It wouldn't surprise me at all. We certainly are pissing about with it.Maybe this is the latest in the relatively recent trend of very expensive centre-backs being heavily linked to us before signing for City?
Victor Lindelöf
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Heard, from what i think is a pretty solid source inside an involved club, that it's a done deal (yes we've heard it before) now that Benfica and Västerås SK has reach an agreement about the sell-on clause. Victor will be presented on Monday. Let's see.
And what is this "solid" source you have?
Not undermining you in anyway, just curious.
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A person with insight in the talks between Benfica and Västerås SK. The agreement about the sell-on clause was made with numbers and not percentages which tells me Benfica and United has a agreement about the fee and the transfer was actually hold up by the clause-twist.
But yeah, I've also heard it before so I'm a bit sceptical even tho i shouldn't doubt the info.. And we know Benfica seems almost impossible to make deals with so I guess they can still change their stand once more. Maybe a pointless post from me since we wont be sure until it happens or the window closes.
I just hope Bayern don't swoop in for him like they did with Sanches.
Whether or not this deal goes through remains to be seen, but I wouldn't take Jose's comments as the gospel truth. How many times over the years did we hear Sir Alex state, very clearly, that we wouldn't be doing any business, only for a transfer to be announced a short time later? Jose could well be speaking truthfully, but it's just as likely that his comments were calculated.
Personally, I don't think the past several weeks will have significantly changed Jose's opinion as to what our defensive needs are. If he believes that Lindelof is that big a talent, and an upgrade on Smalling, Jones and/or Rojo, then he'll want to bring him in while he can. I have a feeling that Jones has really found favour with Jose, as he spoke publicly about Jones' bravery in declaring himself fit to play after being out for so long (not to mention his quality performances), but I'm not so sure he fancies Smalling and Rojo long term. Smalling, in particular, just seems to lack the steel that Jose loves in his central defenders.
Eh yeah how many times?
And, funny he did it mostly on outgoing transfers.
I am not really sure how people are thinking that our defense is in fact a weakness. At least not for this season to do some business in jan.
I don't know if it's a question of having glaring weaknesses in defence, as I think it's clear that we don't. Rather, the question is likely whether Jose believes the current defenders are good enough to challenge for the league, the domestic cups, and European glory. The squad is in transition, and Jose is really just at the front end of building his team. He's already purchased Bailly, and I suspect he will bring in at least two more defenders between this and the summer transfer window. Whether Lindelof figures into his overall plan remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was brought in now. Even if Jose believes that he wouldn't make a meaningful impact until next season, he may see the benefit in bringing him in now, thereby giving him plenty of time to adapt and integrate into the team.
There is no telling that whoever he would buy to make our defense better will actually be making it better. Of course, his first 4 signings seem like good ones atm. But, like any other manager, he will have some shit signings at one point.
It is better to let the current players play to see if they can improve under him and judge them in the summer. Which I think he has been doing. And I don't think many of them let him down much more than usual. I think it is opposite.
Are they good enough to challenge for the league? Well, I would say yes for this season except our attacking side let us down more than the defense. If our attack did the job a tad better, I would say we would have been in the mix at this point.
I don't completely disagree with you, and we're obviously both speculating as to what Jose's master plan may be. I have no doubt, however, that he intends on strengthening the squad further (in defence, midfield and attack) while concurrently moulding it into something that fits with his idea of how the roster should be comprised. Many of the current players will be part of that, but others will go. If the right player (in Jose's opinion) is available, then I believe the club will act. I've only seen glimpses of Lindelof - certainly not enough to state whether he's a "must get" player or not. He doesn't strike me as someone who could come in and make a huge impact over the next 18 league games, but his current abilities and potential for the future would be judged by Jose and his team. I believe they'll have a longer term perspective, and will be looking well beyond this season.
I heard that as well, I was defo listening to guy mowbary commentate at some point so could have been him?
The guy commentating on my broadcast said something along the lines of "We have good reason to believe that the Lindelof to United deal is quite imminent", so when I heard that I came to this thread and was disappointed to see there wasn't any really concrete news.
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Great posts and comments. I completely agree, and I think jose will have an eye on the future, it falls in line with our transfer policy too, we seem to make young high value targets a priority and so far have been v.sucessful with Bailly and Martial as prime examples. Lindelof could be the next Bailly.
From his YouTube comps you cant tell too much but niether could you from Baillys I love for him to come in. Defense is an area we need to improve in squad wise and he could be a wonderful signing.
