We need to make a big statement in the transfer market

[Gopher Brown]

We’ve done this before though. We didn’t meet the Perisic asking price under Jose, we didn’t meet Bruno’s last summer, we didn’t meet Bale’s the number of times we wanted him and we didn’t meet Maguire’s in Jose’s last season. The unfortunate fact is that we go after the best players at clubs who don’t need to sell, which means ultimately if we want those players you have to pay a premium. It isn’t a negotiating problem.

How much was Bruno available for last summer? We got him for £47m which seems somewhat of a bargain in these days of insanity

 

[AltiUn]

There’s never a ‘final piece of the puzzle’ - and that’s a good thing because it keeps us pushing to refresh the team.

Well, yeah, obviously. But if you sign Sancho we're not exactly missing an attacker, are we?

 

[Gopher Brown]

Well, yeah, obviously. But if you sign Sancho we're not exactly missing an attacker, are we?

It only takes one injury to ruin that unfortunately

 

[In Rainbows]

I would agree, but not this time. You pay for Sancho, and then apply that strategy for other targets. There are replacements for other targets of similar level. You're not going to get a replacement for Sancho.

With Sancho, our attacking front line is sorted for at least 5 years. One less worry we can then focus our attention on other positions the years after.

 

[Rightnr]

Sure thing. Because that's definitely going to help our football and not send the money into those degenerates' pockets.

Some people in this fanbase are either employed by those lizards or live under the false impression they're getting part of the pie. Bizarre thinking.

Oh and last time we pulled this genius move, we got stuck with Lukaku because Morata was overpriced. While Morata flopped, Lukaku was not much better and we're still getting overcharged in the transfer market.

The one statement we can make is get a DoF. A DoF who'd have negotiated the Sancho deal months ago and if he thought Dortmund were really taking the piss (they're not in this case, we are), he'd have paid the release clause for Werner and get him instead, all the way back in June.

 

[The Don]

We need a RW, badly. Sancho is the best RW in the world, that is for sale. The only statement we should be making is that we can and will buy the best players, regardless of price. It's the only way we're getting back to the top.
You only have to look at Liverpool, who needed a CB and and a GK and they went out and spent record amounts. Liverpool aren't even usually considered as 'big spenders', compared to the other big clubs.

If we walk away from a deal, over how it's structured or over 10/15m, the only statement we're making is that we're chumps, who can't compete and who care more about lining the pockets of the owner, than we do about success.

 

[Stack]

This whole big statement idea is bollocks.
What we need is to buy the right players for the right positions and needs of the team. Making statements doesnt do feck all

 

[NecssryEvil]

...and no I’m not saying we need to spaff a massive war chest.


At some point we need to say no and miss out on a primary target to send a message that we’re not desperate and we’re not going to be bullied. It’s all well and good saying that we have 3 targets for each position but it seems a bit pointless when we always get tunnel vision and end up pursuing our primary target all summer, eventually paying close to if not the asking price.

We need to call a selling clubs bluff once or twice and leave them with their dick in their hand. I realise that means missing out on a key player or two but our scouting department should ensure that we have a suitable alternative. We should be working much harder to get a reputation of tough negotiators who walk away if they believe the asking price is not reasonable.

I agree with what your saying, but is now (Sancho deal) the time to do it?

 

[Gazza]

People need to stop talking about the Sancho transfer as though it’s Marouane Fellaini or Harry Maguire. For a player like Sancho, you DO push the boat out because he is already one of the best players in his position and one of the best players in his age group full stop. This is more akin to Wayne Rooney or Rio Ferdinand; okay the selling club is going to play hardball and probably rinse us, but we won’t be talking about the fee after services have been rendered.

 

[Ali Dia]

teams like dortmund Monaco and RBL Spurs a few years ago and even liverpool to a different extent show you dont necessarily always need to make a statement in the market to be very effective. you just need to be shrewd and target the correct players for your system. trusting the right young player can pay you back tenfold. targeting hungry players who are keen to improve and prove themselves. the beauty of a club like united ever adopting a similar approach would be we would never really have to sell when we strike gold with a player and we can keep the nucleus of a good team together for a long time. We would need the right DOF to pull it off though and we could very easily get that wrong

 

[NecssryEvil]

You buy Sancho, and combine that with our surge to 3rd at the end of last season, and it's a real sign we mean business.

