What is your order of priority for our transfer needs?

It’s difficult to predict, I don’t think anyone thought United would buy a second no.10 after Cunha.

Maybe it’s because they can’t identify a CF or will they replace the entire frontline in one summer.

Personally if Mbeumo signs I’d focus on CM and GK next before adding a CF. I’d just like to see how Cunha and Mbeumo change the attack first.
 
RuudTom83 said:
It’s difficult to predict, I don’t think anyone thought United would buy a second no.10 after Cunha.

Maybe it’s because they can’t identify a CF or will they replace the entire frontline in one summer.

Personally if Mbeumo signs I’d focus on CM and GK next before adding a CF. I’d just like to see how Cunha and Mbeumo change the attack first.
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Yeah this summer does feel like a full attack rebuild like the defensive one last summer. Surely that means next year is all about midfield. I do worry about how we get through next season with existing options.
 
I'm a little concerned we will spend $100m on two players, I don't mind if the other areas of the pitch are dealt with as well but we need a new keeper, right back, another left back to compete with Dorgu, two or three new central midfielders who can run, hold up the ball, tackle, create and a couple of strikers, small and tall.
 
RuudTom83 said:
It’s difficult to predict, I don’t think anyone thought United would buy a second no.10 after Cunha.

Maybe it’s because they can’t identify a CF or will they replace the entire frontline in one summer.

Personally if Mbeumo signs I’d focus on CM and GK next before adding a CF. I’d just like to see how Cunha and Mbeumo change the attack first.
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It does seem weird we'd buy two 10s before a striker, so perhaps after Delap passed on us the plan is to try Zirkzee as our first choice striker, as if he can support the new 10s well it might balance out. Though I'd still try for Gyokeres, or failing that a cheaper CF or even loan, in case Zirkzee doesn't work out.
 
(Assuming Cunha and mbuemo are done)

Clear the wages of rashford, Sancho and Antony at pretty much any cost.

Replace onana.

Buy a central midfielder.

Buy a striker

Buy another central midfielder.

Clear casemiro's wages.
 
Discussing priorities after the majority of the transfer budget is blown away on two number 10s/wingers and we still have no new striker, goalkeeper and midfielder, seems a bit pointless.
 
Following Matheus Cunha's transfer...
  1. Center forward 1
  2. Central midfielder 1
  3. Goalkeeper
  4. Central midfielder 2
  5. Left wingback
  6. Libero
  7. Right wingback
  8. Center forward 2
  9. Central midfielder 3
  10. No. 10 (this is where Mbeumo lands, unless we plan on deploying him as a wingback)
Bruno Fernandes does not qualify as a full-time central midfielder. He is a servicable central midfield player against certain oppositons. But by and large, he needs to play as a No. 10. If he doesn't possess the press-resistance and ball-carrying qualities to operate as an effective No. 10 in this scheme and you plan on adhering to this particular scheme, sell him and sign a No. 10 who will do that. There's no need to miscast him as a double-pivot player, he does not have the characteristics and tactical acumen of one.
 
For me its STK, GK, MC, DC AMC.

STK - We don't score enough goals and the players had completely lost their faith in Hojlund. We can't continue with him being ignored by his teammates again and again.
GK: Onana has also lost faith in his teammates which is equally dangerous. However he does have experience to claw himself out of it especially if we add a quality no 2 (Vanja?). It's still high priority but not no 1 priority
MC: I still believe that Bruno is way better as a no 10 then as a no 8. Bruno-Cunha and Gyokeres upfront with Ederson/Wharton - Ugarte in the midfield base is competitive. Especially since we will only play 1 game per week.
DC: Maguire is getting old, Martinez is probably shot, Mazraoui is a converted CB and like De Ligt has had his share of injuries while Yoro and Heaven are great potential wise but still a bit far off from reaching their full potential. The last thing we need is we feck the season because a key CB got injured.
AMC: Bruno and Cunha are among the best AMC in the world and will be supported by Mount, Zirkzee and Amad. I'd love to see us sign Mbuemo but he's really not high priority.
 
croadyman said:
Unfortunately fear Maignan is Chelsea bound, would take either of the Villa duo but IF we get a CM then Ederson is most likely. What is your feeling on Martinez because seems to divide opinion on here.
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Think if we get Martinez he's an improvement on Onana, not sure whether he's good enough for when/if we start challenging for leagues etc but would be more confident with him than Onana
 
AdNani said:
Think if we get Martinez he's an improvement on Onana, not sure whether he's good enough for when/if we start challenging for leagues etc but would be more confident with him than Onana
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Fair shout
 
devilish said:
For me its STK, GK, MC, DC AMC.

