Summer 2019 Midfield Rebuild

[SNes]

For me, I'd sign Ndidi and Bruno we need starters, not depth signing.

Ndidi---Pogba
----Bruno----

That leaves Fred, Matic, McTominay, Pereira, and Gomes for back up.

 

[Ace of Spades]

There is plenty of talent in midfield to choose from, but just rattling off names is pointless unless we have more info about the type of players we are looking for, Pogba's situation, and what the plans are for some of the talent in our own academy.

So far, it looks like Pogba is staying and Bruno, Longstaff, Tielemans are players we are linked to. There have been no rumours of Matic leaving, so that probably means we are not looking for a DM, so it looks like we will be looking for a box to box and a goal scoring mid to replace Herrera and Fellaini. Let us wait and see.

 

[RkkMan]

There is plenty of talent in midfield to choose from, but just rattling off names is pointless unless we have more info about the type of players we are looking for, Pogba's situation, and what the plans are for some of the talent in our own academy.

So far, it looks like Pogba is staying and Bruno, Longstaff, Tielemans are players we are linked to. There have been no rumours of Matic leaving, so that probably means we are not looking for a DM, so it looks like we will be looking for a box to box and a goal scoring mid to replace Herrera and Fellaini. Let us wait and see.

Matic is our only out out DM highly doubt we have to sell him to purchase another DM if anything we should and probably will get someone there for depth and long term replacement

 

[No7UTD]

Fabian Ruiz from Napoli could also be an possibility. He is only 23. Real Madrid has been link to him. He has very good pasning skills, and his long shorts is outstanding! He has already been a part of the national team. And was playing a Big part in the U-21 triumph for Spain!

 

[Ace of Spades]

Matic is our only out out DM highly doubt we have to sell him to purchase another DM if anything we should and probably will get someone there for depth and long term replacement

It does not look like we will, and Fred is probably going to be played there, which is why there have been no links to a DM so far. We should cash in on Matic, and get someone else in, but I guess you can't do it all in one window.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Fabian Ruiz from Napoli could also be an possibility. He is only 23. Real Madrid has been link to him. He has very good pasning skills, and his long shorts is outstanding! He has already been a part of the national team. And was playing a Big part in the U-21 triumph for Spain!

Did he not just sign a new contract, or was that some other player ?? Think he is staying at Napoli IIRC.

 

[Nr.7]

I’ve always been a fan of Michael Bradley.

Never going to happen, but I think he’s a solid player who could be of great use to us at the moment.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

There is plenty of talent in midfield to choose from, but just rattling off names is pointless unless we have more info about the type of players we are looking for, Pogba's situation, and what the plans are for some of the talent in our own academy.

So far, it looks like Pogba is staying and Bruno, Longstaff, Tielemans are players we are linked to. There have been no rumours of Matic leaving, so that probably means we are not looking for a DM, so it looks like we will be looking for a box to box and a goal scoring mid to replace Herrera and Fellaini. Let us wait and see.

If Pogba is going to stay, then we need to build the midfield around him.

1. Get someone to control the game from deep and help play out of defence. Pogba should not be doing this.
Fabian Grillitsch is the player to do this. Calm, good passing range and vision. The one player that reminds me of Carrick in todays game.
2. Need a B2B high intensity player that can operate in different roles and cover ground.
Nicolo Barella would be ideal. Technically astute, can run and only weakness in his game is his lack of size.

Longstaff is a good option as a 4/5th midfielder, not as a starter yet.
Tielemans needs a pure defensive midfielder behind him to give him the freedom.
Bruno: End product player. Serious doubts how we are going to play with him and Pogba at the same time in midfield and get a balanced team.

 

[Patrick08]

If Pogba is going to stay, then we need to build the midfield around him.

1. Get someone to control the game from deep and help play out of defence. Pogba should not be doing this.
Fabian Grillitsch is the player to do this. Calm, good passing range and vision. The one player that reminds me of Carrick in todays game.
2. Need a B2B high intensity player that can operate in different roles and cover ground.
Nicolo Barella would be ideal. Technically astute, can run and only weakness in his game is his lack of size.

Longstaff is a good option as a 4/5th midfielder, not as a starter yet.
Tielemans needs a pure defensive midfielder behind him to give him the freedom.
Bruno: End product player. Serious doubts how we are going to play with him and Pogba at the same time in midfield and get a balanced team.

You missed N dombele.

