Transfers 2019/2020. Final verdict

[SAFMUTD]

I will rate each player not according to their impact but from what was expected from them:

From the departures everyone is a solid 5 except from maybe Smalling that could have been usefull but he wants to be a start so I think it was a good choice letting him go on loan rather than having an unhappy player that can disrupt the team.

Now on the arrivals:

James 3/5- he was brought as a squad/rotation player and while he wont improve enough to be a starter he was relatively cheap and we can still get our money back. So we could have done better, but not a total failure.

AWB -4/5 he improved our defense greatly, still missing in the attack department but he's young and improving I still think there was no better available player than him at RB.

Maguire -3/5 for the price paid he should had been a top 5 CB, obviously he is not. But its no surprise since everyone of us knew we were highly overpaying for him. He has added leadership to the team but the fact that we are still talking about bringing a CB after we just paid a world record fee for one speaks for itself on how he hasnt impacted enogh.

Bruno - 6/6 no explanation needed.

 

[shaky]

We finished with 66 points last season (with Mourinho sabotaging us for 3 months). If we win all matches, we will finish with 68. If we win 2 and draw one we will finish with 66, same as last season.

This is while adding AWB and Bruno in addition to Maguire (and removing what is considered by most as deadwood). I don't get where does the 'replace Maguire with Smalling and we are a few points off'.

Sure, we should not compare this season to seasons 10 years ago cause football has changed a lot, but we can definitely compare it with the last season. And well, we are actually averaging less points than last season. So no, I don't think there is much to say that if we had Smalling instead of Maguire we would have been a few points off. That is not to say that we should have kept Smalling (we shouldn't), but Maguire was hardly the answer. He was a very expensive sideways move.

You can compare overall points totals, but I feel that's more of a reflection on issues in midfield earlier this season rather than defence. Looking at defensive stats, we have conceded 35 goals in the league so far this season. At this stage of last season, we had conceded 50. I know Maguire isn't the only reason we've reduced our goals conceded tally by 30% , but he's certainly played his part in it.

 

[Fridge chutney]

Best transfer year post-SAF.

All 3/4 signed are guaranteed starters and will be for years to come. James can be sold at a profit or can be a good option to bring off the bench.

It's worth noting that outgoings were also appropriate.

Let's hope 2020/2021 continues the trend of adept signings and removal of players who are the wrong fit for the club.

 

[Revan]

You can compare overall points totals, but I feel that's more of a reflection on issues in midfield earlier this season rather than defence. Looking at defensive stats, we have conceded 35 goals in the league so far this season. At this stage of last season, we had conceded 50. I know Maguire isn't the only reason we've reduced our goals conceded tally by 30% , but he's certainly played his part in it.

Sure, it was quite atrocious last year, though to some degree, because of the self-sabotage on the beginning and giving up on the end.

If you compare this season with any season since SAF except Moyes and the last one (for the reasons I explained), the number of conceded goals is more or less there. Of course, De Gea had a lot to say about it, but on the other hand, it is finally good to have decent fullbacks instead of Young and Valencia. So all in all, I don't think that there has been a significant (if at all) improvement on the center-back department when it comes to defending (although to his credit, Maguire is much better at passing the ball). So we kind of paid 80m to pass the ball a bit better to Matic and Lindelof.

 

[shaky]

Sure, it was quite atrocious last year, though to some degree, because of the self-sabotage on the beginning and giving up on the end.

If you compare this season with any season since SAF except Moyes and the last one (for the reasons I explained), the number of conceded goals is more or less there. Of course, De Gea had a lot to say about it, but on the other hand, it is finally good to have decent fullbacks instead of Young and Valencia. So all in all, I don't think that there has been a significant (if at all) improvement on the center-back department when it comes to defending (although to his credit, Maguire is much better at passing the ball). So we kind of paid 80m to pass the ball a bit better to Matic and Lindelof.

His distribution has been mostly excellent, not only to Matic and Lindelof, but to the wide players and forwards as well, because he's not scared of bringing the ball forward. I remember watching us play last season and our defenders looked terrified of being on the ball most of the time. How many points is that worth? For the first times in years, it feels like we actually have a leader and organiser of our defence rather than just a bunch of guys happy to defer responsibility. His defensive skills probably don't hold up against the best in the world, so I'd agree that he wasn't worth £80m, but that doesn't detract from the job he's done. You'd be going back over a decade to find our last defensive signing as good for Utd as Maguire, even if he's not everything people want him to be. I certainly wouldn't risk selling him for £80m if we were offered it now.

