What + who are our top summer 2026 targets?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I can’t help but feel this is one leap forwards and two giant leaps back.

Lost a giant like Casemiro and presumably 3 at the top end of our CM shortlist are now gone.

There are obviously many more CMs around, but some serious links would be nice to hear, because I’m seriously worrying now, with Mainoo, Ederson and…Mount as our CMs going into any season, never mind a CL season.
 
Sat on a sun lounger thinking about what's next for us this summer. So we have confirmed:

1. Santos - £50m
2. Tielemans - £35m
3. Darlow - £0m
3. Thompson - £4m

Total spend - £89m

I'm going to guess and say we have between £115m to £130m left to spend after some outgoings taking our total send to around £205m to £220m.

Outgoings:

1. Zirkzee - Perm or Loan to buy - £25m
2. Rashford - Perm or Loan - £20m
3. Mazraoui - Perm - £20m
4. Vitek - Perm - £15m (with sell-on % + BB)
5. Bayindir - Perm - £4m
6. Amass - Perm - £3m (with sell-on % + BB)


Where we have to invest still in order of priority and based on sales:

1. 3rd CM/DM
2. ST
3. RB

3rd CM

Following the signings of Tielemans and Santos I think we need a more physical option to compliment the ball players we now have. That said we don't need another Ugarte, so this player needs to be comfortable on the ball, be able to beat a press, along with covering ground well.

Personally I think we're working on Baleba in the background as he fits this profile to a tee. He had a poor season but started to show glimpses of his abilities again. It has to be at the right price though, so hopefully something like that £55m + £10m. If they are wanting anything above £70m we move on. My fallback options would be Sangare at Lens or the impressive Japanese DM Keishu Sano from Mainz. Both would cost likely between £45-50m if I was to make a complete guess.

A) Baleba (at the right price)
B) Sano
C) Sangare

ST

Dream signing if we had no other signings to make would be Junior Kroupi, but I think he would cost £100m to prize away from Bournemouth this summer. So being realistic and going with the brief we've heard from journalists that we're looking for an experienced option to rotate with Sesko, for me that leaves Mateta as the standout. Available for £25m, I think he provides something different to Sesko without us needing to drastically change tactic like we do with Zirkzee. Unless we want to give Brighton £15m for a 36 year old Welbeck I don't see many other Prem options. One outside shout would be Castellanos from West Ham if he has a reasonable release clause. If we break the experienced Prem proven brief then I'd take a punt on Franculino Dju who is being linked with Newcastle, Leeds and Everton recently and has been banging them in for Midtjylland. If he goes to one of these clubs, in a year or two we'll no doubt be thinking why the hell we weren't in for him too.

A) Mateta
B) Franculino Dju
C) Castellanos

RB

In selling Mazraoui this makes signing a new RB a must. With our budget, our I don't think we have the funds to go for a top of the range / prem-proven RB like Kayode at Brentford, so I'd be looking for a value option from abroad. For this role, I'd be looking for a CB/RB hybrid, like a right-sided Calafiori or Ben White, who strong defensively, is quick, comfortable on the ball and has good end product. An option we were linked to a while back is Pierre Kalulu who ticks all of the above boxes and would like cost around £35-40m according to reports. A very similar profile would be Wilfred Singo but I don't think he would be easy to get of Galatasaray on reasonable wages or fee. If we go for a more attacking / wing back option I do like Wesley Franca at Roma who given Roma's financial situation might be gettable at a decent price.

A) Kalulu
B) Franca

No LB??

You'll notice I've not included a LB in these plans which for most is as big a signing for us as a 3rd CM. Personally if Hall isn't available this summer we should be patient and wait for the right player. We have Shaw who was fine last year and did well fitness wise, and I also see Dorgu's future as an attacking Nuno Mendes type LB so he is fine as the back-up, plus Dalot and the youth players if we get really desperate. Maybe there is an obscure loan option or bargain option (less than £10m) out there that can do a job for us in an emergency but otherwise I would leave it and be patient.

Wildcard idea / Bruno succession planning

If we have a cheeky £15-20m kicking around I would go offer AZ a deal for Kees Smit, where we agree the transfer now and loan him back for a year. Give them a £15m sweetener now, with a guaranteed £50m coming later. For me, he should be our long-term Bruno heir who will allow us to play more of a 433 moving forward and can replace Mount's place in the squad next summer. They are trying to tie him down to a new contract apparently so they clearly want him to stay another year and this may give them the best of both worlds.


That leaves us with a full summer's incoming of something like:

1. Santos - £50m
2. Tielemans - £35m
3. Darlow - £0m
4. Thompson - £4m
5. Baleba - £55m
6. Mateta - £25m
7. Kalulu - £35m

+ 8. Kees Smit to join in 2027

Total spend - £204m + £15m Kees Smit upfront fee
 
Adds nothing to the discussion
Thought I'd give this a little bump and mock some of the ridiculous posts where people were absolutely convinced this would be a big summer of spending. How are you all feeling right now then after a net spend of around £40m?
 
