We don't know how to sell players

[Maticmaker]

It's one of those 'traditions' of the club we don't hear that much about, until relatively recently.

United has always been perceived as a soft touch in transfer terms, either paying over the odds for player coming in; or selling them on below the odds for those leaving the club. Not too many players want to leave United as they are nearly all on top whack payments, and apart from class of 92 type players, its the prospect of a top salary and/or chance of honours, that attracts players in the first place.

Traditionally when United came calling very few refused, but nowadays its more likely to be a case of United becoming ' A soft place to fall' (as Celine Dion might say) for those not wanting to leave!

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Yes, but we pay high wages because the club makes an enormous amount of money and the players are the reason (prize money, advertising etc). No business pays its employees over the odds for no reason, and if you worked for a company where your contribution resulted in their profits growing, you’d want a slice of the financial success.

Having said that, I’d very hard to justify £110,000 per week for Ashley Young or £300,000 per week for Rooney back in the day.

Back in the day you would justify your wage by the way you performed on the pitch. Now it is your KPI scores from social media.

Anyways, the amount of bad contracts we have are a hindrance for us to acquire needed players in a couple positions. Unlike certain clubs, our pockets are not limitless.

 

[wolvored]

The players that need shifting on wouldnt entertain the bigger clubs to buy them. Jones and Rojo are injury prone. Young and Valencia over the hill. Fellaini and Mata both the wrong side of 30 and not exactly built for speed as is the norm nowadays. Sanchez wouldnt leave unless he matches his salary or thereabouts, so a club wouldnt want to pay a high fee as well. Rashford Martial Pogba De Gea would obviously fetch big money, but we are not looking to move them on anyhow.

 

[Andycoleno9]

We went too far with that "familly" club shit. We must start to be ruthless in selling players and in renewing contracts. "You were good for us, you will always be welcomed in our club but it is time to move on".
Also we are sometimes giving new contracts without any logic. Look at how much money we gave to Lingard, Shaw and Smalling for new contracts. Why to give 120k-150k to player who can get max 80k somewhere else.

 

[Foxbatt]

The older players do not want to move because their international careers are over. Players who need to play regularly are the ones who wants to move to play regular football. We need to get rid of Valencia, Young, and Mata. I would keep Fellaini just in case he is needed. Lingaard has his uses and matches where he is needed. Rojo is someone who could be a good back up too. He has played well before he got injured.

 

[Skills]

Players that join us become damaged goods. We have to sell them on the cheap.

Our players get constantly shat on the media depreciating their value. The fans of the club rather than defend them (like you see at Liverpool), join in on the fun on shitting on their own players. It's why we can't sell them for anything of value, so you might as well keep them.

 

[Kag]

It’s been too positive around here. Of course we needed yet another thread in which we take a pop at the board. On a subject the current board have shown themselves to be significantly better at than those in charge previously.

Under Gill, we actively went out of our way to do clubs favours. Everton being one prominent example. The last time we sold a player to Everton it was a fifth choice central midfielder and he went to the tune of £25 million. Which is what we paid initially.

 

[Schneckerl]

The club is just in a bad position for negotiations.
When we want to sell a player it's to get rid of him due to underperforming or similar reasons and not because a bigger fish comes knocking. The only exception for this was Ronaldo and he went for WR fee at that time.

 

[charlenefan]

Jose Mourinho seemed to improve our outgoing business quite a bit, I thought. We sold Morgan Schneiderlin for £24million. Broke even on a terrible player somehow. Great business.

Did the same with Memphis. There's no chance we could have profited on him as he was so disappointing here, but we bought him for £25m, and we sold him for something like £18m rising to £24 with add-ons, which he's likely to have triggered as he's been pretty good over there.

I don't think we could have got much more for RVP or Nani at the time. RVP was more or less finished at the top level. Had one good season in Turkey and then he looked done. He hasn't been particularly good at Feyenoord from what I've read, and he's retiring in a few months. Nani hasn't done much since leaving either, and was injured for nearly the whole of his final season here.

