Zidane Iqbal

[zaafi]

So eth is worried about proving everyone that he is right about Antony rather than what's best for the team and what's best team to win the game?

Some of you are such a drama queens

Can you explain to me why Weghorst should play over Pellistri when we need a goal?

 

[roonster09]

Can you explain to me why Weghorst should play over Pellistri when we need a goal?

So he wants to prove he was right about Weghorst too? I thought it was only Antony.

 

[kouroux]

That is probably true, but similarly to his odd subs frequently, I also think Ten Hag makes some strange decisions when it comes to integrating youth players into the team. Kobbie Mainoo looked really composed and decent the 87 minutes he's played this season, but for some reason Ten Hag stopped giving him cameos.
As for Iqbal, he never really got the chance, unless pre-season counts (where he actually did decent).

It may be a bit odd, but I always prefer to give the youth a chance in competitive matches. Of course this doesn't apply to every youth player, but the highly rated ones. But I guess there is probably a reason why most managers want to see how they do in training before giving them match appearances. I think that's got more to do with how they want to see their work rate, mentality and reactions to tough challenges/tackles as opposed to actual ability.

I genuinely believe Mainoo or even Iqbal could have proved to be a better option than McTominay in some matches because of their ability to evade press and because they're quite composed, Mainoo in particular. The downside with playing them is that if they make a mistake in a game, the pitchforks will be out.
However, they'll never be ready if we barely play them during critical developmental phase.

"Strange"is a harsh word because we have so little to go on tbh.

 

[zaafi]

Just going through his list here
Noussair Mazraoui
Gravenberch
Dest
Timber
Devyne Rensch

And had 2/3 make their debut and be integrated in just before he left.
The you got the likes of Antony who joined at 19 so should really be included as youth as well if we’re making a point here.
What the feck more do you want from him?
If you can provide some links to these criticism it would help to make some sense of it

It is an entire different thing to do this at Ajax where playing youth players is their whole DNA. They nurture young players by playing them and then sell them for a big fee. They have one of the best academies in football world. This isn't just Ten Hag.

Anyway, what I want from him is that if he is not going to play our rated youth players, loan them out instead of selling them for lousy €1m without a buy-back option.

 

[zaafi]

So he wants to prove he was right about Weghorst too? I thought it was only Antony.

You didn't answer my question. In what world does it make sense to bring on a non-threat attacking player when we need a goal, as opposed to someone who offers an attacking threat?

 

[cyberman]

It is an entire different thing to do this at Ajax where playing youth players is their whole DNA. They nurture young players by playing them and then sell them for a big fee. They have one of the best academies in football world. This isn't just Ten Hag.

Anyway, what I want from him is that if he is not going to play our rated youth players, loan them out instead of selling them for lousy €1m without a buy-back option.

You literally just said he was criticised for his ability to bring youth through at Ajax.

 

[Champ]

You didn't answer my question. In what world does it make sense to bring on a non-threat attacking player when we need a goal, as opposed to someone who offers an attacking threat?

How many goals has Pellistri scored on his career so far out of interest?

 

[zaafi]

How many goals has Pellistri scored on his career so far out of interest?

Not sure if you're serious or not. How many has Garnacho scored?

 

[Champ]

Not sure if you're serious or not. How many has Garnacho scored?

More than Pellistri,

You're asking a question as to why bring on a striker when you can bring on a winger who hasn't scored in his European club career to date when United needed a goal.

Strange logic.

 

[roonster09]

You didn't answer my question. In what world does it make sense to bring on a non-threat attacking player when we need a goal, as opposed to someone who offers an attacking threat?

Weghorst has scored goals in almost all leagues he has played in, so it's natural for manager to send his only fit CF for few mins in a hope to get goal.

Maybe EtH thinks chances of getting goal is higher with Weghorst than Pellistri? Just because a pro manager's decision doesn't align with arm chair experts doesn't mean he is out there to prove some nonsense.

Its in his best interest to win game, which will enhance his career. He should be stupid to even think of proving himself right about Antony or whoever instead of focusing on winning games.

 

[zaafi]

More than Pellistri,

You're asking a question as to why bring on a striker when you can bring on a winger who hasn't scored in his European club career to date when United needed a goal.

Strange logic.

I said attacking threat, not goal scorer. He is clearly much more dangerous than Weghorst.