We need a left back and a midfielder badly. Just realised we’re going into the season and it’s a real possibility that our back 4 is the same one that lost 4-0 to Brentford on the opening day in 2022. No other big club allows for that to be the case.
 
maximus419 said:
Thought I'd give this a little bump and mock some of the ridiculous posts where people were absolutely convinced this would be a big summer of spending. How are you all feeling right now then after a net spend of around £40m?
Click to expand...

There was nothing ridiculous about fans expecting United to be busy in the transfer window this summer, even Ornstein thought we would be the busiest club in England.

The only thing that is ridiculous is Ineos and how they have approached this transfer window which is an utter failure.
 
maximus419 said:
Thought I'd give this a little bump and mock some of the ridiculous posts where people were absolutely convinced this would be a big summer of spending. How are you all feeling right now then after a net spend of around £40m?
Click to expand...

What a poor thing to say.
 
maximus419 said:
Thought I'd give this a little bump and mock some of the ridiculous posts where people were absolutely convinced this would be a big summer of spending. How are you all feeling right now then after a net spend of around £40m?
Click to expand...
And what are you hoping to get out of this post?
 
Cee90 said:
There was nothing ridiculous about fans expecting United to be busy in the transfer window this summer, even Ornstein thought we would be the busiest club in England.

The only thing that is ridiculous is Ineos and how they have approached this transfer window which is an utter failure.
Click to expand...
It was clear we don't have the money.
 
Cee90 said:
There was nothing ridiculous about fans expecting United to be busy in the transfer window this summer, even Ornstein thought we would be the busiest club in England.

The only thing that is ridiculous is Ineos and how they have approached this transfer window which is an utter failure.
Click to expand...

Look back over the last couple of pages and you'll see so many unrealistic names and fees. Its that I'm mainly mocking, the fees, names etc, all completely detached from the reality of where Utd are as a club. Fans still think the lure and ability to make big money signings is still there but it hasn't been for a while now. There's being busy in terms of adding squad depth, but the market and appeal of Utd isn't something they can compete with anymore, even a squad player these days is costing £40m minimum, starters are £70m and elite players are £100m+. Given Utd's net spend is around £40m, as of today, I think fans need to be accept lower expectations and ambition as the owners clearly have. I agree Ineos have been a failure, that's without question at this point but the fans need a reality check as to where the club is.
 
maximus419 said:
Thought I'd give this a little bump and mock some of the ridiculous posts where people were absolutely convinced this would be a big summer of spending. How are you all feeling right now then after a net spend of around £40m?
Click to expand...

That's the spirit.
 
maximus419 said:
Look back over the last couple of pages and you'll see so many unrealistic names and fees. Its that I'm mainly mocking, the fees, names etc, all completely detached from the reality of where Utd are as a club. Fans still think the lure and ability to make big money signings is still there but it hasn't been for a while now. There's being busy in terms of adding squad depth, but the market and appeal of Utd isn't something they can compete with anymore, even a squad player these days is costing £40m minimum, starters are £70m and elite players are £100m+. Given Utd's net spend is around £40m, as of today, I think fans need to be accept lower expectations and ambition as the owners clearly have. I agree Ineos have been a failure, that's without question at this point but the fans need a reality check as to where the club is.
Click to expand...
Why do you think the fans should just accept it? And where is the club? As far as I can tell we are one of the biggest cubs in the world with Champions League football , that finished 3rd and the ability to spend up to 300 mill.
 
CatenaccioChain said:
Why do you think the fans should just accept it? And where is the club? As far as I can tell we are one of the biggest cubs in the world with Champions League football , that finished 3rd and the ability to spend up to 300 mill.
Click to expand...

Again it goes back to reality, a 3rd place finish when the team had the whole second half of the season to focus solely on the league and have the advantage of a fitter team meant we over achieved. We wouldn't have changed manager mid season if all was going well otherwise.

However the lack of activity in the market and with many areas of the team with questions regarding depth and quality, debt burdens and pulling out of transfers that Utd used to be able to afford is evidence the club is no longer the behemoth it once was. We certainly do not have the ability to spend £300m, half of that right now look ambitious.
 
The only thing a little ridiculous is some fans trying to convince themselves that this has been a good window so far. Looking at what people expected us to go for and what we actually did should be a real concern to all of us
 
Godfather said:
The only thing a little ridiculous is some fans trying to convince themselves that this has been a good window so far. Looking at what people expected us to go for and what we actually did should be a real concern to all of us
Click to expand...

Posters can be happy and realise there’s time left to add to the squad. Alternatively, others may see the lack of investment as a trend the clubs shown over the last decade and still see the quality that Tielemans and Santos can bring.

All the self righteous proclamations are tedious. Every opinion is one extreme or the other without yielding any sort of nuance to a debate.
 
Swedish_Plumber said:
Posters can be happy and realise there’s time left to add to the squad. Alternatively, others may see the lack of investment as a trend the clubs shown over the last decade and still see the quality that Tielemans and Santos can bring.

