Why are we avoiding signing world class players?

M Bison

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I would have to agree.

Lets say hypothetically we sign haaland and give him Bale wages, then loads of other players in the team are going to be looking for increases.
Not to mention the whacking great signing on fee and all the add-ons, only for him to jump ship in 2-3 seasons.
 

Machine Elements

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Just like with sacking managers, we are too proud to do it in normal ways like other big clubs. It should be United way all the time so for some fans we need to find a new Fergie first, someone to make & keep a team competitive with ordinary players then promote some not good enough players like Williams, Tuanzebe etc. from academy to keep our "identity".
 

Mark Pawelek

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Not just now, even during Fergie we rarely went for best players in the world. Only Veron, Sanchez, Pogba and RVP can go in that category. And it is not that we don't have reputation and money. We just spend it on other players
Are you disappointed with that? My opinion that top players win you trophies. And we at this moment have only one (2 if you count Bruno) and he (Pogba) wants to go.
Meanwhile there are rumours how Mbappe will be available for 120mil this summer or free next summer. We are not a club who is even mentioned about that. Ramos will be free this summer and i doubt that we will go for him. Haaland rejected us because of Dortmund and now i don't think we will go in bidding war. If Kane will want out this summer, again i don't think that we will be serious contender in signing him.

I think that we must make some transfer statement this summer. To show that we are still top dog around.
A squad able to play 11 high quality players each match has a better chance of winning something than one a couple of so-called world-class players.
 

LoneStar

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Because we can't offer trophies, and we've seen with Pogba what happens if you try to keep a high reputation player for long without big trophies.
Didn't Real Madrid go a lot of years without trophies, but kept getting too players. And then it paid off big time in the end. Ronaldo left to Madrid in his prime despite us being the better team at that point.

Getting top players attracts future top players. It's a cycle, and we need to get on it at some point. A generation of players would like Real or Barca since their favourite players probably played for those clubs at some point.
 

MinGin

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Said world class player must also fit into the team, style of play and have the right personality to fit team dynamics. Sancho definitely fits these 3 traits (plays at RW, plays direct football, great lad and already mates with Rashford and the rest of our English players). Haaland is a better player than Sancho imo, but his agent is Raiola.

Looking back at our recent history of signing world class players (we’ll go with the past decade), I can make a list with far more failures than successes:

Major successes:
RvP
Zlatan (for one season)

Minor successes:
Cavani

Minor failures:
Kagawa
Mata
Pogba
Mkhitaryan (great EL season)

Major failures:
Di Maria
Falcao
Schweinsteiger
Sanchez
Lukaku

Again, as repetition because of how important it is in our recruitment, it depends on the entire profile of the player.
I do think Di Maria would be succeeded under Jose, he was in the wrong position in the pitch which LVG wanted him to act as 2014 WC Robben's role. Also, if he hadn't got robbed.
 

Ekeke

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We like a challenge. Its never fun to play football manager with a top team and sign all the best players in the world
 

El Jefe

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If we're being honest, signing world class players has never really been the United way, we make world class players and I prefer that tbh.

Our 2007/08 squad was world class from top to bottom but none were world class at the time of signing them.
 

RashyForPM

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I do think Di Maria would be succeeded under Jose, he was in the wrong position in the pitch which LVG wanted him to act as 2014 WC Robben's role. Also, if he hadn't got robbed.
He hated Manchester, and so did his wife. Robbings are horrible, of course, but he was quick to pledge allegiance to PSG after he got robbed again recently, and this robbing unfortunately even threatened his family. His wife compared the city to the back of a fridge, the weather etc etc. Add to that the fact that he’s really weak and his record against PL teams isn’t great. He wouldn’t have succeeded here period and I’m glad we got rid, being totally honest.
 

MinGin

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We built stars, not bought them under Fergie.
Well, Fergie bought two or three stars and put some leaves around them to form a team.
We have many British club transfer fee record under SAF too,

July 1993Roy KeaneNottingham Forest£3,750,000
Jan 1995Andy ColeNewcastle United£7,000,000
June 2001Ruud van NistelrooyPSV Eindhoven£19,000,000
July 2001Juan Sebastián VerónLazio£28,100,000
July 2002Rio FerdinandLeeds United£29,300,000

Also, Rooney was the highest fee paid who under 20 years old.

If the club put that high amount to buy players, then they should be a star before they came.
 
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Well, Fergie bought two or three stars and put some leaves around them to form a team.
We have many British club transfer fee record under SAF too,

July 1993Roy KeaneNottingham Forest£3,750,000
Jan 1995Andy ColeNewcastle United£7,000,000
June 2001Ruud van NistelrooyPSV Eindhoven£19,000,000
July 2001Juan Sebastián VerónLazio£28,100,000
July 2002Rio FerdinandLeeds United£29,300,000

Also, Rooney was the highest fee paid who under 20 years old.