STK - We don't score enough goals and the players had completely lost their faith in Hojlund. We can't continue with him being ignored by his teammates again and again.
GK: Onana has also lost faith in his teammates which is equally dangerous. However he does have experience to claw himself out of it especially if we add a quality no 2 (Vanja?). It's still high priority but not no 1 priority
MC: I still believe that Bruno is way better as a no 10 then as a no 8. Bruno-Cunha and Gyokeres upfront with Ederson/Wharton - Ugarte in the midfield base is competitive. Especially since we will only play 1 game per week.
DC: Maguire is getting old, Martinez is probably shot, Mazraoui is a converted CB and like De Ligt has had his share of injuries while Yoro and Heaven are great potential wise but still a bit far off from reaching their full potential. The last thing we need is we feck the season because a key CB got injured.
AMC: Bruno and Cunha are among the best AMC in the world and will be supported by Mount, Zirkzee and Amad. I'd love to see us sign Mbuemo but he's really not high priority.
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100% agree with your priority and analysis. However instead og a CB in Defence i would suggest to go with a wing back for either of the side to Challenge and compete with Amad, Dorgu, Shae and Dalot. Also would allow Amad to play 10 when needed

I thibk CB is the best arar in the team right now and we can wait a year to upgrade on De ligt, Yoro, Maguire, Heaven, Mazz, Shaw, Martinez
 
Bwuk said:
If we assume Mbeumo signs, and Bruno stays, you’d guess our starting 11 looks something like this;

Onana
Yoro - De Ligt - Heaven
Amad - Bruno - Casemiro - Dorgu
Mbeumo - Hojlund - Cunha​

Hojlund, Onana and the midfield are the obvious weak spots.
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Looking at this as a baseline of what the lineup could look like, I think a GK,CF, CM, LWB, CB & CM in that order of priority for me.

Cunha & Mbeumo adds goals and with that the CF role becomes a bit less important (albeit still very very important) so the goalkeeper IMO is now the biggest priority, a competent keeper breeds confidence in the players in front of him and stupid silly errors because less frequent. If Onana stays put another season, we will continue to ship needless goals by the bucketful. He's just levels and levels below what we need.

Bruno & Casemiro just doesn't look right as the 2 CMs. a 25 year old Casemiro certainly, but not this version of him (I still think he still has something to offer) So I'd love to see an athletic CM with similar footballing attributes to Carrick.

Dorgu is still very raw, I can see promising parts to his game, but I wouldn't feel comfortable him being our LWB all season. Shaw, can't depend on him to stay fit.

CB & 2nd CM are two nice to haves, I don't think CB is much of a problem, I'd like a more experienced LCB especially with Martinez often picking up long term injuries. 2nd CM, a box to box midfielder, an athletic strong power player that can cover a lot of ground.

The fact of the matter is, we're not going to fix all our problems in 1 window. If Mbeumo is our second signing, I can see us signing 2 maybe 3 more players for the squad (Not including youngsters for the future) which give us 5 signings. That's a big step forward IMO (providing the signings are the right ones)
 
We clearly need a CF, GK and CM at the very least, as almost everyone's list suggests.

The trouble is looking like a major priority before getting any / all of those is that we need to make money with sales. And it's actually looking worse from that point of view than it did at the end of the season, not better.

Any chance of Sancho, Rashford or Antony's loans being made permanent have ended. Sancho feeling to agree personal terms with CL qualifiers Chelsea highlights just how few teams are going to be able to afford his wages - it's looking like a permanent move to Saudi or, most likely, another subsidised loan were we don't get a loan fee and even cover some of his wages. Which, instead of getting millions in, is really just reducing the amount of millions we're still paying out on his wages.

Rashford looks like it's going to drag on a long time, with few clubs being able to afford his wages and the one club he seems set on joining (Barcelona) likely to push for a loan rather than pay a £30-40m fee.

Antony you get the feeling could have suitors in Spain and Italy, and could agree terms - but I think they'd only be able / prepared to pay a pretty low fee and nothing like the £30m or so that some list.

And the same with Hojlund - there's talk of Serie A interest, but again you'd think we'd have to almost give him away for a permanent move or else it would be a loan.

So, even though selling those kinds of players would have been ideal, we're probably going to end up needing to sell a regular first teamer like Garnacho or Mainoo, as they're the kind that teams who could pay £50m+ might be interested in. Bruno to Saudi's for £80-100m would have generated a huge part of the necessary budget, but for better or worse (in terms of attacking output v balance of the midfield) that's not happening. So that's another avenue closed off, same as the loans not being made permanent.
 
