Solskjaer target 5 signings; 6 players could leave [BBC, Telegraph, Guardian]

willhse456

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Just like Kante's defensive ability made him stand out for Leicester?

Are you aware of the numbers WB is putting up? He's number 2 in the premier league for tackles. Number 1 RB in the league for interceptions and as for attacking he averages 1.8 dribbles a game, which to put into context is more than Walker/Trent/Trippier/Cesar combined.
Kante is a defensive midfielder so his defensive attributes are important, very odd comparison.

Fullbacks should almost be wingers for us against every team from 7-20th. From what I've seen he doesn't tend to overlap and put lots of crosses in. I'd rather put our faith in Dalot as he's much better going forward.
 

Coxy

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Dembele went for such a stupid fee a couple of years ago though.
Because Barca desperately needed to make a marquee signing at the time after Neymar - and he was one of, if not the, highest rated teenagers at the time. He was more established

Sancho won’t go for that fee
 

goin4glory

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Kante is a defensive midfielder so his defensive attributes are important, very odd comparison.

Fullbacks should almost be wingers for us against every team from 7-20th. From what I've seen he doesn't tend to overlap and put lots of crosses in. I'd rather put our faith in Dalot as he's much better going forward.
Fullbacks defensive attributes aren't important? As I pointed out his attacking numbers are fine and unlike the rest of the players I named he isn't passing to kane/Aguero/Salah.
 

Kaglish10

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This is one of the worst posts I've ever seen and that's saying something

Zagadou has played 14 games this season but he's Dortmund's best defender? Adam Ounas who can't even get in the Napoli team? Grealish? This type of stuff is why we desperately need the newbie system back.
Don't you mean the same Zagadou that displaced the new signing, Diallo from Dortmund's central defence? Don't forget Diallo was signed for a huge price yet Zagadou is now considered as First choice in the central defence before him. Zagadou has had his own share of injuries but he's been Dortmund's best since he established himself. Should we then wait till his price skyrocket to 100mil before taking him off Dortmund? If you had watched the Derby between Dortmund and Bayern, you would already know how good he has been. He's everything you could want in a defender. We are better getting him now that he's yet to be as popular as De Ligt because I can assure you once he becomes popular, we won't even sniff him let alone sign him especially when the likes of Madrid, Barca and Bayern will all be swarming around him like bees. Signing him to play alongside an older experienced Toby won't be bad, considering Zagadou has done well so far alongside a young Akanji in defence. He's likely to do better with an experienced Toby.

Adam Ounas is a trouble kid but there's talent in there. He has impressed everytime he's been called upon for Napoli. You can check his stat. His performance as a right winger has been fantastic for Napoli. He's definitely not going to unsit Insigne and other older players right now but the talent is quite visible to the eyes. I'm sure he can offer us something better with his flashy style than the predictable Lingard. Coutinho wasn't starting at Inter Milan either but his talent was quite visible to the eyes and that was why Liverpool didn't have to wait before snapping him up. Ounas could be a valuable squad player who could play the right wing role for us pending the time Sancho becomes available. Dortmund won't definitely sell Sancho after just a season with them.

As for Grealish, he's been fantastic in the championship. I bet if we were linked with either Neves or Maddison last season, you would have come up with similar post about them but look at them today in the EPL? Likewise Alli, Robertson, Mahrez, Vardy who were all playing in the championship at one time. In Alli's case, he was even playing for a lower league 1 side before Spur eventually snapped him. Spurs would have done same with Grealish last season but Aston villa didn't want to sell their only hope of surviving the championship because Grealish is their best player as we speak. Besides, Grealish is no stranger to the EPL. He's dominated plenty of classy midfielders few years ago while he was playing in the EPL, so what are we saying?
 

USREDEVIL

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I think the only persistent rumor regarding losing a starting 11 player is Herrera. So here's what i think is a fairly reasonable starting 11:

------------------De Gea-----------------
AWB ---- Varane - Lindelöf ---- Shaw
------------------Matic----------------------
--------Neves ------------- Pogba
-----Sancho ---- Rashford ------- Martial

Ok reaching a bit with Varane but i dont think it's impossible.
 

KingMinger22

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"Hi, We're Manchester United. We are the richest club in the world. How much of our money would you like?"
We aren't the "richest" club in the world though. City or PSG clearly have the most resources.

We are the third highest in terms of revenues behind Barca and Real.

Because Barca desperately needed to make a marquee signing at the time after Neymar - and he was one of, if not the, highest rated teenagers at the time. He was more established

Sancho won’t go for that fee

Because they knew Barca had the £££ from the Neymar deal.
And know we are desperate and they have a potential superstar on their hands who happens to be English as well.

The precedent is set. They don't want to sell either.

It will be at least the Dembele fee.
 

