Wot, no LB? (2026)

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cpresc said:
Yeah thats the keyword, sequencing. I suspect we were holding out to see what happened with Tchou and once that was confirmed, we looked into Hall whom we'd clearly already done some groundwork on with his agent - also, while the other poster was complaining about not going for Hall early, I'm sure neither he or our recruitment team had the hindsight to predict Gordon would go to Barca for £80m and Tonali to Spurs for £100m (!!)

I personally think Hall is overrated and dropping 75m+ on him in a "we can do things no other club can" knee-jerk splurge would undo lots of the good work we've been doing with regards to mitigating Utd tax. In other words, it's good long-term planning with a mildly frustrating short-term outcome.

Furthermore, who's to say we're not just messing around causing further disruption to Newcastle, a Champion's League spot challenger. Recall how dishevelled they looked after the Isaak mess last year. Re-run that, why not, "I'd love it"

For all the rants and moans from the self proclaimed experts in here, our "who shall we buy for midfield" thread has been front page for 6 months and yet I can't recall a single person who suggested a Tielemans and Santos combo, despite both of them being under our PL noses. I personally think they're going to be great and both compliment Kobbie which is important.

So, if we're pattern matching, perhaps tomorrow we'll hear of another surprise "good value in the market" signing and if we don't, I think we should all keep the faith in our recruitment team as our trajectory and overall squad health (ability, culture, wages, age) is heading in a very positive direction - half a season ago we were utterly disjointed from the amóre rimjob. Have faith!
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The sort of stuff mentioned in this is pretty deluded though. You act like we couldn't have thought newcastle would raise lots of funds from players sales, except it was clear to anyone who follows the Premier league tonali, Gordon and Bruno wanted to go.

Yes, no one predicted tielemens and Santos would be our first midfield signings and they may turn out to be good signings but acting the fact no one predicted it means they don't know what they are talking about is silly. If we go into the season with Santos as our main casemiro replacement that would be a huge risk, replacing a multiple cl winning midfielder with someone who has only played half season in the pl (without pulling up any trees). I hope they fit alongside mainoo but personally don't see a tielemens, mainoo and Bruno midfield working. I hope that won't be the case with Santos, mainoo/tielemens and Bruno but it stoll seems fairly lacking in mobility

Also, how is being interested in Hall and not buying him good long term planning. Again it doesn't take much expertise to have known Newcastle would want a 60 plus million fee for him so it was an unlikely transfer. The problem is we don't seem to be moving for more attainable targets and appear as though we will be quite reliant on Shaw miraculously not getting injured again. The idea we are intentionally trying to distrupt Newcastle is some real pie in the sky stuff
 
BorisManUtd said:
There are probably different factors why we're possibly not signing anyone else this summer.

Currrently, we've got Santos and Tielemans (at least that cameo vs PSG) having good preseason plus Mainoo and Bruno soon back for preseason as well. We've also got club hoping Mount stays fit (optimistic) and we can't sell Ugarte as he's out for almost a year. When you consider all that, there's probably no will or money to sign a 3rd midfielder as much as we'd like.

Then the need for striker. We can't sell or at least loan Rashford and we can't sell Zirkzee it seems. Both resulting in no striker signing. Also we may see Cunha and Mbeumo playing as number 9 in number of games.

Finally, we only have Shaw as a LB and it's similar to Mount case - you can't rely on him staying fit even if he did last season. There's more games and Shaw hardly stays fit for two seasons in a row. They're looking to sell Amass it seems, Dorgu is seen more as a winger by Carrick according to reports. Mazraoui as LB? Then we essentially have 3 options for 2 fullback positions (Shaw, Mazraoui, Dalot). Lacking another players there in terms of numbers and quality. Hall would've been perfect but it ain't happening.

Shaw has to stay fit, Mount has to stay fit, Zirkzee or Cunha/Mbeumo as number 9 have to deliver. And our midfield has to do well without a real physical player in it. No one will be surprised if we're out of top 5 again.
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It's all indicative of owners who seem to want to us to be able to cling on to our current level with minimal expenditure rather than having any ambition to push on
 
I'm sure we will sign a couple more but it is starting to get a bit concerning. I would have thought we'd be adding 3 or 4 first team players but it all seems the have gone a bit quiet.
 
It’s looking like we’re happy to go into the new season with what we’ve got.
 
Matt851 said:
The sort of stuff mentioned in this is pretty deluded though. You act like we couldn't have thought newcastle would raise lots of funds from players sales, except it was clear to anyone who follows the Premier league tonali, Gordon and Bruno wanted to go.

