What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

From recent stories:

- Tobido - £25m
- Thuram - £20-25m
- Neves - £80m

That’s the £100-120m budget we usually have before sales.

Hopefully we can build enough for a genuine crack at Yoro.

2CBs and 2CMs would be a pretty good start.
 
From recent stories:

- Tobido - £25m
- Thuram - £20-25m
- Neves - £80m

That’s the £100-120m budget we usually have before sales.

Hopefully we can build enough for a genuine crack at Yoro.

2CBs and 2CMs would be a pretty good start.

I think Fofana will be a better option instead of Thuram especially in that price range.
 
Vanderson £40m
Todibo £25m
Diomonde £50m
Dorgu £30m
Neves £85m
Fofana £25m
Doue £35m
Sesko £45m
£335m

Lindelof £15m
Maguire £20m
Malacia £10m
Bissaka £20m
Eriksen £5m
Casemeiro £25m
Pellestri £10m
VDB £5m
Hannibal £5m
McTominay £25m
Sanho £35m
Greenwood £35m
Antony £35m
£245m

£90m net spend

Onana - Bayindir
Vanderson - Dalot
Diomonde - Todibo
Martinez - Kambwalla
Shaw - Dorgu
Neves - Fofana
Mainoo - Fletcher
Fernandes - Mount
Rashford - Doue
Garnacho - Amad
Hoijlund - Sesko

Amass - Fletcher - Gore - Collyer - Ethan Williams

The youth offer goodcoverinterms of injuries to the squad as several versatile players int he first 22:

Shaw LB - LCB
Neves - DM - CM
Mount AM - LW
Doue - CM - AM - LW - RW
Garnacho - LW - RW

of course I think we signprobably a couple less and sell a couple less and strong competition we probably dontget all those players...but in an ideal world, thatis the kind of squad Idlike
 
Vanderson £40m
Todibo £25m
Diomonde £50m
Dorgu £30m
Neves £85m
Fofana £25m
Doue £35m
Sesko £45m
£335m

Lindelof £15m
Maguire £20m
Malacia £10m
Bissaka £20m
Eriksen £5m
Casemeiro £25m
Pellestri £10m
VDB £5m
Hannibal £5m
McTominay £25m
Sanho £35m
Greenwood £35m
Antony £35m
£245m

£90m net spend

Onana - Bayindir
Vanderson - Dalot
Diomonde - Todibo
Martinez - Kambwalla
Shaw - Dorgu
Neves - Fofana
Mainoo - Fletcher
Fernandes - Mount
Rashford - Doue
Garnacho - Amad
Hoijlund - Sesko

Amass - Fletcher - Gore - Collyer - Ethan Williams

The youth offer goodcoverinterms of injuries to the squad as several versatile players int he first 22:

Shaw LB - LCB
Neves - DM - CM
Mount AM - LW
Doue - CM - AM - LW - RW
Garnacho - LW - RW

of course I think we signprobably a couple less and sell a couple less and strong competition we probably dontget all those players...but in an ideal world, thatis the kind of squad Idlike
I really like this. It would be a great summer. However, I think Diomande and Tobido would be slightly more expensive.

Also, a more realistic list of outgoing valuations:
Lindelof 10m (last year contract/stingy Italian type offers)
Maguire 15m (age and wages)
Malacia (will stay, unsellable this summer due to last years injuries)
Bissaka 15m (last year contract)
Eriksen free (age and wages)
Casemiro 25m agree
Pellistri 10m agree
vdB 5m agree
Hannibal 5m agree
McTominay 25m agree
Sancho 35m agree
Greenwood 20m (we have a very weak hand in negotiations)
Antony (will stay, unsellable due to wages unless Saudi come to the rescue)

My estimations which would include slightly higher fees for both Tobido and Diomande would make the net spend about 200m. I think we can just about get away with that financially.

