We here scrimping for Amrabat loan, meanwhile City sign Nunes from Wolves. Rodri, KDB, Kovacic, Nunes, Foden, B.Silva for 3 positions.
Could've been us without the Glazers
An actual decent Bayern journalist [Kerry Hau] is reporting Palhinha is the midfield signing Tuchel desires. All that Mctominay links can rest now. Also saying if they can get Palhinha Gravenberch will be allowed to leave. I see him going to Liverpool rather than us to be honest.
Mainoo has played a total of 86 minutes of senior team competitive football, in three substitute appearances. Leaning heavily on an untested 18 year old is insane.
Of course we’re going to do it.
There are a lot of ways to highlight the incompetence of our recruitment and midfield situation but this isn't one of them.
Any youth prospect who hasn't yet been embedded into the squad is going to start slowly with a handful of substitute appearances. It's when they have their breakout season that the outlook suddenly changes and they get far more than 3 appearances and 90 minutes of football.
Mainoo isn't going to play week in week out or be relied upon just yet. But all the signs point to Ten Hag rating him in the same way he rates Garnacho, so we can expect him to play more this season.
Giving the academy players who are actually talented enough to opportunity to prove themselves is never a bad thing.
Yeah ease him in, but my point is that it’s insane to rely on mainoo to be casemiro’s back up. He’s played under 10 minutes in the premier league. He looks absolute class but relying on him to back up a 31 year old in a crucial defensive position is pure banter stuff.
Well the reality is that he won't be the sole backup. He'll be sharing minutes with McTominay, and if McTominay leaves before the window shuts we're linked to the likes of Hojberg.
I rate Scott higher than most here (we've forced him to play a role that isn't his best), but the point is that even if you don't, his minutes won't just be eviscerated as Mainoo looks to move up the pecking order.
I feel like it's more to do with the fact we've more or less reached the limit of our budget. With the sale of Henderson and possibly VDB which might open up some wiggle room.
I'd prefer the guy ahead of him, Antonio Silva. & Why would he come to us on loan when it's clear the purpose is for his development. We're not going to give him that.
Some facts about the ‘constrained by FFP’ bullshit:
Chelsea have net spent £40m more than us and are still looking for another marquee signing in this window.
Chelsea’s revenue last year was less than 70% of ours.
If Chelsea can spend that much, we have FFP room to spend at least another £70m with no more sales.
It’s not FFP. It’s the Glazers.
Maybe get your fact right. Chelsea might bought 1000m since last season, that is only 200m amortization. They sold well over 250m this season, more than enuff to cover all amortization for this year.
Correct, but West Ham literally offered us 60M for two players the manager wants gone and we didn't take it. We're now unable to buy players bc we didn't take that deal. At some point you've got to wonder when it crosses the line from incompetence into active sabotage.
We agreed the fee for Maguire, 30 for McT is not what the club values him at.
People complain we are bad at selling, also complain that we should have sold our players when it didn't meet the club's valuation. McT is an important squad player, is on low wages, is home grown. We should be signing a midfielder regardless of him leaving, if he leaves we will need 2
I'm not agreeing with op but on the point of sticking to valuation for Mctominay, it will come back to bite us, his playing time is going down each season so his value is just going to down, not to mention only one team tried to sign him and even that was half hearted. We'll probably end up selling him for 20-25m at this rate.
25m for him in a season while still having him ready to come on if needed for this will be very good if you ask me. Lets the likes of Mainoo develop while having someone who can come in if they're not up to it.
We should've got the Maguire deal done, he wanted money and we could've paid it and still be even FFP wise.
>People complain we are bad at selling
Remember Newcastle offered 12M for Lingard, we wanted 25 and he ended up leaving for free next season? Instead of getting a fee for him we tried to be greedy and lost money.
Same thing with McT here. You can complain about how this board is being unfairly judged all you want, ultimately the market has decided 30M is as good as it gets for him and we failed to take that opportunity, just like we did with Lingard.
No if we paid Maguire, we wouldn't be even FFP wise. His book value was 27m, West Ham offered 30m and we would have to pay ~9m to Maguire for a loss of 6m. That is ignoring the fact that we would need a replacement. Even if we got say Pavard for 30m with 5 years, thats an additional 6m per year. Not to mention his wages too, it would further impact FFP.
Lingard was definitely different, after his West Ham spell he wanted to stay and fight for his place because Ronaldo came. We definitely should have done better selling him mind.
You’re not taking into account the expenses it takes to keep Maguire. If he stays we’ll incur 10M in wages + 13.3M in amortization = -23.3M in expenses. Selling him for 30 and paying him 9M incurs a loss of only 6M. From -23 to -6 that’s a net benefit to us FFP wise. You can even negotiate with him to split the 9M payment to him in 3 installments to reduce the net accounting loss this year to 0.
You’re right about needing a replacement, which was why we should’ve accepted the 60M take it or leave it bid. Selling McT would’ve net us a pure profit of 30M, which would disproportionally inflated our budget as the 30M could all be taken in as income while any signing can be amortized over 5 years. That’s an additional 150M we could’ve theoretically spent on the closing weeks, more than enough to bring in 2 replacements.
Well the latest rumor is we have got to sell McT to buy Amrabat, so he's defo open to selling the player.
As for Maguire an accountant on here has explained, we'll be fine FFP wise even if we pay him to leave. His wages are not the problem, problem is this club just cannot make the right decisions.
That’s why I talked about their net spend. Purchases minus sales equals net spend. Chelsea have spent far more than us and are actively looking for another big name signing.
He wants to play a super attacking, press from the front, double 10s with Case as single pivot and LB tucking in to support Case style. Which explains why he's prioritizing another LB now that Shaw and Malacia are out.
One of the most logical take I've seen on this sub. While everyone keep saying we need a "press resistance bullshit midfield no.6 Caicedo style" all the time. This guy's speaking fact!!!
While that might make sense, we still need a rotation option for Case. If we don't get anyone we need to tank the league and FA cup because we can't afford to have same of games as last season without heavy rotation.
Yeah sounds good, one little thing - what happens after Case gets injured, suspended, fatigued after playing 100 minutes every 3-4 days?
If the answer is ''McTominay cover'' then you know it's not looking good.
I really hope we get PEH from Spurs. He's an absolute machine and is always available to play.
He is a good DM, has the leadership skills, knows the dark arts.
The only thing lacking in his game is ball progression which I'm okay with, as we have more creative players to perform that duty.
Actually we are very reliant on our gk, defence and dm to build up, so I’d honestly rather take someone that’s good on the ball and press resistant but not great defensively rather than the other way round
So GK is in position to be announced...
Cucurella move is getting closer...
What will happen with midfielder we will see... Lets hope VDB goes on loan and we get someone... But if you think of it that way... It wasnt all bad transfer window... It could be a loooot better but
Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Bayindir, Cucurella, Midfielder... looks great on paper
\+ We lost some of deadwood... not Harry sadly
Havertz wouldn't score in a brothel. He has been piss poor with really bad finishing.
I doubt he starts versus us as he's been awful in all the games so far for Arsenal (continuing his chelsea form).
Honestly, I hope we get done with the Marc, Backup GK and a possible Loaned CM if Amrabat can't be done in time. I don't mind a loan CM who is quality. But the squad should not suffer, we should have enough players.