Its done according to Mirror:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...ster-uniteds-victor-lindelof-transfer-9579172
Are they a reliable source?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...ster-uniteds-victor-lindelof-transfer-9579172
Are they a reliable source?
Nope. WHen it comes to UK media the only time I pay any attention is when it's being reported by The Times, Guardian, or BBC.
Nope. Tabloid rubbish.
BBC are the ones you want, then maybe the times, then slightly less reliable would be the Guardian and Telegraph. Mirror, Sun, Express etc. just sprout shite.
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Some extra bits at the bottom of the article although nothing new really.
"wobbly" defense, seems like baldy can't resist leaving the boot in even if we are paying his master!
Them extra bits are from a piece he did over a month ago.
This article is over a month old, though Castles does say we still want Lindelof in his recent article.
Exclusive: United-Star welcomes Lindelöf: "hope to play together".Tweet
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Still an ABU deep inside
Tbf, he released that article before we went on our current 8 game winning run. I'm not trying to back him or anything, but this season he's gone from trolling United to effectively supporting us.Still an ABU deep inside
Might make the bench against Liverpool
So Bailly told Swedish football site Fotbollskanalen, "I hope to play with him. Hopefully he will be able to help us. He is a very good player. He has great attributes and I am sure he will be a success if he joins us." He also says that he thinks they would suit each other well.
How a Swedish website is interviewing a player all the way in Africa, I don't know.
Sweden were playing Ivory Coast in a friendly today
My bad.
As a Swede I have seen VNL a couple of times playing for our national team (but not for Benfica).
He is definately a huge talent but it might be too soon for him to be a regular starter for us? He is quite a versatile defender and can also play at right back which would give us some cover there, unless Mou plans to convert him to a RB a la Ivanovic? He is not the tallest (1.87 m) and he's not dominant in the air (a la Vidic). I would say that his main strength is his skill on the ball and he has the potential to be our most skilful defender in this aspect, bar Blind, but he is faster and stronger than Blind. 38m sounds steep since we got Bailly for less than 30m but the money shouldn't be an issue if Mou rates him highly.
Süle has also been mentioned and he's taller (1.94 m) but I have no idea if he's any good at bringing the ball out of defence?
He is definately a huge talent but it might be too soon for him to be a regular starter for us? He is quite a versatile defender and can also play at right back which would give us some cover there, unless Mou plans to convert him to a RB a la Ivanovic? He is not the tallest (1.87 m) and he's not dominant in the air (a la Vidic). I would say that his main strength is his skill on the ball and he has the potential to be our most skilful defender in this aspect, bar Blind, but he is faster and stronger than Blind. 38m sounds steep since we got Bailly for less than 30m but the money shouldn't be an issue if Mou rates him highly.
Süle has also been mentioned and he's taller (1.94 m) but I have no idea if he's any good at bringing the ball out of defence?
Bailly
Lindelof
Jones
Rojo
Smalling
Who leaves in the summer then? No way we'd have 5 for 2 positions, especially one that doesn't get rotated often.
Lindelof
Jones
Rojo
Smalling
Who leaves in the summer then? No way we'd have 5 for 2 positions, especially one that doesn't get rotated often.
Use Smalling to get our hands on Sanchez
TBF Smalling and Jones only count as one player combined with their injury records.
The chairman of Västerås SK (the club which sold VNL to Benfica at an young age) confirms to SVT (Swedish equivalent to BBC) that negotiations are ongoing between Västerås and Benfica to decide the sell-on fee that Västerås are to receive if VNL is sold to another club. It stood at 20% originally but Benfica have questioned this and the latest figure that has been mentioned is 10% which is still an awful lot of money for nonprofessional club Västerås and might make Benfica more willing to allow VNL to leave in January? There is definately something going on here.
Edit: The chairman denies that a deal is done for VNL to United, but reading a bit between the lines he seems quite optimistic that a deal is close.
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vastmanland/dialogen-mellan-benfica-och-vsk-fortsatter
Edit: The chairman denies that a deal is done for VNL to United, but reading a bit between the lines he seems quite optimistic that a deal is close.
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vastmanland/dialogen-mellan-benfica-och-vsk-fortsatter
This will probably be sorted out by the end of this week.
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Smalling off?
Overkill but home grown rules may be a deciding factor
I would of thought without looking into it we wouldn't be struggling for home grown players.
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