What approach would you like to see from us in coming transfer windows?

sullydnl

Ross Kemp's caf ID
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
35,520
Obviously this summer was extraordinary in terms of money spent, the number of transfers both in and out of the club and the fact that we secured two superstar players in Di Maria and Falcao.

I now see Mark Ogden suggesting this pattern will continue with January moves for Strootman, Hummels and Marco Reus.

Is this something you actually want? Are you hoping we continue to make big money signings and jettison further deadwood in coming transfer windows? Would you like to see this Madrid-lite approach to the transfer market continue?

Or alternatively, do you hope that this summer was just a once off reaction to the trouble we've found ourselves in? Do you actually think it would be a bad idea to continue radically changing the squad and/or targeting superstar names to fix all our problems? Would you prefer a return to a slightly more low key, considered and conservative approach from this point on?

Basically, what do you want to see from us this January and beyond?
 
I'd love to see us spend big on a world class midfielder and defender. After that, we would have a fantastic foundation to bring the kids into the first team slowly do we can tone down our spending.
 
The squad still has deadwood that needs to be shifted I.E Young/Anderson/Valencia/Fellaini/Anderson. We certainly needs an elite level CB and CM as Fletcher doesn't look up to it and Carrick is 33 and coming off a long term injury. Bring in another 2/3 quality players once the deadwood has been shifted use the space left in the squad to give some of the youngsters a chance.
 
We need to do this to sort the squad out once and for all. A top CB (Hummels), CM (Strootman) and winger/#10 (Reus) would be the ideal signings to get us back to where we want to be. From then on we could go back to signing young talent. We needed to spend big on proven players because we were so far behind in terms of squad strength.
 
Silverman said:
We need to do this to sort the squad out once and for all. A top CB (Hummels), CM (Strootman) and winger/#10 (Reus) would be the ideal signings to get us back to where we want to be. From then on we could go back to signing young talent. We needed to spend big on proven players because we were so far behind in terms of squad strength.
Click to expand...

Hummels and Strootman I definitely get.

Reus though? We already have Rooney, RvP, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Januzaj for our forward positions (plus lesser squad players too). Do we really need someone like Reus competing for places on top of that? I mean of those forward players Falcao, Di Maria and Mata haven't had the chance to bed in fully yet and Januzaj is young and needs games to keep developing. Surely there comes a point where have to let these players settle in rather than signing another attacking player to add further competition? It seems like overkill to me...
 
sullydnl said:
Hummels and Strootman I definitely get.

Reus though? We already have Rooney, RvP, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Januzaj for our forward positions (plus lesser squad players too). Do we really need someone like Reus competing for places on top of that? I mean of those forward players Falcao, Di Maria and Mata haven't had the chance to bed in fully yet and Januzaj is young and needs games to keep developing. Surely there comes a point where have to let these players settle in rather than signing another attacking player to add further competition? It seems like overkill to me...
Click to expand...
I would say if we sign Reus then we will see Mata and possibly Van Persie leave.
 
Just one where we plug the gaps. Unless we nosedive again and get relegated or something it's very likely LvG will be at the helm next season. He sees this as a long term project, he'll know what needs doing. Do a Bayern, identify the weakness and plug it, spending whatever it costs.
 
Basically what we were doing pre glazers. Spend big when necessary, like on the midfield, and make sure it's fixed, but other then that, buy promising youngsters or future stars like Ronaldo and Rooney and develop them here.
Just going forward, do what needs to be done to bring them in, not miss out on players like Lucas and Hazard because of a few million on agent fees.
 
I-am-rich-floyd-mayweather-throwing-money.gif


Realistically, go big on a quality defender and midfielder and the team is set up for years. The spending can slow down a bit then if all goes according to plan and we get back in the Champions League and consistently challenge for trophies.
 
Silverman said:
I would say if we sign Reus then we will see Mata and possibly Van Persie leave.
Click to expand...

Is that a good thing though? Mata is an excellent player who has already proven he can perform as one of the best players in the PL. Should we really cut him loose in favour of Reus less than a year after signing him? I mean he's hardly been given enough chance to impress given that he was introduced into a struggling team and didn't exactly have outstanding support around him.

