Why are we spending so much energy on buying Sancho when so many other areas need addressed?

[Judas]

Thinking we should rely on Greenwood shows why a lot on here are clueless. We've needed a RW for near enough a decade, its no wonder we're intent on sorting it out.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Because... we just don't have a right winger.

That takes precedent over any other which we already have, so less priority.

Once and for all, get Sancho and done, solved, finally we have an actual right winger for a freaking change!

 

[Massive Spanner]

Sancho is a generational talent.

It's a bit like asking why we spent so much on Rooney in '04 when we had other issues in the team. Sometimes it just has to be done or you'll regret it in a few years.

 

[Infra-red]

We're not spending any money on Sancho at the moment.

If it happens, it won't be for €120m upfront, either - we can't afford that.

 

[londonredmaniac]

I think when a player of Sancho's level becomes a possibility, it's a no brainer.

But, as you say, there is alot to sort out here. I don't think we are sorting all our issues in one window. As long as we continue to add real quality, it's fine...but we need more than Sancho.

 

[Strelok]

Because... we just don't have a right winger.

That takes precedent over any other which we already have, so less priority.

Once and for all, get Sancho and done, solved, finally we have an actual right winger for a freaking change!

Tbh I can't even remember who was our last proper RW. Was it Valencia ?

We're United, famous with our flamboyant world class wingers yet we haven't had any proper RW for like 8 years I think? What a joke tbh.

 

[londonredmaniac]

Sancho is a generational talent.

It's a bit like asking why we spent so much on Rooney in '04 when we had other issues in the team. Sometimes it just has to be done or you'll regret it in a few years.

And, tbf, Rooney came into a team that was being slowly pieced together.

I get what you're saying. I think if we brought in Sancho and solved one other problem area we would be moving in the right direction. Has to be a top notch addition though.

 

[dove]

Aren't we capable of discussing deals with multiple players at the same time? We absolutely need a quality RW and DM for the next season, I can't see why we couldn't work on these deals simultaneously.

 

[TheReligion]

Because some players are generational talents. He is and he fits the club ethos.

Signing Sancho is in effect a no brainer.

 

[Massive Spanner]

And, tbf, Rooney came into a team that was being slowly pieced together.

I get what you're saying. I think if we brought in Sancho and solved one other problem area we would be moving in the right direction. Has to be a top notch addition though.

I can't fully remember 04 as I was a teenager back then but I'm fairly sure it was well known that we were in "transition" and spending £30m on a teenager wasn't going to solve our problems, but Rooney was such a mega talent that nobody seemed to care. Maybe it's because £108m is such a monstrous fee compared to £30m (despite probably being the equivalent now) that people are questioning this.

 

[Red_toad]

Do we need to blow our entire budget on it though?

None of have that answer, Sancho may improve the team drastically, or just solve 1 issue and the other issues will become more apparent.
In my opinion, if he’s going to take up the entire budget, then we’d be better off looking else where and leave ourselves funds for other areas.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Sancho is the cherry on the cake but you need cake! which we dont have.

 

[Galactic]

How much energy are we spending?

Spot on.

I say we buy buy buy until we can no buy no more

 

[Red00012]

If buying Sancho blows the budget then so be it . We’ve needed a RW for 7/8 Years.

 

[Jonno]

I think it's as clear as day we play incredibly 1 dimensional football down the left hand side too often. If you look at our heat maps on attacks, it's very slanted down the left and middle.

Sancho coming in would literally complete our attack. Considering we now have 3 good CB's playing regularly in Maguire, Lindelof and Bailly, I'd say we're doing OK defensively. Considering we have Pogba, Bruno, Matic, Fred, McTomminay etc in our midfield 3, I'd say we're doing OK there too.

 

[Siddharth]

Aren't we capable of discussing deals with multiple players at the same time? We absolutely need a quality RW and DM for the next season, I can't see why we couldn't work on these deals simultaneously.

An elite RW in Sancho is available in the market and we are trying to buy him. But is there any elite DM available to buy? I don't think so.