That would give us an attack on paper as good as anyone in the league, and when you have a superb attack, you always have a chance in games.

This! Just one last time, pull the fecking trigger. Ole needs to be like I was as a kid; please get me this for my birthday and I promise I wont ask for anything at Christmas.

 

[Gazza]

We made the statement of missing out on transfer targets over money plenty of time. l wouldn't say that not signing Hazard because of agent fees did us any good.

Great point

 

[In Rainbows]

People need to stop talking about the Sancho transfer as though it’s Marouane Fellaini or Harry Maguire. For a player like Sancho, you DO push the boat out because he is already one of the best players in his position and one of the best players in his age group full stop. This is more akin to Wayne Rooney or Rio Ferdinand; okay the selling club is going to play hardball and probably rinse us, but we won’t be talking about the fee after services have been rendered.

I think a lot of fans are impatient and are wanting United to solves all of its problems in 1 transfer window, when really, our goal should be to create the best possible team in terms of quality as there are more seasons than just next season. Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Henderson, AWB, Sancho, etc... don't need to win next season. They have multiple years as a core to win.

We don't need to solve all of our problems in 1 transfer window. We can plug in holes the year after or the year after that. United with 21 year old Sancho, 20 year old Greenwood, 24 year old Rashford, and 26 year old Martial will be a monster side.

For all we know, one of Laird, Levitt, Garner, Mejbri, etc... have a promising season in top flight football, making depth not as much of a hole as it currently looks today. A year can change things. If that were to happen, we pretty much kicked ourselves for prioritizing depth over Sancho all because we felt we instantly needed to win a title next year when it was a long shot regardless.

Get the right players in. Time is on our side, not Liverpool's.

 

[Gazza]

I think a lot of fans are impatient and are wanting United to solves all of its problems in 1 transfer window, when really, our goal should be to create the best possible team in terms of quality as there are more seasons than just next season. Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Henderson, AWB, Sancho, etc... don't need to win next season. They have multiple years as a core to win.

We don't need to solve all of our problems in 1 transfer window. We can plug in holes the year after or the year after that. United with 21 year old Sancho, 20 year old Greenwood, 24 year old Rashford, and 26 year old Martial will be a monster side.

For all we know, one of Laird, Levitt, Garner, Mejbri, etc... have a promising season in top flight football, making depth not as much of a hole as it currently looks today. A year can change things. If that were to happen, we pretty much kicked ourselves for prioritizing depth over Sancho all because we felt we instantly needed to win a title next year when it was a long shot regardless.

Agree totally. I was actually going to say the same to the fellow who posted our schedule for next season (suggesting we should buy more players for squad depth instead of concentrating on Sancho). Sancho could actually be that Rooney or Ronaldo game changer for us for years to come, so if we lose our best chance at getting him this summer and then watch him go somewhere else in future, the squad depth that we'd be building wouldn't benefit us that much.

Also I feel people are thinking this front 3 we have right now has cracked it, and that we need depth more than first XI improvement. I actually think we do need more in attack, I think we're still too predictable, and we should only sign players that are as good or as better than what we have. So Sancho!

 

[stevoc]

I agree we need to draw a line in the sand with the prices we get quoted by clubs for players by walking away from a big deal. But its something we need to do from a position of strength, i think for this summer we need to just bite the bullet and plug keys gaps in this team to keep the current momentum going.

Next year if we strengthen the squad well this window, after possibly qualifying for the CL 2 years in a row and maybe winning a few trophies and/or challenging for the league would be the optimum time to do it.

 

[crossy1686]

I’d rather we just signed the right players than worry about making any statements to anyone else. This place spends far too much time worrying about what others are either doing or what others think about us.

 

[sp_107]

AWB,Maguire were our statement signings last year, Do you guys really happy with those 2 for that money?

