Vincent Aboubakar

Red-17

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There is a risk though. There is a very real risk that Martial gets injured and we're stuck with Ali Dia as our main striker for the remainder of the season and as a result fall out of the Champions league spots furthering our modern day irrelevance in the game and losing out on something that would make us a very attractive proposition for elite players and so we end up having to overpay for our talent.
Wait so it is more risky to have a backup option to Martial if he gets injured than it is to not have one? How does that make any logical sense? Martial gets injured and then we have to take Rashford out of his best position so it is effecting two players.
 

LawCharltonBest

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So you are prepared to wait it out then because we won't get that quality of player now
Yep definitely. Use the gap in the squad to develop a player we have and build relationships and on field connections.

Only short term option that I could get behind would be a top level player like Joao Felix with the hope of making it permanent in the Summer.

Like Butland, who is fine because if he really impresses Ten Hag, they’ll obviously make it permanent in the summer. He has the ability to become a good backup GK. This shit striker is never going to be our Lukaku replacement
 

LawCharltonBest

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We always go for the short term option? Do we really? The vast majority of our signings our longer term (3+ years), and our most recent short term ones in Casemiro and Eriksen have been two of our most successful. The club obviosly does not have 100+ million right now to spend on a striker and there isn't one of that quality even available especially in January. So the question you need to ask is: sign a cheap short term option on loan, spend 20-40 million on a mediocre striker who we will need to sign to a 4+ year contract, or sit still and sign no one. Which of those options is best in your opinion, because we aren't signing a 24 year old Robert Lewandowski or Harry Kane in January.
I’m talking specifically about strikers in the period since Lukaku left
 

LawCharltonBest

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In case you hadn’t realised there’s a new sheriff in town
Yes and I have faith he’ll do the right thing

But if he approves this signing then it’ll be another manager approving short term option up front.

Hopefully Ten Hag is a football genius like me
 

croadyman

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Yep definitely. Use the gap in the squad to develop a player we have and build relationships and on field connections.

Only short term option that I could get behind would be a top level player like Joao Felix with the hope of making it permanent in the Summer.

Like Butland, who is fine because if he really impresses Ten Hag, they’ll obviously make it permanent in the summer. He has the ability to become a good backup GK. This shit striker is never going to be our Lukaku replacement
Confident we are trying for Felix but fear Arsenal will push the boat out more than us
 

Messier1994

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There is a risk though. There is a very real risk that Martial gets injured and we're stuck with Ali Dia as our main striker for the remainder of the season and as a result fall out of the Champions league spots furthering our modern day irrelevance in the game and losing out on something that would make us a very attractive proposition for elite players and so we end up having to overpay for our talent.
So what is your proposal to fill the major holes we have on the squad in January? Ask the Glazers, but nicely this time? Convince AC Milan to give us their starter No 9? Or should we go ahead without replacing Ronaldo and Donny?
 

dinostar77

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Genuinely baffling how negative people are anytiime we sign a back up option. Ighalo did absolutely fine and ate up minutes while playing passably prior to COVID which is literally all we needed from him. Everyone absolutely freaked out when we signed Cavani and his first season he was inarguably a net contributor to our side, and only had a poor second season largely because we brought in Ronaldo and he was injured.

There is literally no risk with a short term loan. If he sucks, then he doesn't have to play and we are out a few million in wages and that's it.

Say we sign Thuram or some other maybe slightly better player and then have to give them a 4 year contract. What happens when in 18 months we realize they are not good enough and then we just have to go and sign another replacement while being unable to offload them because they will be on to big of wages?
Good post. Far too many on here should go support Real Madrid.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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Wait so it is more risky to have a backup option to Martial if he gets injured than it is to not have one? How does that make any logical sense? Martial gets injured and then we have to take Rashford out of his best position so it is effecting two players.
Why are you misrepresenting what I said? It's very weird. I never said that a short-term loan is a bad idea or that recruiting a back up for Martial is a bad idea. I think it would be catastrophic not to do so. I just don't think we should be recruiting any old clown and doing a favour for a Saudi club who need help offloading him so as to sign that other clown.
 

Jim Beam

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Yes and I have faith he’ll do the right thing

But if he approves this signing then it’ll be another manager approving short term option up front.