Kostov said:
Discussing priorities after the majority of the transfer budget is blown away on two number 10s/wingers and we still have no new striker, goalkeeper and midfielder, seems a bit pointless.
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How do you know what our budget is?
 
A ST and then a keeper get us a clinical front line that can win us games. Then get us a decent keeper
 
A lot of people seem to be surprised that we’re signing Mbuemo aswell as Cunha. This is probable because it kills 2 positions in one. It gets us another goalscorer in the front 3 and allows us to move Amad to RWB which should improve our style of play. If you look at Amorims sporting he used Quenda who is known as a right sided forward in the RWB role. Amad as good enough work rate to play there and with the right coaching he’ll improve.
 
For me outside of selling players such as Rashford/Sancho etc:

ST
CM
GK
CM
RWB
LCB

Feel like personally we should of taken the money for Fernandes as it would of paid for an actual CM such as Wharton/Baleba and potentially someone like Kone on top, not sure he’s going to be suited to the role, if we we’re keeping him as a ten it would be different.
 
Baneofthegame said:
For me outside of selling players such as Rashford/Sancho etc:

ST
CM
GK
CM
RWB
LCB

Feel like personally we should of taken the money for Fernandes as it would of paid for an actual CM such as Wharton/Baleba and potentially someone like Kone on top, not sure he’s going to be suited to the role, if we we’re keeping him as a ten it would be different.
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It's been disscussed to death, and is now moot, but I definitely think there was a valid argument for that, yeah.

You lose a lot of attacking threat taking Bruno out the team, obviously. But that's (hopefully) being replaced by the upgrades in the front three with the likes of Cunha, Mbeumo and a new #9.

What you gain is a much more balanced CM - the position Bruno is likely to play a lot - if you added a more all round CM like Wharton or Baleba there.

Obviously Baleba partnering Bruno would be amazing, but we couldn't afford that without the huge money sale that we'd only get by selling Bruno in the first place.

As it is, we're left looking like we need to sell some of our most promising young first teamers - Garnacho and / or Mainoo - in order to fund the needed incomings. Garnacho now makes sense, given how things have gone wrong and our first two targets have been #10's. Mainoo would be a shame as well but, as with Bruno, it's difficult to fit him into either the two CM's or two 10's of Amorim's system. So both would make sense from a balace point of view provided we replaced wisely with players that suit the system more.
 
1. Sell deadwood
2. Central midfielder
3. Replace Onana
4. Striker
5. Right wingback
 
Onerealunited said:
100% agree with your priority and analysis. However instead og a CB in Defence i would suggest to go with a wing back for either of the side to Challenge and compete with Amad, Dorgu, Shae and Dalot. Also would allow Amad to play 10 when needed

I thibk CB is the best arar in the team right now and we can wait a year to upgrade on De ligt, Yoro, Maguire, Heaven, Mazz, Shaw, Martinez
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Amorim's defence is very weird. There are 3 CBS, 1 of whom is the old fashioned 'Stam' like CB. He must be good in air, very physical and a powerful presence on the pitch. De lift and Maguire are good in it. This player is partnered by 2 fast CBs who can cover the spaces left by the wingbacks while still adding inches and physically at CB. Mazraoui and Yoro can do it while Heaven lacks experience but he's not that far off.

The trouble lie with Martinez and Shaw. That's a demanding role and neither player seem to have the fitness to do it anymore. It also require pace that they lack and height/physicality that Martinez lack

The wingbacks are weird in such system as Amorim is insanely flexible on them . He had played wingbacks and wingers there. He also played players on their strong foot and players on their weak foot. Height isn't an issue as well. Quenda for example isn't a giant.

We currently have Dorgu, Amass and Leon on the LWB. Leon will surprise us as he's got the physicality that reminds me a lot of Valencia. At RWB we got Amorim's second favourite pet IE Dalot and Amad. The latter's stats as RWB are eye watering. Its something like 3 goals and 2 assists in 6 games. Amad lacks the physicality to be a no 10 but he certainly slit magnificently as a RWB. Then if we add another CB we can release mazraoui on both rear flanks if needed

Ideally we get both IE a CB and a wingback. That's not going to happen. If I had to choose I get a CB. Martinez and Shaw are probably finished, de lift and mazraoui are injury prone, heaven is still a rookie and Maguire is showing signs of wear and tear.
 
Steve 007 said:
How do you know what our budget is?
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Well it’s certainly not unlimited is it? Based on previous spending, the amount of crying out loud by Ratcliffe and our glorious season (loosing euro competition money, Adidas money etc) it’s safe to say we won’t be fixing the GK, striker and midfield problem this summer for sure.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah this summer does feel like a full attack rebuild like the defensive one last summer. Surely that means next year is all about midfield. I do worry about how we get through next season with existing options.
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Same, I'm trying to convince myself that one game a week will suit Casemiro and maybe he will surprise everyone and be of some use in his final contracted year at the club.

