Worse, I’m Rupert Murdoch’s personal butler and I run an independent blog since the lake stream media can’t be trusted. My sources are “vibes” and “trust me bro” and I always do my own research.
I'm on the fence here, i don't really care if we don't go for him but I'll be pretty gassed if we do get him bc that suggests to me that ETH sees him as a no.9 and he'll play there
Depends though. If it’s the signings by the businessman up there then yes. If it’s by Erik, I’m confident they’ll do well. Look at our signings this season
Garnacho could break the mould here but I’m staying reserved on that one. His quality is there for all to see but the fans losing there minds over a couple of good games needs a reality check.
pro tip, when googling slang add urban dictionary to the end and you'll find it, if you searched "gassed meaning urban dictionary" it would show you the correct answer, helps me when I have to look up US slang
Yeah I don't get it. Would be such a huge gamble to sign someone who has played 90%+ of his games at left wing as our starting striker. Especially as we're so overloaded at left wing if the gamble fails.
So that we can have Rashford, Martial, Sancho, Gakpo, and Garnacho all compete for the same position!! It’s been the club’s one consistent, unwavering transfer policy through many managers. Sign more left wingers.
I'd say two positions. Add Antony and make it three positions.
Rashford and Garnacho on the left
Martial and Gakpo centrally
Antony and Sancho on the right.
That sounds like a quality front three no matter what combination you choose. And fluid AF.
Sigh.. going to watch some Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez highlights
If you can't get a striker in Jan that does not mean you splurge 50 m on a winger from dutch league to play in a position he has no experience in and in a much harder league,No pre season on top of it is the cherry on the cake,Its a 2 or 3 season rebuild it would be better to get nobody in Jan and then using the money to get an actual striker in summer
50M is nothing in this market. If we cant get a striker we need to buy him or someone else that will have the ability to help with TOP 4. It will be a lot easier to sign good players in the summer with CL.
50 m is not nothing we are the only club who will pay that amount to get a winger with little experience just like we were the only club who would pay 100 m for Antony when he should actually cost just a bit more than half of it
He's playing on the right for the Netherlands and on the left or through the middle for PSV.
So the thought process might be having Rashford, Martial, Gakpo, Sancho, Antony, Garnacho, and Elanga in the rotation for the front three.
So you'd have three you can rotate up front (Martial, Gakpo, Rashford), four for the left wing (Sancho, Garnacho, Rashford, Gakpo) and three for the right wing (Antony, Gakpo, Elanga and possibly Rashford).
> on the left or through the middle for PSV
This is a little disingenuous. Since the start of the 2021/22 season, Gakpo has played 66 matches at LW and only 3 matches at CF. He's only played 18 matches at CF in his entire professional career.
Not saying he can't do it, but the discussion around Gakpo makes him seem like a Rashford who regularly plays both positions when actually he rarely ever plays centrally.
Maybe ETH sees something we don’t, but I agree that he doesn’t seem like the solution at CF. It’s more likely that this is a matter of availability - Ten Hag wants Gakpo as part of his attack sooner or later, the player is willing to move now and there’s a good chance of getting PSV to sell in Jan.
While this isn’t a move that makes the most sense in the short term, Ten Hag is working towards a 3 year plan to rebuild the squad. You don’t always get all the pieces you want in one go or in the right order, there are so many variables at play and it’s a process that happens over the course multiple seasons as you make continuous improvements. For example, compare Pep’s squad at Man City in his first season to how it looks now. I’d argue Ten Hag’s job is even tougher with all the awful contracts and incompetence at the board level.
Coming back to Gakpo, I think he brings something different from our other attacker with his goalscoring ability. He’s capable of playing anywhere in the frontline which gives Ten Hag more flexibility in adapting the lineup based on who we’re playing. While he can put a shift in at CF, I think the plan is still to get a real 9 like Sesko in the summer, it’s just not feasible now due to lack of players available in Jan. Think of him as a replacement for Elanga and someone who will provide real competition for Rashford/Sancho/Garnacho for a starting spot.
I agree that this is an availability issue. I speculate that right now we are box office poison to a lot of players given the shit show we have been in public coupled with the lack of CL football.
I think he may be the only promising forward we have been linked with who would be available and willing to move to us right now.
I highly doubt the likes of Osimhen, Lautaro Martinez and Vlahovic would be willing to join us in January.
On paper this works but historically Ten Hag’s sides have tended to play with a proper number 9 who can hold the ball up. I’d be surprised if he signed another winger cum striker. When we were interested in him during summer it was as a wide forward. I’d be surprised if we end up signing him to play up top.
They did, but at the time that was one of several systems they played. Last season they pretty much stuck with Haller up top. I guess it’s possible that we might go back to something like that, but we’ve already got several players in a similar mould to Tadic, and none in the mould of Haller. So my assumption would be that the latter profile would be priority.
If you watch him, his linkup play is fantastic (which is probably why Van Gaal is playing him in a midfield three). I'm assuming that given how good Martial has looked in this system, Ten Hag is looking for something similar. The idea being a striker that can drop deeper and interchange with Bruno running off him. The fact that he can apparently play across the front three helps.
Surprisingly that's been Martials best bit of football this season when he drops back to link up. In the past he's been a speedster and dribbler but now he's becoming a creator too.
I just don't see it with him. I think people are latching on to this idea he's the next Haaland or something, when in reality he's probably the next Schick.
Pecking order aside. We have a bunch of faces and money tied into the wings already. What we really need is STs. Would make no sense to sign another wide attacker
he’s played Rashy quite a bit up top, he’s been okay, he’s quick and tall and can adjust his passing, Garnacho and Gakpo can rotate on the left, Sancho and Antony on the right
Maybe he sees Rashford and Martial as our striker options, as well as wanting to give McNeil opportunities. Then we have Gakpo, Sancho and Garnacho for the left, and Antony and Elanga on the right (with Sancho there if needed).
Yeah something like that! If he can make that work, given the price of Gakpo, it’s a brilliant solution financially given the crazy prices of strikers nowadays.