 

[Raees]

So did CR and Nani. We just need someone who is comfortable playing on the right hand side 60% of the time, can cross from the RHS, and occasionally cut inside to shoot with his left foot. Swapping places with left winger is normal practise, Giggs played on the RHS sometime. Problem with Sanchez was that I thought he did play on the right before, and I hope Mourinho had instructed him to start on the right, but never happen. It end up with traffic jam on the left with Pogba, Rashford, or Martial on the left hand side.

Nani and CR7 could operate on either flank but they didn’t roam around as central playmakers. They preferred to operate in wider areas and only left flank to score goals in the box.

Sancho can be spotted in centre of midfield at times. He needs a lot of tactical freedom and plays as a wide/inside forward for Dortmund where they use attacking wing backs to provide permanent width.

Not saying he wouldn’t be an improvement on what we have - just saying anyone who thinks we are getting a proper textbook winger who will give this side genuine width is going to get an awakening. He can provide it in patches but it’s his playmaking which will be his hallmark.

 

[MrEarl]

United have one of the best three forward attackers in the league. Probably 2d or 3d. Also the youngest with the greatest prospect of continuing development. United's top three have scored over 60 goals playing over half a season without a single competent attacking/creative midfielder with one, Greenwood, a part-timer. 75 seems a conservative prediction for next year. How much is Sancho going to improve on that?

Yes it would be nice to have depth but is it necessary to spend the bulk of the transfer kitty strengthening the strongest part of the team? Certainly, Sancho would add depth but that addition comes with a negative. United are not going to spend 100 million £s on a player who will ride the bench. So that means that one of the three young attackers will ride the bench and have his development sacrificed in order to add depth to the most potent part of the team.

Meanwhile, there will not be sufficient funds left over to resolve the teams deficiencies. That would include CB, DMF, and getting someone of quality who is capable of stepping in for Bruno Fernandez in case of injury.

 

[Bilbo]

Since we don't really have any clue what the club are up to behind the scenes, how about waiting until the end of the window before casting judgement? Just a thought

 

[Alanxyz]

I can't fully remember 04 as I was a teenager back then but I'm fairly sure it was well known that we were in "transition" and spending £30m on a teenager wasn't going to solve our problems, but Rooney was such a mega talent that nobody seemed to care. Maybe it's because £108m is such a monstrous fee compared to £30m (despite probably being the equivalent now) that people are questioning this.

I’m sure there was also something around the fact Rooney was on the verge of signing for Newcastle, if this hadn’t been the case would we actually have gone for him that season? I’m not sure there is genuine interest from other clubs with the ability to sign Sancho to force our hand.

 

[romufc]

Sancho is the cherry on the cake but you need cake! which we dont have.

True, we do not have a good defence, we dont have one of the best midfield, and we do not have one of the most exciting forward lineup.

RW has been a hole in the squad for 8 years! Sancho is the missing piece in that position.

Sancho is not the cherry, he forms part of the cake.

 

[Godfather]

Since we don't really have any clue what the club are up to behind the scenes, how about waiting until the end of the window before casting judgement? Just a thought

That's not really the case since Woodward took over. Apart from James we didn't have a single signing that came out of the blue.

 

[pocco]

Since we don't really have any clue what the club are up to behind the scenes, how about waiting until the end of the window before casting judgement? Just a thought

Whilst you're right, the end of the window is about a month or so into next season, if I'm not mistaken. It's not really ideal. Although I'd rather sign him a month into the season than not at all.

 

[Massive Spanner]

That's not really the case since Woodward took over. Apart from James we didn't have a single signing that came out of the blue.

Lukaku did.

 

[Okey]

No it didn’t. Liverpool got 78 goals in the season before VVD when they scraped in 4th with 76 points, they only scored 85 in winning the league with 99 points. And the main reason they scored more was signing Salah, not VVD.

This. For Salah, insert Sancho. Could easily have the same impact, even if not number of individual goals.

 

[Solius]

Because apparently this huge football club is only capable of working on one transfer at a time.

 

[DWelbz19]

We conceded 3 more goals than Liverpool and 1 more than City in the league. We scored 19 fewer goals than Liverpool and 36 fewer than City. The points gap to Liverpool was 33 points whilst it was 15 to City. We need more goals over the season to win the league.

