Would you try and get someone in January
What do we still need? Aka The never ending story
- Thread starter Devil may care
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Our scouting team hopefully gets their act together and provides some top candidates for the positions where we will need to improve.
Yes, FDJ!!!
I have a sneaking suspicion that before January ETH will have tried his all Brazilian midfield of Casemiro and Fred. Donny may also be tried there alongside Casemiro. The issue with our transfer business of bringing in two 30 year olds to run the midfield, whilst great players, is that we will still need to being in another four players (first choice and reserve for each position) in the next couple of years, unless we can promote from within, with Kobbie Mainoo looking the most likely candidate. I seriously think we will be in for both FDJ and Caicedo, but the latest rumours are linking us to Bellingham. I'm not sure where the money is coming from, but apparently we were over budget in the summer, and we still need a striker, right back, goalkeeper, etc., etc.
My top 3 preferences, looking at the squad:
- GK - shows some traits of a 'modern keeper' - can play a high line; commands his box; plays alright with the ball at his feet;
- CM - press-resistant no.8 who excels at the short to medium game pass area. Not necessarily fast but mobile in short distances. I'd like a profile of a midfielder who has the same strengths as a Kovacic/FDJ;
- ST - One of two types: A. a comprehensively top quality all-round striker who will be our unanimous no.9, or, B. A no.9 who isn't necessarily a guaranteed starter, but possesses specific traits that mean he offers something completely different than Martial/Rashford. E.
Exactly these and a young, attacking RB (Gusto) we need.
If Gusto has a great season sure, also the same can be said for strikers like Nkunku, United are only a few pieces away now.
I'd hope we get Nkunku for less than 80m, he has a €60m buyout clause. I think ETH will go for more of traditional number 9 like Sesko, and I'm not sure the budget will cover both, although I do like the look of Nkunku.
I expect we may be back in for Timber as a utility player RB / cover for CB.
This kid has hagball written on his forehead:
Yes yes a thousand times yes.
And him
Nkunku we don't really need. He's quality but I would only get him when we have sorted the ST (classic), CM, GK, RB positions. Also we would have to sell Martial before we get him. I really doubt Nkunku is suited to the lone striker role in the PL. If he comes, he will be fighting for the wing and CAM spot or used as second striker. An offensive allrounder. That's why I don't think he is priority.
Mudryk looks great but is a LW. Do we need one when we already have Rashford and Sancho, as well as Garnacho? Not sure.
Caqueret I don't know that well but his profile looks similar to FDJ? He could be a cheaper alternative.
Mudryk looks great but is a LW. Do we need one when we already have Rashford and Sancho, as well as Garnacho? Not sure.
Caqueret I don't know that well but his profile looks similar to FDJ? He could be a cheaper alternative.
Still beats me why we didn't sign Caceido for peanuts when we had the chance last summer
Next targets should be (top, mid, lower end targets):
GK:
Next January/summer, the following leave permanently (and Dubravka probably stays):
GK:
- Mike Maignan
- Diogo Costa
- David Raya
- Achraf Hakimi
- Malo Gusto
- Kyle Walker-Peters
- Frenkie de Jong
- Ismael Bennacer
- Ruben Neves
- Victor Osimhen
- Tammy Abraham
- Ivan Toney
Next January/summer, the following leave permanently (and Dubravka probably stays):
- De Gea
- Henderson
- Bailly
- Tuanzebe
- Jones
- Telles
- Williams
- Wan Bissaka
- Van de Beek
- Ronaldo
That would be interesting window, so do you think we will sign anyone in January
Not January. Maybe a RB like Gusto if Wan Bissaka is sold but that's it at best (along with possibly some reserve team/youngster signings that clubs always make when they get the chance). GK will be in the summer with De Gea's contract expiring (or we extend him into being a backup). ST will be in the summer when Ronaldo leaves. CM will be in the summer as we'll need to sell to buy.