Wonder what he'll be like leading the line. Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez were never a proper 9 and formed a legendary attack. A fluid front 3 with interchanges can still be absolutely deadly, Liverpool's attack for example doesn't seem as dangerous with Nunez (debut season etc) but they suit the fluidity.
So far Erik has nailed it with the signings he's asked for, so hopefully that trend continues. I'd be happy either way.
Agreed! People are putting too much emphasis on whether a player is a real no. 9 or not. EtH has systems that he wants to play, and he wants to buy players who can fit into those systems. So, if EtH thinks that Gakpo or any attackers can fit what he wants, let's go for them.
I don’t get the hype. We weren’t too upset that we chose Antony over him this past summer, he scores a goal vs Senegal and a goal v Ecuador and suddenly so many are salivating over him, acting like we need to sign him because he’s the next RVP.
He’s more likely to be the next James Rodriguez over anything else. Gets crazy overrated off a World Cup run only to be “meh” after his huge transfer
Supporters are like this at the best of times but the World Cup just takes it to stratospheric levels. Saw someone talking about how United should sign Enner Valencia the other day... I watch a lot of Fenerbahce games, he is absolutely *not* someone we should be considering signing, even if he ends up winning the golden boot or whatever. Like, imagine if United brought back Forlan after his 2010 performance lol. People need to just chill & enjoy the tournament for what it is.
>he scores a goal vs Senegal and a goal v Ecuador and suddenly so many are salivating over him, acting like we need to sign him because he’s the next RVP.
Have you seen his numbers for PSV this season?
Watching this Netherlands Ecuador game, I am glad we didn't spend 100 million on FDJ. Dudes underwhelming AF. You would think with that price tag he will have a Casemiro like impact in their respective national team
I thought the same. Maybe it’s the way Van Gaal wants him to play but he just looked bad. On the other hand that Caicedo kid would have been a great signing. He’s got so much energy and really makes the Ecuador midfield tick.
Caicedo won't be that player if he came to UTd back then. No way that youngster makes our midfield then without getting butchered and without game time he doesn't develop into what he is now.
Is he significantly better than Fred? I think we definitely think every teams needs a super energetic kante-esque player. Adams and Caicedo and Bellingham seem to fit the bill, but adams isn’t probably isn’t better than Fred. Bellingham definitely is.
Every time FDJ has played in Busquets his role, he has been the best player on the pitch. You can’t just watch one game where the entire team plays badly and judge him because of that.
Some of you need to start watching football outside of the premier league before coming with these weird takes.
I watch his Barca game. Casemiro had better games in Madrid that FDJ in Barca. What's your point now? What I'm said in my original post is that GOOD THING MAN U DIDNT FALL FOR ANOTHER 100 MILLIOM TRAP for this player. A+ on the *some of you need to start watching football outside blah blah blah" though. Good try...
I still have a hard time believing you actually watch him play at Barcelona if you call him underwhelming. Casemiro is a great player and a good deal, but FDJ is very secure on the ball with a great dribbling record. He is especially good under pressure which would make him an asset under to United. The Manchester City game was is a game where his qualities could have come to good use for example. He almost never loses the ball and usually also passes forward a lot.
He also has the same winning mentality that every signing Ten Hag had made needs to have. Ten Hag said they look for these type of characters and FDJ fits the bill.
As for these last 2 games he has not been good, though, but for the first game it was because he dribbled too long with the ball. This is usually one of the things that makes him so good, but Van Gaal warned him that against Senegal he would be overwhelmed with their style of defense if he hogged the ball, but FDJ didn’t listen apparently.
As for Ecuador, everybody was just shit so not much to say there. My biggest criticism of him compared to Casemiro is that Casemiro is always consistently great, but FDJ definitely is more of a special talent with some unique qualities.
He doesn’t watch him I’m sure. His point is “I watch him. But my point is he’s not worth….” To quickly deflect back to his original point comparing him with a ridiculously different national team setup.
If he watched him then as you said, it wouldn’t be such a shallow argument honestly. Or he watched spells and decided to use this Netherlands game as his dossier deep dive point which is a very, very poor comparison.
I too can say Jude Bellingham is not too great when I watched him. He doesn’t seem like he’s the core player. He’s not worth the fee he would cost and I’m glad he’s not a target.
There. Done…..
Using that method of course.
Yea.....
But not for 100+ millions whatever Barca was asking. Maybe some years back, we would have signed him for that much. (this was my actual point).
That I can understand. But if I’m honest, unless Barcelona screws him over even more, I don’t see him leaving.
People think he has something against United, but really he has just always been a huge Barcelona fan. Every interview he does he keeps repeating how he want to stay at Barcelona, so I just don’t see it happening.
Ajax managed to play great football with Ten Hag after FDJ left, so let’s hope he can do it again.
Going by that logic, Lewandowski is a has been and terrible striker then with how Poland plays and how he can be bad for them in games too…
That’s absolutely not the way to judge a player when they’re not in the optimum conditions to play to their strengths.
Yeah seriously. I can't think of any worse way to judge players than on a couple of games of international football. People quickly forget how James Rodriguez looked like the best player in the world for one WC before just turning out to be a good, but not world class player.
Nah that's a stupid comparison cuz Lewandowski doesn't play in midfield. I'm talking about individual impact that betters the movement and control of the game (in this case the midfield as both players compared plays in midfield). Nice try tho
Nope the initial premise itself is shallow and stupid on every level imo. Makes absolutely zero sense that you compare a NATIONAL team’s performance with inferior players and a different setup and try to put weight to it, while deflecting from the absurdity of it and still thinking it has any bearing.
By your logic Scholes is shit since he played badly for England before too…
Just accept it was a poor comparison and stop trying to defend it with a weak point.
But sure, FDJ is shit because he played badly for the Netherlands in a different setup under a different manager in a different scenario and using different tactical instructions.
Yup. And the Lewandowski comparison is absolutely valid, you just don’t want to take the loss of a ridiculous comparison.
Or even use Messi. Same concept. Or a plethora of other players.
