Selling Daley Blind

Josep Dowling

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I just had to point this one out. He was deemed not good enough by us. Arguably his only flaw was his pace but he had a good football brain. He’s now the experience head in a team who have dominated Real Madrid and Juventus and got to the semi final of the Champions League.

It comes down to decision making of the club’s board and prior managers. How has Young and Jones been given contract extensions for next season. Smalling is still here as well. Can’t sell Darmian and Rojo because their on too much money. Valencia is going. That’s just the defence.

4 of our back 5 tonight played against Basel in 2011. Courtesy of United Religion on Twitter. Embarrassing statistic.
 

bosnian_red

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Was always incredibly obvious at the time and I said it loads. Mourinho was and is obsessed with physicality. Blind is an intelligent player and technically a very good player, and was a versatile player. Yet Mourinho never used him because he isn't fast, super strong or 6'0"+.
 

Andycoleno9

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I said it then that it was mistake. He is better than Jones, Rojo, Bailly. Young. Even if he is not for first 11 he is that famous "excellent squad player".
 

settembrini

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Him and Smalling were a very good partnership and it was ridiculous that Mourinho bought two CBs who want to play on the right side, sold Blind, and then complained that he lacked left sided CBs.
 

11101

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He wasn't good enough to start for us, which is what he wanted to do. We brought in two players who were supposed to be better than him. It hasn't worked out that way, but it still doesn't make him good enough.
 

Bwuk

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He’s miles ahead of Smalling and Jones.

Lindelof - Blind would of been a very good and progressive partnership.
 

TMDaines

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He wouldn’t have been moved on by me. He would have been way down the list. Was always going go look better back at a possession oriented team though.
 

buckooo1978

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Blind was a classy player... no one would question that

the issue I felt he has was his physicality - he wasn't your typical 6 foot 4 athlete like Van Dijk etc

the Premier League is a different proposition

what I will say is that he should have stayed instead of Rojo, Jones..... the fact we were able to sell him spoke volumes - we've not been able to shift the likes of Rojo or Darmian
 

Josep Dowling

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He wouldn’t have been moved on by me. He would have been way down the list. Was always going go look better back at a possession oriented team though.
That’s my view as well. There were far worse players to get rid of first. Can also play in midfield as well.
 

Roboc7

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Playing well for Ajax but for us he was having rings run round him by Bristol City. If he was here he’d be deadwood because we are and have been a shambles for years.
 

gaucho_10

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Blind was a classy player... no one would question that

the issue I felt he has was his physicality - he wasn't your typical 6 foot 4 athlete like Van Dijk etc

the Premier League is a different proposition
Different, meaning better teams then Bayern, Real and Juventus?
 

F-Red

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If Ajax had lost to Juventus tonight then i don't think this thread would have appeared...
 

Yagami

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Blind was a classy player... no one would question that

the issue I felt he has was his physicality - he wasn't your typical 6 foot 4 athlete like Van Dijk etc

the Premier League is a different proposition

what I will say is that he should have stayed instead of Rojo, Jones..... the fact we were able to sell him spoke volumes - we've not been able to shift the likes of Rojo or Darmian
He always held his own, though. Lukaku, Aguero, Giroud - Blind did well against the lot. I can't remember anyone constantly getting the better of him.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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We told you so.

No defender is perfect - but he was good enough to be our best or second best defender & if we had improved on him we would have had him being a 3rd very good defender.

One of my favourite players to watch.
The way he played football was just art.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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If Ajax had lost to Juventus tonight then i don't think this thread would have appeared...
You should see the Daley Blind performance thread - we have been missing him well before today's match.

Watching Barcelona's defence pass triangles over our attackers to initiate a team attack & having Blind win with Ajax on the same night is going to raise people's eyes because he was the only player who could pass triangles over attackers at United.
 

Jibbs

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We have a history of wasting intelligent players since Sir Alex left, we signed Mata, and instead giving him number 10 role and shipping out Rooney, gave him a 6 years contract and played Mata out of position, we were struggling on left back, arguably Blind was our most capable left back, we shipped him out and gave a new contract to Rojo.
 

Web of Bissaka

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He doesn't work in Mourinho's system, and Mourinho just doesn't rate him anymore as CB or even at all as midfielder. He barely play any games last season. So it works for both parties at that time when the decision is made. Blind back to his hometown club works wonder for him now as we can see.

