Fellaini 
Smart buys post fergie?
- Thread starter Lee565
- Start date
Blind would give cover for Shaw and immediately become the second best centrehalf at United.
Poor lad gets so much stick but he actually put in a shift for us and gave us some great memories, basically played a huge part in our Europa League campaign.Fellaini
Best buy post SAF is definitely Bruno Fernandes and before him, single-handedly got us 3rd last season. Sergio Romero is also a great shout. I'd add Zlatan too but we got him for free.
Blind - A very good footballer for a reasonable fee. Wish we had someone like him in this squad. That is a proper squad player - someone with footballing intelligence and technique. Not the likes of Periera and James.
Fernandes - A quality player for a fairly hefty fee but I don't think anyone saw such a big impact coming.
That's all I've got, which is a pathetic reflection of our transfer activity as well as the standard of management/ coaching.
Fernandes - A quality player for a fairly hefty fee but I don't think anyone saw such a big impact coming.
That's all I've got, which is a pathetic reflection of our transfer activity as well as the standard of management/ coaching.
I’m hoping Donny can become one our smart signings, looked so good in his palace cameo. He’ll need to be a strong personality like Bruno not to succumb to falling into line with other underperformers.
There have been a lot of good buys post Fergie. It's the way we incorporated some of the signings into the team that's the issue. Mykhi, Ibra, Lukaku, Mata, Herrera, Di Maria and Pogba are all good players but not all of them managed to impose themselves and some of that is down to the management and the clear lack of direction this club is going. (which saddens me) Some of them didn't put a shift in offcourse but some were true professionals like Mata or Ibra.
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Wouldn't say anything we've done post fergie has been smart, Fernandes should have been signed earlier. Ibra was a good signing but the idea that he was free is absurd when you consider his reported salary. Martial was one of the only good things to come out of LVG's reign.
Herrera was a shrewd buy, and Blind was too until Mourinho froze him out. Such a good player Blind, one of the best technical defenders we’ve had in recent years and never ever played a bad game for us. I’d take him over Lindelof and Maguire any day of the week, as he is better on the ball and defends far better too. Hope he’s over his health issues, obviously.
Otherwise, I suppose you could make cases for Zlatan, Martial and Romero, but no one else. How embarassing is that btw, 5 good deals in 8 summers. Clubs like City, Liverpool, Real, PSG etc could do that in 2, maybe even 1.
Otherwise, I suppose you could make cases for Zlatan, Martial and Romero, but no one else. How embarassing is that btw, 5 good deals in 8 summers. Clubs like City, Liverpool, Real, PSG etc could do that in 2, maybe even 1.
Romero, Blind, Martial, Fernandes, Zlatan, Matic, Shaw and Herrera.
Why are we making a distinction between pre and post Ferguson? SAF is as culpable as anybody, his signings (with the odd exception) after Vidic and Evra were shocking.
Our comparative wealth and power during the 90s/00s has actually hindered us in the long run because our Scouting department was very old-fashioned and stagnant. Other teams were forced to innovate to compete and have been reaping the rewards. Even now, we seem incapable of bringing in a half-useful player for anything less than a top fee
Our comparative wealth and power during the 90s/00s has actually hindered us in the long run because our Scouting department was very old-fashioned and stagnant. Other teams were forced to innovate to compete and have been reaping the rewards. Even now, we seem incapable of bringing in a half-useful player for anything less than a top fee
Shaw cost us £30m in 2014, which would be about £60-80m in the current market. He’s been anything but a smart buy. He’s completed one full season for us.
Martial
Herrera
Mata
Ibra
Romero
Looking like these will be good too:
Bruno
Maguire
AWB
Probably misunderstood the thread but oh well.
Herrera
Mata
Ibra
Romero
Looking like these will be good too:
Bruno
Maguire
AWB
Probably misunderstood the thread but oh well.
He's a good left back, he's just turned 25 and he'd cost us at least as much to buy now than he did then. Prices haven't hugely changed in the last 5-6 years so unsure what you're referring to (Herrera cost more).
Prices certainly haven't even close to doubled, let alone nearly tripled.
