Was thinking the exact same, desperate for a central midfielder at least. Afraid we're going to panic buy and end up paying over the odds for a player we don't need.
What do we still need? Aka The never ending story
- Thread starter Devil may care
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Imagine the difference in how much better we could be in possession if we had signed trippier, digne, coutinho(loan), and arthur(loan) and combined that lot would have cost us less than what we paid for bissaka.
We need to sell more than we need to buy.
Every day that goes by with these unhappy players is one day lost in terms of moving forward.
Every day that goes by with these unhappy players is one day lost in terms of moving forward.
This is such a good post I think back to on occasion.
Well we've gotten a clue in Ralf Rangnick. But for some reason we got him as an interim manager and at the same time seem to be reluctant to back him. Presumably because he isn't a world class manager and won't be the next permanent manager. Who'd have thought Lokomotiv Moscow's DoF wouldnt set the PL on fire?
I thought the whole point of the appointment was to get structure in and I assumed his successor would be in line with his philosophy. So why can't we get the bloke a DM his successor is also likely to rate and why are we still being linked with even more superstar names by legit outlets?
Odds are if the galactico isn't Ngolo Kante himself, we don't need him.
/rant
For some reason they would look crap at Utd.
Have none of you learned in 17 years about these cnuts that own our club? It’s a fecking car crash, a clusterfeck, a joke, it’s one flew over the cuckoo’s nest with fecking bells on but not as funny.
This isn’t just about what we need on the pitch, this about what we need as a club, as an institution of British football and culture, cnuts in here constantly talk about how they’ve ploughed X amount on this player, X amount this much on wages compared to whoever the feck.
Mismanaged from top to bottom, shit ain’t changing till they’ve sold up or died.
I’m trying to make my peace with it, some of you should try to also.
This isn’t just about what we need on the pitch, this about what we need as a club, as an institution of British football and culture, cnuts in here constantly talk about how they’ve ploughed X amount on this player, X amount this much on wages compared to whoever the feck.
Mismanaged from top to bottom, shit ain’t changing till they’ve sold up or died.
I’m trying to make my peace with it, some of you should try to also.
Midfield of course. We need a midfield.
I just want us to buy top tier elite players who would be good enough for every side in the world. If that means we can only afford one player, so be it.
Times have changed but we broke the transfer record for Robson and then again for Keane. They were worth the money. Pep wouldn’t look up from his Sudoku for the crap we’ve bought in the last ten years.
I just want us to buy top tier elite players who would be good enough for every side in the world. If that means we can only afford one player, so be it.
Times have changed but we broke the transfer record for Robson and then again for Keane. They were worth the money. Pep wouldn’t look up from his Sudoku for the crap we’ve bought in the last ten years.
Whilst i agree with the point that nothing will truly be alright at the club until the Glazers are gone. If we had spunked all the money we have over multiple seasons now on carefully considered targets, instead of the likes of Maguire and AWB who everbody knew and we overspent on, and had someone with with more football acumen involved in these operations I feel like, even with the Glazers involved, we'd be in a far better position than we currently are. In my opinion the sole downfall really has been Ed Woodward and his ego, poor recruitment of star names for appeal and poor recruitment of managers. Now that he is gone and Richard Arnold is happy to delegate more of the football responsibilities to actual football people, I'm hopeful that one last bite of the cherry we might see some actual good footballing decisions made over the next few years that will actually start to heal the damage done on the pitch over the seasons since Fergie left.
1. Rangnick going upstairs to consult on how to run a club as an actual football club is the first good decision, I was never too fussed on him as a manager, but we'll see.
2. Get rid of some of these absolute wasters stealing a wage off of us and bring in players who are not only technically sound but willing to work for the shirt. This seems to be underway and we're likely to see a multitude of players leave this January/Summer, whilst recruitment will probably take a multitude of transfer windows, we also have some good youth to promote in the likes of Hannibal.
3. Identifying our next manager. I personally want ETH and from all reports it's indicated he is in the front running at least with others like Pochettino, i feel like we will make a good decision that everybody can get on board with, even if someone is picked who is not peoples first choice
I'm not ready to give up just yet, not now when things could finally be headed in a right direction
If you're talking purely player recruitment I would absolutely buy 2 CM's before I even think about anything else, hell if Pogba, Lingard, Mata, and DVB go i'd potentially bring in 3, and one of those is a CM that is equally as comfortable as an AM, i'd personally sell Fred and McTominay but that won't be happening
Love just suddenly believing in players for no reason but here is my amateur hour $0.02 for players we can get.