Yes, no one predicted tielemens and Santos would be our first midfield signings and they may turn out to be good signings but acting the fact no one predicted it means they don't know what they are talking about is silly. If we go into the season with Santos as our main casemiro replacement that would be a huge risk, replacing a multiple cl winning midfielder with someone who has only played half season in the pl (without pulling up any trees). I hope they fit alongside mainoo but personally don't see a tielemens, mainoo and Bruno midfield working. I hope that won't be the case with Santos, mainoo/tielemens and Bruno but it stoll seems fairly lacking in mobility

Also, how is being interested in Hall and not buying him good long term planning. Again it doesn't take much expertise to have known Newcastle would want a 60 plus million fee for him so it was an unlikely transfer. The problem is we don't seem to be moving for more attainable targets and appear as though we will be quite reliant on Shaw miraculously not getting injured again. The idea we are intentionally trying to distrupt Newcastle is some real pie in the sky stuff
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Nice gaslighting there. I bet you win all your debates!
 
ron86 said:
If you buy good players you generally do well
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Come back when you see Mateus Fernandes being one of the best players in the Champions League or even in the Premier League. He's not anywhere close to that level. You're severely overrating him. He has great potential, but first and foremost, he needs to fulfill it, which is unlikely at Spurs under De Zerbi.
 
Eplel said:
FFS, stop pulling wage numbers out of your asses. He's nowhere near that at Tottenham. Their tier 1 sources reported between 140-170k/ week. That's less than Sesko's wages.
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yep, are you willing to share the sources, I have seen sources saying 250k+, even if the wages were lower 85m wasnt the price we were willing to pay from the beginning for a relegated player and he chose Spurs. COmbination of factors..
 
Ekeke said:
We werent though. We finished so low because we didnt play to our strengths. Mostly the same team finished 3rd last season - yes with the addition of 4 good players, but thats still 7+ that were capable of finishing 3rd.

I dont think it'll be every season and I dont think we're capped at £30 million. But I could see us signing our cheapest midfielder if we do sign another one (less than £35 million) or going for a player in another position for a similar amount. I wont be surprised if there isnt this marquee £80 million signing that we still have to come because we were interested in Fernandes. If Sesko's fee came out of this season's budget, then next season would be back to normal wouldnt it? And that would be the point of not doing the same thing this summer, pushing the problem to the next season all the time... Because even if we repeated it and spent into next season's planned resources, we could still finish outside of european places and have less resources on top of the borrowed funds as well. Then we really might have just £30 million to spend.

Also if our spending is impacted by the stadium at all, thats one of the main reasons I wasnt positive about the idea of building a new stadium. We arent secure enough that we can get by on a shoestring. However, we do have enough talent to do more or less what we did last season. For 1 we have plenty of young players and it would be normal to hope that something clicks and plenty of them either retain their level with more consistency or go to the next level. And we have Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko who have all come in having shown they can do a bit more at their previous clubs and in a 2nd season hopefully now they're settled and able to show their absolute best form. I dont think thats being unreasonably optimistic at all. And while more talent is more than welcome, Carrick's form with the current group of players rightly had us 3rd. He got results even if sometimes it wasnt great to watch. So unless proven otherwise I'm going to believe that for most of the season that might continue.
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The performances were as bad the previous season when we finished 8th which was very flattering given what we saw on the pitch. When it's back to back seasons performing like a lower half side, you have to accept the squad quality trying to balance four competitions, is nowhere near finishing 3rd.

If you sign 4 good players, it's not the same team. And importantly, we dropped from two games a week to one game a week. So a combination of Carrick playing to our strengths, 4 good players added, playing the minimum amount of games it was possible to play in a season, and a bit of positive variance saw us climb to 3rd, not just a change in tactics.
 
Poborsky's hair said:
yep, are you willing to share the sources, I have seen sources saying 250k+, even if the wages were lower 85m wasnt the price we were willing to pay from the beginning for a relegated player and he chose Spurs. COmbination of factors..
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Yeah, I don’t think there’s been an entirely reliable figure put out, but if you cost £85m and you’ve chosen to sign for actual Tottenham f**king Hotspur over United, it’s not going to be less than £200k a week. Why else is he there?
 
Sun linking us with Joaquin Seys as a potential LB option. Obviously BS, but this is after all the transfer forum.
 
Raoul said:
Sun linking us with Joaquin Seys as a potential LB option. Obviously BS, but this is after all the transfer forum.
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If we can’t get Hall, it’s the sort of signing I’d expect us to make. Hall is the only obvious left back candidate, and there’s no way Shaw will be the only left back in the squad come 1st September. If it’s not Hall, it’ll be a Lammens type punt.

Is this guy any good? Never heard of him. Never heard of Lammens either.
 
IrwinwasbetterthanCarlos said:
If we can’t get Hall, it’s the sort of signing I’d expect us to make. Hall is the only obvious left back candidate, and there’s no way Shaw will be the only left back in the squad come 1st September. If it’s not Hall, it’ll be a Lammens type punt.

Is this guy any good? Never heard of him. Never heard of Lammens either.
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Yeah we need a Spanish Football expert on this
 
We’re gonna have the documentary and they don’t want to dazzle with signings? I get Newcastle not wanting to part with Hall after selling their spine after losing Isak a year before but surely something has to be done. Brian Brobbey, a LB and a cm please
 
TheRedHearted said:
We’re gonna have the documentary and they don’t want to dazzle with signings? I get Newcastle not wanting to part with Hall after selling their spine after losing Isak a year before but surely something has to be done. Brian Brobbey, a LB and a cm please
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Brian Brobbey would cost loads and is an average footballer
 
His highlights are good, you can see a decent level across the board and has CL experience.
He is aggressive in his duels, suprisingly good finishing and decent overlap.
His play looks intentional and composed.