I know...wishful thinking!
 
Kostov said:
Well it’s certainly not unlimited is it? Based on previous spending, the amount of crying out loud by Ratcliffe and our glorious season (loosing euro competition money, Adidas money etc) it’s safe to say we won’t be fixing the GK, striker and midfield problem this summer for sure.
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Previous spending is before Radcliffe (bar last summer).

You may also have seen some changes, before Radcliffe we spent a lot on Dividends. Radcliffe moaned about money so he could cut our workforce. Personally I have no issue with that (obviously I don’t want to see anyone lose any job) but from a business perspective we had over twice the amount of employees to city. At the end of the day our business is football, we make the 2nd most money out of an any team. Players is where the money needs to go.
 
For me, there are a few priorities, obviously after last season, but the real difference this time is that the outgoings are almost as important as the incoming signings. So an ideal window would look something like...

Confirmed/TBC Signings:
Cunha is signed for £62 million, so paying £20.85 million over three instalments massively reduces the initially budgeted hit.
Mbuemo is likely going to be signed for around £50 million plus £ 10 million in add-ons. Which is a good deal for a player with proven prem quality over multiple seasons.

Outgoings:
Rashford- £40 million, ideally with some add-ons
Sancho- £25-30 million, depending on destination and add-ons
Antony- £25 million, his recent form will hopefully help increase the price a little.
Malacia- £10-15 million, easy to forget he exists at times, but fairly safe to say that if a reasonable offer comes in you take it.
Garnacho- £50-60 million plus add-ons and a future sale clause ideally. Higher price for Prem clubs
Hojlund- £30-40 million including add-ons, but I feel a loan move is the most likely option, perhaps with an option to buy.
Casemiro- £15-25 million, Saudi is the most likely destination if he were to be sold. The wages alone being gone would help free up much more room to manoeuvre with the transfer budget.
Onana- £15-20 million, Saudi or back to Italy, potentially the most likely destination. He could be used in a swap-type move transfer, but I think he needs to be moved on.
Shaw- £15-20 with add-ons, not sure there would be many suitors for him, but he could be a good option for some clubs that have young full-backs that maybe need an experienced player to rotate with. Newcastle springs to mind, or Leeds.
Martínez- Unlikely outgoing, but for me, I'd seriously consider it if there were viable destinations and a good fee was achievable. £50 million is not an unreasonable ask, and with some add-ons potentially turns him into a profit sale.

Total from sales- £265-305 million, savings in wages are a big factor. This is also an ideal world scenario in terms of fees received.

Incoming:
Osimhen- £65 million, wages would be massive, but if he scores regularly... worth it. It would be a real shame to see him go to Saudi or staying in Turkey. Proven goal scorer and a good age, plus his physicality, would help him in the Prem.
Baleba- £80+ would be an expensive signing, unless sending someone the other way helps bring it down. Fits the profile of the kind of midfielder Amorim wants, but also would be a good fit for any other manager.
Stiller- £40-50 million, not a glamorous signing, but a good player who provides the mixture of ability on the ball with some off the ball qualities.
Maignan- £10-25 million, Chelsea trying to sign him, but not offering the valuation of Milan. Offer the valuation or just below and see if they accept. Alternatively offer Onana in a swap deal with a smaller fee.
Rasmdale- Loan with option to buy, if Maignan can't be achieved, then a move for Ramsdale isn't a bad option for a temporary fix. He and Bayindir can fight it out for GK #1 and it allows funds to be spent on areas of more pressing concern.
Robinson- £35-45 million, had a solid season at Fulham and has the physical attributes to play in this system. Had his best season ever for assists and played almost every league game bar 2.
Estupinan- £35-45 million, had an alright season, played 30 prem games and has shown ability at this level for a while. It would be a case of either or between him and Robinson with Robinson probably the preferred target given recent form.
Dibling- £20-30 million, young talent who has shown glimpses in the league, could develop into a top player and sit behind Amad for a season or two and increase minutes with learning potentially a newish position. or a Loan move for minutes.
Rigg- £25-35 million, could sign for lower fee if loaned back to Sunderland for regular prem mins. Player 40+ games in the championship and hasn't looked out of place at all. At 17, the potential is fantastic and signing him early reduces the fee.
Branthwaite- £50- 75 million, Everton will likely need to sell someone to ensure PSR safety and Branthwaite has been linked to a move before, he is showing his quality in the prem regularly and would be a great addition to that left hand side of the 3 CB's.
David- On a free transfer, he would be a good option along with Osimhen, and wouldn't demand a ridiculous wages I don't imagine. Compared to previous signings anyway....

