Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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Trequarista10

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I don't follow all of the drama and gossip, but surely it's inevitable that whatever figure FDJ is owed from Barca will eventually be settled, presumably with either United and Barca covering 50% each, or roughly 33% each and FDJ agree to taking a bit of the loss himself.
 

lysglimt

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This most be the most bizarre transfer-story ever. Not in my wildest dreams, could I possibly manage to conjure up a story like this
 

NZT-One

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Exactly, which is why I asked asked you to discuss replacements. . .
But the point I was trying to make was that we need alternatives for FDJ and maybe even further additions. I understand you asking for specific names and many have been mentioned in the thread. I don't know which profile the club is looking for but when FDJ has been identified, I am sure they can identify somebody else as well. They may be different to FDJ, maybe not as good. Honestly, I am fine with that. Everything is better than being passive trying to do the perfect transfer. Which the FDJ sage will never as it should be obvious to everybody by now that United isn't the players first choice. He'd be fine to come here when his first choice breaks down, but that isn't the same.

So we buy McGinn & he is better than McTominay. Then what? Is he capable of being as good as we’d want from an FdJ? No. Is he particularly well suited to what we’ve seen from EtH teams previously? No but. . . he’s better than McTominay so let’s spend 10s of millions & give a player a multi year contract.
FdJ &/or his replacement aren’t simpler there to be better than McFred but let’s take your argument further, say we get in any midfielder you like [although you take offence at being asked to name one] & they’re good 5-7 times out of 10. What do we do with them next Summer when we chase an FdJ type again? You’ll be making the same cries to replace them with a 7-9 out 10 player.
Mate, lets not act as if you weren't intelligent enough to know that this would be a different situation. If you have some sort of working team then of course you are in a different situation than we are today. In another thread somebody listed all the transfers of the last ten years, it got me thinking, imagine where we could be today if only the Di Maria transfer, Pogba and Schneiderlin had worked out really well, would have a great progressor in midfield, a great and busy conductor and a great RW. But they didn't work out. We are dire in midfield. Since around 3 years. At the end of last season we lost even more numbers. So we are short on quality and quantity. It isn't the time to be overly picky, better than what we have is at least a start. No one is asking to bring in 20 midfielders. But we could do with 2 or 3. But now we are doing feck all in the hope that one is coming in...

Surely - not getting fleeced is a prerequisite for any deal (i.e. Bissouma for 30 doesn't sound like fleeced to me), same with wages and contract length. Thats all factors we can influence and if we have such a hard on for FDJ, stay in the freaking opera or come back in January or next year but do something. If the budget is gone by now, get a loan, I don't care. But being passive is shit. Imagine the unthinkable, this transfer isn't going to happen, then we have to execute plan B but by then, other teams won't be able to get replacements, they are absolutely aware of how desperate we are - not a great outlook.

McGinn is a starting midfielder for a rich EPL side, you’ve made the assumption he’ll come A) Cheaper than FdJ; B) Easily. If you could port McGinn in & McTominay out then I think most would do so but given he’d have little to no longevity to EtH spending countless millions on a better McTominay is smart move how?
The argument we need to improve on McFred is valid [I’m not a big fan myself] but you don’t go from FdJ to any midfielder better than McFred. That’s what’s fanciful, not their names.
You may have misunderstood me, I didn't say "roll the dice and bring in any random player" - obviously it should be in cooperation with the coaching team to bring in a player the coach can get some use of. Me mentioning McGinn or Douglas Luiz was connected to seeing them play today, showing what I'd like to see in our team, some grit, tenacity, intensity - will FDJ bring this? No, probably not, well - thats my point, go for another midfielder, not necessarily instead of FDJ but parallel to him. A serious club should have some sort of recruiting strategy, if we don't have a list of alternatives ready by now, then it is more or less too late. But hopefully thats not the case. I'd even be fine if the club decides to switch to strikers or right backs or whatever is available. But stop being passive.

The age old Caf tactic of conflating a different topic into the original one. FdJ isn’t being signed to displace McFred entirely, we’ve lost a few CMs in the last few years & need a midfielder to add to what we have already. The phase out of either is at least a season away.
The original topic was me asking the club to fecking do something. Something not as passive as sitting on the majority of the summer budget and wait for something to happen in a soap opera. I haven't said a thing about displacing McFred. I may have mentioned that bringing in players better than them would be a net benefit already and that the fixation on the one saviour, this case FDJ, isn't a very good idea in my eyes. But I guess I simply have to accept that you know more about my intentions, hopefully that comes with Redcafe-experience so it strikes me too at some point.

Says the man fixating on any player better than a below standard McFred. . .
Well english isn't my mother language so I won't start discussing what the word fixating means to me. Lets leave it at that.