For GK, Alexander Nubel has looked really solid the past season on loan at Monaco. Wonder if Bayern will let him go and stick with Nueur for the near future. Looks like a real leader at the back
He will play in the PL and will end up carrying the ball midfield for someone. According to Fabrizio Arse tried to sign him but it was half-hearted.
Now that PSG bought Mukiele does anyone think that Hakimi could be available ? They have Dagba out on loan too so surely he’d be back to Mukiele as I don’t see Hakimi accepting being second choice and I don’t think Mukiele would have joined to accept being second choice either but Hakimi would be perfect for ETH overlapping Antony on the right hand side.
I think what we need right now is a back up for Eriksen in that deeper midfield role.
I'd personally take a chance on Orkun Kökçü from Feyenoord in January. He's 21 years old and looks a promising young creative midfielder who can thread the lines with either foot. I don't think he'd cost a great deal either (could be wrong) and it could be a chance worth taking imo.
He's already the captain at Feyenoord and Arne Slot has been utilising him quite often in a deeper role.
I'd personally take a chance on Orkun Kökçü from Feyenoord in January. He's 21 years old and looks a promising young creative midfielder who can thread the lines with either foot. I don't think he'd cost a great deal either (could be wrong) and it could be a chance worth taking imo.
He's already the captain at Feyenoord and Arne Slot has been utilising him quite often in a deeper role.
Striker definitely top of the list now
I would say we need the following ranked from most important to least:
1) Striker. No explanation needed really. Rashford is best from the left and Ronaldo is done.
2) Deep lying playmaker. Without Eriksen we instantly turn to shit. We need one more of his type.
3) Goalkeeper. We need to upgrade De Gea. it will elevate our game immensely.
4) Right back. If we can get an upgrade to Dalot that would be perfect, but otherwise we desperately need a backup. AwB isnt it.
5) CB back ups. We need to get rid of Maguire and Lindelöf and find back ups to Varane and Martinez that dont instantly ruin our gameplay.
1) Striker. No explanation needed really. Rashford is best from the left and Ronaldo is done.
2) Deep lying playmaker. Without Eriksen we instantly turn to shit. We need one more of his type.
3) Goalkeeper. We need to upgrade De Gea. it will elevate our game immensely.
4) Right back. If we can get an upgrade to Dalot that would be perfect, but otherwise we desperately need a backup. AwB isnt it.
5) CB back ups. We need to get rid of Maguire and Lindelöf and find back ups to Varane and Martinez that dont instantly ruin our gameplay.
These are all excellent suggestions - the GK's in particular are exactly who I would have in mind if you asked me to suggest 3 at high, medium and low price points.
From what I have seen in the first six EPL fixtures I will set priorities this way:
1. GK
2. CF
3. CM
4. RB
I see the goalkeeping position as a top priority as we struggle to maintain possession and play through the high press with De Gea in that position. There are more and more teams playing high press in the EPL especially against us with our obvious deficiency. This is why we tend to create back three in the build-up with Dalot more often than Malacia in line with Martinez and Varane.
Once we have GK who can be involved in the build-up actively, we can take a better shape in the build-up and have one more player in the middle in this phase. We tried to play through high press against Brentford with De Gea and we saw how bad was it and since then we are relining on just going long but we don't have a player who is close to being targeted with that long balls.
That brings us to the no.2 priority - center forward. Our team just looks disjoined at moments having no focal point of attack or as ETH called it "target" as an outlet to transition to the attacking phase. It should be someone physical enough to hold on to the ball to link up with and bring players like Antony, Sancho and Bruno into the game. My preferred choice is Victor Osimhen, he is a bit raw but I think people are underrating his link-up play because he is not as tidy on the ball as Martial is. McTominay played an excellent vertical pass into Rashford against Arsenal and I'm pretty sure it would lead to a dangerous attack if Osimhen was receiving that pass instead of Marcus. He also works pretty hard without a ball and can pin opponents' defenders due to his presence and pace and he will automatically be our best striker when it comes to movement and finishing inside the box. His heading ability is also a very good attribute to have not just to score headers but also to win those aerial battles if we somehow stick with De Gea and his long balls.