IrwinwasbetterthanCarlos said:
If we can’t get Hall, it’s the sort of signing I’d expect us to make. Hall is the only obvious left back candidate, and there’s no way Shaw will be the only left back in the squad come 1st September. If it’s not Hall, it’ll be a Lammens type punt.

Is this guy any good? Never heard of him. Never heard of Lammens either.
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AkaAkuma said:
His highlights are good, you can see a decent level across the board and has CL experience.
He is aggressive in his duels, suprisingly good finishing and decent overlap.
His play looks intentional and composed.
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Looked impressive against yamal at the World Cup
 
Some rumors about Wharton and Camara.
I personally would like Wharton at United, with Carrick potentially moulding him into a clone.

Camara would likely be his replacement.
 
AkaAkuma said:
Some rumors about Wharton and Camara.
I personally would like Wharton at United, with Carrick potentially moulding him into a clone.

Camara would likely be his replacement.
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Does he do enough defensively though?
 
croadyman said:
Does he do enough defensively though?
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I think he’d need developing, but Carricks main strengths pre united was his passing. He developed into the Regista role.

I personally feel Carrick wants to move to a 3 man midfield, Wharton would be interesting as the deepest.

Its all just theory. Carrick needs to survive the next six months for it to matter.
But I prefer to imagine than whine about lack of signings.
 
AkaAkuma said:
I think he’d need developing, but Carricks main strengths pre united was his passing. He developed into the Regista role.

I personally feel Carrick wants to move to a 3 man midfield, Wharton would be interesting as the deepest.

Its all just theory. Carrick needs to survive the next six months for it to matter.
But I prefer to imagine than whine about lack of signings.
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Have we got the time to develop that?
 
Wharton has always felt like a potential Carrick regen to me. I just can't see us sign him at this point, a) because of mobility questions, and b) because of the fee Palace would want in this broken PL midfield market.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah we need a Spanish Football expert on this
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He’s from Belgium and plays for Brugge, although I will say his name is very Spanish sounding :D

He is quick and aggressive and known for his pressing. Massive ceiling but still only 21. He has played 65 games for club Bruges which is pretty good considering his age.

Would be an interesting signing, Arsenal are looking at him aswell.
 
Posh Red said:
Brian Brobbey would cost loads and is an average footballer
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Looking at his goals for Sunderland and wow, that is under whelming. Sunderland aren’t all that functioning are they
AkaAkuma said:
His highlights are good, you can see a decent level across the board and has CL experience.
He is aggressive in his duels, suprisingly good finishing and decent overlap.
His play looks intentional and composed.
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Sounds good to me
Infestissumam said:
Wharton has always felt like a potential Carrick regen to me. I just can't see us sign him at this point, a) because of mobility questions, and b) because of the fee Palace would want in this broken PL midfield market.
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Send them Rashford on loan and use Dalot as part of the deal and call it a day. I’ve no idea if that makes sense
 
Welsh Devil said:
It’s looking like we’re happy to go into the new season with what we’ve got.
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Are we? There are three weeks left of the window.

One year ago today we signed Sesko, making him our third summer signing of 2025.

So we are only just one player behind where we were last season, and people are in full panic mode.
 
I like Wharton in many ways as a player with good vision and passing but he has very little goal threat and he is one of those players that always seems to be in the picture but just too late to stop the player he should be marking score.
 
Tompo said:
I like Wharton in many ways as a player with good vision and passing but he has very little goal threat and he is one of those players that always seems to be in the picture but just too late to stop the player he should be marking score.
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I also like him but I’ve got major concerns over his fitness. I’m sick of crocks; want more players like Bruno and Dalot that are just available, week in, week out.
 
We're getting a bit desperate in this thread with some random links being thrown, hopium at it's peak. For the sake of our mental health the club should throw us something, anything really.
BorisManUtd said:
Exactly. Maybe Dorgu will play as LB but Carrick prefers him as a winger it seems..
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If that was even an option, we would've seen it in preaseason. It has literally never hapenned under Carrick.
IMO this is a correct decision but LB situation looks a bit shite at the moment so I dunno.

Tompo said:
I like Wharton in many ways as a player with good vision and passing but he has very little goal threat and he is one of those players that always seems to be in the picture but just too late to stop the player he should be marking score.
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Zero chance we go after Wharton if we have some wits. We already have good passers in Santos/Tielemans/Bruno, what we're missing is legs and energy and Wharton amplifies that problem, not mitigates.
 
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BaguetteBoy said:
Athletic linking us with David Raum from RB Leipzig any truth in that?
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He's the one I've been expecting us to sign. He's a decent senior LB off the back of a good season and he only has one year left on his contract.
 
Wouldn't surprise me if we cheap out on the squad the second we made it back to the CL. Once we fall out of the top 4 because of the additional game load you'll see Ratsass with a sour look on his face saying "Chaps, I'm as surprised as you are but it has to be said, Carrick wouldn't line up the way I emailed him in the morning before a game, I think it's his fault that we are shite again."
 
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