Hopefully Ten Hag is a football genius like me
There is some sense in wanting to have someone instead of no one . There is not much sense, if this is true, that club couldn't find anyone better though. Ronaldo interview was in November last year.
 

Red-17

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Why are you misrepresenting what I said? It's very weird. I never said that a short-term loan is a bad idea or that recruiting a back up for Martial is a bad idea. I think it would be catastrophic not to do so. I just don't think we should be recruiting any old clown and doing a favour for a Saudi club who need help offloading him so as to sign that other clown.
So who should we sign that is cheap, available, open to joining us, and clearly a better option? I would love to hear it.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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So who should we sign that is cheap, available, open to joining us, and clearly a better option? I would love to hear it.
Are you legitimately telling me that you believe Aboubakar is the only person in all of football that would be available to us this January?

I would way prefer signing Memphis, Thuram or even Dembele to this guy. These guys would all be in or around Martial's performance level apart from Dembele but ironically he might be the one most suited to the role we have. Thuram and Dembele would obviously come with a small fee and a contract but we're not obliged to pay them wages that are so prohibitive that we can't sell them on. We finally have something to sell these players with not only our history but the club also being on an upward trajectory in terms of league performance and a manager that appears top class. Barca virtually have players paying to play for them so I think United can attract mid-level players that will play for a market rate contract.
 

Messier1994

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So who should we sign that is cheap, available, open to joining us, and clearly a better option? I would love to hear it.
No point asking, you will only get a list of players that aren’t available or too expensive.
 

Messier1994

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Thuram or Dembele aren’t available. Both their clubs would prefer to keep them. They can however be bought if their teams are offered a fee so rich that they can’t turn it down.

According to the reports, Bayern have pulled out of the race for Marcus Thuram with Chelsea and Newcastle leading the race. Even if we can afford to outbid Chelsea and Newcastle — do we want him for 5 years making 150-200k a week?

Moussa Dembele is rumored to have a 7-13m price tag. He is also in for a big pay day in the summer that he won’t give up. 5-10m sign-on fee as a free transfer? 100-150k a week? 5 year deal?

We know how hard it would be to sell these guys.

Joao Felix should of course be loaned, if we can get him. But we are scared of by a more modest fee than Dembele and Thuram would fetch — and he wouldn’t even come with the commitment past.

Memphis Depay is of course an option, perhaps the most likely option. But Barca can’t replace him if they loan him to us. We know that they have communicated that there is no apparent logic to loan him elsewhere if they aren’t paid handsomely for it.

I have no idea what type of character Aboubakar have. We have no connection to him as far as I know. Perhaps his attitude is a big question mark or whatever. But as a player, he is of course right up there with the above mentioned names. 14 in 20 in the CL. Top scorer at the African Cup a year and a half ago. He has done well at various levels.
 

Messier1994

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One thing I also have a bit of a problem with is — we look how these guys did under Ole and Moutinho. How well have any type of signing worked out under Ole? Like if we can’t make any type of signing Ole did because they all failed, what type of player can we still sign? Moutinho’s signings weren’t much better.

Young English lad, nope, see Sancho

Prime English lad, nope, see Maguire

French super star WC winner, nope, see Pogba

If anything, I am very confident in ETHs ability to find a stop gap alternative that would at least put in the work and fill his role on the team.

With that said, of course there are options. But to expect that our transfer team should be able to find not only one, but two, who can fit under our budget that seems to be nil£ or close to it, that are much better than Aboubakar, it could be hard. Nobody would be happier than me if AC Milan loaned us Giroud or Atleti let us have Morata cheap for 6 months.
 

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Thuram or Dembele aren’t available. Both their clubs would prefer to keep them. They can however be bought if their teams are offered a fee so rich that they can’t turn it down.

According to the reports, Bayern have pulled out of the race for Marcus Thuram with Chelsea and Newcastle leading the race. Even if we can afford to outbid Chelsea and Newcastle — do we want him for 5 years making 150-200k a week?

Moussa Dembele is rumored to have a 7-13m price tag. He is also in for a big pay day in the summer that he won’t give up. 5-10m sign-on fee as a free transfer? 100-150k a week? 5 year deal?