If the club put that high amount to buy players, then they should be a star before they came.
aside from Veron (who failed spectacularly), none of those were world class players. It was all about potential, and those players stepped up and gave us massive service.

‘world class’ players who are under contract now are just too much of a risk.

what’s the total package to go any buy someone like Kane or Mbappe? £300m? It’s utterly insane.

when it goes wrong, you get lumbered with the likes of Sanchez, Greizmann, Hazard, Countinho who have cost their clubs astonishing amounts of money for very little reward.
 

iHicksy

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Well, Fergie bought two or three stars and put some leaves around them to form a team.
We have many British club transfer fee record under SAF too,

July 1993Roy KeaneNottingham Forest£3,750,000
Jan 1995Andy ColeNewcastle United£7,000,000
June 2001Ruud van NistelrooyPSV Eindhoven£19,000,000
July 2001Juan Sebastián VerónLazio£28,100,000
July 2002Rio FerdinandLeeds United£29,300,000

Also, Rooney was the highest fee paid who under 20 years old.

If the club put that high amount to buy players, then they should be a star before they came.
Was gonna say. Despite his Age, Rooney was most definitely a star when we signed him. Also, Berbatov, Pallister (record fee), RvP, Barthez, Thuram, Tevez to name a few others just off the top of my head. All stars when they were bought.
 

Hugh Jass

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aside from Veron (who failed spectacularly), none of those were world class players. It was all about potential, and those players stepped up and gave us massive service.

‘world class’ players who are under contract now are just too much of a risk.

what’s the total package to go any buy someone like Kane or Mbappe? £300m? It’s utterly insane.

when it goes wrong, you get lumbered with the likes of Sanchez, Greizmann, Hazard, Countinho who have cost their clubs astonishing amounts of money for very little reward.
Totally true.
 

TheReligion

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I think for me the bigger worry is that we don't even have dibs on top English talent anymore. With Bayern Munich you know they are going to dominate the domestic talent for the most part and that has worked well for them. We used to be seen as the top club in england for english players. I don't think that's the case anymore. Players are chasing money and are happy to join City, Chelsea over United.
Who are the examples of this sorry.?
 

TheRedHearted

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Not to mention Di Maria debacle should never have happened in the first place. Guy never wanted to be in Manchester, and he looked like it too. Miserable during his time here!
But he still did fine here his first season. The myth I’m talking about is people saying he didn’t work here. If his first season from another league was second assist in the leagues he very well could have gotten better. I’m not too privy about why he didn’t want to be here but that’s his fault for signing with us if he didn’t want to be here.
 

Tallis

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Not just now, even during Fergie we rarely went for best players in the world. Only Veron, Sanchez, Pogba and RVP can go in that category. And it is not that we don't have reputation and money. We just spend it on other players
Are you disappointed with that? My opinion that top players win you trophies. And we at this moment have only one (2 if you count Bruno) and he (Pogba) wants to go.
Meanwhile there are rumours how Mbappe will be available for 120mil this summer or free next summer. We are not a club who is even mentioned about that. Ramos will be free this summer and i doubt that we will go for him. Haaland rejected us because of Dortmund and now i don't think we will go in bidding war. If Kane will want out this summer, again i don't think that we will be serious contender in signing him.

I think that we must make some transfer statement this summer. To show that we are still top dog around.
Supposed WC signings don’t come with guaranteed success or even with assured quality performances. Case in point - two of the four names you mentioned were horrible signings. Sanchez is arguably the worst signing in English football. Then you look at Barca with Coutinho or Madrid with Hazard.

The best team of the last 20 years was build for the most part with academy talent.
 

Plant0x84

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Only Veron, Sanchez, Pogba and RVP can go in that category.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Ruud Van Nistelrooj, Rio Ferdinand, Jaap Stam, Edwin VDS, Peter Schmeichel, Mark Hughes, all not world class during there time with United?

Under SAF we created WC stars, rather than purchased them fully finished, and I think Ole is building using this model.
On the other hand Falcao, Di Maria, Schweinstiger, Lukaku and Sanchez all big names who flopped hard at OT. Names are not important, talent, work ethic and personality are.
 

2015

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In conclusion we need to buy Messi or the next Messi.
 

hobbers

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We can't afford them because we spent all our money on mediocre english players with price tags over double their value.
 

Andycoleno9

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Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Ruud Van Nistelrooj, Rio Ferdinand, Jaap Stam, Edwin VDS, Peter Schmeichel, Mark Hughes, all not world class during there time with United?

