The left-winger market…

bosnian_red said:
A year ago he was just playing youth football for Leverkusen. Standing out, but still. The prem is a different beast and while I could see him making an impact on the Bundesliga and serie A and even the world Cup this summer, I think the prem would bully him a bit for a couple of years. The talent as you say is obvious, but he needs that intermediate step first to get physically used to the top level.

If United believe in the talent, he's the type you buy and loan back to the Bundesliga or Serie A for a year to make sure he gets the right minutes at a high level like De Bruyne did, mainly due to the physicality issues id see from him. Reserve football too low of a level, benching him for the year just not the right thing either.

Also I'm wary of overrating him due to the bias but I can't praise him highly enough for how good he's looked so far.

Also - Leverkusen already activated their buy back for 6m or so. They're waiting for the world Cup to cash in I think, but still likely for 30m I would guess.
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I completely get where you're coming from, and you're probably right, but the transfer muppet inside of me has taken over! (I know it's probably too late with the Roma links, but still!)
Apokalips said:
Looks interesting and I would love to see us bring in more young talents like this alongside top quality. Teams like Real do it all the time, which is how they have Rodrygo and Vini. Mastantuono, Endrick and Arda are more recent ones.
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Couldn't agree more. It's always going to be hit and miss, but the ones we get right make the risk totally worth it.
golden_blunder said:
Can we send Jason Wilcox an email saying have a look at this kid before someone else snaps him up?
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This is where our recruitment team need to come into play. Even if we miss out on this chap, they'll be other talents out there. We just need to identify them and take the risk of believing that they'll fulfill their potential here instead of doing something like spending £70m on Rogers.

I've praised our transfer strategy for our youth team for years now. We've made it a priority to sign technically strong players, and although the majority won't make it here, I think we're doing the right thing. Heaven and Chido Obi from Arsenal, Garnacho from Atletico, Alvaro from Real Madrid, Amad from Atalanta. These were all smart purchases for the youth team, imo. People may laugh at the Garnacho one, but he was very good from a technical POV in youth gamed, he gave us some good moments like the FA Cup final goal against City, and we made a HUGE profit on him.

We just need that to translate to senior level signings.
 
Yagami said:
I completely get where you're coming from, and you're probably right, but the transfer muppet inside of me has taken over! (I know it's probably too late with the Roma links, but still!)

Couldn't agree more. It's always going to be hit and miss, but the ones we get right make the risk totally worth it.

This is where our recruitment team need to come into play. Even if we miss out on this chap, they'll be other talents out there. We just need to identify them and take the risk of believing that they'll fulfill their potential here instead of doing something like spending £70m on Rogers.

I've praised our transfer strategy for our youth team for years now. We've made it a priority to sign technically strong players, and although the majority won't make it here, I think we're doing the right thing. Heaven and Chido Obi from Arsenal, Garnacho from Atletico, Alvaro from Real Madrid, Amad from Atalanta. These were all smart purchases for the youth team, imo. People may laugh at the Garnacho one, but he was very good from a technical POV in youth gamed, he gave us some good moments like the FA Cup final goal against City, and we made a HUGE profit on him.

We just need that to translate to senior level signings.
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Eh wouldn't read much into roma links. They're interested but Leverkusen is gonna wait til the world Cup to decide what they'll do as they're expecting an increase in interest after it. Illogical for them to sell before.
 
In my opinion, it's Dorgu and Cunha who should fight for this spot. If we are going to have an extra player in this position, it should be a young player who can be competitive in the long term.
 
No7UTD said:
In my opinion, it's Dorgu and Cunha who should fight for this spot. If we are going to have an extra player in this position, it should be a young player who can be competitive in the long term.
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That’s a poor standard. With Amad and Mbeumo competing for right wing, we’re toothless.
 
The way things are going we might need a right sided player more. If we are to buy a winger, they need to be able to play on both sides because I’m not comfortable with Amad and Mbeumo based on the second half of the season.
 
The links to Diomande at Leipzig seem to have gone a bit cold?

Word a couple of months ago was that Utd had a lot of groundwork done on him but the 80m ish price being mentioned seem prohibitive. Hard to see utd paying that along with the expected outlay on midfield

If we even do address LW, I think that's the type of signing most likely though. A young up and coming genuine wide player who won't kick off for having probably fewer games in a rotation with Cunha. Also versatile to play across the forward line.
 
Easier said than done. But the quality of wingers on show for PSG vs Bayern is exactly the type of technical ability and speed we need for the left and right.

