United's ability to win a transfer battle

[jem]

Sorry if this could have been in another thread....

I was watching the United Stand today, and Goldbridge is discussing a potential setback in getting Varane, due to the fact that other clubs are set to join the race. Goldbridge argues that United are incapable of winning a transfer battle, lacking the proper desire to do what it takes to fight it out and get their man. He mentions the Sancho saga is evidence, saying that United were happy to pull out rather than pay a huge sum.

As much as I love having a go at Woodward and co (and there is no doubt the Sancho saga was a shambles), I was wondering if that is in fact true based on a number transfers in the last few years. We were willing to go in heavy to buy the likes of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire, all of whom had other clubs after them (my memory is hazy but I can't imagine we were the only team in for Pogba; City were interested in both Sanchez and Maguire; Lukaku looked certain to sign with Chelsea.) You could however, make the case that we overpaid in each of those cases, but that hardly means we lack the nerve to go heavy in a transfer battle (whether or not we are correctly identifying players worthy of such expenditure is another matter - Fred being a great example of this.)

I agree with Goldbridge that it seems like we are not great at winning transfer battles (losing Bellingham and Haaland to Dortmund are two recent examples), but is it due to a lack of nerve in jumping into said transfer sagas? (the Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire transfers would suggest that's not the case.) Perhaps this will be first real test of our new Football Director.

Anyway, not really sure where I'm going with this or what I think the reason is, but I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

We beat Chelsea to get Lukaku, we beat City to get Maguire, Sanchez & Fred, we beat Madrid to get Pogba. I’m not sure what he’s on about? Weren’t City even after Telles this summer too?

Whoever offers the most money invariably gets the player.

We didn’t lose transfer battles with Sancho & Haaland. We were the only club in for Sancho but wouldn’t meet the asking price, and Haaland would’ve come but we refused to put a release clause in his contract. Bellingham turned us down, which I honestly don’t blame him for as Dortmund’s track record with youngsters is better than ours.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Every team loses out on some transfers. City have lost out on RVP, Maguire, Fred and Sanchez to us. We follow United closely and are emotionally connected so judge our 'failings' more. And as you see with City and us, nobody cares about transfer target fails as long as you win on the pitch.

Our issue hasn't been so much with winning the transfer battles but A) having a consistent strategy B) finding clever /value deals in the market and C) managing the team well enough to make the most of what we do have.

 

[Tarrou]

Goldbridge talks out of his arse to be fair, he takes random transfer bollocks way too seriously

we've always signed top players over the years, even when we're shit

 

[el3mel]

I think most of those weren't really transfer battles? City walked out of Maguire and Sanchez deals due to their price and I don't remember any clubs that were into Pogba's deal this summer also because of the high price tag.

Lukaku was a good business from us though because we hijacked Chelsea deal.

 

[Harry190]

Perhaps that's why United is not in financial trouble. Living within your means and being prudent allow you not to be in the situation Barcelona and Dortmund are in today.

 

[VojjE]

I think that whatever crap Goldbridge spews out on a regular basis isn't to be taken as any sort of truth. Pure speculation and guess work with zero insight. Goes after rumors and takes them as gospel and them uses them to rile up his mob of followers.

 

[Bwuk]

I think that whatever crap Goldbridge spews out on a regular basis isn't to be taken as any sort of truth. Pure speculation and guess work with zero insight. Goes after rumors and takes them as gospel and them uses them to rile up his mob of followers.

Spot on. Goldbridge is a arsehole.

 

[diarm]

We had to change things because we were becoming a joke. Sides around Europe knew they could charge us anything and odds were we'd pay it. Then clubs, agents and players were using our name to drive prices up everywhere else.

We were in danger of becoming a joke club that only players who were out to make money would come to.

Breaking that perception was never going to be easy - we were always going to have to lose out on a few targets to do it. The short term pain will stand to us in the long term though, and United were never a club that needed to sign 20 galacticos anyway. We've always been at our best, paying for the best young talent and developing it from within.

 

[pacifictheme]

We beat Chelsea to get Lukaku, we beat City to get Maguire, Sanchez & Fred, we beat Madrid to get Pogba. I’m not sure what he’s on about? Weren’t City even after Telles this summer too?

Whoever offers the most money invariably gets the player.

We didn’t lose transfer battles with Sancho & Haaland. We were the only club in for Sancho but wouldn’t meet the asking price, and Haaland would’ve come but we refused to put a release clause in his contract. Bellingham turned us down, which I honestly don’t blame him for as Dortmund’s track record with youngsters is better than ours.

Imagine if we hadn't won the race to sign lukaku, pogba, maguire and sanchez! We can but dream.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

He’s just fans who talks based on his opinion. We have been winning lot of transfer in the past. I think the problem is that we don’t have procedure/structure/policy/strategy (whatever you want to call it) so we don’t have a clue when we need to give up on transfer and when we need to pursue on transfer. The same with contract. The club has performed inconsistent especially in transfer business and footballing decision. There is no plan at all. Hopefully the football director will solve this issue.