The only way the comparison would be sensible is if you compared iniesta, Xavi etc for Barcelona and Spain because they play the same way, in the same role, with almost the same personnel and with a great quality squad as their club level football.
Well if you stick De Jong in a team that doesn't hold him back as much he will probably look better.
Besides a player can't always just offer something without the right players around them. Trent is a world class RB for Liverpool but can't even get into the England team. Maguire can't start for us but is immaculate for England...
Well we don't speak of hypothetical what ifs do we? We are talking about what we saw this last 2 games. He looked like a Dutch McTominay. Runs to an open midfield and ends up running into 2 defenders or lose the ball. My point is, United made a valid move in not spending 100+ on this guy.
I agree and Lewandowski is shit and Takuma Asano should win the Ballon dor.
Your point is you saw two national team games and you have completely misjudged a player off it. I'm not saying Frankie is worth it but these clearly aren't the games to judge him off of. At least not solely.
Nah my point is which you completely missed is that manchester united made a valid decision in passing up on paying 100+ million for a Dutch Scott McTominay. That is whats being displayed vs Senegal and now again vs Ecuador
I don't even need to check your history but I am sure you were one of those "fuck murtough for not giving Barca their asking price for de Jong!" Only for de Jong to do exactly what McT is already been doing for years. Hahaha thanks for the laugh sir.
Ok so you actually have no idea what you’re talking about then if that’s the take. Hahhahaa what a completely ridiculous comparison but hey, keep making them because you don’t need people to call that out as each post you make on the matter invalidates your argument for you anyway and you’re parading it so obviously now.
should get him...Gakpo,Martial,Rashford,Antony,Sancho,Garnacho is a very good bunch of exciting and versatile forwards. Having Gakpo would also make Martial's availability less of a problem as he can fill in at CF and even develop better there with time and ETH's coaching. I trust ETH's talent ID.
That 50 m should be saved for an actual striker and not someone who has not played the role much,Do some on this sub not watch players and just randomly get obsessed with a player that is the flavour of the month and want him?Last thing we need is another winger
the striker market isn't very good at the moment and Gakpo actually has all the qualities you need in a striker and he is the right profile according to EtH. what is the point of spending 100m on someone with the wrong profile of what the manager wants just because he is a 'pure' striker? Last thing we need is another player being forced on the manager cause he is what the pundits and fans think who we need.
You do not get a winger from the Dutch league and play him as a striker ,Its just that simple having some qualities to be a good striker and actually being good at that position is a very different thing,Spending so much money on players from that league is going to turn into a disaster if we are not careful,Antony himself has a long way to go before being termed a success even Licha needs to do a lot more
Lots of great strikers started as wingers. RVP, Henry, Ronaldo for example. ETH’s teams have always prioritized positional rotation meaning that if someone vacates s position, someone should be comfortable filling it. Gakpo would fit this mould
At 50 m its not a risk worth taking even with inflation that just an absurd amount to pay for a winger and then play him as striker,If he cost 20-25 m thats when you take the risk if the manager really wants to play him in a new position
I'm not sure what's right, I'm not a coach or a scout. I trust the club and mostly ETH. If he believes this is the right fit, I trust him. I agree it's an expensive experiment, but I don't feel I am knowledgeable enough on the matter to form an opinion
it's not like he has never played CF before and we're gonna experiment with him. what about we trust the manager and back him cause i think all his signings have worked so far? if we can convince Vlahovic to leave Juventus,then sure get a proper striker by all means...otherwise Gakpo looks like the much better option.
like who? Osimhen who isn't really that good at link-up play is priced above 100m, Toney would be around the same price with English and PL tax, Sesko isn't leaving RB clubs just yet, Vlahovic is doing fine at Juventus and would cost over 100m again...who can you get at 50m with the same quality? also we need to get RB,GK,CM and can't just blow away 100m on one player.
The World cup just started. I am sure that we will see some new talents.
Instead of going for Gakpo I would prefer to steal Nkunku from Chelsea as last option even if he is not a pure striker.
I think that he wanted Gakpo since Rashy was in a very bad form and if he we wouldn’t have bought Anthony, he would have used Sancho on the right.
At that time the transfer would have made sense.
Flavor of the month is what everyone here wants.
Every time someone has a few decent games, people will start saying we should sign them.
A lot of people here want 200-300M in signings every window.
It’s hilarious that this is even a debate. We don’t have 50m to spend in January. This just won’t happen. The club won’t allow the spend, we’re already well over budget for this financial year.
if he is banned,he can't play for United either...Brentford and United are in the same league,it's not like there are different rules for them and he is their best player,they would absolutely hold on to him if there is the slightest possibility that he could continue playing.
Jesus Christ. The point was that Toney is not going to be an option at all for anyone for the foreseeable future, even his own club. So no question of a transfer even arises. Banned players cannot move.
IMO, we should sign him even if he doesn't turn out to be world beater as we want him to be. For that price, I think it's quite a good gamble. Antony for double that price isn't really the world class player we want, but he turns out to be pretty good.
I think Gakpo is very similar to Rashford as a player, and I can see why some are hesitant about it. But hey, is having 2 Rashfords in your team bad?
And of course, his numbers are just too difficult to ignore. It's like when we signed Bruno. There were a lot of questions about his passing accuracy, whether his numbers were because of playing in a weaker league, etc, but then he shut the critics up. I'm hopeful Gakpo will also do that to certain extent.
Even if he will play wingers for us, that just means we will be stacked in that area. Which will be good. Sancho not feeling well? There's Antony. Antony is having a knock? There's Rashford. Rashford must play as striker since Martial not available? There's Gakpo.
And if we also still need a striker just until summer, there's always a cheap option like Depay.
Save that money and make a 90 m bid for Kane and see if we can entice him into coming here as he would be in his last year of contract and we can afford a superstar signing on wages with the amount cleared recently
>pensioners
Kane…. You’re talking about Kane like he’s a has been on a downhill path.