We know how hard it would be to sell these guys.

Joao Felix should of course be loaned, if we can get him. But we are scared of by a more modest fee than Dembele and Thuram would fetch — and he wouldn’t even come with the commitment past.

Memphis Depay is of course an option, perhaps the most likely option. But Barca can’t replace him if they loan him to us. We know that they have communicated that there is no apparent logic to loan him elsewhere if they aren’t paid handsomely for it.

I have no idea what type of character Aboubakar have. We have no connection to him as far as I know. Perhaps his attitude is a big question mark or whatever. But as a player, he is of course right up there with the above mentioned names. 14 in 20 in the CL. Top scorer at the African Cup a year and a half ago. He has done well at various levels.
Sensible post. Really tiresome everyone complaining about how we should do x y or z better and then offer no realistic alternatives to what is currently on the table. These are the same people who I am sure have criticized how bad we are at selling on players who are no longer of use to us, yet the only options they suggest would turn into that very deadwood within 2-3 seasons.

If we had unlimited money, then I wouldn't favor these signings, but we clearly have to make do after wasting 100s of millions in fees, wages, and managerial payoffs the past 10 years. We shouldn't require an 80 million dollar player in every position to compete for top 4 or even top 2 in the league.
 

Red71

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This won't lift the mood of the doubters but thought worth uploading anyway

You are right…I had to switch that compilation off midway through, it was painful. He might actually turn out to be a battering ram for us if he came (which could be a different option for our squad) but if he has ability, it’s not well represented in those clips unfortunately…
 

unplayable

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His contract has been terminated to make room for Ronaldo.
 

NLunited

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He is a beast, no? Good loan option for the next half year. We were lacking a striker like him in the squad. Now we have one.
 

jesperjaap

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Good post. Far too many on here should go support Real Madrid.
Short term option is fine if we are lookign at a long term one and I agree with the post you are responding too in terms of no point signing the wrong long term one if you have to get rid of them in 2/3years when they are not good enough....but toatally disagree with your "go support real Madrid" statement.

Lets face facts, the last long term striker signing we made was 5 seasons ago and that was Lukaku who we spent a fortune on......and he WAS ALWAYS the wrong signing, we havent made one since, ROnaldo was never long term either.

The long term signing we made before that was SEVEN seasons ago....and amazingfly despite barely a decent season, Martial is STILL here.

Thats two long term signings as a centre forward in seven years and neither of them have been very good. So its not a case of glory hunting people should go support Madrid. Just take that in as facts, we have signed TWO centre forwards with forwards here as long term signings in seven seasons, I cant think of a club that hasnt already got a top striker long term who has purchased that way and we wonder why we have struggled for goals, trophies etc etc etc. Thats simply poor recruitment of the highest order.
 

Messier1994

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Besides the Glazers, we also have a big problem since we don’t sell players. Newcastle want McTominay. A Scott McTominay isn’t cheap, 30m? Wolves and a few others are interested in AWB. Harry Maguire? He is obviously way deep on ETHs selection order, but we won’t sell him before he comes and request a transfer. Dean Henderson.

I wrote a post on this back in November, desperate times require desperate measures. Selling players in real life isn’t compareable to Football Manager. It requires a lot of work. A lot of preparation. The player himself ultimately control the situation.

Still players are sold. Not many will stay around if they know they will be left off the squad and not registered. You take a big morale risk if you call Maguire and McT into ETHs office and tell them they won’t be registered for the PL after 31/1 and they can either accept a transfer or train by themselves during the spring. At the same time, you can’t have an environment — like we certainly have had somewhat — where it’s not only possible, but somewhat common, that players lean back and just collect their pay.
 
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Red-17

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Short term option is fine if we are lookign at a long term one and I agree with the post you are responding too in terms of no point signing the wrong long term one if you have to get rid of them in 2/3years when they are not good enough....but toatally disagree with your "go support real Madrid" statement.

Lets face facts, the last long term striker signing we made was 5 seasons ago and that was Lukaku who we spent a fortune on......and he WAS ALWAYS the wrong signing, we havent made one since, ROnaldo was never long term either.

The long term signing we made before that was SEVEN seasons ago....and amazingfly despite barely a decent season, Martial is STILL here.

