for us, or is this mostly about money, whether it's getting more out of Madrid or coming to us for a massive packet?
There is a big opportunity to be part of that Madrid rebuild, surely he can be a key man within that. Yet suddenly he wants to up sticks, move to Manchester for a team that from an outside perspective probably doesn't seem particularly close to challenging for major honours. A team with a couple of French players that are disgruntled or at least not settled within the club.
It looks very strange, but hopefully these concerns are unwarranted and he wants a new challenge...
FFS, spent about 5 mins trying to work that one out because the premise made a lot of sense: if nothing positive, not happening. E.g. Messi.I totally misread your postI thought you said NOT happening! I blame my sleepy eyes and people being so negative on here.
It follows something positive = not NOT happening (i.e. maybe)
He was saying definitely happening instead of maybe, so technically your logic wasn't followed through to the letter. I could see grounds for disagreement.
Now "bollocks" was a bit of a strong reaction, but what made no sense was "bollocks obviously" since a "maybe" doesn't discard it happening.
Conclusion: if you are going to get it all wrong because you are sleepy at least make sure you don't make any sense.
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Leaving Madrid. Hes now in his late 20s, Ambition fulfilled?. Looking ahead to a final big bucks contract. It makes you wonder why.
Sign Varane and keep Pogba.
Almost close to seeing a good starting 11. Not quite 1999 or 2008 but definitely would be the best starting 11 we've had since Fergie left.
Rashford Cavani Sancho
Fernandes
CDM Pogba
Shaw Maguire Varane AWB
Henderson
Fernandes
CDM Pogba
Shaw Maguire Varane AWB
Henderson
Almost close to seeing a good starting 11. Not quite 1999 or 2008 but definitely would be the best starting 11 we've had since Fergie left.
Why did Alaba leave Bayern? Varane has achieved all he can with Real Madrid, it sounds like he wants a new challenge.
Do we have the money though? We held out a full year on one of the best young talents in the game to get a better deal. Varane is 28 years old, he’s won everything there is to win in the game and coming from the biggest club in the world. As far as we know the only reason he’s considering a move is because he doesn’t want to take a pay cut, so basically money.
Pace is one of his big attributes and that will only decline. La Liga is not a very physical league and nor is the CL. He’d probably take a solid season to fully settle and he’d be 29. So we’d get maybe 2/3 years max of his best for €70m. Worth it if we win a few PL titles and a CL. Still a gamble in my opinion for that price.
Varane has won all there is to win at Madrid and now the old guard is leaving/has left. He probably just doesn’t want to go through a retool process and nothing will ever be better than his previous years with those Madrid teams.
...I think there’s nothing to be suspicious about and his intentions are genuine. Perez has openly threatened by (in)directly saying if a player doesn’t want to stay then they should go. All reports say Varane doesn’t want to extend and I’m certain money isn’t a problem either as it’s Madrid after all.
Where's this €70m come from when everywhere suggests the fee is €50m?
Has someone been using Essein's calculator again?
Has someone been using Essein's calculator again?
It's from Diario Sport or something. They reckon Real want 70 but it would likely end up settling for around 50.
I'd stick Greenwood in there, he's the future.
Random brainwave looking at that and how much heavylifting is required from that CDM: Atlético passed on the 21M euros option to buy Torreira. Atlético are stacked in midfield, but I certainly would take a punt for that kind of money. Was he unsettled in London?
Aren't we going through a "retool process"? I don't see anything that particularly distinguishes us from them in that regard. We will be judged as title ready when we actually win one, that is the reality of football. Until we are there or very close we will be continually adjusting the squad and potentially manager. If anything their path looks slightly easier.
It may be that Madrid are drawing a line in the sand somewhere, depending on how ridiculous his demands are. They are in need of financial prudence, after all. That doesn't seem too outlandish to me, it may not be quite right to say money isn't a problem for Madrid, particularly if they're reshaping some of the wage structure. It could be that we're ready and willing to go to a place they will not and that is one of the major draws for the player. This would be a bad situation as we've seen in the past.
You may be right and perhaps I'm a tad pessimistic or cynical, it's just on the face of it things seem a little odd, it's not that common to swap between these clubs. Of course if it's simply for a new challenge that would be great for us but that's always going to be the soundbyte from the player.
they'll want 70m if they can but no chance we pay that much for a guy in the last year of his contract so they won't risk losing him for free. 50m is probably the max they will pay which i still think is 10m too much.
We haven’t actually made an offer yet have we? Waiting for player to decide he wants to join us? If he decides he wants to join and tells Madrid we are he destination with one year left on his contract there no way in hell it will be 70m euros. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 50m including so reachable add ons. Say 45+ 5 in add ons.
If another club comes in for him like Chelsea (hope not) then it’s a different ball game
It’s same with us and Pogba. If he says he wants to go to PSG this summer we would be delighted with 50m.
