Ruben Neves | Signed for Al Hilal (SA)

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JB7

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If he's available for £35m it's surely a no-brainer. He basically ticks every box that people criticise McTominay and Fred for.
 

Organic Potatoes

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His mobility would be the concern. He'd be fine in a double pivot with McTomminay next to him, but I'd worry about him sitting alongside Pogba. Better passing range than a lot of what we have though.
Scott does not allay any fears of a lack of mobility in central midfield. Fred would still be starting in this case.
 

Red Daz

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I think he’d be a good signing, adds to our options and squad depth
 

Martialfc

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I hope we sign him I think he’s absolutely quality every time I watch wolves. He’s a brilliant footballer. Yes please Ole!
 

MattofManchester

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Didn't Locatelli just have a good season with Sassuolo? Wouldn't he offer a more mobile alternative?
 

Bondi77

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So this link originated from Talksport and not long after Arsenal signed a young DM from Anderlect.
A story originally started because apparently Wolves wanted to raise cash by selling Neves and Arsenal pop up because Grant Xhaka is leaving Arsenal and he is a DM so this link is now dead in the water.
Are we only interested now because Arsenal are not????
Come on guys....this is pathetic!
 

2 man midfield

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The more I think about it the more I think we should just take the gamble if he’s available at that price. We need a CDM and we’re probably not getting one otherwise.
 

Red Company

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These stats are quite good. I’ve always considered Neves to be a decent PL midfielder and I’d rather we buy someone whose PL proven then from abroad.

I also believe these stats may improve as he grows older. As well as when he switches teams because Wolves under Nuno played regressive football.

In my opinion, Neves will be a good acquisition for us and he may even form a solid bond with Bruno.
This bond could be vital if we decide to play 4-3-3 as Bruno needs to communicate well with the DM which is where Neves will most likely be playing.

Edit: this is me just daydreaming but a midfield 3 of Grealish-Neves-Bruno would be ideal for the PL. We should sell Pogba and go all out for Grealish. Sell Lingard to Villa.
 

Tarrou

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I don't rate him massively, but he's only 24 and I like the fact we're linked with his type of midfielder

I mean, I'd hate to think Ole thinks McT is the long term solution - but I don't think he does
 

Isotope

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don't mind his "slowness". We dominated the League and CL with 100 y.o. Scholes and Carrick in midfield.
 

amolbhatia50k

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don't mind his "slowness". We dominated the League and CL with 100 y.o. Scholes and Carrick in midfield.
He's also been slow with feet and brain in tight spaces from what I've seen which worries me more. Carrick made up for it by being better defensively and Scholes was.. well, Scholes. :drool:
 

KennyBurner

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Not my preferred signing but if its between him and technical deficient Rice then please bring the Portuguese to the theatre. Let me quickly go and watch a few youtube videos so I can pretend Im an expert on what he brings to the team.
 

Mr Smith

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The more I think about this, the more I am for it. He's not perfect, but he offers two things we currently lack in holding midfield; passing range and positional discipline. Put someone energetic next to him and I think this works.

Ideally I want to keep Pogba, but if we were to sell him and use the money to bring in Neves and Camavinga, I would consider that very good business.
 

Isotope

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He's also been slow with feet and brain in tight spaces from what I've seen which worries me more. Carrick made up for it by being better defensively and Scholes was.. well, Scholes. :drool:
Is he? Well, that doesn't sound encouraging. How is he compared to Xabi Alonso?
 

amolbhatia50k

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Is he? Well, that doesn't sound encouraging. How is he compared to Xabi Alonso?
I'm no expert on him, but other than the start of his PL career when I bought into the hype, I was disappointed every time I watched him. Never looked anywhere near a top class CM talent. Just very cumbersome on the ball, and didnt seem to have that extra time on the ball and speed of thought/feet. He's in the mould of player we need but I'm not convinced he has the necessary quality.

If he's available on the cheap, you never know I guess, if the player can make big strides in a more front foot team.
 

red thru&thru

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Could be a case of spending the money it would cost to buy Rice on Neves and Camavinga.
 