Thats two long term signings as a centre forward in seven years and neither of them have been very good. So its not a case of glory hunting people should go support Madrid. Just take that in as facts, we have signed TWO centre forwards with forwards here as long term signings in seven seasons, I cant think of a club that hasnt already got a top striker long term who has purchased that way and we wonder why we have struggled for goals, trophies etc etc etc. Thats simply poor recruitment of the highest order.
To be fair, I think we would have prioritized a striker during Ole's time if we were not banking on a certain young academy forward to likely be our long term option for the position only for him to waste his entire career before it could get going. I think the club saw Martial and Cavani as bridge options until Greenwood was physically developed enough to play centrally more regularly, but unfortunately that is never going to happen.

Now it is clear that we need to sign a long term option for the position so we need to get it right and not waste money on players who will fill up squad places for years and hardly be an upgrade. The problem is we seem to be skint at the moment.
 

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Thuram or Dembele aren’t available. Both their clubs would prefer to keep them. They can however be bought if their teams are offered a fee so rich that they can’t turn it down.

According to the reports, Bayern have pulled out of the race for Marcus Thuram with Chelsea and Newcastle leading the race. Even if we can afford to outbid Chelsea and Newcastle — do we want him for 5 years making 150-200k a week?

Moussa Dembele is rumored to have a 7-13m price tag. He is also in for a big pay day in the summer that he won’t give up. 5-10m sign-on fee as a free transfer? 100-150k a week? 5 year deal?

We know how hard it would be to sell these guys.

Joao Felix should of course be loaned, if we can get him. But we are scared of by a more modest fee than Dembele and Thuram would fetch — and he wouldn’t even come with the commitment past.

Memphis Depay is of course an option, perhaps the most likely option. But Barca can’t replace him if they loan him to us. We know that they have communicated that there is no apparent logic to loan him elsewhere if they aren’t paid handsomely for it.

I have no idea what type of character Aboubakar have. We have no connection to him as far as I know. Perhaps his attitude is a big question mark or whatever. But as a player, he is of course right up there with the above mentioned names. 14 in 20 in the CL. Top scorer at the African Cup a year and a half ago. He has done well at various levels.
Get out of here with your sensible talk. I would admit that I laughed out loud when first suggested that Abu was being discussed about a possibility to come to United. However, if true it would be the opportunity of his lifetime à la Ighalo, and I’m pretty sure he won’t be a disastrous signing in any way or form as many think. He can be for us exactly what we admire in Choupo Moting at Bayern.

Abu has always been a talisman player for Cameroon NT at every tournament where he has participated. He never disappoints and even at times when he was controversially benched for lesser players, he never makes a fuss and gets on with things when subbed on, winning his place back through his performances. He has never been one to cause a stir despite the impression he gives from his huge belief in his own (admittedly limited) ability.

All this might only be conjecture now anyway, if the news about his contract termination is true then I guess he has even less chance of signing for us now, compared to coming on a six-month loan, even for himself, given the options he would surely have. However, I trust EtH whatever he decides about this.
 
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Shai-Hulud

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If we're mainly going for aerial strength for our new option at 9 - Aboubakar is "only" 184cm. Surely there's someone better.
 

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Lee565

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Amazing stuff that before ole joined we had a great reliable no.2 in romero and had a reliable striker in lukaku who may have not been the best fit for our side but was a good goal scorer.

Then ole took over and left the club needing to find a short term back up gk due leaving the club with a disgruntled no.2 who he favoured over the reliable and loyal romero and he also left us short in attack because he wasted about 50-60 million on short term options of ighalo, cavani and ronaldo.

Some still push the notion the he left us in a better state than when he joined...
 

iKnowNothing

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With Al Nasr releasing Aboubakar, he becomes a free agent, so this signing won’t cost money (relatively speaking). Perfect Jan signing :drool:

oh well
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Looks like Aboubakar has been a classic smokescreen for Wout Weghorst :drool:
Yeah, won’t be surprised if it’s a triangle transfer scenario.

Ronaldo - Man Utd to Al Nassr
Aboubakar - Al Nassr to Besiktas
Weghorst - Besiktas to Man Utd