- Unless we spend huge sums of money(amount only PSG and City can afford), get in a coach/manager that gets the most out of the players an improve a lot during the preseason and a DoF that works magic with our squad, there is no chance that we will be anywhere close to challenging for the title next season.
- One can buy relatively young players that would still improve the quality of the team(Tierney, Jovic, Akanji(United fan), Sancho(Would cost but worth it), Ake(Personal opinion), Aouar(Would cost but worth it), Ndombele, Hermoso(If Real Madrid does not buy him))
- The amount of money spent on a player does not necessary reflect the quality of the player: Lukaku cost a fortune. Torreira cost around 1/4 of Lukaku. Which of these players would you rather have in your team.
- Spending £25m on an aging Alderweireld this summer would be a relatively good deal, as he is not a CB that has relied on being physically dominant and would be usefull both on and off the pitch for some seasons.
- Unless we are able to offload some of the high earning and underperforming players, we will not be able to spend more than £150m(optimistic number) net on players. And given the wages and the performances some of our players are on, selling them will not be easy, thus buying Koulibaly for £70m+ would not make it easy to strengthen other parts of the squad. Koulibaly is 2,5 years younger than Alderweireld, but more reliant on his physique.
Who's attainable if we were to spend big and improve our squad?
- Thread starter ROFLUTION
- Start date
I would suggest you look at the way Juventus have built their team over the years. That is the model we should be following. The German clubs have done similarly over the years too. Juve got Pogba for a pittance, Vidal from Leverkusen for £9m and Pirlo for next to nothing. Them three players formed one of the best midfields in world football.
Nikola Milenkovic is gonna be better than any young CB we have currently imo. He has good distribution, dominant in the air, and has pace to go along with his versatility. He's also a huge presence hence being called the Serbian Tower. Whoever signs him will have one of the best CBs of the next ten years imo.
Houssam Aouar is also a bigger talent than Rashford or Martial as far as I'm concerned. His star is shining even brighter after his superb performance against Man City in the Champions League in the last round of games. Guardiola described him as a "incredible player" after the game.
Aouar will be a target for City, given that Frenkie D. Jong will go to PSG. But if we can get him, then he should be top of the list.
Not completely sold on Milenkovic. Can see the similarities with Nemanja, which in some instances can be positive, and in other situations not so positive. Seems reckless as he is often charging into tackles. If he does not get the ball in these situations then he/the team got a problem. Would suggest you take a look at Akanji instead. More composed defender. And he is a known fan of our club and does not like the current playing style we have(Nothing wrong with that).
Akanji is very good and I like what I've seen from him for sure.
Didn't Mbappe also say something like that?
And when he mentions that he is a Manchester United fan it seems like he could see a move going to OT in the future?
Not a direct statement, but it was claimed (summer 2017) he had no interest in playing for us due to the playing style.
Don't you think it's a little disturbing to have earned such a reputation under this Manager amongst the other talented young players.
You reap what you saw.
I certainly hope no player is purchased on Mourinho's' recommendation. Moreso, if the intention is to remove him next season.
I think the only person that does not know that JM will not be manager here next season is Woodward.
If Woodward sanctions signings on the recommendation from JM or aquires his targets, then people will be convinced at how inept he is at governing an organization.
If we perform well from now until Januray i can easily see Woodward spending £££ on players for JM.
Unless it is a player who is adaptable and so good that we cannot miss out
Alternatively comes with the incoming new managers' blessings.
I'd love to see a good old clear out and some mega bucks being spent. To many players have been letting us down for years.
GK - DDG has to be given a new long term contract. Any team aiming to be the best needs a GK of Dog's standard. The back ups are perfect. Hopefully more loan/game time for Joel and Henderson.
Defence - Valencia/Young can go, best years behind them. They've given what they can for the club but no longer have the quality expected for our club. Jones/Rojo/Darmian can also follow suit, but none of them have given the club the quality we have needed.
