By then he would cost more, I think we can use a talented player for depth purposes and assess where he stands after one season. For example, we won't make a loss with James because he didn't cost much and isn't on a big contract so we could keep him for a squad role and sell him for circa 10m at the end of next season. This lad's numbers are superior to James' at the same level so I wouldn't expect him to fare worse but the potential pay off is big should he take well to PL football.
Saïd Benrahma
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Missed a few good chances vs Preston yesterday. Like others have pointed out, he wouldn't get the same space off defenders in the PL so he'd have to find another level, would be better off going to Everton or Newcastle for consistent gametime.
No way to know unless he is given a chance. If a bigger club gets him and he performs, it will take a vast sum of money to get hold of him then.
I understand your point. I would not be opposed to seeing Benrahma at United even if we manage to sign Sancho. We need squad depth and even improve the first team. The reserves we have simply do not have the quality to break down a team. We need good backups who can even step into the team as starters. James has his limitations but may improve in time, if at all.
I'd agree with you if only our budget is likely to be spent on other areas. We do need quality to come on and affect a game or keep momentum.
City can have Gundogan and Mahrez sitting on the bench, and we don't have anything as good
Any teams been linked with this guy?
Chelsea, mostly. Arsenal as well.
Ideal Wilf replacement but think he’s beyond us now 
Chelsea have enough in his position. They won’t sign him. Arsenal is definitely an option. They can’t afford some of the big guys this summer since they may not even make Europe.
Ready for us as a rotation option. Much better than James. If Brentford make it into the PL we should buy him and loan him back for a year.
Why loan him back? He isn’t a teenager. He is 24. We can definitely use him next year.
Yea, this guy has that little something out of the ordinary. Even if we get this guy, we could look to use James more of a wing back?
I mean I wouldn’t say no.
Could he do those tricks against top-level players?
James doesn't look a patch on his Championship form but having said that Madderson has come out of the Championship and done excellently. I'd not heard of him but watching that video he's skilful.
James doesn't look a patch on his Championship form but having said that Madderson has come out of the Championship and done excellently. I'd not heard of him but watching that video he's skilful.
James couldn't do those tricks against my Nan, never mind top-level players.
Didn’t he only have like 5 goals and 4 assists or something like that for Swansea last year? Not sure what we saw in him except pace.
He'd be a great Sancho alternative. Elite vision and technical ability. He also has great balance. Don't see why we should go for Grealish and not this guy. Similar players but he has a better football brain.
Elite vision and technical ability is going a bit far. I like the look of him but doing it in the championship and premiership are different things. I wouldn’t class any championship player as elite until they’ve proven it on a bigger stage.
Do we really need to weaken Brentford? One of the likeable teams in the Championship, maybe they will even get promotion via playoffs...
Technical ability is what it is, whether he plays in the championship, Chile or the prem. What he has to prove is whether he's an elite player, not whether some of his qualities are.
I’d disagree. It’s easier to show off ability in weaker leagues. The real technique is doing it under immense pressure
TBH it's generally accepted that if we don't go up off he is deffo off to the Prem and even if we do it's likely he'll be the big money transfer of the summer anyway. It is the model of the club and how we survive - sell at peak and re-invest in better. Best player I have ever seen at Griffin Park easily for me and as I have said before if he goes I'd rather it be to United than anyone else - as long as the money is right
Destroyed Grealish statwise in the Championship last season...
Yeah, if we're after depth, it makes much more sense to go for Benrahma than Grealish. Both same age, outperformed Grealish in championship last season and is really good technically. In fact, he greatly outperformed Grealish statistically last season despite Villa being the better team and better attacking side.
In fact, apart from end product, here are dribbling statistics in the Championship last season
Benrahma - 2.4 per game, 3.3 per 90 min, 3.3 per 6.5 attempts
Grealish - 1.8 per game, 1.8 per 90 min, 1.8 per 2.8 attempts
In fact, apart from end product, here are dribbling statistics in the Championship last season
Benrahma - 2.4 per game, 3.3 per 90 min, 3.3 per 6.5 attempts
Grealish - 1.8 per game, 1.8 per 90 min, 1.8 per 2.8 attempts
He's got a better football brain than Grealish, not difficult to see why.
A thoroughly decent young man too - Grealish could learn a lot from him in this regard...
He’s done fine for his first season at a massive club, his first year in the top flight and a year when he had suffered personal grief. He’s done fine.
If Brentford doesnt get promotion we should be all over him, 20-25M should be enough. He reminds me to Mahrez.
Maybe we could send Daniel James in a swap deal.
Maybe we could send Daniel James in a swap deal.
I think he'll end up at a more 7th to 10th place club. The links with Chelsea look like nonsense. I also feel if Brentford get promoted he'll stick around for another season.
If a top six club came in for him I can see him moving. Anything could happen a year from now so if he got a chance to leave this summer for a better team for more money then I can see him taking that chance.
I think it would be far more difficult to negotiate with a newly promoted team considering he's their best player or there abouts. Kind of like Grealish, had Villa not been promoted last season, he would have been off. If Brentford don't go up, yeah he's gone. Very rare I've seen a promoted team sell one of their best players upon promotion.
Well I'd be pleasantly surprised but there are clubs out there who'd pay him way more than us so as I said previously the general consensus is we'd be lucky to see him in a Bees shirt next season even if we are in the Prem.
Same goes for Grealish and plenty of others, though. It'll be much harder for clubs to sign him if Brentford get promoted. It just depends how badly a buying club wants him, I suppose.
It’s not fully up to them though is it? Sure they can demand 5-10m more if they get promoted but if the players makes some noise about moving they will cash in.
It's just my take. Paying an extra 10m for a player coming from the Championship is a lot of money. I mean, that's unless one of the top four want him, which I really doubt. I haven't seen any real links, just some unsubstantiated nonsense links to Chelsea which I don't believe.
Grealish would already have been on Prem wages though with Villa - this lad we picked up from OGC Nice and he wasn't even featuring in their first team. Villa had a massive wage budget in the Championship, we have the fourth lowest - you are comparing apples to oranges. The link with Chelsea doesn't massively surprise me as Lampard would have seen him up close last season and the lad has the talent and character to make it imo.
Fair enough maybe he'll leave either way it's just my take.
trust me I don't want him to but I am just being a realist...I mean the Scottish Pirlo, Charlie Adam gave Blackpool a season in the PL after they were promoted. If you think Brentford don't pay well, Blackpool were paying their players with vouchers for fish and chips back then. Evidently Adam was the highest paid.
We should keep looking for bargain deals like this, especially when our team lacks depth.