You're forgetting that mourinho managed there and they broke the la liga points record and scored 121 goals on the way to the title. He will fit in quite well I think as long as he's motivated to make the move and doesn't see us as a step down.
Transfer Strategy - How good is good enough?
- Thread starter Zlatattack
- Start date
Not questioning Mourinho's credentials or his success with Madrid. The present Real team is very different from ours in playing style. Plus, as you said, there's always the risk of a player seeing it as a step down and therefore considering himself the star player and not working as hard.
If that's the case, I'd rather have a less talented/developed player who is happy to be at OT.
Agreed. Some people have completely lost the plot calling for a massive clear-out and unrealistic signings. We don't need a clear-out and we definitely don't need a galactico in every position to win the league again. Chelsea have just won the league with many players that some would easily label "not a United player". The best team isn't always the one with the best players. There's much more to it than that.
For all its faults, this current squad has won the FA and League Cup recently and may also win the EL in a few days time. At the very least, that shows that a winning culture and good spirit is developing amongst the players. That would be destroyed if a bunch of them was sold in one summer. We should rather build on what we have at the moment by adding 2 or 3 quality players who can give everyone else a lift.
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ttenham-ride-but-wont-rule-out-exit-in-future
Can we just bid a massive amount for him? For one he is a great player and two, I would wank myself into a coma over the spurs comments
Can we just bid a massive amount for him? For one he is a great player and two, I would wank myself into a coma over the spurs comments
The key is the infrastructure and architecture. While it's fun to play muppet regarding certain signings, the are certain pragmatic transfers that are needed even though they aren't sexy or people think the player isn't at "United standard". All top teams are better than the sum of their parts.
United's issue is figuring out a post Fergie identity. This has been complicated by buying and bringing shirt sellers rather than taking a few lumps while building a solid base and bringing in the shirt sellers last.
Jose did good business in his first transfer window, but the base still needs to be built hence the reason 6+ players are needed.
United's issue is figuring out a post Fergie identity. This has been complicated by buying and bringing shirt sellers rather than taking a few lumps while building a solid base and bringing in the shirt sellers last.
Jose did good business in his first transfer window, but the base still needs to be built hence the reason 6+ players are needed.
How good is good enough. Simple answer is not a set level but better than we currently have and the best we can get.
If you are rebuilding a team from scratch, which is essentially what Mourinho is doing, you start with an overall system and formation in mind (which seems to be 4-2-3-1 in this case). You pick your long term core players (usually 3-5 but probably only Pogba and rashford for now) and then add other players to complement them.
We definitely need help in the final third so a top striker, a world class number 10 or a Bernardo Silva type who annoys opposing defences by running at them would seem a top priority. Just behind that we need a top dedicated DM or a box to box DM. But most importantly its critical that Jose bring in certain personalities who he feels will galvanize the gaps in the current squad and get them executing like a well oiled machine. I look at the improvement from his initial year at Inter to the treble winning side. He gradually put the pieces in place and suddenly everything clicked at a much higher level. That's the sort of strategy he needs this year, and I'm confident he will do it.
I don't see a right or wrong approach personally, ultimately the correct policy has to provide the success to justify itself. Unfortunately, post Gill, our approach had an air of desperation to it imo, which probably won't really change until we achieve our immediate goals.
Mourinho has made some good signings though, Bailly, Zlatan, Pogba and Mk are undoubtedly quality signings. However, qualify for the CL, everyone will be happy and looking forward with optimism. Fail to qualify, and those same signings will be viewed as insufficient, yet they are still quality players. This summer i can see us yet again having to spend heavily to get where we want to be.
I don't think that has to be the case, Kante was bought for a pittance, yet turned out to be one of the best about in his position. Although, when you have the funds to spend big and expectations continue to build, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore that pressure to do so. A la Wenger. Mki didn't cost a fortune, so after a hot and cold season many will now speculate we should have spent more for someone better. Yet with Pogba many will argue we spent too much, and could have bought better for less.
Liverpool and Spurs haven't spent fortunes on top players, yet both still automatically qualified for the CL and will consider their respective seasons a success as a result. As a manager, no matter who you sign, or however much you spend, you still have to provide the expected success to back it up. Last summer, Klopp said he was shocked how much pressure he was under to spend big, asking whether people had forgotten that teams can be improved by coaching methods. To be fair, Chelsea won the title simply by buying the right players for the system Conte wanted to change to, and then getting it to work.
