Forgot about this thread, Attack the Space 2015 
We must buy the next Messi
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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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Let's check if Messi is willing to be a sperm donor to populate Manchester with generations of next Messis.
Get him down the Printworks on a Saturday night, he won't have any choice!
Now then, now then, now then.
Unfortunately, we did not buy anyone at the Messi-Neymar-Suarez-Bale-Ronaldo caliber.
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They're not available ffs!
Suarez wasn't available either! But Barca somehow got him!
And our own Ronaldo wasn't available! But Real got him anyway!
And you know... De Gea is not available, but...
We should aspire to be as capable in our dealings as Barca and Real have been.
We should just buy Barcelonas academy and all their staff.
Suarez and Neymar are not products of their academy.
Even Messi, was already a wonderkid when he joined Barca, strictly speaking he is not really the product of their academy.
Yes but neither of them are Messi, and this is a thread about the new Messi!
Plus wasn't he 12/13 when he went to Barca?
It would be comforting to know United have established a scouting network in South America to uncover and monitor these talents. Be nice to find the next Brazilian Ronaldo or Ronaldinho rather than seeing teams in Holland and France get them first.
Anyone with a brain understands that "Messi" is a metaphor for "one the very top players in the world".
Neymar and Suarez are of the same caliber.
Each of them cost Barca more than any or our players, Di Maria included.
(I think that Messi was 14 when he joined Barca)
Those spells at the smaller European are really important imo, a move to Ajax or Auxerre or Marseille would have done the likes of Robinho and Cicinho some good.
Think you've took this all a tad too serious lol.
It seems he was 13 when he joined Barca... I thought 14 but I was wrong, apparently...
http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-messi-555732
Anyway, Messi himself is not the point. Neymar or Souarez or Bale or some other top player would be good enough, ha ha! And he does not have to be a kid. Barca brought Souarez when he was 27.
We just have to be willing to pay, that's all it takes today.
http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-messi-555732
Anyway, Messi himself is not the point. Neymar or Souarez or Bale or some other top player would be good enough, ha ha! And he does not have to be a kid. Barca brought Souarez when he was 27.
We just have to be willing to pay, that's all it takes today.
I did. Why not?
I said to buy Barcelonas academy and staff.. Clearly not a serious remark lol.
On topic - we need to be scouting players at around about 21-24who can truly step up a level. It was always clear Suarez was going to be able to step up a notch from Ajax. Vidal before Juve another.
It's difficult to get work permits for young talents here than it is in other countries. Utd have a global scouting network & relations with teams in South America. We identified and got Ronaldo (albeit he was older & better known, but still) - how many teams wished they'd done that!
They had one very good batch of young players but i think that 'La Masia' is overhyped. They will never get another Messi, Iniesta, Busquets and Pique breaking through together at the same time while players of the calibre Xavi and Puyol are also playing in the first team. They have been very very lucky with it. Just look at their recent talents... almost none of them made it. Before the "Messi generation" became famous Barcelona bought almost the entire Dutch national team + some Brazilians.
Manchester United had the same luck of having a excellent batch with Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Neville and Butt. Ajax had it during LVG his CL winning period.
True but Suarez had already bitten Bakkal from PSV in his days at Ajax. That surely didn't help his reputation for a potential topclub above Ajax.
We did exactly what the OP suggested, buy one of the hottest young prospect with potential to be one of the greatest in Memphis
So your policy has evolved from 'buy the next messi who happens to be 20-24 years old (without identifying any actual targets)' to 'Just sign top players for loads of cash, haha'.
Don't let anyone tell you you haven't thought this through.
Yeah we could totally have signed Suarez, my mistake.
My policy is very simple: We are a rich club, we should splash the cash and not be Scottish about it. What Real and Barca have been doing.
We should have bought Hazzard when we could. Bale, too.
Make any jokes you want about the next Messi, the previous Messi, the Mesia Messi and so on.
I am just happy that our current administration understands that if we want to win trophies, we have to spend big money. We have to spend more than Real and Barca if we want to be considered equal to them.
BBC reports today that we are intensifying our efforts to sign Ronaldo. That's what I was asking for! Try to get the very best players, no matter if "they are available" or not.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33644452
Manchester United want to re-sign Old Trafford great Cristiano Ronaldo, 30, from Real Madrid as the club intensifies their efforts to build a title-winning squad.