Again, that would be a great summer
 
Vanderson £40m
Todibo £25m
Diomonde £50m
Dorgu £30m
Neves £85m
Fofana £25m
Doue £35m
Sesko £45m
£335m

Lindelof £15m
Maguire £20m
Malacia £10m
Bissaka £20m
Eriksen £5m
Casemeiro £25m
Pellestri £10m
VDB £5m
Hannibal £5m
McTominay £25m
Sanho £35m
Greenwood £35m
Antony £35m
£245m

£90m net spend

Onana - Bayindir
Vanderson - Dalot
Diomonde - Todibo
Martinez - Kambwalla
Shaw - Dorgu
Neves - Fofana
Mainoo - Fletcher
Fernandes - Mount
Rashford - Doue
Garnacho - Amad
Hoijlund - Sesko

Amass - Fletcher - Gore - Collyer - Ethan Williams

The youth offer goodcoverinterms of injuries to the squad as several versatile players int he first 22:

Shaw LB - LCB
Neves - DM - CM
Mount AM - LW
Doue - CM - AM - LW - RW
Garnacho - LW - RW

of course I think we signprobably a couple less and sell a couple less and strong competition we probably dontget all those players...but in an ideal world, thatis the kind of squad Idlike


You're hired
Now make it happen

But yes if only it was that easy
Afraid we won't see anywhere near this in terms lf ins and outs
 
LCB William Pacho 30m
LB Bradley Locko 15m
RCB Leny Yoro or Ousmane Diomande 50m
DM Alan Varela 50m
CM Kephren Thuram 15m
CF Benjamin Sesko 55m
 
Vanderson £40m
Todibo £25m
Diomonde £50m
Dorgu £30m
Neves £85m
Fofana £25m
Doue £35m
Sesko £45m
£335m

Lindelof £15m
Maguire £20m
Malacia £10m
Bissaka £20m
Eriksen £5m
Casemeiro £25m
Pellestri £10m
VDB £5m
Hannibal £5m
McTominay £25m
Sanho £35m
Greenwood £35m
Antony £35m
£245m

£90m net spend

Onana - Bayindir
Vanderson - Dalot
Diomonde - Todibo
Martinez - Kambwalla
Shaw - Dorgu
Neves - Fofana
Mainoo - Fletcher
Fernandes - Mount
Rashford - Doue
Garnacho - Amad
Hoijlund - Sesko

Amass - Fletcher - Gore - Collyer - Ethan Williams

The youth offer goodcoverinterms of injuries to the squad as several versatile players int he first 22:

Shaw LB - LCB
Neves - DM - CM
Mount AM - LW
Doue - CM - AM - LW - RW
Garnacho - LW - RW

of course I think we signprobably a couple less and sell a couple less and strong competition we probably dontget all those players...but in an ideal world, thatis the kind of squad Idlike
I forgot Malacia played for us
 
Release:

Martial
Brandon
Evans
Heaton
Amrabat
Varane

Wage savings: 43M£ per year
Transfer income: 0

Get rid/sell:

Greenwood
Sancho
Casemiro
Donny
Pellistri
Eriksen

Wage savings: 48 M£ per year
Transfer income: 140 M£

Net transfer budget increase: 231 M£

Buy:

Ndidi (free)
Todibo
Neves
Olise
Cunha

Transfer expenses: -190 M£
Wage increase: -29 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Net spend: +12 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Squad 2024/2025:


Onana, Bayindir
Dalot, AWB
Martinez, Lindelöf
Todibo, Maguire, Kambwala
Shaw, Malacia
Mainoo, Neves, Ndidi, Gore
Fernandes, Mount, Scott
Garnacho, Olise, Rashford, Antony, Diallo
Cunha, Hojlund


Best XI:

ONANA

DALOT ------------ TODIBO ------------ MARTINEZ -------------- SHAW

MAINOO ------------ NEVES

OLISE --------------------- FERNANDES -------------- GARNACHO

CUNHA


Bench: Bayindir, AWB, Maguire, Scott, Ndidi, Mount, Rashford, Antony, Hojlund​
 
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Release:

Martial
Brandon
Evans
Heaton
Amrabat
Varane

Wage savings: 43M£ per year
Transfer income: 0

Get rid/sell:

Greenwood
Sancho
Casemiro
Donny
Pellistri
Eriksen

Wage savings: 48 M£ per year
Transfer income: 140 M£

Net transfer budget increase: 231 M£

Buy:

Ndidi (free)
Todibo
Neves
Olise
Cunha

Transfer expenses: -190 M£
Wage increase: -29 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Net spend: +12 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Squad 2024/2025:


Onana, Bayindir
Dalot, AWB
Martinez, Lindelöf
Todibo, Maguire, Kambwala
Shaw, Malacia
Mainoo, Neves, Ndidi, Gore
Fernandes, Mount, Scott
Garnacho, Olise, Rashford, Antony, Diallo
Cunha, Hojlund


Best XI:

ONANA

DALOT ------------ TODIBO ------------ MARTINEZ -------------- SHAW

MAINOO ------------ NEVES

OLISE --------------------- FERNANDES -------------- GARNACHO

CUNHA


Bench: Bayindir, AWB, Maguire, Scott, Ndidi, Mount, Rashford, Antony, Hojlund​
Don’t like halting Hojlunds progress like that. I think he’s on the verge of making a big breakthrough in terms of his progress
 
Get rid/sell:

Greenwood
Sancho
Casemiro
Donny
Pellistri
Eriksen

Wage savings: 48 M£ per year
Transfer income: 140 M£
We won't even scrape 100m for these lot. People really need to consider the ridiculous wages we pay and also take into account the budgets of the likely clubs that would actually buy our cast offs. You can't expect market value for players who are paid above their market value.
 
You're hired
Now make it happen

But yes if only it was that easy
Afraid we won't see anywhere near this in terms lf ins and outs

Agree but it is what we need, not what we are going to do which hasnt been enough in terms of ins and outs in any seaso for a decade andis whywe now need to do so many....allowing the likes of Martial and Williams to see out there contractswhen they have made as many apperances as hayleys comet inthelast 2/3years for example is ridicukous....we need to move on so many average players....Id actually move 4 more on and sign 3 more thanthat list ideally
 
I really like this. It would be a great summer. However, I think Diomande and Tobido would be slightly more expensive.

Also, a more realistic list of outgoing valuations:
Lindelof 10m (last year contract/stingy Italian type offers)
Maguire 15m (age and wages)
Malacia (will stay, unsellable this summer due to last years injuries)
Bissaka 15m (last year contract)
Eriksen free (age and wages)
Casemiro 25m agree
Pellistri 10m agree
vdB 5m agree
Hannibal 5m agree
McTominay 25m agree
Sancho 35m agree
Greenwood 20m (we have a very weak hand in negotiations)
Antony (will stay, unsellable due to wages unless Saudi come to the rescue)

My estimations which would include slightly higher fees for both Tobido and Diomande would make the net spend about 200m. I think we can just about get away with that financially.

Again, that would be a great summer

Yeah but if I was totally realsitic, ouldntsign them all haha....what your post does emphasise is how ridiculous it is that we spent £60m on a player who had been outof form and some injury niggles the season before, entering the last year ofhis contractand in a position we didnt need to sign.

Cant really judge mountas been injured all year, but that transfer will probably never make sense, didnt when wemade it to me. This summer there are definately a high number quality youngplayers in several of the positions we need to improve inour first eleven that failure to make 3/4 good signings this summer would be a travesty for me...even thoughwe havent evenmade that number in thelast 3/4 summers combined
 
I know there's a certain amount of guesswork but does anybody have any educated guess on what our budget this summer is pre sales, in terms of keeping with PSR.

