Wouldn't go as far to say it's a disaster. I'd say we've done the bare minimum of buying two decent midfielders. But the bare minimum is still disappointing as it shows a real lack of ambition so far. Still time for that to change of course
Wot, no transfers? (2026)
- Thread starter Bastian
- Start date
I think the lack of depth talk is being taken too far
Attack: Sesko, Zirkzee, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Rashford, Dorgu
Midfield: Bruno, Mount, Tielemans, Mainoo, Santos.
Defense: Maguire, De Ligt, Yoro, Heaven, Mazraoui, Martinez, Dalot, Shaw.
You can pick two completely separate teams from this group to take on Arsenal and City on a good day and they'll give the opponent a good game.
I'll like to see us get another midfielder but I'm not even sure if we should be targeting a big profile, and for the left back situation it's not so desperate Maz, Martinez, Dalot and Dorgu can cover there. We've seen Yoro looking solid at right back so that helps the rotation if we use Maz or Dalot on the left.
As for the midfield Tielemans, Mainoo and Santos is a good rotation when you also factor in Mount ability to play there. Actually if we buy a big profile there someone will be in similar situation as Mainoo in the first half of last season. I'm not saying we shouldn't I'm just saying it ain't that bad.
Attack: Sesko, Zirkzee, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Rashford, Dorgu
Midfield: Bruno, Mount, Tielemans, Mainoo, Santos.
Defense: Maguire, De Ligt, Yoro, Heaven, Mazraoui, Martinez, Dalot, Shaw.
You can pick two completely separate teams from this group to take on Arsenal and City on a good day and they'll give the opponent a good game.
I'll like to see us get another midfielder but I'm not even sure if we should be targeting a big profile, and for the left back situation it's not so desperate Maz, Martinez, Dalot and Dorgu can cover there. We've seen Yoro looking solid at right back so that helps the rotation if we use Maz or Dalot on the left.
As for the midfield Tielemans, Mainoo and Santos is a good rotation when you also factor in Mount ability to play there. Actually if we buy a big profile there someone will be in similar situation as Mainoo in the first half of last season. I'm not saying we shouldn't I'm just saying it ain't that bad.
Fans can get impatient but in this instance it's very justified.
The issue is that everything has gone quiet on the transfer front. A poster above showed how our activity is similar to our rivals at this point but they are actively pursuing other targets which are no secret. Arsenal want Vini, Liverpool want Barcola and City want Bouaddi. There is pretty much nothing going on with us other than being told once a day that Hall looks unlikely.
Perhaps we are doing our business in the shadows but saying be concerned at the end of the window is a bit like saying if we're 6th in the table that we should only be concerned when the season finishes. The season starts in two weeks, the concern at this point is valid. If the window ends like this then it would call for more than concern as it would show the ambition of our owners doesn't match the talk.
It also neglects to mention that it costs us points. A great example is last year when we identified the need for a new keeper in January and then waited until the last day of the window to sign Lammens, all the while Bayandir is costing us points left, right and centre.
The phrase “shiny new toy” needs to die a swift death as well.
Understand people calling for calm but if you had offered a situation where we had only signed Darlow, Santos and Tielemans with Casemiro gone and Zirkzee/Rashford still here with 2 weeks to go until the new season at the end of the last, most sane fans would find that worryingly light.
We are desperate for real quality to be added in order to push on and we simply can't do it. Clearly Ineos aren't enough to break the Glazers' shackles. They need to be hounded out ASAP.
We are desperate for real quality to be added in order to push on and we simply can't do it. Clearly Ineos aren't enough to break the Glazers' shackles. They need to be hounded out ASAP.
I agree with your overall point especially in defense and attack. I also think Lacey is now a member of the first team (and deservedly so) so you can include him in the attacking options.
I disagree with the midfield though, you can include Bruno in there but essentially we have 4 players to fight for 2 positions (mainoo, Santos, Tielemens and Mount) Bruno will mostly play in the 10 and will probably rotate with Cunha more.