Would love to bring in Wan Bisaka/Matt Doherty and have competition for Dalot. Like what I see of both of them and obviously Dalot is showing signs of what a we love as a club, young full of running and taking on players, not even mentioning some of the crosses he put in yesterday. Same with the left back position. Alot of talk about Teirney but truthfully I've never seen him play. But Shaw needs competition, he's improved, it's been positive for him this season but there is still alot to be worked on. Healthy competition for both our young full backs would be awesome.
Would bring back in Tuanzabe. And one or two major buys. Break the record and bring in Koulibaly/Skrinar. Would love De Ligt as well.
And pay the release clause for Toby - having two world class centre backs with Smalling/Lindeloff/Tuanzabe/Bailey as back up. Would not be to fussed if one off Bailey or Lindeloff went as well.
Mid - Love Herrera and his attitude. Pogba for me is absolutely ridiculous on his day. He's to important to go and I really do think to much focus is put on his performances while the rest of the team has been worse then horeshit. Fred and Andreas - I like both. Love Mata but would not keep him, SAME with Fellaini - I actually love the bloke but we need to move forward.
Mata/Fellaini/Matic can all go.
Bring in Ruben Neves and give the manager the choice of Neves/Pogba/Herrera/Fred/Andreas to pick from in a midfield 3. There is a great balance there and the players all offer something different.
Wings - Second major buy - Bring in Sancho!! We need a right wing desperately. The boy just seems to tick all of the boxes.
Obviously would keep Martial/Lingard/Rashford/Sanchez/Lukaku. There's to much quality there. If possible wouldn't mind a proper centre forward to compete with Lukaku.
Most importantly a new manager. Someone who can come in and work with all the players. Genuinely feel if we could bring in players mentioned/or of similar quality we could make great strides to become a force again.
GK - DDG has to be given a new long term contract. Any team aiming to be the best needs a GK of Dog's standard. The back ups are perfect. Hopefully more loan/game time for Joel and Henderson.
Defence - Valencia/Young can go, best years behind them. They've given what they can for the club but no longer have the quality expected for our club. Jones/Rojo/Darmian can also follow suit, but none of them have given the club the quality we have needed.
Would love to bring in Wan Bisaka/Matt Doherty and have competition for Dalot. Like what I see of both of them and obviously Dalot is showing signs of what a we love as a club, young full of running and taking on players, not even mentioning some of the crosses he put in yesterday. Same with the left back position. Alot of talk about Teirney but truthfully I've never seen him play. But Shaw needs competition, he's improved, it's been positive for him this season but there is still alot to be worked on. Healthy competition for both our young full backs would be awesome.
Would bring back in Tuanzabe. And one or two major buys. Break the record and bring in Koulibaly/Skrinar. Would love De Ligt as well.
And pay the release clause for Toby - having two world class centre backs with Smalling/Lindeloff/Tuanzabe/Bailey as back up. Would not be to fussed if one off Bailey or Lindeloff went as well.
Mid - Love Herrera and his attitude. Pogba for me is absolutely ridiculous on his day. He's to important to go and I really do think to much focus is put on his performances while the rest of the team has been worse then horeshit. Fred and Andreas - I like both. Love Mata but would not keep him, SAME with Fellaini - I actually love the bloke but we need to move forward.
Mata/Fellaini/Matic can all go.
Bring in Ruben Neves and give the manager the choice of Neves/Pogba/Herrera/Fred/Andreas to pick from in a midfield 3. There is a great balance there and the players all offer something different.
Wings - Second major buy - Bring in Sancho!! We need a right wing desperately. The boy just seems to tick all of the boxes.
Obviously would keep Martial/Lingard/Rashford/Sanchez/Lukaku. There's to much quality there. If possible wouldn't mind a proper centre forward to compete with Lukaku.
Most importantly a new manager. Someone who can come in and work with all the players. Genuinely feel if we could bring in players mentioned/or of similar quality we could make great strides to become a force again.
