I've been told fdj will be running forward from the deep and Fred will still take "holding" role (it's still funny to me to say "Fred" and "holding" in the same sentence).
Experts opinions are not aligned!
Ruben Neves | Signed for Al Hilal (SA)
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Experts opinions are not aligned!
One positive for you lot, I suppose — if we get Neves for the 60 odd million or so Wolves will want: Ronaldo and Mendes will shut up for at least half a season and see the year out with us.
How is that a positive
Looks like this will be the place to be for the next few weeks.
Judging by his transfer thread, some still very much want Ronaldo to stay. It’s probably a 50/50 split at this point.
He'll cost about the same as De Jong, won't he (obviously less in wages)? He's also much less talented. Hard to get excited about this one.
Really do not want. I can't stand midfielders that aren't mobile.
Just throwing this out there, but what about Kovacic. Would Chelsea sell? I'm not big on the idea of signing more of their players, but he's brilliant.
Just throwing this out there, but what about Kovacic. Would Chelsea sell? I'm not big on the idea of signing more of their players, but he's brilliant.
Jorginho more likely to be the one available if they do sell.
Yeah, it's a long shot with Kovacic. To be honest I'd rather not sign any of their players. Either give chances to the youngsters as backup players or sign somebody more cut out for playing in a midfield 2 (without 3 CBs behind, like Neves). He's a great passer of the ball, technically very good, but we need somebody more dynamic in my opinion.
Its criminal that we haven't signed a midfielder who can play in a 2 at this point. FDJ should have been the other target of the 2 midfielders we should have signed. We have an army of center backs maybe it's time to use a back 3 again.
Imagine being stupid enough for pay £80m+ for Ruben Neves. Who can’t carry the ball like De Jong or a proper defensive mid. Only us.
Great post. Nailed it.
We could literally sign Bennacer and Fabian Ruiz for less money than we'd spend on Neves alone and they are both superior players too (if Bennacer stays fit he may even be better than FdJ given his defensive tenacity). Signing Neves would be straight out of the old "spend £130m on Maguire and AWB" playbook that I had hoped we'd moved on from.
we really should be targeting fabian ruiz. Whether we added FDJ or not
A part of me wants us to fail the FDJ transfer just to see many of us eat a humble pie regarding this guy.
He would be an excellent addition to the squad and will take the step up without any problems what so ever.
He would be an excellent addition to the squad and will take the step up without any problems what so ever.
Their combined salary would probably be less that what we would have paid FDJ.
I think he's getting massively undersold by some on here. I get that he doesn't seem particularly attractive if we miss out on De Jong, it's quite the come down. But he's a very good footballer, his passing is excellent and I think it has been shown his defensive work is better than people imagine. I also think he's not a massive risk. He has to step up to United but he's adjusted to PL football. I don't see many that are conclusively a better idea. My preference is for Ruiz, but if it's Neves, so be it.
I 2nd that, would be fine with him too. He definitely improves our passing in deep areas and more useful defensively too. He might not be as talented as Pogba but he is a better fit for a double pivot.
That might be true, however we will sign him for far lower wage than fdj (which was my biggest reservation for getting Frankie - I might be wrong but he wasn't a regular for Barca and still preferred to stay?). I mean getting de Jong on a massive wages was a big risk.
Getting Neves means we will need to overpay, but at least we get an instant improvement to the team on decent wage, player who is entering his prime and IMO would be a good addition even if he becomes a squad player in two years.
I don't mind Ruiz as well, but trying to put some rationale behind Ruben since he's being mentioned recently.
Very intelligent midfielder who dictates play really well. Would be the core of our midfield and team.
I can accept Neves if Frankie ain't coming.
He's a good player and if he's eager to join then I'm all for it.
Ah shit, here we go again.
You don't spend that type of money on players of his level. Ruiz would come at less than half the cost and would be a better fit for us.
Who says we are paying 80m? I’m not even sure Wolves drive these hard bargains, didn’t Jota go for 35m or something?
His defensive work is fine, its when we get counter attacked which we always will do, Neves has no pace, no acceleration and will get by passed easily. At wolves he doesnt have to worry about this, as spraying balls around from deep is fine, when he has to carry the ball forward and play further up the pitch as teams sit back from us, that passing is going to be much less useful. He is going to get massively found out in a team that people try to play through at pace as a counter to our game. Panic buy if we swpa him for FdJ, not saying we couldn't play him if we had someone of de Jongs ability to cover that style, or another midfielder, but if we spunk 60m on neves we arent getting a partner for him
No chance we get him for less than 60m, 25, two year contract, no reason to sell, no need for money
Would cost a small fortune at this point in that window
Neves is a huge upgrade on both Fred and McTominay. As long as the fee isn't daft, would be a good signing.
Wolves are the selling team, united are the buying team, you really think that the fee won't be daft?
When a team has proper negotiators they could get players at reasonable prices, we do not. You think Wolves wouldn't have made note of the fact that we just paid 55mill for a defender from the dutch league and then not ask for something substantially more for a Prem proven midfielder? come on.
He isn't an upgrade on Fred at all.
Fred is more mobile, but that's it. Neves is better positionally, is a better passer and has a good strike on him.
Fred's a bit of a 'nothing' player for me - fills a gap and does OK, but doesn't really excel at anything. I'm not saying he's bad... just average.
I would say he is as good as Fred in a different way, actually I would say he is better, but Neves/Fred is a disaster waiting to happen to teams who will hit us fast
exactly the sort of transfer that contributed to getting us into this mess
will be way over-priced as Wolves will know how desperate we are
and he's kinda average
will be way over-priced as Wolves will know how desperate we are
and he's kinda average
We’d have more possession than 70% of the teams we will play so why would he be under more pressure? We need someone that can make opposing teams pay for sitting deep and dominate play form deep and switch play effortlessly, he’s that and more. Not as mobile as you’d like but not less than Carrick for example.
Please don't, Matheus Nunes from SP is miles better
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Can anyone share a lovely compilation of Him doing his thing, if we won't be signing De Jong we might as well camp here 
Anything over ~£30m would be bad business.
Anything would be bad business cause it'll mean a certain someone has got to Chelsea
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