Scouts get to work and find us the new Luiz Diaz.
 
El Jefe said:
The way things are going we might need a right sided player more. If we are to buy a winger, they need to be able to play on both sides because I’m not comfortable with Amad and Mbeumo based on the second half of the season.
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We basically need a complete new eleven if we want to regularly compete for top honours .
 
El Jefe said:
The way things are going we might need a right sided player more. If we are to buy a winger, they need to be able to play on both sides because I’m not comfortable with Amad and Mbeumo based on the second half of the season.
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That's again why Diomande is ideal. Very two footed and comfortable on both wings to an extent that not many wingers are.
 
SilentWitness said:
@goldenboy you seem to have watched Diomande more than anyone else. Transfermarkt has him looking like he plays far more on the RW than LW and he performs better there - 0.36 G+A rate at LW compared to 0.79 at RW. Is that legit in terms of him playing mostly on the right and looking like he's more productive there (Hence the Liverpool Salah replacement interest)?
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goldenboy said:
I don't think it's as simple as that. For one thing, Leipzig switch their wingers over a fair amount during games, and in general Diomande does drift a fair bit across the pitch.

He maybe does marginally prefer starting on the right flank, though tbh I'm not sure about that. It's also worth nothing that in La Liga for Leganes, he played on the LW in all his games bar one, and had a 0.6 G+A rate on that flank. Those performances encouraged Leipzig to sign him in the first place.

As for his LW vs RW stats for Leipzig potentially being a bit misleading, check out his two games this season vs Frankfurt as examples. In both of them he's listed as supposedly playing RW.

This is the first game, a 6-0 win at home in which Diomande scores a hat-trick. But actually, he scores his 1st and 3rd goals from the left side of the pitch. Both are goals which you would expect a player playing LW to have scored.



Then the away match this weekend, a 3-1 win. Diomande scores the first goal. Although starting on the right, he dribbles across the width of the pitch until he's on the left, when he cuts back and scores with his right foot. The finish is again something you'd more expect of a LW player, and would be simpler if he could come on to the shot without trying to run the width of the pitch to make that angle.



Ultimately, as even just seeing his four goals in the games above will demonstrate, he's so two-footed that I don't think it makes that dramatic a difference which side he plays on. He is capable of both finishing and assisting from both sides. His explosiveness and two-footedness also means he can dribble both inside and outside on whichever flank.
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Further to my above demonstration of where Diomande can score goals from, I just stumbled across this graphic which maps where Diomande has scored his goal from - seems a pretty equal distribution across each side of the penalty box:

HH5QudFawAAFgM7
 
Kerim Alajbegović is a brutal talent, I'd love to see him one day in our jersey. He plays with no fear, loves to go 1 v 1 on defenders and his shooting is great, he already scored some crazy long distance goals. As someone said, he reminds me of Kvaratshkelia.
 
Been impressed with Summerville so far against Arsenal, he’s looked very lively and is very direct
 
goldenboy said:
Further to my above demonstration of where Diomande can score goals from, I just stumbled across this graphic which maps where Diomande has scored his goal from - seems a pretty equal distribution across each side of the penalty box:

HH5QudFawAAFgM7
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It's already been well established that I'm not the sharpest when it comes to sharing images from ScoutLab on here but taking a look at my favourite visualisation on there, the take-on map, also backs this up. Diomande completes a staggering amount of them on both flanks.

If there's one player I'd sort of be OK with us absolutely breaking the bank for this summer, it's him without a doubt. I actually have a sneaky feeling he might stay at Leipzig another season but I'll be absolutely gutted if he ends up at another Prem side.
 
bosskeano said:
unless we make some big sales we won't have the funds for someone like Leao considering how much he'd cost given our need to bring in 2-3 CM's
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Yeah would need to sell all of Ugarte, Napoli to fulfill agreement on Hojlund and Barca to sign guy whose free kick helped them with El Classico too.
 
What have happened to Nico Williams? was the hottest player in the world two years ago, completely disappeared after the game with us in that semi.
 