Midfielders like Kovačić and FDJ who are comfortable drilling and passing through lines when pressed to me are kind of "shortcut" and buys time for managers until the team learns patterns and how the manager wants to play out of the press. That kind of player costs and given that we didn't manage in our pursuit of FDJ, Eriksen managed to be fit into that role very well. It is up to decide whether we sign someone who is an instant starter like FDJ or someone who we can rotate with Eriksen if he maintains at this level throughout the season.
For a right back, Dalot is progressing pretty well under ETH and we should see if he can maintain that level too, but we should get at least back up because I don't see Wan Bissaka playing under ETH and Lindelof didn't have a great time yesterday either.
If we have f.e. a £160m budget for the next summer, I would be happy just to go for a starting goalkeeper and starting forward and then other signings to depend on our sales. Maignan would be excellent but seems to me as an unrealistic target, so my choice for a goalkeeper is Robert Sanchez. I would happily accept one of Sanchez, Maignan, Costa or Raya for goalkeeping positions along with Osimhen as a starting striker. Also, I think we would be linked again with FDJ and Timber next summer.
1. GK
2. CF
3. CM
4. RB
I see the goalkeeping position as a top priority as we struggle to maintain possession and play through the high press with De Gea in that position. There are more and more teams playing high press in the EPL especially against us with our obvious deficiency. This is why we tend to create back three in the build-up with Dalot more often than Malacia in line with Martinez and Varane.
Once we have GK who can be involved in the build-up actively, we can take a better shape in the build-up and have one more player in the middle in this phase. We tried to play through high press against Brentford with De Gea and we saw how bad was it and since then we are relining on just going long but we don't have a player who is close to being targeted with that long balls.
That brings us to the no.2 priority - center forward. Our team just looks disjoined at moments having no focal point of attack or as ETH called it "target" as an outlet to transition to the attacking phase. It should be someone physical enough to hold on to the ball to link up with and bring players like Antony, Sancho and Bruno into the game. My preferred choice is Victor Osimhen, he is a bit raw but I think people are underrating his link-up play because he is not as tidy on the ball as Martial is. McTominay played an excellent vertical pass into Rashford against Arsenal and I'm pretty sure it would lead to a dangerous attack if Osimhen was receiving that pass instead of Marcus. He also works pretty hard without a ball and can pin opponents' defenders due to his presence and pace and he will automatically be our best striker when it comes to movement and finishing inside the box. His heading ability is also a very good attribute to have not just to score headers but also to win those aerial battles if we somehow stick with De Gea and his long balls.
Midfielders like Kovačić and FDJ who are comfortable drilling and passing through lines when pressed to me are kind of "shortcut" and buys time for managers until the team learns patterns and how the manager wants to play out of the press. That kind of player costs and given that we didn't manage in our pursuit of FDJ, Eriksen managed to be fit into that role very well. It is up to decide whether we sign someone who is an instant starter like FDJ or someone who we can rotate with Eriksen if he maintains at this level throughout the season.
For a right back, Dalot is progressing pretty well under ETH and we should see if he can maintain that level too, but we should get at least back up because I don't see Wan Bissaka playing under ETH and Lindelof didn't have a great time yesterday either.
If we have f.e. a £160m budget for the next summer, I would be happy just to go for a starting goalkeeper and starting forward and then other signings to depend on our sales. Maignan would be excellent but seems to me as an unrealistic target, so my choice for a goalkeeper is Robert Sanchez. I would happily accept one of Sanchez, Maignan, Costa or Raya for goalkeeping positions along with Osimhen as a starting striker. Also, I think we would be linked again with FDJ and Timber next summer.