I wish we have signed one of Upamecano/Kabak/Konate and a better attacking RB.

 

[VorZakone]

You splash the cash on top quality. Liverpool did it with Alisson & Van Dijk and they completely transformed Liverpool's defense.

1 top player is worth more on the pitch than 2 average players.

 

[Martialfc]

We need a CM/CDM to replace Matic as starter a CB to replace Lindelof and a Right Winger hopefully Sancho. If we get all those positions sorted we could actually challenge. Maybe a leftback too I don’t rate Williams at all and Shaw is also awful.

 

[Bilbo]

There are really only 2 possible reasons why we haven't already signed Sancho:

• We dont have the money
• We feel confident that we can drive down the price

If its the former then, well, not much we can do about that. If we dont have it we dont have it

If its the latter then we are playing a risky game that could leave an almighty egg on our face, or we play it perfectly and we get him for what we think we can get him for and we do great business.

My hunch is still that we think they need this sale and we are waiting for them to make some concessions on the price.

 

[wolvored]

Football transfers don’t work in the way that buying from a shop does. There will always be a different price for different teams. As one of the wealthiest teams in the world we get rinsed. I honestly couldn’t care less other than if the price affects the players confidence.
Unfortunately, Barca and Real Madrid and Bayern use their allure and prestige more effectively. Bayern can convince young Germans to sign on a free. The Spanish two seem to attract players who ‘dream’ of playing for them.
We need to get players to kick up a fuss more I think if we want to pay less.

The thing with that is they are the best teams in their respective league. we are a big club historically, but nowhere near the level of Liverpool or City. Woodys chaotic running of the club since Fergie has lead to us to decline alarmingly in the years since. We have a glimpse of what getting the right and best players in with Bruno, although this could have been handled a lot better. When Woody said we can do things others can only dream about, he opened it up to be fleeced by every selling club and players agents. Watch Pogba end up another Sanchez after he gives him a £400k a week contract.

 

[bosnian_red]

Sometimes you have to pay what's needed to get that guy that you really need. Sancho isn't somebody we should move on to plan b's or plan c's. Sancho is pretty much world class at the age of 20, English, the perfect option in terms of both play style and position he plays for what we need and our other players. There are times we definitely need to do that (Maguire as an example, good signing overall but 80m was a bit fecked up). Sancho is not. Sancho is that top, top tier of talents that you rarely have the chance to sign. Add on how he would suit us perfectly, and it's not one we can let slip.

Hazard was the last such talent we let slip because of some principal. Sometimes you suck it up and just pay up, even stretch how you normally do things if you have to because he'll pay it back without a doubt.

 

[Luke1995]

Wouldn't it have been a big statement signing Belligham ?

 

[DRJosh]

Ironically, "a big statement" would also be made if we don't sign anyone. The statement would be: (a) We have an unexplainable sense of blind faith in our current squad and (b) We are looking at a top 4 finish as an ultimate achievement with zero CL ambitions

I'd be surprised if we end up with Sancho but I do think we will sign a lesser known player for 'squad depth'. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[cyril C]

That only works if you have a good enough squad to fall back on.

Right now we aren't in that position, but we are close.

Missing out on Sancho will only spite us in the long run, Dortmund won't be worried.

Are there no alternative beside Sancho? If this is the case then we should pay 200m just to make sure he won't slip away.

 

[NecssryEvil]

Are there no alternative beside Sancho? If this is the case then we should pay 200m just to make sure he won't slip away.

How about you list the alternatives to Sancho?

 

[cyril C]

It's clear that we have overpaid at times in the transfer market, it doesn't mean we should punish ourselves at the wrong time.

Would Dortmund sell cheaper to any other team? Probably not looking at Dembele to Barca

They have developed a really good player and if we want him we know the price

All the comments and pandering on here won't change a thing.

Aguero, torres, David silva, Michael Essien, Hazard. A few players we missed out on for other reasons but look at the impact they made

We signed Mata instead of Silva, we signed RVP instead of Aguero. I believe we got paid on Essien so it was not a matter of willing to pay, but someone got a dirty deal with his agent first.

