Saúl Ñíguez

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News: @RuizAntonito reports that Manchester United offers up to 20 million
 

Cassidy

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Fellaini replacement? Seems odd otherwise, we have alot of CMs
 

Devil may care

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We need another CM added to the mix IMO as I think Carrick will retire at the end of the season and Blind may have to continue as a CB. @Invictus Is the man to give us some knowledge on Saul, he's a big fan of him.
 

Invictus

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Fellaini replacement? Seems odd otherwise, we have alot of CMs
Saúl has the potential to be better than any of them in 2 seasons, and develop into a Javi Martinez type midfielder (so essentially the prototypical defensive midfielder for the modern game). Top 7-8 central midfield talent in Europe with the likes of Neves and Óliver. This is the type of player who'll become a world class central midfielder in Europe in the near future, maybe cost £40 million then with more competition for his signature.

For a release clause of €24 million (£18 million), we could do much worse to be honest.
 

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Very good player. Atletico won't sell him for that money. He's going to be there for a long time.
 

Cassidy

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Saúl has the potential to be better than any of them in 2 seasons, and develop into a Javi Martinez type midfielder (so essentially the prototypical defensive midfielder for the modern game). Top 7-8 central midfield talent in Europe with the likes of Neves and Óliver.
Nice, I've only seem him play a few times, but I do like the look of him. Still lets see if this is even true
 

Devil may care

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Saúl has the potential to be better than any of them in 2 seasons, and develop into a Javi Martinez type midfielder (so essentially the prototypical defensive midfielder for the modern game). Top 7-8 central midfield talent in Europe with the likes of Neves and Óliver. This is the type of player who'll become a world class central midfielder in Europe in the near future, maybe cost £40 million then with more competition for his signature.

For a release clause of €24 million (£18 million), we could do much worse to be honest.
That's his release clause? If so it seems unlikely we'd offer €20M instead of just paying it.
 

bosnian_red

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Fellaini replacement? Seems odd otherwise, we have alot of CMs
Carrick is 34, Schweiny 31, fellaini not very good, Herrera not a deeper lying midfielder... A lot of numbers but need freshening up.
 

Ole's_toe_poke

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Fellaini replacement? Seems odd otherwise, we have alot of CMs
No we don't. Carrick is getting old and is a bit shit this season and needs replacing. Schweinsteiger doesn't have many years left either.
 

Invictus

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That's his release clause? If so it seems unlikely we'd offer €20M instead of just paying it.
Yep, they increased his release clause in 2014, after David and Phil Neville's scouting trips in Rayo Vallecano. :)
http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/98240/saul-niguez-renews-with-atletico-madrid-until-2018/

PS: Óliver has a €24 million release clause too, which is crazy because if the players were willing, a club could sign arguably the best young midfield duo in Spain for all of £36 million. Which kind of scares me to be honest, because Óliver is reportedly a fan of Guardiola and City have a weak central midfield with players who maybe aren't ideal fits. Him and Saúl could be devastating in Pep's system once they get used to the league.

If our interest is genuine, we should pay his release clause ASAP with an eye on a summer move. The longer we delay things, more clubs will get involved and then it could be problematic because the player would get to pick between multiple clubs. That said, maybe it's just a negotiation tactic, the likes of which we've seen several times before. He'll have only 2 years left on his contract at the end of the season, and the wages are quite low. Now that he's become kind of a starting XI fixture, maybe he wants a pay rise.
 

Devil may care

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Yep, they increased his release clause in 2014, after David and Phil Neville's scouting trips in Rayo Vallecano. :)
http://www.insidespanishfootball.com/98240/saul-niguez-renews-with-atletico-madrid-until-2018/

PS: Óliver has a €24 million release clause too, which is crazy because if the players were willing, a club could sign arguably the best young midfield duo in Spain for all of £36 million. Which kind of scares me to be honest, because Óliver is reportedly a fan of Guardiola and City have a weak central midfield with players who maybe aren't ideal fits. Him and Saúl could be devastating in Pep's system once they get used to the league.

If our interest is genuine, we should pay his release clause ASAP with an eye on a summer move. The longer we delay things, more clubs will get involved and then it could be problematic because the player would get to pick between multiple clubs. That said, maybe it's just a negotiation tactic, the likes of which we've seen several times before. He'll have only 2 years left on his contract at the end of the season, and the wages are quite low. Now that he's become kind of a starting XI fixture, maybe he wants a pay rise.
Atletico didn't think those release clauses through, not the way Porto and Benfica always slap insane release clauses on their best prospects. If our interest is real I think we'd be best just paying up but like you say, you can't rule out the possibility that his agent is using us. The fact we have scouted him for some time along with the age of our 2 best CM's could indicate we are genuinely interested though.

If Pep goes to City you can guarantee he'll be overhauling their midfield first and foremost, and looking to Spain for his recruits is also quite likely. Saul wouldn't be my first choice but if he is the one the club see as the right one due to his size then I hope we don't dawdle, even pay now and collect in the summer would be fine.
 

Santiago_KinderBueno

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I was thinking we might be after this guy last year. Not so sure now.

I always think even if we line up 433 or 4231 - van gaal really wants us to calibrate between 433 to 352 during match (attack to defence).

We already have a striker in martial who can start off deep like a false 9 and move up to join with the two wide players who should be upfront. So the attackers of the 352 are sorted.

What we would need is a CDM who can operate as the 3rd central defender - almost like pivots between defence & attack.

Still prefer marcus rashford though.
 

Ibi Dreams

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I don't remember him being linked to us at that time, plus whenever I've seen talk about him he's always been pretty highly rated. I think they must be thinking of someone else - Clasie maybe?
 

DomesticTadpole

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I was thinking we might be after this guy last year. Not so sure now.

I always think even if we line up 433 or 4231 - van gaal really wants us to calibrate between 433 to 352 during match (attack to defence).

We already have a striker in martial who can start off deep like a false 9 and move up to join with the two wide players who should be upfront. So the attackers of the 352 are sorted.

What we would need is a CDM who can operate as the 3rd central defender - almost like pivots between defence & attack.

Still prefer marcus rashford though.
Rashford is a striker, according to Manchester United. Why would that stop us signing a CDM?
 

ottosec

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Never heard of him, but I'm all for signing Spanish midfielders.
 

Devil may care

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I was thinking we might be after this guy last year. Not so sure now.

I always think even if we line up 433 or 4231 - van gaal really wants us to calibrate between 433 to 352 during match (attack to defence).

We already have a striker in martial who can start off deep like a false 9 and move up to join with the two wide players who should be upfront. So the attackers of the 352 are sorted.

What we would need is a CDM who can operate as the 3rd central defender - almost like pivots between defence & attack.

Still prefer marcus rashford though.
What has our 18 year old striker got to do with anything?
 

lysglimt

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Yes he is a very good player - but I can't take a guy with that name seriously :)