We need to be less kind with contract renewals

[Zlatattack]

I just read we are looking to offer Mata a 1 year extension and he wants 2. I don't think we should extend his contract at all. We need to stop being a soft touch. What has Mata really contributed? What can he contribute that Lingard can't?

We really need to upgrade our squad players, especially the older players, regardless of how well they've done. If we need to keep someone for a squad role, let it be a younger player, or buy in an improvement, but don't hold onto players for sentimental value.

This summer we could lose Mata, TFM, Valencia, Young, Jones, Darmian, Herrera, Periera, DDG and Martial.

Of those we should definitely sign up DDG, Martial and Herrera (who's an actually useful squad player).

Periera? Maybe but only if he's cheap, but the question must be asked if the coaching staff see value in him?

Young? Only on a 1 year contract until because we don't have enough cover at left back.

The rest should just go.

Mata - If he's our RW we need to replace him with a much better place. If he's our 10, Pogba has that role now. If he's our backup 10, is he better than Lingard? I don't think so.

Jones - backup could easily be replaced by Taunzebe.

Darmian - backup RB. Could be replaced by TFM for a season to see if he can cut it. Otherwise we also have Laird in the academy or we could buy in a proper RB and have Dalot as the backup.

Valencia - Another backup RB. Currently joint 3rd choice with Darmian. Same as above, could be replaced internally, or we could by a replacement.

These are the easy options, we have deadwood in our squad on longer contracts too. Over the next 2 seasons we should look to be rid of it all. We need to be ruthless to get real benefit. Right now our team is doing well, but we're a few injuries away from being exposed.

• Fellani, Rojo, they should be sold as soon as decent offer is made.
  
• TFM seems to be unwanted by us and by Fulham! Do we give him another season to prove himself useful? I would, but i wouldn't renew in 2020 if he's not upto the grade.
  
• We should seriously consider cutting our losses with Sanchez if he's not in form by the summer/next Jan. He was supposed to be a game changer for us, he's not.

We're finally seeing green shoots of recovery, we can't hinder them by not having a decent squad.

 

[el3mel]

Don't get it, why anyone want Mata out ? He doesn't play as a guaranteed starter. He's happy with a bit part role and playing on occasions. He never complains of the bench, has great relationship with teammates and fans and can offer some quality from time to time. He's a great squad option to have. I'll only want him out if he's playing as a regular starter or asks for it but he doesn't.

Agree with the rest of squad option but Mata is a good one to stay. The rest should be offloaded.

 

[FootyGirl88]

If we have Lingard as a squad option, why do we need Mata? A new RW + Lingard is fine.

 

[Gandalf]

Mata has good qualities, nice eye for a pass, good in dead ball situations and supposedly is good team and locker room guy. I agree his legs have gone a bit and he does not have an obvious natural role in our formation but he adds value and a 1 year extension at reasonable money makes sense.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Don't get it, why anyone want Mata out ? He doesn't play as a guaranteed starter. He's happy with a bit part role and playing on occasions. He never complains of the bench, has great relationship with teammates and fans and can offer some quality from time to time. He's a great squad option to have. I'll only want him out if he's playing as a regular starter or asks for it but he doesn't.

Agree with the rest of squad option but Mata is a good one to stay. The rest should be offloaded.

because we have looked horrible when mata plays?

 

[Pexbo]

because we have looked horrible when mata plays?

We’ve looked horrible recently when Valencia is behind him.

When he’s got a more attacking fullback behind him overlapping and he’s free to drift between the lines he is very effective.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Don't get it, why anyone want Mata out ? He doesn't play as a guaranteed starter. He's happy with a bit part role and playing on occasions. He never complains of the bench, has great relationship with teammates and fans and can offer some quality from time to time. He's a great squad option to have. I'll only want him out if he's playing as a regular starter or asks for it but he doesn't.

Agree with the rest of squad option but Mata is a good one to stay. The rest should be offloaded.

Mata will hardly get any gametime now and, for me, I'd rather give that scarce gametime to Gomes / Chong and start building their first team experience up gradually

I agree that we seem to almost give these contract extensions out routinely

 

[Gopher Brown]

Some people on here are obsessed with this idea of ‘cutting the deadwood.’ I swear some people want a squad of about 8 players.

Players we already have save us money on transfer fees, the majority of our squad is still useful, including people like Ashley Young. Just because they’re not your cup of tea doesn’t make them ‘deadwood’ and the implication that they are stealing a living and contributing nothing is nonsense.

You can’t lose 5 players every year on free transfers because they are out of contract.

