Which defensive midfielder?

[Brightonian]

Apologies if there's already a thread, or this is the wrong forum.

There can't be much argument that one of the positions we most need to fill in the summer window will be DM, to get someone in to replace or as-good-as-replace Matic. In Bruno we seem to have done a lot to solve our midfield creativity issue, and in Fred and McTominay we have a really good engine room. Pogba may or may not also be here. But Matic is either over the hill or at least no longer able to fill the position every week, depending on who you ask, so to me it seems clear this is the midfield spot that needs work.

I don't watch much non-United football any more, so help me out. Who are the potential targets? Who are the dream signings, who are the realistic options, who are the back-ups that we can definitely get in if all else fails?

If you don't agree with me that we need a DM, or think we need other positions more, fair enough. But please keep that discussion out of the thread - the point here is to look at defensive midfielders.

 

[Minkaro]

I only really know the Premier League, but I'd love to see us go for Ndidi. I don't know if there's any interest, I certainly don't remember seeing anything, but he's the one I'd like.

 

[Hawks2008]

There were rumours about Denis Zakaria earlier in the season and from the few times I've seen Gladbach he has been quality. A strong ball winner, good technical level, athletic. I think he'd be a great addition.

 

[cyril C]

I only really know the Premier League, but I'd love to see us go for Ndidi. I don't know if there's any interest, I certainly don't remember seeing anything, but he's the one I'd like.

Relatively easier target compared with an English player. You know he will fit in straightaway instead of another Fred who we are desperate to apologise at end of season.

 

[Class of 63]

Think we should give Timbo or Axel a chance there first before we splash out serious money on somebody considered a specialist who may or not be able to hack playing at Old Trafford, and there's more chance of that playing in a team still in transition.

 

[Invictus]

I only really know the Premier League, but I'd love to see us go for Ndidi. I don't know if there's any interest, I certainly don't remember seeing anything, but he's the one I'd like.

Yep, he would be an astute acquisition — maybe even one who revolutionizes our midfield by giving it delightful balance in a structural sense (like Casemiro at Madrid, who has been as crucial to their success as Modrić/Kroos when you consider his screening and ball-winning prowess). A Premier League veteran by now so he won't take months to come to terms with the speed and robustness of the English game, a consummate destroyer and marker with an advanced positional/anticipational sense but also an effective conduit from the defensive third, and still only 23 years of age — so he could be a long term fixture for United, and worth the massive fee we will have to fork out. If we are to extract another player out of Leicester I'd rather Ndidi than Maddison, as things stand...especially considering Grealish is a really good alternative to the latter. @Hawks2008 mentioned Zakaria, and he could also be a viable target from a similar-ish age bracket on the basis of his formidable performances under Rose — definitely more realistic and cost-effective from Mönchengladbach as they don't have comparable financial muscle.

To be honest, it's a bit hard (maybe even pointless?) to discuss the defensive midfielder position without knowing what that will entail in the scheme our manager chooses to employ on a permanent basis. If we opt for a 4-2-3-1 with Fernandes as the central attacking midfielder and Fred/McTominay as one of the #8 box-to-box midfielders, Thomas from Atlético would be a sensible target as you won't need a dedicated “anchor”. For other configurations a holder or deep-lying playmaker who plays a proactive role in our possession/build-up play might make more sense. There are a few top talents in the younger brackets, too...most prominently Camavinga at Rennes and Luís at Benfica — both of them have the potential to establish themselves as the dominant forces of the coming decade when you consider their precocity and impeccable skill sets, but will no doubt attract a lot of suitors (perhaps including City given Fernandinho's age) when they decide to take the next step so United's management will have to be swift and masterful in negotiations.

All things considered we might actually be spoiled for choice if we are determined to resolve the position in the summer mercato and cast a wide enough net, in contrast with the years gone by where the pickings were quite slim (at least in relative terms)!

 

[OleGunnar20]

Zakaria, Ndidi & Partey would be the best options I know of, although I don't watch much Spanish football so haven't seen Partey outside of highlights. Rave reviews all round though.

I think one of the three should be attainable on the summer, with Zakaria likely the cheapest. What I like about Zakaria from what I've seen is how technically able he is despite being a solid defensive presence, looks a real all round top player.