It all seems a bit too Madrid for my liking. Sign a new shiny toy to replace last year's model just because he hasn't amazed everyone in his first half season.
 
sullydnl said:
Is that a good thing though? Mata is an excellent player who has already proven he can perform as one of the best players in the PL. Should we really cut him loose in favour of Reus less than a year after signing him? I mean he's hardly been given enough chance to impress given that he was introduced into a struggling team and didn't exactly have outstanding support around him.

It all seems a bit too Madrid for my liking. Sign a new shiny toy to replace last year's model just because he hasn't amazed everyone in his first half season.
Click to expand...
Ì am a massive fan of Mata's and I don't know think we even need Reus so I'd say it's all rubbish.
 
sullydnl said:
Hummels and Strootman I definitely get.

Reus though? We already have Rooney, RvP, Falcao, Di Maria, Mata and Januzaj for our forward positions (plus lesser squad players too). Do we really need someone like Reus competing for places on top of that? I mean of those forward players Falcao, Di Maria and Mata haven't had the chance to bed in fully yet and Januzaj is young and needs games to keep developing. Surely there comes a point where have to let these players settle in rather than signing another attacking player to add further competition? It seems like overkill to me...
Click to expand...

Rather agree. After filling the obvious holes & needs, I would like to see a bit more squad/youth development, instead of going the full Galactico. Reus, as muppetastic as he is, would be a bit over the top and superfluous to our near to mid-term future. Maybe Mata, RVP, or Rooney can be jettisoned with Reus around, but so much mixing & matching can't be good for team spirit & continuity. I also rather doubt the Glazers really want to splash the cash on a regular basis.

I'd rather see more shrewd buys. Vidic & Evra come to mind. We could've addressed a lot of these issues with the same or similar players so much earlier, but the value mindset had us buying too young/too undeveloped with an eye to their sell-on value. By being too cagey & gambling on players like Zaha, Bebe, Pjanic, we passed on more ready made players who were maybe a year away from being big time.
 
Would love us to be a big player in the market again next summer (maybe even in January) as the squad needs it. Still a lot of dross taking up squad places, so the squad size will be tiny if/when we finally manage to feck them off.

It's not all about spending vasts amount of money though. We need useful squad players, young talents to compete for places too. Long term any successful club needs to be buying those sorts of players, whilst preferably bringing a few through the youth system too.
 
I'd like us to really improve our scouting and sign the next big things just before they gain great form and consistency. Moves like Juve getting Vidal for 10m euros, Porto getting Falcao for even less than that, or like when we got Ronaldo for £12m. Obviously there's some luck involved in getting players with such huge potential for these kinds of prices, but it feels like we haven't made a signing like this in forever, and plenty of clubs seem to be doing much better than us in getting players for good prices at the exact right time.
 
sullydnl said:
Is that a good thing though? Mata is an excellent player who has already proven he can perform as one of the best players in the PL. Should we really cut him loose in favour of Reus less than a year after signing him?
Click to expand...

Aye, very much agree with this. There comes a point in which you have to start maximising the talent you have in the squad rather than throw more money around when you don't see immediate results.
 
Nothing gives anyone a lift more than bringing top class players in.

Di Maria and Falcao have sent a real message out to the league.

Fergie was so good at making a team better than the individual parts, it almost escaped notice the quality of the squad was creeping downwards. Any papertalk was largely batted off.
Last year showed us we were underpar.
 
More investment wheres needed ta and we all know where that is. We are buying oureselves out of trouble right now and about time too. I have no worries that long term we will remain very much committed to bringing players through the academy if only for the reason that it makes business sense to our owners. That allied with serious spending power = winning stuff.

We have finally woken up.
 
Only buy if necessary.

Edit: didn't realise it was plural, was thinking only January
 
Last edited:
Imo we have two more transfer windows ahead of us where we need to strengthen the defensive part of our squad. Especially the FB, CB and defensive midfielder positions need one quality player. After we have assembled a team that has a lot of quality from front to back I would like to see us go for the biggest talents in Europe.
 
It's quite simple really

Where we can improve the squad in terms of quality - skills, experience, squad cohesion etc - we should do it

Ideally we do it from within but if we cant we should look to spend within our means and FFP

Turning this team around under LVG is the first step in making us an exciting project/option for any player
 
We need to go for players we need, not top quality players that are available but don't fill the gaps in our squad. So we need to shift our priority to necessity instead of quality.
 