Total spend would be around £370 million.

Even with the sales, it's unlikely we'll spend anywhere close to this, and especially to sign as many as listed above. But, there are players listed that we really should make an effort to sign and making the most of players going out is key to that. Swap deals or loans with options to buy, fees received etc...

Striker, Midfield, GK and the left side of defence are the main priorities in my eyes. If half of these happen, it would be a great window, but the areas require serious investment and with proven quantities wherever possible.

Curious if anyone disagrees or has anyone they would add to either list?
 
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With Cunha in and spending most out our budget, my priorities would be:
  1. Striker
  2. Right winger or right wing-back (depending on Amad, I think he will mainly be right wing-back)
  3. Goalkeeper
  4. Central/defensive midfielder

I think we will find it harder than some expect to sell the likes of Rashford, Antony, Sancho, etc. at the fees being thrown around, I think we have to look at lower transfer fees and/or loans with obligation to buy for other clubs to fund their salaries. This probably means a lower budget than expexted, in which case we have to be shrewd with our spending. I think Kepa (5 mill) and Ndidi (9 mill) with their release clauses would be decent additions, allowing us to spend the big money on Gyökeres and Mbeumo. Another option is tweaking the formation into using more of a false 9 up front, in which case Zirkzee and free agent Jonathan David could be solid rotation alternatives, which will allow us to spend more money in other positions.
 
Goalkeeper. Why bother on anything else, if the GK is going to cost us half the games of the season?
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
This is number 1, it's so bloody obvious. Do people just forget the countless clangers?
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Onana is not the reason we scored 44 PL goals last season. Not saying he can't be improved on, just saying I don't think that's our biggest problem by far.
 
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matsdf said:
Onana is not the reason we scored 44 PL goals last season. Not saying he can't be improved on, just saying I don't think that our biggest problem by far.
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I see what you're saying but we conceded a lot of goals too and he was at fault for a lot.

Obviously we have a problem with scoring. I actually think Onana affects that in come way. When he drops a clanger, you see the whole team fall to pieces. There are other problems but we could buy some world class attacking players and I still wouldn't be confident going into next season with Onana in goal
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
I see what you're saying but we conceded a lot of goals too and he was at fault for a lot.

Obviously we have a problem with scoring. I actually think Onana affects that in come way. When he drops a clanger, you see the whole team fall to pieces. There are other problems but we could buy some world class attacking players and I still wouldn't be confident going into next season with Onana in goal
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That's fair. But I also think the argument could be reversed. As in a more stable team (like Inter), Onana would likely be more solid as well.
 
Replacing Onana is an absolute must.

However, it’s not difficult. So focus should be on striker and Mbuemo. I’ve no issues with that. There Are very few strikers around, so yes that’s the focus.

We can buy any of 50+ goalkeepers for £15m to improve the team.

it would be a massive own goal to go into the season with Onana in goal, but we do not have to hurry and we have 2 months, and an improvement will not cost us much.
 
With Cunha signed, my order of priority would be:

1. ST
2. GK
3. CM
4. AM/RWB (basically depending on what Amads primary position is this season)
5. CB
 
Wallez said:
With Cunha in and spending most out our budget, my priorities would be:
  1. Striker
  2. Right winger or right wing-back (depending on Amad, I think he will mainly be right wing-back)
  3. Goalkeeper
  4. Central/defensive midfielder

I think we will find it harder than some expect to sell the likes of Rashford, Antony, Sancho, etc. at the fees being thrown around, I think we have to look at lower transfer fees and/or loans with obligation to buy for other clubs to fund their salaries. This probably means a lower budget than expexted, in which case we have to be shrewd with our spending. I think Kepa (5 mill) and Ndidi (9 mill) with their release clauses would be decent additions, allowing us to spend the big money on Gyökeres and Mbeumo. Another option is tweaking the formation into using more of a false 9 up front, in which case Zirkzee and free agent Jonathan David could be solid rotation alternatives, which will allow us to spend more money in other positions.
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Yeah agree that sales could well prove tricky, can't decide whether I would prioritise CM/GK after striker. I just worry that the midfield lacks athleticism and technical ability on the ball, on the other hand it's also hard to trust Onana so it's a real dilemma.
 
dinostar77 said:
Would love to know who they are shortlisting as keeper and whether it's a no2 to put pressure on Onana .
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Yeah it was suggested GK would be competition for Onana rather than a number 1 to replace him
 
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