Partey I think might well be unobtainable despite the rumoured low buyout, especially if we don't land CL next season. I don't think overpaying on wages in order to bridge these gaps is a good tactic going forward so hope if it came to that we'd walk away.

Ndidi would obviously cost an absolute bomb and who knows, may not want to leave Leicester for us this summer. If he was gettable though, as mentioned earlier in the thread I think he'd be a cracking long-term addition. To think he's only 23, feels like he's been around for ages.

Ascacibar would be a much cheaper, but in my opinion high-potential target, coming from a Stuttgart team who I don't think have much in the way of financial muscle.

He was great last season, pushing for the Argentina squad despite playing in a really poor team. No idea how him or Stuttgart have got on this year.

 

[Invictus]

Ascacibar would be a much cheaper, but in my opinion high-potential target, coming from a Stuttgart team who I don't think have much in the way of financial muscle.

He was great last season, pushing for the Argentina squad despite playing in a really poor team. No idea how him or Stuttgart have got on this year.

He signed for Hertha in the winter market!

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Davicho]

Thomas Partey. He has a quick forward pass and is a monster defensively. One of the best in the world in my opinion.

 

[Snow]

Do we really need to play with one?

 

[Bondi77]

We should be trying Timbo there and we have got James Garner whom is highly rated at the club. We could even try Lindelof there as I would have Axel, Smalling and Bailly as CBs in front of him.
I think this is a position we should not be making a big outlay on as a good coach should be able to fill this position with good coaching of a player and if we cannot achieve this with Michael Carrrick in our ranks then we may as well give it up.

 

[Isotope]

Like that Partey. He reminds me of Fabinho.

 

[Invictus]

Do we really need to play with one?

We don't need to play with a designated defensive midfielder, no ⁠— after all traditionally, English football had very few defensive midfielders of note, but an abundance of multi-purpose do-it-all central or box-to-box midfielders — however, the defensive midfielder role (i.e. a broad catch-all term encompassing players as varied as Busquets and Casemiro and Gueye) can be a cornerstone of your general strategies/principles and can make a significant difference in both defense and attack.

The former bit is intuitively straightforward and doesn't need to be explored in great detail because having someone who can be in the right place at the right time to intercept the ball, cleverly dispossess the opposition players, make crucial blocks/ tackles, cover opposition forwards, snuff out counter-attacks in a proactive way, ceaselessly patrol the edge of defensive third as a guard against spatial exploitation, do a lot of thankless but shrewd donkey work et cetera obviously helps.

But the latter is almost equally important in an implied/localized-change sense as the other central/offensive midfielders will have better margins to press/counterpress as well as the freedom to express themselves (like Silva / De Bruyne with the security blanket of Fernandinho, or hypothetically Fernandes and Pogba/Grealish with *insert name* at United), the fullbacks/wingbacks can bomb forward to a greater degree because of the rhombus in the middle with the centerbacks splitting wide, passing networks in the build-up from defense can be elementary and efficient, the gap between midfield and defense is less prominent in possession with the defensive midfielder acting as a stress relief, a defensive midfielder who has a profound skill set in possession can act as a quarterback as he has almost unparalleled positional insight into the game, the centerbacks can be more adventurous as the #6 can cover for them, you have an extra man to make goalward charges from the deep, and so on.

In a lot of ways, a good defensive midfielder, while unglamorous in a general sense because the role is stigmatized with an iconography of gormless “water carriers” or thuggish stoppers who destroyed but were agricultural on the ball — is a foundational piece in the right setup, and almost as important to a team's organisation as a False 9 in attack or a ball-playing centerback/sweeper in defense. While you don't need to play with players that approximate any of those roles, they can be brilliant assets in the appropriate schemes, and if United plan on constructing a midfield-3 in the near future, acquiring a good defensive midfielder (instead of whimsically hoping we stumble across the right solution in-house) has to be a must, IMO.

 

[Mr. Christian]

Surely Declan Rice fits the bill. Still not the finished article but already played for England. Given Ole is looking for strong, young British talent!