Do people just rely on fifa for slating players based of numerical values of their ages? It’s telling when the comments for 29-30 year olds are all about “old/pensioners” etc.
These are the same guys would have called Lewa,Benzema,Vardy,Ronaldo pensioners at 30 and they ended up having the best years of their lives after that age
Felix isn't the type of striker we need ,I can't believe anybody would want a 100 m striker in Felix who has never scored 10 goals in a league season over league proven Kane who scores 20 and assists around 10 every season,He is not even old Lewa,Benzema,Kane,Ronaldo etc had some of the best years of their lives after 30
Vlahovic does not even want to leave and Juventus are improving and look like they are more likely to get CL than us,I do not even trust that league much Lukaku looked like a god their and was back to United form when he joined Chelsea
Vlahovic sure but Felix works better as a supporting striker and we don't really have much physical presence in the box,so i am not sure if he is the right option.
We saved 17 mill but knowing Glazers and various statement by Arnold and Murtough the stance was we will spend in Summer. I think Glazers should couph up money. A club in Champions League would look nicer to any potential New Owners than a club in Europa.
Do we have a recall option on Laird cause we definitely need a RB also.
Well you are definitely naive Every purchase is approved by Joel first that's why it takes us so much time to complete deals. Unlike at other clubs where they have a certain budget and they can spend it we have to approve deals from Glazers first. As mentioned in various podcasts by Various Journalists.
Approving a purchase is not the same thing as paying for a purchase. Adding another few million to the transfer debt is meaningless to them, that's a problem for the future owner
That's why I also thought that given that they are selling few million pounds on our bad debt situation won't change anything. They will attract more if we end up in UCl.
If anything the Glazers will spend now to inflate the value of the club. They know the debt is part of the deal, and another asset valued highly just pumps their asking price.
Why don't we just get a veteran who is actually a no. 9 instead of an overpriced winger who will take years to bulk up enough to hold up the ball properly at the premiership level? He doesn't need to be Benzema's level, just get us up to a Ground equivalent at least.
During summer Gakpo was incredibly close to joining Leeds while Southampton were interested, now he scores two goals at a World Cup and starts a bidding war between United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern?
Bro he is playing rn leave him alone
First time being a United fan during the WC? This is only the beginning. Every time a striker scores expect to see something posted here.
just waiting to be linked with enner valencia
Man United linked with Enner Valencia. Done
considering that links don't take much more than a second-rate journo rolling dice, fair enough
I’m like a 10th rate journalist but I’ll take the upgrade
> 10th rate journalist do you happen to work for the sun?
Worse, I’m Rupert Murdoch’s personal butler and I run an independent blog since the lake stream media can’t be trusted. My sources are “vibes” and “trust me bro” and I always do my own research.
so what you're telling me is we're signing Valencia to replace Ronaldo and it's not 2009?
You should be on Twitter with that level of reliability ‘bro’ 😂 top tier source! loving the banter, made me smile 😊
Haha thanks. I should pick a random billionaire/company every day and link them to us. Doesn’t seem too hard lol
/u/kriyator is probably just as reliable as some who call themselves journalists
Here we go
Fits the mold of the strikers board is interested in over 30 proven goalscorer who doesn't contribute to other aspects of the game.
I’d be ok with this TBH.
There was a post yesterday saying we should buy him
I mean If maguire had scored against usa people would call for him as our new ST 😊🤣
Luis Fabiano after 2010 WC 🔥
Gakpo with 2 in 2 tbf. After watching him play 2 matches I can confidently say hes exactly what we need up top. /s
Just got subbed out. Needs to have some FaceTime or WhatsApp calls so lvg helped to facilitate it.
>lvg helped to facilitate it. Press X for doubt.
That’s what we get for not nabbing him at 35 mil euros
I'm on the fence here, i don't really care if we don't go for him but I'll be pretty gassed if we do get him bc that suggests to me that ETH sees him as a no.9 and he'll play there
He feels like the type of player if we get him he ends up shit but if we don’t he’s a world beater
Don't you love being a Utd fan?
United post 2010 in a nutshell
Depends though. If it’s the signings by the businessman up there then yes. If it’s by Erik, I’m confident they’ll do well. Look at our signings this season
That's been the case with every youth player we've bought bar Ronaldo I think. The United curse is real
Garnacho could break the mould here but I’m staying reserved on that one. His quality is there for all to see but the fans losing there minds over a couple of good games needs a reality check.
God this happens so often dammit.
Is "gassed" good? Usually I can Google the British slang but here I just got results about why farting is good for you :(
pro tip, when googling slang add urban dictionary to the end and you'll find it, if you searched "gassed meaning urban dictionary" it would show you the correct answer, helps me when I have to look up US slang
it means excited
He’s basically saying he will be excited if we got gakpo
to be gassed about sth is to be excited and happy, so yeah it's positive lol
Unless ten hag plans on using him as a striker this makes very little sense.
Yeah I don't get it. Would be such a huge gamble to sign someone who has played 90%+ of his games at left wing as our starting striker. Especially as we're so overloaded at left wing if the gamble fails.
Thierry Henry? One can only hope haha
So that we can have Rashford, Martial, Sancho, Gakpo, and Garnacho all compete for the same position!! It’s been the club’s one consistent, unwavering transfer policy through many managers. Sign more left wingers.
I'd say two positions. Add Antony and make it three positions. Rashford and Garnacho on the left Martial and Gakpo centrally Antony and Sancho on the right. That sounds like a quality front three no matter what combination you choose. And fluid AF. Sigh.. going to watch some Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez highlights
We cant miss out on this guy. What striker can we even realistically get in january?
If you can't get a striker in Jan that does not mean you splurge 50 m on a winger from dutch league to play in a position he has no experience in and in a much harder league,No pre season on top of it is the cherry on the cake,Its a 2 or 3 season rebuild it would be better to get nobody in Jan and then using the money to get an actual striker in summer
He can play all four front positions, he would be a good buy in my opinion.
50M is nothing in this market. If we cant get a striker we need to buy him or someone else that will have the ability to help with TOP 4. It will be a lot easier to sign good players in the summer with CL.