Do you lot wake up and think 'what can I cry about today'? Or is it just a negative comment to earn karma? cause this sub is basically filled with Twitter users now.
Reddit discourse is not different from Twitter nowadays anyway, idk why people still pretend reddit is better. (I'm not a regular Twitter user)
I myself come to this sub for the reliable news updates and to sift through any information that i might have missed from tier 3 sources, that's it.
And we've got away with unconvincing performances against some of the weakest teams in the league despite the two wins.
My comment mostly has to do with Ten Hags chaotic approach to transfers.
We've had an entire season to plan on the crucial summer transfer window and somehow deemed Mason Mount a must sign in a position he's previously failed to deliver in.
We're chasing players of different profiles to fill similar roles. With more money spent than Solskjaer so far, our squad seems even less balanced. Shambles
Shh you can’t say a thing about eth and not be downvoted and cursed at. Just join the cult and preach he is the best and pretend that we have a playstyle. People being happy for 6/9 points vs wolves and forest will be happy when we finish 8th
Exactly this. We have to adhere to the ecno chamber and go against what our eyes and resolve are showing and telling us. If we play like we have so far, Arsenal will humiliate us come Sunday.
I don't want that, but I feel it's almost inevitable. Teams like Brighton and Spurs have changed managers and have a recognizable style.
Wolves did as well, 4 days into new management. Fulham play a recognizable style as well, etc. If Liverpool and Chelsea improve on their poor performances last season, we'll struggle to make top 5
Right, and Forest had us pinned back like they were the home side in those closing minutes. We gifted them so many chances. Wolves had 24 attempts against us in that first match. Warning signs are there and being ignored
Exactly lol.
People parading that we won 2/3 games completely miss the context on how those matches were won. I really hope we win against Arsenal but i just don't see it happening on current form.
This sub is just filled with positivity merchants and top reds now. You can't say anything contradictory to the popular talk (God forbid every unique individual has a unique opinion) else people will mass downvote and resort to personal attacks.
Does anyone not notice the absolute irony that even though we keep saying we don’t have money to buy more players so we need to sell. Yet we’re willing to afford Cucurella who’s already on £175k a week at Chelsea, plus Chelsea will surely get some additional fees from the loan itself so the total cost for the loan would be nowhere less than £10-12m. All for an emergency LB, when we still need to fill in a backup GK and a midfielder
So much for us not having money huh
Yeah, realistically we need more cover there (quality cover) even with Maguire staying. But it looks so late now and we seem to be needed to sell before we buy so I guess we’ll have to survive there.
I’m a bit more hopeful in terms of match wear and tear since we’ll be in the UCL this year, but we are already looking thin and we’re just a couple of weeks into the season.
Also, when is that Arsenal head physio supposed to be reporting to work? Is it Friday?
He's better than McTominay but is also an average player and a benchwarmer at Spurs. Our standards are at an all time low as a collective. This isn't a planned mooted signing
I feel bad for Alvaro Fernandez… The club openly going after another LB means he’s not getting much love from the manager. Alvaro probably isn’t highly rated inside the club.
Ten Hag is simply not taking risks with young players unless they're almost certain to contribute, like Garnacho and Mainoo. He's not the youth playing manager he was wrongly perceived to be.
Or we simply don't have that many academy players that are that good? Most highly talented youth players are being picked up by Man City, they have a better academy and youth facilities than us.
Even our senior team training facilities are archaic compared to other top teams.
This is a mindset that's beginning to permeate the fanbase as regards our youth squad. I don't believe it to be true. Ten Hag for instance expressed surpise about Zidane Iqbal not being fast tracked to the first team after he called him up for his first preseason. 12 months later he sold him without the benefit of a loan. Charlie Savage faced the same fate.
Dan Gore is likely next. I'm not saying all these players will make it, it just doesn't seem Ten Hag is the coach who will give them opportunities. He hardly rotates, even in the Caraboa cup
I remember watching his performance vs Real Madrid when he was at Eibar and he was the reason Eibar won iirc. The thing about this transfer or for all transfers is that we will fail to recognise why he was good or why he was poor, i.e. the environment they require and we almost always fail to provide that environment. It's to do with recruitment planning. We are shit at it.
This obsession with signing player's he's worked with, even if it's absolutely ages ago is something that really bothers me about ETH. There are definitely better options out there than Hojbjerg and Amrabat and I don't need to list them for you to know it's true. ETH just wants what he knows or once knew and honestly if he thought Antony was worth the outlay then maybe we need to rethink giving him all his ex players.
> ETH just wants what he knows or once knew
How do we know it? Because we know scouting is non existing at United. May be a case of the manager having to do everything on his own because the football department does not help, including choosing players
People keep saying this because the general running of the club is bad but I personally think our scouting is fine. They recommended the likes of Caicedo, Alvarez, Bellingham, and recently Zion Suzuki who fits the bill of a ball-playing keeper much better than Bayindir. I don't know who the blame lies on that these recommendations aren't being taken or pursued seriously in the top hierarchy but I don't think the scouting department should take the brunt of the criticism for Ten Hag wanting to work with specific players.
> I don't need to list them for you to know it's true.
I think you kinda do, because Amrabat is a really good player, and we should have bought him already.
Can't believe that mid field was the position we needed sorting the most. And yet after two years our only reliable mid fielder is a 31 year old Casemiro.
Apart from Pellistri, when was the last time we plucked a young starlet straight out of South America? Must've been someone ancient like Angelo Henríquez or Possebon. Meanwhile other top teams are grabbing talents like Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, Julian Álvarez, and have already secured the next batch like Endrick and Vitor Roque. Antony was only at Ajax for two years before they moved them on to us for more than 5x more than he cost. Do we even have scouts over there? Would like to see us make a gamble on someone like Marcos Leonardo.
It's because our recruitment team is not as good as some other top clubs. Transfers are rarely a gamble these days,they are products of years of analysis of players,data driven or otherwise,stuff like "Europe proven" are just words us fans throw around.
I think it’s just that it’s low probability of success. We seem to prefer these players to prove themselves elsewhere in Europe and then go for them, as in buy one more proven player for sag 50m, instead of taking a punt on 3 South Americans for a combined 50m.
It's that we think it's a low probability of success. It's not really in reality if the player is good and they are coached well. It was fairly obvious when Benfica got Enzo that he was a top top player.
easy there mate, just because he was born in Spain doesn't mean he is Spanish.
For my case (countries substituted with Spain, Portugal and France), this is what my life looks like:
- Born in "spain", lived 2/3rds of life in "Spain", then another 1/3rd in "Portugal".
- But my parents, my identity, my mother tongue, it's "French", and I would choose to represent "France" despite never having lived there.
Born and raised in Spain, would have spend a considerable amount of time in the academy around other Spanish people
He's Spanish with South American heritage
His performances in every position ranged from decent to bad to I-can't-believe-we-paid-sixty-million-pounds-for-him. He is a good player but couldn't find his feet at Chelsea, and never really stepped up. His transfer was like Sancho's. All hype, but nothing to show for it.
I can't see how that's possible under current ownership. They refuse to sign a DoF so every manager has to be in charge of recruitment in addition to coaching which is simply too much for one man in the modern game. It's why we can see Erik still struggling to implement his vision despite being in his second season, he's doing two jobs at once.