Bringing in more average midfielders to displace our average midfielders wouldn’t halt the downward trend though, it would exacerbate it. You don’t seek out players that do well 5-7 times out of 10.
Who is talking about going for average midfielders? Ask any neutral if he thinks who is the better player McGinn or Fred or McTominay. Of course we should go for better players that what we have but there is NO NECESSITY to skip several levels if it means we have to wait for a player (losing the complete pre-season) or even risk not getting him at all. As I said, you want to be pragmatic but the most pragmatic thing would be to execute plan B to make sure, ETH gets as much time to prepare as possible. Bring in a stop gap if ETH is so adamant on FDJ, try again in January or next year, it isn't like the squad is so great that we don't know where to invest. The worst thing we could do is sitting on the majority of budget hoping and being passive. I am quite shocked that so many seem so fine with it.

I agree we are not one player away, that said we’re also not a bunch of cost 5-7 out of 10 players away either.
See, thats a point to debate about. I think, we could do with a few dependable players. I mean, you seem to share the distrust in McFred. But who is there after them? Nobody. Bringing in FDJ helps us in terms of peak quality, but we would still be low on numbers. My approach would be to not spent such a big chunk of the budget on just one player. Obviously I wouldn't go for Neves when his price tag is 60 million, but maybe bid 35 to 42, lets test it. I'd rather diversify the midfield, brings in numbers, makes it more robust and gives greater flexibility. If at some point we get to a point, where we have so many awesome attackers that we have to have a player who combines certain strengths to make room for an attacker, I am happy to talk, but right now, thats not the case.

Feel free to mention suitable replacements at any point.
Not going to jump through your hoops here, as I said, the point was that we have to have a Plan B. And if I would be in charge, and I consider it a good plan B, I'd have executed it probably 2 weeks ago. There are many names of potential alternatives in this thread, on youtube, reddit, if you are interested, I am sure you find them. It isn't like I am going to unearth some unknown gems from my living room.
 

Acquire Me

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This most be the most bizarre transfer-story ever. Not in my wildest dreams, could I possibly manage to conjure up a story like this
We always get crazy transfer sagas like this one. I must agree though, this one got almost everything except for murder. At least not yet anyways.
 

OrcaFat

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Xavi telling him he has to leave? What bollocks. He’s been told daily by his club that he is not wanted. He knows he is leaving; he just wants his money first and nobody can make him leave without it.

Barca should just feck off and keep this shit to themselves. I’ve never known such a bunch of cnuts crying about being skint, treating contracted players like shit whilst boasting about their expensive new signings.
 

peridigm

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Xavi telling him he has to leave? What bollocks. He’s been told daily by his club that he is not wanted. He knows he is leaving; he just wants his money first and nobody can make him leave without it.

Barca should just feck off and keep this shit to themselves. I’ve never known such a bunch of cnuts crying about being skint, treating contracted players like shit whilst boasting about their expensive new signings.
Preach it brother.
 

Adam-Utd

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Put him on a different plane to Manchester once the tour is over, and dress up people like they are his teammates
serve some Paella and San Miguel on the plane, he’d never know the difference
 

Brownie85

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Yep, no worries about Chelsea. He is ours.
Imagine Batca hijack and sign Kounde right out of Chelseas grasp and they reward them by putting in a huge offer on their player. Couldn't make that stuff up!

Pretty sure that Chelsea have bigger fish to fry than midfield atm
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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But the point I was trying to make was that we need alternatives for FDJ and maybe even further additions. I understand you asking for specific names and many have been mentioned in the thread. I don't know which profile the club is looking for but when FDJ has been identified, I am sure they can identify somebody else as well. They may be different to FDJ, maybe not as good. Honestly, I am fine with that. Everything is better than being passive trying to do the perfect transfer. Which the FDJ sage will never as it should be obvious to everybody by now that United isn't the players first choice. He'd be fine to come here when his first choice breaks down, but that isn't the same.




Mate, lets not act as if you weren't intelligent enough to know that this would be a different situation. If you have some sort of working team then of course you are in a different situation than we are today. In another thread somebody listed all the transfers of the last ten years, it got me thinking, imagine where we could be today if only the Di Maria transfer, Pogba and Schneiderlin had worked out really well, would have a great progressor in midfield, a great and busy conductor and a great RW. But they didn't work out. We are dire in midfield. Since around 3 years. At the end of last season we lost even more numbers. So we are short on quality and quantity. It isn't the time to be overly picky, better than what we have is at least a start. No one is asking to bring in 20 midfielders. But we could do with 2 or 3. But now we are doing feck all in the hope that one is coming in...

Surely - not getting fleeced is a prerequisite for any deal (i.e. Bissouma for 30 doesn't sound like fleeced to me), same with wages and contract length. Thats all factors we can influence and if we have such a hard on for FDJ, stay in the freaking opera or come back in January or next year but do something. If the budget is gone by now, get a loan, I don't care. But being passive is shit. Imagine the unthinkable, this transfer isn't going to happen, then we have to execute plan B but by then, other teams won't be able to get replacements, they are absolutely aware of how desperate we are - not a great outlook.