 

[croadyman]

I am starting to worry that we are only going to sign one out of Bruno or Longstaff. That would leave us severely lacking in that midfield area.

 

[Bestietom]

Ndidi would be a very good signing for us but can't see Leicester letting him go.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

You missed N dombele.

Going to Spurs. Hence i did not mention him.

A midfield trio of Pogba - Grillitsch - Ndombele/Barella...
Pogba as the attacker, Grillitsch as the Speilfuhrer and Ndombele/Barella as the engines/Balancing player.

 

[charlenefan]

I am starting to worry that we are only going to sign one out of Bruno or Longstaff. That would leave us severely lacking in that midfield area.

I'd be more worried that we sign neither and no one

Honestly I can see the club looking at it and thinking 'ok Herrera has gone but McTominay will play more and thus there's his replacement'. Obviously we've let Fellaini go in the calender year as well without replacing him either so from sheer numbers we need midfielders let alone touching on the actual quality of those we do have

 

[reddevilz007]

Fabian Ruiz from Napoli could also be an possibility. He is only 23. Real Madrid has been link to him. He has very good pasning skills, and his long shorts is outstanding! He has already been a part of the national team. And was playing a Big part in the U-21 triumph for Spain!

I would let Pogba go, and get Fabian to replace him.

A midfield of Fabian, Bruno and Longstaff, I’d be very happy with it.

 

[sideshow_bob]

What will Ole most likely go for next season?

A) 4-2-3-1 with 2 deep lying midfielders & 3 more advanced midfielders who track back occasionally or
B) 4-3-3 with 3 box-to-box midfielders with maybe 1/2 out of the 3 more attack minded depending on the opponent
or
C) 4-4-2 Atleti style with 2 box-to-box midfielders expected to create & work tirelessly from the wings (e.g. Koke, Saul, Lemar) plus 2 hard defensive midfielders to protect the centre

 

[Sea-Cow]

Saw a rumor, probably nothing, that says Ceballos is only being tracked by Spurs and the two Milan clubs... What are we doing?!?!?!

Ceballos is on a different planet than Longstaff.... And I would be willing to bet he is vastly superior to Bruno as well.

 

[Escobar]

Saw a rumor, probably nothing, that says Ceballos is only being tracked by Spurs and the two Milan clubs... What are we doing?!?!?!

Ceballos is on a different planet than Longstaff.... And I would be willing to bet he is vastly superior to Bruno as well.

You really wonder... a player like Ceballos seems to be on the market but we dont approach. Too often, we pass but try to do our "own" thing until we have to panic buy Fellaini

 

[Sea-Cow]

You really wonder... a player like Ceballos seems to be on the market but we dont approach. Too often, we pass but try to do our "own" thing until we have to panic buy Fellaini

I guess one explanation is that maybe we can't even approach business with Madrid, because if we try they will insist on discussing Pogba. And if we think its a good idea to force Paul to stay here, then I understand not wanting to open that door even slightly.

That makes sense. Never mind then... maybe the Mods can help me out and erase all of my recent posts crying about Ceballos...

 

[Escobar]

I guess one explanation is that maybe we can't even approach business with Madrid, because if we try they will insist on discussing Pogba. And if we think its a good idea to force Paul to stay here, then I understand not wanting to open that door even slightly.

That makes sense. Never mind then... maybe the Mods can help me out and erase all of my recent posts crying about Ceballos...

We could use an agent or middle man... anyhow, you get the feeling that other teams are snapping up the international top talents while we focus too much on domestic young players

 

[witchtrials]

here are the great warriors i want to join my squad. At this moment.

De Gea/Donnarumma from AC Milan in if he is leaving

AVB - Lindelof - De Ligt/Diop - Shaw/Kolasinac from Arsenal

Sancho/Chong - B.Fernandes/Longstaff - Rice/McTom/PogbaAgoume - Martial/James/Chiesa

Free nr.10 options : Chiesa/Fernandes/Sanches

CF : Rashford/Greenwood

Bold move at his age - don't think he's played at a professional level before

 

[Lee565]

Saw a rumor, probably nothing, that says Ceballos is only being tracked by Spurs and the two Milan clubs... What are we doing?!?!?!

Ceballos is on a different planet than Longstaff.... And I would be willing to bet he is vastly superior to Bruno as well.