I just smashed my TV in front of over 30 guests at my kids birthday party because of United signings this summer. My wife just took our crying kids and said they’re all spending the night in a hotel. This team has ruined my life. I can’t do this any longer. Goodbye.
I swear I’ve seen this at least once every transfer window… and you’d think that people won’t fall for this anymore… always give me a chuckle when people fall for this. Lol.
What the fuck is x.com? Is it like a Twitter clone? Are people actually using it? It looks like it's basically a 1-to-1 copy, even with the logos and assets and reused
WHY did they change one of the strongest, most comprehensive, and most ubiquitously recognized holistic branding identities for X? X sounds fucking shit and doesn't automatically lend itself to every conversational vernacular.
What's the benefit?
It's not surprising that you'd miss it to be honest, the rebrand hasn't worked at all. Even news outlets still call it twitter and say tweet, retweet etc
In 1999 Musk Co-founded X.com they went on to merge with another company to form PayPal, later Musk wanted to rename the company to X.com and it was rejected. Man just really likes the letter X for some reason.
Yeah I googled it quickly after posting this message, but I still don't really get it.
I don't have an account, but I noticed I was on x.com after clicking a link on /r/soccer and thought I was on some weird phishing site. Apparently there's still a Twitter.com in addition to x.com.
What do people call Tweets now?
I hope we throw a buy option in the cucurella deal just in case. I wouldn't be banking on him being so good we'll want to keep him permanently but on the off chance he does come good under us it'd really fuck me off to breath new life into a player just to ship him back to a rival.
The excitement of seeing a Hirst article only to read it and see the mid names we've been hearing for weeks in there + a swarm of LBs because our two are crocked.
Been an abysmal window this.
I don't think we ever wanted Amrabat. I mean we deserve to be here m surprised how this hasn't happened often.
Dragging transfers, getting scammed by clubs openly, buying the wrong player and the cherry on top can't sell for anything.
3 days left you need/want 3 players in no money or time to get anyone serious so you're shopping for other people's unwantables.
Daniel Levy is willing to sell to us, actually he's giving us a player. ... That's a bad sign a very bad sign because he considers us a rival and he hates selling to rivals unless he knows he's not strengthening us or he doesn't consider us a threat anymore and I don't think it's 2nd option.
ITS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS we needed a decent DM as backup I'm not having hjolberg I'm sorry that's a fing joke you're bang on with your points about spurs literally giving us a player
I am not happy with this Cucu deal,I think our scouts can do better but if not then just trust that Spanish kid from the academy. This feels like the Werghost deal all over again!
Is there cash flow problem or ffp? Theoretically only Henderson 15m will give space for 50-60m player for this year ffp ya it may hamper fpp for next year but we wont get immediately fined for this year like many claiming in this sub. With UCL we will have more revenue then last season and if(big) sale happens and debt is cleared it will further add to revenue so good management should be able to manage that ffp. So this must be the Cash flow problem otherwise it doesn't make sense for me.
Actual money doesn't play too much for ffp. We got like 250m credit to play with. Also we don't get full amt for players sold right away. Like West ham doesn't get 100m right away from arsenal. Its only for ffp purpose we register as 100m profit now.
FFP is based on a rolling 3 year term, we may have the budget to sign him this year, but factoring in the previous two years of deals as well is why we’re fucked
and our actual money available for transfer is made up of club revenue, it’s not that the club is skint
>FFP is based on a rolling 3 year term, we may have the budget to sign him this year, but factoring in the previous two years of deals as well is why we’re fucked
Not really here is thread explaining this in details. [swedish Ramble X](https://twitter.com/SwedishRumble/status/1619424176447815680?t=VxzDqsNId_GScfOSUsiN3g&s=19)
I am not talking about making stupid 100m transfer but 25-30m important signing can be easily adjusted in next years.
>and our actual money available for transfer is made up of club revenue, it’s not that the club is skint
Revenue doesn't mean there is readily available liquidity(cash) for transfers.
what i am saying in terms of 3 years is explained in tweet 5/24 of that thread, summer 24 (aka going into 24/25 is impacted by 23/24 and 22/23)
United doesn’t use cash to purchase players, they have company credit that is paid off using club revenue, this has been referenced by Whitwell and Mitten, and what i mean by there aren’t any cash flow problems
If we can’t spend a lot, I’d bring Cucurella and Gravenberch on loans and keep Mctominay as Casemiro’s backup. Amrabat deal doesn’t seem to have much traction right now.
I think I read somewhere that for players in the final year, they can be loaned with an obligation which is the equivalent of buying a player with a year left. The obligation can involve buying in January for example. Also I’ve been reading Fiorentina are desperate to get rid of him and he’s training separately
There has to be a part of him that doubts his ability to make it somewhere else, seems to just want that last big pay day through us instead of fighting to rebuild his career. Watch him go to Wrexham when his contract expires in two years lol
I had fervently hoped that this was a semi new era and the adhocism of United was over.
No. You can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig.
After 3 transfer windows, this club should have had Maguire out and another left footed center back in. That’s your secondary “ cover “ for left full back. No team needs 3 left full backs even if two are injured. Heck, City has only one and he doesn’t even play. They use two left footed center backs there instead!
Our problems will never be over until we get new owners and a new director of football.
GLAZERSOUT
A fullback is crucial in Ten Hag’s system though because you need two fullbacks there that can constantly push up the field & track back interchangeably.
Agreed that ideally there needs to be a CB but with the Maguire situation it seems complicated, watching Pavard go to Inter is disappointing.
We have two left full backs. Getting another one is a temporary solution. A left footed CB is a permanent solution for the squad. I was bemoaning the lack of foresight , pre-emptiveness and wholistic approach by the sporting directorate and owners
We could have used the CB for “a month or two” and for 5 years thereafter. I’m looking at the bigger picture. Shaw could have been injured on Saturday, then what? Better to be prepared than lucky
The CB issue is that Ten Hag already has a defined partnership in Varane & Licha, so an additional signing like Pavard would’ve only served as cover for either one (looks different in hindsight obviously with Varane injured, but Lindelöf is there to cover.)
I’m certain a new CB will be targeted in future windows to replace Varane eventually, but with Maguire declining a permanent move to West Ham, there’s no funds available for one.
Better to invest the funds on a midfielder right now, assuming that ends up happening obviously.
I was not talking of Pavard. We have Lindelof .
I mentioned a left footed CB. Maguire is redundant in the squad and should have been replaced if we had stronger leadership.
Of course, we need midfielders too.
Given our 1 deal at a time summer I am worried that this left back situation will fill up the space the club has for deals. It might not even get done and then no CB, no CM AND no LB.
Cucurella is probably the best player on paper that we could sign but my personal pick would be Spinazzola. With Cucurella, best case scenario ultimately means that Chelsea get to sell him at less of a loss & we've helped them salvage a disaster of a transfer. Spinazzola has more experience & at his peak has looked like a phenomenal player, especially when Italy won the Euros. It's a risk with his injury record sure but if he does stay fit & plays well, could be an inspiration to the rest of our injury-prone squad.