Didn't we fail to sell Darmian because we didn't get offered as much as Mourinho valued him? We could have let him go for peanuts just to get rid, but then it would prove the point of this thread that we are lousy at selling. Personally, I thought that was a good approach, to lay down the marker that United's surplus isn't a bargain bin anymore. Also we didn't try to sell Fellaini. Mourinho wanted him to stay when he could have left for nothing.


I did think we should have got more for Welbeck when we sold him, given that he was young and English and also going to a rival, but given what we know now - that his knees are made of biscuit - it was a great deal in hindsight. But at the time when you had equally average players like Adam Lallana moving for £20m+, I thought we could have pushed for more.

Spot on

 

[Bastian]

So who will we actively try to sell? Lukaku, Darmian, Rojo?

Anything concrete in us making an offer for Diop? And if so, did we actually try to give them Jones in part exchange?

I'd like to see more players leaving than coming in. We've got youngsters we need to give games in Europa and we've got 6 centre backs whilst we look for one quality one. I'm waiting to see ruthlessness.

 

[Sandikan]

Darmian seems particularly tough to shift. Has to be moved on surely.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Definitely should be sold:

Rojo
Darmian
Jones
Lingard


Should be sold:

Smalling
Sanchez

Likely be sold:

Lukaku

Only one that seems likely is Lukaku. But then we have one first team striker in the entire squad in Rashford and it’s debatable he has the quality to be our main striker.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Darmian seems particularly tough to shift. Has to be moved on surely.

I don't know how we didn't sell him in January. Since then we have continued to pay him big wages and he's hardly featured. We'd have been better off giving him away!

 

[Ducklegs]

I am not being funny, by why is anyone surprised we are finding it hard to sell players who the entire world knows are fecking dogshit, for millions of pounds?

Its not like 15 years ago where the likes of Rojo could be fecked off to cardiff for a £100k and forgotten about, we are trying to get millions of pounds for players who have shown the entire planet that they are total wank.

 

[Twisted Nerve]

Regarding the high salary problem, I think a more modest salary plus incentive bonuses makes more sense than paying the enormous amounts currently. If a player busts his arse and performs well, he gets paid more.
Incentives work at any other job so I don't know why football clubs couldn't do it. But I guess certain mercenaries wouldn't go for it.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

But then we have one first team striker in the entire squad in Rashford and it’s debatable he has the quality to be our main striker.

It isn't debatable - he isn't good enough. Or at least, not if Utd wanna be challenging.

I like Rashford (wide) and as an option from the bench, but the notion of him as a first choice CF for one of the very wealthiest clubs on Earth is surreal to me... I mean, why?

Vardy would be a superior option as first choice CF.

 

[MikeKing]

I am not being funny, by why is anyone surprised we are finding it hard to sell players who the entire world knows are fecking dogshit, for millions of pounds?

Its not like 15 years ago where the likes of Rojo could be fecked off to cardiff for a £100k and forgotten about, we are trying to get millions of pounds for players who have shown the entire planet that they are total wank.

We also seem to extend their contracts and keep them on similar wages too, as to not lose any potential value when clubs come knocking, which inevitably never happens. It is so shit it is hard to grasp.

 

[Patrick08]

We rarely have good players to sell now.

 

[RedIke]

I find it hard to believe that there isnt a mid level team in a league somewhere that couldn't use Rojo, Darmien, Sanchez. Im sure Lakaku will go somewhere rather easily. It just shouldnt be that hard, of course having to accept the fact that money will be lost on these players and their deals.

Maybe they havent come to terms with that yet? Because thats all I can think of.

 

[Bastian]

I find it hard to believe that there isnt a mid level team in a league somewhere that couldn't use Rojo, Darmien, Sanchez. Im sure Lakaku will go somewhere rather easily. It just shouldnt be that hard, of course having to accept the fact that money will be lost on these players and their deals.

Maybe they havent come to terms with that yet? Because thats all I can think of.

Sanchez is beyond tricky, especially for a mid-table team. Best bet is perhaps Italy.

I think we can shift quite a lot of them, but we'd likely be looking at subsidising the wages a little bit. Bailly we can surely sell no problem. And I'd still think Jones could be useful for plenty of smaller Prem teams, but he'd probably dig his heels in. Darmian by most accounts has been wanting to leave. Rojo should also be sellable, but maybe we'd have to subsidise the wages.