If Ceballos came part of a deal with Pogba as I can't imagine Madrid doing us any favours of selling him to us straight cash at a sensible price, we could have a midfield like -

Ceballos Longstaff Fernandes

That would be a strong midfield only matched in quality by Man city and possibly Spurs and one that doesn't slack off like we see all too often from the likes of Pogba and Matic.

 

[Sea-Cow]

We could use an agent or middle man... anyhow, you get the feeling that other teams are snapping up the international top talents while we focus too much on domestic young players

In an ideal world, we would accept the fact that Pogba doesn't want to be here and that he is pretty worthless when he's not fully committed. So we tell Madrid 80M (?) + Ceballos. Everybody's happy. Especially me, the Sea-Cow.

 

[Sea-Cow]

If Ceballos came part of a deal with Pogba as I can't imagine Madrid doing us any favours of selling him to us straight cash at a sensible price, we could have a midfield like -

Ceballos Longstaff Fernandes

That would be a strong midfield only matched in quality by Man city and possibly Spurs and one that doesn't slack off like we see all too often from the likes of Pogba and Matic.

Make it

Ceballos -- Fernandes
---------Ndidi

And I'm dancing in the street.

Our squad overall would still be well short of City and Pool, but I would love to see us give it a go. Invest that 80 M from Paul in a non-Maguire CB, and I get really excited.

This is fantasy, FM, transfer muppet dreamland though.

 

[Hawks2008]

Spurs sign Ndombele, City sign Rodri, we sign Longstaff

 

[Zoo]

Spurs sign Ndombele, City sign Rodri, we sign Longstaff

Good one.

 

[RedorDead21]

Spurs sign Ndombele, City sign Rodri, we sign Longstaff

Longstaff could become better than those 2 why can't a George or a Bob be better than a Mario.....

 

[Hawks2008]

Longstaff could become better than those 2 why can't a George or a Bob be better than a Mario.....

Nothing to do with being a Mario or George, our midfield outside of Pogba is dire and we should be targeting quality additions rather than penny pinching. He could become better, but he also could not and it's asking a lot for someone with maybe 10 PL appearances to instantly be a major contributor in our midfield.

Those two would walk into every midfield in the league, can you say the same for Longstaff?

 

[passing-wind]

Spurs sign Ndombele, City sign Rodri, we sign Longstaff

Throw in Tielemans, Rabiot and bloody Fornals would get into our dire midfield. Solskjaer doesn't have the coaching pedigree of someone like Klopp to get through games with a below average central midfield.

The midfield is the spine of the modern team, we were crap with Herrera and now will be even worse without any adequate replacement.

 

[Davicho]

Matic, Fred and Mctominay is a pretty good back up midfield IMO, but we need 2 starters to play alongside pogba ( if he stays). I think Thomas Partey would have been a good and available option for the number 6 spot, but now cant see Atletico selling his 2 main Dm's in one summer. Longstaff will be the best english midfielder in the next 10 years, but he is not ready to claim a starting midfield spot at Manchester United, yet.
All things considered, i'd go for Van de Beek for the number 8 spot, and Rice or Ndidi for the number 6 ( Cant see much better options). Fabinho would have been perfect...

 

[Stubble]

If we don't sign 2 decent starting midfielders this window we'll be fighting for 4th/5th/6th place again with teams like Leicester and Wolves likely to be in the top 4 mix next season. The right players have been/are available - if we sit on our hands we'll pay the price.

 

[Escobar]

In an ideal world, we would accept the fact that Pogba doesn't want to be here and that he is pretty worthless when he's not fully committed. So we tell Madrid 80M (?) + Ceballos. Everybody's happy. Especially me, the Sea-Cow.

120m plus Ceballos I would say

 

[No7UTD]

I would let Pogba go, and get Fabian to replace him.

A midfield of Fabian, Bruno and Longstaff, I’d be very happy with it.

Did he not just sign a new contract, or was that some other player ?? Think he is staying at Napoli IIRC.

Not yet I think. But it may be along the way.

 

[sideshow_bob]

DMs / DLPs:
R̶o̶d̶r̶i̶
R̶a̶b̶i̶o̶t̶
N̶d̶o̶m̶b̶e̶l̶e̶
Brozovic
Ndidi
Partey
Neves
Grillitsch

AMs:
Fernandes
Ruiz
Ziyech
Maddison

 

[Ola]

Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus seems like a good pick for our midfield.

