I won't pretend to have ever watched him, but that Sangare fellow signed by Brentford sounds impressive, according to what I've read. For 40-odd million, a player like that would make sense. One thine we cannot do is rely on Mason Mount to stay healthy.
Third midfield signing
- Thread starter croadyman
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Is it really an advantage? All the top sides are competing in several competitions and they remain top sides, and it certainly wasn't an advantage for Amorim.
Because they build decent squads.
Surely Mainoo will come straight in? He didn't play a minute at the WC. I think Santos and Mainoo woul be a very good pairing to start the campaign with with our first fixtures (hull and ipswich). Certainly to see if it will work going forward. Tielemans is a known entity, so he will slot straight in when fit. If they're not ready for the start of the season, then fair enough, but I also think those two should be sufficient against those two sides.
Anka on TOTD was annoyed that Utd didn't go in for Sangare as he thinks that's what we are missing in midfield.
Anderson, Rogers, Diomande, Tonali, M Fernandes, potentially Barcola. If that's not hyper inflated, didn't know what is.
It means that Liverpool, Villa and United who have thin squads can be overtaken by Chelsea / Spurs who will not need to rotate. Arsenal and City have a lot of depth so remain top sides when hit by injury.
It wasn’t an advantage for Amorim because 1, he wasn’t very good, 2, the first half of the season you don’t really reap the rewards and 3, we were only about 3 points off top 4 when Amorim was sacked.
There is zero chance of Mainoo starting the opening games. He'll be completely unfit compared with Santos, Mount, and likely Tielemans by the time Hull comes around due to joining the squad so late. The question is whether it will be Tielemans or Mount starting beside Santos, which will probably depend on how fit Youri is.
Santos is our only recognised defensive midfielder/#6. What happens if he gets injured?
Would you be comfortable with any combination of Mount, Tielemans and Mainoo in the midfield for big/important games?
Of course it is later in the season. You've got less football in the legs and more recovery time.
I think they are just market values.
I guess it depends when he joins the squad. Tielemans is already training, I don't see why he wouldn't make the first team to be honest. Maybe I'm underestimating it!
Oh I am in total agreement it shouldn't be where we stop, but I at least think he has options that he wants in midfield going into the season, against relegation candidates. If we finish the window with no more midfield additions, he'll be in for a rough ride.
No, not at all, I do think we've got enough time on and options to tick us right to the end of the window for adding players. If we were going into the season again with Casemiro and Mount as the only options, I'd be more concerned we might be exploited by a hungry promoted side.
Ahh I thought you meant for the window, not for the first few games.
Oh no, sorry my bad. Yes if they're the only two signings, they will have sold him down the river. I do think the lack of sales is stopping us doing any bigger deals, so I think we will probably see us go into the season with those two as the main options and push through something towards the end if we can.
I've been saying for a while that I don't think there will be a third midfield signing and now it's suddenly being reported widely that this may well be the case.
I don't think that this is as unlikely as some people seem to think. Obviously from a rational point of view as a fan you think there's no way we would be so naive as to think that Mason Mount having a few decent games in preseason means we don't need another midfielder. However...
We need to bear in mind that the owners don't seem terribly bothered about whether the club win anything, only that the club perform well enough to bring in the money. I think it's completely realistic to think that Glazeos would see an opportunity to save money and still potentially get into the top 4 this coming season, and decide to save that money!
I don't think that this is as unlikely as some people seem to think. Obviously from a rational point of view as a fan you think there's no way we would be so naive as to think that Mason Mount having a few decent games in preseason means we don't need another midfielder. However...
We need to bear in mind that the owners don't seem terribly bothered about whether the club win anything, only that the club perform well enough to bring in the money. I think it's completely realistic to think that Glazeos would see an opportunity to save money and still potentially get into the top 4 this coming season, and decide to save that money!
There's no way I start accepting that with a month left
Many have doubted if we are serious under INEOS anyway
Oh well done you for being right if that's the case
The unexpected high fee Sesko transfer at the end of last window plus the January Semenyo offer makes me hopeful we're just pretending to be skint and will actually spend towards the end of the window. For a summer that could transform us and solidify our CL position, it's going poor, however good the additions of Santos and Tielemans are.
I do think there's a good chance we could make a big signing this January tbh. If we're looking like comfortably finishing top 5, INEOS might feel the financial risk of missing out on CL football is pretty much gone, which imo is what's stopping them from paying what we realistically should be willing to this summer. The ramifications of missing out on CL last season did seem to be disastrous. We're probably fortunate that we improved so much and didn't have to face the realities of another season without the income from CL.
It seems curious to me that, in the midst of all these targets we're after that we're not actually in the market for someone with physicality to handle transitions. Like, at all. It's encouraging that we've got two players who are capable of playing progressive passes, however, looking for a third midfielder without physical traits is baffling.
I mean, who are the options B, C, or D that fit that profile? Isn't the point of scouting and data that you identify profiles? If Ederson was the initial profile, then if not him, then who? Because Santos isn't an Ederson alternative; nor is Tielemans. How are we organising this window?
I mean, who are the options B, C, or D that fit that profile? Isn't the point of scouting and data that you identify profiles? If Ederson was the initial profile, then if not him, then who? Because Santos isn't an Ederson alternative; nor is Tielemans. How are we organising this window?
You may be right, but it should also be noted that journos have been consistently wrong about what United are going to do next - mainly because United themselves are probably still deciding on what to do next.