It seems as if there's an opportunity to make some money from sancho, greenwood, possibly one or both of mctominay and maguire, as well as the departures of high earners like casemiro, varane, and the small fees that might accumulate from likes of eriksen, van de beek and so on.

But before sales, what are we looking at?
 


If the price is so low why the feck are we not even interested?

This would be a 10/10 signing for below 40m
 
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If the price is so low why the feck are we not even interested?

This would be a 10/10 signing for below 40m


Excellent defensively but very limited on the ball. If Utd are looking for a partner for Mainoo they will need someone with more passing range than Palinha has.
 


If the price is so low why the feck are we not even interested?

This would be a 10/10 signing for below 40m

There is no resale value at his age. We get 2 good seasons before trying to ‘hold the door’ against a flood of busses driving through our midfield becomes too much!
 
Release:

Martial
Brandon
Evans
Heaton
Amrabat
Varane

Wage savings: 43M£ per year
Transfer income: 0

Get rid/sell:

Greenwood
Sancho
Casemiro
Donny
Pellistri
Eriksen

Wage savings: 48 M£ per year
Transfer income: 140 M£

Net transfer budget increase: 231 M£

Buy:

Ndidi (free)
Todibo
Neves
Olise
Cunha

Transfer expenses: -190 M£
Wage increase: -29 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Net spend: +12 M£

----------------------------------------------------------------

Squad 2024/2025:


Onana, Bayindir
Dalot, AWB
Martinez, Lindelöf
Todibo, Maguire, Kambwala
Shaw, Malacia
Mainoo, Neves, Ndidi, Gore
Fernandes, Mount, Scott
Garnacho, Olise, Rashford, Antony, Diallo
Cunha, Hojlund


Best XI:

ONANA

DALOT ------------ TODIBO ------------ MARTINEZ -------------- SHAW

MAINOO ------------ NEVES

OLISE --------------------- FERNANDES -------------- GARNACHO

CUNHA


Bench: Bayindir, AWB, Maguire, Scott, Ndidi, Mount, Rashford, Antony, Hojlund​

Just can’t see how we get 140 million for the players mentioned, maybe 100 at best.
 
Excellent defensively but very limited on the ball. If Utd are looking for a partner for Mainoo they will need someone with more passing range than Palinha has.

I disagree, sorry. I think Palhinha would be excellent behind Mainoo and Fernandes. It's not an absolute necessity for a #6 behind those two to be a world class passer. If you swap Mainoo with Neves, a similar profile, you basically get Portugal's best midfield trio. And it's not like Onana or Rice are world class passers either, and they're another two perfect DMs for our midfield.

There is no resale value at his age. We get 2 good seasons before trying to ‘hold the door’ against a flood of busses driving through our midfield becomes too much!

Who cares about resale value in this case? 30-40m for a close to world class level, 29 year old #6 who's got at least 3 years at this level in him. I see you already trying to compare it to Casemiro but there's a huge difference. And one of the richest clubs in the world doesn't have to consider resale value for every signing.
 
I disagree, sorry. I think Palhinha would be excellent behind Mainoo and Fernandes. It's not an absolute necessity for a #6 behind those two to be a world class passer. If you swap Mainoo with Neves, a similar profile, you basically get Portugal's best midfield trio. And it's not like Onana or Rice are world class passers either, and they're another two perfect DMs for our midfield.



Who cares about resale value in this case? 30-40m for a close to world class level, 29 year old #6 who's got at least 3 years at this level in him. I see you already trying to compare it to Casemiro but there's a huge difference. And one of the richest clubs in the world doesn't have to consider resale value for every signing.
He's a good player and I wouldn't be against him for that price, but he definitely isn't "close to world class". If he were he wouldn't be playing for Fulham. Just because there aren't a lot of great DMs atm, it doesn't make him automatically better. Compare him to Rodri or Tchouameni and you get what I mean. The Casemiro parallels are a serious concern. DM is arguably the most important position in football and you either need Toni Kroos / Sergio Busquets level technical skills or excellent physique to have a long career on top level.
 