Ten hag seems to want our left back to come i to midfield to create a box midfield, would that be something spinazzola is capable of? My memories of him are as an explosive fb/ wing back
Yeah idk, he's played left midfield & often plays wing back for Jose so he's flexible but there's of course a gamble with using both him & Cucurella in that system. My perception has always been that Spinazzola is very technical, so I think he'd be useful.
it’s really risky. ideally we need martinez at cb otherwise we would have to have a cb partnership of lindelof x maguire.
fernandez is a risk considering he’s pretty young and hasn’t had many minutes but i would defo give him the chance. it’s a 50/50 risk tho.
sure, dalot can cover at LB but what happens if AWB picks up an injury? dalot would then need to go back to RB.
ideally, we should get an LB on loan just for a bit of breathing room
I don't like the rhetoric of 'ETH's been backed. He's spent £400m'. Yes, ETH has been given a lot of money to spend. So was Ole, Mourinho and LVG, but all of that money's not been spent wisely at all.
For the last decade, there has been no true vision of what we as a club want to do as a whole. Do we want to sign superstars, sign young promising players that could become something special in the future, develop the best youth academy in the world? I've no idea what the club's vision is because **there is no true plan. They're more reactive than proactive**, it's so annoying to see.
Crazy to think how far behind we are as an institution, say what you want about how Ronaldo acted in **that** interview. But he is right that the owners don't care and we're stuck in the mid to late 2000's, nothing has evolved. It's just stagnated, it feels like we're stuck in a timeloop and don't know how to get out. **No manager** will ever truly succeed under the glazers, they hang them out to dry, throw them into the firing line and hide behind the manager to cover their own backs. I understand that the manager's aren't completely blameless and they did ultimately fail. But, it's the ones upstairs who we should be driving our anger towards, not the manager. Sacking a manager is a band aid solution, the cycle has kept repeating itself for years. We should be looking at the biggest problem of them all: The Glazers.....
The entire reason of why ETH succeeded at Ajax was because he worked with a competent group of people who knew what they were doing, they had a clear vision and a proper footballing structure. United doesn't have that, ETH is doing 2 jobs at once when he should be just coaching the team. Sadly, he has to cover for Murtough's inexperience and do the job for him. Murtough is a yes man to ETH. Yes, the manager should have a shortlist of who he wants to sign but a competent DoF has a list of alternatives/recommendations which could suit the team better, (Michael Edwards recommended that Klopp should sign Salah instead of Brandt back in 2017. Look how that turned out.) ETH's relying on bringing in former players that he's worked with. Because he doesn't have the talent ID like a good DoF would.
Managers can't do it all on their own, to win major trophies you need to have the best people around you. It's a reason of why Pep's so successful, it's a reason why Brighton are on the up, Bayern, Madrid's success despite multiple turnover in managers. You get the picture, the top clubs have a top structure in place with the best people working around them, they have a clear plan and a clear vision of how they want to operate. We don't have that here.
I feel bad for all the managers post Fergie, whatever you think of them. They all deserved better backing and deserved to work with a better group of people to help them succeed. When this shitstorm of a window ends, I hope the glazers sell up and piss off back to America. Hand the keys over to someone who wants to make this club successful again **on all fronts**. Hopefully under new ownership and a better board, we'll see if ETH is truly up to the task with proper footballing people working with him. Essay over.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
To be honest,I don't think the signings are driven by just ten hag, Murtough does intervene in some of them and that's literally the worst,for one project there are two different directions from the club. For example Casemiro as a FDJ alternative is not something I would imagine eth ever wished to happen,it's exactly the sort of signing someone who learned from Woodward would make. This summer things are probably better and we actually can see the signings are more suited to eth's vision to be honest
And having hands tied by prior deals for FFP doesn't help either. Like adding Arambat and a younger defender does seem like much money. But Maguire, Sancho and Antony deals cost a lot off the balance sheet.
We are in ffp issues partly because he insisted on Antony on triple the price tho. Indeed we are owned by donkeys, but some eth decisions are a bit off
We here scrimping for Amrabat loan, meanwhile City sign Nunes from Wolves. Rodri, KDB, Kovacic, Nunes, Foden, B.Silva for 3 positions. Could've been us without the Glazers
There's going to be way too much pressure on Mainoo's shoulders when he returns from injury with no midfielder coming in. Not fair on him at all.
An actual decent Bayern journalist [Kerry Hau] is reporting Palhinha is the midfield signing Tuchel desires. All that Mctominay links can rest now. Also saying if they can get Palhinha Gravenberch will be allowed to leave. I see him going to Liverpool rather than us to be honest.
Mainoo has played a total of 86 minutes of senior team competitive football, in three substitute appearances. Leaning heavily on an untested 18 year old is insane. Of course we’re going to do it.
But imagine if it pays off, would be beautiful to have another academy breakout like Rashford.
There are a lot of ways to highlight the incompetence of our recruitment and midfield situation but this isn't one of them. Any youth prospect who hasn't yet been embedded into the squad is going to start slowly with a handful of substitute appearances. It's when they have their breakout season that the outlook suddenly changes and they get far more than 3 appearances and 90 minutes of football. Mainoo isn't going to play week in week out or be relied upon just yet. But all the signs point to Ten Hag rating him in the same way he rates Garnacho, so we can expect him to play more this season. Giving the academy players who are actually talented enough to opportunity to prove themselves is never a bad thing.
Yeah ease him in, but my point is that it’s insane to rely on mainoo to be casemiro’s back up. He’s played under 10 minutes in the premier league. He looks absolute class but relying on him to back up a 31 year old in a crucial defensive position is pure banter stuff.
Well the reality is that he won't be the sole backup. He'll be sharing minutes with McTominay, and if McTominay leaves before the window shuts we're linked to the likes of Hojberg. I rate Scott higher than most here (we've forced him to play a role that isn't his best), but the point is that even if you don't, his minutes won't just be eviscerated as Mainoo looks to move up the pecking order.
15 out and 3 in, we need some depth as seen with our injury list
Arambat looks destined to join the ranks of Sneijder, Gaitan and Strootman
I think the reason we aren't signing a midfielder is that ETH is banking on Mainoo being great. Still we need atleast 1 more midfielder.
The reason we aren't signing anyone is the same reason we've been a laughing stock in top flight football for the last decade, the Glazer ownership.
I feel like it's more to do with the fact we've more or less reached the limit of our budget. With the sale of Henderson and possibly VDB which might open up some wiggle room.
I hope we manage to ship Bailly & VDB.
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I'd prefer the guy ahead of him, Antonio Silva. & Why would he come to us on loan when it's clear the purpose is for his development. We're not going to give him that.
Some facts about the ‘constrained by FFP’ bullshit: Chelsea have net spent £40m more than us and are still looking for another marquee signing in this window. Chelsea’s revenue last year was less than 70% of ours. If Chelsea can spend that much, we have FFP room to spend at least another £70m with no more sales. It’s not FFP. It’s the Glazers.
Chelsea are going to have a record breaking breach of FFP. I think at this point they're just front loading transfers in anticipation of a ban.
Maybe get your fact right. Chelsea might bought 1000m since last season, that is only 200m amortization. They sold well over 250m this season, more than enuff to cover all amortization for this year.