James Ward-Prowse: I am sick of all our deliveries being beyond awful. Hitting the first man, being caught by the keeper or being headed out by unchallenged centre backs. Dead balls, JWP is lethal, gives us access to a part of the game that is currently dead to us. Also decent in midfield, good engine, good on the ball and works really hard. He is likely to be cheap as chips and is much better than the likes of Matic.
Jude Bellingham: Just buy him. Looks like he is ten years older than he is (which means his prime will be shorter), get him in now, not once he has spent all his talent and energy on another team winning trophies.
James Ward-Prowse: I am sick of all our deliveries being beyond awful. Hitting the first man, being caught by the keeper or being headed out by unchallenged centre backs. Dead balls, JWP is lethal, gives us access to a part of the game that is currently dead to us. Also decent in midfield, good engine, good on the ball and works really hard. He is likely to be cheap as chips and is much better than the likes of Matic.
Jude Bellingham: Just buy him. Looks like he is ten years older than he is (which means his prime will be shorter), get him in now, not once he has spent all his talent and energy on another team winning trophies.
JWP would cost upwards of 30m, what do you consider cheap as chips?
A coach and a DoF that have the same vision.
A strong leadership that can keep some players quiet.
A small clear out for unhappy players (Martial, Pogba, Henderson, Mata, VdB, Bailly, Lingard)
Maguire, Shaw, Rashford (all at the Euros...) back at their best, same for Bruno.
A right back
Two center midfield that can pass the ball and can protect the defense.
A strong leadership that can keep some players quiet.
A small clear out for unhappy players (Martial, Pogba, Henderson, Mata, VdB, Bailly, Lingard)
Maguire, Shaw, Rashford (all at the Euros...) back at their best, same for Bruno.
A right back
Two center midfield that can pass the ball and can protect the defense.
Sorry but pffffft
unless he’s nearly out of contract but I think he signed a new one quite recently.
JWP might be a decent shout for all the reasons you listed.
He is captain of his club and could have the personality to thrive here.
I am not sure about his pace / mobility - he has a kind of sluggish look sometimes but I could be imagining it.
I suppose he would cost £40m (to us). We’d still need another new CM, preferably someone in the next bracket up. I like Bellingham but I don’t think those two would be right as a pair.
We need a lot, because we can't hide behind "a bad manager" anymore. The players are not good enough to compete for the title.
But that requires a lot, so we need to be smart in the market. Ouch, not something United usually is.
Get Noussair Mazraoui from Ajax on a free as a right back.
Antony is a quality winger also from Ajax, not costing a lot.
Invest in central midfield (Florian Wirtz, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Amadou Haidar, Aurélien Tchouameni) lot's of options. Get at least two new in there.
A new central defender could be Fofana from Leicester or Tapsoba from Leverkusen.
Might be a lot of new signings required, but United need to do that if ambitions are more than fighting for top 6.
And a lot of players would leave as well. Bringing in a lot in sales, and significantly reduce the wages.
But that requires a lot, so we need to be smart in the market. Ouch, not something United usually is.
Get Noussair Mazraoui from Ajax on a free as a right back.
Antony is a quality winger also from Ajax, not costing a lot.
Invest in central midfield (Florian Wirtz, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Amadou Haidar, Aurélien Tchouameni) lot's of options. Get at least two new in there.
A new central defender could be Fofana from Leicester or Tapsoba from Leverkusen.
Might be a lot of new signings required, but United need to do that if ambitions are more than fighting for top 6.
And a lot of players would leave as well. Bringing in a lot in sales, and significantly reduce the wages.
So all of this is nice chat but irrelevant until we have a football strucutre, We have no DOF, Ralf will be a consultant. Why? Fletcher has zero experience and not clear what his role is. Arnold is just an Ed 'mini me'. We need coherent football philosophy across all age groups, stop the mega signings like Pogba, Sanchez and Ronnie, driven as much by shirt sales and socal media so we can impress noodle sponsors, as much as football reasons. Imagine if we had invested all the moeny wasted on Pogba and Sanchez in youth system and top young talents. Joel Glazer stopped us selling Martial, 3 manages now want rid. The guy is clearly toxic. Nothign changes until we put experienced football people in charge.