Simple as, really.

 

[devilish]

I apologise for not answering individually but I was swamped by replies and I don't think its fair on you guys for me to keep repeating the same post again and again. It also tend to piss off mods as well.

Greenwood is a striker

Well Scholes was once a very prolific striker and Pirlo was also a forward. Who gives a feck about that? If Greenwood keep performing the way he's doing on the flanks then I'll be one hell of a happy bunny if he is kept on the flanks. The reality is this. We've got an exceptional player whose performing wonders on the right flank. If we buy a WC winger then the guy would end up having to compete with this guy AND Martial. That doesn't mean we shouldn't buy a WC winger. However let's take that in consideration.

Jadon will make us better

That's a given and let me add to that. Jadon is young, he's extremely talented and he can play across all the forward line which would give us options. However he's 1 man. That means he need to be rested and he can pick injuries. Also Jadon is no miracle worker either. He won't make Shaw, Jones, Dalot or Bailly less injury prone, he won't turn Lindelof into a top CB or Mata, James, Williams and JLingz into better players. Actually it would be unfair to pin all our expectations on a young player like him especially knowing that players from Dortmund take time to adapt with us

There's a reason why Ole keep playing the same XI again and again. This squad has no strength in depth. All we've got is a bunch of over payed players most of whom would struggle to find a job at a top 6 club let alone with Manchester United

Conclusion

TBH I believe that what Dortmund are asking for Jadon is fair. 120m EUROS spread out in installments of 2-3 years is reasonable for such WC talent. So ideally we should bring in Jadon, another LB and 2 players to strengthen our strength in depth with a striker added in the January sales. That would allow most of the deadwood to be shown the door which let's face it is a burden on our salary bill but will unlikely fill United's coffers

If the ideal scenario is out of the picture then we need to be cynical. That means that tough questions need to be asked. For example is it worth keeping Lindelof even though he lacks the pace needed to be Maguire's partner? Should we cash in on Tuanzebe? Does it make sense to keep McT AND Fred knowing that they lack the characteristics to replace Matic while they can't possibly cover for Bruno and Pogba? Should we keep Smalling against his will?

If both scenarios (having extra money allocated for special talent AND being cynical) then I'd rather see us buy 3-4 players then just Jadon. It would be better for the club and it would be better for him.

 

[DWelbz19]

1. We desperately need an actual right winger
2. Jadon Sancho is the best one around (who is attainable)
3. Jadon Sancho actually wants to join the club

 

[izec]

Quality strength in depth is as important if not more important then signing Sancho. Our reserves are basically crap and we are forced to run the first team to the ground.

The emergence of Greenwood should put things into a certain perspective. I wonder if we need a Lb more then a RW. Shaw is a crock and Williams is cack.

We need quite a bit to be fair. I would say RW, DM and LB are priority, with CB and GK potentially as well right behind. Gk can be solved internally, but the other positions need to be bought. But since we can only work one transfer at a time and need 2 months to cough up the 120m, while spending that time trying to reduce the price for 10 or 20m (that won't work anyway), we will have no time left to buy another one or two players.

Signing a young close to world class RW is needed. Just as much as improving the squad depth. But we are slow as feck and never seem to resolve something in one window and always need a couple of transfer windows, until other gaps appear.

 

[Okey]

For all the talk of currently having Greenwood on the right, he's actually not great as a right winger or wide forward, in the mould of, say, Rashford on the left. Hardly ever drives forward or creates anything from there. He's just a great goal scorer who starts on the right side of our attack. With Sancho, you get a proper winger who creates chances from the right, just like we do on the left. Totally changes our game and occupies defences more and differently. That's how great teams vary their options and score more goals.

 

[ivaldo]

Its rare you get to add a player of this caliber to your starting XI. When those opportunities arise, you need to go for them. He's very young, he's English, and he's already producing at a big club. He plays in a position we need reinforcements in, he adds additional goals, and creativity, which our team is sorely lacking outside of Pogba and Bruno.