Football is a computer game. Who is going to take Sanchez approaching 30 on £500k a week? No one. The only way to shift him would be to let him go for a free. It’s the same with Jones. Lukaku we’d be lucky to get £40m for him.
If you let him go for free you'd likely still have to subside his wages, because 500k per week is still £26m per year, or £78m over the life of his remaining contract (and even that's from this summer onwards). I doubt any buying club would be willing to commit to that, even on a free transfer.
Our transfer business next summer will depend on
a) who the manager will be
and
b) how much Woodward and the Glazers will allow the wage budget to increase from what is already the largest in the PL. We have the PL legislation on increase in wage budget to take into consideration as well.
IMO investment in players will not be an issue. Transfer fees that is. Transfer fees should not be confused with cost. There is plenty of evidence that the club will be ready to shell out on investment in players as long as they have a long term asset value. Which is good procedure, both financially and football-wise.
Many people want to let players like Young, Darmian, Rojo, Jones, Smalling, Pereira and McTominay go.
Like this would enable us to get 7 new quality players in.
Newsflash: We can let all of those seven go and it would not free up enough wage room for more than maybe one serious signing. Maybe one and a half. And we would still need to fill the other 5 and a half squad places up. With what wage room?
There is a reason that these players have been kept around. And its not just their footballing abilities. They are cheap considering the alternatives.
All of them are on old contracts that are cheap in todays market. Its the main reason that the club runs their contracts down.
If they want to prolong the current terms its a good deal for the club, because it means that we can use the wage budget where it needs to be used.
To upgrade these seven players - with the names being thrown around - will never happen. Its just not possible.
If we really want to bring in 4-5 top/WC players next summer it will have to mean to let at least three or four of Sanchez, Pogba, Lukaku, Matic, Fellaini and even De Gea go.
Because that is where we have allocated our major wage cost (hopefully soon including De Gea). Its not in the seven players I mentioned earlier.
It would mean a major restructuring of the squad, letting a lot of the players that Mourinho bought/gave new contracts go.
It should not be done without changing the manager first.
a) who the manager will be
and
b) how much Woodward and the Glazers will allow the wage budget to increase from what is already the largest in the PL. We have the PL legislation on increase in wage budget to take into consideration as well.
IMO investment in players will not be an issue. Transfer fees that is. Transfer fees should not be confused with cost. There is plenty of evidence that the club will be ready to shell out on investment in players as long as they have a long term asset value. Which is good procedure, both financially and football-wise.
Many people want to let players like Young, Darmian, Rojo, Jones, Smalling, Pereira and McTominay go.
Like this would enable us to get 7 new quality players in.
Newsflash: We can let all of those seven go and it would not free up enough wage room for more than maybe one serious signing. Maybe one and a half. And we would still need to fill the other 5 and a half squad places up. With what wage room?
There is a reason that these players have been kept around. And its not just their footballing abilities. They are cheap considering the alternatives.
All of them are on old contracts that are cheap in todays market. Its the main reason that the club runs their contracts down.
If they want to prolong the current terms its a good deal for the club, because it means that we can use the wage budget where it needs to be used.
To upgrade these seven players - with the names being thrown around - will never happen. Its just not possible.
If we really want to bring in 4-5 top/WC players next summer it will have to mean to let at least three or four of Sanchez, Pogba, Lukaku, Matic, Fellaini and even De Gea go.
Because that is where we have allocated our major wage cost (hopefully soon including De Gea). Its not in the seven players I mentioned earlier.
It would mean a major restructuring of the squad, letting a lot of the players that Mourinho bought/gave new contracts go.
It should not be done without changing the manager first.
Sounds ideal......Is he the new Kondogbia/ Bakayoko figure who the cafe will demand and he will end up at Chelsea/City? ?
Ok I'll give this a go... Hoping for this rebuild of attainable players over the next 2 summer windows.
Centre Backs:
Lucas Hernández
- For me, this guy would be our most important buy. Can play left back & left centre back very well. Good in the air, better with the ball at his feet & loves to tackle. Doesn't that sound like Maldini?
