What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

jesperjaap

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I frequent a few Milan forums and the player's performance thread mirrors what we've seen on here with Bailly, Lindelof etc. The Milan fans don't seem to rate him highly at all. The quoted post below was particularly concerning from one of the Milan fans.

"Yesterday he played better precisely because with Tomori on the pitch we can stay 15 meters higher without fear of being inexorably punctured and we showed throughout the championship that if we keep the team short we are suffocating and very dangerous to restart".

"Romagnoli is always the same ... a good defender nothing more, the difference is made by the partner".

https://www.milanworld.net/alessio-romagnoli-vt30914-299.html
Surprises me if I am reading that right, as he has always looked pretty quick to me. I wonder if this is a case of a young player being overhyped and then the fans turning on him when he hasnt produced the insane levels were hoped.....or its to do with the contract and fans being bitter?

Was lauded as the next Nesta, young captain etc etc.

He isnt at that level, never was for me....but he certainly looks better than most of the centre backs we have been linked with. To be fair, I wanted us to sign him 4/5 years ago an dhave every season since, but I havent seen as much of him the last year or two as dont watch much Italian football now and he has been injured it seems most of the time I have watched them this season. But just about ever big club has been lnked with him at some point and I have seen a lot of big managers who are knowledgable on centre backs speaking highly of him such as Ancelotti. Seems this last season attitudes have changed, but then again of course the clubs fans he plays for see far more of him than any of us
 

jesperjaap

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I think with Cavani staying and Bailley signing a new contract we are looking at RW and DM options . Sancho or Grealish would be good fits for us , and then Rice might be on the cards if Lingard goes the other way. but I reckon we may use players to broker deals as Money will be tight for most clubs
Both have injury problems, but crucially Cavani is contributing, what has Bailly since his first season, could count on one hand the number of excellent games has had had and most of them were his last appearances for us. SHouldnt be surprised, but I find that contract quite ominous for this summer as though Lindelof has improved, it was a huge priority for me in terms of winning silverware

I am a massive fan of Grealish, really wanted us to sign him in the summer, VDB for £30m less was poor business in my opinion............but, even with the pandemic, he will probably cost more this summer than last? Where does he play as his best positions for me are as a number 10 or on the left though he can play on the right too I feel, though most seemed to disagree with that last year. But we are certainly talking £80m+ now for a player that has his best positions in two areas we are presumed strong in. Though both for England and us, as per last year before he started getting caps.....he starts over Rashford for me there.....and lets not forget so really does Pogba when on form....and we have Mjebri to come through who can apparently also play on the left. Seems like right player wrong time now for me, woul dhave picked him over SAncho last year possibly, I would go for SAncho now purely for the position that needs improving now
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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I'm sure I'm not saying anything new. If we can keep Pogba and Cavani our best 11 will be:

Cavani
Rashford Bruno Greenwood
Fred Pogba
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson​

The only hole here is the lack of a proper DM so that has to be priority. Any other transfer is basically just getting significant upgrades on certain positions in this starting 11. Which are

RW - I'm probably one of the few that believes Greenwood can grow into this role and be the answer we've been asking for. That said this position is lacking in a reliable rotational option. Sancho is a talent that we should not miss out on if we can get him for a good price. Personally I think he's the only significant upgrades on Greenwood and if we can't get him we are better off spending little or nothing at all for this position. This makes Vazquez my second choice.

CB - Any CB we are getting should be a significant upgrade on what we already have or else don't bother. I don't watch Varane but if this bad form is something he can recover from then he's first choice. Second would be Kounde but I think that's unrealistic due to his large release clause. Asides from them I don't see any other CB that's a significant upgrade on what we have (even though that's what I thought about Dias)

For DM I'd put Rice as first choice and Locatelli second.
 

UpWithRivers

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I think Haaland, Sancho or Varane is a fantasy so...