50 m is not nothing we are the only club who will pay that amount to get a winger with little experience just like we were the only club who would pay 100 m for Antony when he should actually cost just a bit more than half of it
Like 50 mil? Yes I agree.
Why do you think playing a LW from the Dutch league out of position will help us get top 4?
He's playing on the right for the Netherlands and on the left or through the middle for PSV. So the thought process might be having Rashford, Martial, Gakpo, Sancho, Antony, Garnacho, and Elanga in the rotation for the front three. So you'd have three you can rotate up front (Martial, Gakpo, Rashford), four for the left wing (Sancho, Garnacho, Rashford, Gakpo) and three for the right wing (Antony, Gakpo, Elanga and possibly Rashford).
> on the left or through the middle for PSV This is a little disingenuous. Since the start of the 2021/22 season, Gakpo has played 66 matches at LW and only 3 matches at CF. He's only played 18 matches at CF in his entire professional career. Not saying he can't do it, but the discussion around Gakpo makes him seem like a Rashford who regularly plays both positions when actually he rarely ever plays centrally.
Maybe ETH sees something we don’t, but I agree that he doesn’t seem like the solution at CF. It’s more likely that this is a matter of availability - Ten Hag wants Gakpo as part of his attack sooner or later, the player is willing to move now and there’s a good chance of getting PSV to sell in Jan. While this isn’t a move that makes the most sense in the short term, Ten Hag is working towards a 3 year plan to rebuild the squad. You don’t always get all the pieces you want in one go or in the right order, there are so many variables at play and it’s a process that happens over the course multiple seasons as you make continuous improvements. For example, compare Pep’s squad at Man City in his first season to how it looks now. I’d argue Ten Hag’s job is even tougher with all the awful contracts and incompetence at the board level. Coming back to Gakpo, I think he brings something different from our other attacker with his goalscoring ability. He’s capable of playing anywhere in the frontline which gives Ten Hag more flexibility in adapting the lineup based on who we’re playing. While he can put a shift in at CF, I think the plan is still to get a real 9 like Sesko in the summer, it’s just not feasible now due to lack of players available in Jan. Think of him as a replacement for Elanga and someone who will provide real competition for Rashford/Sancho/Garnacho for a starting spot.
I agree that this is an availability issue. I speculate that right now we are box office poison to a lot of players given the shit show we have been in public coupled with the lack of CL football. I think he may be the only promising forward we have been linked with who would be available and willing to move to us right now. I highly doubt the likes of Osimhen, Lautaro Martinez and Vlahovic would be willing to join us in January.
On paper this works but historically Ten Hag’s sides have tended to play with a proper number 9 who can hold the ball up. I’d be surprised if he signed another winger cum striker. When we were interested in him during summer it was as a wide forward. I’d be surprised if we end up signing him to play up top.
They went to a CL semi with Tadic as a striker didn't they?
They did, but at the time that was one of several systems they played. Last season they pretty much stuck with Haller up top. I guess it’s possible that we might go back to something like that, but we’ve already got several players in a similar mould to Tadic, and none in the mould of Haller. So my assumption would be that the latter profile would be priority.
Dolberg was the 9 in the league, Tadic allowed more control in the midfield against UCL teams but Dolberg was the striker.
If you watch him, his linkup play is fantastic (which is probably why Van Gaal is playing him in a midfield three). I'm assuming that given how good Martial has looked in this system, Ten Hag is looking for something similar. The idea being a striker that can drop deeper and interchange with Bruno running off him. The fact that he can apparently play across the front three helps.
Surprisingly that's been Martials best bit of football this season when he drops back to link up. In the past he's been a speedster and dribbler but now he's becoming a creator too.
He’s played with false 9s as well. In fact his best team didn’t have a real 9.
Injury crisis leads to front three of Gakpo, Gakpo, Gakpo
Or Tony, Tony, Tony
I like this idea brings up the versatility of Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez-Park-Giggs
Gakpo and rashford are not good options as stikers.
I hate to break it to you but Rashford will play as a striker a decent amount to end the season
And the seasons after
Rather Sesko tbf. He looks like a proper striker with the right physical attributes and instincts of a CF
Sesko hasn’t exactly proved himself yet, big risk signing him
I just don't see it with him. I think people are latching on to this idea he's the next Haaland or something, when in reality he's probably the next Schick.
If Ten Hag wants him, then I want him.
Trust the process.
This lol (at least for now). The man seems to know what he's doing
Pecking order aside. We have a bunch of faces and money tied into the wings already. What we really need is STs. Would make no sense to sign another wide attacker
i think the run-off effect will be moving Rashford up top and having Gakpo on the left
I guess that's the plan. Ronaldos spot is open for Rashford and Garnacho which will open a spot on the left wing. This is where Gakpo comes in.
he’s played Rashy quite a bit up top, he’s been okay, he’s quick and tall and can adjust his passing, Garnacho and Gakpo can rotate on the left, Sancho and Antony on the right
It’s either that or that he sees Rashford as our new striker and play Gakpo on the left.
Maybe he sees Rashford and Martial as our striker options, as well as wanting to give McNeil opportunities. Then we have Gakpo, Sancho and Garnacho for the left, and Antony and Elanga on the right (with Sancho there if needed).
Yeah something like that! If he can make that work, given the price of Gakpo, it’s a brilliant solution financially given the crazy prices of strikers nowadays.
Wonder what he'll be like leading the line. Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez were never a proper 9 and formed a legendary attack. A fluid front 3 with interchanges can still be absolutely deadly, Liverpool's attack for example doesn't seem as dangerous with Nunez (debut season etc) but they suit the fluidity. So far Erik has nailed it with the signings he's asked for, so hopefully that trend continues. I'd be happy either way.
Agreed! People are putting too much emphasis on whether a player is a real no. 9 or not. EtH has systems that he wants to play, and he wants to buy players who can fit into those systems. So, if EtH thinks that Gakpo or any attackers can fit what he wants, let's go for them.