 

[scots devil]

120m plus Ceballos I would say

Would take Ceballos and use the money to get Ruiz from Napoli and N'Didi from Leicester

 

[Escobar]

Would take Ceballos and use the money to get Ruiz from Napoli and N'Didi from Leicester

Would certainly be a huge upgrade but our club doesnt work like that. Neither should we sell Pogba

 

[Dazzmondo]

I think ideally I'd want either Rice or Sangaré for dm (assuming Ndidi is unattainable), Fernandes for am (which I think will happen) and maybe Barela for Herrera role (though he seems close to joining Inter, Ndombele would have been easy 1st choice for me) and I'm fine signing Longstaff as a backup cm. Worryingly I haven't seen much to suggest we're going to sign a 1st choice dm or box to box cm (Longstaff won't be a 1st choice starter). With that being said it's looking like this is what the board have in mind: Matic-Fernandes-Pogba. Fernandes and Pogba looks nice on paper but not sure how well they'd work together especially with Matic behind them. Pogba clearly wants to leave too so good chance he'll be sulking most of the season again (don't really think he'll be sold at this stage though, I think we'd have been linked with more mids than just Fernandes if he was leaving)

 

[Sea-Cow]

Would certainly be a huge upgrade but our club doesnt work like that. Neither should we sell Pogba

Really? If he doesn't want to be here, what would we gain in forcing him to stay? Especially when we could potentially, possibly, hopefully, sign some high-quality replacements.

 

[Jig1234]

Why I think next season is potentially going to be our worst.

I don't think Utd should care about Man City and Liverpool. Utd have a challenge against teams from 4th to 9th. The reason I went as far as 9th: I see teams like Everton, Leicester and Wolves closing the gap on Utd/Arsenal. They will close the gap on both of us more than we will close it on getting 3rd-4th.

- I don't see Arsenal/Utd doing enough in the market to better the squad. One of the main reasons for that is MIDFIELD: Most of the teams around Utd have better midfield pivots or trios. Leicester are likely to sign Youri Tielemans long term from Monaco (Utd should have went for him). Spurs have made the best signing of the summer (imo) in Ndombele. He will take Spurs to another level.

Why I'm concerned about utd's midfield. All the focus seems to be on signing a top CB for 70m+ I get the need for a CB. But I don't think a new CB will necessarily solve all of our problems. A major issue for Utd is that we don't control the game, we lose the midfield battle and when that happens the defence is exposed. This will happen even if we signed a new CB. I think Utd need at least 2 new central midfielders to compete vs the teams around us.

Players like, Rúben Neves, Moutinho, Ndombele, Tielemans are much better than anyone Utd has Bar Pogba. Beyond Pogba we don't have much midfield quality. Herrera has left of a free transfer. Fred had in indifferent season (can improve I think, did better in the latter stages of the season). Matic is not fit for purpose imo. He should not start games anymore for Utd, he was a terrible signing and a waste of 40M. - He was too old at the time we signed him. Only looked good in his first season but now his age is showing, his legs have gone. - Even though Mourinho loved him and played him all the time, I think he was responsible for a lot of what when wrong last season. Can't win the midfield battle with Matic taking a an eternity to turn.

Then we have Mctominay. Who I like. He has more energy and he was one of our best players at the end of last season. We have Fred, Mctominay, Pogba. (Matic is doesn't count so I'm not including him). Are these three going to win games vs Rúben Neves, Moutinho, Ndombele, Tielemans for example?

I know the window is still open but some of the best options we could have got have gone elsewhere and my main concern is that we will only sign 1 midfielder. I fear that would leave us short because we've needed better midfielders for a few seasons now. Plus, we don't know if Pogba will stay. He might leave on deadline day or in the eleventh hour.

We should be planning for life after Pogba. If Pogba stays at utd this season. He'll probably end up leaving next year. We should bring in two midfielders this summer. Longstaff isn't gonna cut it. He might become a top player but right now he is just potential. We need a more experienced player. I hope Bruno Fernandes happens. I would not mind seeing Giovani Lo Celso come in also. I'm sure everyone else has names.

Main point here is how important it is to get the midfield right this summer because if we don't we are set for another season of disappointment.

 

[bond19821982]

If our budget is low, lets not sign any CBs and get couple of midfielders in. Allocate that 70m for proper midfielders. Tielemans is too late now but i do hope we find some gems out there. Going with the current midfield is suicidal

Pogba, Fred, Matic is not good enough.