He makes mistakes and need to be upgraded but in this case it is not the most important position. We need to upgrade our DM and our right side and if Cavani is not staying a CF more urgently than trying to replace Lindelof.
2
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 17
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 4
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
- Status
Take it you haven't seen the news then?
I strongly doubt Ole would want him sold as he just extended his third option CB’s contract. But everything is for sale. Would we sell him if another team offered 40 mill? 50?
no one is offering £40-50m for Lindelof.
he’s a good squad player. He’s got good fitness, and whilst he’a a player who we can upgrade and should do - he’s formed a decent partnership with Maguire. If Maguire is out for any length of time now, Lindelof is our best and most important CB left.
£30 million max for Lindelof, good fitness and fine for a 5-8 finishing club (one that expects to be there that is, not Liverpool etc)
I have seen it now. We now need to get a top quality DM and then a right sided player more than a CB. Our weakest link has been our two midfield players. Not Lindelof.
I’m not saying anybody would want him for 50, just speculating what sum would make us sell him. Doubt that’s under 40, probably not under 50 either considering what options we have.
he’s probably worth more to us than to sell. A steady CB who has proven he can play with Maguire. He’s not good enough for a top team to be bidding for him - but for us to find someone who can do what he can do will cost us far more than what we could sell him for.
Plus he’s played about 80 games together with Maguire, and many with AWB and Shaw which I would assume Ole values. So yes, he is worth more to us than to any other team plus we’re not a selling club. And replacing a starting xi CBs is always a risk as the partnership must work. You know what you have but not what you’ll get.
That can be the case, but it can also not be the case. For example Sevilla signed Kounde for £21.4 million from Bordeaux. They simply got their scouting right and he was ready to go for them from the first season he came in.
Soyuncu was £18.1 million and was eased in with a small amount of starts first season, then starting the next season to replace Maguire
In both cases the clubs signed players from not one of the top leagues and not a player who was hyped up as the next big thing. Thats the key to it. Look in the right places and find the right player and then if it doesnt work out £18-22 million isnt the end of the world and you might get most of it back.
in an ideal world. These are smaller clubs, and it’s easier to bed players in.
effectively we tried this with Rojo, Bailly and Lindelof?
as you say - the scouting and getting the right player is clearly important.
Plus there is less pressure on them.
I dont think so. We took all these players the next stage. Rojo had played in a tournament for his country, Bailly had a good season in Spain and Lindelof had played in the champions league for Benfica iirc. Thats why the last 2 cost more, their profile and exposure was higher. Rojo's £17.2 million included a loan of Nani who was worth a lot more than that.
When you add up the cost of Rojo, the nani loan, his freebie loans, his wages - he was an astonishing waste of money.
Whether they are the punts you suggested or not, is immaterial - the issue is that we need players who can perform now. We aren’t on a position to take on these young players you suggested, as they won’t get any game time and won’t develop.
Without Lindelof they would get the chance and thats the scenario we're talking about
no. We won’t be replacing Lindelof with a young punt. That’s not in any way a realistic scenario.
£20 million shouldnt be a punt. It should be someone you believe in. But if it doesnt work out right away its not the end of the world
Tuanzabe has not been able to step up and Bailly has been a loose cannon and is not reliable to be fit and you never know what you are going to get from him.
Easier said then done. Solid defenders are scarcing, it's a football market problem. City got lucky with Dias, even though I suspected he would do fine on EPL due to his playing style, but he sure exceeded expectations.
Even De Ligt, who looked like the real thing is being a flop. And if we're going for the market hot picks like Pau Torres, Nico Elvedi, etc it's going to be a 50M+ transfer value. I would much rather try hiring Cristian Romero: always impressed when I see him play.
It's a bit fascinating, really. The quality seems so low. At this point I'd almost have Evans back as a backup rather than a random Spanish talent or whatever. Reliable mediocrity is almost more worth to us than a superb young talent at this point.
It's tougher for defender nowadays TBH. With the introducing of the VAR and heavier disciplinary rules, they can't get away with bullying and fouling without the ref noticing as before, and their weaknesses as defenders get more easily exposed.
Back in the 90s and a bit in the early 2000s, refs would give yellow cards for a lot of stuff that nowadays will get you a red card and possibly a 3 game ban. Sometimes they wouldn't even give a yellow.
Yeah, I see what you mean. A split second too late these days and you're fecked, makes sense that it will take young players around the world time to adapt.
I think we will stick with Mason on the right backed up by the kids we bought last summer. Mason is coming along nicely.
we need a DM agreed.
cb is more pressing than you say. I’d say it’s priority. Lindelof arguments aside, the only one who could stay fit was maguire and he’s now injured. Bailly, Tuanzebe are injury prone and Lindelof has a back problem.
Which is exactly why we should be buying a Cb now, all Lindelof arguments aside
Well I suppose it comes down to an opinion then. For me he is poor for this standard. He’s had decent games of course but he’s a level below what we need.
I could go on and on but I'm not going to try and argue the point as for anyone who watches United and thinks Lindelof is at the quality needed just doesn’t feel the same way as I do.
Again if you think money shouldn’t be allocated for a partner for Maguire then I couldn’t disagree more. Bailly is a good option when healthy but unreliable for a team challenging on 4 fronts. Lindelof should be sold and a replacement bought in my opinion.
It’s not lower quality. But all top clubs need defenders who are good on the ball and press resistant. Those demands screen away many defenders who are good at mid table clubs.
In our current situation Lindelof is manageable. The DM position is not. Neither Fred nor McTominay is good enough. Two of them don't even do the job of one top class DM. Ole doesn't trust Pogba in midfield so we need a player a single player who can replace both Fred and McTominay. Or two players who are much better than Fred and McTominay.
Let me ask you this, do you think Lindelof is press resistant?
Are you ignoring my earlier question or is that your response?
If you mean your opinion about buying a CB now instead of strengthening other positions then yes it's my opinion.
Most of the time yes, but like last game, both him, Maguire and AWB suffered from McT and Fred being very vulnerable to opponents’ press.
Edit: could add that I find out whole back line plus Henderson press resistant. Most opponents give up pressing after some time as it cost too much.
Fair response, lets see what happens in the summer
I disagree, I wouldn’t call turning tail and passing sideways to their partner “press resistant”. Him & Maguire, though HM less. I’ve lost count where they have played themselves into self inflicted trouble, it drives me mad
Watching Axel and Bailly today gave me a little more appreciation of HM and VL.
There were times they were playing it around the back and were about a yard away from gifting the ball to Leicester.
More in the first half than the second.
Of course Maguire and Lindelof are a much better combination than Bailly and Tuanzabe.
Now we will see Lindelof and Bailly probably against Liverpool.
There would be a big problem if he wasn't better than Tuanzebe, who's only had one season in the Championship.
Oh it’s definitely not confined to the first 2. Just that they play the most so it winds me up
I think we saw tonight the difference to what our normal back line incl Lindelof is capable of.
I can’t remember any matches where press of the CBs has cost us goals. Could be a few but I can’t remember them.
I was going to point it out too. The first goal was the exact issue. Lindelof would have backpedaled and bought time for the defense. But on the other hand Axel also had Bailly so no one knows what Bailly is going to do anyway.
It was poor but to be fair we have had 1-2 occasions where Maguire has been pushing unnecessary far out as well, without reaching the attacker and leaving a gap behind. But now pretty much every player made the wrong decision.
- Status