If we sell Darmian, 2-3 centre backs, somehow get rid of Sanchez (not on loan) and recoup what we paid for for Lukaku, I'll be impressed.

 

[Sky1981]

Young british hungry players who wants to play for us : jones smailing 10 years ago. Dreamt of playing for United. Got paid 50k per week

Young and learning with huge potential : jones and smailing 5 years ago. Integral part of the future, contract extended 100k per week

Deadwood, need to be sold : jones and smailing today. Wage at 100k per week. Which sane club would buy them? Those that can afford them dont need them, those that nees them cant afford them.

 

[roonster09]

Young british hungry players who wants to play for us : jones smailing 10 years ago. Dreamt of playing for United. Got paid 50k per week

Young and learning with huge potential : jones and smailing 5 years ago. Integral part of the future, contract extended 100k per week

Deadwood, need to be sold : jones and smailing today. Wage at 100k per week. Which sane club would buy them? Those that can afford them dont need them, those that nees them cant afford them.

Tbf to Smalling, Arsenal wanted him so many times and we refused to sell, this was around 2014-2016 period.

 

[Sky1981]

I find it hard to believe that there isnt a mid level team in a league somewhere that couldn't use Rojo, Darmien, Sanchez. Im sure Lakaku will go somewhere rather easily. It just shouldnt be that hard, of course having to accept the fact that money will be lost on these players and their deals.

Maybe they havent come to terms with that yet? Because thats all I can think of.

Good club dont want sanchez

Average club cant afford sanchez

No club could just write off 50m worth of players as losses, it'll fall under fraud accounting wise.

Sanchez wont want to get paid less than what he got paid playing (or not) for united, with all the exposure we brought to his brand.

Forced him to move with extra money? What logic is that? You need to pay him 350k per week and you give him another 50k so he wants to play for southampton?

Darmian suits italian team. Italian team cant afford darmians wage. See sanchez.

Selling isnt hard, finding clubs that wants them is hard.

 

[Sky1981]

Tbf to Smalling, Arsenal wanted him so many times and we refused to sell, this was around 2014-2016 period.

Well 2014 2016 is a different story. He's still a good backup then. Tbf he's still a good backup now. Plus arsenal isnt offering us a deal we cant refuse.

 

[roonster09]

Well 2014 2016 is a different story. He's still a good backup then. Tbf he's still a good backup now. Plus arsenal isnt offering us a deal we cant refuse.

No one is going to offer a deal that we can't refuse for squad players, it's just that if we want to offload we had plenty of chances. It's just us not wanting to sell and player never showed any intention to leave.

Also it's good that we didn't sell him going by how poor CBs we have signed.

 

[Carolina Red]

This isnt new, we didnt get much value for selling our players under Sir Alex and Gill either

That’s what I was thinking myself.

I even think SAF mentioned in his autobiography that when players left United it was typically for a lesser team.

 

[RedRonaldo]

We are making money elsewhere, so we don't care about losing back on wages and in transfer market. That's the way I feel how the club is run throughout the years.

 

[Needham]

People are overly pessimistic about transformation in a relatively short period. Didn't Houllier get shot of 13 players in 2 windows at Liverpool?

 

[KennyBurner]

I dont think our problem is selling players but the contracts these players have when we want to sell. We cant even get rid of sanchez now because of what he's on. I dont know how we sort out this type of problem because nowadays wages are going up and for us to attract anything we will need to pay.

 

[lysglimt]

People are overly pessimistic about transformation in a relatively short period. Didn't Houllier get shot of 13 players in 2 windows at Liverpool?

Well, transfer windows didn't exist when Houllier took over - so it was a bit easier to sell players then

But yeah he bought and sold players like a madman - there was just one problem, it didn't work. The summer of 2002 he bought 4 players for £30 million - who all turned out to be huge flops (Diouf, Diao, Le Tallec and Cheyrou)

So I don't think Houllier is the best example to use

 

[kouroux]

Sanchez is beyond tricky, especially for a mid-table team. Best bet is perhaps Italy.

