Mata was a complete vanity signing for us. Had peaked already at Chelsea who probably couldn't believe their luck at what we were willing to pay. Seems like a thoroughly decent human being though. We could easily ship out Mata, Smallling, Jones, Lingard, Pereira, McTominay, Dalot, Sanchez this summer without it really affecting us beyond having numbers.
The Deadwoods Assassinated by Babyface
- Thread starter VanGaalEra
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Not with his 400k a week and the current form I think. It's still difficult af to let him go for free even if we have to pay part of his salary. My only hope is our dear amigo Inter
In as much as he wasn't the right player for us at the time I agree, but actually there was no one right player as the squad needed a total overhaul and we were being coached by Moyes and his merry men. As it turned out we compounded one signing in Mata who was not quite the right fit with many other signings that were wildly off the mark (Fellaini, Memphis, Di Maria, Falcao, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger etc.) culminating in an imbalanced mess of a squad were nobody seemed comfortable on the pitch, least of all Mata who filled in for us on the right as best he could for the majority of his time here. I think when all's said and done Mata will go down as an ok signing who earned his keep, but it could have been so much better for both parties if the club wasn't in turmoil.
As for now you can only applaud Ole's work with moving players on and the replacements he has brought in, but it's too late for Mata who I agree will be shown the door soon.
No argument from me.
Maybe he's heard something through the grapevine though and is setting up a look-I-told-you-so. A hope? A chance.
You forgot Rojo.
Doesn't look like we want to let Mata or A. Pereira go. Anyone know why? OK - so Mata is quality, but slow and luxury too.
Why sell McTominay? His wages are reasonable. He puts himself about and is very useful to bring on when one of the other midfielders need a rest. He was very good when Pogba and Matic were injured. Nor would we would actually get much for him.
Dalot: is a wingback. We don't normally play such. He's basically a luxury sub. We have Williams and, hopefully Laird coming through who can replace him.
We'd have too few senior players left. Even keeping Mata, A. Pereira, McTominay we'd have only 20 senior players after selling the other 'deadwood'! [ PS: not including U-21s as senior players ]
Agreed. I actually don't mind if we keep Mata for another year. Good veteran guy to have around, won't kick up a fuss, etc.
Me too.
What happens if we face inter in the Europa League final and Lukaku, Young, and Sanchez all score?
the assassinated dead woods would have assassinated us.
the assassinated dead woods would have assassinated us.
It's clear that Ole doesn't trust any of these players with his selections since the restart, I reckon they will all be gone either on loan or being sold.
Smalling - £20m
Andreas - £10m
Lingard - £10m
Dalot - £15m
Jones - £5m
Mata - Free
Sanchez - Free
Rojo - Free
Around £60m transfer fees and £1m wages a week so we could potentially save £110m - that's Sancho's fee paid for
Smalling - £20m
Andreas - £10m
Lingard - £10m
Dalot - £15m
Jones - £5m
Mata - Free
Sanchez - Free
Rojo - Free
Around £60m transfer fees and £1m wages a week so we could potentially save £110m - that's Sancho's fee paid for
Bit harsh on Mata here. He was worth signing for that overhead goal at Anfield alone.
Easily 70-80 million
Was going to ask where was Pereira but see him now. I'd keep Dalot unless Laird is going to break into the first team.It's clear that Ole doesn't trust any of these players with his selections since the restart, I reckon they will all be gone either on loan or being sold.
Smalling - £20m
Andreas - £10m
Lingard - £10m
Dalot - £15m
Jones - £5m
Mata - Free
Sanchez - Free
Rojo - Free
Around £60m transfer fees and £1m wages a week so we could potentially save £110m - that's Sancho's fee paid for
We're getting something for Sanchez. Mata is under contract so can't see him going for free either. We might have to pay someone to take Rojo and Jones.
In all seriousness, if we can get rid of 1/2 of that list I'd be very happy.
Id personally let Williams to flight it out with Laird for RB cover and bring in a left footed LB.
Mata is on relatively high wages around 120k and the clubs that are interested can barely afford his wages let alone paying a fee on top IMO.
As for Sanchez I wouldn’t put my hopes up...I’d be very happy if we let go of him for free.
Let's be honest Ole still considers most of the squad as deadwood. Post lockdown has shown he doesn't trust basically any players on our bench to start or even come on to win us games.
And rightly so to be honest.
What that shows though is how big a summer this is. We need much better options and Ole to have a lot more players that he trusts.