 

[ruskyline]

I know that season is not over yet but i think that by now we all have pretty clear picture about this topic. I tried to rate them based on several parameters like transfer fee (yes, player is not guilty for his fee but fee does matter), performances, general quality, future potential and influence on team).
1. Awful transfer (huge miss)
2. Not good transfer (Not a disaster. Some positives but overall wrong call )
3. Solid transfer (we could have done it better but overall not a miss).
4. Good transfer
5. Excellent transfer
6. Top deal. (Bruno )

Departures:
Lukaku, 80 mil with add ons
Despite his good season in Inter, Martial is much better as no9. And we got our money back.
Verdict: Excellent transfer. 5/5

Sanchez, loan
His season in Inter was bellow average. But who knows what would happen if he stayed. In first part of season we needed someone who can change the game. On other hand who knows what would happen with Greenwood and is Alexis really not loved among players. Not good thing also is that we still payed half(?) of his wage.
Verdict: Solid transfer. 3/5

Smalling, loan 3mil
Good season in Italy. He would not play much here because Victor and Harry were injury free and are clearly Ole's first pick. Based on good loan spell we will sell him for decent fee. Maybe we could have got more money but who knows.
Verdict: Good transfer. 4/5

Young, 1,5mil€
Nothing to talk about.
Verdict: good transfer. 4/5

Rojo, loan
I really don't know what to say about this. We should have sold him or loaned him to someone who will buy him after the season. We didn't do anything of that. But we saved some money.
Verdict: Solid transfer. 3/5.

Darmian: 3mil
Good decision to sell him but fee was too low.
Verdict: Good transfer. 4/5

Arrivals:

Daniel James, 17mil.
He really is championship player. He got minutes from Chong or Gomes. Out of depth in highest level of football. General phrase whole season about him was that he is fast and is "hard working" player. Lacks skill, tactical knowledge, technique and finishing with only average cross (for a winger). 3 goals and 6 assists in PL where he played and started most of games. Not good enough for us but he is young(ish) and has that pace and work rate which some minor clubs want from wingers so he didn't lose on his value. We can always get our money back for him. And who knows, maybe one season on loan make him good enough for cover player.
Verdict: not a good transfer but we will not lose money on him for sure and there is still hope that he can improve (i doubt but who knows). 2/5

Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 55mil €.
Among best defensive full backs in the world. And 21y old. Was pretty much great in defence whole season. But his attacking game is not good which raises a few questions. Is 55 mil too much for only defensive full back? Should Man Utd have full back who is only good in defence?
I think that his attacking game is huge huge flaw but he is 21 so he can upgrade it. In defence he is a monster.
Verdict: Good transfer (which can be even excellent transfer in future). Now it is 4/5

Bruno Fernandes, 55mil €.
No words. Completely changed everything. Can score, can pass, works hard, good character, fee is ok for that kind of player.
Verdict: Bruno

Harry Maguire, 87mil €.
Ah..Harry. Where to start? People say that player is not guilty for his fee. He isn't. But when you judge club's transfers then fee is a major thing.
For 80 mil pounds you buy a player who is game changer. With whom every players become better. In our case we needed someone who will organise our defence. You don't go and buy a player who is only slight upgrade for player who is not good enough for you (Smalling).
Maguire is slow, immobile and he doesn't make other players around him better. He is not a leader defender. He is good on the ball and pretty good in air. Overall not bad defender for PL and that is it. He is not United first 11 quality and he is not first 11 defender for club who wants to win titles.
On top of that he is 27, can only survive in PL and is hugely overpaid so we can't sell him (we can but not even for half of his price).
Verdict: He is a huge miss. I cant give him 1 because he did some things good and our defence is better with him than last year without him and as i said, he is not bad defender. But overall: not good transfer. Barely 2/5.

Ighalo:
Nothing to add about him. Excellent loan deal.
Verdict: Excellent. 5/5.