Anyone know much about Randal Kolo Muani? 9 goals last season for Nantes, has 7 in 20 so far this year. CF who seems capable of playing on either wing too and is out of contract in the summer.
Some links in recent weeks to Liverpool, Milan and a couple of Bundesliga sides. Possibly a decent back-up option for free and only just turned 23 so potential to sell in a couple of years if it doesn't work out.
Some links in recent weeks to Liverpool, Milan and a couple of Bundesliga sides. Possibly a decent back-up option for free and only just turned 23 so potential to sell in a couple of years if it doesn't work out.
The lack of rumors is worrying. Hopefully we have a brilliant signing — please God a fecking midfielder — that we are going to close on before the end of the window.
I disagree on the “bad manager” issue. Look at the record of our players: Ronaldo, Rashford, Bruno, Varane, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani, even Maguire. All of these players have great experience and in many cases, won major trophies. Take Rashford, for example. We know he is a great player, but he is lacking in confidence at the moment. That is clearly an issue for a good manager to solve.
With the Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane signings, we pushed our chips to the center of the table. This situation has to be salvaged. Unfortunately, it means more money on signings and potentially shifting out a manager, Ralf, who it seems can’t deal with a club of this size and a squad of this type.
I think we'll bring Laird back and try to integrate Garner and Hannibal into the first team squad, I've seen a few saying we might be looking for a CB and I'd love to see us nab Rudiger on a free, if not Jones is back. 
Midfield is the key area but I'm not expecting a real overhaul, those with a hard on for Rice might get their wish or we could be a bit more astute and get Tchouameni for half the price. The other signing I think we'll try to get is a Striker but I have no idea who we might go for as Haaland isn't happening and the rest of the options around are fairly uninspiring.
Midfield is the key area but I'm not expecting a real overhaul, those with a hard on for Rice might get their wish or we could be a bit more astute and get Tchouameni for half the price. The other signing I think we'll try to get is a Striker but I have no idea who we might go for as Haaland isn't happening and the rest of the options around are fairly uninspiring.Not enough Elanga - pass.I think we'll bring Laird back and try to integrate Garner and Hannibal into the first team squad, I've seen a few saying we might be looking for a CB and I'd love to see us nab Rudiger on a free, if not Jones is back.
Feel Rudiger will go to Madrid that's IF he doesn't still agree a new deal with ChelseaI think we'll bring Laird back and try to integrate Garner and Hannibal into the first team squad, I've seen a few saying we might be looking for a CB and I'd love to see us nab Rudiger on a free, if not Jones is back.
With the change to 433, we badly need midfielders.
Atm, we have Bruno, Fred, McTominay, Matic, Pogba, VdB, Lingard & Mata in the squad.
Matic, Lingard, Pogba & Mata all have contracts expiring in the summer. I don’t think we’ll keep any of them, maybe Matic at a push.
I would be amazed if Donny doesn’t leave.
Bruno, Fred, McTominay with probably Hannibal & Garner promoted isn’t anywhere near enough.
Atm, we have Bruno, Fred, McTominay, Matic, Pogba, VdB, Lingard & Mata in the squad.
Matic, Lingard, Pogba & Mata all have contracts expiring in the summer. I don’t think we’ll keep any of them, maybe Matic at a push.
I would be amazed if Donny doesn’t leave.
Bruno, Fred, McTominay with probably Hannibal & Garner promoted isn’t anywhere near enough.
Matic - sell
Pogba - out of contract
Lingard - out of contract
mata - free
DvB - well
that’s 5 from the midfield area leaving this summer, generating about 35m if we’re lucky.
its Clear we need 2–3 in, mixture of new faces and integration of Hannibal and perhaps Garner
Pogba - out of contract
Lingard - out of contract
mata - free
DvB - well
that’s 5 from the midfield area leaving this summer, generating about 35m if we’re lucky.
its Clear we need 2–3 in, mixture of new faces and integration of Hannibal and perhaps Garner
Matic's contract expires in 2023
That's what we should do but I would be surprised if we do. The club is terrified of 'churn', too many out and in in the same window. They see it as a sign of failure that makes them and the decisions they made look bad. So I expect they will try to keep Matic on a rolling 1 year contract extension option and at least one of the others or make it very clear the player wanted out i.e. we offered Pogba and amazing contract stories, what more could we do / we wanted to keep DVB but he wanted to play more games.