Bwuk

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We aren't the "richest" club in the world though. City or PSG clearly have the most resources.

We are the third highest in terms of revenues behind Barca and Real.






And know we are desperate and they have a potential superstar on their hands who happens to be English as well.

The precedent is set. They don't want to sell either.

It will be at least the Dembele fee.
No one will give them near that.

Only ourselves and City have the funds for him in England, and City won’t buy him back.
 
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Central back: Alderweireld (25mil), Zagadou (40mil), Lindelof, Smalling.

Left back: Shaw, Dalot, O'Connor.

Right back: Dalot, O'Connor, Laird

Holding midfield role: Van De Beek (30mil), Matic, MCTominay.

Central midfield: Maddison (40 mil), Grealish (25 mil), MCTominay, Fred, Perriera.

Right wing: Maddison, Lingard, Adam Ounas (20 mil).

Left wing: Martial, Adam Ounas, Lingard.

Central forward: Rashford, Lukaku, Greenwood.

I know some would question some of my options such as Grealish but let's not forget he's been doing quite well in the championship since last season and let's not forget that the likes of Neves and Maddison who also did well in the championship last season have had no difficulty with the intensity of the EPL and have been doing quite well for their respective clubs so far. Besides, Grealish is no stranger to the EPL. He was once highly rated as one of the top young midfield talent after he had dominated City midfield comprises of Yaya Toure and David Silva and also, Liverpool midfield comprises of Coutinho, Henderson and Steven Gerrard before the screw in his head went nuts but at least, he's back to his sanity and his best once again. We shouldn't also forget about players such as Dele Alli, Liverpool's Robertson, Maddison were all snatched off from the lower English league. Even the likes of Vardy, Kane, Mahrez were once playing in the championship at one time.

As for Adam Ounas, he's another trouble kid who once clashed with his coach at Bordeaux but prior to that, he was highly rated. He's become cool headed after he was given a reality check. From his few appearances at his new club, Napoli, he's been solid and was Napoli's best player, especially whenever he's been deployed in his best role, which is the right wing. The likes of Insigne and other older Napoli forwards have been rightly keeping him out of the team but he's been solid whenever he's called upon. I feel we should take a punt on him. He's definitely going to offer something valuable to our squad, pending the time Sancho eventually becomes available. Ounas with his flashy style, pace and crossing skill would do better than Lingard on the right for us.

No use in introducing Maddison. He's been doing quite well at Leicester and has a terrific cross whipping skill, similar to that of de bruyne. Just like the latter, he can operate in the central midfield, attacking midfield and on the right wing. His technique under pressure looks good as well as his vision. He's no slouch while defending too. I feel he will eventually end up as a central midfielder like David Silva because he's of similar mould. Another bonus is he's English and unlikely to leave us by the time he hit his prime. Likewise Grealish.

Zagadou has been one of Dortmund's best defender, if not the best this season. He was fantastic against Bayern and didn't give Lewandoski any space in the last Dortmund clash against Bayern. He was also the reason Dortmund crumbled against Spurs in the first leg match which happened as soon as he left the pitch after he got injured. He's left footed which means he can take over our left side of the defence and most importantly, he's a ball playing defender and terrific in the air which is our achilles (apart from Smalling who's quite good in the air). Having him beside Alderweireld in our central defence would be fantastic.

Lastly, I don't see why one of O'Connor and Laird or both can't make the step up for us as regard to our fullback roles. There's no use in splashing funds on another young talent when we have our own.

The likes of Mata, Herrera, Young, Jones, Rojo, Darmain, Bailly, Valencia, Sanchez should all leave. Likewise Pogba if he doesn't want to stay at the club. We shouldn't be held to ransom by mercenaries.
So if Shaw's injured, we have no experienced full backs? Laird looks a potential prospect but were not going to be playing teenagers at FB and challenging for PL or CL.

Those centre mid choices look weak... hardly top.6 quality, never mind trophy challenging. Grealish isn't some 18 year old, there's a reason he's never made the step up.... to quote a couple of ok games as a rationale to buy him is a massive stretch.

All of those players who show its possible to make the move from Championship to PL .... Mahrez played a few months, Kane was on loan (for experience).

Maddison will be a bit of De Bruyne AND another David Silva.... that did make me chuckle.

Looks like you've made a list of average players to try and explain how we can buy squad players cheap. We don't need squad players, we've got several... they're in our first team. We don't need cheap either, we need top quality in 3-4 positions and that'll cost... thankfully we can afford it but whether old Scrooge McEd will do so is unlikely.

We have a few very good players and lots of 6/7 out of 10s. Don't buy a few cheap players... buy 2-3 top ones that'll make a difference - CB, RW first. Maybe buy one cheaper from your list but other than that, what we need will cost... tough market, a few big European teams need players too and everyone will be out to get every penny out of us once were interested.