 

[Champagne Football]

Surely Scott Mctominay can adapt to the role, seem as Bruno will be taking his no. 8 spot? I think the club has big plans for Scott being in the first XI long term. He's most certainly not a number 8 when we're playing at home against Norwich, but he's a world class number 8 when we're playing away to top 6 rivals.
I think Ole will mold Scott into a no. 6 going forward. With perhaps a more offensive deep-lying playmaker brought in for when we play at home to weaker teams, such as a Winks or a Ramsey.

 

[Snow]

We don't need to play with a designated defensive midfielder, no ⁠— after all traditionally, English football had very few defensive midfielders of note, but an abundance of multi-purpose do-it-all central or box-to-box midfielders — however, the defensive midfielder role (i.e. a broad catch-all term encompassing players as varied as Busquets and Casemiro and Gueye) can be a cornerstone of your general strategies/principles and can make a significant difference in both defense and attack.

The former bit is intuitively straightforward and doesn't need to be explored in great detail because having someone who can be in the right place at the right time to intercept the ball, cleverly dispossess the opposition players, make crucial blocks/ tackles, cover opposition forwards, snuff out counter-attacks in a proactive way, ceaselessly patrol the edge of defensive third as a guard against spatial exploitation, do a lot of thankless but shrewd donkey work et cetera obviously helps.

But the latter is almost equally important in an implied/localized-change sense as the other central/offensive midfielders will have better margins to press/counterpress as well as the freedom to express themselves (like Silva / De Bruyne with the security blanket of Fernandinho, or hypothetically Fernandes and Pogba/Grealish with *insert name* at United), the fullbacks/wingbacks can bomb forward to a greater degree because of the rhombus in the middle with the centerbacks splitting wide, passing networks in the build-up from defense can be elementary and efficient, the gap between midfield and defense is less prominent in possession with the defensive midfielder acting as a stress relief, a defensive midfielder who has a profound skill set in possession can act as a quarterback as he has almost unparalleled positional insight into the game, the centerbacks can be more adventurous as the #6 can cover for them, you have an extra man to make goalward charges from the deep, and so on.

In a lot of ways, a good defensive midfielder, while unglamorous in a general sense because the role is stigmatized with an iconography of gormless “water carriers” or thuggish stoppers who destroyed but were agricultural on the ball — is a foundational piece in the right setup, and almost as important to a team's organisation as a False 9 in attack or a ball-playing centerback/sweeper in defense. While you don't need to play with players that approximate any of those roles, they can be brilliant assets in the appropriate schemes, and if United plan on constructing a midfield-3 in the near future, acquiring a good defensive midfielder (instead of whimsically hoping we stumble across the right solution in-house) has to be a must, IMO.

I'm not sure if you're trying to make some kind of point here. United have not played with a defensive midfielder besides some games under LvG and Mourinho. It's not something we've done, it's not something Ole has done and going by his United principles it's not something he's going to do. I don't think Fred's role is any different than Casemiro's role at Madrid. We don't play a Fernandinho because we're not as super attacking as City. Note that Fernandinho frequently covers CB and he's not replaced role for role in midfield. Maybe you want to argue the United play with two defensive midfielders in Matic and Fred but depending on the opposition they'll either operate as CMs or DMs but I think we can agree that the matches where you can argue that we play with two DMs is not something that we want to see as fans and not something we want to see moving forward. I don't want to watch United be the reactive teams that has to make plans to play around the opposition in order to have a shot at a win. Moving forward we want teams to adjust to us. We want to be more like Real and less like Atlético.

For me replacing Matic makes little sense. He's not even been a figure in our team consistently and when he isnt' playing we play differently. We shouldn't be buying players that when they are rotated our game changes because of who comes in. It's been one of our major flaws lately and why we lack consistency. Rashford is injured and our tactics chance. Pogba is out and we change. If Fred would be missing tomorrow we'd play differently. We've had consistency in midfield for a couple of months now because Fred and Matic have been playing together this whole time. It's given us stability in that area of the pitch but our front 3-4 keep changing. That's partly a managerial problem and how the manager sets up the team and maybe something he can change in the training area (like Pereira playing multiple roles) but as it stands I don't think we can be buying players that simply don't fit into how we want to be playing.