However, we did the right thing not to sign Sancho last summer. Although, not having plan b whether it’s signing an alternative winger or signing the other main target like centre back show we didn’t have plan for scenario of what if we couldn’t get Sancho. Poor management from the board/club last summer.

 

[Berbasbullet]

However, we did the right thing not to sign Sancho last summer. Although, not having plan b whether it’s signing an alternative winger or signing the other main target like centre back show we didn’t have plan for scenario of what if we couldn’t get Sancho. Poor management from the board/club last summer.

Are Amad and Pellestri a joke to you?

 

[Wayne's World]

I hope there's not one genuine United fan actually listens to Mark Goldbridge(Not even his real name, Brent Di Cesare is who really is)

He's an idiot and should have no voice for any fan, only kids value any sort of shit he says

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Did City lose out to us on Maguire? I thought they weren't prepared to go near Leicester's valuation like we were?

Worth saying though even if they had I think he'd have picked us... but still.

 

[Oranges038]

Sorry if this could have been in another thread....

I was watching the United Stand today, and Goldbridge

I got this far.

I know he's made good money from it and fair play to him. I watched one of his videos once, probably turned it off half way through, I don't remember. I never went back.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Imagine if we hadn't won the race to sign lukaku, pogba, maguire and sanchez! We can but dream.

Extremely harsh on Pogba comparing him to those 3. He’s a fantastic player.

 

[tomaldinho1]

It takes two seconds to realise this is hot air. If a player is open to United, we generally seem to be able to beat off any competition. Sanchez, Lukaku, Memphis, Maguire, Pogba etc.

Our issue is not being able to acquire top players, it’s being able to identify them.

 

[Tallis]

Can’t stand the guy.

Just give a fans opinion on football matches etc which may be more watchable rather than making up random stuff and whining all the time.

 

[VP89]

Sorry if this could have been in another thread....

I was watching the United Stand today, and Goldbridge is discussing a potential setback in getting Varane, due to the fact that other clubs are set to join the race. Goldbridge argues that United are incapable of winning a transfer battle, lacking the proper desire to do what it takes to fight it out and get their man. He mentions the Sancho saga is evidence, saying that United were happy to pull out rather than pay a huge sum.

As much as I love having a go at Woodward and co (and there is no doubt the Sancho saga was a shambles), I was wondering if that is in fact true based on a number transfers in the last few years. We were willing to go in heavy to buy the likes of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire, all of whom had other clubs after them (my memory is hazy but I can't imagine we were the only team in for Pogba; City were interested in both Sanchez and Maguire; Lukaku looked certain to sign with Chelsea.) You could however, make the case that we overpaid in each of those cases, but that hardly means we lack the nerve to go heavy in a transfer battle (whether or not we are correctly identifying players worthy of such expenditure is another matter - Fred being a great example of this.)

I agree with Goldbridge that it seems like we are not great at winning transfer battles (losing Bellingham and Haaland to Dortmund are two recent examples), but is it due to a lack of nerve in jumping into said transfer sagas? (the Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire transfers would suggest that's not the case.) Perhaps this will be first real test of our new Football Director.

Anyway, not really sure where I'm going with this or what I think the reason is, but I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others.

Goldbridge is good entertainment but his logic is terrible 90% of the time.

As others have eluded to, we would go as far as overpaying to get a man in if we really want them. City were rumoured to want to go for Fred, and we beat Chelsea to Lukaku.

Pogba was not a race as such, it's similar to the Maguire situation - no one would value him at 80m and we had a free run at it. I think players these days mostly put a high weighting on the financial package. If we offered the best financial package to Haaland, we'd probably get him. Same goes for Kounde or Varane.

Goldbridge has weird thought processes, like thinking Sancho harbours hostility toward Man Utd now that we didn't buy him. He thinks we "messed him about" even though we were the only club willing to put money where our mouth was with a big bid during covid

 

[cyberman]

Goldbridge is fecking clueless

 

[Stacks]

Sorry if this could have been in another thread....

I was watching the United Stand today, and Goldbridge is discussing a potential setback in getting Varane, due to the fact that other clubs are set to join the race. Goldbridge argues that United are incapable of winning a transfer battle, lacking the proper desire to do what it takes to fight it out and get their man. He mentions the Sancho saga is evidence, saying that United were happy to pull out rather than pay a huge sum.

As much as I love having a go at Woodward and co (and there is no doubt the Sancho saga was a shambles), I was wondering if that is in fact true based on a number transfers in the last few years. We were willing to go in heavy to buy the likes of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire, all of whom had other clubs after them (my memory is hazy but I can't imagine we were the only team in for Pogba; City were interested in both Sanchez and Maguire; Lukaku looked certain to sign with Chelsea.) You could however, make the case that we overpaid in each of those cases, but that hardly means we lack the nerve to go heavy in a transfer battle (whether or not we are correctly identifying players worthy of such expenditure is another matter - Fred being a great example of this.)