I think we can shift quite a lot of them, but we'd likely be looking at subsidising the wages a little bit. Bailly we can surely sell no problem. And I'd still think Jones could be useful for plenty of smaller Prem teams, but he'd probably dig his heels in. Darmian by most accounts has been wanting to leave. Rojo should also be sellable, but maybe we'd have to subsidise the wages.

If we sell Darmian, 2-3 centre backs, somehow get rid of Sanchez (not on loan) and recoup what we paid for for Lukaku, I'll be impressed.

No one in Italy will be able those wages and those who could don't need a player like him. Best bet is definitely outside of Europe

 

[Oldyella]

If we sell Darmian, 2-3 centre backs, somehow get rid of Sanchez (not on loan) and recoup what we paid for for Lukaku, I'll be impressed.

That would be an ideal start. The squad needs serious refreshing, and not just in new players. Need to start moving on players that have consistently shown not to be good enough for us, and that Ole's talk about underperforming players was not just talk. Put a rocket up players.

No one is going to offer a deal that we can't refuse for squad players, it's just that if we want to offload we had plenty of chances. It's just us not wanting to sell and player never showed any intention to leave.

Also it's good that we didn't sell him going by how poor CBs we have signed.

Yeah, imagine if we had sold Smalling, given his replacements have either never been fit or are just shockingly bad. Smalling for all his faults is still a decent defender.

We are making money elsewhere, so we don't care about losing back on wages and in transfer market. That's the way I feel how the club is run throughout the years.

That's a really bad way to run a business long term. Can't just ignore one part because another is making a profit.

 

[UpWithRivers]

I think half the players don't really want to leave and we are all nicey nicey with them. Ed - Hey Darmian I forgot you were still here! Want to go to Milan? Ah man. I can't be arsed. Ok. Want a new contract?

 

[Needham]

Well, transfer windows didn't exist when Houllier took over - so it was a bit easier to sell players then

But yeah he bought and sold players like a madman - there was just one problem, it didn't work. The summer of 2002 he bought 4 players for £30 million - who all turned out to be huge flops (Diouf, Diao, Le Tallec and Cheyrou)
So I don't think Houllier is the best example to use

Sure, I know his record. Just putting it out there that if Utd wanted to splurge and chop there's precedents.

 

[pacifictheme]

Darmian seems particularly tough to shift. Has to be moved on surely.

Difficult to sell someone when you repeatedly reject bids.

 

[Bestietom]

Seems we have the whole system wrong.
Bad Negotiating
Wages too high
Unfit players
We can't sell because wages here are too high and other clubs are not prepared to pay them. Hence players can sit around warming the bench and watch their bank accounts grow.

 

[Bastian]

No one in Italy will be able those wages and those who could don't need a player like him. Best bet is definitely outside of Europe

I don't mean without taking a serious hit though. If his wages without bonuses are 400K (hard to know exactly) I could see us having to still pay at least 150K of that. Costing us maybe 8M a year instead of 20M up until 2022.

Hopefully plays a blinder in the Copa America final and someone starts sniffing around.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Are we actually going to sell some players? Half the ones I'd hoped we'd be selling seem to have been given contract extensions instead!

 

[Ooge_]

It´s like with smartphones. Can you afford a new Iphone, a LG or a chinese no-name? The used Iphone can still be sold for a nice price after some years to guys who can´t afford a new one but still want some of its gloss. If you only can afford a LG or no-name in the first place, your salvage value will decrease much faster. As a manager of a Iphone club you have to make sure, to sell your used Iphones at the right moment. The model shouldn´t be outdated to much. Real is doing that pretty well.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Biggest issue I can see is that we see our players de-valued by the media to a rate not many other clubs do.

Rojo, Darmian etc. would be worth a punt but there value has been so undermined its impossible to shift them.

I also believe the negativity towards the squad & the current culture around the club means players are more than happy to collect their pay & not do much else.

We’ve offered them over their market value & then not played them [or in certain cases been unable to play them due to persistent ‘injuries’] so it’s our obligation to cut our losses imo - we shouldn’t have purchased these players in the first place, no wonder they’re proving hard to shift.