And rightly so to be honest.
What that shows though is how big a summer this is. We need much better options and Ole to have a lot more players that he trusts.
Would be amazing if we could get 60mil from Sanchez, Lingard and Smalling sales
I'd be very surprised if this happens - Ole trusted him enough to play TFM ahead of him this past week, so his days seem numbered in my opinion.
Keep shifting them out Babyface!
Smalling/Sanchez/Jesse/Jones/Rojo should defo face the chop.
Smalling/Sanchez/Jesse/Jones/Rojo should defo face the chop.
That’s not a bad assessment. I think we might get more for Lingard than Dalot, otherwise think that’s about fair.It's clear that Ole doesn't trust any of these players with his selections since the restart, I reckon they will all be gone either on loan or being sold.
Smalling - £20m
Andreas - £10m
Lingard - £10m
Dalot - £15m
Jones - £5m
Mata - Free
Sanchez - Free
Rojo - Free
Around £60m transfer fees and £1m wages a week so we could potentially save £110m - that's Sancho's fee paid for
Smalling
Jones
Sanchez
Lingard
Mata
Bailly
Rojo
De Gea
All of the above have to go this window for me.
Jones
Sanchez
Lingard
Mata
Bailly
Rojo
De Gea
All of the above have to go this window for me.
We always have a hard time replacing goal keepers.
Yeah but it has to be done imo. Whether it's with Henderson or someone we buy.
I'd keep hold of McTominay but yeh, all the rest we could turf out and we'd lose absolutely nothing in terms of top four quality. Hopefully at least half do go because they're all dead weight.
I would keep dalot too but he has fallen so far down the ranks that I don't think Ole will keep him. He is effectively 4th choice right and left back
This is basically the group that we should be open to selling, except De Gea in my opinion, but that's probably a debate for another thread.
I'd throw Dalot in there too. Ole clearly has absolutely no time for him.
Unfortunately, this isn't FIFA and some of these players will remain here for next season. But we should ship what we can.
While I agree in the sense that half of that list should have been moved on already, and that the remaining players probably should be moved on in this window I think that De Gea, Smalling and Bailly would provide some needed depth to our squad.
We wont lose anything by keeping them other than money, and will probably spend a lot more money than it's worth to get competent squad replacements. Smalling would be a better option than Tuanzebe and maybe even Lindelof. Bailly the same, if he can stay injury free. De Gea simply has to stay as competition to Henderson, it's the only way forward unless you want to take massive risks next season or put unnecessary pressure on youngsters. Better to use the money available on strengthening the squad, getting rid of the real deadwood than getting rid of valuable squad players then having to replace them with inferior more expensive players. It would be a step in the wrong direction to do it all in one window, however.
Jones, Sanchez, Lingard, Mata and Rojo simply has to go. Neither has played a part or done anything at all the last 5 years, except maybe Lingard.
Hopefully we can add, Rojo, Jones, Dalot, Pereira, Lingard and Mata to that list.
Ole is not going to bin DDG despite muppet expectations to the contrary.
Best goalkeeper in the league for half a decade, and he is still young for a GK.
Best goalkeeper in the league for half a decade, and he is still young for a GK.
I wouldn't consider Romero deadwood exactly, but what would be the Caf's opinion on shipping him out and bringing Henderson in to play the same role i.e. cups and injury cover with a view to also putting pressure on De Gea for the starting spot?
Credit to Ole for making wholesale changes to the squad. It was deemed a risk but we got away with us unscathed. I'd continue that this season (without going overboard), but coupled with enough quality signings to ensure we are much stronger on paper than before. These quality signings are of course the hard and most crucial part.
Hopefully we can shift Alexis, Lingard, Mata, Perrera, Rojo, Jones, Smalling, Bailey, Dalot.
Lingard loaned to West Ham
With the great news about Lingard and Rojo leaving I think we are finally on the verge of finally having a deadwood free squad. Ole has done a pretty good job at this slowly but constantly shipping the deadwood away. Eventhough Lingard is going only on loan without a buying option I think we've seen the last of him here.
Same case with Pereira and Dalot, I think they'll return from their loans only to be sold. With Mata's contract expiring in the summer and no news about his renewal the only one left will be Jones. Pretty good considering how many deadwood players we had 2 years ago.
My question is...will we be able to sustain a deadwood free squad? we have players that are on the path to become deadwood and I think we should ship away soon before they completely turn into deadwood. Players such as Daniel James, Matic, Tuanzebe, Chong, Brandon Williams, etc.