 

[Minimalist]

Contracts are fine if the money suits the club. The issue is players on big money (always is really). Players like Lingard, Phil Jones, Valencia, Young etc should be on relative peanuts but from what I understand they’re not.

Offer them their genuine worth (if they’re only squad players) and half of them probably wouldn’t sign the contract. That’s when you replace them with a young lad coming through for the foreseeable future.

One of the things that’s really obvious when you look at the squad is how many players are no where near definite first eleven category (so where does the competition come from? Or at least the right kind of competition). We don’t need loads of transfers in the summer coming - we need a few top players in key positions.

And so back on topic, Stop offering players who aren’t anywhere near that category, big wages, simply to float in and out of the side.

 

[beergod]

The accountants running the club are always going to lean toward extending contracts as they don't have to pay out on a new player to fill their role in the squad. That is a big part of why Fellaini is still here, because they realized it would be cheaper to give him an extra year than to buy Jose a replacement.

The problem with us is never the squad players that are constantly moaned about, it's that we don't have anyone better than them to keep them on the bench. Ex: Ashley Young is still a fantastic utility player at this stage, but not someone you want to play every match from the start like we have to do with him now.

 

[el3mel]

because we have looked horrible when mata plays?

And he's not playing as a regular starter, point ? As long as you have a good squad option who never complains about the bench then you should keep him.

 

[el3mel]

Mata will hardly get any gametime now and, for me, I'd rather give that scarce gametime to Gomes / Chong and start building their first team experience up gradually

I agree that we seem to almost give these contract extensions out routinely

He's not complaining about lack of game time, and that's the biggest reason we should keep him imo. We can give game time to others ahead of him while keeping him as a squad option.

 

[lysglimt]

because we have looked horrible when mata plays?

And which games are you referring to ? The Mourinho-games ? Where Martial, Lukaku, Pogba, Rashford and Matic all looked like crap ?

 

[Minimalist]

Yous are all fcuking idiots, Mata’s a great player.

 

[JoseandMkhiarespecial]

Good thread.

I think Mata is honestly like a third choice player now, like an FA cup player almost. I respect everything he's done for United and in football but every player loses their pace.

I wouldn't renew Mata and free up more game time for real wingers now that Ole plays attacking.

 

[JoseandMkhiarespecial]

He's not complaining about lack of game time, and that's the biggest reason we should keep him imo. We can give game time to others ahead of him while keeping him as a squad option.

He's probably on a 100k a week plus which isn't exactly great when he doesn't play and isn't a key player in my opinion.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

And which games are you referring to ? The Mourinho-games ? Where Martial, Lukaku, Pogba, Rashford and Matic all looked like crap ?

no, the Ole games as well where once mata came back in we stopped looking like the quick attacking team Ole had us playing as.

 

[2 man midfield]

I’d keep him on a rolling 1 year thing. Good player and a top professional, he’s good to have around. Plus he’s bezzies with Dave which is the most important thing.

 

[wolvored]

Mata doesnt fit the fast attack that Ole is fostering now. He is also the wrong side of 30 and will decline and slow rapidly. We need to be looking at young fast players and look to get rid of the average, injury prone and old players.

 

[RedDevil@84]

I think the sample size is too small to dismiss Mata as someone not part of the Ole tactics. As it stands, I don't see a problem with renewing Mata..
More importantly we might need to replace Valencia, Young, Jones and Rojo if possible. I don't think throwing out Mata and trying to get another player to become a squad player should be a top priority.

 

[Tarrou]

I think its the right decision

Lots of experience, good personality to have around the club, never complains or causes an issue, and happy to sit on the bench. It's not easy to find squad players.

 

[SirAF]

Yous are all fcuking idiots, Mata’s a great player.

Nice one

 

[sullydnl]

The key point in that article about a potential contract renewal for Mata was "he's one of only six attackers in the first team squad". Those six including Sanchez, who also has an uncertain future.

Being realistic, keeping Mata doesn't stop us from signing another attacker. Being more realistic, Mata will still get a fair bit of gametime regardless. Being even more realistic, we can make a limited amount of transfers each year and many of those transfers could be better spend elsewhere rather than replacing Mata in the relatively limited role he would have.

 

[CM]

It's not in the interests of the club to let several players leave for free when they still have value. We would be stupid not to take up the option in Darmian's contract, for example, if there's any chance of a sale in the summer.

 

[King7Eric]

Don't get it, why anyone want Mata out ? He doesn't play as a guaranteed starter. He's happy with a bit part role and playing on occasions. He never complains of the bench, has great relationship with teammates and fans and can offer some quality from time to time. He's a great squad option to have. I'll only want him out if he's playing as a regular starter or asks for it but he doesn't.