First Pogba and Cavani stay. Then
RW - I would get Emiliano Buendia. Class player and proven in the Prem with one of the highest assist records and just had another amazing season in the Championship. Would give us a different option off the right and can play number 10 when needed. 50 mill?
DM - If Pogba stays then the only way I can ever see a midfield 2 working with Pogba is Ndidi. Id offer 70/80 mill. Or maybe 30ish + Fred.
RB - Need a rotational option. Max Aarons seems like a good option - 30 mill?

Thats 150ish. Will make back at 50-80 on sales.

Example of teams we could put out which I think will be class:
--------------Cavani
Rashford Bruno Greenwood
-----------Pogba Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson

--------------Martial
Rashford Bruno Buendia
----------Pogba Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof Aarons

-----------Cavani
Pogba Bruno Buendia
---McTominay/Fred Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson
 

Hugh Jass

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It is complicated i feel. It depends on ultimately where we will play greenwood, on the right wing or up top. On the right wing, then we need a world class CF. Up top, then we need a world class RW (although Amad might be the player there).

With Bailly signing a new contract, i cannot see us buying a top CB. Maybe someone cheap.

Maybe a covering RB for AWB.

I think as well we will try and trade lingard plus money for Rice.
 

Lee565

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If pogba's new role in the team is playing on the left then another midfielder has to be top priority because we can't go into another season with basically matic (who will likely go this season) mctominay and fred for the 2 deep sitting midfield spots.
 

pawanraj

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A 30 goal a season starting striker, a defensive midfielder like prime Matic, and a left-footed CB to rotate with Maguire and Lindelof.

In an ideal world, we also need a starting RW, but I think we may not have a budget for everything we need in one close-season. IMO ST, CB, CDM are more important positions to fill - between Greenwood, Amad, Pellistri, Rashford, Martial, James, we can cover RW one more season I think.
 
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AneRu

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I'm sure I'm not saying anything new. If we can keep Pogba and Cavani our best 11 will be:

Cavani
Rashford Bruno Greenwood
Fred Pogba
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson​

The only hole here is the lack of a proper DM so that has to be priority. Any other transfer is basically just getting significant upgrades on certain positions in this starting 11. Which are

RW - I'm probably one of the few that believes Greenwood can grow into this role and be the answer we've been asking for. That said this position is lacking in a reliable rotational option. Sancho is a talent that we should not miss out on if we can get him for a good price. Personally I think he's the only significant upgrades on Greenwood and if we can't get him we are better off spending little or nothing at all for this position. This makes Vazquez my second choice.

CB - Any CB we are getting should be a significant upgrade on what we already have or else don't bother. I don't watch Varane but if this bad form is something he can recover from then he's first choice. Second would be Kounde but I think that's unrealistic due to his large release clause. Asides from them I don't see any other CB that's a significant upgrade on what we have (even though that's what I thought about Dias)

For DM I'd put Rice as first choice and Locatelli second.
I agree with this, I think Greenwood (who would be averaging 10 goals a season by the end of this one) is a legitimate option for the RW and we could supplement the creativity in forward areas by signing Buenda for something like £45m or just blood in Diallo next season. Greenwood, James and Diallo are good though not great options.

I think DM and CB are more critical to how we play especially in big games. The challenge, though, is that there a DM anywhere in the world defensively good enough to carry a defensive liability like Pogba in a three men midfield that includes Bruno? Maybe Ndidi but is he good enough on the ball to resist the press and start play? Is Declan Rice that player?

The above stated position will solve a lot of issues - Pogba reverting to CM allows us to play Rashford where he is best. It gives us an extra option wrt central creativity and we break up the McFred partnership which, even though it's great in a rear guard action or off the ball, it limits what we can do with the ball as a team.

At CB we simply need a stronger and faster version of Lindelof. Pau Torres looks interesting but then he seems to have the same issues with physicality as Lindelof and should we ever be forced to play them as a pair in the PL we will be in deep trouble.

With Cavani staying, I'd postpone the CF signing to next summer. Give Greenwood and Diallo a full year to grow into legitimate first team options, see whether the disaster class from Martial this season is a one off or is terminal and use the answers to those two questions to inform what we do in the summer of 2022.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Since Cavani is likely to stay and we just gave Bailly new contract. I think striker and CB are out of the list.