Mourinho has been good at signing what he needs in the past, and as i said, his signings so far have been good. He just needs to get more out of them as a unit, and spend big this summer or not, that will still be the case next season.
There is still value out there. I think some supporters are very short sighted and can only remember what they have recently seen.
Monaco are the flavour of the month, but many of their players are having break through seasons and will consequently sell for much more than they may actually end up being worth. You have to look for consistency, and really only Fabinho and Bernardo Silva have shown any over more than one season. Fans like the look of Mendy because we need a left back and he's clearly talented, but why not look a little closer to home at someone like Bertrand, who would probably go for a similar fee and has proven Premier League and International experience?
Monaco are the flavour of the month, but many of their players are having break through seasons and will consequently sell for much more than they may actually end up being worth. You have to look for consistency, and really only Fabinho and Bernardo Silva have shown any over more than one season. Fans like the look of Mendy because we need a left back and he's clearly talented, but why not look a little closer to home at someone like Bertrand, who would probably go for a similar fee and has proven Premier League and International experience?
I agree. Its not about the quality of individual players but about which players will make us function as a team again.
Take our next opponent Ajax.
If we compile a mixed best 11 based on the individual players we might end up with 8 or 9 of our players but as a team I think they work better atm.
At least 100k a weekwho would of thought that dabbing could make you a fortune
I agree with the general concept of first choosing the system and then targeting players who would flourish under that system. The last thing you want to do is splash £100m on a player only to realise he doesn't fit into the way you want to set-up your team.
Having said that, I think Herrera should be playing in the CM position next to Pogba, with another holding midfielder like Fabinho playing in front of the back 4.
I'm not against playing squad players, but we should not be paying £25/£40 million each time for them. Prices paid for Shaw, Schneiderlin, Fellaini were ridiculous. Perhaps we should do what Chelsea do? Keep 30 players on loan so that at least 10 of them will be starting most matches. That way you, potentially, have 10 more experienced squad players available each summer to draft into your team if you need them. The fact you have squad players should not stop you buying the best players you need to win top trophies : unless you're paying ~ £30 million each time for your squad players. If we can't get the best because they won't come, we need the 2nd-best with potential. Anyone with serious weaknesses in their game, which can't be ironed out, should not be here. Players with potential should show improvement with coaching. It's all obvious.
Exactly my thinking on this as I don't think we'd get any of the big three names but we should look at paying the money required for Bale who's world class, British, proven in our league and scores and creates goals.
We need a proven quality player in each position that needs to be strengthened so why pack the squad out with filler when what's needed is genuine quality ? Of course it'll cost but then we're the richest club in the world with it being reported by Balague we're likely to spend £400 million, I think that's an overestimate but we'll likely be the biggest spenders in the summer.
Such a lame excuse for buying him. Everton will want £50 million. £50m for a player who does not automatically start, when we already have Pogba and Andreas!
I think the right approach is..
- To buy from the PL preferably. Eliminate the needing to settle down in a new country and a new league factor.
- Players at their peak. Given our current situation, I'd rather we sign players older than 25, again eliminating the wait for them to develop.
- If not from the PL, then proven quality. If we're not able to land some of our targets from the PL and are forced to look outside, I'd want us to look at names like Griezmann and such.
Buying talents like Mbappe or Dembele is something we'll have to sacrifice on for a couple of windows and be absolutely ruthless. Once we're back where aspire to be we can change our transfer strategy to buying young talents and waiting for them to develop while we have other players that can step up if it doesn't work.
- To buy from the PL preferably. Eliminate the needing to settle down in a new country and a new league factor.
- Players at their peak. Given our current situation, I'd rather we sign players older than 25, again eliminating the wait for them to develop.
- If not from the PL, then proven quality. If we're not able to land some of our targets from the PL and are forced to look outside, I'd want us to look at names like Griezmann and such.
Buying talents like Mbappe or Dembele is something we'll have to sacrifice on for a couple of windows and be absolutely ruthless. Once we're back where aspire to be we can change our transfer strategy to buying young talents and waiting for them to develop while we have other players that can step up if it doesn't work.