(P.S. your user name rhymes with Dalglish?)
 
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We aren't the "richest" club in the world though. City or PSG clearly have the most resources.
They may have benefactors and trillion dollar 'market rate' handkerchief sponsorship deals but they have to be wary of FFP too.

It would be dear though yes. But maybe the knowledge of being a shoe in in his position will help.
 

Kaglish10

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So if Shaw's injured, we have no experienced full backs? Laird looks a potential prospect but were not going to be playing teenagers at FB and challenging for PL or CL.

Those centre mid choices look weak... hardly top.6 quality, never mind trophy challenging. Grealish isn't some 18 year old, there's a reason he's never made the step up.... to quote a couple of ok games as a rationale to buy him is a massive stretch.

All of those players who show its possible to make the move from Championship to PL .... Mahrez played a few months, Kane was on loan (for experience).

Maddison will be a bit of De Bruyne AND another David Silva.... that did make me chuckle.

Looks like you've made a list of average players to try and explain how we can buy squad players cheap. We don't need squad players, we've got several... they're in our first team. We don't need cheap either, we need top quality in 3-4 positions and that'll cost... thankfully we can afford it but whether old Scrooge McEd will do so is unlikely.

We have a few very good players and lots of 6/7 out of 10s. Don't buy a few cheap players... buy 2-3 top ones that'll make a difference - CB, RW first. Maybe buy one cheaper from your list but other than that, what we need will cost... tough market, a few big European teams need players too and everyone will be out to get every penny out of us once were interested.

(P.S. your user name rhymes with Dalglish?)
Maddison has looked good twice against us, just like his counterpart that came from the championship and I'm talking about Neves. The same Neves we talk about today was once playing in the championship. If Spurs had signed Grealish from Aston villa, maybe we would have been talking about him after all, the player he was meant to take his place, Sissoko has looked better than our midfielder save for Pogba yet Spur coach had wanted Grealish instead.

My reason for comparing Maddison to both David Silva and De bruyne is due to the fact he's got Silva's nimble feet, spatial awareness and tendency to always keep the ball flowing in midfield but has also got de bruyne's direct attacking approach coupled with his crossing ability which looks similar to that of de bruyne. He's presently the best at whipping accurate crosses, considering De bruyne has been mostly injured throughout this season.

Moreover, David Silva was quite direct at one time before he finally made the move to the midfield but from the way he played then, we all could see he was going to look good, if he moved to the central midfield. Same could be seen with Maddison. Besides, Maddison hasn't looked out of place whenever he was deployed in the central midfield this season. If Leicester had another quality forward apart from their total dependence on Vardy and a pacy centre back to complement Maguire, they could have been ahead of us in the EPL. I could recall many chances they wasted against Liverpool as well as several chances Iheanacho missed while Vardy was out of the team. The truth is Maddison has been terrific for Leicester, we all saw his performance against us for crying out loud.

Grealish has been fantastic in the championship this season and was as good as both Neves and Maddison last season, I don't see why we shouldn't consider him. People would think Grealish was in his late 20's with the way you had opined that he's no more young. How old were Vardy and Mahrez while they were in the championship? Mahrez didn't play for just a month in the championship, he played two seasons before his team was promoted to the top flight.Grealish is just 23yrs old and could have gone to Spurs during the last summer window if Aston villa hadn't blocked his move and like the loyal boy he is, he didn't want to force a move from his boyhood club. His good form has continued from last season to this season. I don't see what is bad in considering him after all, Neves and Maddison have all done well since coming up from the championship to the EPL. He's yet to even hit his ceiling and prime but has been this good.

I don't even know why we love to spend huge cash on big names. Even Pep that we all loves to mock for splashing funds on players didn't go for big names. He had signed young players such as Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko, Sane and even Bernardo whose breakout season was the season Monaco won the French ligue and had a fantastic run in the CL but Pep didn't wait to see if he was a one season wonder before snapping him up. The only big names Pep signed were Mahrez, Stones and Laporte. Besides Stones and Laporte were relatively young.

The fullback we have been linked to is a young crystal palace player who had just started his trade. Why not look at our own academy kids and promote one of them? If Klopp hadn't promoted Alexander Arnold, he would still be languishing in the youth team as we speak. Besides, there will be enough preseason matches to assess the kids and see if they are good enough. If they ain't good enough, we can then decide to look outside but I want them to be tried out first.
 

croadyman

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I don't understand why everyone wants Wan-Bissaka, going forward he isn't good enough for a top team. His defensive ability is making him stand out because he plays for Palace. We need someone that can be a reliable attacking outlet.
Links to Meunier coming out of France tonight
 

sam147

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We don't need cheap either, we need top quality in 3-4 positions and that'll cost... thankfully we can afford it but whether old Scrooge McEd will do so is unlikely.
Exactly, signing 4 first teamers will create 4 squad players. We shouldn't be aiming to sign average players for depth. That being said I would take someone like Rafael on a free, just so Ashley Young is another step away from the first team.