This leaves us with other positions. I think we need to upgrade McTominay & Daniel James. I don't think they both have been consistent enough to be in our XI. Man City midfield is way above us in quality. While both Man City & Chelsea squad have better players than James. I expect to see McTominay to step down from our regular to squad player, while James should be sold & replaced.

May be we should also sign a very cheap backup right back and let Williams going on loan but this is an optional after we sort out the other two.
 

Josep Dowling

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I still think we lack balance going forward. And whilst the current system allows Pogba to play with Fred and McTominay we have no attacking threat from the left and Rashford is ineffective from the right.

We are screaming out for a natural right winger. Just buy Sancho. I would love to see what we would look like with top quality on either wings. Martial or Rashford on the left. Sancho on the right, Cavani through the middle.
 

Jezpeza

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I still think we lack balance going forward. And whilst the current system allows Pogba to play with Fred and McTominay we have no attacking threat from the left and Rashford is ineffective from the right.

We are screaming out for a natural right winger. Just buy Sancho. I would love to see what we would look like with top quality on either wings. Martial or Rashford on the left. Sancho on the right, Cavani through the middle.
Rashford needs an operation. But i think you are right, sancho is the no.1 signing. We should resume that this summer. We need more quality and depth up top. We had 6 0-0 draws this season and that extra quality for 4 goals would have been telling. On the left Rashford is the inverted winger and shaw gets forward to provide the width. I think sancho down the right is a good contrast as otherwise we have another inverted winger in greenwood down that side. But also we would just have more tactical options and wouldnt need to play rashford injured for lack of personnel.

this summer will be a jigsaw. Ultimately i think we need a rw, dm, cf, cb. We wont gey all 4 in a summer. The order we sign them in will depend on if cavani signs another year and what the budget is. But with a couple of sales added in if we could get a rw in and a top cdm in i think that kicks a cb and cf down the road a year and would allow us to play pogba and bruno.

theres a myth about AWB not being an ‘attacking fullback’ but his stats in that regard are better than Kyle Walker who many consider an ‘attacking fullback’. And we’ve played williams down the right a few times because we have Telles.
 

MattyLT

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First priority for me would be a creative player on the right wing. Don't care if he's a right footer or left footer, just someone who can be relied on to consistently make something happen.

If Cavani stays, then CF is covered. Him + Greenwood + Rashford + Martial = enough options on top and as cover across the entire front four.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the situation at CM is that precarious. McTominay + Fred is a good engine to control the midfield. With someone creative on the right wing, I don't think a lack of creativity in CM is that much of an issue.

With Pogba + Bruno + new RW there's plenty of creativity across the front four, so would rather stick to a proper engine in the double pivot. MCTominay is underrated anyways, and will only get better.

til;dr: A proper RW creative player is the most important piece to make the puzzle fit.
 

NFM

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United have a lot of really good relatively young attacking talent at first team level, and one or two youngsters who are quite exceptional. If Cavani stays this is no longer a priority. Pogba must be left as roaming attacking midfield, he enjoys it and he can't do too much damage defensively there.
With Garner returning after an encouraging loan at Forest, another good central midfielder who remembers to track runners regularly would be a good. A decent left footed central defender would also be good. Those two additions would balance the squad a lot. If Pogba and Bruno are not enough 'creative' players there is something seriously wrong. The other attackers are not exactly short on creativity if they get passes in decent areas. I think Garner plus another CM would solve that shortfall.
 

croadyman

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Since Cavani is likely to stay and we just gave Bailly new contract. I think striker and CB are out of the list.

This leaves us with other positions. I think we need to upgrade McTominay & Daniel James. I don't think they both have been consistent enough to be in our XI. Man City midfield is way above us in quality. While both Man City & Chelsea squad have better players than James. I expect to see McTominay to step down from our regular to squad player, while James should be sold & replaced.