Agree with the rest of squad option but Mata is a good one to stay. The rest should be offloaded.

I think the issue with keeping Mata is it offers the club a way out of buying an actual RW, they can run the line of we have Lingard, Mata and Sanchez for that role and he is the easiest to shift out of those 3. I agree that there's nothing inherently wrong with keeping Mata in isolation, but his staying means we won't sign a player in a role we desperately need.

 

[100]

Of all the problems we have, Mata is bottom of the list. A very good squad player, who the top 5 would benefit from having.

We're hardly coming down with attacking options.

 

[RedFish]

If we have Lingard as a squad option, why do we need Mata? A new RW + Lingard is fine.

Tell that to Mata with hearts and hugs!!!

 

[settembrini]

Agree with the OP, at United there is just this assumption that a player on our books should automatically have his contract renewed regardless of how little they are contributing. It's why our current squad is bloated and we have one of the highest wage bills in football despite only having a couple of elite player.

 

[Scholsey2004]

We really should be looking at moving on mata. Lingards streets ahead of him now and we should be backing him up with a youngster that can overtake him in time, not a guy with a goals and assists output you'd normally associate with a centre back.

 

[Aarron Swift]

It’s not giving players renewals that’s the problem, it’s giving the average ones too high a wage meaning we can’t sell them.

Also get into a situation where you may have to renew 1 or 2 players that long term we don’t really want because realistically you can probably only buy/sell 3 or 4 players a season. No club ever really buys 7, sells 7 like a lot of fans seem to want them to do.

 

[Ekeke]

Yes. Giving Mata a new contract would be ensuring we don't fix our right side which is handicapping us. Keep Lingard, replace Mata

 

[Zlatattack]

I've got nothing against Mata but being a nice guy is not enough. He is/was an excellent player but he doesn't fit in anymore. We've had 5 years of square pegs and round holes.

If we're going to win the league we need to be ruthless. Squad players are meant to push first team players for a spot. Who in our squad does that? That's a big reason why we're a level below the best.

We don't need big change every year, but we do need decent turnover of players in order to improve the quality of the squad. Ashley Young should be an emergency option not plan A.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

I wouldn't renew Mata either because I hope we stick to trying to play fast football and he just doesn't suit that style. Signing a young player that can compete or hopefully even replace Lingard would be the optimal choice. Mata's wages are too high for his current standing in the squad so signing a new player for a reasonable wage would be perfect. We could then have our right wing options being: Lingard/New RW/Chong.

Who the new RW is would be up to the scouts to hopefully do their fecking job and get us someone they believe has big potential.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

This place is so weird.

You have people who complain that we never get decent money for selling players, yet at the same time, we should just let players contracts run down and let them go for free?

Anyway, you won't find many better squad players then Mata... Plus he's never injured and never complains. Would be utter stupidity on the club to let him go for free, and thankfully it looks like they have more sense then that.

 

[El Jefe]

Mata has nothing to offer this team from next season and beyond. Giving him a new contract would be criminal.

He's a nice guy but its time our right wing gets sorted properly.

 

[cyberman]

If he's happy on the bench then I'd keep him.
This forum is obsessed with throwing youth against the wall to see what sticks.. If Chong and Gomes come alive then sell him but until then keep him as a quality squad player who can cover two positions.
Without Pogba we have few passers in our squad. He has his qualities.

 

[Reiver]

If we're seriously considering offering Mata an extension then I'm worried about what our summer targets are. Or what the management team thinks our prospects 9f signing them are.
We need to do better than Mata but if we absolutely have to then offer him a year. If he's demanding longer then tell him to do one.

In general, Woody or someone at the club seems to see any player - no matter who they are - leaving on a free as bad business.

 

[Raoul]

Would Fergie extend Mata ? Of course he would.

 

[Bastian]

Yes. Giving Mata a new contract would be ensuring we don't fix our right side which is handicapping us. Keep Lingard, replace Mata

I agree with that. We're not too kind, we simply lack a bit of ambition. Mata is a very good player but he's quite expensive wage wise especially as a peripheral figure. I love the guy but we need to sort out our right wing properly. We can't just keep everyone and expect to improve.

Like someone here said, the obvious ones are de Gea, Martial and Herrera. In all likelihood, Smalling too.

 

[Sauldogba]

I have no problem with players like Mata getting a new contract.

I have a huge one with the likes of Jones and Valencia getting them though.