 

[Champ]

I said attacking threat, not goal scorer. He is clearly much more dangerous than Weghorst.

Maybe that's why he wasn't brought on over Weg then, in those situations we needed a goalscorer.

I mean, context is always key in these decisions and I'd wager putting Pellistri on over Weg probably would have changed the shape of the team quite massively and statically speaking wouldn't have led to more goals given his zero goals scored and one assist in the last two seasons.

 

[TheGame]

The decision not to allow him to go to the World Cup seems even more baffling.

 

[Pexbo]

The decision not to allow him to go to the World Cup seems even more baffling.

Logic says it’s a transfer request

 

[Idxomer]

The decision not to allow him to go to the World Cup seems even more baffling.

If he is getting sold, it's better not to risk an injury.

 

[DWelbz19]

Make a decision on Hannibal as well and we need to either play him or sell him imo.

Agreed. I’d be inclined to go for a similar sort of move - a relatively low transfer fee with a high sell-on clause or a very reasonable buy-back. In the position Hannibal plays it’s going to be extremely hard for him to get any significant game time and it’d be better for both parties to be decisive now rather than depreciate his transfer value (our side) and stifle his professional development (his side).

 

[Gavinb33]

I think you are spot on.

I'm not annoyed that we are selling Iqbal, I'm annoyed at how the situation has played out. Last season was a complete right-off for him. What was the plan? Why did we keep him around the first team squad? Did we think he could contribute? Did it really take an entire season (of no football) to decide he was a £1m player? What do we know now, that we didn't know 9 months ago... or even 4 months ago? Would we and potential buyers, have learned more if we had see him play men's football for an extended period of time?

Why not try and get him a loan to Sunderland next season and see if he can kick on? Does the million really mean that much to us that we don't want to gamble on it? I guess it does cover 3 months of the last 4 years of Phil Jones' contract.

Its clear the manager wanted a look at him for a longer time than just a few weeks in pre-season and then deemed he isnt up for it in the long term a loan doesnt make sense if you dont think he can play for you and if he was as good as some have made out on here more clubs would be in for him at just a million that's championship money but they aren't so what does that tell you that he isn't that good, a few pre season games mean precisely 0

Can you explain to me why Weghorst should play over Pellistri when we need a goal?

Pelistri is a winger and Weghorst is a striker these are 2 very separate skill sets and roles surely you see that, if Pelistri is brought on the whole forward line would have to change and maybe just maybe he thought the wide players were playing well so didn't want to disrupt that by rejigging the team, Pelistri who hasn't done all that much for us at all is a weird hill to die on when criticising the manager

 

[MonkeysMagic]

Quite frankly our academy has been performing poorly for several years. The ability and quality of players we let go doesn't warrant a higher fee, irrespective of how poorly we tend to do business.

When you look over to the Chelsea academy or dare I say it those lot in the East of the city, the value they extract from good quality players adds so much to their FFP quota but it must be soul destroying for those academy players knowing they are just a transactional commodity with little hope of playing for the first team!

 

[zaafi]

Its clear the manager wanted a look at him for a longer time than just a few weeks in pre-season and then deemed he isnt up for it in the long term a loan doesnt make sense if you dont think he can play for you and if he was as good as some have made out on here more clubs would be in for him at just a million that's championship money but they aren't so what does that tell you that he isn't that good, a few pre season games mean precisely 0



Pelistri is a winger and Weghorst is a striker these are 2 very separate skill sets and roles surely you see that, if Pelistri is brought on the whole forward line would have to change and maybe just maybe he thought the wide players were playing well so didn't want to disrupt that by rejigging the team, Pelistri who hasn't done all that much for us at all is a weird hill to die on when criticising the manager

I think you misunderstood. Antony was subbed off and Weghorst came on. Antony is, as you know, a winger.

 

[MUFC OK]

Not sure why there is outrage about this. He looked tidy on pre-season but it's a long way from playing PL football.

Think this is just a manifestation of peoples frustrations with our transfer dealings in general.

 

[Stadjer]

Not sure why there is outrage about this. He looked tidy on pre-season but it's a long way from playing PL football.

Think this is just a manifestation of peoples frustrations with our transfer dealings in general.

I think it is just that people want to moan at everything the club does.

And then there are some who try to use it against ETH.