On the other hand, why didn't we snap up KDB, Salah, and on that matter, Sancho 3 years ago. They would have cost peanuts before they were found.

On the other - other hand, Barca paid a bomb for Coutinho, a must have player, right?. How do we know Sancho won't end up like Coutinho? Or worse, Sanchez?

 

[Isotope]

United can either pay what Dortmund wants, or just go to other target. Dortmund doesn't have to sell, and the player himself never said that he wants to move to United.

It's actually Dortmund should be annoyed by United that keep coming with these "offers".

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

AWB,Maguire were our statement signings last year, Do you guys really happy with those 2 for that money?

I wish we have signed one of Upamecano/Kabak/Konate and a better attacking RB.

And if we didn't sign those two, our defense won't improved to be 3rd best in the league which also part of the reason we finished 3rd.

This season is Upamecano first proper full season, who is Kabak & Konate did nothing but just keep getting injured. What United needed was an experience centre back, ball playing & reliable capable to stay away from injury. Maguire was one of the best option in the market last summer.

 

[edcunited1878]

Making the right transfers don't always mean they are the biggest transfers.

United have to be prepared to walk away from Sancho and reinvest into the squad in other areas such as CMx2, CB, and in a forward position.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Perisic was big statement that we made already (pretty sure Inter is the one is crying now while we are laughing now). And may Bellingham too.

I think we have been doing good making big statement that doesn't offer good value in the investment However, we are also sucks in making the right decision of dealing the type of business that has good value in the investment.

I can understand for the club not wanting to invest on Haland (since we have Martial & Greenwood already), Bellingham (since we have Garner & Mejbri) & Perisic (due to his age). However, Sancho is different case. Apart from James, we don't have natural winger, he's a very young proven top player with international caps that can offer 10 years contribution for the club with world class potential who can create & score goals.

I'm not sure what's happening, may be both Ed & Matt Judge are trying to wait until our Europa Campaign finishes so we don't give any distraction to our current players. If the intention is different which is to waste time to get bargain price then both Ed & Matt are probably got it wrong for Sancho's case. Hazard was sold around 100m at 28, it makes sense that Sancho who is much younger also has value of 100m. I expect they should have understand this and don't try to waste time to bargain on such a top player but go for it. If we want to minimise the Covid's effect then we can always try to go with a reasonable bid plus installment.

 

[Verminator]

@Pexbo 's message seems to have been lost by posters jumping in, not reading the OP.
He's suggesting that walking away is the statement, not spending big.

As I've said before, I believe that you make that kind of move when you are attempting to fill spots that have other options of similar quality.
It may even be prudent to approach your alternative target first, then walk away due to cost, then approach the ideal target.
This is where you can pick and choose, and portray what you want.

When you have the opportunity to buy one of the best players in a certain position, the priority has to be, to get the deal done. These opportunities don't come around regularly.
Sancho has few peers when it comes to goals and assists.
Only Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, Lewandowski and Imobile have better stats in the past 2 seasons.
Only Mbappe is under 30, out of those.
Sancho is 20.
We can save money elsewhere. We can recoup money over time.

What we can't do, is guarantee to be in the running, in the near future, for a world class player, in a position we are weak, in a one horse race.

You seal the deal, and then shop around on other deals.

 

[romufc]

There’s a huge difference. Jose wanted old over priced players

I wouldn't agree with huge difference. This just highlights the problem at Manutd, the structure.

When you look at Jose's record, he likes experienced signings. So if you are going to hire him as a manager and then say sorry we cant back you because it's not in line with our recruitment policy, who is to blame? Jose or the board?

You wouldn't hire pep and say you cannot spend money would you? Surely if you appoint a manager, you should be supporting them. Otherwise don't hire them.

 

[Verminator]

I wouldn't agree with huge difference. This just highlights the problem at Manutd, the structure.

When you look at Jose's record, he likes experienced signings. So if you are going to hire him as a manager and then say sorry we cant back you because it's not in line with our recruitment policy, who is to blame? Jose or the board?