- Trained by Simeone & Godin. WC champ. Hopefully becomes the leader we need at the back.
- He's French so should get on well with Pogba & Martial
- Atleti have Godin, Gimenez, Savic & 2 other youngsters at CB. Also hit La Liga wage ceiling so need to sell before they buy
Danielle Rugani
- has had enough of Juve due to limited playing time
- benatia, chiellini, bonucci, barzagli ahead of him
- competent in the air & playing balls out of defence
- realistic & cheaper alternative to Škriniar & Koulibaly
Right Back:
Eder Militao
- all good teams need a promising Brazilian youngster
- not as good in the air as the Serbian Tower Milenkovic but is no slouch aerially & is a better footballer overall
- equally adept at centre back too
Left Back:
Kieran Tierney
- Alex Sandro has renewed at Juve, Ghoulam is too costly & an injury risk
- young & full of potential, this kid just screams Man United signing to me
- fletcher, strachan, law; the best United sides all had a Scotsman hah!
Ball Winner / Mad Dog:
Allan Marques
- most crucial piece to this flying Napoli side imo
- if you can't get Kante, Casemiro, Fernandinho, Arthur, Busquets, Rodri or Thiago then this guy is the next best thing
- should click well with Fred
- in his prime now & will give us the balance in midfield that we're sorely lacking
- would be the costliest guy on this list as he recently renewed
Complete Midfielder:
Bruno Fernandes
- takes set pieces well & has good long range shots
- if you can't afford an Eriksen, Saul or Hamsik then you gotta groom your own
Promising Midfielder:
Lorenzo Pellegrini
- if we don't get him soon, he'll go on to become the next Mr Roma & stay forever like Totti & De Rossi
- there's a lot of clamour for Ruben Neves in the caf but I think Wolves are planning to build their team around him & won't sell unless it's insane money
- this guy would be much cheaper & is the future of Italy's midfield
Right Wing:
Rafinha Alcantara
- underwhelming I know. But this guy can cross well, is La Massia trained so technically sound & is a team player
- Barca don't want him so he'll be cheap
- Ousmane Dembele would cost a fortune & putting him with Pogba & Martial would turn our club into sulk central.
- i don't see Juve selling us Douglas Costa nor Bernardeschi before lifting the UCL
- Under, Chiesa, Pulišić & Bailey are not ready for United 1st team & are risks for the ££ they'd cost imo
- Lozano & Brandt are more suited to left wing
- BVB are not sending Sancho back to England so quickly
I highly doubt we'll be in for another striker/attacker in the next 2 seasons as we have Lukaku, Sanchez, Martial, Rashford & Lingard who we either won't sell or they won't leave.
Centre Backs:
Lucas Hernández
- For me, this guy would be our most important buy. Can play left back & left centre back very well. Good in the air, better with the ball at his feet & loves to tackle. Doesn't that sound like Maldini?
- Trained by Simeone & Godin. WC champ. Hopefully becomes the leader we need at the back.
- He's French so should get on well with Pogba & Martial
- Atleti have Godin, Gimenez, Savic & 2 other youngsters at CB. Also hit La Liga wage ceiling so need to sell before they buy
Danielle Rugani
- has had enough of Juve due to limited playing time
- benatia, chiellini, bonucci, barzagli ahead of him
- competent in the air & playing balls out of defence
- realistic & cheaper alternative to Škriniar & Koulibaly
Right Back:
Eder Militao
- all good teams need a promising Brazilian youngster
- not as good in the air as the Serbian Tower Milenkovic but is no slouch aerially & is a better footballer overall
- equally adept at centre back too
Left Back:
Kieran Tierney
- Alex Sandro has renewed at Juve, Ghoulam is too costly & an injury risk
- young & full of potential, this kid just screams Man United signing to me
- fletcher, strachan, law; the best United sides all had a Scotsman hah!
