A lot of good suggestions there imo. I'm a big fan of Zakaria and Ndidi and would love to see us buy at least one of the two. They bring everything you would want of a modern midfielder, robust players who don't buckle under pressing and can play a good pass forward. Ndidi - Fred/Pogba - Zakaria could be a really amazing 3 man midfield for us and provide enough "steel" as well as forward thinking passes to get the best out of our attacking trio Rashford - Martial - Greenwood.
I feel the hardest problem to solve is probably our left FB position. Do we stick with Williams and Shaw and hope that either Shaw will stabilize and not get injured anymore or that Williams is going to improve a lot more? Or do we buy a new player?
I'll reply to your post in this thread instead, since it is based on that podcast episode. Once again, for those who haven't already listened to it: I recommend that you do.
Overall, it's just a rational approach for players that won't cost a fortune.
Unfortunately, it's a tough ask within our current recruitment, scouting and structural (or lack thereof) setup. I'm not sure it can all be pinned on Woodward, but he's clearly on top of that hierarchy and with the final executive say on signings, so he has indeed failed massively and continues to do so if he insists on us doing whatever it is that we have done since Fergie's retirement.
Woodward is not the only problem, but the function of his role is apparently crucial at
this club, and that function seems broken. I guess that won't change until the Glazers realise they need revise the position itself and/or Woodward's role at Manchester United. Speculation, really.
Either way, I took note of the suggested players in the episode. Doesn't necessarily have to be exactly those players, but of similar ilk, availability and price. The players were:
Robin Koch (CB)
23 years, 192 cm, right-footed
Germany/SC Freiburg
Denis Zakaria (CDM, CM)
23 years, 191 cm, right-footed
Switzerland/Borussia Mönchengladbach
Wilfried Ndidi (CDM, CM)
23 years, 183 cm, right-footed
Nigeria/Leicester City
Teun Koopmeiners (CDM, CM)
21 years, 183 cm, left-footed
Netherlands/AZ Alkmaar
Boubakary Soumaré (CDM, CM)
20 years, 188 cm, right-footed
France/LOSC Lille
Sandro Tonali (CDM, CM)
19 years, 181 cm, right-footed
Italy/Brescia
Calvin Stengs (RF, RW)
21 years, 182 cm, left-footed
Netherlands/AZ Alkmaar
Viktor Tsyhankov (RW/LW, RM/LM)
22 years, 177 cm, left-footed
Ukraine/Dynamo Kiyv
Apart from perhaps Tonali (don't think he'll leave Italy quite yet) I view them all as sensible transfers, presumably even after the eventual and mandatory Manchester United tax.
Pau Torres is another one. There are also some domestic players which I think would suit us, such as
Kalvin Phillips,
Jarrod Bowen and
Jack Grealish, although Grealish would probably be a very expensive signing.
As for the part in your post which I bolded: I still hope our own Demetri Mitchell can surprise us regarding the LB position, which is a problem position for us, as you correctly highlighted. Shaw is Shaw and while I do think Williams is a good player, I prefer having a left-footed player at LB. Ideally, the LB would be a position we'd have locked down with AWB as our main RB, whilst Williams provides backup for RB and LB as needed. After all, Williams is only 19, which is no age for a defender, including the full-back position.