You wouldn't hire pep and say you cannot spend money would you? Surely if you appoint a manager, you should be supporting them. Otherwise don't hire them.

There IS a huge difference.
He wanted rid of Martial for Perisic.
Older player lose their value, and need replacing sooner.
If Lukaku had been 29 when we bought him, we wouldn't have recouped anywhere near what we paid for him.
Jose's transfer policy would have crippled us, in the medium to long term.

 

[romufc]

There IS a huge difference.
He wanted rid of Martial for Perisic.
Older player lose their value, and need replacing sooner.
If Lukaku had been 29 when we bought him, we wouldn't have recouped anywhere near what we paid for him.
Jose's transfer policy would have crippled us, in the medium to long term.

My point is, when you hire a manager like Jose, you know what you are getting. They have him a new contract before the summer he was sacked.

My criticism is on the structure.

 

[Verminator]

My point is, when you hire a manager like Jose, you know what you are getting. They have him a new contract before the summer he was sacked.

My criticism is on the structure.

I agree with that.
His star was still bright at the time, though.
He was a panic appointment, and I think he shocked the board, by how short term and expensive his plans were.
There were plenty on here who predicted it. They should have had an inkling.

Although I'm happy with Ole, they jumped the gun, unnecessarily on his contract too.
Anybody would think they were clueless.


Which thread are we in?

 

[romufc]

I agree with that.
His star was still bright at the time, though.
He was a panic appointment, and I think he shocked the board, by how short term and expensive his plans were.
There were plenty on here who predicted it. They should have had an inkling.

Although I'm happy with Ole, they jumped the gun, unnecessarily on his contract too.
Anybody would think they were clueless.


Which thread are we in?

Yep, anyway back to the transfers then. I do not expect Ole to be backed to the level he was last summer.

It was also mentioned that Bruno was part of this summer's budget so lets wait and see I guess?

 

[KristianMackle]

I agree with the OP.

He's great but he's not Messi. People are getting a bit overboard with the Sancho praise like we'd be missing out on Messi.
I think players like Saint Maxim or Adama would also greatly improve us attacking wise. Point is, we cant spend all summer waiting for Sancho to agitate for a move. We need to go ahead and complete deals for players we can obtain now.

We need a left footed CB, why haven't we thrown money at Lille to get Gabriel? Or Alex Telles for the LB position? Isn't Sancho or nothing? Are we actively making any moves on players we can actually get now?

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I agree with the OP.

He's great but he's not Messi. People are getting a bit overboard with the Sancho praise like we'd be missing out on Messi.
I think players like Saint Maxim or Adama would also greatly improve us attacking wise. Point is, we cant spend all summer waiting for Sancho to agitate for a move. We need to go ahead and complete deals for players we can obtain now.

We need a left footed CB, why haven't we thrown money at Lille to get Gabriel? Or Alex Telles for the LB position? Isn't Sancho or nothing? Are we actively making any moves on players we can actually get now?

In 17/18, we spent 40m plus 5m adds on (Matic) + 31m plus 9m adds on (Lindelof). If we used the money on Van Dijk instead, ignore the DM and stick with Herrera in midfield, it would improve our squad better.

Quality is better than quantity after all. You spend on the right players, not trying to solve everything in one window by trying to take a punt on players tier below. If Sancho is Messi, he wouldn't be 100m but 150m-200m like Neymar & Mbappe.

 

[Ceteris]

We signed Mata instead of Silva, we signed RVP instead of Aguero. I believe we got paid on Essien so it was not a matter of willing to pay, but someone got a dirty deal with his agent first.

On the other hand, why didn't we snap up KDB, Salah, and on that matter, Sancho 3 years ago. They would have cost peanuts before they were found.

On the other - other hand, Barca paid a bomb for Coutinho, a must have player, right?. How do we know Sancho won't end up like Coutinho? Or worse, Sanchez?

Mata instead of Silva, RVP instead of Aguero? These were years apart. We got stuck when football was changing, it was always the United way and in the same vein we have failed to realise football structures have changed.

It's as if we are blind to these changes.

And if any one could guarantee a signing to be successful then football wouldn't be what it is