Sanchez, Osimhen, FDJ and Timber would be a great window, and we would have completely revamped our first team in two windows, removing all the obvious weak links.
I expect to see a lot of the deadwood phased out - as we saw yesterday, ETH cannot rely on many of them. For example, it appears that De Gea, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw, AWB, Fred, Elanga, Ronaldo, etc. will struggle for game time, and could all move on in the Summer. This provides a great opportunity for the youngsters, who are perhaps more capable of adapting to ETH's style, to come in and cement a place in the first team squad. There are some talented kids in the youth team, who just won the FA Youth Cup, and I am excited to see some of them make the breakthrough.
We need to replace Fred.
Our midfield is still shit whenver Eriksen isn't playing.
Our midfield is still shit whenver Eriksen isn't playing.
It baffles me that we have spent 100m euros on Fred and VDB.
Has anyone seen Casemiro and Fred play together for Brazil? How do they look, and what style do they play? Most people seemed to think that Casemiro and Eriksen would be automatic choices, with Fred first reserve, but Mctominay seems to be the first choice partner for Eriksen at the moment. Yesterday didn't seem to work too well together, but it is hard to judge when the defence looked nervy it impacts the rest of the team.
Who gives a toss how they play for brazil though?
They are playing the minnows out there. Against argentina they subbed fred off at halftime. Thats how shite he is.
Still need a RB, CB, Striker , Midfielder.
Literally would have been better if we donated it to charity.It baffles me that we have spent 100m euros on Fred and VDB.
Those selections are pretty spot on IMO. Of course some other players may pop this season but the additions or changes I think would be Vanderson from Monaco at RB and perhaps someone else than Tammy at ST.
Hakimi's still starting regularly. I can't see PSG replacing him when he cost so much and he's a better player, particularly at RWB.
Mukiele wasn't even really undisputed first choice at Leipzig, he was only ever playing about 50% of their total minutes in the Bundesliga and to my knowledge he never missed any significant time through injury.
I doubt he's expecting to move to PSG where they have a world class player in his position and play more than he was at Leipzig. I imagine he'll probably get a decent amount of minutes still in total as he'll likely deputize for Hakimi in easier league fixtures, cover at RCB in the three-man defence, and will probably get some minutes at RB in a four-man defence if they go in that direction for tougher games especially knockout games in the CL (I think they switched to a four-man against Juve to preserve the lead IIRC and he came on as a sub and went to RB), but hard to see him being first choice.
There's an obvious elephant in the room as well as to why he would go there without a guarantee of starting the majority of games... *kerching* £££.
(And you know, guaranteed league titles, potential CL trophy, playing with Messi, Mbappe, Neymar and all that jazz)
Because it's beneath us to pay less than 50 mils when we want to.
How is Jacob Ramsey doing this season?
Totally agree on the priority targets, as well as most mid targets.
CM: Not sure if Bennacer is a too defensive player to be an alternative for FDJ, I'd rather put someone like Caqueret there.
Also, instead of Neves, I would search for a cheaper alternative. Someone had suggested Orkun Kökcü from Feyenoord, who looks interesting. Another one would be Djibril Sow of Eintracht Frankfurt. We need technical CMs with playmaking abilities.
GK: spot on. Doesn't matter if low end target is Raya or Sanchez. We should go all in for Maignan, who I can imagine wants to play in the EPL one day.
RB: spot on. As Hakimi will be unlikely (we should try, like we did with Casemiro), Gusto must be a priority. We can't let another top club snap him up.