Under SAF we created WC stars, rather than purchased them fully finished, and I think Ole is building using this model.
On the other hand Falcao, Di Maria, Schweinstiger, Lukaku and Sanchez all big names who flopped hard at OT. Names are not important, talent, work ethic and personality are.
When i said that? :confused:
 

red thru&thru

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Well, Fergie bought two or three stars and put some leaves around them to form a team.
We have many British club transfer fee record under SAF too,

July 1993Roy KeaneNottingham Forest£3,750,000
Jan 1995Andy ColeNewcastle United£7,000,000
June 2001Ruud van NistelrooyPSV Eindhoven£19,000,000
July 2001Juan Sebastián VerónLazio£28,100,000
July 2002Rio FerdinandLeeds United£29,300,000

Also, Rooney was the highest fee paid who under 20 years old.

If the club put that high amount to buy players, then they should be a star before they came.
I suppose the best way to look at this is, Fergie bought potential. Players who had the ability to become world stars.

Players like Veron stick out as the world star who we bought. There's not many others I can think of. Maybe Rio Ferdinand.
 

RedDevilzFox

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Who are the examples of this sorry.?
Kane, Bale from recent memory. Both of them played in the PL and they should have been at United. Kane is still at spurs but I feel if SAF was around Kane would have landed here. Bale we openly flirted with and he ended up at Real. Grealish is happy to collect his paycheque at Villa. Even Mane turned us down to join Liverpool. Point is, players don't prioritize United the way they used to.
 

TheReligion

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Kane, Bale from recent memory. Both of them played in the PL and they should have been at United. Kane is still at spurs but I feel if SAF was around Kane would have landed here. Bale we openly flirted with and he ended up at Real. Grealish is happy to collect his paycheque at Villa. Even Mane turned us down to join Liverpool. Point is, players don't prioritize United the way they used to.
I don't think any of that is true if I'm honest mate. Maybe in your head.
 

simonhch

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World class players in their prime cost big bucks and the jury is still very much out in whether they make sound investments. Top ten transfers of all time:

Mbappe, Neymar, Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann, C.Ronaldo, Bale, Felix, Pogba, and Hazard.

Outside of the silly oil money, how many of those were worth the money? Really? Ronaldo and Bale?

It’s not a great way to do business, especially since transfer fees went through the roof.

Smart money is in buying players before they hit their prime, before they become world class. And it’s a hard science to get right because there are so many variables in player development.

The OP is a bit of a train wreck.
 

Plant0x84

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When i said that? :confused:
You literally listed 4 names and said these were the only WC players the club has had. That kinda implies therefore that nobody else who has ever player for the club has been WC in your opinion.
I wasn’t having a dig, just pointing out that we didn’t need to sign WC players very often under SAF reign because we created them ourselves.
 

Andycoleno9

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You literally listed 4 names and said these were the only WC players the club has had. That kinda implies therefore that nobody else who has ever player for the club has been WC in your opinion.
I wasn’t having a dig, just pointing out that we didn’t need to sign WC players very often under SAF reign because we created them ourselves.
Club has bought! Not had. Bought as already world class players.
Blimey...
 
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Plant0x84

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Club has bought! Not had. Bought as already world class players.
Blimey...
Facepalm.

Dude, it’s not that difficult. In your own OP you ask why we are “avoiding signing world class players” even under SAF.

You then gave 4 players you consider the only WC players we have had in that time. You still with me?

I listed a number of WC players we already had at the club under SAF. My argument is we didn’t have/need to buy them because we created and developed our own WC talent.

I then suggested Ole is looking to follow the same formula for success. Develops WC talent rather than buy it.
Therefore it’s not about buying anybody because we operate in a different model to galactico clubs or those with Oil/state/oligarch funding. Got it now?
 

Andycoleno9

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You then gave 4 players you consider the only WC players we have had in that time. You still with me?
"Not just now, even during Fergie we rarely went for best players in the world. Only Veron, Sanchez, Pogba and RVP can go in that category."
What here you can't understand? Where am i talking about all world class players who we had in club? And Pogba and Alexis aren't even from SAF era.
You are trolling me, aren't you?
 

davidmichael

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I can only think of a few times off the top of my head of us going out and actually signing someone considered an established world class player in my memory pre Moyes in RVP, RVN, Veron, Stam and Barthez.

I wouldn’t class Rooney, Rio or Keane as world class until they fully developed for us although I guess you could argue that Euro 2004 pushed many to believe Rooney was world class already at that point, it’s more post Sir Alex that we’ve attempted the strategy of signing established stars and look where that’s got us.
 

dinostar77

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For the most part, and that's how it should be. But we've never been shy of splashing out big money for a player.
Yes we have but its rarely worked for us. Rather we stick to our philosophy of developing young players anx occasionally getting a WC player coming through.