The board deserve all the shit coming their way this season. A turning point you feel. INEOS are no better than the Glazers.
Wot, no LB? (2026)
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The board deserve all the shit coming their way this season. A turning point you feel. INEOS are no better than the Glazers.
They left him out to dry.
Sorry, how did we try to address it?
By not making a bid for Hall?
By enquiring about an Ait-Nouri loan on deadline day?
We’ve known since last season we needed a LB. Failing to get one is a failure however you try to slice it.
I don’t think it’s beyond our recruitment team to find suitable targets. It seems pretty clear it is beyond our owners to actually invest in bringing one in.
You can’t hide behind past signings who haven’t worked out. We have revamped our entire recruitment and data team specifically so that we make smarter choices, and pick better targets. But we still need to back them and actually bring players in. Relying on Luke Shaw as our only senior LB going into a season where we’re expected to compete on four fronts is negligence.
But how do we know that the data-led recruitment team haven't said that the alternatives to Hall are just not worth the money it'd take to buy them?
I agree it's disappointing that we haven't signed a left back but I very much think I can "hide behind" past mistakes because I want us to avoid making them again! I don't think spending 15 million on a back-up player is as trivial as some make it out to be because if they turn out to be completely useless to us, you end up completely wasting space in the squad on a player you won't be able to ship out.
Someone like Balde or Salinas is only worth bringing in this summer if having them in the side would be better than playing Dorgu, Dalot, or Mazraoui at left back. It may very well be the case that people far, far smarter than anyone on here have assessed the options available to us and determined that nobody affordable would offer such an improvement. We'll have to wait and see if they were right.
I think this comes back to the risk aversion in the recruitment team. Last year we at least had a mix of players from PL, other top leagues and young emerging talent that scored well in data.
This summer feels like we've gone a bit backwards in that regard. Any target outside of the premier League seems to have been spurned or deemed too expensive for the "risk".
Because that's patently nonsense and if you paid a whole team of people to work on all year/summer, a list of LBs to target and came back to you with a one man list of Lewis Hall, you'd be sacking people.
Difficult to say how much. But definitely enough to make a sizeable deposit, deferring the majority as per usual. The deposit would need to go on the RCF.
Our cash position at the start of the current year (financial year 2027) was pretty good (by the club's standards). While the club had heavy expenditure on players (including Sesko) in 2026 (258m in the first 9 months), proceeds from the sale of players was a record high 175m. The 9 month figure was 144m, but an additional 31m is reported in the notes. That probably puts the YE 2026 cash net spend at around 85m. That record sales figure helped in paying down the RCF in Q4 of 2026. So with a net spend that is very likely below budget in 2026, you could have above budget spending in 2027 while remaining budget compliant on average.
Come off it man. A data led recruitment team for a large club being incapable of finding a single LB they deem worthy of the money when we're desperately need a LB is just nonsense. You can't really believe that?
They can find viable targets. They're just to cheap to invest in the squad. They think they can take a gamble and get away with it for a season. We've seen this before in summers after CL qualification and it's come back to bite us. Listing our RB options as a get out is a nonsense - that's another area of the squad which is already weak with quality if not depth. If that's also our LB cover then we're making the depth there worse too.
You are counting a player that played 115 mins of football for us in 3 seasons?
One would argue he was replaced by Dorgu for over a year we didn't need a left back.
The easy answer to this is get Dorgu accustomed to playing left back. When all are fit Dorgu is likely the 3rd choice as left forward. Utilise him at left back. And if he cant cut it, we know we have a player that it probably not good enough as a left back or a right back, so move him on.
I think this is spot on. As predicted earlier in the thread, the calculus this summer appears to have been to use our existing 3 or 4 players capable of playing LB then go for Hall or another up and coming LB next summer when Shaw's contract expires. If a very cheap option was available this year then they would've likely explored it as well, but they were never going to break the LB bank on anyone this summer.
Not adapted in what way?
I think he needs to be played left back.
We may not have completely decided on system, but we know we are not going back to using wing backs for a long, long time.
No, no, no. The elite scouts in The Caf transfer forum subscribed to LaLiga 2 TV and watched every game of his career. They have assessed he would have been an instant success in the Prem.
He was in our squad and was collecting a salary, so yes, he counts. Him being absent with injury left us with less depth at LB, just like Ugarte being absent with injury left us with less depth at LB. We’ve accounted for Ugarte with CM arrivals, but we still haven’t done anything with a LB despite it being a glaring deficiency. That’s a problem.
Since we’ve gone back to playing a formation which includes a LB, Dorgu hasn’t been selected there. If he only gets moved there after the window shuts because we failed to secure any LB target, then it smacks of poor planning on our part.
Unless you can point to a single poster who has claimed that, you can drop the strawman.