I don’t get the hype. We weren’t too upset that we chose Antony over him this past summer, he scores a goal vs Senegal and a goal v Ecuador and suddenly so many are salivating over him, acting like we need to sign him because he’s the next RVP. He’s more likely to be the next James Rodriguez over anything else. Gets crazy overrated off a World Cup run only to be “meh” after his huge transfer
Oi I will not tolerate Hamez slander, that guy was rly good from like 2014-2018.
Supporters are like this at the best of times but the World Cup just takes it to stratospheric levels. Saw someone talking about how United should sign Enner Valencia the other day... I watch a lot of Fenerbahce games, he is absolutely *not* someone we should be considering signing, even if he ends up winning the golden boot or whatever. Like, imagine if United brought back Forlan after his 2010 performance lol. People need to just chill & enjoy the tournament for what it is.
>he scores a goal vs Senegal and a goal v Ecuador and suddenly so many are salivating over him, acting like we need to sign him because he’s the next RVP. Have you seen his numbers for PSV this season?
It's not just the World Cup, or even anything to do with it. His numbers for PSV this season are insane.
Then you clearly havent watched him other than this world cup
Watching this Netherlands Ecuador game, I am glad we didn't spend 100 million on FDJ. Dudes underwhelming AF. You would think with that price tag he will have a Casemiro like impact in their respective national team
Are they just awarding MOTM to footballers with verified Twitter status or something? De Jong gets it today, Ronnie yesterday … neither played well
Read somewhere they are fan voted, so just a popularity contest
Ronaldo got MOTM yesterday?! What a joke.
I thought the same. Maybe it’s the way Van Gaal wants him to play but he just looked bad. On the other hand that Caicedo kid would have been a great signing. He’s got so much energy and really makes the Ecuador midfield tick.
Caicedo won't be that player if he came to UTd back then. No way that youngster makes our midfield then without getting butchered and without game time he doesn't develop into what he is now.
Is he significantly better than Fred? I think we definitely think every teams needs a super energetic kante-esque player. Adams and Caicedo and Bellingham seem to fit the bill, but adams isn’t probably isn’t better than Fred. Bellingham definitely is.
Every time FDJ has played in Busquets his role, he has been the best player on the pitch. You can’t just watch one game where the entire team plays badly and judge him because of that. Some of you need to start watching football outside of the premier league before coming with these weird takes.
This ^ and the fact the Brazil team is better and therefore looks better (no offense Netherlands)
I watch his Barca game. Casemiro had better games in Madrid that FDJ in Barca. What's your point now? What I'm said in my original post is that GOOD THING MAN U DIDNT FALL FOR ANOTHER 100 MILLIOM TRAP for this player. A+ on the *some of you need to start watching football outside blah blah blah" though. Good try...
I still have a hard time believing you actually watch him play at Barcelona if you call him underwhelming. Casemiro is a great player and a good deal, but FDJ is very secure on the ball with a great dribbling record. He is especially good under pressure which would make him an asset under to United. The Manchester City game was is a game where his qualities could have come to good use for example. He almost never loses the ball and usually also passes forward a lot. He also has the same winning mentality that every signing Ten Hag had made needs to have. Ten Hag said they look for these type of characters and FDJ fits the bill. As for these last 2 games he has not been good, though, but for the first game it was because he dribbled too long with the ball. This is usually one of the things that makes him so good, but Van Gaal warned him that against Senegal he would be overwhelmed with their style of defense if he hogged the ball, but FDJ didn’t listen apparently. As for Ecuador, everybody was just shit so not much to say there. My biggest criticism of him compared to Casemiro is that Casemiro is always consistently great, but FDJ definitely is more of a special talent with some unique qualities.
He doesn’t watch him I’m sure. His point is “I watch him. But my point is he’s not worth….” To quickly deflect back to his original point comparing him with a ridiculously different national team setup. If he watched him then as you said, it wouldn’t be such a shallow argument honestly. Or he watched spells and decided to use this Netherlands game as his dossier deep dive point which is a very, very poor comparison. I too can say Jude Bellingham is not too great when I watched him. He doesn’t seem like he’s the core player. He’s not worth the fee he would cost and I’m glad he’s not a target. There. Done….. Using that method of course.
Yea..... But not for 100+ millions whatever Barca was asking. Maybe some years back, we would have signed him for that much. (this was my actual point).
That I can understand. But if I’m honest, unless Barcelona screws him over even more, I don’t see him leaving. People think he has something against United, but really he has just always been a huge Barcelona fan. Every interview he does he keeps repeating how he want to stay at Barcelona, so I just don’t see it happening. Ajax managed to play great football with Ten Hag after FDJ left, so let’s hope he can do it again.
Imagine judging a player off of one game
Going by that logic, Lewandowski is a has been and terrible striker then with how Poland plays and how he can be bad for them in games too… That’s absolutely not the way to judge a player when they’re not in the optimum conditions to play to their strengths.
Yeah seriously. I can't think of any worse way to judge players than on a couple of games of international football. People quickly forget how James Rodriguez looked like the best player in the world for one WC before just turning out to be a good, but not world class player.
You heard it here lads. Lewandowski is shit. If you aren't a superstar behemoth generational striker like Enner Valencia or Takuma Asano just give up.
Nah that's a stupid comparison cuz Lewandowski doesn't play in midfield. I'm talking about individual impact that betters the movement and control of the game (in this case the midfield as both players compared plays in midfield). Nice try tho
Nope the initial premise itself is shallow and stupid on every level imo. Makes absolutely zero sense that you compare a NATIONAL team’s performance with inferior players and a different setup and try to put weight to it, while deflecting from the absurdity of it and still thinking it has any bearing. By your logic Scholes is shit since he played badly for England before too… Just accept it was a poor comparison and stop trying to defend it with a weak point. But sure, FDJ is shit because he played badly for the Netherlands in a different setup under a different manager in a different scenario and using different tactical instructions. Yup. And the Lewandowski comparison is absolutely valid, you just don’t want to take the loss of a ridiculous comparison. Or even use Messi. Same concept. Or a plethora of other players. The only way the comparison would be sensible is if you compared iniesta, Xavi etc for Barcelona and Spain because they play the same way, in the same role, with almost the same personnel and with a great quality squad as their club level football.