Ball Winner / Mad Dog:
Allan Marques
- most crucial piece to this flying Napoli side imo
- if you can't get Kante, Casemiro, Fernandinho, Arthur, Busquets, Rodri or Thiago then this guy is the next best thing
- should click well with Fred
- in his prime now & will give us the balance in midfield that we're sorely lacking
- would be the costliest guy on this list as he recently renewed
Complete Midfielder:
Bruno Fernandes
- takes set pieces well & has good long range shots
- if you can't afford an Eriksen, Saul or Hamsik then you gotta groom your own
Promising Midfielder:
Lorenzo Pellegrini
- if we don't get him soon, he'll go on to become the next Mr Roma & stay forever like Totti & De Rossi
- there's a lot of clamour for Ruben Neves in the caf but I think Wolves are planning to build their team around him & won't sell unless it's insane money
- this guy would be much cheaper & is the future of Italy's midfield
Right Wing:
Rafinha Alcantara
- underwhelming I know. But this guy can cross well, is La Massia trained so technically sound & is a team player
- Barca don't want him so he'll be cheap
- Ousmane Dembele would cost a fortune & putting him with Pogba & Martial would turn our club into sulk central.
- i don't see Juve selling us Douglas Costa nor Bernardeschi before lifting the UCL
- Under, Chiesa, Pulišić & Bailey are not ready for United 1st team & are risks for the ££ they'd cost imo
- Lozano & Brandt are more suited to left wing
- BVB are not sending Sancho back to England so quickly
I highly doubt we'll be in for another striker/attacker in the next 2 seasons as we have Lukaku, Sanchez, Martial, Rashford & Lingard who we either won't sell or they won't leave.
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Benkovic would be a very smart purchase - he’s the next VvD.
Looks tremendous at Celtic, he’s on loan from Leicester.
Wouldn’t be surprised if someone bought Maguire in the summer and Benkovic was Leicester’s replacement. He’s a baller.
Looks tremendous at Celtic, he’s on loan from Leicester.
Wouldn’t be surprised if someone bought Maguire in the summer and Benkovic was Leicester’s replacement. He’s a baller.
Is he more comfortable on the left or the right?
Left I think - although I'd imagine he could play either.
Thanks. From the youtube videos I watched, he seemed to mostly play on the left, which would be good for us. You were right about Wanyama and van Dijk, if I recall it correctly, so hopefully you right this time as well and we go for him.
Celtic fans are saying that Benkovic looks better than VVD at the same stage. Leicester bought two young CB's last window, Benkovic & Soyunco and the feeling is they are replacements for Maguire. If Benkovic is as good as Celtic fans say then maybe Maguire stays & Benkovic goes.
Wouldn’t say he’s as good as VvD was yet, but the signs are very promising. He’ll be a monster at Leicester next year.
Given the current philosophy and style of play of the club should we not be scouring the lower leagues looking for the next John Hartson or Niall Quinn etc. These players would fit in far more comfortable with the Man Utd of today than any ball player type of players.
I think Paulo Dybala, Christian Pulisic, Wilfred Zaha, Rugani, Lucas Hernandez are all attainable at the moment.
Every top team seems to better than United in being able to pick top transfers. The problem at United is one of lack of serious intent. There is too much media-fuelled speculation and very little actual activity.
And now the problem is so grave that seven or eight first team footballers need to be bought to mount a serious title challenge. There is too much deadwood, and the problem isn’t “fixable” in just one or two transfer windows.
The road ahead is long and bumpy.
(P.S. Looking for a “like” to post in match-day threads
)
Every top team seems to better than United in being able to pick top transfers. The problem at United is one of lack of serious intent. There is too much media-fuelled speculation and very little actual activity.
And now the problem is so grave that seven or eight first team footballers need to be bought to mount a serious title challenge. There is too much deadwood, and the problem isn’t “fixable” in just one or two transfer windows.
The road ahead is long and bumpy.