It's actually refreshing to see the club go for top class talent as opposed to trying to solve multiple issues in one windows with gambles on players who might not have it in them to play for us long term. We still are very much a project, let's not forget.

 

[CM]

You only have to take one look at our bench to know why.

Last night was a good example of a game where we needed another option but didn't really have one to call on. Rashford didn't have a great game and played 113 minutes. Greenwood isn't really a winger either.

 

[devilish]

We need quite a bit to be fair. I would say RW, DM and LB are priority, with CB and GK potentially as well right behind. Gk can be solved internally, but the other positions need to be bought. But since we can only work one transfer at a time and need 2 months to cough up the 120m, while spending that time trying to reduce the price for 10 or 20m (that won't work anyway), we will have no time left to buy another one or two players.

Signing a young close to world class RW is needed. Just as much as improving the squad depth. But we are slow as feck and never seem to resolve something in one window and always need a couple of transfer windows, until other gaps appear.

I fully agree.

Don't take me wrong I would love to see Sancho at United. He's the sort of special talent United should buy at all cost. However if we have to choose between buying just Sancho or spread the budget out to improve our squad then I regretfully choose the latter.

 

[Skåre Willoch]

Sancho is the cherry on the cake but you need cake! which we dont have.

Nah, this would be a better description of Grealish. Sancho is a key ingredient to bake the actual cake.

 

[EwanI Ted]

I apologise for not answering individually but I was swamped by replies and I don't think its fair on you guys for me to keep repeating the same post again and again. It also tend to piss off mods as well.

Greenwood is a striker

Well Scholes was once a very prolific striker and Pirlo was also a forward. Who gives a feck about that? If Greenwood keep performing the way he's doing on the flanks then I'll be one hell of a happy bunny if he is kept on the flanks. The reality is this. We've got an exceptional player whose performing wonders on the right flank. If we buy a WC winger then the guy would end up having to compete with this guy AND Martial. That doesn't mean we shouldn't buy a WC winger. However let's take that in consideration.

Those are two players who moved because their strengths meant they thrived in a different position to where they started out. But it would be a remarkable misreading of Greenwood’s strengths to play him in any position that kept him away from goal. His eye for goal is without doubt his biggest strength. Long term, playing him RW simply means asking him to do less of what he’s best at, and more of what he isnt. Like most modern attackers he‘s flexible, so he can probably do a job anywhere on the front line, but in sight of the goal is absolutely where he should be long term.

 

[devilish]

Those are two players who moved because their strengths meant they thrived in a different position to where they started out. But it would be a remarkable misreading of Greenwood’s strengths to play him in any position that kept him away from goal. His eye for goal is without doubt his biggest strength. Long term, playing him RW simply means asking him to do less of what he’s best at, and more of what he isnt. Like most modern attackers he‘s flexible, so he can probably do a job anywhere on the front line, but in sight of the goal is absolutely where he should be long term.

Pirlo yes, Scholes no. He would have been a top top striker as shown when he covered the role during Cantona's absence.

According to whoscored Greenwood had scored 11 goals in 15 games as RW. That's fine for me.

 

[Handré1990]

A little unfair on AWB and Shaw, since both have had good seasons, but I desperately want to see attacking contributions from or LB and RB positions. Seems this is something essential for top teams, and something we just don’t have.

 

[Dec9003]

It might be a bit of a hot take but I’d argue we’re more desperate for a quality midfield player at the moment.
Controlling your midfield makes life easier in every match, and our defensive midfield options don’t really convince me.
I think I’d rather get a player that drops Matic to the bench than get a player that drops Greenwood to the bench.
That’s not to say I don’t think we need a right wing player, just maybe not one that potentially costs out entire budget whilst leaving obvious gaps in the rest of the team for another season.

 

[EwanI Ted]

Pirlo yes, Scholes no. He would have been a top top striker as shown when he covered the role during Cantona's absence.

According to whoscored Greenwood had scored 11 goals in 15 games as RW. That's fine for me.

Just because Scholes was a decent striker doesn't mean he wasn't better in midfield. In the same way, just because Greenwood is good on the wing, doesn't mean he won't be better up front.