 

[thepolice123]

I'm not sure if you're trying to make some kind of point here. United have not played with a defensive midfielder besides some games under LvG and Mourinho. It's not something we've done, it's not something Ole has done and going by his United principles it's not something he's going to do. I don't think Fred's role is any different than Casemiro's role at Madrid. We don't play a Fernandinho because we're not as super attacking as City. Note that Fernandinho frequently covers CB and he's not replaced role for role in midfield. Maybe you want to argue the United play with two defensive midfielders in Matic and Fred but depending on the opposition they'll either operate as CMs or DMs but I think we can agree that the matches where you can argue that we play with two DMs is not something that we want to see as fans and not something we want to see moving forward. I don't want to watch United be the reactive teams that has to make plans to play around the opposition in order to have a shot at a win. Moving forward we want teams to adjust to us. We want to be more like Real and less like Atlético.

For me replacing Matic makes little sense. He's not even been a figure in our team consistently and when he isnt' playing we play differently. We shouldn't be buying players that when they are rotated our game changes because of who comes in. It's been one of our major flaws lately and why we lack consistency. Rashford is injured and our tactics chance. Pogba is out and we change. If Fred would be missing tomorrow we'd play differently. We've had consistency in midfield for a couple of months now because Fred and Matic have been playing together this whole time. It's given us stability in that area of the pitch but our front 3-4 keep changing. That's partly a managerial problem and how the manager sets up the team and maybe something he can change in the training area (like Pereira playing multiple roles) but as it stands I don't think we can be buying players that simply don't fit into how we want to be playing.

We have Carrick who played nearly 500 games for us but we have never played a defensive midfielder?

Fred is nothing like Casemiro. He is not a designated anchorman in midfield and he plays a more expansive game.

Fenandinho is replaced is with like-for-like in Rodri.

Carrick, Fernandinho, Matic and Rodri are essentially players cut from the same ilk.

Plenty of teams play with two CM or one CM and DM in a flat formation. Bayern Munich for example won the treble with Schweinsteiger and Martinez.

Just a Bizzare post on the whole.

 

[Moby]

Ruben Neves is the no brainer for me.

 

[theklr]

Surely Scott Mctominay can adapt to the role, seem as Bruno will be taking his no. 8 spot? I think the club has big plans for Scott being in the first XI long term. He's most certainly not a number 8 when we're playing at home against Norwich, but he's a world class number 8 when we're playing away to top 6 rivals.
I think Ole will mold Scott into a no. 6 going forward. With perhaps a more offensive deep-lying playmaker brought in for when we play at home to weaker teams, such as a Winks or a Ramsey.

For all his attributes, I dont think McT is suited to a pure CDM role.

Ndidi and Neves will be too expensive, Declan Rice as well (and I dont think he is good enough just now) seeing we are getting Graelish or Maddison and possibly Sancho as well.

I really think we need a pure CDM if we are going to play with Fernandes and Graelish/Maddison/Pogba.

 

[Redpimp]

Ruben Neves is the no brainer for me.

Ruben Neves for me too. He can link up well with the Portugese and Spanish contingent at our club and he can play DM or CM well. No brainer, but probably very costly

 

[Champ]

Ndidi, Neves, Partey, Rice, McT, all players mentioned who can play defensive Midfield, none of them are a defensive midfielder.
That position just doesn't exist like it used to, the position has evolved into a more rounded role whereby they are expected to break up play as well as create, to get forward when needed but support the backline.
I should know as I play in that role every week at a high standard!

 

[Champagne Football]

Ndidi, Neves, Partey, Rice, McT, all players mentioned who can play defensive Midfield, none of them are a defensive midfielder.
That position just doesn't exist like it used to, the position has evolved into a more rounded role whereby they are expected to break up play as well as create, to get forward when needed but support the backline.
I should know as I play in that role every week at a high standard!

So who do you think will the same role as you do? Fred or McT?

 

[Ander herrera the warrior]

First choice would be Thomas Partey, and next would be Kalvin Phillips for me. Ruben Neves would be too costly and I don't think he is much better than the 2 I mentioned, so the cost isn't justified.

If we sign Thomas Partey it would mean we have to drop either Fred or Mctominay to the bench, whereas signing Kalvin Phillips doesn't have to be that way, and they would be ok with the rotation all 3 of them I guess.

 

[golden_blunder]

Ruben Neves is the no brainer for me.