May be we should also sign a very cheap backup right back and let Williams going on loan but this is an optional after we sort out the other two.
So do you mean a CDM like Matic or more of a Deep Lying Playmaker type like Carrick we need to sign, presume you are thinking Sancho to replace James or have you got someone else in mind for that
 

croadyman

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Rashford needs an operation. But i think you are right, sancho is the no.1 signing. We should resume that this summer. We need more quality and depth up top. We had 6 0-0 draws this season and that extra quality for 4 goals would have been telling. On the left Rashford is the inverted winger and shaw gets forward to provide the width. I think sancho down the right is a good contrast as otherwise we have another inverted winger in greenwood down that side. But also we would just have more tactical options and wouldnt need to play rashford injured for lack of personnel.

this summer will be a jigsaw. Ultimately i think we need a rw, dm, cf, cb. We wont gey all 4 in a summer. The order we sign them in will depend on if cavani signs another year and what the budget is. But with a couple of sales added in if we could get a rw in and a top cdm in i think that kicks a cb and cf down the road a year and would allow us to play pogba and bruno.

theres a myth about AWB not being an ‘attacking fullback’ but his stats in that regard are better than Kyle Walker who many consider an ‘attacking fullback’. And we’ve played williams down the right a few times because we have Telles.
Yeah I would love to think we would sign a CB, DM, RW and keep Edi for another year but think if we are being realistic we probably get ONE first XI in those positions and sign another talent in one of the others
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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So do you mean a CDM like Matic or more of a Deep Lying Playmaker type like Carrick we need to sign, presume you are thinking Sancho to replace James or have you got someone else in mind for that
To be honest, I don't really care whichever we will sign as long as we can at least improve one of them. It just doesn't look right when you compare our midfield vs City's midfield.
Fred/McT/Matic vs Gundogan/Rodri/Fernandinho.
 

Jev

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Probably an unpopular suggestion but: With Chelsea reportedly ready to sell Tammy Abraham for 40 million, does anyone else feel like he might actually be a pretty good solution for us in the striker position?

I think he'd suit our style of play well and I believe the potential is there to become a starting striker for us.
 

Leftback99

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Probably an unpopular suggestion but: With Chelsea reportedly ready to sell Tammy Abraham for 40 million, does anyone else feel like he might actually be a pretty good solution for us in the striker position?

I think he'd suit our style of play well and I believe the potential is there to become a starting striker for us.
He'd be as good as other 'cheaper' options. No way Chelsea sell to us though.
 

BorisManUtd

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I'd still love if we signed Sancho, although it looks less likely now for some reason, at least there are less rumours about him. He'd give us another 20 goals a season surely. We also need another RB, don't think Ole trusts Dalot there. Obviously a DM and CB too, but hard to expect 4 signings, 3 would be maximum probably.

Of course this is presuming Cavani and Pogba stay, if not then we need striker and attacking midfielder as well, Grealish would ideal as he basically plays in same position as Pogba.
 
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laughtersassassin

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We'd be fools not to sign Sancho imo. There isn't a winger better that can actually be bought.

Pogba is saying if we show ambition to compete then he will stay.

Summer of Rice or Bissouma and Sancho is AMBITIOUS.

Everyone wins. Wouldn't even be that high of a net spend with Lingard and various others leaving. If PSG or someone came on for De Gea then it'd be a very reasonable net spend
 

croadyman

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To be honest, I don't really care whichever we will sign as long as we can at least improve one of them. It just doesn't look right when you compare our midfield vs City's midfield.
Fred/McT/Matic vs Gundogan/Rodri/Fernandinho.
Yeah ideally we could do with a holding midfielder and a number 8 as well, however with our finances then somehow we have to find someone who could offer the ability to play 6/8 which is a huge ask
 

jesperjaap

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Summer is so dependant on who we sell. The Bailly contract extension has me feeling there wont be many which really changes what we can/will spend and even the transfers.