Overall verdict: Solid. 3/5
We did very good in outgoing transfers. We made one top deal with Bruno, one very good transfer with AWB and excellent loan deal with Ighalo.
We wasted over 100 mil on James and Maguire. That 100 mil could and should have been much much better invested.


Edit: wow, this is a looong post. Sorry about that

Very interestinf post, but how can you give 2/5 for Maguire? We paid 87m because that was the price we had to pay to get a defender as good as him. Maguire has been a huge part of our success lately and there's simply no other CB player who was that good avaliable at the time of transfer.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Very interestinf post, but how can you give 2/5 for Maguire? We paid 87m because that was the price we had to pay to get a defender as good as him. Maguire has been a huge part of our success lately and there's simply no other CB player who was that good avaliable at the time of transfer.

I explained in details why i give him 2/5.
And about bolded part: really??! No other defender? Come on...

 

[Andycoleno9]

Another pointless FM wannabe thread excuse to lay into our players. I wonder sometimes how many so called Utd fans actually support the club.


The way this season has been messed up by a global pandemic and the strange circumstances the season is ending in and how it is affecting the players counts for nothing obviously. Neither does the fact that all our terrible players and rubbish manager are going to get a top 4 spot and could win two trophies

Dan James was apparently bought as youth team prospect/back up rotation and has done well playing out of position most of the season due to not having a dedicated RW in the squad. For some to judge him so harshly and basically write him off at this point is ludicrous.

AWB is a defender. He defends very well. Nuff said.

Harry Maguire will be our Captain for years to come. He is a vast improvement on what we have had in recent years at CB.

Maybe we could all stop looking for problems, get excited about our potential and cheer the boys over the line!

You know what i don't like about today's relationship (some) fans-players? That fans think that they owe something to players, that fans think that players are here because they love club so much and that they sacrifice something for club's success, that everything what player does is great because he tries "hard". And especially i don't like when fans like you come with that nonsense how true fan will never criticize his players.
Well here is a newsflash for you. Players play for money and their personal success comes first to them (same as for all of us at our jobs). Club is above players. I support club, not a player. If player plays well i will praise him, i will rate him and i will love him. If player plays badly then i will say it. We (fans) don't owe apsolutely anything to them. Anything. It is their job and they deserve to be criticized or praised for that. They are not children ffs.

So it is nothing personal. James or Maguire or Martial or Bruno can be best persons alive, give to charity every weak and help animals but when i speak about them as players then i speak about what they do on the pitch for my club.
And it is my opinion. I never claimed that it is holly truth. Maybe i am wrong. This is football. Many things are subjective and because of that i respect every opinion.

 

[el3mel]

Very interestinf post, but how can you give 2/5 for Maguire? We paid 87m because that was the price we had to pay to get a defender as good as him. Maguire has been a huge part of our success lately and there's simply no other CB player who was that good avaliable at the time of transfer.

What success ? If you mean our recent good form it's all down to Bruno signing more than anything.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

He didn't transformed anything by himself, though. We were absolutely terrible under Mourinho, Phil Jones played 18 league games and Smalling was a starter. Then AWB replaced Young, Fred and McTominay improved a lot and Matic found his best form. Maguire, who's making mistake after mistake leading to goals doesn't take credit alone, he's not even better than Lindelöf. "One of the best defenders in the w"..

yes, one of the best defenders in the world. You can look for all the reasons you want as to why he isn't, but fact of the matter remains that he is. Has he made some mistakes? Yes, he's made a couple. Problem is, those mistakes were made worse because the guy behind him let in shite goals. Pogba made a similar mistake last week and nobody even remembers it because they didn't score (hit the outside of the post). If your expectations are that a defender won't ever make a mistake, then you are going to be very disappointed...

 

[el3mel]

yes, one of the best defenders in the world. You can look for all the reasons you want as to why he isn't, but fact of the matter remains that he is. Has he made some mistakes? Yes, he's made a couple. Problem is, those mistakes were made worse because the guy behind him let in shite goals. Pogba made a similar mistake last week and nobody even remembers it because they didn't score (hit the outside of the post). If your expectations are that a defender won't ever make a mistake, then you are going to be very disappointed...

I'll like to see how many neutrals actually think Maguire is one of the best defenders in the world.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I'll like to see how many neutrals actually think Maguire is one of the best defenders in the world.