He’s not very mobile so it’s a no for me

 

[buckooo1978]

I think we should be looking for a more technical player than the likes of Declan Rice.....Neves has the technical ability but lacks the aggression and presence perhaps of an Ndidi - given our lack of spending power under Glazers these days I think the 60/70m that Leicester/Wolves would expect from those two prices them out perhaps

Partey does look good on the occasions I've seen him but I haven't seen enough of him

to be honest I'd be expecting our scouting department to get their arses into gear. This shouldn't be a case of put variables into a flipping database and come out with Rice. Like the right side of our attack this has been a problem position/role since.....erm Carrick retired? I'd like to see some imagination

Sander Berge was highly rated and we could have had a punt on him. Wiegl also highly rated, had a bad year and moved there for 15/20m - could he have been an option? We were linked to Sandro Tonali - at Brescia - Is he an option that would improve us and wouldn't cost the earth - been touted as 'next Pirlo'....maybe not the physical monster some might fancy but personally I'd take brain and ability over brawn....we've enough of that in the squad

 

[tob]

Kalvin Phillips. 100%.

He wouldn't cost too much. Good workrate. Opponents would know they'll be up for a challenge playing against him. He's decent on the ball and his forward passing is also pretty good. He's a good tackler and a potential leader in the team.
Don't think he'll come if Leeds gets promoted though.

 

[Brightonian]

I'm not sure if you're trying to make some kind of point here. United have not played with a defensive midfielder besides some games under LvG and Mourinho. It's not something we've done, it's not something Ole has done and going by his United principles it's not something he's going to do. I don't think Fred's role is any different than Casemiro's role at Madrid. We don't play a Fernandinho because we're not as super attacking as City. Note that Fernandinho frequently covers CB and he's not replaced role for role in midfield. Maybe you want to argue the United play with two defensive midfielders in Matic and Fred but depending on the opposition they'll either operate as CMs or DMs but I think we can agree that the matches where you can argue that we play with two DMs is not something that we want to see as fans and not something we want to see moving forward. I don't want to watch United be the reactive teams that has to make plans to play around the opposition in order to have a shot at a win. Moving forward we want teams to adjust to us. We want to be more like Real and less like Atlético.

For me replacing Matic makes little sense. He's not even been a figure in our team consistently and when he isnt' playing we play differently. We shouldn't be buying players that when they are rotated our game changes because of who comes in. It's been one of our major flaws lately and why we lack consistency. Rashford is injured and our tactics chance. Pogba is out and we change. If Fred would be missing tomorrow we'd play differently. We've had consistency in midfield for a couple of months now because Fred and Matic have been playing together this whole time. It's given us stability in that area of the pitch but our front 3-4 keep changing. That's partly a managerial problem and how the manager sets up the team and maybe something he can change in the training area (like Pereira playing multiple roles) but as it stands I don't think we can be buying players that simply don't fit into how we want to be playing.

The reason Matic hasn't featured consistently has been injury, not team selection. When he's been fit, he's broadly featured. And the stats with and without him are absolute night and day. Here's @roonster09's post on the topic from another thread:

With Matic	Games	Clean sheets
PL	9​	4​
Europa League	3​	3​
FA cup	3​	3​
League Cup	3​	2​
Total	18​	12​
Without Matic	Games	Clean sheets
PL	16​	2​
Europa League	3​	2​
League Cup	2​	0​
Total	21​	4​

Clean sheets in 66% of the games he played, 19% in the games he missed.

I'm not saying we need a pure destroyer, but we need someone who positionally stays deep and shields the defence. Fred and McT are both box-to-box, and the stats above show that two box to box midfielders just isn't good enough defensively for us.

I'm not really interested in what Manchester United 'traditionally do'. That sort of thinking is a sure-fire way to continue the slide into obscurity. Every decision should be made solely on the basis of what we need to improve and succeed now, and I don't think there's any arguing with the above. If you prefer using your eyes to stats, the Chelsea game was a perfect illustration of how defensively solid we can be with a good player screening the defence. I don't think our goal has looked safer against a serious opponent all season.

And I don't think you can claim that playing a DM is not something Solskjær 'would do' given that he's done exactly that in our last two games.