You may have misunderstood me, I didn't say "roll the dice and bring in any random player" - obviously it should be in cooperation with the coaching team to bring in a player the coach can get some use of. Me mentioning McGinn or Douglas Luiz was connected to seeing them play today, showing what I'd like to see in our team, some grit, tenacity, intensity - will FDJ bring this? No, probably not, well - thats my point, go for another midfielder, not necessarily instead of FDJ but parallel to him. A serious club should have some sort of recruiting strategy, if we don't have a list of alternatives ready by now, then it is more or less too late. But hopefully thats not the case. I'd even be fine if the club decides to switch to strikers or right backs or whatever is available. But stop being passive.


The original topic was me asking the club to fecking do something. Something not as passive as sitting on the majority of the summer budget and wait for something to happen in a soap opera. I haven't said a thing about displacing McFred. I may have mentioned that bringing in players better than them would be a net benefit already and that the fixation on the one saviour, this case FDJ, isn't a very good idea in my eyes. But I guess I simply have to accept that you know more about my intentions, hopefully that comes with Redcafe-experience so it strikes me too at some point.


Well english isn't my mother language so I won't start discussing what the word fixating means to me. Lets leave it at that.


Who is talking about going for average midfielders? Ask any neutral if he thinks who is the better player McGinn or Fred or McTominay. Of course we should go for better players that what we have but there is NO NECESSITY to skip several levels if it means we have to wait for a player (losing the complete pre-season) or even risk not getting him at all. As I said, you want to be pragmatic but the most pragmatic thing would be to execute plan B to make sure, ETH gets as much time to prepare as possible. Bring in a stop gap if ETH is so adamant on FDJ, try again in January or next year, it isn't like the squad is so great that we don't know where to invest. The worst thing we could do is sitting on the majority of budget hoping and being passive. I am quite shocked that so many seem so fine with it.


See, thats a point to debate about. I think, we could do with a few dependable players. I mean, you seem to share the distrust in McFred. But who is there after them? Nobody. Bringing in FDJ helps us in terms of peak quality, but we would still be low on numbers. My approach would be to not spent such a big chunk of the budget on just one player. Obviously I wouldn't go for Neves when his price tag is 60 million, but maybe bid 35 to 42, lets test it. I'd rather diversify the midfield, brings in numbers, makes it more robust and gives greater flexibility. If at some point we get to a point, where we have so many awesome attackers that we have to have a player who combines certain strengths to make room for an attacker, I am happy to talk, but right now, thats not the case.


Not going to jump through your hoops here, as I said, the point was that we have to have a Plan B. And if I would be in charge, and I consider it a good plan B, I'd have executed it probably 2 weeks ago. There are many names of potential alternatives in this thread, on youtube, reddit, if you are interested, I am sure you find them. It isn't like I am going to unearth some unknown gems from my living room.
I don’t disagree with much of what you say here so no use dissecting.

I will touch on the ‘do something’ part though in that I think we have at least addressed that partially at the coaching level. I do agree it would be nice to see moves elsewhere whilst we sort the FdJ situation though.
 

Brownie85

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No they can’t, they can feck off! They gonna get gazumped twice in the same window by Barca then hand them millions?! Please take our money….. :D
I just couldn't see de Jong choosing Chelsea after all the effort United and ten Hag have put into this transfer. He obviously knows how much he's wanted here and he'll know he'd be the star man in the team with everything being built around him.

He knows already how much ten Hag values him and how he works etc, huge bonuses I'd say
 

Plant0x84

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I just couldn't see de Jong choosing Chelsea after all the effort United and ten Hag have put into this transfer. He obviously knows how much he's wanted here and he'll know he'd be the star man in the team with everything being built around him.

He knows already how much ten Hag values him and how he works etc, huge bonuses I'd say
Absolutely. It would be a weird flex to choose Chelsea now if they do launch a late bid. Would be a proper slap in the face for ten Hag.
 

Brownie85

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Absolutely. It would be a weird flex to choose Chelsea now if they do launch a late bid. Would be a proper slap in the face for ten Hag.
It would, especially how we've put months of work into this. Plus you'd have to think that Ten Hag has already discussed the Chelsea links with him and again recieved the assurances he needs to continue
 

Chief123

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Being a chief muppet, of course I’d love if we signed FDJ.

But is anyone else concerned that we do get him but he ends up being shit? Ok bit harsh, but let’s say not as good as we expected.

I can’t say I’ve watched him that often at Barca. Watched a lot more of him at Ajax where he was brilliant in some very big games. The game away at Real Madrid really sticks out of him driving them to victory with a masterful CDM performance.

However he appears to have had a very underwhelming couple of years at Barca. Like we’ve seen with Coutinho who looked world class before he left Liverpool, he looks nowhere near what he used to be.

I have more hope in FDJ based on the fact that ETH was the manager who got his besT performances out of him. And truth be told he can’t really be worse than McFred.
 

Blood Mage

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I'm leaning towards him signing for Chelsea at this point, but I hope I'm wrong. Just feel like he desperately doesn't want to join us but is close to accepting that he'll have to leave Barca.
 
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