The 4 options we have for those 2 midfield positions isn't enough, especially considering Mounts injury record and to a lesser extent Tielemens. Santos is essentially the only real defensive midfielder we have too, we really need another 6 type midfielder, can't go into the season with only Santos, I wouldn't even mind a Berge type of player but we're definitely short in numbers there.
It’s true though if we had signed Touchameni we would still have people claiming that it isn’t good enough. It never is “good” enough.
The issue is we have always gone and splashed the cash and it has come to hurt us at a time when we need the cash the most. If hadn’t overspent for a decade plus on players, we’d have players like Fernandes and Tonali - feck we’d even have Anderson I would think!
But the reality is a decade of over spending has hurt us and the sooner people realise that the sooner we can get some realistic goals in mind.
We need to be smarter and we need to be more intelligent with our buys, we can’t afford expensive mistakes any more. Unfortunately that’s just the way it is.
I still stick by the fact that we shouldn’t be concerned until the window is open, otherwise you’re just getting unnecessarily stressed (I mean don’t take it so seriously it affects your health anyway, but still) when there is still time to change it. Same applies to being 6th in the season. Why worry about that when rhe season is x number of games to go? That’s like saying you’re champion with 10 games to go as you’re in 1st. Don’t be excited we’re 1st now and that’s all that matters!
With what money?
Wilcox did an interview a few months back where he said they'd planned out the summer including contingency planning for numerous scenarios if/when they weren't able to get their target.
The latest reports coming from credible outlets Mitten/Ornstein/Laurie are that United are "weighing up" or "deliberating" their next move which seems to contradict the suggestion they've got contingency plans.
My guess is the club most definitely had plans for the summer I.E Anderson/Fernandes/Ederson along with some contingency if one of them failed but never expected that all 3 would fall through. Ederson was almost certainly in the works for months prior to the window opening and during the Fernandes saga the above journos where reporting that United didn't really believe the Spurs links thinking it was just rumours to drive up the price.
Missing out on so many targets is the only explanation I can see for why we'd now be "weighing up" or "deliberating" further moves. Since I don't know who is in charge of the final decision making I can only guess it's done via some sort of committee who currently don't agree.
The latest reports coming from credible outlets Mitten/Ornstein/Laurie are that United are "weighing up" or "deliberating" their next move which seems to contradict the suggestion they've got contingency plans.
My guess is the club most definitely had plans for the summer I.E Anderson/Fernandes/Ederson along with some contingency if one of them failed but never expected that all 3 would fall through. Ederson was almost certainly in the works for months prior to the window opening and during the Fernandes saga the above journos where reporting that United didn't really believe the Spurs links thinking it was just rumours to drive up the price.
Missing out on so many targets is the only explanation I can see for why we'd now be "weighing up" or "deliberating" further moves. Since I don't know who is in charge of the final decision making I can only guess it's done via some sort of committee who currently don't agree.
I don't actually think we're done, I think the people in charge are trying not to make mistakes. People like to imagine it should be straight forward but I don't think it is. I think what they did in midfield bringing in Santos and Tielemans for what we got them for is clever. I think they're accessing things before making a move I won't be surprised if they're waiting for Rodri to Madrid before going big for Tchouameni.
We probably expected Rashford's buy clause to be activated by Barca and Ugarte to be sold, too. Looks like both players will remain on the books this season, so that's a £50m+ hole in the budget.
In other words - the trusted journo's do not know. Wait and see job.
I agree, I think we're holding out for something. I just hope we've got our eyes on a backup in case we can't get our first choice. It may even be Ederson as it has been reported that we may go back in for him at the end of the transfer window.
The problem isn't that journos don't know. It's that our board members don't know.
Attack:
Sesko is injured
Zirkzee is terrible
Mbuemo is good
Cunha is good
Amad worrying form under Carrick
Rashford shouldn't play for us again
Dorgu is promising
Midfield:
Bruno is world class
Mount is always injured
Tielemans hasn't played yet, should be a good signing
Mainoo is good
Santos we will see
Defence:
Maguire is too slow
De Ligt is injured for months
Yoro is good
Heaven is good
Mazraoui is good
Dalot is poor
Shaw is ok but has been here 11 years and will get injured.