For me personally there are good reasons for the future of the team to consider selling several from DeGea, Dalot, Pereira, Jones, Bailly, Mata, Pogba, Fred, Lingard, James, VDB, Chong, Martial

If we were I would like us to be targeting the likes of Grealish and Rice....but we wont be. I only think three or four (fringe players) of them will go actually and only Lingard will bring in any kind of fee.

If that is the case, makes it paramount Cavani stays otherwise I think all our money goes on a striker signing. If he stays I have no idea what we are going to do in all honesty, but I have a feeling it will actually be very little and dissapointing.

Personally in an ideal world for me, bit football manager but....Cavani stays relatively similar fees:

Lingard out - Romagnoli in
VDB/Dalot/Pereira/Jones/Chong/Mata Out - Camavinga In
Pogba Out - Rice in
DeGea/Fred out - Sancho In

WIth Romero moving on at the end of his contract would also like us to sign an experienced older keeper

GK: Henderson / ?
RB: Bissaka / Williams
CB: Maguire / Lindelof
CB: ROmagnoli / Bailly
LB: Shaw / Telles
CM: Rice / Matic
CM: Camavinga / McTominay
AM: Fernandes / ?
LW: Rashford / James
RW: SAncho / Greenwood
ST: Cavani / Martial

Not sure who I would have as the second AM but SAncho could play there if needed and I actually quite liek the idea of Greenwood there too as a back up. Of course there are also a lot of youngsters to add to this....Laird, Tuanzabe, Mengi, Mjebri, Amad, Garner, Pellestri, Elanga, Shoetire that can challenge certain positions and possibly allow Greenwood more time to gain experience playing up front.

I think Telles, Matic, James and Martial could be under threat and also with a small net spend it would allow us to spend big which we will need to do in a years time if Cavani has stayed I expect.

Obviously we would be losing a lot of talent in VDB, Pogba and DeGea, I just think the signings would give us much better balance through the spine and Camavinga for me outside the premiership along with Nuno Mendes (who we dont need being a left back if Shaw continues his form) is the best teenager in Europe that I have seen anyway.
 

Macedonian Red

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If Pogba and Cavani stay I will go for Sancho, Varane and Rice.
Sell: Jones, Tuanzebe, Matic, Dalot, Mata, Lingard, Pereira, James.

Hendo/DDG
Bissaka Varane Maguire Shaw
Rice Pogba
Sancho Bruno Rashy
Cavani


Williams Bailly Lindelof Telles
Mctominay Fred
Amad VDB Martial
Greenwood

I wont be suprised if some of DDG, Martial, VDB, Pogba and Cavani leaves.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Yeah ideally we could do with a holding midfielder and a number 8 as well, however with our finances then somehow we have to find someone who could offer the ability to play 6/8 which is a huge ask
Ideally I want to see more creative midfielder (let’s say a no 8 like Fabian Ruiz, not too sure about him) and we replace Lindelof with Varane. However, since we just gave Bailly a new contract, I don’t think we will sign a CB. This might conclude that A DM is more suitable to improve our defense provide better protection for Lindelof & Maguire partnership and we can improve our creativity by upgrading Daniel James.

 

croadyman

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Ideally I want to see more creative midfielder (let’s say a no 8 like Fabian Ruiz, not too sure about him) and we replace Lindelof with Varane. However, since we just gave Bailly a new contract, I don’t think we will sign a CB. This might conclude that A DM is more suitable to improve our defense provide better protection for Lindelof & Maguire partnership and we can improve our creativity by upgrading Daniel James.

Yeah a proper DM might well help protect those two and fear you are right about Bailly staying meaning no Varane
 

Gurtej

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If Cavani Stays, I think we should cash on Martial.
I know that is prone to injury but I rather see us giving more opportunities to Greenwood next year as a number 9 than Martial. I highly doubt that Martial will ever get us challenging for the titles. He is too much of hit and miss and I doubt he will get any better (he ain’t 19 anymore), will be 26 at end of the year.

this will give us an opportunity to see how Greenwood evolves and he has what it takes to be our leading striker in years to come. Once Cavani goes, replace him with another Zlatan or Cavani (I am sure there are couple we can look at after a year) as Greenwood will still be very young...

unless of course we can get Hallam, do whatever it takes to get him but I doubt we will be his first choice.

how much do you think we can get for Martial (40m sounds reasonable), he hasn’t really set the world on fire....