First off, there is no such thing as a neutral when it comes to Manchester United. Secondly, I hear a lot of people compare him to Lindeloff, and while I like Lideloff, they aren't even close. Just look at the stats

-----------------Tackles------Blocks---Inter--clearances--Headed clear--Recoveries--Duels won---Aerial Battles
Maguire---------35------------6-----------67----------149----------------92----------------221----------220----------------160
Lindeloff--------25-------------1-----------24----------115----------------56----------------190---------122-----------------87

Now let's see how Maguire looks against arguably the best defender in the world

VVD--------------23--------------5----------39-----------158----------------80------------------197----------223----------------175

Amazing how Maguire's statistics are very similar to Virgil Van Dijks. But you must be right. Maguire must be shite....

https://www.premierleague.com/players/5140/Virgil-van-Dijk/stats?co=1&se=274
https://www.premierleague.com/players/9566/Harry-Maguire/stats?co=1&se=274
https://www.premierleague.com/players/5066/Victor-Lindelöf/stats?co=1&se=274

 

[el3mel]

First off, there is no such thing as a neutral when it comes to Manchester United. Secondly, I hear a lot of people compare him to Lindeloff, and while I like Lideloff, they aren't even close. Just look at the stats

-----------------Tackles------Blocks---Inter--clearances--Headed clear--Recoveries--Duels won---Aerial Battles
Maguire---------35------------6-----------67----------149----------------92----------------221----------220----------------160
Lindeloff--------25-------------1-----------24----------115----------------56----------------190---------122-----------------87

Now let's see how Maguire looks against arguably the best defender in the world

VVD--------------23--------------5----------39-----------158----------------80------------------197----------223----------------175

Amazing how Maguire's statistics are very similar to Virgil Van Dijks. But you must be right. Maguire must be shite....

https://www.premierleague.com/players/5140/Virgil-van-Dijk/stats?co=1&se=274
https://www.premierleague.com/players/9566/Harry-Maguire/stats?co=1&se=274
https://www.premierleague.com/players/5066/Victor-Lindelöf/stats?co=1&se=274

I didn't say he's shite. Stop inventing things out of your mind. All I'm saying is a United fan saying a United player is one of the best in the world is hardly something to be taken seriously. If you want to go through this one of the best in the world nonsense then bring people who have no connection with United or our rivals and let them say if they think he's one of the best in the world or not. Of course we all know what the majority will say. Will be hardly a shock will it?

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I didn't say he's shite. Stop inventing things out of your mind. All I'm saying is a United fan saying a United player is one of the best in the world is hardly something to be taken seriously. If you want to go through this one of the best in the world nonsense then bring people who have no connection with United or our rivals and let them say if they think he's one of the best in the world or not. Of course we all know what the majority will say. Will be hardly a shock will it?

You just completely ignored all those stats didn't you? I guess they didn't suit your agenda that you have against Maguire...

 

[el3mel]

You just completely ignored all those stats didn't you? I guess they didn't suit your agenda that you have against Maguire...

Yeah I have an agenda against him. He took my position in the team.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Yeah I have an agenda against him. He took my position in the team.

If you don't have an agenda against him and you're a United supporter, then why can't you admit that he's one of the best defenders in the world? His stats are very similar to VVD. in fact, some may say they are even better

 

[el3mel]

If you don't have an agenda against him and you're a United supporter, then why can't you admit that he's one of the best defenders in the world? His stats are very similar to VVD. in fact, some may say they are even better

Because he's not for me, or am I forced to have the same opinion as you to not have an agenda against him?

For me he's just a good defender. Not bad, but not great either. Has his flaws beside his strengths. That's as much as I can see about him. If you value him in higher regards, OK, your opinion I guess.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Because he's not for me, or am I forced to have the same opinion as you to not have an agenda against him?

For me he's just a good defender. Not bad, but not great either. Has his flaws beside his strengths. That's as much as I can see about him. If you value him in higher regards, OK, your opinion I guess.

Yet I back it up with stats. You back it up with "because I said so" and and when the stats are presented to you, you blow them off. If that's not an agenda against a player then I don't know what is...

 

[Class of 63]

James 6/10
AWB 7/10
Maguire 8/10
Fernandes 9/10
Ighalo 7/10