We are way off it. That's basically ten or eleven good players. Compare our squad to Madrid's, City's, PSG's, Arsenal's. We are years off it. And they've spent 40m net to bridge the gap. It's a joke. The club is 1.3bn in debt and yet the Glazers are worth 12bn. They could wipe it out in one go. What has been done to the club since 2013 is genuinely criminal.
No it doesn’t at all, why is everything so linear in football?
When things change, such as your first target, you have contingencies in place, which may include 3 different players all who do different things.
So for arguments sake:
Plan A - Anderson
Plan B - Fernandes
Plan C - Berge / Adams / Scott
Now you gotta decide which of those 3 you want and what direction you want to go in, in terms of synergy with the rest of the squad, how much money you have, how much can you spend on those players and how will that affect other positions.
Not everything is linear and it takes time to figure things out.
We don't know that - judge them at the end, I have my own suspicions too...but we do not know!
Manufactured cover for not backing the manager properly after getting Champions League football, again.
The problem comes from the gruelling season with the added games. The following players are injury prone : Mount, Maguire, Martinez, De ligt and Shaw. With sesko seemingly picking up injuries now as well. In defence we got a lot of cover but far too many injury prone players in that squad for me. It seems every season we suffer from a crisis. Happened last season just before Amorim was sacked.
The question is: based on where we are at now v City, Arsenal and Liverpool: has what we have done gotten us closer to seriously challenging for a title or closer to these clubs in terms of squad depth and quality. My view is we are farther away. The new stadium chat really depresses me too but that's a different conversation. A total waste of money, we just need to look after what we have.
Given the lessons from last season, where we dropped points because we started the season without a first choice GK, and without a ready first choice ST, as Sesko needed a lot of time to be ready, I think you can judge them. It's a failure to do the same thing that cost us last season.
I dont get how you think Liverpool is not similar? Yes they might have won the league but since that team, have they not lost players?
From the team that won the league, Trent, Konate, Robertson, Diaz, Salah, Nunez have all left. That's 7 and not including Jota.
So for you to say their squad is have an established team, just shows you are trying to drive a narrative.
I agree, if we only sign the 2 players, then there is an issue but until the window closes, I will wait to be negative.
I might be naive but it seems like we want to see if we can get rid of Zirkzee, Rashford so we can then decide the type of player to bring in.
I won't be happy if we dont get another LB, CM and forward.
It’s so quiet it looks like I might have to pitch my tent in here for the rest of silly season.
If we had the money to spend last summer, we absolutely have the money to spend this time round.
It's just straight from the Glazers' playbook. Invest big to get CL, don't bother pushing on once there. Pocket the dividends.
Hanging Carrick out to dry, this will be a mess come Christmas. Seen this show countless times now.
My best guess is we have a list of players who we might want to sign. We're now sat waiting to see who might come available after the big clubs have had their choices, we're not proactively going after a certain player that's for sure.
Kone is the only one who might be in the works. Given Arsenal have just signed Bruno Guimareas then maybe we'll now consider ourselves having a free run at him.
I can't look at twitter anymore with regarding targets....We literally are "monitoring, assessing, evaluating FC"
So much for not spending in January because we are waiting until the summer to get the right targets and spend money.
Will all end with Carrick getting the boot and us writing off another season by October again
So much for not spending in January because we are waiting until the summer to get the right targets and spend money.
Will all end with Carrick getting the boot and us writing off another season by October again
I think we can get by in attack and midfield, one or two injuries would not completely derail us and we have some versatile players we could plug in into different roles. Defence is where we are definitely short by at least two players I feel. You cannot rely on either Martinez or de Ligt, any games you will get out of them are a bonus but we're realistically going into this season with Maguire, Yoro and Heaven as our only center halves. It's not good enough. Likewise when it comes to full backs, Dalot is very durable but Shaw isn't, we're basically going into the season with 2.5 full backs and we don't really have players in other positions, or youngsters, that can fill in if needed, save for maybe Dorgu/Amad, neither of whom you'd really like to play at the back.