As for how we would play with a dedicated DM, it seems straightforward to me - something like this:

DDG
AWB CB Maguire Shaw
Fred/McT DM
Bruno
LF Martial Rashford
​

Or if we're going to continue playing three at the back sometimes:

DDG
CB Maguire Shaw
AWB DM Williams
Bruno Fred/McT
Martial Rashford
​

Regardless of how it looks written down, you essentially have a DM shielding the back four, a box-to-box player (either Fred or McTominay) linking, and Bruno sticking closer to the attackers.

 

[Rozay]

Surely Scott Mctominay can adapt to the role, seem as Bruno will be taking his no. 8 spot? I think the club has big plans for Scott being in the first XI long term. He's most certainly not a number 8 when we're playing at home against Norwich, but he's a world class number 8 when we're playing away to top 6 rivals.
I think Ole will mold Scott into a no. 6 going forward. With perhaps a more offensive deep-lying playmaker brought in for when we play at home to weaker teams, such as a Winks or a Ramsey.

I think this theory is so often discussed online but rarely ever a reality. The theory of ‘playing x against weak opposition, and y for the other games’. Teams usually have a settled team to a reasonable degree, and don’t just drop one of their best player’s every week because we are playing Chelsea today. Also, in the situation you described, I’m sure McTominay would want to play against Watford and Brighton too rather than just being archived for our next top 6 fixture.

 

[mu4c_20le]

We have Carrick who played nearly 500 games for us but we have never played a defensive midfielder?

He may have played often at the base of a midfield three, but I've never considered him a defensive midfielder, that's like calling Xabi Alonso a DM. He may have played in that position but he is not a specialist defensive midfielder like some names mentioned in here. And maybe because of that, our midfield was often overrun with him.

 

[Bilbo]

I'm not convinced that we need one at all, and even so Matic deserves another season, but if we did look at that position I'd put my vote towards Kalvin Phillip's too. Really like the look of him

 

[Brightonian]

He may have played often at the base of a midfield three, but I've never considered him a defensive midfielder, that's like calling Xabi Alonso a DM. He may have played in that position but he is not a specialist defensive midfielder like some names mentioned in here. And maybe because of that, our midfield was often overrun with him.

I think he qualifies as a DM in the broader sense. I'd say the more specialist defending-only type you're referring to is a destroyer. Carrick was the deepest-sitting midfielder and without the ball his job was certainly to shield the back four, to me that's a DM regardless of how creative he was when we did have the ball (which, let's remember also, was not nearly creative enough for most people on here for a long time - recall the era of 'Carrick just passes sideways' etc.)

 

[theklr]

The reason Matic hasn't featured consistently has been injury, not team selection. When he's been fit, he's broadly featured. And the stats with and without him are absolute night and day. Here's @roonster09's post on the topic from another thread:



I'm not saying we need a pure destroyer, but we need someone who positionally stays deep and shields the defence. Fred and McT are both box-to-box, and the stats above show that two box to box midfielders just isn't good enough defensively for us.

I'm not really interested in what Manchester United 'traditionally do'. That sort of thinking is a sure-fire way to continue the slide into obscurity. Every decision should be made solely on the basis of what we need to improve and succeed now, and I don't think there's any arguing with the above. If you prefer using your eyes to stats, the Chelsea game was a perfect illustration of how defensively solid we can be with a good player screening the defence. I don't think our goal has looked safer against a serious opponent all season.

And I don't think you can claim that playing a DM is not something Solskjær 'would do' given that he's done exactly that in our last two games.

As for how we would play with a dedicated DM, it seems straightforward to me - something like this:

DDG
AWB CB Maguire Shaw
Fred/McT DM
Bruno
LF Martial Rashford
​

Or if we're going to continue playing three at the back sometimes:

DDG
CB Maguire Shaw
AWB DM Williams
Bruno Fred/McT
Martial Rashford
​

Regardless of how it looks written down, you essentially have a DM shielding the back four, a box-to-box player (either Fred or McTominay) linking, and Bruno sticking closer to the attackers.

I really didnt think we looked defensivly solid against Chelsea when looking at the amount of good chances they squandered against us. Not to mention the VAR situation against Azzpuiliceta.

And Matic lost possession a number of times.