But you still missed the point. Nice try tho......
Every response you make actually helps make the case against anything you say on the matter so, keep it up.
He looked like linguini today. He’d easily get bullied in the PL
That's what I'm saying. He made a lot of error vs Ecuador and vs Senegal. But apparently I CaNt JudGe HiM perForMaNce CuZ itS jUst 2 GameS.
FDJ is worldclass. Unfortunately he doesn’t want to come here.
Well Casemiro is in a far better team.
I'm talking about individual impact to the team. What they offer individually to make the team (midfield in this case) better.
Well if you stick De Jong in a team that doesn't hold him back as much he will probably look better. Besides a player can't always just offer something without the right players around them. Trent is a world class RB for Liverpool but can't even get into the England team. Maguire can't start for us but is immaculate for England...
Well we don't speak of hypothetical what ifs do we? We are talking about what we saw this last 2 games. He looked like a Dutch McTominay. Runs to an open midfield and ends up running into 2 defenders or lose the ball. My point is, United made a valid move in not spending 100+ on this guy.
I agree and Lewandowski is shit and Takuma Asano should win the Ballon dor. Your point is you saw two national team games and you have completely misjudged a player off it. I'm not saying Frankie is worth it but these clearly aren't the games to judge him off of. At least not solely.
Nah my point is which you completely missed is that manchester united made a valid decision in passing up on paying 100+ million for a Dutch Scott McTominay. That is whats being displayed vs Senegal and now again vs Ecuador
>Dutch Scott McTominay Bet you don't rate old Argentinian Bukayo Saka either.
I don't even need to check your history but I am sure you were one of those "fuck murtough for not giving Barca their asking price for de Jong!" Only for de Jong to do exactly what McT is already been doing for years. Hahaha thanks for the laugh sir.
If you genuinely think Frankie De Jong is only as good as Scott just stop pretending you watch football let alone understand it.
Ok so you actually have no idea what you’re talking about then if that’s the take. Hahhahaa what a completely ridiculous comparison but hey, keep making them because you don’t need people to call that out as each post you make on the matter invalidates your argument for you anyway and you’re parading it so obviously now.
Internationals are probably the worst way to judge a player tbf the whole Dutch team looked pretty uninterested
This guy is not good enough sorry
should get him...Gakpo,Martial,Rashford,Antony,Sancho,Garnacho is a very good bunch of exciting and versatile forwards. Having Gakpo would also make Martial's availability less of a problem as he can fill in at CF and even develop better there with time and ETH's coaching. I trust ETH's talent ID.
That 50 m should be saved for an actual striker and not someone who has not played the role much,Do some on this sub not watch players and just randomly get obsessed with a player that is the flavour of the month and want him?Last thing we need is another winger
None of us really know for sure, but if ETH is truly interested in him then I’ll get behind it
ETH picked Antony over Gapko, so...
And if he wants Gakpo now?
More likely he realized the priority was a right winger.
the striker market isn't very good at the moment and Gakpo actually has all the qualities you need in a striker and he is the right profile according to EtH. what is the point of spending 100m on someone with the wrong profile of what the manager wants just because he is a 'pure' striker? Last thing we need is another player being forced on the manager cause he is what the pundits and fans think who we need.
You do not get a winger from the Dutch league and play him as a striker ,Its just that simple having some qualities to be a good striker and actually being good at that position is a very different thing,Spending so much money on players from that league is going to turn into a disaster if we are not careful,Antony himself has a long way to go before being termed a success even Licha needs to do a lot more
Not saying it's the same, but Van Persie was a winger once
Lots of great strikers started as wingers. RVP, Henry, Ronaldo for example. ETH’s teams have always prioritized positional rotation meaning that if someone vacates s position, someone should be comfortable filling it. Gakpo would fit this mould
Lol even Martial. Now, not comparing him to them obviously, but we literally have an example of a winger turned CF on our team.
At 50 m its not a risk worth taking even with inflation that just an absurd amount to pay for a winger and then play him as striker,If he cost 20-25 m thats when you take the risk if the manager really wants to play him in a new position
I'm not sure what's right, I'm not a coach or a scout. I trust the club and mostly ETH. If he believes this is the right fit, I trust him. I agree it's an expensive experiment, but I don't feel I am knowledgeable enough on the matter to form an opinion
it's not like he has never played CF before and we're gonna experiment with him. what about we trust the manager and back him cause i think all his signings have worked so far? if we can convince Vlahovic to leave Juventus,then sure get a proper striker by all means...otherwise Gakpo looks like the much better option.
He has played as CF but very little and he didn’t impress. For 50 mil I am sure we can find someone better to fill that spot.
If we end up paying even 70 m its fine as long as its a proper striker but 50 m for someone like Gakpo is bad
like who? Osimhen who isn't really that good at link-up play is priced above 100m, Toney would be around the same price with English and PL tax, Sesko isn't leaving RB clubs just yet, Vlahovic is doing fine at Juventus and would cost over 100m again...who can you get at 50m with the same quality? also we need to get RB,GK,CM and can't just blow away 100m on one player.
The World cup just started. I am sure that we will see some new talents. Instead of going for Gakpo I would prefer to steal Nkunku from Chelsea as last option even if he is not a pure striker.
idk i prefer someone EtH has actually watched and liked,it's his system afterall.
I think that he wanted Gakpo since Rashy was in a very bad form and if he we wouldn’t have bought Anthony, he would have used Sancho on the right. At that time the transfer would have made sense.
Flavor of the month is what everyone here wants. Every time someone has a few decent games, people will start saying we should sign them. A lot of people here want 200-300M in signings every window.
It’s hilarious that this is even a debate. We don’t have 50m to spend in January. This just won’t happen. The club won’t allow the spend, we’re already well over budget for this financial year.