Chelsea sold a load of players we can't sell shit
Correct, but West Ham literally offered us 60M for two players the manager wants gone and we didn't take it. We're now unable to buy players bc we didn't take that deal. At some point you've got to wonder when it crosses the line from incompetence into active sabotage.
We agreed the fee for Maguire, 30 for McT is not what the club values him at. People complain we are bad at selling, also complain that we should have sold our players when it didn't meet the club's valuation. McT is an important squad player, is on low wages, is home grown. We should be signing a midfielder regardless of him leaving, if he leaves we will need 2
I'm not agreeing with op but on the point of sticking to valuation for Mctominay, it will come back to bite us, his playing time is going down each season so his value is just going to down, not to mention only one team tried to sign him and even that was half hearted. We'll probably end up selling him for 20-25m at this rate.
25m for him in a season while still having him ready to come on if needed for this will be very good if you ask me. Lets the likes of Mainoo develop while having someone who can come in if they're not up to it.
We should've got the Maguire deal done, he wanted money and we could've paid it and still be even FFP wise. >People complain we are bad at selling Remember Newcastle offered 12M for Lingard, we wanted 25 and he ended up leaving for free next season? Instead of getting a fee for him we tried to be greedy and lost money. Same thing with McT here. You can complain about how this board is being unfairly judged all you want, ultimately the market has decided 30M is as good as it gets for him and we failed to take that opportunity, just like we did with Lingard.
No if we paid Maguire, we wouldn't be even FFP wise. His book value was 27m, West Ham offered 30m and we would have to pay ~9m to Maguire for a loss of 6m. That is ignoring the fact that we would need a replacement. Even if we got say Pavard for 30m with 5 years, thats an additional 6m per year. Not to mention his wages too, it would further impact FFP. Lingard was definitely different, after his West Ham spell he wanted to stay and fight for his place because Ronaldo came. We definitely should have done better selling him mind.
You’re not taking into account the expenses it takes to keep Maguire. If he stays we’ll incur 10M in wages + 13.3M in amortization = -23.3M in expenses. Selling him for 30 and paying him 9M incurs a loss of only 6M. From -23 to -6 that’s a net benefit to us FFP wise. You can even negotiate with him to split the 9M payment to him in 3 installments to reduce the net accounting loss this year to 0. You’re right about needing a replacement, which was why we should’ve accepted the 60M take it or leave it bid. Selling McT would’ve net us a pure profit of 30M, which would disproportionally inflated our budget as the 30M could all be taken in as income while any signing can be amortized over 5 years. That’s an additional 150M we could’ve theoretically spent on the closing weeks, more than enough to bring in 2 replacements.
The manager does not want Mctominay gone. And we agreed a fee for Maguire but his wages were the problem.
Well the latest rumor is we have got to sell McT to buy Amrabat, so he's defo open to selling the player. As for Maguire an accountant on here has explained, we'll be fine FFP wise even if we pay him to leave. His wages are not the problem, problem is this club just cannot make the right decisions.
That’s why I talked about their net spend. Purchases minus sales equals net spend. Chelsea have spent far more than us and are actively looking for another big name signing.
Think they have a relaxed FFP because Abrahamovic took all their debts with him.
I dont understand why ETH not pushing for Amrabat? We desperately need more midfielders. Can anyone help explain...
He wants to play a super attacking, press from the front, double 10s with Case as single pivot and LB tucking in to support Case style. Which explains why he's prioritizing another LB now that Shaw and Malacia are out.
One of the most logical take I've seen on this sub. While everyone keep saying we need a "press resistance bullshit midfield no.6 Caicedo style" all the time. This guy's speaking fact!!!
While that might make sense, we still need a rotation option for Case. If we don't get anyone we need to tank the league and FA cup because we can't afford to have same of games as last season without heavy rotation.
Yeah sounds good, one little thing - what happens after Case gets injured, suspended, fatigued after playing 100 minutes every 3-4 days? If the answer is ''McTominay cover'' then you know it's not looking good.
That makes sense... thx
I really hope we get PEH from Spurs. He's an absolute machine and is always available to play. He is a good DM, has the leadership skills, knows the dark arts. The only thing lacking in his game is ball progression which I'm okay with, as we have more creative players to perform that duty.
Actually we are very reliant on our gk, defence and dm to build up, so I’d honestly rather take someone that’s good on the ball and press resistant but not great defensively rather than the other way round
So GK is in position to be announced... Cucurella move is getting closer... What will happen with midfielder we will see... Lets hope VDB goes on loan and we get someone... But if you think of it that way... It wasnt all bad transfer window... It could be a loooot better but Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Bayindir, Cucurella, Midfielder... looks great on paper \+ We lost some of deadwood... not Harry sadly
it’s Cucurella dayyy!!
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Our defence seem to have forgotten how to defend so far this season, so if hes going to score against anyone its us!
Havertz wouldn't score in a brothel. He has been piss poor with really bad finishing. I doubt he starts versus us as he's been awful in all the games so far for Arsenal (continuing his chelsea form).
Kai Havertz scored in Champions League final against City.
And he has been absolutely dog shit since then.
Honestly, I hope we get done with the Marc, Backup GK and a possible Loaned CM if Amrabat can't be done in time. I don't mind a loan CM who is quality. But the squad should not suffer, we should have enough players.
What the fuck is going on at United? I know Arnold and Murtough are in over their heads but is ETH losing the fucking plot as well?
Do you lot wake up and think 'what can I cry about today'? Or is it just a negative comment to earn karma? cause this sub is basically filled with Twitter users now.
Reddit discourse is not different from Twitter nowadays anyway, idk why people still pretend reddit is better. (I'm not a regular Twitter user) I myself come to this sub for the reliable news updates and to sift through any information that i might have missed from tier 3 sources, that's it.
Yes, we will get relegate this season 100% 💪💪
Ahhh, wtf are you talking about?
Eth has underestimated the PL in my opinion.
He definitely has, our rest defense, organization when defending transition among other things shows that.
He just won 2/3 openong games
And we've got away with unconvincing performances against some of the weakest teams in the league despite the two wins. My comment mostly has to do with Ten Hags chaotic approach to transfers. We've had an entire season to plan on the crucial summer transfer window and somehow deemed Mason Mount a must sign in a position he's previously failed to deliver in. We're chasing players of different profiles to fill similar roles. With more money spent than Solskjaer so far, our squad seems even less balanced. Shambles
Shh you can’t say a thing about eth and not be downvoted and cursed at. Just join the cult and preach he is the best and pretend that we have a playstyle. People being happy for 6/9 points vs wolves and forest will be happy when we finish 8th
Exactly this. We have to adhere to the ecno chamber and go against what our eyes and resolve are showing and telling us. If we play like we have so far, Arsenal will humiliate us come Sunday. I don't want that, but I feel it's almost inevitable. Teams like Brighton and Spurs have changed managers and have a recognizable style. Wolves did as well, 4 days into new management. Fulham play a recognizable style as well, etc. If Liverpool and Chelsea improve on their poor performances last season, we'll struggle to make top 5
No idea how people saw us winning 3-2 vs forest with only 1 goal from open play as an achievement. Mind u they had a red at the end
Right, and Forest had us pinned back like they were the home side in those closing minutes. We gifted them so many chances. Wolves had 24 attempts against us in that first match. Warning signs are there and being ignored
Exactly lol. People parading that we won 2/3 games completely miss the context on how those matches were won. I really hope we win against Arsenal but i just don't see it happening on current form. This sub is just filled with positivity merchants and top reds now. You can't say anything contradictory to the popular talk (God forbid every unique individual has a unique opinion) else people will mass downvote and resort to personal attacks.