VP89

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I think he'd be good for us actually, hope we get him. Camavinga doesn't want us at all it seems, don't think we will get him if his eyes are set on real for next summer.
 

gazbradley

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The number of midfielders who became great is dwarfed by those who stayed average. There is literally no reason to assume Neves will take Carricks path as opposed to following the path of all those others.
By that logic you wouldn’t have signed Carrick either, there’s risk/reward with any transfer and for the price quoted to sign Neves surely you can see why the club might look at him as oppose to more expensive options? Also add in that Carrick is now part of our coaching setup he could improve and influence Neves. As I said originally it’s not the worst comparison of a player regardless of if you rate Neves or not
 

Bebestation

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By that logic you wouldn’t have signed Carrick either, there’s risk/reward with any transfer and for the price quoted to sign Neves surely you can see why the club might look at him as oppose to more expensive options? Also add in that Carrick is now part of our coaching setup he could improve and influence Neves. As I said originally it’s not the worst comparison of a player regardless of if you rate Neves or not
This is utter rubbish to me. You could see what you were buying when you were buying Carrick from Tottenham.

Neves seems like someone people assume to be a deep lying playmaker just because he can occasionally make a good long pass - a Jonjo shelvey more than a Carrick to me.
 

Cee90

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Just TalkSport reporting this at the moment then?

I personally rate Neves and think £35 million is a good price for him, so I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea!
 

largelyworried

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By that logic you wouldn’t have signed Carrick either, there’s risk/reward with any transfer and for the price quoted to sign Neves surely you can see why the club might look at him as oppose to more expensive options? Also add in that Carrick is now part of our coaching setup he could improve and influence Neves. As I said originally it’s not the worst comparison of a player regardless of if you rate Neves or not
I would have bought Carrick based on an assessment of his talent and ability, which is what I'm saying about Neves now. If you think he's an outstanding talent who could become a United first-teamer, make that point. Don't justify buying a player based on some spurious comparison to some other guy. You could use that argument to justify just about any young midfielder after all, no matter how average. Hell, Vardy once played non-league, does that mean that we should buy every terrier-like nippy non-league striker we see simply because Vardy turned out good? Obviously not.
 

Isotope

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I'm no expert on him, but other than the start of his PL career when I bought into the hype, I was disappointed every time I watched him. Never looked anywhere near a top class CM talent. Just very cumbersome on the ball, and didnt seem to have that extra time on the ball and speed of thought/feet. He's in the mould of player we need but I'm not convinced he has the necessary quality.

If he's available on the cheap, you never know I guess, if the player can make big strides in a more front foot team.
Yeh, for the little games i've watched, I've never thought he's a top class CM. But then, I had never seen anything special with Maguire (at Leicester) either.

Anyway, if he's an obvious top class PL midfielder, he wouldn't be rated 35m either.
 

Tarrou

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Didnt watch Wolves or him that much if ever, what kind of a player he is?
deep lying midfielder, more of a pass-master than a tackler.. decent positioning and shot on him, but he's about as pacey as Neil Webb (POST injury)
 

alquemyst

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People were saying the same dumb shit about Carrick when he came in: he's nothing special, he's weak defensively, he's not fast etc.
 

gazbradley

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I would have bought Carrick based on an assessment of his talent and ability, which is what I'm saying about Neves now. If you think he's an outstanding talent who could become a United first-teamer, make that point. Don't justify buying a player based on some spurious comparison to some other guy. You could use that argument to justify just about any young midfielder after all, no matter how average. Hell, Vardy once played non-league, does that mean that we should buy every terrier-like nippy non-league striker we see simply because Vardy turned out good? Obviously not.
I’ve never said he was an outstanding talent or the answer to our midfield, but he’s a player who creates from deep, reads the defensive side of the game well and isn’t afraid to make a killer pass when he thinks it’s on, something we lack currently. He’s also slow and not great when opposition players run at him, all of the above could also be said of Carrick when he was at Spurs and to be fair his whole career. I agree Carrick had probably shown more overall but there’s not a lot in it, there’s a reason no top sides signed him from West Ham. So to completely dismiss comparisons of the 2 seems illogical to me, when they play the game very much the same way I can see why posters who rate him highly think he could follow a similar path
 
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I think he could turn out a shrewd signing, offers the strong positional play only Matic has in our current squad and is an excellent passer.
For 90% of our games that’s really all we need, and I’m still rather convinced we’ll play with 2 DM’s in the big games anyhow.
 
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