ST: My priorities would be: 1. Lautaro Martinez (agent Licha, please convince him!), 2. Osimhen 3. Mitrovic/Toney
Gutted we didnt go in for him in the summer, seemed nobody really did and he signed a new contract, just waht our midfield still needs in my opinion
I think one big thing to consider is the number of players and some big players whose contracts end in the summer and our failure to move barely anybody on permanently over the summer bar the contracts endin. SLightly different to last year as a few have the option of another year but do we want to keep for another year if they dont want to stay anyway or we dont want them to stay:
Rashford - Lets face it, if he doesnt perform well this season, many wont be dissapointed for him to go, I would have been happy for us to sell him in the summer personally
Luke SHaw - If Malacia keeps his place, Shaw goes
Ronaldo - Lets face it, 38-39 with another year, possible serious sings of regression so far this season, huge contract, wanted to go....almost certainly off
Fred - Personal opinion, considering the price, one of the worst signings we have ever made, £50m for someone to run about and get stuck in offering little else, still dont understand the support for him from many, hasnt had ten games of quality since he has been here
Dalot - Started well, very well this season...will it continue?
DeGea - Made a couple of big mistakes already in seven games and of course a lot of talk of his lack of ability with his feet
Tuanzabe - Gotta go
JOnes - Gotta go
Garnacho - Lack of games, possible move? Would be foolish, think we are easing him in the right way and no guarantee he makes it anyway
Dubravka and Heaton also only have contracts until next summer
Thats 11 plauers, even more than last year and in all honesty, how many would you give new contrcts too? For me its probabl 4/5 max dependant on performances this season.
Then add some of our players on loan Henderson, Bailly, Telles should surely all be off, is there a future here for Amad, will Hannibal progress or Fernandez?
Then is there a future here for the likes of Bissaka, WIlliams, Pellestri, Shoetire? Will the likes of Lindelof, Maguire, and VDB want to stay as squad players?
We have a huge squad but what we still need as much as anything is to trim it. Come the summer we may have NO goalkeepers, siz defenders, McTominay as the only central midfielder not celebrating or way past there 30th birthday next summer. Also if Martial fails again and of course Greenwood is highly unlikely to come back....no strikers.
Of course not all that is going to happen, but a fair amount of it could and should happen still in my opinion, we have failed badly to move players on this summer.
With all this in mind, next summer I still feel we may need:
a) A new first choice keeper and back up keeper
b) A couple of good young centre backs to challenge Varane/Martinez
c) A right back
d) A back up left back
e) Three new younger central midfielders
f) Two strikers
That potentially 11 players still needed to complete our squad to a title challenging one. Of course some of these players could come from our youth, but that is something that cant be relied upon....Talk of Garner, Amad, Hanniba;l, Laird breaking through this season....ones been sold, the rest are all out on loan.
I think we will definately require 4/5 signings again in the summer
Rashford - Lets face it, if he doesnt perform well this season, many wont be dissapointed for him to go, I would have been happy for us to sell him in the summer personally
Luke SHaw - If Malacia keeps his place, Shaw goes
Ronaldo - Lets face it, 38-39 with another year, possible serious sings of regression so far this season, huge contract, wanted to go....almost certainly off
Fred - Personal opinion, considering the price, one of the worst signings we have ever made, £50m for someone to run about and get stuck in offering little else, still dont understand the support for him from many, hasnt had ten games of quality since he has been here
Dalot - Started well, very well this season...will it continue?
DeGea - Made a couple of big mistakes already in seven games and of course a lot of talk of his lack of ability with his feet
Tuanzabe - Gotta go
JOnes - Gotta go
Garnacho - Lack of games, possible move? Would be foolish, think we are easing him in the right way and no guarantee he makes it anyway
Dubravka and Heaton also only have contracts until next summer
Thats 11 plauers, even more than last year and in all honesty, how many would you give new contrcts too? For me its probabl 4/5 max dependant on performances this season.
Then add some of our players on loan Henderson, Bailly, Telles should surely all be off, is there a future here for Amad, will Hannibal progress or Fernandez?
Then is there a future here for the likes of Bissaka, WIlliams, Pellestri, Shoetire? Will the likes of Lindelof, Maguire, and VDB want to stay as squad players?
We have a huge squad but what we still need as much as anything is to trim it. Come the summer we may have NO goalkeepers, siz defenders, McTominay as the only central midfielder not celebrating or way past there 30th birthday next summer. Also if Martial fails again and of course Greenwood is highly unlikely to come back....no strikers.