The fullback we have been linked to is a young crystal palace player who had just started his trade. Why not look at our own academy kids and promote one of them? If Klopp hadn't promoted Alexander Arnold, he would still be languishing in the youth team as we speak. Besides, there will be enough preseason matches to assess the kids and see if they are good enough. If they ain't good enough, we can then decide to look outside but I want them to be tried out first.
This isn't how a football club is run. If the youth player is good enough I am sure the staff with years of experience would know. We cannot wait and not make signings just because we want to 'try out' players. Every transfer window counts. Also transfers take months of planning. You cant just wait till pre-season to play your youth against a half-arsed Madrid team before deciding to make signings. And even if they do perform, they will not win you titles. The CO92 had a top team to walk into with quality experienced players. We cant rely on Laird to step in or Chong to provide the 15-20 goals and assists we need from RW. We need top signings, I would argue we need 5 signings and thats not taking into account Pogba or De Gea leaving.

Partey 40m, Wan Bissaka 40m, Pellegrini for 26m or Ndombele for 70m, Skriniar/Varane 80m or Toby for 25m and one of Pepe/Sancho/Lozano.

We should prioritise the quality we want in each area. Youth will not always work. Someone like Partey is currently miles ahead of Garner. We have a major overhaul incoming and we shouldn't be worried about youth players. We have plenty of young talent who will make it if they are good enough.
 

Kostov

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Harsh on Lingard in my view, he's proven a scorer of significant goals. He'd be good to keep as a squad player. Bit mean re Mata also, he's not been a complete waste. Agree on Darmian, Valencia, Rojo, Jones, Young and even Alexis, which is a shame as I thought he'd be gold. Instead of which, he's been pyrite.
Nothing harsh about it. He’s not good enough and should be playing for Bournemouth not Manchester United.
 

Bill Hartzia

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Nothing harsh about it. He’s not good enough and should be playing for Bournemouth not Manchester United.
As a squad player, I still maintain that his habit of scoring important goals represents useful value. Nowhere did I suggest he should be a regular starter, but as an impact sub...
 

DomesticTadpole

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Wonder how Adidas will feel if we sell all our big name, big personality players? They will want a big name to pin their colours to. They would be the one sponsor I wouldn't want to be annoying.
 

Kill 'em all

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As a squad player, I still maintain that his habit of scoring important goals represents useful value. Nowhere did I suggest he should be a regular starter, but as an impact sub...
Even players in smaller clubs score important goals. That doesn't make them at the required level to play for a club aspiring to compete for the title. Does he contribute enough when he doesn't score? I don't think so.
 

promisedlanchiao

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Whatever Ole wants, Ed and the Glazers should just give it to him for the good of the club. This guy gets the club and what it should be like. Our energetic starts to most of the games under Ole so far shows how it will most likely be in the future.

In our recent games, we’ve started well yet tailed off from about the 65th minute. If you take alook at the players we are linked to like Koulibaly, Partey, Sancho and Bruno Fernandes, you will be able to make out certain trends. Good age, energy, obvious potential. Possibly, these young lads, should the board just back Ole will fix this problem along with bring some quality to our game. At the moment, our team is full of aging, “experienced” players who seem to cope with this 2 games in a week thing badly, something we’ll have to deal with as a mega club who should be qualifying for the Champions League every season.

United have never been about signing “proven” players have we? Isn’t our great club only a great club due to people like Matt Busby, Jimmy Murphy, Alex Ferguson and Eric Harrison buying and most importantly developing young, talented players throughout our history? Yes, it is. Edwards, Charlton, Best, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney all came about from this policy.

Ole has managerial values which fit the club to a tee. Attacking, energetic football and breeding young players is the United Way, make no mistake about it. What we can hope should Ole get what he seems to want is that the new lads along with who we already have like Shaw, Martial, Rashford and De Gea and Pogba if they both stay will start another Golden Era for the club.

De Gea

Dalot Koulibaly Lindelof Shaw

Partey

Fernandes Pogba

Sancho Martial

Rashford

This team, with an average age rounding up to 24 should keep us going for at least 5 years with a few minor tweaks here and there along the way and rotation with players like McTominay and Lingard. Keep in mind, the oldest player in this team is De Gea at 28. Under the stewardship of Ole, I have full faith in this group of young players full of unlimited potential to win us the league and a few cups if not by 2019-20, then 2020-21.
 