We're the biggest club in the world so I'd like to see us buying the best senior players and the best young prospects, whilst also developing ones of our own. Simples.
 
bm_5 said:
We need to go for players we need, not top quality players that are available but don't fill the gaps in our squad. So we need to shift our priority to necessity instead of quality.
Click to expand...

In fact we need to do both things. Get quality players on the positions that need improvements the most and those are the defensive positions atm from midfield to defense. They don't need to be the best in the world but really good options for the job we require them to do.
 
i can see another big signing in january, and 2-3 more big signings in the summer with more faces departing, totalling another 100-120m spent. After that we will have the squad where we need it to be to challenge at the highest level of the game, and we can then slowly strengthen a couple of key positions a year.

We wont ever need to do a 200m splurge again. the club has learnt its lesson, That you cant under fund a club and expect the same levels of results.

Whats more important for me is we have a clear transfer policy, because to be honest, this summer felt like a shambles, a Whoever is available overpay and get in the doors.

i guarantee if we got "the list" or had a recording of who van gaal asked woodward to buy this summer, none of who we brought in would be on it, apart from Rojo and blind, who were probably backups for someone else.

we got some very very good players in, but it feels like they became available and we gazumped other clubs for them.
 
Oo0AahCantona said:
i can see another big signing in january, and 2-3 more big signings in the summer with more faces departing, totalling another 100-120m spent. After that we will have the squad where we need it to be to challenge at the highest level of the game, and we can then slowly strengthen a couple of key positions a year.

We wont ever need to do a 200m splurge again. the club has learnt its lesson, That you cant under fund a club and expect the same levels of results.

Whats more important for me is we have a clear transfer policy, because to be honest, this summer felt like a shambles, a Whoever is available overpay and get in the doors.

i guarantee if we got "the list" or had a recording of who van gaal asked woodward to buy this summer, none of who we brought in would be on it, apart from Rojo and blind, who were probably backups for someone else.

we got some very very good players in, but it feels like they became available and we gazumped other clubs for them.
Click to expand...
That's the key. I once heard an international financier say "There's no such thing as Not For Sale. Eventually everything is for sale at the right price"
 
Haven't seen much of strootman but seems to be the player we need, 25m pounds would be good business at his age. Can't be against that signing. We just need a top CM so badly and there are so few in the world. Bringing Pogba back might not be such a ridiculous idea
 
Couple more 'big signings', a midfielder (Strootman?) and a centre back. The improve the squad.

Obviously, with the money we make, we should be able to make a big money signing or two every year, but obviously not on the scale of spending this Summer. I just hope we don't go back to the old 'no value' bollocks ever again.
 
Long term I would like to see us adopt a similar transfer policy to Bayern.Fill holes in the team quickly and ruthlessly while still promoting youth and not buying for the sake of it like Real.
 
Ruthless in terms of getting rid of players who aren't up to the task of being squad players (Fletcher, Fellaini, Young, Valencia, Anderson and couple loanees), but more selective in our purchases.

From now on we should be looking at adding one of two players per window that will truly improve us, rather than 4-5 who will "do a job". In the next 12 months we have the funds to be looking at buying for instance Chiellini and Strootman, which would make us a far better team than 5 or 6 merely good player's.

Buying quality over quantity should also allow more first team places for the likes of Wilson, Januzaj and Blackett to develop. Particularly in Fergie's later years he seemed to prefer a Young, Owen, Valencia, Tosic and Obertan - rather than a Yaya Toure and promotong a couple of academy players which would be a similar cost and make a much bigger difference (hell promoting Pogba alone and buying Toure for instance would instantly have solved our midfield issues for 7-8 years).
 
Buy more star players and sell inferior players. I want us to sign players of Di Maria's and Falcao's level every window.
 
Danny Boi said:
Long term I would like to see us adopt a similar transfer policy to Bayern.Fill holes in the team quickly and ruthlessly while still promoting youth and not buying for the sake of it like Real.
Click to expand...
It's quite simple for Bayern, they just go and get whoever they want from their feeder club (Borussia).
 