Sell James, guy has heart but let’s be realistic , he is not United material even potentially ... get 20-25m for him, I am sure mid table team will benefit ...

One of our goal keepers will go.... 20-25m... Henderson will be even higher ...

Total sales: 80m

Get rid of Matic, mata, Jones from the books. Free just go, help salaries...

Get a proper defensive playmaker as we need Pogba and Fernandes in the team. We can’t keep playin both Fred and Mc if we want to win titles, we need a proper quality there...50-60m

Get Sancho, a must. Solve RW issue. I think we can get him this summer for 70m rising to 80m....

with Sancho, Pogba, Bruno, world class defensive Midfielder, Van de Beek, Cavani, Rashford, Greenwood.... we have enough creative and goal scorers to challenge for trophies..... with a very strong mid field back ups with Mc and Fred....

So far net spending around 70m....

I would go all out for a world class defender... Again to win titles we need dominance and speed which we really lack....Even if Bailey had signed a contract..... I highly doubt we will win any trophies with him as part of back 4.... We need to establish another Rio and Vidic type partnership...

We already have one of the best left back in Shaw (thank god, the guy found his mojo back).... For RW, I am not too worried if we have Sancho...

There you go, in my view we will need 150m net spend to get us close to the title, I still think we will fall short but it willl be a strong window....

finally, bring some youth in.... there are some exiting players coming up...
 

croadyman

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Be interesting to see how accurate this Jacky Henchman is with his predictions
 

Lee565

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It seem like we are right back to experiencing the same old squad issues we have had time and time again for the past 7 or 8 years where we have a load players for the left wing position (pogba, rashford, james and martial) as well as for the number 10 position (Fernandes, beek, mata and lingard) but still looking for that ready made world class right winger and in need of better quality additions to the midfield and central defence.
 

dinostar77

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I wonder if Glazers will open up the cheque book this summer due to a perfect storm forcing their hand;

1. ESL debacle - appease the fans
2. New internal appointment of a CEO. Need to get a signing under him completed to give him some gravitas.
3. City winning (if they do) the CL final. - again appease the fans.

Could be an interesting summer....
 

Devil may care

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If they do go ham to try and butter up the fanbase this would be my choice starting 11 for next season.


 

Leftback99

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I wonder if Glazers will open up the cheque book this summer due to a perfect storm forcing their hand;

1. ESL debacle - appease the fans
2. New internal appointment of a CEO. Need to get a signing under him completed to give him some gravitas.
3. City winning (if they do) the CL final. - again appease the fans.

Could be an interesting summer....
The Glazers could not care less about the fans.
 

Relfy

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If Dortmund are willing to sell at a reasonable price, then Sancho is a must for me. If we can add a real creative and goal scoring outlet to balance out our attacks, as well as adding someone who can suitably replace Rashford on the left as needed, then it makes sense to make that deal. The argument about where they fit into the starting XI is silly - just look at City's bench full of superstars. We play enough games for the big names to all get 50 games a season, so minutes won't be an issue.

I'd love Kane as his goals would potentially bridge the gap to the title, but with his age, injury record and the fact we'd have to deal with Levy I don't see it happening. Haaland won't move until next year when that release clause kicks in. I doubt many teams have the appetite for a bidding war after this past 12-18 months.

If we like Rice then using Lingard as a part-swap deal makes sense to knock some money off what will be a large fee. If West Ham did manage to qualify for the CL then there is no chance they will let him go.

Backup at right back would be good, just so we have the option to rest AWB on occasion. Get Williams out on loan next season, maybe Axel too as he needs minutes.

I don't see much movement happening. 1 or 2 and that will be our lot I think, with a few leaving too. I think we need 3-4 to properly challenge but I just can't see it happening.
 