DarkRed said:
What have happened to Nico Williams? was the hottest player in the world two years ago, completely disappeared after the game with us in that semi.
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He’s never been particularly good IMO. He’d look ordinary amongst more similar players in the PL.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah would need to sell all of Ugarte, Napoli to fulfill agreement on Hojlund and Barca to sign guy whose free kick helped them with El Classico too.
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the napoli money is done n dusted.....won't make much from Ugarte sorry to say and barca seem hell bent on not spending the 30m in the loan agreement simply bc they know marcus wants to stay and will push for another loan option

not saying i'd want Leao either as i think he's a bit more show then go in terms of reliability and production
 
bosskeano said:
the napoli money is done n dusted.....won't make much from Ugarte sorry to say and barca seem hell bent on not spending the 30m in the loan agreement simply bc they know marcus wants to stay and will push for another loan option

not saying i'd want Leao either as i think he's a bit more show then go in terms of reliability and production
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I think with Leao, it will certainly be a gamble, but I think a potentially calculated one. It’s a weak market for the position in general, and he does have quality. Some of the figures floating around make it an idea I reckon. Could be an inspired move.
 
golden_blunder said:
If anyone doesn’t like what Rashford plays like, they probably don’t like Leao either. When he’s off, he’s way off. He’s not on enough. Whether that’s motivation at his current club is difficult to say.

I wonder would they loan him to us if we loaned them Zirkzee
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Yeah that looks a swap we are getting the better end, however his workrate is the biggest concern
 
Does this mean we have dropped the idea of bringing in a left winger this summer?

 
IrishRedDevil said:
We must be signing a striker then.
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We are singing a striker, that's a given. The briefing from a month back was LB, 2 xCM and a experienced striker.

A few outlets, more reputable ones are saying it's now LB. 3 x CM, experienced striker and a back keeper.
 
I think considering patrick dorgu a good option on the wing is a mistake, he had 2 good games... maybe he is an option against top teams because of his defensive output but i think we should be looking at a young attacker with potential who can come in and give cunha some rest. matheus mane from wolves maybe?
 
Disappointing news. We def need a LW player and a good opportunity to atleast punt on some WC talent like Estevao (~30m) if not a ready made option like Diomande.

IrishRedDevil said:
We must be signing a striker then.
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I wonder how much we'll spend there. Hard to see us signing a CF without selling Zirkzee. If we're talking Welbeck or Raul Jimenez (who could be had on a free), it shouldn't be that much money.
 
Tbh i never thought we'd go for LW, i can understand the thought process too, Cunha + Dorgu, with Mount as needed, plus Amad or Mbuemo as fall back options is ample. Our priorities lie elsewhere imo
 
Wilcox supposed to have had discussions with Leicester about Monga, so maybe a youngster to develop into the position? Does seem an exceptional prospect.
 
M Bison said:
Tbh i never thought we'd go for LW, i can understand the thought process too, Cunha + Dorgu, with Mount as needed, plus Amad or Mbuemo as fall back options is ample. Our priorities lie elsewhere imo
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Don't forget Lacey will be with the first team next season, unless they do send him out on loan. Also they may do a max dowman with JJ Gabriel and give him some game time. He's had a few training sessions with the first team recently.
 
dinostar77 said:
Does this mean we have dropped the idea of bringing in a left winger this summer?

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Short term I get it, long term that need to be a lot better. Maybe financially they're thinking it's easier to look for a left back than a left winger, though I don't know why we don't just put Dorgu back there. He's clearly a left back from me and not talented enough at left wing.
 
Never quite got the idea that you desperately needed a left winger. You have far more pressing matters, such as at least two midfielders, another goalkeeper (if Vitek is sold/goes out on loan) and possibly a high-level centre-back. Cunha and Dorgu should suffice for now?
 
bosskeano said:
the napoli money is done n dusted.....won't make much from Ugarte sorry to say and barca seem hell bent on not spending the 30m in the loan agreement simply bc they know marcus wants to stay and will push for another loan option

not saying i'd want Leao either as i think he's a bit more show then go in terms of reliability and production
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We should tell them to stick that loan offer as well, either pay up or we are gonna sell elsewhere
dinostar77 said:
We are singing a striker, that's a given. The briefing from a month back was LB, 2 xCM and a experienced striker.

A few outlets, more reputable ones are saying it's now LB. 3 x CM, experienced striker and a back keeper.
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Depends who the LB is, hoping for someone like Hall, however not against a Brown/Diouf either
 
dinostar77 said:
We are singing a striker, that's a given. The briefing from a month back was LB, 2 xCM and a experienced striker.

A few outlets, more reputable ones are saying it's now LB. 3 x CM, experienced striker and a back keeper.
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3 CM, LB, ST, GK is minimum the squad needs for next season. Any purchases other than the above will be dependant on sales.
 
If they sent scouts to watch Rafael Leao at the weekend, it would've put them off signing any winger. His performance was really poor and he was lucky not to be subbed at half time which was pointed out by people on comms too.
 
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