Yeah I just cannot understand not valuing that profile of midfielder when it's vital to stop you getting bullied
This is not the first time the club starts penny pinching when we have secured UCL but need signings to make next step to challenge for titles and we fail to do so.. manager fails as a result and is gone by xmas, rinse and repeat.
What was so critical about this summer was realistically Bruno F. (at 32yo) likely has 2 seasons max at this peak , we should've tried to take full advantage and build best possible squad around him. Once Bruno is done we will have to start another rebuild...
They are still over 3 weeks left to end of window so lets see what happiness. The prices are ridiculous for CM top talent but everyone is paying them because you have to that is the market now.
LW and LB I kind have sympathy for recruitment team. The Rashford situation hasn't helped at all desperately needed Barca to take him but saying that, it was obvious for a while that wasn't happening and he had average WC26 so didn't attract any new suitors as well. Lewis hall is main LB target but Newcastle have recouped so much and lost many key players, unlikely to sell him as well. He is young enough, can always go back next summer. And squad of Shaw with Harry Amass, Dalot, mazaroui and Dorgu all able to do a job should be ok for another season.
What was so critical about this summer was realistically Bruno F. (at 32yo) likely has 2 seasons max at this peak , we should've tried to take full advantage and build best possible squad around him. Once Bruno is done we will have to start another rebuild...
They are still over 3 weeks left to end of window so lets see what happiness. The prices are ridiculous for CM top talent but everyone is paying them because you have to that is the market now.
LW and LB I kind have sympathy for recruitment team. The Rashford situation hasn't helped at all desperately needed Barca to take him but saying that, it was obvious for a while that wasn't happening and he had average WC26 so didn't attract any new suitors as well. Lewis hall is main LB target but Newcastle have recouped so much and lost many key players, unlikely to sell him as well. He is young enough, can always go back next summer. And squad of Shaw with Harry Amass, Dalot, mazaroui and Dorgu all able to do a job should be ok for another season.
Personally think this is a domino situation with whether Rodri goes to Madrid or not. If not then they may or may not move onto other targets.
Sooner Tchouameni holiday ends the better
I thought we missed a lot of rhythm in a lot of games last season, playing no games in 10 or 14 days more often. Teams need competitive games to improve, not only training and rest. Waiting for the next games, also for players, doesn’t help them mentally I think. Less games also means less minutes for players what leads to unhappy players but also holds back the development of younger players who can’t play.
Ofcourse there is advantage but there is also disadvantage in a lot of ways I think.
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Agreed that if we don't make more signings by the end of the window we're devoid of ambition. I consider a third CM, a LB and another forward essential for progress.
That doesn't change my assessment of the Tielemans and Santos signings though - I think they're very astute and a lot of fans will be surprised by how much they bring. The poster I was responding to claimed they're just squad players who are "on a par with Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin". I think that's nonsense and they'll both prove to be more than that as the season progresses.
I agree with that - there's definitely a balance. We looked so poor after some of those longer breaks. The flipside of course is the injury risk to some of our players with an increased schedule - the likes of Mount, Martinez, De Ligt etc are hardly robust.
Thank you! That's really all I ever want.
Yeah I mean that also wouldn't be ideal if they're still deciding what they want at this stage.
I don’t have an issue with it as long as they are comfortable with what they are doing
That would be funny
So in other words, we're gambling again with the future of the club. What was all the preachiness about being sensible and diligent about then? You can be damn sure what the next excuse will be in a year's time, if/when we end up outside the Top 5. And that's then just going to be construed as another thing nobody bears responsibility for and I guess is just bad luck or unfortunate circumstance that Mount and Shaw couldn't stay fit. Oh what could have been...
The argument simply can't be, that this club needs to be in the Champions League season after season to be stable and capable financially and then if we create the springboard to solidify that position and move forward, we aren't decisive or willing enough to do what's necessary and end up going backwards. From supposed best-in-class personnel you'd expect a much more cohesive and solid plan than just hope and pray, while selling the fake idea of being within grasp of winning the league.
Why does it matter what the fans want or what the initial targets were? I never understand posts like these. The only thing that matters is that the signings we make do well, whether they're our top target or number 10 in line. It's completely irrelevant, as long as they do well for us and help us reach where we want to be. Antony was our top target for the right wing, Sancho was for our left wing, Pogba was for our CM, Hojlund was our top target striker, and so was Ugarte and Zirkzee.
The reason no one mentioned Santos or Tielemans is because no one knew they were realistic targets and because they weren't hyped up like the ones we knew were available. The ones that were openly for sale were the ones the fans wanted; players we knew were gonna move; Anderson, Mateus Fernandes, Alex Scott, Tonali.
Your second paragraph is trash, and that's what makes your post laughable. "Couldn't cement a place in their first team". This is just wumming. How easy do you think it is to cement a place in a midfield with Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo? Tielemans is 29, not "almost 30", but you already knew that. You're just looking to wind up people.
I wish the usual Utd sources would just say nothing, instead they decide to just write negative stuff about not signing third midfielder which causes fan outrage
Yes if 29 isn’t almost 30 then it’s impossible to dispute your logic…
Anyone know much about this guy?
You know what you were doing when you said it. He turned 29 in May, when the season is finished he's 30 so we get an entire season out of him before that, and even then he's probably got at least 3-4 years of top level left.
You can't have a bunch of kids running around if we want to win things. Tielemans is an extremely good signing, and you will understand that when you see him play for us.
Thought we didn't want a CB?
Nothing, but you wonder how much of a rush Atalanta will be in to do business with us after the Ederson situation.
I don't blame them at all