I agree with Goldbridge that it seems like we are not great at winning transfer battles (losing Bellingham and Haaland to Dortmund are two recent examples), but is it due to a lack of nerve in jumping into said transfer sagas? (the Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire transfers would suggest that's not the case.) Perhaps this will be first real test of our new Football Director.

Anyway, not really sure where I'm going with this or what I think the reason is, but I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others.

Goldbridge is just a cry baby spoilt brat. United been losing top transfer battles since I was a kid in the 90s. We have actually won more high profile battles recently than I remember growing up when we had to rely on pinching players from lower rivals with little competition. Mark thinks football is football manager or Fifa ultimate team and I have mum's credit card. He has a hard on for the glazers and is super entitled. If the glazers don't sign Sancho, Mbappe, Verane and a DMC totaling 200+ mill this Summer he WILL throw his toys out the pram and spend an entire Summer bitching about the glazers. He thinks United have monopoly money and are the ONLY club in the world that is immune to the current financial climate. It could just be that he links us with every top player who seem obvious. Mark has little touch with reality IMO

 

[EngimaMK]

Sorry if this could have been in another thread....

I was watching the United Stand today, and Goldbridge is discussing a potential setback in getting Varane, due to the fact that other clubs are set to join the race. Goldbridge argues that United are incapable of winning a transfer battle, lacking the proper desire to do what it takes to fight it out and get their man. He mentions the Sancho saga is evidence, saying that United were happy to pull out rather than pay a huge sum.

As much as I love having a go at Woodward and co (and there is no doubt the Sancho saga was a shambles), I was wondering if that is in fact true based on a number transfers in the last few years. We were willing to go in heavy to buy the likes of Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire, all of whom had other clubs after them (my memory is hazy but I can't imagine we were the only team in for Pogba; City were interested in both Sanchez and Maguire; Lukaku looked certain to sign with Chelsea.) You could however, make the case that we overpaid in each of those cases, but that hardly means we lack the nerve to go heavy in a transfer battle (whether or not we are correctly identifying players worthy of such expenditure is another matter - Fred being a great example of this.)

I agree with Goldbridge that it seems like we are not great at winning transfer battles (losing Bellingham and Haaland to Dortmund are two recent examples), but is it due to a lack of nerve in jumping into said transfer sagas? (the Pogba, Sanchez, Lukaku, and Maguire transfers would suggest that's not the case.) Perhaps this will be first real test of our new Football Director.

Anyway, not really sure where I'm going with this or what I think the reason is, but I'd be interested in hearing the opinions of others.

I think I spotted the problem in your introduction.

Goldbridge is a <insert expletive here>.

 

[Smores]

We win every transfer battle don't we? Those we sign we wanted, those we fail to sign despite pursuing are just cases of us changing our mind. I mean what kind of cynical person wouldn't believe that.

 

[Leftback99]

He's got no more insight than anyone on here (probably less), worryingly it sounds like people take his views and parrot them as their own.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Are Amad and Pellestri a joke to you?

Not sure if you are joking or serious here. Surely you know very well those two are not for immediate regular player but development for long term while Sancho is for both long term and immediate regular player. Two complete different signing's objective/purpose.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Not sure if you are joking or serious here. Surely you know very well those two are not for immediate regular player but development for long term while Sancho is for both long term and immediate regular player. Two complete different signing's objective/purpose.

I am just messing around buddy.

 

[JB08]

Isn’t that Goldbridge bloke a Nottingham Forest fan?

 

[RUCK4444]

Goldbridge is a fanatical idiot. Like others have said he believes too much of the transfer bullsh*t to hold any valid opinion.

 

[Borys]

As a person totally uninterested it transfer circus I'll give my professional opinion.

I believe we fake interest most of the time, so that we can pull out and pretend we will NOT overpay. How difficult is it to "leak info" to the press every once in a while?

However, when we really want someone, we go balls deep. And we overpay. But it's hardly an issue for us IMO. Choosing the right targets is though.

 

[r3idy]

Goldbridge's football acumen is built on a foundation of

1) FIFA
2) Football Manager
3) Clickbait twattery

Of course he is entitled to his opinion but there are many layers of knowledge way above your friendly neighbourhood 'fan channel'

In regards to Haalland, It's been well documented that we balked at the agent fee's and moved away from the deal. So I guess we can't have our cake and eat it e.g. moan about agents having us over a barrell but then miss out targets because we refuse to meet agents fees.

 

[pacifictheme]

Extremely harsh on Pogba comparing him to those 3. He’s a fantastic player.

I know. I agree he is. But I would have hoped for more for what he cost.

But this is not about pogba.