Tweet says he’s a bit of a hybrid. If that’s not true I’ll delete the tweet.
Third midfield signing
- Thread starter croadyman
- Start date
So you mean a bit like Stones
Maybe? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed him playing. Maybe someone else can give some insight.
Zero problems with us signing Tielemans. He is a quality addition but giving him a five year contract at his age doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.
Dream signing for me. Had a bad knee injury but came back looking just as good. Rolls Royce defender, happily step into midfield - maybe even LB at a push. Hard to tell his pace from the league.
I know we liked him when he first broke through, it wouldn't surprise me if we went back for him if he's available. Would Atalanta be interested in doing much business with us after the Ederson episode mind you?
If he’s really that versatile then this would make a tonne of sense.
Agreed, I think he's played more in midfield than LB though. So I'd still expect us to get a LB. Maybe this is the defensive mid cover.
Yeah we may well have broken the relationship
What difference does it really make? The financial package to bring him here was way smaller than many of the alternatives and he was never going to come here on a short contract - a player of his quality at his age has every right to expect some long term financial security when making a big move. We could probably have offered him a four year contract instead of a five year one but the financial burden of that may have remained the same anyway - any agent worth half their salt would demand a higher base rate in return for signing a shorter contract. Seems like you're trying to find any excuse to complain about the deal.
Perhaps you’re right but I am genuinely worried we are trying to cut corners in order to save money rather than make the investment required.
I am hopefully wrong of course but I haven’t seen anything so far to convince me I am. We went from having spent ages identifying key targets apparently to now talking about Mount playing a key role next season when we all know we can’t seriously expect to rely on him to stay fit.
He should be one of those moving on this summer but nobody would be daft enough to sign him for what we’re paying him to miss half of every season.
Might not have to be fair, no idea how it was handled.
Well yeah, we have shit owners and we're broke so of course we're "cutting corners" compared to rivals who are financially much better placed. That's not changing anytime soon even if we don't like it. But we weren't doing any better when we were spunking 70-90 million on players because our recruitment strategy was atrocious, and that's contribued to the state we're now trying to recover from. Even if we're broke our recruitment seems to be improving, and Tielemans and Santos seem like smart signings to me. I don't care if Tielemans is on a five year contract - much better that than sticking a limited player like Tonali on a 275k a week six year contract. You claim Santos is a panic buy but ignore the fact that we wanted him last summer, which undermines the valid concerns about us not investing adequately.
I know he's 100% not a midfielder. He's a decent young cb. We have been linked with him for a couple years, so I wouldn't be surprised if he is genuinely on our list. I think I've seen him play lb once before (possible I could be mistaken), so maybe we could consider him an option to cover both cb and lb. I don't think he would have anything whatsoever to do with midfield though.
He's played in midfield a few times from what I remember. He certainly steps into there from the back 3, so if you look at where Santos has been taking up positions for us, it would be very similar. 6ft 3 as well, decent in the air and fantastic defensive dueller and absolutely class on the ball. He would be the long term Martinez replacement in my eyes, but great DM cover.
Would be a strange signing given his recent injury record, we don’t need another injury prone player; especially a CB.
Possibly. I know he's never played in midfield any game I saw of Atalanta, but he might have in ones I haven't seen. The height would be useful for sure and he is good on the ball (though worth pointing out he'd get less time in the PL). If we sold Martinez he might be a genuine option but I don't see us making any other cb signings while Licha and De Ligt are still here personally.
Thanks for the responses.
I think it would be good forward planning, considering neither of those have proven to be reliable.
https://totalfootballanalysis.com/a...ctical-analysis-scout-report-tactics-analysis
This was a good read on when he broke through and in a back three was the one to step forward in that left channel. I think there's probably a case he can cover LB, CB and DM if you look at the areas he covers. Almost Califiori like, but better on the ball and probably not as athletic.
Atalanta seemed glad to keep Ederson.
Today is first time I worry my own thread is a jinx
Silence, Grumbledook!
Just have to admit sometimes when you fecked up
Is it too early to start panicking?
I want to say yes as it's my thread
Yes but its getting close to that time sooner rather than later.
Doubt he’ll ever play in DM. We all thought the same with Martinez when we signed him and he never got used there. Not even for cover. If he’s a quality LCB then let’s sign him to play there
But if you look at where Santos has been in pre season, picking up the ball and also just the link I posted, he basically plays as the extra body in midfield. Even if it's not strictly DM, it will be bringing the same things.
Probably not. A LB and another CM are an absolute must and we don't look very active at all the ninute
Reading we aren’t getting a midfielder now are backing Mount to take the position.
Which, as discussed to death in this thread, would be incredibly stupid and absurd.
Not really when you see the latest Ornstein tweet. He said at the start of the window he expected Utd to be the busiest team this summer with the amount of work that's needed.
Obviously that's not happened or won't be happening. Thank you glazers once again.
Why are the glazers getting blamed? It’s all on INEOS now. They’ve took over footballing operations.
Yeah he also is out of the loop like everyone else this summer and is frustrated at lack of information
I will admit they had a mare waiting too long on Hall
The Glazers are still majority owners and Joel Glazer still retains the right to sign off on or veto deals, which is not surprising - why would majority owners of any company let minority owners have exclusive control over an important area of expenditure? Inoes are just in charge of day to day footballing matters, but the Glazers still largely hold the purse strings.
Yep they still hold all the aces when it comes to signings, let's hope we are getting closer to making one
I still think we’ll sign another midfielder. Think it’s possible it might be right towards the end of the window, but I do think we’ll get one.
Yeah feels like it will be after season starts now and I know that is not acceptable when we needed it sorted