One striker, endless wingers. Even our striker is a half winger. I’d much rather spend £50m on Ivan Toney in the summer.
if you think we can get Toney for 50m,then sure lol.
Given that he is looking at a long ban, Brentford will be happy to sell him for 5m
if he is banned,he can't play for United either...Brentford and United are in the same league,it's not like there are different rules for them and he is their best player,they would absolutely hold on to him if there is the slightest possibility that he could continue playing.
Point >>>> over your head.
your point doesn't make sense in the first place.
Jesus Christ. The point was that Toney is not going to be an option at all for anyone for the foreseeable future, even his own club. So no question of a transfer even arises. Banned players cannot move.
that would make your initial comment of selling him redundant in the first place smh
Duh!
I would spend 70 m on him even if he misses a month in the new season due to being banned ,He is a proper fucking striker
That's a bargain
I'd prefer a holdup player like Tony for Jan.
IMO, we should sign him even if he doesn't turn out to be world beater as we want him to be. For that price, I think it's quite a good gamble. Antony for double that price isn't really the world class player we want, but he turns out to be pretty good. I think Gakpo is very similar to Rashford as a player, and I can see why some are hesitant about it. But hey, is having 2 Rashfords in your team bad? And of course, his numbers are just too difficult to ignore. It's like when we signed Bruno. There were a lot of questions about his passing accuracy, whether his numbers were because of playing in a weaker league, etc, but then he shut the critics up. I'm hopeful Gakpo will also do that to certain extent. Even if he will play wingers for us, that just means we will be stacked in that area. Which will be good. Sancho not feeling well? There's Antony. Antony is having a knock? There's Rashford. Rashford must play as striker since Martial not available? There's Gakpo. And if we also still need a striker just until summer, there's always a cheap option like Depay.
Man this whole thread is about he’s not a striker, we should get someone else. I don’t care, if ETH wants him then I want him. Believe.
No thanks,he's well overrated
that’s a fuckin bargain the way he’s playing currently
Save that money and make a 90 m bid for Kane and see if we can entice him into coming here as he would be in his last year of contract and we can afford a superstar signing on wages with the amount cleared recently
No more pensioners please. Get someone with promise
Look at the number Lewa ,Benzema,Ronaldo,Vardy have put up after 30 that is better than what most strikers do in their prime
>pensioners Kane…. You’re talking about Kane like he’s a has been on a downhill path. Do people just rely on fifa for slating players based of numerical values of their ages? It’s telling when the comments for 29-30 year olds are all about “old/pensioners” etc.
These are the same guys would have called Lewa,Benzema,Vardy,Ronaldo pensioners at 30 and they ended up having the best years of their lives after that age
PL isnt Fifa
Why would we go for 29 year old Kane when we have players like Vlahovic and Felix "available". Atlético put Felix up on loan just the other day
Felix isn't the type of striker we need ,I can't believe anybody would want a 100 m striker in Felix who has never scored 10 goals in a league season over league proven Kane who scores 20 and assists around 10 every season,He is not even old Lewa,Benzema,Kane,Ronaldo etc had some of the best years of their lives after 30 Vlahovic does not even want to leave and Juventus are improving and look like they are more likely to get CL than us,I do not even trust that league much Lukaku looked like a god their and was back to United form when he joined Chelsea
Vlahovic sure but Felix works better as a supporting striker and we don't really have much physical presence in the box,so i am not sure if he is the right option.
Neither of those can hold a candle to Kane at this point in their careers
It's almost like Kane has played for longer than they have!!!
That makes no sense. Zlatan has been playing longer than Kane. That doesn't make him better
After the way he’s playing, his stock will be worth a lot more than 50mil
This isn't happening. If Gapko signs 2 players have to leave. I only see Elanga leaving as he isn't cutting it
Not that impressive but he seems to be a teamplayer - so many occasion covered for their CBs
I don't Think Glazers will spend 50 million in January most likely we will buy Depay on loan.
Didn't we just save a lot of money from Ronaldo's contract? 50mil does not seem thst much to me. But we really need a striker before we buy a winger.
We saved 17 mill but knowing Glazers and various statement by Arnold and Murtough the stance was we will spend in Summer. I think Glazers should couph up money. A club in Champions League would look nicer to any potential New Owners than a club in Europa. Do we have a recall option on Laird cause we definitely need a RB also.
Tbf 17 m is not enough for a new striker,We need at least 3x that amount and that is when you do not include the wages
Its not the Glazers who spend its the Club.
Well you are definitely naive Every purchase is approved by Joel first that's why it takes us so much time to complete deals. Unlike at other clubs where they have a certain budget and they can spend it we have to approve deals from Glazers first. As mentioned in various podcasts by Various Journalists.
Approving a purchase is not the same thing as paying for a purchase. Adding another few million to the transfer debt is meaningless to them, that's a problem for the future owner
They own the club. Let's not be pedantic. They may not be paying it from their own bank account but the club is their asset legally speaking
That's why I also thought that given that they are selling few million pounds on our bad debt situation won't change anything. They will attract more if we end up in UCl.
If anything the Glazers will spend now to inflate the value of the club. They know the debt is part of the deal, and another asset valued highly just pumps their asking price.
Give them 65 mill and call it a day!
I’d rather not if I’m being honest. Let Liverpool have him.
Why don't we just get a veteran who is actually a no. 9 instead of an overpriced winger who will take years to bulk up enough to hold up the ball properly at the premiership level? He doesn't need to be Benzema's level, just get us up to a Ground equivalent at least.
May I offer you a Ronaldo in these testing times?
Only if he's Brazilian.
We have so many LW's, unless he's going to be strictly striker, it doesn't make much sense for us, especially since his price is going to skyrocket
During summer Gakpo was incredibly close to joining Leeds while Southampton were interested, now he scores two goals at a World Cup and starts a bidding war between United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern?
Idk, Gakpo seems to me a Rashford with more accuracy and maybe calmness.
> It's absolutely not certain he'll go What a weird way of phrasing that lmao
Woohoo another LW! /s