Martial
Herrera
Ibrah
Bruno
Romero
VdB (?)
...
That's it. No one else comes close to qualifying.
Herrera
Ibrah
Bruno
Romero
VdB (?)
...
That's it. No one else comes close to qualifying.
Zlatan, Herrera at the time was mint until Louis ruined him, Bruno, MArtial, Romero
(Pogba was at the wrong time as he is more the last piece of the midfield jiggsaw not the 1st, so we are constantly trying to unlock him
(Pogba was at the wrong time as he is more the last piece of the midfield jiggsaw not the 1st, so we are constantly trying to unlock him
How many of them would have been better if they played for another manager(s)? Or better yet, if some good players from Liverpool/City/Chelsea had joined us instead, would they also have been flops and deadwood by now?
We’ve hired shit or past it managers and trusted them with transfers. Ole’s maybe a bit early to judge, but how would the players we bought since 2013 played under a Klopp or Pep (or any competent manager)
It’s easy to pass the blame to the players, but a style of play ans tactics can make average players look great and good players average.
We’ve hired shit or past it managers and trusted them with transfers. Ole’s maybe a bit early to judge, but how would the players we bought since 2013 played under a Klopp or Pep (or any competent manager)
It’s easy to pass the blame to the players, but a style of play ans tactics can make average players look great and good players average.
Blind was. Still can't believe we got rid of him.
Bruno, Blind and Zlatan, that is it for me.
Here's the thing - at the time we were buying most of these players, they all looked to be pretty shrewd buys, bar maybe Fellaini and Alexis (although tbf, at that time everyone would have taken the Alexis -Mkhi swap). The issue has always been that our managers did not use them properly/ we changed managers often that the previous manager's signings were useless in the new manager's system.
Just think about it - one can present a solid case for close to each of the signings being perfect for us - from Varela (where there wasn't a lot of downside) to van De Beek.
If we are to judge retrospectively, there isn't any difference between a smart buy and a successful buy
Just think about it - one can present a solid case for close to each of the signings being perfect for us - from Varela (where there wasn't a lot of downside) to van De Beek.
If we are to judge retrospectively, there isn't any difference between a smart buy and a successful buy
I would say Mejbri, Marc Jurado. This is the new way of smart buys (real does also with odegaard, rodrygo, vinicius). Get potential future world class players and best within the ago group around 16-17. Yes they werent cheap, but potentialy we saved lot of money in the future. From senior players we bought for that time, only few were smart buys (zlatan, blind, romero) and mostly these players are not around anymore or wont be
Problem with us compared to real is we likely become too reliant on the youngsters to produce week in week out too soon like we have already with greenwood and don't handle them as well with building up their experience with first term football out on loan like real do so well.
Herrera.
Putting hindsight aside,
OP is mostly right.
Zlatan and Romero are the best successes by far if we put hindsight glasses on.
- Zlatan
- Romero
- Valdes
- Dalot (top rated at youth level, considering inflation, the price we paid is somewhat low)
- Blind
- Darmian (look, he's good before joining, easy to forget, didn't work out well with us)
- youth level players (we're always good in this department, getting promising yougsters to join our youth level teams)
OP is mostly right.
Zlatan and Romero are the best successes by far if we put hindsight glasses on.
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VdB is too early to say. I think Blind was very fine buy for us, as were Romero and Ibra.
However Darmian? That guy was pants and never should have been bought. Valdes was a cnut and never ever offered a contract here.
I would say Martial was a smart buy and we did that in panic mode, which tells you how shit we've been in this department, other than that I can't think of one to be fair, and there were lots of players available that could have improved us.
Thiago, Kroos, Maguire (when he first left Hull), Robertson(same as Maguire), Kante when he left Leicester, they were all there for the taking and we did what?
We’ve made a lot of smart transfers, some of them just haven’t worked out.
Di Maria for example, an absolutely brilliant player at a good fee. Brilliant when he first came, but then LvG started messing his position around and his house got robbed and he wanted out.
Who could of predicted that?
Di Maria for example, an absolutely brilliant player at a good fee. Brilliant when he first came, but then LvG started messing his position around and his house got robbed and he wanted out.