 

[Falcow]

How many midfielders do people think you can play in the side? We currently have 5 midfielders. The last thing we need is another one. If Mctominay and Fred and not offensive midfielders then what the hell are they?

This obsession with CDM, DM, AM etc is a generational thing it seems, it's nonsense. Midfielders should be all rounders hence why they can play in midfield in the first place. Think Keane or Robson even Kante.

We need somebody like Hazard or a prime Robben, someone of that ilk. This team is crying out for it.

 

[Bojan11]

First choice would be Thomas Partey, and next would be Kalvin Phillips for me. Ruben Neves would be too costly and I don't think he is much better than the 2 I mentioned, so the cost isn't justified.

If we sign Thomas Partey it would mean we have to drop either Fred or Mctominay to the bench, whereas signing Kalvin Phillips doesn't have to be that way, and they would be ok with the rotation all 3 of them I guess.

So what if it means we have to drop Fred or Mctominay on the bench? We need signings to improve our starting 11 before worrying about our bench. Freds been good this season, but the way people are going it’s like the second coming of Roy Keane. McTominay doesn’t have the ability to pass forward. His passing is limited to just side wards passing.

 

[Ekeke]

Partey is a central midfielder. He wins the ball less than Bruno Fernandes, McTominay, and Fred. Saul Niguez is Atletico's ball winner. He's also their best player this season

 

[AneRu]

I think we should be looking for a more technical player than the likes of Declan Rice.....Neves has the technical ability but lacks the aggression and presence perhaps of an Ndidi - given our lack of spending power under Glazers these days I think the 60/70m that Leicester/Wolves would expect from those two prices them out perhaps

Partey does look good on the occasions I've seen him but I haven't seen enough of him

to be honest I'd be expecting our scouting department to get their arses into gear. This shouldn't be a case of put variables into a flipping database and come out with Rice. Like the right side of our attack this has been a problem position/role since.....erm Carrick retired? I'd like to see some imagination

Sander Berge was highly rated and we could have had a punt on him. Wiegl also highly rated, had a bad year and moved there for 15/20m - could he have been an option? We were linked to Sandro Tonali - at Brescia - Is he an option that would improve us and wouldn't cost the earth - been touted as 'next Pirlo'....maybe not the physical monster some might fancy but personally I'd take brain and ability over brawn....we've enough of that in the squad

We haven't had our eye on the ball regarding recruitment for a very long time. The Sander Berge transfer was a frustrating example as we lack someone who can progress play from deep areas. Hopefully we avoid going for the like of Rice or other simple muscle men, we have Scot and Matic for that, we badly need an accomplished passer from deep.

 

[Lynty]

It'll be someone relatively cheap and likely 3rd or 4th priority

With a full squad, Ole doesn't like playing with a sitting midfielder. The double pivot is adequatley filled by McTom and Fred. We'll be looking at squad depth for this position, not an upgrade.

 

[buckooo1978]

We haven't had our eye on the ball regarding recruitment for a very long time. The Sander Berge transfer was a frustrating example as we lack someone who can progress play from deep areas. Hopefully we avoid going for the like of Rice or other simple muscle men, we have Scot and Matic for that, we badly need an accomplished passer from deep.

who would you target? Tonali sounds like a player who might fit that bill

 

[buckooo1978]

It'll be someone relatively cheap and likely 3rd or 4th priority

With a full squad, Ole doesn't like playing with a sitting midfielder. The double pivot is adequatley filled by McTom and Fred. We'll be looking at squad depth for this position, not an upgrade.

do you think there is enough creativity or passing ability there? It's a no for me and McTominay in particular is quite limited in terms of passing ability

adequate is probably the right word in some games but part of our problem with our creativity and chance creation is the lack of quality in that part of the pitch

 

[Lynty]

do you think there is enough creativity or passing ability there? It's a no for me and McTominay in particular is quite limited in terms of passing ability

adequate is probably the right word in some games but part of our problem with our creativity and chance creation is the lack of quality in that part of the pitch

It would be nice, but I wouldnt say its priority. We have bigger problems than whether we have quality passing in deep midfield.

Add quality in the top 4 positions and let the water carriers do their job behind.

Personally, I think Grealish will come in and Bruno will be moved deeper against teams who sit deep and let us have the ball.