Quality wise, with everyone healthy, this is a top 6 team that could push for top 4, and might win one or two knockouts in CL too, which is probably exactly where INEOS ambition is at.
Do you know for sure we have a cash flow issue rather than it being PSR or another reason?
Picking 2 is one thing and picking 2 good teams is another. Zirkzee Rashford and Dorgu not getting you top 5. Midfield still lacks steel.
We need at least 1 LB to compete with Shaw, who is injury prone and 1 CM looking at the fixtures congestion ahead in this season, that is if we want to compete in the cups aswell.
Mount, Martinez, De Ligt and possibly Shaw are big IF's in this squad, they could play 30-40 games but they could also play 10.
There'll always be injury risks though, it's the same with other clubs as well. Arsenal won the league and got to the UCL final they had important players getting injured across the season. There's no guarantee any new addition wouldn't have injury issues as well.
Rashford is more than fine as a rotational option. People like to talk about Zirkzee like he's actually the second pick for the 9 role when he's actually 3rd or 4th pick. Dorgu started 3 games under Carrick and got like 3 goals and an assist. For a rotation option he's more than fine. Check out the competition options to get a clearer picture.
Isn't that the whole point? Arsenal squad is strong enough to survive some injuries and go until the very end of cups and winning a league. That's what we're trying to build now but with a different goal - for us it's "stay in top 4 and do well in cups", we're not going for the title surely. People are worried about lack of transfer activity and fearing missing out on top 4, not missing out on the title.
It's easier to play with out and out striker like Sesko for us. The problem is neither of the other players who "can do a job" up top plays like a striker really. Rashford will be 3rd choice winger and 3rd choice striker, of course he will get minutes but the negatives of having him in the squad outweight positives by quite some margin.
This post is contradictory as you start off by saying "If things change you have contingencies in place" and then say "now you gotta decide which direction to go in" and list a number of variables, a contingency plan would already factor in these variables.
A list of 3 players who all do different things isn't a plan, it's a shortlist.
If you arrive at the summer window and still need to answer basic, fundamental questions like "How much money do we have" or "what direction do we want to go in" that means you did not do any contingency planning.
I personally believe we’ll sign at least 2 further players (one definitely being the third centre mid everyone in the fanbase is pineing for) . I think a lot of it hinges on the domino effect that seems to happen where it takes one high profile signing to take place and then they all fall over so to speak.
I think the late start to the season is throwing some people hence why there’s some frantic feeling among some fans, but I hope come Friday after next that there is some significant movement on transfers. All players should be back with their clubs by Monday next week too.
I think the late start to the season is throwing some people hence why there’s some frantic feeling among some fans, but I hope come Friday after next that there is some significant movement on transfers. All players should be back with their clubs by Monday next week too.
Maybe that's true but it wouldn't be to the same extent. Going into the summer, the expectation was we'd make five signings to be starters or serious competition in the first team, worst case scenario was four. We needed at least two CMs, a LB and an attacker but ideally 3 CMs to bring the total to five.
We've made two signings, who I'm very happy with but that's 40% of what we should have, of course we shouldn't be happy.
A couple of weeks ago, sure but now it's worrying. We've also experiences this before, the summer of 2018 when our only signings were Dalot and Fred and even back then we signed Sanchez the January before, we bought no one in the Jan window.
I really think INEOS are trying their best to make good football decisions. I get a lot of people are impatient and seeing Spurs and Chelsea splash the cash while we are about 30M on net spend is frustrating at first glance. Since INEOS came 2years ago we are in a position where our main issues in regard to squad building are getting a left back and a fifth midfielder (fourth if we chose to exclude mount due to fitness issues which i get).
Anderson was city bound and not quite a deeplying playmaker we needed nor Fernandes nor Tonali. In terms of profiles Santos/Tielemans are players that can dictate tempo, while Mount and Mainoo can be the 8. Carrick couldn't fully impose his tactical ideas with Casemiro and Ugarte, i think this season we see a more controllled approach to games which is a better way to dominate half of the teams we will be facing in the PL, remember we mostly struggled in these kind of games and beaten all the big teams we faced under carrick.