All the self righteous proclamations are tedious. Every opinion is one extreme or the other without yielding any sort of nuance to a debate.
Click to expand...

If we do not get proper quality in these last two weeks of the window I think there can be no other way than to look at it as a huge letdown
 
CatenaccioChain said:
Why do you think the fans should just accept it? And where is the club? As far as I can tell we are one of the biggest cubs in the world with Champions League football , that finished 3rd and the ability to spend up to 300 mill.
Click to expand...
We're a side who hasn't been competive in our league or cl for over a decade, in masses of debt and having to watch our spending. We're not at the top table anymore, there's no use fans pretending we still are
 
I think it’s clear our top targets were Anderson followed by Fernandes. After that Hall maybe.
 
Going through some old posts and this was the consensus of what we would do :

M.Fernandes
Ederson
Baleba/Tchouameni
Hall

Total spend : ~250M .

What actually happened :

Tielesman
Santos

Total spend : 90M
 
Welsh Devil said:
I think it’s clear our top targets were Anderson followed by Fernandes. After that Hall maybe.
Click to expand...

I posted in the Anderson thread as far back as December that he'd agreed terms with City. They wanted him in January but wouldn't pay the asking price as they (wrongly) thought they could get it down in the summer. We were never getting him!
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Still think their frontline could do with an upgrade, but they do have a lot of strength in depth.
Click to expand...
Yeah, if they could get upgrades for gyokeres, havertz and martinelli they would be incredibly strong. As things stand they are without doubt my favourites but if someone has a good season they could be pipped
 
maximus419 said:
Look back over the last couple of pages and you'll see so many unrealistic names and fees. Its that I'm mainly mocking, the fees, names etc, all completely detached from the reality of where Utd are as a club. Fans still think the lure and ability to make big money signings is still there but it hasn't been for a while now. There's being busy in terms of adding squad depth, but the market and appeal of Utd isn't something they can compete with anymore, even a squad player these days is costing £40m minimum, starters are £70m and elite players are £100m+. Given Utd's net spend is around £40m, as of today, I think fans need to be accept lower expectations and ambition as the owners clearly have. I agree Ineos have been a failure, that's without question at this point but the fans need a reality check as to where the club is.
Click to expand...
NEver wanted anderson, tonali, fernandes, rogers hugely even before the ridiculous prices personally.
Balde and Baleba were two of my top targets so glad to see concrete interest.
Agree the lure not as huge as previously, partly due to greed of money on offer...fernandes to spurs, good players younger now going to saudi.
However disagree on the realism of us competing for transfers...sesko was £75m and mbuemo wasnt cheap either...thats just last year.
Wouldnt have done all signings weve made. Thought at time ugarte a bad deal, and zirkzee not rifht fit. But i think pur windows under amorim until now been much better. We over paid fir sesko, ugarte and yoro but heaven, dorgu, lammens especially been shrewd deals and if we get a lb think its been a pretty shrewd summer window too.
Baleba and tielmans fir £100m combined is not much more than fernandes, same as tonali and way under anderson....i wanted baleba over any of them, tielmans too...only time will tell but i think thats very good business
 
jesperjaap said:
Out
Onana, bayindir, amass, mazroui, casimiro, collyer, ugarte, rashford, sancho, mount, hoijlund

Lot of players out. Somewhere around £100-130m and some big wages saved.

In
Yohan Diouf -gk
Balde or Nathaniel Brown - lb
Wesley - rb
Baleba - dm
Camavinga - dm
Mateus mane - cm am lw rw

£230m ish

Unless zirkzee wants to go id keep him as better option than strikers linked with, otherwise welbeck for couple of seasons. Id like krupie ideally as a totally different option to sesko

Id like thwaites to get more involvement next season too.

Despite the injury and form troubles this season...id rather Baleba AND Camavinga than 100m fees+ for the likes of tonali, anderson, guimares..theyd cost similar.

WOuldnt go for big signing lw...as cunhas been good and will only get better, dorgu, amad can all play there too and i rate Mane highly without being disruptive to squad, can ease him in.

Also dont see us spending over £250m so personally dont see tonali, anderson, hall, diomande etc happening...all too expensive...baleba at £65m odd be our biggest fee this summer...people hate that...i think it will turn out a fantastic deal for us

I also think balde/brownand wesley would add so much to our side going forward...rb upgrade seems seriously slept on
Click to expand...
Well from May post may have got a couple right by the end of window if Balde signs, so be pretty happy with window tbh if so.
Sub GK pretty irrelevant and santos/tielmans over Ederson/camavinga gives us mpre variety and less injuries.
Wesley got injured shortly after in the world cup but still concerned about rb. Wanted us to move to palestre then bit Chelsea over paid. Ganiou interested me too at Lens, probably cheap and adept at both rb and cb for squad depth.
The lw youngster we signed from Spurs looks promising but still gutted we made no move for Mane and stunned nobody has still, hope he doesnt rot in championship
 
Status
Not open for further replies.