Don't know how many will we be able to move on or how many are we planning to sign, but, for me, we need to strengthen six positions:

- Two center backs (One to play on the left and one to play on the right)
- A left back
- Two central midfielders: a DM and a CM
- A striker

Those are a must for me if we want to get something out of next season.
 
He's a good player and I wouldn't be against him for that price, but he definitely isn't "close to world class". If he were he wouldn't be playing for Fulham. Just because there aren't a lot of great DMs atm, it doesn't make him automatically better. Compare him to Rodri or Tchouameni and you get what I mean. The Casemiro parallels are a serious concern. DM is arguably the most important position in football and you either need Toni Kroos / Sergio Busquets level technical skills or excellent physique to have a long career on top level.

Your reasoning is that he plays for Fulham? Several big clubs have wanted him and in all likelihood he will be playing for Bayern in a few weeks' time.
 
Apparently Xavi Simons is available on loan. Wouldn't it make total sense to get him, especially with his versatility and our lack of goal threat? Probably with a buy option for let's say 70m? I'd prefer that over spending 60m on Olise this season.
 
Don't know how many will we be able to move on or how many are we planning to sign, but, for me, we need to strengthen six positions:

- Two center backs (One to play on the left and one to play on the right)
- A left back
- Two central midfielders: a DM and a CM
- A striker

Those are a must for me if we want to get something out of next season.

This is a minimum requirement going into the next season. This just shows how badly put together our squad is when you are going into a window requiring 6 players.

Its not even we need them for a squad, we need starting left back, CB, CM, DM and potentially a ST.
 
Todibo £35m
Geertruida £30m
Amrabat £20m
Neves £85m
Olise £60m
Zirkzee £35m

And we cook.
 
Sell

Greenwood and Sancho to sign Olise

Casemiro and Antony to sign either Toney or Zirkzee & Todibo

Maguire, Lindelof and someone else to go all in Neves
 
Unless the deals are good I would not get rid of Maguire and I hate to say it even Lidelof, Maguire was excellent whilst fit, we need numbers at CB we are losing Varane, if we were to get rid of 2 more CBs would be looking at signing 3 CBs alone... even if we could get some good transfers then it would be very disruptive (maybe Kambwalla steps ups too), I do not rate Lindelof but overall he is a body if we need one given the fragility of defenders last season.

If we keep Maguire and Lindelof we can get away with one CB signing, if they are good enough to be 1st choice and have a decent fitness record, but would like us to sign a 2nd CB a young or old guy who will be able to support. I would definitely be in for Braithwaite given that Everton need to balance books, but then I expect others will be after him.

What is happening with Malacia? LB is a problem because if Luke Shaw is fit, he plays, if Malacia is fit we have cover... could ideally do with an all round defender to provide cover across the back 4, TBH would be interested is seeing Antony at LB he is strong, works hard and is decent defensively

We need to replace CAS, my vote would be Ndidi if the price is right, I think we also need another body in there but maybe promote youth.

up front: Right wing I like Amad but I am yet to be convinced he is a guaranteed starter, Garnacho has had his best performances on the right, Rashford plays left or centre (or no point playing him), I think Hoijlund just needs better support from midfield and the wings, mount can play left or right also.

Signing anyone up front should be the least of our concerns IMO, if anything we only need squad players, some youngsters or older pros who will play a bit part, buying somebody like Olise (and I would be for buying him) gives a squad issue, you are relegating Rashford, Garnacho or Amad, that has ramifications, it is one thing when you are Pep and winning everything but we are nowhere near that at present, when you are doing poorly players are less happy to sit on the bench. I think if we sign Olise, then we move Rashford into striker role as you cannot drop Garnacho, if not then I think we need to sign a striker who is happy to be 2nd string
 
Apparently Xavi Simons is available on loan. Wouldn't it make total sense to get him, especially with his versatility and our lack of goal threat? Probably with a buy option for let's say 70m? I'd prefer that over spending 60m on Olise this season.
If we are buying Olise who is a more rounded version of Amad, we need a new attacking right back, United should be all over Jeremie Frimpong at £34m buy out, he’s going to be one of the stars of the Euros mark my words.