(P.S. Looking for a “like” to post in match-day threads
)
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No one will take Sanchez on 500 k a week even for free. At his current form, clubs will be hesitant even to spend 100k a week on him. Even if sold for free, United will likely have to likely pay some of his wages for the length of this contract.
Lukaku wont fetch more than 35 million. He might end up being United’s biggest hit on transfer fee.
we need to buy whoever the new football man wants (if we ever get one) and then get a manager who wants the same things as the football man
After watching the debacle against Liverpool and seeing how well their LB Robertson played and has been playing for them since they signed him for £8m. I think we should sort our fullback positions come the summer. I'm happy with Dalot as our RB and have full faith that he will prove to be a asset for us. Luke Shaw on the other hand isn't good enough in my opinion going forward and think we should look at someone like Kieran Tierney to provide the solution at LB.
Not sure how everyone feels about Tierney but I believe he would have a similar impact to Robertson.
Not sure how everyone feels about Tierney but I believe he would have a similar impact to Robertson.
Should go all out for Tierney, would actually say he's better then Robertson but wont get enough plaudits till he go's down to the premiership, would happily take Chilwell from Leicester as well, hes been superb this season, none of them will be cheap.
We need a style of play before identifying players. Otherwise we’ll be in the same situation.
Liverpool signed Salah and Mane for the price of Lukaku. Sick of us wasting money.
Liverpool signed Salah and Mane for the price of Lukaku. Sick of us wasting money.
I think Tierney is the one we should go all out for. Hopefully we'll have a new manager in place by then.
Quite a few people i've spoke to from Scotland believe he's better than Robertson.
I would love us to sign Chilwell and Wan-Bissaka. Nothing against Dalot and Shaw personally and I hope they have long careers, but there should be competition for places.
I think both of these dudes could come in and instantly start for us and would be instant upgrades. It would then be up to Dalot and Shaw to earn their playing time.
I strongly disagree with those who think signing big name players by throwing money at them is the answer. I would personally never want a player in my team who didn't really want to join, but did so anyway because the club broke the bank for him. A club with pride should never resort to that.
Dalot will be challenged by Ethan Laird who is very talented imo. But we do need a LB who is gonna give us a real attacking threat down the left and I don't believe Shaw is good enough going forward. My preference would be Kieran Tieran and believe he'd be a real crowd favourite. Hopefully we'll have a manager who believes in giving youth a chance and plays attacking football.
A couple of half decent CB’s who aren’t sick notes and could actually form a partnership would do wonders for this team.
It does look like we could sign Milenkovic from Fiorentina if Di Marzio is to believed. Would any of you like us to still pursue a CB even after we potentially sign the young Serb? Personally i'd try and get De Ligt too, or would you prefer the more experienced Koulibaly?
Its not my money, so yeah I would be all for signing Koulibaly as well. I would be happy with De Ligt as well, of course, but I just think that will never happen. He has his pick of clubs and there is no chance he joins us right now.
I haven't seen much of Tierney so I can't honestly speak on him. I have maybe an unfair bias against players coming from the Scottish league, but VVD is doing ok I guess. And he would be expensive as hell for a full-back, especially after we signed Luke for 30M, but again its not my money so I would love it if we spent 50M on Chilwell. He was very good against us at earlier this year. He is what we hoped Shaw would be! But instead he will go to City and improve their squad even more.
And I would love if Ethan Laird was able to step in and start right now over Dalot. But he is 16 (or 17) and obviously, that would be expecting a lot. I think we could get Wan-Bissaka in for relatively cheap and he could be our starting RB for the remainder of the year. Then in two or three years if Ethan Laird is good enough he and Dalot can fight for the position.
Robertson who is playing for Liverpool was laughed at too and he's from the Scottish league. Tierney is of a similar level to his fellow Scot potentially and some regular observers of Scottish football even consider him to be a bigger talent. The difference between Tierney and Chilwell is pace. Tierney from what i've seen is quicker which gives him the edge imo.
Tierney is miles better than Chillwell