Shame, one of my fav players from the latest generation, often always fun watching him play. At least he make many post-SAF boring games more tolerable with his flair and creative intelligence.
 

Heinzesight

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He doesn't work in Mourinho's system, and Mourinho just doesn't rate him anymore as CB or even at all as midfielder. He barely play any games last season. So it works for both parties at that time when the decision is made. Blind back to his hometown club works wonder for him now as we can see.

Shame, one of my fav players from the latest generation, often always fun watching him play. At least he make many post-SAF boring games more tolerable with his flair and creative intelligence.
Don’t forget his great hair.
 

mu4c_20le

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Not this thread again. He was sold because he had the turn speed of a howitzer tank, and had more than a few shaky appearances in the league.
 

Camilo

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He was a decent player but he was no solution to any of our current problems.

He is slow, he is weak, and he wasn't good enough to start in any position for us.
 

Sandikan

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Ah so selling blind was the cause of all our issues.

He got dogs abuse on here, same as Evans.
Yet roll on and suddenly both are incredible misses.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Not this thread again. He was sold because he had the turn speed of a howitzer tank, and had more than a few shaky appearances in the league.
Ah yes because the ones we bought are rock solid. Blind is better than every defender without question - only Smalling could even compete with him.

Blind maybe got beaten at max once every 3 games & even that's not accurately true.
 

Josep Dowling

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Playing well for Ajax but for us he was having rings run round him by Bristol City. If he was here he’d be deadwood because we are and have been a shambles for years.
If I remember rightly the entire squad were a shambles against Bristol. Mourinho had a habit of putting out a new set of experienced players and expecting miracles to happen.
 

Andrew~

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I was annoyed when he left, but the truth remains that he was not suited to any of the styles the managers wanted to play apart from Van Gaal.
 

Roboc7

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If I remember rightly the entire squad were a shambles against Bristol. Mourinho had a habit of putting out a new set of experienced players and expecting miracles to happen.
Well that’s the point he’s playing in a very good, well organised team and looks a better player. He wouldn’t be turning us into a great team or looking like a good player, he’d be running around looking as lost as everyone else.
 

Josep Dowling

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Ah so selling blind was the cause of all our issues.

He got dogs abuse on here, same as Evans.
Yet roll on and suddenly both are incredible misses.
I’m more pointing out the decision to sell him over the other dross of players we have in defence. He went from being a solid player under Van Gaal to never being given a chance under Mourinho.
 

Champagne Football

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Van Gaal signing Blind instead of Van Dijk who was available for £13 million from Celtic was the real mistake.

Not to mention not having any interest in Dele Alli, available for peanuts, insisting on Rooney in midfield instead.
 

bosnian_red

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Would've been better than most of the dross we've played at left back over the years. Would've been good depth for left back, center back or midfield, and given the injuries we've had in those 3 positions, he basically would've played every week because we always had injuries there with trash back ups.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Van Gaal signing Blind instead of Van Dijk who was available for £13 million from Celtic was the real mistake.

Not to mention not having any interest in Dele Alli, available for peanuts, insisting on Rooney in midfield instead.
Blind was signed as a defensive deep lying playmaker. What does he have to do with Van Dijk.

Not a single club went for Van Dijk - he moved and then got bought by a great manager.
 

Yagami

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I was annoyed when he left, but the truth remains that he was not suited to any of the styles the managers wanted to play apart from Van Gaal.
That's the problem for me. We went in the opposite direction after van Gaal which set us back again due to needing to start from scratch. We should've built on what he was trying to do. Like City did after Mancini, Pellegrini, and Liverpool after Rodgers.

Now, we're back to starting from scratch again because we threw what van Gaal was trying to achieve out the window in favour of instant results with José.
 

Morpheus 7

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Hindsight is a great thing, Blind was a fine player but would hardly change our current situation. Too slow for the premier league, you can name off deadwood fc who should be gone, that's easy.
The point is, we are not in this mess because of Daley fecking Blind. The problems run way deeper, creating a reactionary thread after a terrible defeat ain't going to change the mess.
.
 

bondsname

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Blind leaving was a great decision for both parties. We thought we had someone better lined up and he probably wanted to leave. He was pretty bad for us at times, people wanted him gone and rightly so. If he stayed we still wouldn't have won shite, it wouldn't have made a difference.

But he went back to Ajax to play in a system that suits him better and that's why he is better. It's not rocket science. I'm extremely happy for him that he managed to so what he is doing now.