Every window will now get easier and cheaper cause your only added 1 or 2 players of quality. Equally good players will only want to join other good players....
 
I want the club to be more proactive in getting rid of the players who aren't up to the standards while they still have value. One season of bad form and they should be replaced from the starting lineup and if they don't improve for another season after that then they should be shown the door. We had far too many players who had reached a comfort level with respect to their position in the squad last season and it showed in the results. Every spot in the squad should be fought over.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
Haven't seen much of strootman but seems to be the player we need, 25m pounds would be good business at his age. Can't be against that signing. We just need a top CM so badly and there are so few in the world. Bringing Pogba back might not be such a ridiculous idea
Click to expand...
Would he come back though? He certainly seems to take every opportunity to tell everyone how much we disrespected him. More likely to end up at Real Madrid I would have thought?
 
Short term United should continue with the heavy spending. There are still a few frailties in the squad - most notably in midfield and defense and we need an immediate injection of quality. Once we do that there's a great platform to build for the future.

Then we should try to replicate the kind of deals that brought Pique, Rossi, Pogba, Januzaj to United. There are some brilliant deals to be had if the scouting department scours the world diligently to find rough diamonds and if the negotiating team is astute enough to close out the transfers before interest from other big clubs starts gaining momentum. We should also sniff out potential bargains in the market especially from other clubs' academies/ contract disputes like Juventus did to us for Pogba.

We could have thrown €10 at Len's management for Varane before Zidane intervened and hijacked the deal. Similarly Gundogan from Nurnberg for €6m, a player that United had interest in. David Gill made several visits to Atletico's academy in 2011 for finalizing the De Gea deal and United were reportedly interested in Oliver, Saul, Manquillo which was perfect because they hadn't signed pro contracts. But we didn't pursue the leads and now each one of them has a buyout clause of €24 million. Goretzka went to Schalke for €4 million and now probably has a Draxler-esque €45 million clause. Munir El Haddadi was available with a €12 million buyout clause before making his first team debut and is now worth €35 million. These are the kind of minor details that could end up saving the club loads of money to invest in more pressing needs. I'm sure that if amateurs like us are aware of it then a multi-billion organization with an army of scouts like United must be too. But we need to be more decisive and act with stealth.

We should've been more proactive in such deals rather than splurging on average plonkers. Anyway that's water under the bridge now and one can hope the club learns from those errors in judgement. There are still a lot of exceptionally talented youngsters available for relatively cheap - the Ødegaard kid, Maupay, Niklas Sule, Tielemans, Oztunali, Ruben Neves, Brandt... Hope we sign atleast a couple of those and develop them into starting XI players along with Wilson and co from our own academy.

Also like the others have said before - flog the dross please. They take up huge chunks of our wage bill, inhibit the progress of reserve team players and add nothing to the club's cause. Thank god Anderson is off contract next season. Boot his ass off Carrington the last game of this season.
 
Personally, I don't like the idea of reaching for the chequebook to try and solve every single problem that pops up.

A team shouldn't just be a collection of mega signings. It should be something with its own style and personality that grows over time. That means it should feature some talented young signings, youth players and loyal squad players of sufficient quality. It also means we have to have faith in players and give them time to grow and improve themselves rather than instantly planning on signing someone else to replace them.

I'd agree that we need to sign a top CB and DM as soon as we can but beyond that I hope we don't keep splashing cash in this fashion as it is not only unnecessary but also potentially damaging.

Lack of investment was a big problem in recent years but so was poor investment. For example, we could potentially have signed players like Strootman and McCarthy last summer for a fraction of what they'd cost us now if we'd been a bit wiser.

I certainly don't want to see us making glory signings just for the sake of making an impression or keeping fans happy.
 
Rednotdead said:
Would he come back though? He certainly seems to take every opportunity to tell everyone how much we disrespected him. More likely to end up at Real Madrid I would have thought?
Click to expand...
if his agent can engineer move away i'd say he could engineer one back, His main qualms seem to have been with SAF anyway
 
Sell the rest of the deadwood and use it on a back up winger, a central midfielder and maybe a central defender (depending on how Rojo and Jones Plays this year as I espect them to make up the central defence in a 4-3-3).

Give Varela and Blackett back up positions on either back behind Shaw and Rafael.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.