Grande

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Even players in smaller clubs score important goals. That doesn't make them at the required level to play for a club aspiring to compete for the title. Does he contribute enough when he doesn't score? I don't think so.
Yes, and it’s no coincidence that he’s played in some of our best games under Ole. Nor that both Mourinho and Southgate fancied him over others in several positions.

If Martial had his level of initiative, quickness of the brain and activity, he would be the worlds best player soonish. Lingard helps a well set up tram tick smoother and an underperforming team less vulnerable. He’s a very good all rounder, and more individually dangerous players like Lukaku, Rashford and Martial will only play ahead of him if they manage to function as a unit both attacking and defending in a much better way than they normally have been able to.
 

VP89

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Yes, and it’s no coincidence that he’s played in some of our best games under Ole. Nor that both Mourinho and Southgate fancied him over others in several positions.

If Martial had his level of initiative, quickness of the brain and activity, he would be the worlds best player soonish. Lingard helps a well set up tram tick smoother and an underperforming team less vulnerable. He’s a very good all rounder, and more individually dangerous players like Lukaku, Rashford and Martial will only play ahead of him if they manage to function as a unit both attacking and defending in a much better way than they normally have been able to.
Southgate has broadly played Lingard out of a lack of choice in advanced midfield. He only has Deli Alli to contend with, but in the middle 3 his expectation is different to a front 3.

He wouldn't be near Southgates front 3 and yet, he's making ours.
 

JJ12

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DDG

Dalot
Alderweireld (25m)
Lindelof
Shaw

Matic
Fernandes (50m)
Pogba

Sancho (80m)
Rashford
Martial

I'd like us to sign Tielmans (40m) too. Think he has a big future and a decent fee. We'll mp go after a RB of sorts, I don't think it's going to be AWB but I may be wrong.

I think that's a reasonable summer and not necessarily what I want. I'd prefer koulibaly or Varane at CB but can't see us forking out over £200m in one summer.
 

Kaglish10

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Exactly, signing 4 first teamers will create 4 squad players. We shouldn't be aiming to sign average players for depth. That being said I would take someone like Rafael on a free, just so Ashley Young is another step away from the first team.



This isn't how a football club is run. If the youth player is good enough I am sure the staff with years of experience would know. We cannot wait and not make signings just because we want to 'try out' players. Every transfer window counts. Also transfers take months of planning. You cant just wait till pre-season to play your youth against a half-arsed Madrid team before deciding to make signings. And even if they do perform, they will not win you titles. The CO92 had a top team to walk into with quality experienced players. We cant rely on Laird to step in or Chong to provide the 15-20 goals and assists we need from RW. We need top signings, I would argue we need 5 signings and thats not taking into account Pogba or De Gea leaving.

Partey 40m, Wan Bissaka 40m, Pellegrini for 26m or Ndombele for 70m, Skriniar/Varane 80m or Toby for 25m and one of Pepe/Sancho/Lozano.

We should prioritise the quality we want in each area. Youth will not always work. Someone like Partey is currently miles ahead of Garner. We have a major overhaul incoming and we shouldn't be worried about youth players. We have plenty of young talent who will make it if they are good enough.
Neither Partey nor Pellegrini are better than Van De Beek and Maddison. That's the cold fact. I'm up for Rodrigo Hernandez but I don't buy the Idea of splashing huge cash on him even if City weren't interested in him considering we can have a quality Donny Van De Beek at a cheaper price.

N'dombele is a good lad and I don't mind him at the club but again, the price quoted for him isn't equivalent to his worth. He's no playmaker to begin with. He's just a grafter in the mould of Fred but with a better technique. So why buy him for a huge money when we can have Grealish at a cheaper price? Grealish is actually a proper playmaker which is exactly what we need in the team right now. We just have to let go of the fact that he plays for a championship club. Neves, Maddison, Alli, Robertson, Mahrez, Vardy were all playing in the championship at one point in time but that didn't demean their qualities. We shouldn't forget the fact that Grealish is the best midfielder in the championship right now. Also, he's no stranger to the EPL.

I didn't mention Chong, Gomez nor Garner in my post because they are still quite raw as we speak and should be loaned out as a matter of fact. However Laird and O'Connor looks to have mature heads on their shoulders and could make the step up right now. I doubt if they can do worse than Ashely Young presently. However, we can still wait to assess them in pre-season matches before we can say for a fact if they are ready.

I would love Toby to be here. He would be a steal at that price. I don't see why we should splash huge cash on Varane/Koulibaly if we were to sign sign a quality experienced Toby into the team already. Instead, we could go for Dortmund's Zagadou and have him play beside to Toby in the central defence. It's all about being shrewd in the market. Zagadou is a quality top young defender as we speak and with Toby besides him, he can go on to become a beast for us. Spurs didn't mind Sanchez as long they have experienced heads in Vertoghen and Toby in the team. Besides, Zagadou is a better quality than Sanchez and would complement Toby better because apart from him being a ball playing defender, he's great in the air and left footed which means Toby could play on the right.