If another club comes in for him like Chelsea (hope not) then it’s a different ball game
It’s same with us and Pogba. If he says he wants to go to PSG this summer we would be delighted with 50m.
Genuine question but if we sign Varane can we not play Pogba's favoured flat 3 in the middle, with one holding, allowing him and Bruno more advanced? Nice thought in my opinion...
Because there is no other club who could afford Pogba this summer and we may risk losing him for free next summer.
It's what I'd like to see. But with the current 3 CDMs are they going to win us a league or champions league?
Out of Matic, Fred and McTominay I'd still say Matic is the most accomplished CDM. I'd rather trade one or two of the three for a world class CDM. Which would allow Pogba and Fernandes to play free.
Have you seen what's going on at Real lately? They're completely broke, have failed to replace their best players, hired a former manager way past his best, and have a lunatic running the place. Varane will know the best days are over; the rebuild you mention is at least three years away. But ultimately I think it says more about Madrid than it does about Varane.
Either way, I don't see a downside here. We're talking about signing a world-class, world-cup winning defender in his prime for about two-thirds of what he would normally cost, who wants a new challenge. The pros for me far, far outweigh any cons.
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Sell Lingard to West Ham and bring Rice to play that CDM role?
Matic will most likely leave. McT will never be sold. Him & Fred are good to have on the bench anyways.
Lingard + 40m for Rice (CDM options are bleak out there, so at least he’s a known quantity) and 45m for Varane.
Get it done!
Get it done!
My favourite first 11 would be
Martial Cavani Sancho
Pogba CDM Fernandes
Shaw Maguire Varane AWB
De Gea
because I'll lose my nut if we play Pogba in a midfield 2 again or waste him on the wing. He has shown his entire career he only works well in a 3 and all of his best brief spells with us have been when we've played a 433 for a few games. I think Henderson is gone because I don't understand why we have 4 goalkeepers and De Gea is unsellable but Hendo could fetch us 30-40m. Martial out left because I expect him to be hungry after last season and Rashford needs probably a couple of months for surgery & recovery.Pogba CDM Fernandes
Shaw Maguire Varane AWB
De Gea
I love our eternal perseverance. We are still trying to solve for Pogba after 5 seasons.
This isn’t solving for Pogba. This is solving for the club. We have needed a DM for a few years now ever since Matic lost a step with father time doing its thing.
...it just so happens accommodating the club with a true DM or player with the qualities to handle the defensive responsibilities in the middle of the pitch would hand-in-hand accommodate not only Pogba but the entire team (all the players around the DM).
weird spin but yea no, this is about the club first and foremost
This lineup is pretty close to our best after replacing Martial with Rashford whenever he gets back from surgery. Bruno needs to have some defensive responsibilities also now that we have a decent playmaker from right side as well.
Still think we need a RB to challenge AWB. But with CB and CDM being higher priority, dont think we will get a RB this summer.
Why on earth would you want Martial over Greenwood?
And pay him the reported £400k/week and probably a 4-year deal and break our wage structure -- and no resale value at the end of that contract? No thanks.
How different is this with botch-up contract that De Gea got and our big problem of moving him on?
Pogba has no resale value at the end of his current contract
To have a proper world class player playing for the club in his last big contract, you have to pay big money. Of course he will not have any resale value, but the purpose of keeping him is to win trophies.
And he moved there when he was very young... so maybe he wants to have a different experience in his life now. With 28, he has still a lot to play for. It's not like ADM who was forced to leave
I just dont understand why anyone has a problem with us paying £40 million for Varane - if Kane was in his final year of his contract, people would not have a problem with us forking out £60 million for him
I do, I'd prefer him to sign a new contract but I don't think he will. So we're probably best off getting in a swap deal before his value reduces to nothing over the coming 6 monthsYou…always, but you do like Pogba
Individually Pogba is one of the best and most skilled players in the league. But teams have to be built around him to extract the most out of his talents. Even his French NT struggled in this year's Euro. He is just too damn inconsistent too. He is really a human highlight reel for TV but for a team, he is tough to accommodate.
Can any club afford that over a season? He would struggle to play within Pep or Klopp's system never mind the way United is progressing. So then isn't he a risky prospect for any club but a United that's re-building?
About time, retaliation for David, Ruud and Cristiano. Make it happen Woody.
I'd want Greenwood to rotate with Cavani because I want him to develop as a striker. Martial is also better right now, especially off the left. We also can't keep having forwards neglect defensive duties & Martial is good at helping out Shaw.
Greenwood is a better player off the right than Martial is off the left. Given the choice it’s Sancho left and Greenwood right every time.
The 400k rumour was from a unreliable report. Who cares if Utd make him joint top earner with de gea, pogba (if he signs) and bruno (when he signs)?
Who cares about resale, we would be signing one of the worlds top CBs in the prime of his career. He could have a VVD affect for us, we dont know. Regardless if we win the league just once during his 4/5 year contract it will have been worth it.
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