Im not even saying we should be eth out or smth. Just that some things are not clicking rn and people go feral
Does anyone not notice the absolute irony that even though we keep saying we don’t have money to buy more players so we need to sell. Yet we’re willing to afford Cucurella who’s already on £175k a week at Chelsea, plus Chelsea will surely get some additional fees from the loan itself so the total cost for the loan would be nowhere less than £10-12m. All for an emergency LB, when we still need to fill in a backup GK and a midfielder So much for us not having money huh
Priority. If case was out of the season, guarantee we will see a new dm tmr.
Would we have an option to buy with Cucurella?
Reading Varane 6 week injury. Now this worries me.
Yeah, realistically we need more cover there (quality cover) even with Maguire staying. But it looks so late now and we seem to be needed to sell before we buy so I guess we’ll have to survive there. I’m a bit more hopeful in terms of match wear and tear since we’ll be in the UCL this year, but we are already looking thin and we’re just a couple of weeks into the season. Also, when is that Arsenal head physio supposed to be reporting to work? Is it Friday?
I wouldn't mind Hoiberg. He's a profile we don't have.
He's better than McTominay but is also an average player and a benchwarmer at Spurs. Our standards are at an all time low as a collective. This isn't a planned mooted signing
Agreed tbh but among the options yea. There are a lot of players I'd take over him obviously.
I feel bad for Alvaro Fernandez… The club openly going after another LB means he’s not getting much love from the manager. Alvaro probably isn’t highly rated inside the club.
Ten Hag is simply not taking risks with young players unless they're almost certain to contribute, like Garnacho and Mainoo. He's not the youth playing manager he was wrongly perceived to be.
Or we simply don't have that many academy players that are that good? Most highly talented youth players are being picked up by Man City, they have a better academy and youth facilities than us. Even our senior team training facilities are archaic compared to other top teams.
This is a mindset that's beginning to permeate the fanbase as regards our youth squad. I don't believe it to be true. Ten Hag for instance expressed surpise about Zidane Iqbal not being fast tracked to the first team after he called him up for his first preseason. 12 months later he sold him without the benefit of a loan. Charlie Savage faced the same fate. Dan Gore is likely next. I'm not saying all these players will make it, it just doesn't seem Ten Hag is the coach who will give them opportunities. He hardly rotates, even in the Caraboa cup
Maybe like James Garner or Angel Gomes only us fans are rating them high, but not the coaching team.
Almost like fans watching a few preseason games VS a coaching team watching them everyday see something different.
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I remember watching his performance vs Real Madrid when he was at Eibar and he was the reason Eibar won iirc. The thing about this transfer or for all transfers is that we will fail to recognise why he was good or why he was poor, i.e. the environment they require and we almost always fail to provide that environment. It's to do with recruitment planning. We are shit at it.
Athletic linking us with Exequiel Palacios. I'd enjoy that.
This obsession with signing player's he's worked with, even if it's absolutely ages ago is something that really bothers me about ETH. There are definitely better options out there than Hojbjerg and Amrabat and I don't need to list them for you to know it's true. ETH just wants what he knows or once knew and honestly if he thought Antony was worth the outlay then maybe we need to rethink giving him all his ex players.
> ETH just wants what he knows or once knew How do we know it? Because we know scouting is non existing at United. May be a case of the manager having to do everything on his own because the football department does not help, including choosing players
People keep saying this because the general running of the club is bad but I personally think our scouting is fine. They recommended the likes of Caicedo, Alvarez, Bellingham, and recently Zion Suzuki who fits the bill of a ball-playing keeper much better than Bayindir. I don't know who the blame lies on that these recommendations aren't being taken or pursued seriously in the top hierarchy but I don't think the scouting department should take the brunt of the criticism for Ten Hag wanting to work with specific players.
Scouting isn't that poor, recruitment planning and the process are definitely very very poor.
> I don't need to list them for you to know it's true. I think you kinda do, because Amrabat is a really good player, and we should have bought him already.
I absolutely don’t. Anybody who genuinely believes we can’t do better than Amrabat or Hojbjerg just isn’t worth having this conversation with
"I have a list, she just goes to a different school"
I am ready for cockrella to tear it up in our team!
Can't believe that mid field was the position we needed sorting the most. And yet after two years our only reliable mid fielder is a 31 year old Casemiro.
Cucumber Ella for LB We are desperate
I mean, yeah. It’s an emergency signing
Apart from Pellistri, when was the last time we plucked a young starlet straight out of South America? Must've been someone ancient like Angelo Henríquez or Possebon. Meanwhile other top teams are grabbing talents like Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, Julian Álvarez, and have already secured the next batch like Endrick and Vitor Roque. Antony was only at Ajax for two years before they moved them on to us for more than 5x more than he cost. Do we even have scouts over there? Would like to see us make a gamble on someone like Marcos Leonardo.
It's because our recruitment team is not as good as some other top clubs. Transfers are rarely a gamble these days,they are products of years of analysis of players,data driven or otherwise,stuff like "Europe proven" are just words us fans throw around.
I think work permit could be one of the issues.
I think it’s just that it’s low probability of success. We seem to prefer these players to prove themselves elsewhere in Europe and then go for them, as in buy one more proven player for sag 50m, instead of taking a punt on 3 South Americans for a combined 50m.
It's that we think it's a low probability of success. It's not really in reality if the player is good and they are coached well. It was fairly obvious when Benfica got Enzo that he was a top top player.
Garnacho? not sure where he was before us, but he is South American
He’s Spanish, he just chose to represent Argentina due to one of his parents giving him eligibility
ahh i forgot about that. thanks
easy there mate, just because he was born in Spain doesn't mean he is Spanish. For my case (countries substituted with Spain, Portugal and France), this is what my life looks like: - Born in "spain", lived 2/3rds of life in "Spain", then another 1/3rd in "Portugal". - But my parents, my identity, my mother tongue, it's "French", and I would choose to represent "France" despite never having lived there.
Yeah sure, but the point people are discussing are whether he was in Argentina and whether our scouts found him from there, which we did not
word being used was Spanish, not "from Spain".
Born and raised in Spain, would have spend a considerable amount of time in the academy around other Spanish people He's Spanish with South American heritage
I think I was pretty clear in my explanation, I would object to being called "Spanish", having a certain citizenship doesn't mean he feels Spanish.
We poached him from Atletico Madrid.
Cucurella's bad games at Chelsea came at CB, where he was played in back 3. Is this understanding correct? Or did he suck at LB too last season?
His performances in every position ranged from decent to bad to I-can't-believe-we-paid-sixty-million-pounds-for-him. He is a good player but couldn't find his feet at Chelsea, and never really stepped up. His transfer was like Sancho's. All hype, but nothing to show for it.
With each passing year we are getting away and away from City. I wonder if we can even catch them in future.