Don't be silly. That's like saying Beckham and Giggs were not a product of our academy as they started their youth career elsewhere. Messi joined La Masia at 11. Giggs and Beckham joined our youth academy at 14. They've all got to start somewhere.
Can we please stop bumping this thread when we haven't signed the next Messi?
Bayern are as close to those 2 as you can get, and in fairness have had times when they've been better in the past 4 or so years. True member of Europe's elite and yet they didn't spend more than them to get there.
We just need to get it done. Get in the required quality when needed, promote the quality and let them get quality game time if they can reach world class standards.
The 08/09 barca team didn't take that much money to build and it'd hold its own in any era of football. Why? Cause they jam packed the whole squad with quality players. Developed what the academy was providing that was quality and then bought the rest of the pieces. This is very similar to the bayern team or even our treble winning team.
Having messi, Suarez, Cristiano or neymar is great help but even without them teams can be really successful. Just by making sure the average quality of the side is very high. The attackers should be match winners, the midfielders hold their own against and the defenders be able to handle any sort of attack they face and bring the ball out from the back.
What we've managed to do in the past few years is flood our squad with utter mediocrity(some that's still around) so the feeling becomes that its because we haven't got a superstar but in truth being a superstar is borderline impossible in a team that has the Young's and Fellaini's of this world in every corner. Look at how many have left and how much we've signed yet the deadwood still is totally eradicated. We also manage to somehow add on to it at times(Blind).
Actually both Suarez and Ronaldo were available to the right club that each player wanted. Thus nobody was shocked by either transfer. But it's okay keep on keeping on
But can he finish?
Bayern has different advantages and disadvantages than us. They have the full German League as their "feeder league". And that league represents 80 million people with plenty of immigrants.
England is smaller in population and there is a lot of competition by the London clubs and City for the same players.
Real and Barca have the Spanish language, the weather and the latin culture making them a more desirable destination for South American players.
Our advantage is that we have a global presence and this brings in a lot of money. We cannot compete on weather or on the fun-factor but we can sure compete on money!
We surely can't limit our options. We can sign almost anyone around. Our scouts just need to go out there and find what we need.
Some overemphasize the bold part because of two players.
You might look at the transfers Bayern did the recent seasons...
Bayern regrouped in 2009/10 - and from then on it had a special spine and added to it.
Lahm - Schweinsteiger - Müller - Robben - Ribery - (Badstuber)
2009/10
+Gomez
2010/11
+Kroos, +Gustavo
2011/12
+Neuer, +Alaba, +Boateng, +Rafinha
2012/13
+Martinez, +Mandzukic, +Dante
2013/14
+Thiago, +Götze; -Gomez, -Gustavo
2014/15
+Lewandowsky, +Bernat, +Alonso; -Kroos
2015/16
+Vidal, +Costa; -Schweinsteiger
I did not list the players with minor influence and minor match time or reserve keepers etc. Just players that were atleast partly sure starters. Kroos/Alaba came back from loans. There is no Bundesliga tendency (red players) - players like Gustavo, Mandzu or Dante were good players in their teams but not the stars...
As a principle Bayern just tries to do that what you do, too. Have a spine of homegrown lads (we were successfull with), add a couple of good players of the country - and then add international players (partly already adapted to the league what makes it easier, partly from other leagues) when it is necessary.
All these transferstransfers happened because the player wanted to move. If aa topplayer wants toplay for youit makes things a lot easy.
Schweinsteiger wasn't available but that didn't stop United from signing him.
So I don't get what youare talking about
All these transfers happened because someone offered a lot of money. Schweinsteiger just proves my point.
And my point is that in 2015, if you want to be the best team in the world, you have to BUY the best players in the world, not to wait till your academy produces something. We have to spend a lot of money to get where Barca is today, there is no other way. For some people, this is evident and trivial. However, there are other people who still think it is the 1980s and we have to produce a "golden generation" in our academy.
I think most people are hopeful that we can still produce players from within the academy for the first team and are fairly realistic that the class of 92 is a one off. Most of the big clubs are now competing for all the top youth talent across the globe in the hope that they can produce the next top world class talent. I think a prudent model is to buy and try and produce your own players. They should never be mutually exclusive.
I think that everyone would agree with you!
Most big teams are trying that, City and Chelsea included (even if some people think otherwise).
However, we should realize that the probability of producing "the next Messi" is very small. It is far more doable to buy him (when he is 20 or 25 or even 27... like Barca did with Suarez).
Will the next Henry do?
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