Of course not all that is going to happen, but a fair amount of it could and should happen still in my opinion, we have failed badly to move players on this summer.
With all this in mind, next summer I still feel we may need:
a) A new first choice keeper and back up keeper
b) A couple of good young centre backs to challenge Varane/Martinez
c) A right back
d) A back up left back
e) Three new younger central midfielders
f) Two strikers
That potentially 11 players still needed to complete our squad to a title challenging one. Of course some of these players could come from our youth, but that is something that cant be relied upon....Talk of Garner, Amad, Hanniba;l, Laird breaking through this season....ones been sold, the rest are all out on loan.
I think we will definately require 4/5 signings again in the summer
I can imagine a first round of clean up in the winter, where some of our squad players, especially those whose contract ends (Tuanzebe, Jones) or don't play a role (Williams, Wan Bissaka), will leave. We might fill their spots with either youth players or cheap short-term signings. Will help us saving their salary costs.
Then next summer we will decide which of the high earners we might have to part ways with. Personally expect one of Maguire/Lindelof, one of VDB/Fred, CR7 and maybe de Gea to go (I would definitely part ways in a respectful way and then go for a new GK). We know it's not that easy to sell deadwood, so I honestly think if we sell at least three of them for a decent price, it will be a success. ETH seems to like Rashford and Shaw is a decent backup, so I guess they will extend soon. No way we'll let Garnacho go either. I expect him to sign a contract and leave on loan in the winter. Freeing up CR7 and DDG salaries would be massive for us.
Then next summer we will decide which of the high earners we might have to part ways with. Personally expect one of Maguire/Lindelof, one of VDB/Fred, CR7 and maybe de Gea to go (I would definitely part ways in a respectful way and then go for a new GK). We know it's not that easy to sell deadwood, so I honestly think if we sell at least three of them for a decent price, it will be a success. ETH seems to like Rashford and Shaw is a decent backup, so I guess they will extend soon. No way we'll let Garnacho go either. I expect him to sign a contract and leave on loan in the winter. Freeing up CR7 and DDG salaries would be massive for us.
Goalkeeper
De Gea 2023 with option 31
Dubravka 2023 option to buy 33
Heaton 2023 with option 36
If De Gea adapts and performs well enough we could go with these 3 into next season. If not we can keep the 2 senior heads and buy a starter that suits.
Full backs
Dalot 2023 23
Bissaka 2024 with option 25
Shaw 2023 with option 27
Malacia 2026 with option 22
If Dalot keeps this up we've got our starter at right back. Bissaka can be sold. We could probably promote one of Williams, Laird or Fernandes as the 4th full back.
Centre half
Varane 2025 29
Martinez 2027 with option 24
Maguire 2025 with option 29
Lindelof 2024 with option 27
Jones 2023 with option 30
Sell Maguire and let Jones go. Sign a young prospect or promote one.
Midfield
Casemiro 2026 with option 30
Eriksen 2025 30
Fernandes 2026 with option 27
Mctominay 2025 with option 25
Fred 2023 with option 29
Donny 2025 with option 25
Promote and progress Iqbal to replace Eriksen. If everyone performs to their ability there's no need to sign anybody but Caqueret would be a great addition.
Attack
Rashford 2023 with option 24
Elanga 2026 20
Martial 2024 with option 26
Ronaldo 2023 with option
Garnacho 2025 18
Sancho 2026 with option 22
Antony 2027 with option 22
All to prove for Rashford and Tony. Let Ronny go and sign either a backup or a starting number 9 based on what Tony does.
Hopefully we just have to sign a few prospects but it'll depend on how we go this year. The clean slate year.
Barcelona will try again to sell Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong, 25, in the January transfer window after a proposed £63m move to Manchester United fell through during the summer. (Forbes via 90min.com)