I suggested Adam Ounas because he could add some value to our squad. From what I've seen, he's quite trickery, visionary and more productive than the predictable Lingard. That he isn't a regular for Napoli is more of Napoli's coach sticking to his high profile players that cost him a lot in the market however, everytime Ounas has been called upon to play on the right side, he's been quality and we don't even have a solid player on the right side for us presently. I even learnt that he was Napoli's best player in their pre-season matches but Ancelotti isn't known to trust young players. He could turn out to be another Coutinho who hardly played at Inter but Liverpool offered to give him a chance because they could see the talent in him. Even if we eventually signed Sancho (which I highly doubt because Dortmund won't release a player who just had one good season with them), we could still have Ounas to call upon in the squad rather than say Lingard.
 

Grande

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Southgate has broadly played Lingard out of a lack of choice in advanced midfield. He only has Deli Alli to contend with, but in the middle 3 his expectation is different to a front 3.

He wouldn't be near Southgates front 3 and yet, he's making ours.
Again you point to his versatility, and the fact that Southgate values him out of position as better than all other English player in that position.

Also the fact that several very different managers has put him ahead of fairly good players at United even in advanced positions.

It underlines his strengths as a squad option.
 

VP89

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Again you point to his versatility, and the fact that Southgate values him out of position as better than all other English player in that position.

Also the fact that several very different managers has put him ahead of fairly good players at United even in advanced positions.

It underlines his strengths as a squad option.
In the squad maybe but not starting. He's playing on the right and having the licence to roam because we have no natural wide right players.
 
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Maddison has looked good twice against us, just like his counterpart that came from the championship and I'm talking about Neves. The same Neves we talk about today was once playing in the championship. If Spurs had signed Grealish from Aston villa, maybe we would have been talking about him after all, the player he was meant to take his place, Sissoko has looked better than our midfielder save for Pogba yet Spur coach had wanted Grealish instead.

My reason for comparing Maddison to both David Silva and De bruyne is due to the fact he's got Silva's nimble feet, spatial awareness and tendency to always keep the ball flowing in midfield but has also got de bruyne's direct attacking approach coupled with his crossing ability which looks similar to that of de bruyne. He's presently the best at whipping accurate crosses, considering De bruyne has been mostly injured throughout this season.

Moreover, David Silva was quite direct at one time before he finally made the move to the midfield but from the way he played then, we all could see he was going to look good, if he moved to the central midfield. Same could be seen with Maddison. Besides, Maddison hasn't looked out of place whenever he was deployed in the central midfield this season. If Leicester had another quality forward apart from their total dependence on Vardy and a pacy centre back to complement Maguire, they could have been ahead of us in the EPL. I could recall many chances they wasted against Liverpool as well as several chances Iheanacho missed while Vardy was out of the team. The truth is Maddison has been terrific for Leicester, we all saw his performance against us for crying out loud.

Grealish has been fantastic in the championship this season and was as good as both Neves and Maddison last season, I don't see why we shouldn't consider him. People would think Grealish was in his late 20's with the way you had opined that he's no more young. How old were Vardy and Mahrez while they were in the championship? Mahrez didn't play for just a month in the championship, he played two seasons before his team was promoted to the top flight.Grealish is just 23yrs old and could have gone to Spurs during the last summer window if Aston villa hadn't blocked his move and like the loyal boy he is, he didn't want to force a move from his boyhood club. His good form has continued from last season to this season. I don't see what is bad in considering him after all, Neves and Maddison have all done well since coming up from the championship to the EPL. He's yet to even hit his ceiling and prime but has been this good.

I don't even know why we love to spend huge cash on big names. Even Pep that we all loves to mock for splashing funds on players didn't go for big names. He had signed young players such as Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko, Sane and even Bernardo whose breakout season was the season Monaco won the French ligue and had a fantastic run in the CL but Pep didn't wait to see if he was a one season wonder before snapping him up. The only big names Pep signed were Mahrez, Stones and Laporte. Besides Stones and Laporte were relatively young.

The fullback we have been linked to is a young crystal palace player who had just started his trade. Why not look at our own academy kids and promote one of them? If Klopp hadn't promoted Alexander Arnold, he would still be languishing in the youth team as we speak. Besides, there will be enough preseason matches to assess the kids and see if they are good enough. If they ain't good enough, we can then decide to look outside but I want them to be tried out first.
That's a nice long post. Doesn't say anything new.

Mahrez played two seasons in the Championship? You sure? I thought he played 3 months for a team that was heading to the PL and (unless you tell me otherwise) has stayed there since?