Same case with Pereira and Dalot, I think they'll return from their loans only to be sold. With Mata's contract expiring in the summer and no news about his renewal the only one left will be Jones. Pretty good considering how many deadwood players we had 2 years ago.
My question is...will we be able to sustain a deadwood free squad? we have players that are on the path to become deadwood and I think we should ship away soon before they completely turn into deadwood. Players such as Daniel James, Matic, Tuanzebe, Chong, Brandon Williams, etc.
not yet. We will have a few back next year from loans. Theres still work to do.
i think chong, dalot, pereira, pereira (gk), lingard, will all loaned again or sold.
mata and romero will be out of contract at end of season.
tuanzabe will slip down the pecking order if we sign a new cb behind bailly, lindelof, maguire and whoever.
matic will be phased out.
i think williams will be our spare rb for a while but he isnt terrible and is on lower wages.
phil jones...... genuinely hope a promoted team etc buys him and he goes somewhere and has a few decent years but at the moment doesnt seem we can give him away.
our wages situation must be looking better though. The key is to not let a new manager come in and go mental in a trolley dash and fill the squad with random crap again.
Don’t you worry, just as LVG had a mass clear out and then accumulated more deadwood, as sure as day turns to night, we’ll start to recategorise and rebrand fringe players with the term.
Won’t be long until this forum brands Martial, VdB, Williams and James as such.
Martial is deadwood, so is James.
The reality is, Fergie moved on players (in his hay-day) when they fell below the standard of Manchester United, or they lost their hunger.
Martial has no hunger, he doesn't perform and he only plays one style of football, he is deadwood. James won't offer much besides 'being fast' but you can get fast players in the championship (where United got him from).
You should be able to look at the bench, see player like Cavani, not James.
Martials ship has sailed long ago, he doesn't track defend, he doesn't offer anything when he isn't scoring and this season it's 1 in 12, its abysmal for first choice.
Why would players like Cavani ( referring to talent and not age) be happy to sit on the bench though? You can't have a 25 man squad full of top class players. You need players like James who are happy to be bit part and squad players and fulfill a certain role when called upon.
Even Fergie in his hayday had the likes of Ole on the bench, not a prime Shearer or Owen. You can only have so many nailed on starters in the squad.
I completely agree with you on the Cavani front, he shouldn't be on the bench, but my point is when you look at the bench you should see those kind of players there.
I'm not saying you have prime players, I'm saying you have players that can come off the bench and get a goal, or make a difference to the game.
James is good because he offers high energy, but he is far off the standard of a United player. You want a player who can come on with some quality and change a game, such as if the game is dropping in terms of energy a player comes on that closes down, wins the ball back and drives the team forward. You have the second player come on that is willing to come in the box and score a goal like Hernandez would.
United have players the last few years with no quality when they come on and they don't press or want to work for the team.
That's why I'm reserved about Martial, about James.
VDB is a very good player and I have no reservations about him, he's adapting I think he already comes on and is tidy on the ball. He's not far off honestly and he has quality, I think also after a pre-season under his belt he will be a new player.
It's "heyday".
Anyway, I agree. It's very hard to have a quality first eleven with more quality players happy to sit on the bench. It was always annoying that City had huge strength in depth whereas we didn't and still don't. Still, a lot of our deadwood has been shipped out which should free up money for additional squad players. We still have an urgent need for several starting positions first, though.
Anyway, I agree. It's very hard to have a quality first eleven with more quality players happy to sit on the bench. It was always annoying that City had huge strength in depth whereas we didn't and still don't. Still, a lot of our deadwood has been shipped out which should free up money for additional squad players. We still have an urgent need for several starting positions first, though.
there was a point i think where we had ronaldo, saha, berbatov,rooney, giggs, nani, scholes and tevez in the same squad in 2008. You need depth as well as ability to really succeed. I think Martial is a very good player but we definitely need to sign someone who puts him on the bench. Same at RW. Still dont have a nailed on starter who owns that position. Weve been sticking square pegs in that round hole. Imagine having a back up front 3 of cavani, martial and greenwood. Thats where we would be if we get a top cf and rw in. Hopefully diallo traore is a born star in that regard
You need to lay down football manager and fifa.
Apparently Martial's earning £13m per year. If someone comes in who benches him they'll want the same salary at least. Martial is being paid too much to be a squad player. We really messed things up giving him a 6-year deal on that money.