We should really be gazumping Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford targets. Truffert or De Cuyper last year and we wouldn't be approaching an inevitable mess. Diouf was double the money so I can see not doing that one.
I hope we at least try Dorgu at left back now.
They are all much better run than us
The excuses that get made for the people running this club. Honestly. Not a single left back in the world of football worth signing, except Lewis Hall.
Nevermind that we'll need two left backs in the next 12 months anyway, since Shaw's contract is expiring.
So this fantasy that we've already agreed to sign Hall next summer (we haven't), doesn't even negate our need for another left back.
The excuses that get made for the people running this club. Honestly. Not a single left back in the world of football worth signing, except Lewis Hall.
Nevermind that we'll need two left backs in the next 12 months anyway, since Shaw's contract is expiring.
So this fantasy that we've already agreed to sign Hall next summer (we haven't), doesn't even negate our need for another left back.
Yep, but simultaneously, Dalot and Maz are somehow both fine at RB and LB. Standards in the gutter.
Yeah standards have clearly fallen, still would take a Guerriero or Zinchenko on a free when Shaw breaks down
I don't think we should just pay the asking price.
I would expect our expert recruitment team to have a very good idea on whether a club will be willing to sell a player (i.e. Newcastle - Hall), how much a player will cost coming into the window (Hall, Fernandes) and whether we can afford it. I also expect them to have a very good idea on whether the player will push to join you or will just be happy to follow the money when someone else comes in for them (Spurs - Fernandes).
They didn't anticipate that Newcastle would dig their heels in and were unwilling to accept the price for Hall was too much for us, such that we were still "enquiring" about him in August, rather than just moving on to other left back targets early in the window. They underestimated the money needed to secure Fernandes, they overestimated how much he wanted to join us as he basically just said highest bid wins and happily joined Spurs instead. The other problem with the Fernandes saga to clear inability to get any other business done whilst we're in advanced negotiations for a player like that. I predicted we wouldn't do any business until the Fernandes saga was concluded which turned out to be correct as we achieved absolutely nothing in the entire month of June because we were too busy focusing on a failed pursuit, with no capability to close or negotiate multiple deals at once.
Again an injured Baleba so late in the window because he wasn't first choice shows we move so slowly through our targets and didn't have the foresight on who we could realistically obtain and who we could realistically afford coming into the window, and are often indecisive on where and when to move.
We had 3 months to sign a left back which is a critical position and we failed. A few days before the window we have Nouri's agent trying to pimp him out to several clubs and because of that we decide to ring City on deadline day to see if they'll give us favourable terms on a loan deal because we're desperate.
Add in another failed pursuit of Louis Page.
You cannot pretend this looks like a well run operation. Ultimately the recruitment team probably got partly screwed by the owners giving them an insufficient budget to get the players that we needed. But still, red flags everywhere.
Yeah they screwed up massively, now if Vivell is part of this failed window too then he has to be scrutinised too
Can someone please put the Bane breaking Batman meme here.
Incompetence is definitely a part of it as well. Balde seems like he could have been bought. Even if Hall is the target for next year, you could have bought Balde and sold him for barely any loss next year because his athletic characteristics are suitable for the league. You were sacrificing nothing by buying him.
The club can't make excuses given the time they had to buy a full back.
I agree we should avoid buying another Malacia and another Telles just to fill a vacancy, but I do not think it is about finding good quality options, it seemed to me the club did not make enough money in the outgoings (with Ugarte being injured, Zirkzee being a low-level player no one wants to take and Rashford being integrated back into the team), so getting Baleba was what the budget allowed, and from there on, it is either a loan option or nothing, and probably we could not land anyone good on loan, the club should have planned better, but at least we have Dorgu who I think is capable of covering in case Shaw is injured or rested.
This is pretty much our only default hope, given that the comment from mmm Qatarian may also be true - that a hopefully qualified and credible data and recruitment team have determined that what’s available in the market was unaffordable or not up to the level required.
Looking at net and gross spend of the major clubs this morning on BBC - it appears on the face of it a dreadful lack of ambition, strategy/execution and foresight not to have resolved this left back issue, given how long it has been an issue.
The market is dysfunctional, but I just don’t believe that there wasn’t an option AT ALL, across the PL and the entirety of Europe, for a loan earlier, for some of our reported targets deemed good prospects but a risk. We were, after all, looking for back-up, not a starter.
If a loan for a LB was dependent on Zirkzee being moved or loaned out, it would be helpful for the club to explain restrictions due to our financial position at some point this month. It does look at the moment like negligent squad building.
ridiculous we were not sign any LB in this window, and we should pray that Shaw can play all the matches then we can see how wide open and concede at least one goal in every single match from attaching left side
Any manager in the world would have utilised Dorgu as a LB so Ineos theoretically addressed our LB issue last year.