Ragnick said in his press conference the other day that Matic expires in the summer
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So that would be attack, midfield, defence, goalkeeper and manager all potentially in need of reinforcement. Nice and specific.
Heh, well the wide players will no doubt be rotated more than any other positions.
Yeah, it does seem more likely he'll go to Real or Bayern if he doesn't re-sign with Chelsea.
Fingers crossed when they say "Midfield" they realise that's not one midfielder will change everything.
Ideally we'd sign someone this January now, then reasses who's left of our midfield in the summer depending on if Pogba, Matic etc leaves, and we should definitely, at least, buy one more if not two, I would honestly get in 2/3 midfielders it's that bad
The highest priority is a defensive midfielder, but we’ll have to wait until the summer to bring in the top prize. For now, a versatile midfielder who a credible job defensively.
That said, has anyone here actually watched Garner this season? I read glowing reports of his progress.
That said, has anyone here actually watched Garner this season? I read glowing reports of his progress.
Yeah should try and do a deal for an all rounder now then make a DM top priority in the summer. I fear the yankee leeches will only give the go ahead for one though
I think 2 signings at best. We have Garner and Hannibal that can easily fill the roles Lingard, Mata and Van de Beek currently occupy but you'd hope they push now for more game time.
Interesting. Even if Garner does not preclude the need for Rice this summer, perhaps we should just stick it out with McFred for the remainder of the season and give Garner a shot at the first team in the summer.
Garner isn't good enough, imo. Probably means he will be the midfielder to get a proper chance in the first team because we don't value press resistant players.
He did but it was reported as 2023 at the time in 2020
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...s-new-contract-with-Manchester-United-to-2023
It could have been a 2 + 1 option but no one reported that
By the summer a lot of the players are gone. Only a couple of these players are sellable as well.
Matic
Mata
Pogba
Cavani
Jones?
Bailly
DVB (leaves unless we get Ten Hag ? )
Martial (gone)
Lingard
Ronaldo ? Probably leave unless we get top four.
I wonder how big our budget is, and how many new players we buy. Spending 80% of our budget on Rice is just stupid as we also need at least another midfielder and a striker (wider attacker if we turn Greenwood into our main striker). If its 150M, i hope our scouting team are working 24/7 on potensially smarter less obvious targers than Rice. Hopefully we bring in one of the CM we need this week as well.
Tchouameni this week + Haidara and striker or wide forward in the summer would be a dream. To fight for the title we probably need another CB and RB as well, but no way the Glazers are giving the green light on that.
Matic
Mata
Pogba
Cavani
Jones?
Bailly
DVB (leaves unless we get Ten Hag ? )
Martial (gone)
Lingard
Ronaldo ? Probably leave unless we get top four.
I wonder how big our budget is, and how many new players we buy. Spending 80% of our budget on Rice is just stupid as we also need at least another midfielder and a striker (wider attacker if we turn Greenwood into our main striker). If its 150M, i hope our scouting team are working 24/7 on potensially smarter less obvious targers than Rice. Hopefully we bring in one of the CM we need this week as well.
Tchouameni this week + Haidara and striker or wide forward in the summer would be a dream. To fight for the title we probably need another CB and RB as well, but no way the Glazers are giving the green light on that.
Sell or let leave on free:
Matic
Mata
Pogba
Cavani
Jones
Bailly
DVB
Martial
Lingard
Promote:
Garner
Mengi
Laird
Hannibal
Sign:
Rice/Tchouameni
Tielemans
Matic
Mata
Pogba
Cavani
Jones
Bailly
DVB
Martial
Lingard
Promote:
Garner
Mengi
Laird
Hannibal
Sign:
Rice/Tchouameni
Tielemans
Agreed, I'd get a Kamara or Zakaria now on the cheap and then look at things in the summer as we need 2 holders as we don't have any, if they look the business then maybe Garner can be the back-up, if not they'll be the back-up for someone like Tchouemanj or Rice. Then we need to seriously look at the #8 box-to-box role as either McTominay or Fred should only be back-up to the starter.