So you sell Sancho, Greenwood and Antony for hopefully £90-95m for all three and upgrade with Olise/Frimpong for the money you receive from those three. The club must sell at least two of Sancho, Antony and Greenwood.
 
He's 28 and not that great. We need to be buying somebody who is 25 of under.

What's not great about him? I think he's very good and the price is even better. We obviously won't hijack the Bayern move now, but we should've been interested. We aren't getting a better #6 than him this summer, unless the scouting department finds some hidden wonderkid out of nowehere.
 
What's not great about him? I think he's very good and the price is even better. We obviously won't hijack the Bayern move now, but we should've been interested. We aren't getting a better #6 than him this summer, unless the scouting department finds some hidden wonderkid out of nowehere.
On the ball he is a non entity? The price isn't great for his age. We can't keep signing defensive midfielders for big money who are 1 or 2 years away from declining, when our squad goals should be to build around the likes of Mainoo, Garnacho, Hojlund so we can grow and develop and peak as a time at the same time. It's just really stupid business to do that.
 
On the ball he is a non entity? The price isn't great for his age. We can't keep signing defensive midfielders for big money who are 1 or 2 years away from declining, when our squad goals should be to build around the likes of Mainoo, Garnacho, Hojlund so we can grow and develop and peak as a time at the same time. It's just really stupid business to do that.

Buying a 29 year old DM for 35m is very different from buying a 30 year old DM for 60m. Wouldn't be stupid business at all for that price. I'm struggling to see who our new DM is going to be that's able to play as a lone #6. I think Palhinha is capable of that, whilst the likes of Fofana and Onana would be optimal in a double pivot with Mainoo. Even if he's not a Carrick or a Rodri with the ball, I don't think that's a necessity and he's miles better than what we currently have in his position.
 
Buying a 29 year old DM for 35m is very different from buying a 30 year old DM for 60m. Wouldn't be stupid business at all for that price. I'm struggling to see who our new DM is going to be that's able to play as a lone #6. I think Palhinha is capable of that, whilst the likes of Fofana and Onana would be optimal in a double pivot with Mainoo. Even if he's not a Carrick or a Rodri with the ball, I don't think that's a necessity and he's miles better than what we currently have in his position.

Not saying it's realistically affordable but could keeping Amrabat and signing this Neves work
 
Not saying it's realistically affordable but could keeping Amrabat and signing this Neves work

I don't know, but personally I'm leaning towards no. Neves is just too similar to Mainoo for me, and best as an LCM instead of the #6 position. If we didn't have Mainoo, Neves would be by far my #1 dream signing of the summer, but as it stands there's no point in having both of them IMO.
 
This would be a good scenario:

...................... Onana* ......................
Dalot - NewCB - Martinez - New_LB
............. New_CM - Mainoo .............
..... Garnacho - Bruno - NewLW .......
...................... Højlund .....................

First bench: Bayandir, AWB*, Lindelöf, New_CM, Mount*, Amad, New_CF

* last chance

4 new starters and 2 new bench options are pushing it of course, but it is what it is... But I fear that at least 3 out of Shaw, Casemiro, Antony and Rashford will stay.
 
Another summer. Another five or six players needed.

The club’s unique ability when it comes to having the replace the replacements within two years is unparalleled.
 
Another summer. Another five or six players needed.

The club’s unique ability when it comes to having the replace the replacements within two years is unparalleled.

Its because we dont trust our scouting network, we blame the manager but remember the article that came out saying we had hundreds of RB on our scouting his and the best we got was AWB?