Who could of predicted that?
What a love-in over Daley Blind. There is no universe where he is a United level player. Sure, he did his best and is a nice kid, but he was never going to be more than a rdecent squad player. Though for 12 million I guess that's fine.
Saying he didn't play bad games for you though is nonsense. He was caught out defensively quite often against strong opposition.
On smart buys, I'd say Bruno Fernandez stands out.
Saying he didn't play bad games for you though is nonsense. He was caught out defensively quite often against strong opposition.
On smart buys, I'd say Bruno Fernandez stands out.
Bruno and Zlatan were both excellent signings and huge difference makers in the team.
Yhere were other really good signings but, in typical United fashion, they paid massively over the odds.
Yhere were other really good signings but, in typical United fashion, they paid massively over the odds.
VDB just wait until he plays a full 90 mins , then they will be calls for a statue outside O.T ........ Utd legend
Smart buys don't always need to be regular starters. We are crying out for squad depth and Daley Blind gave us that.
Herrera, Romero, Blind, Bruno, Matic.
Depressing thread
Blind, Martial, Bruno, Romero, Matic.
Bruno Fernandes and Anthony Martial. That's all folks.
Martial, Romero, Bruno Fernandes, Mejbri and Blind.
Feel Herrera was the right profile of signing but unfortunately had many managers that didn't trust him but we looked better when he had a run in a team.
Feel Herrera was the right profile of signing but unfortunately had many managers that didn't trust him but we looked better when he had a run in a team.
Blind. Had no idea why fans wanted him gone, very intelligent footballer, versatile as well.
Romero. Ibra.
I'll pencil in Bruno
Seven years and a billion spent.
I'll pencil in Bruno
Seven years and a billion spent.
Here's the full list of all buys post Fergie:
Moyes:
1. Fellaini
2. Mata
LVG:
3. Herrera
4. Shaw
4. Rojo
5. Di Maria
6. Blind
7. Falcao
8. Valdes
9. Memphis
10. Romero
11. Darmian
12. Basti
13. Schneiderlin
14. Martial
Mourinho:
15. Bailly
16. Ibrahimovic
17. Miki
18. Pogba
19. Lindelof
20. Lukaku
21. Matic
22. Sanchez
23. Dalot
24. Fred
Ole
25. James
26. AWB
27. Maguire
28. Bruno Fernandes
29. Van de Beek
Moyes:
1. Fellaini
2. Mata
LVG:
3. Herrera
4. Shaw
4. Rojo
5. Di Maria
6. Blind
7. Falcao
8. Valdes
9. Memphis
10. Romero
11. Darmian
12. Basti
13. Schneiderlin
14. Martial
Mourinho:
15. Bailly
16. Ibrahimovic
17. Miki
18. Pogba
19. Lindelof
20. Lukaku
21. Matic
22. Sanchez
23. Dalot
24. Fred
Ole
25. James
26. AWB
27. Maguire
28. Bruno Fernandes
29. Van de Beek
Some of them could have turned out to be quite smart in the long run e.g. if Manutd agreed to Everton signing Rojo, it would have been a tidy profit. So, it would have been a pretty smart piece of business in the end. But, we didn't.
Certain ones were worth a try: Falcao and Di Maria.
Smart deals: Ibrahimovic, Romero, Martial (a bit of a question mark, though, since it could rise to £58m even back then.), Fernandes (a bit of a question mark, very good player but can he rediscover his past form?)
Certain ones were worth a try: Falcao and Di Maria.
Smart deals: Ibrahimovic, Romero, Martial (a bit of a question mark, though, since it could rise to £58m even back then.), Fernandes (a bit of a question mark, very good player but can he rediscover his past form?)
Valdes & Romero, both solid back up keepers
Rojo, always liked him and was solid enough, but unfortunately highly injury prone
Blind, good player but unfortunately ended up with Jose as manager so had no chance, as Mourinho prefers brawn over brains
Rojo, always liked him and was solid enough, but unfortunately highly injury prone
Blind, good player but unfortunately ended up with Jose as manager so had no chance, as Mourinho prefers brawn over brains