You quoted Kane and Mahrez but anyone can Google "good players who once played in the Championship". That doesn't mean there are loads of hidden gems, it means there are a few but the vast majority wouldn't cut it at a top PL team. We're not in a position to gamble right now.

Is Maddison a decent player ... yes and if you just said he might be an option for us, fine. But to compare him to one of the top ten (three?) PL players ever is silly? Plenty of players may have a similar style but we want (need) top talent now or we'll have many more seasons around 3rd-6th. That comes at top dollar.

Grealish I've watched 60-80 times including lots live (my wife and in-laws are from Brum and Villa fans), how many times have you watched him?. He's a decent player in the Championship... could he play PL, yes. For us, doubt it. I think the Spurs thing was purely as they didn't want to pay a lot as presumably, not sure he was worth a lot.

It's all opinions? (but let me know about Mahrez)
 

Kaglish10

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That's a nice long post. Doesn't say anything new.

Mahrez played two seasons in the Championship? You sure? I thought he played 3 months for a team that was heading to the PL and (unless you tell me otherwise) has stayed there since?

You quoted Kane and Mahrez but anyone can Google "good players who once played in the Championship". That doesn't mean there are loads of hidden gems, it means there are a few but the vast majority wouldn't cut it at a top PL team. We're not in a position to gamble right now.

Is Maddison a decent player ... yes and if you just said he might be an option for us, fine. But to compare him to one of the top ten (three?) PL players ever is silly? Plenty of players may have a similar style but we want (need) top talent now or we'll have many more seasons around 3rd-6th. That comes at top dollar.

Grealish I've watched 60-80 times including lots live (my wife and in-laws are from Brum and Villa fans), how many times have you watched him?. He's a decent player in the Championship... could he play PL, yes. For us, doubt it. I think the Spurs thing was purely as they didn't want to pay a lot as presumably, not sure he was worth a lot.

It's all opinions? (but let me know about Mahrez)
Maddison who looked the best player on the pitch twice against us is just a decent player? You know what? I can go all Muppet like you, if I want to. But the players I want are not available. Players such as Verratti, Messi, Neymar, Kane, Eriksen, Bernardo Silva, Van Djik etc. These are players I would love us to splash hard currency on but unfortunately, they are not available. I can't think of any other players worth such huge amount of fees except these ones above hence I would rather we go for the unpopular quality players such as Van De Beek, Maddison, Zagadou and Grealish rather than splash huge money on popular names who are mostly overrated and mercenaries. With the lot of cash we have splashed on popular names, has it got us anywhere in the league?

Spurs didn't go in for Grealish because Villa slapped 40 mil on him, which is no different from saying he isn't available because there was no way Spurs would spend such cash on a player except if he was going to be their marquee signing. What Villa did isn't different from simply telling Spurs that Grealish isn't available. And no I haven't said there are loads of gems in the championship after all, I haven't bigged up another championship player except Grealish and one of the reason why I set my eyes on him, apart from the fact that he's been good is because he's no stranger to the EPL and had once dominated popular midfield names such as Yaya Toure, David Silva, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho etc.

I understand your fear about Grealish but he's been good in the championship which have churned out lot of quality players into the EPL hence, we shouldn't underrate players who ply their trades in the championship.

Anyway, if it isn't Grealish, then I wouldn't mind bringing in Ceballos, especially if Madrid moves in for Pogba. Ceballos is a quality playmaker which our midfield need presently. He's also defensively solid and not lazy unlike some of our midfielders. I could recall him looking head and shoulders above everyone else, including Saul Niguez at the euro u21 tournament. I need to add that he was the golden player of that tournament. He's also become one of the main midfielders for the Spanish national team presently, considering the fact that he's above Thiago, Koke in the pecking order for Spain.

All the midfieders who had once impressed at the euro u21 tournament has gone on to have good careers for themselves. Players such as Ozil, Bernardo Silva, Thiago, Xavi, Lampard, Mata etc, so I won't mind Ceballos here. If Saul Niguez who wasn't as good as Ceballos apart from the goals he scored could carve a niche for himself at Atletico, I don't see why Ceballos can't do same for us. It's a shame he went to Madrid to sit on their bench because there was no way he would have unsit popular names such as Kroos and Modric except if he was marquee signing which he isn't. I wouldn't mind having £120mil + Ceballos for Pogba.
 

ForestRGoinUp

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I don't understand why everyone wants Wan-Bissaka, going forward he isn't good enough for a top team. His defensive ability is making him stand out because he plays for Palace. We need someone that can be a reliable attacking outlet.
Young British core innit
 

Jazz

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Don't know where to put this exactly but just saw Bayern interested in David Neres and he's valued at 50M euros. He plays on the right I believe and wonder if Ole shouldn't have a look at him especially as he's so reasonably priced? If he would come here I think it would be a good transfer for us.
 