But anyway, im looking forward to see Manchester United ready/quality player Iqbal destroy our little Eredivisie next season.

 

[klsv]

Concerning. Not looking good for Erik, major doubts about him now. Left Ajax in tatters, so they finished below a team of Phillips' factory workers. City won the treble, has not sold the club yet. First not playing Iqbal ahead of someone who had a heart failure and Case "Choke Me Daddy" Miro, then selling him for peanuts to his mates in Holland. The beige suit last summer and the submarine near Titanic is running out of time while he's on the holidays.

 

[Glorio]

Opportunity missed to sell him for £30M to the Saudis.

In seriousness, I'd be surprised if there isn't probably a buyback 'agreement', as EtH once upon a time clearly rated him highly enough to play him semi-consistently in preseason while shunting the likes of Hannibal out of position, to refuse to send him on loan, when he was happy to send others who I personally rate higher, and the whole thing with the WC.

He's also sending him to people he has a relationship with as opposed to flogging him off to some random place.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

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[Devil You Know]

What do people expect?

He's joining the 7th placed team in the Eredivisie. That's his level. He's a £1m player. If he were PL quality, a PL team would have signed him instead.

FC Utrecht's biggest transfers in the last few seasons have been:

22/23: Brouwers €0.75m
21/22: Douvakis €1.2m
20/21: Only free transfers
19/20: Cerny €0.9m
18/19: Gustafson €1m

£1m (or €1.16m) is in line with their other top transfers. For an unproven kid, we've done well to get that much. There are probably 100 youth products in the Spanish second tier who can do what Zidane can do.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Saw a lot of Iqbal in the U18's and U21's and never really thought he had much chance of making it here to be honest.

A tidy player when given time on the ball, but limited in physical attributes and didn't offer much defensively in CM or much attacking end product. Could just pick out a pass if given enough time and space on the ball to play at his pace.

His signing of a professional contract got a lot of media attention - but mostly due to him being a British Asian coming through the United academy rather than him standing out ability wise.

He looked decent in the pre-season friendlies because they were played at the usual slow tempo of summer friendlies, with limited physical battles in CM, and that suited his game - unlike the tempo of the PL.

I'm not surprised to see him going to a league like Eredivisie. I think that might suit him quite well. And the level of club he's joined, and the low transfer fee, pretty much sums up where I think he's currently at ability wise - definitely nowhere near close to establishing himself in the first team squad of a club like United.

Good luck to him to him at Utrecht. I think it's the right type of move for him.

 

[TwoSheds]

Saw a lot of Iqbal in the U18's and U21's and never really thought he had much chance of making it here to be honest.

A tidy player when given time on the ball, but limited in physical attributes and didn't offer much defensively in CM or much attacking end product. Could just pick out a pass if given enough time and space on the ball to play at his pace.

His signing of a professional contract got a lot of media attention - but mostly due to him being a British Asian coming through the United academy rather than him standing out ability wise.

He looked decent in the pre-season friendlies because they were played at the usual slow tempo of summer friendlies, with limited physical battles in CM, and that suited his game - unlike the tempo of the PL.

I'm not surprised to see him going to a league like Eredivisie. I think that might suit him quite well. And the level of club he's joined, and the low transfer fee, pretty much sums up where I think he's currently at ability wise - definitely nowhere near close to establishing himself in the first team squad of a club like United.

Good luck to him to him at Utrecht. I think it's the right type of move for him.

Agreed. I do think he's a skilful lad with quick feet though, I could certainly see him developing his game to a higher level than Utrecht.

 

[Adnan]

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[DWelbz19]

Not surprised at all that the deal was actually, you know, quite good. Bunch of bedwetters

 

[Adnan]

Not surprised at all that the deal was actually, you know, quite good. Bunch of bedwetters

Agree. The deal is actually very good all round.

 

[Brightonian]

Sounds good. We should do more of this kind of thing.

Remember the spell when Barca used to use these buy-back clauses so effectively, and we all moaned about how United didn't. This is so much better for the player's development than a loan. Reflects our longstanding tradition of acting with the career interests of the player in mind, too.

 

[Lay]

Good deal. A lot of the reserve watchers said he’s too slow so let’s see how he adapts

 

[PS18]

Anyone seen any mention of what sort of value the buy-back clause is set at?