Tchouameni is not that kind of player too and getting him would be stupid for what he could give us, overpriced his fee and salary, and would command a starter spot which leaves one of Mainoo/tielemans/santos as an automatic backup option. a quality player who would be seen as an emergency option would be a better choice, eg Berge, Adams.... in case Mount problems reocurr.
I wish we go all in on Hall and there is still 3 weeks to go. So no panic. I'm sure the lb position will be adressed and that's whats coming out of the rumours.
For striker options all depends on Zirkzee deal, when it's done we may get some movements in that regard.
I get the stick INEOS gets but for once in so many years it seems that somebody inside the club is actually trying to make logical footballing decisions, and after two years we are in a much better shape squadwise and its a key part of success, i mean look at liverpool i hope i'm right and they crash badly their squad is shambles.
On top of that we got a manager that i fully trust to get the best out of that squad, and it looks like there is a good harmony between the players.
I don't get the moaning.
Of course they made mistakes like amorim but i see there is a plan and a will to do well and if we signed a gem like Lammens on the last day of last year mercato on a position which was crucial i can wait this year too.
For once i m optimistic before start of the season
Anderson was city bound and not quite a deeplying playmaker we needed nor Fernandes nor Tonali. In terms of profiles Santos/Tielemans are players that can dictate tempo, while Mount and Mainoo can be the 8. Carrick couldn't fully impose his tactical ideas with Casemiro and Ugarte, i think this season we see a more controllled approach to games which is a better way to dominate half of the teams we will be facing in the PL, remember we mostly struggled in these kind of games and beaten all the big teams we faced under carrick.
Tchouameni is not that kind of player too and getting him would be stupid for what he could give us, overpriced his fee and salary, and would command a starter spot which leaves one of Mainoo/tielemans/santos as an automatic backup option. a quality player who would be seen as an emergency option would be a better choice, eg Berge, Adams.... in case Mount problems reocurr.
I wish we go all in on Hall and there is still 3 weeks to go. So no panic. I'm sure the lb position will be adressed and that's whats coming out of the rumours.
For striker options all depends on Zirkzee deal, when it's done we may get some movements in that regard.
I get the stick INEOS gets but for once in so many years it seems that somebody inside the club is actually trying to make logical footballing decisions, and after two years we are in a much better shape squadwise and its a key part of success, i mean look at liverpool i hope i'm right and they crash badly their squad is shambles.
On top of that we got a manager that i fully trust to get the best out of that squad, and it looks like there is a good harmony between the players.
I don't get the moaning.
Of course they made mistakes like amorim but i see there is a plan and a will to do well and if we signed a gem like Lammens on the last day of last year mercato on a position which was crucial i can wait this year too.
For once i m optimistic before start of the season
We need LB, CM, and a forward. If we don’t get that it hasn’t been a very good window, and it’s looking likely we (might) just get one..
We need one more quality signing to make it a decent window, and two more to make it a good one. The squad is still too thin in key areas to compete on multiple fronts.
It's a sign of a badly run club/business when the salaries/benefits afforded to staff do not correlate with what they bring. Our legacy issues are not unique in the PL but the reason we are disadvantaged more than most is that we pay more to buy players of lesser quality and other clubs simply do not value these players at the same level.
The problem therefore starts with the initial purchase then follows through all the way down the contract length until we find them surplus to requirements.
What however I find very unusual is that players at other clubs with similar poor showing, high salary and lack of playing time depreciate in value less...case in point Garnacho! Can anyone honestly say that had the situation been reversed, on exactly identical terms, Utd would be expected to get £43m for him? We'd be lucky to get half that!
The problem therefore starts with the initial purchase then follows through all the way down the contract length until we find them surplus to requirements.
What however I find very unusual is that players at other clubs with similar poor showing, high salary and lack of playing time depreciate in value less...case in point Garnacho! Can anyone honestly say that had the situation been reversed, on exactly identical terms, Utd would be expected to get £43m for him? We'd be lucky to get half that!
The crickets are chirping & the tumbleweed is blowing past. 