Andersons Dietician

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I don't understand why everyone wants Wan-Bissaka, going forward he isn't good enough for a top team. His defensive ability is making him stand out because he plays for Palace. We need someone that can be a reliable attacking outlet.
I mean it’s not saying much but last season when he first came in the team he and Van Anholt ran us ragged and caused so many problems for Young and Valencia that I would have swapped them both happily. Because like you said part of the reason his defence might be so good is due to it being Palace and not being able to push forward as much. Especially with someone like Vaan Anholt on the opposite side.

Personally Meunier makes more sense given Dalot but if we ended up signing Wan-Bissaka I would have no problem with it. Rice however... not entirely sold on him yet.
 

beingshe7don

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I think we will miss out on top 4 and that will drive our business decisions. Not from Ed's perspective only but also from the perspective of the players we have targeted and have spoken to so far. Sancho and Koulibaly won't join if we haven't qualified for Champions League... not to mention that Real will be going crazy in the market... our targets will be pretty similar. Ed like always has left it till the end. Just simply bad business sense.

We should have recruited before the window what Barcelona and Chelsea have done with Pulisic and De Jong.

Leaving contracts till the very end again a bad business practice.

The future looks bleak... I don't think Pogba and De Gea will stick around and we're stuck with Sanchez with his huge wages and not to mention useless people like Jones, Smalling and Young who are absolute shit. I blame SAF for bringing them to the club. Absolute crap. Smalling and Jones were supposed to be replacements for Rio and Vidic... shaking my head.
 

deafepl

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Wonder how Adidas will feel if we sell all our big name, big personality players? They will want a big name to pin their colours to. They would be the one sponsor I wouldn't want to be annoying.
I think you underestimated our brand exposure, yeah Pogba is marketable player but we sold most shirts sales in the world without him, even more than Barcelona, Real, Arsenal, Juve, Liverpool, Chelsea, PSG, and Bayern, etc, only Real came second with Ronaldo one of best player in the world, if we had Ronaldo or Messi, we'd be far ahead of everyone but Pogba is not close to them on marketing level.

Adidas can go feck off if they only demand big star players because they want to make money off player wearing our shirt badage
 

DomesticTadpole

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I think you underestimated our brand exposure, yeah Pogba is marketable player but we sold most shirts sales in the world without him, even more than Barcelona, Real, Arsenal, Juve, Liverpool, Chelsea, PSG, and Bayern, etc, only Real came second with Ronaldo one of best player in the world, if we had Ronaldo or Messi, we'd be far ahead of everyone but Pogba is not close to them on marketing level.

Adidas can go feck off if they only demand big star players because they want to make money off player wearing our shirt badage

They need to recoup their money. They are not United fans. A bank expects you to pay back the money they lend you. These kind of sponsorships are the same without the interest.
 

Bill Hartzia

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Even players in smaller clubs score important goals. That doesn't make them at the required level to play for a club aspiring to compete for the title. Does he contribute enough when he doesn't score? I don't think so.
Ok, what would your 21 man squad be to compete for the title if it has 21 players better than Jess?
 

deafepl

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They need to recoup their money. They are not United fans. A bank expects you to pay back the money they lend you. These kind of sponsorships are the same without the interest.
That's not the same thing, they want to sponsor us because of our brand and we sold most shirts in the world. They have a new deal agreement with Real Madrid for 100m+ 50m add on, that is twice as our sponsorship value.
 

DomesticTadpole

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That's not the same thing, they want to sponsor us because of our brand and we sold most shirts in the world. They have a new deal agreement with Real Madrid for 100m+ 50m add on, that is twice as our sponsorship value.
They do expect us to sell shirts, which we do, but it depends how much they get from that. We are not doing it entirely through our success on the pitch at the moment.
 

deafepl

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They do expect us to sell shirts, which we do, but it depends how much they get from that. We are not doing it entirely through our success on the pitch at the moment.

They are getting a lot of money from us using our brand name, like I said we sold the most shirt sales in the footballing world, they will spend 25m more with 50m add on Real who is behind us in term of shirt sales, even with Ronaldo in their team before, I'd expect their shirt sales number to decrease since Ronaldo departed from Real to Juve.
 

DomesticTadpole

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They are getting a lot of money from us using our brand name, like I said we sold the most shirt sales in the footballing world, they will spend 25m more with 50m add on Real who is behind us in term of shirt sales, even with Ronaldo in their team before, I'd expect their shirt sales number to decrease since Ronaldo departed from Real to Juve.
If we don't get CL aren't their penalties?
 

goin4glory

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Anyone saying Bissaka isn't decent going forward hasn't watched him. He completes more dribbles per game than Walker/Trent/Trippier/Cesar combined and his key passes are close to some of them, he isn't passing to Kane/Aguero or Salah though.