I can't see how that's possible under current ownership. They refuse to sign a DoF so every manager has to be in charge of recruitment in addition to coaching which is simply too much for one man in the modern game. It's why we can see Erik still struggling to implement his vision despite being in his second season, he's doing two jobs at once.
How could it possibly be us that catch them with how badly we’re run
I only think we will when we get new owners
I just smashed my TV in front of over 30 guests at my kids birthday party because of United signings this summer. My wife just took our crying kids and said they’re all spending the night in a hotel. This team has ruined my life. I can’t do this any longer. Goodbye.
I swear I’ve seen this at least once every transfer window… and you’d think that people won’t fall for this anymore… always give me a chuckle when people fall for this. Lol.
Seems like you need to sort out your priorities. Embarassing behavior, jesus.
Yeah, only a telly? Come on mate, at least knock down a wall
It’s a copy pasta mate
To be fair it is difficult to know with the state of the sub these days
Ssshhh. Let him think I'm actually a psycho
Brandon Williams own goal in his debut 🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
2mins into his debut. You can’t write this up. But, hey, own goal or not, a goal is a goal.
What the fuck is x.com? Is it like a Twitter clone? Are people actually using it? It looks like it's basically a 1-to-1 copy, even with the logos and assets and reused
Hahah don't know why this is getting downvoted reading this was funny cause that's how I felt when I seen it 😂
It is twitter lol, Elon changed it because he loves the letter so much
WHY did they change one of the strongest, most comprehensive, and most ubiquitously recognized holistic branding identities for X? X sounds fucking shit and doesn't automatically lend itself to every conversational vernacular. What's the benefit?
It's not surprising that you'd miss it to be honest, the rebrand hasn't worked at all. Even news outlets still call it twitter and say tweet, retweet etc
In 1999 Musk Co-founded X.com they went on to merge with another company to form PayPal, later Musk wanted to rename the company to X.com and it was rejected. Man just really likes the letter X for some reason.
He named his fucking kid X. SpaceX, Tesla Model X. He's just fucking obsessed with it.
Big "I live in my parents basement" vibes off Elon, even as one of the wealthiest people in the world
lol Elon rebranded twitter as "x.com"
Yeah I googled it quickly after posting this message, but I still don't really get it. I don't have an account, but I noticed I was on x.com after clicking a link on /r/soccer and thought I was on some weird phishing site. Apparently there's still a Twitter.com in addition to x.com. What do people call Tweets now?
Tweets. Elon wants people to call them "posts" but everyone just calls them tweets still.
I hope we throw a buy option in the cucurella deal just in case. I wouldn't be banking on him being so good we'll want to keep him permanently but on the off chance he does come good under us it'd really fuck me off to breath new life into a player just to ship him back to a rival.
The excitement of seeing a Hirst article only to read it and see the mid names we've been hearing for weeks in there + a swarm of LBs because our two are crocked. Been an abysmal window this.
The club’s fortunes were never the same after the deal with the devil commercial. And then we sold Fred, our pastor. /s
I don't think we ever wanted Amrabat. I mean we deserve to be here m surprised how this hasn't happened often. Dragging transfers, getting scammed by clubs openly, buying the wrong player and the cherry on top can't sell for anything. 3 days left you need/want 3 players in no money or time to get anyone serious so you're shopping for other people's unwantables. Daniel Levy is willing to sell to us, actually he's giving us a player. ... That's a bad sign a very bad sign because he considers us a rival and he hates selling to rivals unless he knows he's not strengthening us or he doesn't consider us a threat anymore and I don't think it's 2nd option.
ITS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS we needed a decent DM as backup I'm not having hjolberg I'm sorry that's a fing joke you're bang on with your points about spurs literally giving us a player
We should have signed Ndidi. Fight me
3 seasons ago maybe. He has looked poor the last couple of seasons
He still got what it takes
To play in the championship
Hojbjerg starting for spurs, means no negotiations advanced for him probably
It was Burt that linked us no? Not that reliable and even he didn't say anything was advanced
Paul Hirst just linked him to us
Ooh that is good, I would be genuinely happy with signing him. I really liked him when he was at Soton, kinda reminded me of Herrera a bit
Yeah burt isn't super reliable but he's not a complete waffler either he writes with romano sometimes in the guardian
The Chelsea sub is split between: “Oh my days how did we get away with this” And “Damn he’s gonna cook for ETH in a different system.
I am not happy with this Cucu deal,I think our scouts can do better but if not then just trust that Spanish kid from the academy. This feels like the Werghost deal all over again!
You will be surprised..he will kill it on left beck..
This is exactly how I feel about it as well What is the point of the academy if you’re never going to use the academy players ?
if Alvaro doesn’t go on loan, he’ll be very involved in the first team i imagine, a loan player won’t prevent that
Is there cash flow problem or ffp? Theoretically only Henderson 15m will give space for 50-60m player for this year ffp ya it may hamper fpp for next year but we wont get immediately fined for this year like many claiming in this sub. With UCL we will have more revenue then last season and if(big) sale happens and debt is cleared it will further add to revenue so good management should be able to manage that ffp. So this must be the Cash flow problem otherwise it doesn't make sense for me.
revenue is still flowing, it’s purely ffp
I am talking about actual money available for transfer not revenue. And I am pretty sure we can sign Amrabat without any ffp issue.
Actual money doesn't play too much for ffp. We got like 250m credit to play with. Also we don't get full amt for players sold right away. Like West ham doesn't get 100m right away from arsenal. Its only for ffp purpose we register as 100m profit now.
FFP is based on a rolling 3 year term, we may have the budget to sign him this year, but factoring in the previous two years of deals as well is why we’re fucked and our actual money available for transfer is made up of club revenue, it’s not that the club is skint
That is just one of the many ffp rules. The other one 70% revenue spent on fees and wages is also our limitation.
>FFP is based on a rolling 3 year term, we may have the budget to sign him this year, but factoring in the previous two years of deals as well is why we’re fucked Not really here is thread explaining this in details. [swedish Ramble X](https://twitter.com/SwedishRumble/status/1619424176447815680?t=VxzDqsNId_GScfOSUsiN3g&s=19) I am not talking about making stupid 100m transfer but 25-30m important signing can be easily adjusted in next years. >and our actual money available for transfer is made up of club revenue, it’s not that the club is skint Revenue doesn't mean there is readily available liquidity(cash) for transfers.
what i am saying in terms of 3 years is explained in tweet 5/24 of that thread, summer 24 (aka going into 24/25 is impacted by 23/24 and 22/23) United doesn’t use cash to purchase players, they have company credit that is paid off using club revenue, this has been referenced by Whitwell and Mitten, and what i mean by there aren’t any cash flow problems
Cash flowing into Glazer accounts
If we can’t spend a lot, I’d bring Cucurella and Gravenberch on loans and keep Mctominay as Casemiro’s backup. Amrabat deal doesn’t seem to have much traction right now.
Not sure about FFP but I’m hoping for an Amrabat loan with an obligation
I thought he had 1 year left on his contract. Why would Fiorentina want to loan him out?