DWelbz19

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  • A central midfielder who can pass a football.
  • An actual right sided winger.
  • A CB who can cover ground well and is respectably solid in the air.
 

DWelbz19

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So do you think we need more of a CM rather than a CDM
In an ideal world it'd be somebody like prime Matic who could play as a CDM and still pass the ball pretty well -- but yeah, I'd take a well-rounded CM over a straight up anchor/sitter. I think an actual CDM would do better if we were to play a 433, but we aren't. 4-2-3-1 is very much Solskjaer's formation. I don't think Pogba will play as the other midfielder, so replacing one McTominay/Fred with a player who's better defensively but just as average at circulating the ball wouldn't do too much for us, in my opinion.

I just think back to a lot of these 0-0 draws we've had this season, and sure, our forwards haven't been the best at putting the ball in the onion bag this season, but a lot of these games stifled out because once Fernandes is marshalled out of a game (and Pogba was out injured), there's a much greater onus on the two behind him to do something.
 

croadyman

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In an ideal world it'd be somebody like prime Matic who could play as a CDM and still pass the ball pretty well -- but yeah, I'd take a well-rounded CM over a straight up anchor/sitter. I think an actual CDM would do better if we were to play a 433, but we aren't. 4-2-3-1 is very much Solskjaer's formation. I don't think Pogba will play as the other midfielder, so replacing one McTominay/Fred with a player who's better defensively but just as average at circulating the ball wouldn't do too much for us, in my opinion.

I just think back to a lot of these 0-0 draws we've had this season, and sure, our forwards haven't been the best at putting the ball in the onion bag this season, but a lot of these games stifled out because once Fernandes is marshalled out of a game (and Pogba was out injured), there's a much greater onus on the two behind him to do something.
Yeah we could really do with someone who can offer something both offensively and defensively, in an ideal world with no other issues in the first XI then would sign both a CDM destroyer type and a CM good on the ball
 

Devil may care

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So from reading a lot of posts here I'm guessing the below team is the one most want for next season? I left the CB's as they are as there's no general consensus on who we should go for.




In an ideal world it'd be somebody like prime Matic who could play as a CDM and still pass the ball pretty well -- but yeah, I'd take a well-rounded CM over a straight up anchor/sitter. I think an actual CDM would do better if we were to play a 433, but we aren't. 4-2-3-1 is very much Solskjaer's formation. I don't think Pogba will play as the other midfielder, so replacing one McTominay/Fred with a player who's better defensively but just as average at circulating the ball wouldn't do too much for us, in my opinion.

I just think back to a lot of these 0-0 draws we've had this season, and sure, our forwards haven't been the best at putting the ball in the onion bag this season, but a lot of these games stifled out because once Fernandes is marshalled out of a game (and Pogba was out injured), there's a much greater onus on the two behind him to do something.
Something that is ignored way too often, we can't pin teams back and apply pressure because of the lack of quality on the ball in the double pivot, there's no tempo from them so teams find it easy to keep their defensive shape against us.
 

mark clatternburg

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I think Haaland, Sancho or Varane is a fantasy so...

First Pogba and Cavani stay. Then
RW - I would get Emiliano Buendia. Class player and proven in the Prem with one of the highest assist records and just had another amazing season in the Championship. Would give us a different option off the right and can play number 10 when needed. 50 mill?
DM - If Pogba stays then the only way I can ever see a midfield 2 working with Pogba is Ndidi. Id offer 70/80 mill. Or maybe 30ish + Fred.
RB - Need a rotational option. Max Aarons seems like a good option - 30 mill?

Thats 150ish. Will make back at 50-80 on sales.

Example of teams we could put out which I think will be class:
--------------Cavani
Rashford Bruno Greenwood
-----------Pogba Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson

--------------Martial
Rashford Bruno Buendia
----------Pogba Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof Aarons

-----------Cavani
Pogba Bruno Buendia
---McTominay/Fred Ndidi
Shaw Maguire Lindelof AWB
Henderson
30ish plus Fred really wouldnt cut it.