That's not me backing Ineos - that's me highlighting that we only need a LB because Carrick only plays Dorgu as a LW. I like Dorgu as a winger but Carrick should have given him some games as a defender to see where he performs better.
Dorgu has played LB/RM in his career - there's no reason to play him in a position where he has no experience in except under Carrick.
Dorgus versatility is a huge asset because he can play LB/RB,LM/RM - but its time we try to nail him down to his best position and use his versatility as an advantage rather not using it at all.
That's not me backing Ineos - that's me highlighting that we only need a LB because Carrick only plays Dorgu as a LW. I like Dorgu as a winger but Carrick should have given him some games as a defender to see where he performs better.
Dorgu has played LB/RM in his career - there's no reason to play him in a position where he has no experience in except under Carrick.
Dorgus versatility is a huge asset because he can play LB/RB,LM/RM - but its time we try to nail him down to his best position and use his versatility as an advantage rather not using it at all.
Every time we get UCL, our board gets complacent in the transfer market (2021 excluded)
Ultimately I think us not being able to move on Ugarte, Zirkzee and Rashford has meant that we have only been able to rebuild the midfield.
I think had those three been moved on we would have added a LB, LW and backup ST to the team. The forward line doesn't concern me as much as we have more than enough bodies for the positions, although I would rather avoid playing Cunha, Mbeumo or Rashford at ST as I don't think any do their best work there so we will be asking a lot of Sesko this year.
The LB situation is very concerning not only for this season but from a squad building perspective. I said earlier in the summer they might want to keep a pathway open for Amass or Leon, but neither seem to be fancied as it stands. Not only do we have only one natural LB in the squad in Shaw (with a very questionable injury record) but his contract is up at the end of the season. In an ideal world we either bought a squad option this summer and then went big on Shaw's replacement next summer, or got his replacement this summer with then a squad option next year. We might end up in a situation where he have to renew his contract to avoid needing to buy two LB's then neglecting the rest of the defence next summer.
I think people are right to be frustrated that we haven't even been able to bring someone in for a year as cover, there must have been someone who we could afford....
I think had those three been moved on we would have added a LB, LW and backup ST to the team. The forward line doesn't concern me as much as we have more than enough bodies for the positions, although I would rather avoid playing Cunha, Mbeumo or Rashford at ST as I don't think any do their best work there so we will be asking a lot of Sesko this year.
The LB situation is very concerning not only for this season but from a squad building perspective. I said earlier in the summer they might want to keep a pathway open for Amass or Leon, but neither seem to be fancied as it stands. Not only do we have only one natural LB in the squad in Shaw (with a very questionable injury record) but his contract is up at the end of the season. In an ideal world we either bought a squad option this summer and then went big on Shaw's replacement next summer, or got his replacement this summer with then a squad option next year. We might end up in a situation where he have to renew his contract to avoid needing to buy two LB's then neglecting the rest of the defence next summer.
I think people are right to be frustrated that we haven't even been able to bring someone in for a year as cover, there must have been someone who we could afford....
I hoped we’d at least bring someone in: a specialist left-back and a promising prospect, if we can’t afford an established player. Someone to provide competition for Shaw this season and serve as depth alongside a new signing next season.
But it is what it is. Carrick will have to make the most of it. Hopefully, Yoro will get plenty of game time, with Maz probably serving predominantly as cover at LB. Maybe Yoro will turn out to be one of those stylish CBs converted into FB, which seem to be so popular at the moment
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I think Dorgu has all the attributes to be a very good left back. He’s fast, physical and would be amazing at overlapping runs. Needs time to learn positionally how to play the role but I think he could be great there
It’s unbelievable that we haven’t got anyone for LB. Looks like we now have less money than even small clubs 
Huge feck up. Counting on Shaw, Amass, maybe Dorgu and Maz is just suicidal for all different reasons.
Especially when it’s been clear to see for 2/3 seasons that several Premier League teams - lower and mid table- have much better fullbacks than ours.
It’s not like buying a 6. There are loads of fullbacks/ wingbacks on both sides in the Prem who would hugely improve our squad and even our first team. Some of them went in the window like Munoz and Diouf
Malacia and Telles as very apt examples.
The reality is your needs don't change. If we need to sell to top up the budget and you have no assets you want to sell, you either have to re plan your list or look at selling things that will make money. Planning to just go without for a year is just silly and has the potential to be detrimental to your previous efforts. This is also different to last year with CM, as at least then we just didn't have the right profile - we still had top first choice options and playing far less games.
Which is fine, but Carrick doesn't.
So combine that with the above, he would be ripe for a player to raise funds if you wanted to get an actual left back that suits your needs. Realistically as well, all the best full backs in the league didn't exceed £35m. We lack imagination if our only option has to cost £60m+.
You forgot Dalot.. everyone can play LB.. We will put Heaven in there if there are no other options.
Have to hope Shaw stays fit I guess
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