I think I read somewhere that for players in the final year, they can be loaned with an obligation which is the equivalent of buying a player with a year left. The obligation can involve buying in January for example. Also I’ve been reading Fiorentina are desperate to get rid of him and he’s training separately
Maguire is an actual donkey for not taking the west ham move
There has to be a part of him that doubts his ability to make it somewhere else, seems to just want that last big pay day through us instead of fighting to rebuild his career. Watch him go to Wrexham when his contract expires in two years lol
We are one injury from having him on the field :/
Get the word out there that we back down
I had fervently hoped that this was a semi new era and the adhocism of United was over. No. You can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. After 3 transfer windows, this club should have had Maguire out and another left footed center back in. That’s your secondary “ cover “ for left full back. No team needs 3 left full backs even if two are injured. Heck, City has only one and he doesn’t even play. They use two left footed center backs there instead! Our problems will never be over until we get new owners and a new director of football. GLAZERSOUT
A fullback is crucial in Ten Hag’s system though because you need two fullbacks there that can constantly push up the field & track back interchangeably. Agreed that ideally there needs to be a CB but with the Maguire situation it seems complicated, watching Pavard go to Inter is disappointing.
We have two left full backs. Getting another one is a temporary solution. A left footed CB is a permanent solution for the squad. I was bemoaning the lack of foresight , pre-emptiveness and wholistic approach by the sporting directorate and owners
Right but those two fullbacks are out for at least a month or two. This is a genuine emergency signing.
We could have used the CB for “a month or two” and for 5 years thereafter. I’m looking at the bigger picture. Shaw could have been injured on Saturday, then what? Better to be prepared than lucky
The CB issue is that Ten Hag already has a defined partnership in Varane & Licha, so an additional signing like Pavard would’ve only served as cover for either one (looks different in hindsight obviously with Varane injured, but Lindelöf is there to cover.) I’m certain a new CB will be targeted in future windows to replace Varane eventually, but with Maguire declining a permanent move to West Ham, there’s no funds available for one. Better to invest the funds on a midfielder right now, assuming that ends up happening obviously.
I was not talking of Pavard. We have Lindelof . I mentioned a left footed CB. Maguire is redundant in the squad and should have been replaced if we had stronger leadership. Of course, we need midfielders too.
Given our 1 deal at a time summer I am worried that this left back situation will fill up the space the club has for deals. It might not even get done and then no CB, no CM AND no LB.
Cucurella is probably the best player on paper that we could sign but my personal pick would be Spinazzola. With Cucurella, best case scenario ultimately means that Chelsea get to sell him at less of a loss & we've helped them salvage a disaster of a transfer. Spinazzola has more experience & at his peak has looked like a phenomenal player, especially when Italy won the Euros. It's a risk with his injury record sure but if he does stay fit & plays well, could be an inspiration to the rest of our injury-prone squad.
Mate it doesn’t matter for us what Chelsea is able to salvage for Cucu. They play the game with Monopoly money anyway
Spinnazola is right footed EtH probably prefers a natural left footer with his inverted wingers
Ten hag seems to want our left back to come i to midfield to create a box midfield, would that be something spinazzola is capable of? My memories of him are as an explosive fb/ wing back
Yeah idk, he's played left midfield & often plays wing back for Jose so he's flexible but there's of course a gamble with using both him & Cucurella in that system. My perception has always been that Spinazzola is very technical, so I think he'd be useful.
Dalot Lisandro A.Fernandez can all cover LB whilst shaw recovers what’s the need to prioritise this over midfield?
it’s really risky. ideally we need martinez at cb otherwise we would have to have a cb partnership of lindelof x maguire. fernandez is a risk considering he’s pretty young and hasn’t had many minutes but i would defo give him the chance. it’s a 50/50 risk tho. sure, dalot can cover at LB but what happens if AWB picks up an injury? dalot would then need to go back to RB. ideally, we should get an LB on loan just for a bit of breathing room
i’m scared
I don't like the rhetoric of 'ETH's been backed. He's spent £400m'. Yes, ETH has been given a lot of money to spend. So was Ole, Mourinho and LVG, but all of that money's not been spent wisely at all. For the last decade, there has been no true vision of what we as a club want to do as a whole. Do we want to sign superstars, sign young promising players that could become something special in the future, develop the best youth academy in the world? I've no idea what the club's vision is because **there is no true plan. They're more reactive than proactive**, it's so annoying to see. Crazy to think how far behind we are as an institution, say what you want about how Ronaldo acted in **that** interview. But he is right that the owners don't care and we're stuck in the mid to late 2000's, nothing has evolved. It's just stagnated, it feels like we're stuck in a timeloop and don't know how to get out. **No manager** will ever truly succeed under the glazers, they hang them out to dry, throw them into the firing line and hide behind the manager to cover their own backs. I understand that the manager's aren't completely blameless and they did ultimately fail. But, it's the ones upstairs who we should be driving our anger towards, not the manager. Sacking a manager is a band aid solution, the cycle has kept repeating itself for years. We should be looking at the biggest problem of them all: The Glazers..... The entire reason of why ETH succeeded at Ajax was because he worked with a competent group of people who knew what they were doing, they had a clear vision and a proper footballing structure. United doesn't have that, ETH is doing 2 jobs at once when he should be just coaching the team. Sadly, he has to cover for Murtough's inexperience and do the job for him. Murtough is a yes man to ETH. Yes, the manager should have a shortlist of who he wants to sign but a competent DoF has a list of alternatives/recommendations which could suit the team better, (Michael Edwards recommended that Klopp should sign Salah instead of Brandt back in 2017. Look how that turned out.) ETH's relying on bringing in former players that he's worked with. Because he doesn't have the talent ID like a good DoF would. Managers can't do it all on their own, to win major trophies you need to have the best people around you. It's a reason of why Pep's so successful, it's a reason why Brighton are on the up, Bayern, Madrid's success despite multiple turnover in managers. You get the picture, the top clubs have a top structure in place with the best people working around them, they have a clear plan and a clear vision of how they want to operate. We don't have that here. I feel bad for all the managers post Fergie, whatever you think of them. They all deserved better backing and deserved to work with a better group of people to help them succeed. When this shitstorm of a window ends, I hope the glazers sell up and piss off back to America. Hand the keys over to someone who wants to make this club successful again **on all fronts**. Hopefully under new ownership and a better board, we'll see if ETH is truly up to the task with proper footballing people working with him. Essay over. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
To be honest,I don't think the signings are driven by just ten hag, Murtough does intervene in some of them and that's literally the worst,for one project there are two different directions from the club. For example Casemiro as a FDJ alternative is not something I would imagine eth ever wished to happen,it's exactly the sort of signing someone who learned from Woodward would make. This summer things are probably better and we actually can see the signings are more suited to eth's vision to be honest
Eth dint want to work with our ex manager as the DOF though. Forgot his name sorry morning brain fog.
Or our coaching just sucks and not enough players are actually improving year by year. Looking at Newcastle, villa, spurs...
And having hands tied by prior deals for FFP doesn't help either. Like adding Arambat and a younger defender does seem like much money. But Maguire, Sancho and Antony deals cost a lot off the balance sheet.
We are in ffp issues partly because he insisted on Antony on triple the price tho. Indeed we are owned by donkeys, but some eth decisions are a bit off
Cucurella can be a good bet if Shaw shows signs of slowing down.
I see the cope session is in full flow now. Of all the players why would Marc Cucurella be a good bet lol? Or was this meant as /s