6 realistic signings to improve us?

romufc said:
The number of people who have mentioned Longstaff.

These are keyboard warrior fans who read the Caf, watch youtube highlights and think he is going to solve our problems.

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/c649tc/sean_longstaff_vs_scott_mctominay_1819_season/

All those who mention Longstaff, have a look at those comparisons.

He has not had 1 full season, he has been on the bench for a game, and subbed of at 67 in other game.

To spend £50m on a player like him who is not a major upgrade to McT is a joke.
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Yes, I find it weird that people can pick almost any three players in world football and some are choosing Longstaff as one of them!
 
Adnan said:
DM-Florentino Luis: Only just turned 20 but is already displaying signs of being a extremely well rounded DM. Can pass to a very good level, has excellent composure, physically strong and quick and is very strong in the tackle. Looks an absolute monster DM in the making.

CM/AM-Houssem Aouar: Turned 21 in June and has already shown why he's so highly rated at Lyon. Plays as a box to box #8 with excellent ball retention ability under pressure. And off the ball he's a dream for managers who adopt a high pressing style due to his extremely high work rate. Also a very creative player who can break lines with his passing and dribbling and is someone who sure does express himself whilst in possession of the ball which we're lacking. A very well rounded player who would fit into our team like a glove IMO.

RW-Jadon Sancho/Federico Chiesa: I actually wouldn't mind either tbh. Both players are extremely talented and I would be overjoyed if we signed either one. Chiesa is excellent on the ball and has a brilliant first touch and reminds me somewhat of the former Arsenal great Robert Pires in some ways. Excellent technique when it comes to dribbling, good pace and a real know how in one v ones whilst in possession playing on the wing. Also comes with the added bonus of being very adept at pressing from the front which makes Chiesa a real gem IMO. Sancho we all know about.

Strengthening the aforementioned positions with those players would IMO galvanise our team.
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Agree 100 % with you on these 3 signings, potential WC players. The only worry I would have is they don't have the experience in the PL but they shouldn't have a problem adapting to the pace.
 
DM - Sandro Tonali, Florentino Luis or Declan Rice

CM - Houssem Aouar, Nicolo Zaniolo, Fabian Ruiz

RW - Federico Chiesa or Jadon Sancho

I’d actually take Chiesa over Sancho as I think his crossing is better and we do lack decent delivery. I know Sancho has lots of assists but he seems more similar to Sterling or Rashford in that it’s based on pace and dribbling and low crosses as opposed to putting it on somebody’s head.

If we were finishing things off then I’d want two more in as well.

Striker - Krystof Piatek, Timo Werner, Andrea Bellotti or Paco Alcacer

CAM - Kai Havertz, Dani Olmo, James Maddison.

With three signings we could line up:

De Gea

AWB
Lindelof
Maguire
Shaw

Luis
Aouar
Pogba

Chiesa
Martial
Rashford
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Yes, I find it weird that people can pick almost any three players in world football and some are choosing Longstaff as one of them!
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Shows you the power of social media. People now do cannot even do their own research.
 
Now the transfer window is over and we know where we are in terms of who we got in and what we still need I think our three most pressing matters are a specialist defensive midfielder, a playmaking midfielder and a right sided attacker.

It’s all good us picking three names out but we need to be realistic with it at the same time as the very best players aren’t going to be coming here soon as we’ve become a circus and the complete opposite to how we were under Sir Alex.

I think realistically we could get Sancho but he’ll cost us at least £125 million seeing as he’s hit the ground running this season already and we’d have to offer him more in wages then anyone else does, I think he’s 100% our number one target just like Maguire was so it may end up drawn out but if we stick with it and offer him whatever he wants then I think he can be ours.

The other two I’d go for is Eriksen as he’s Premier League proven, dictates tempo, clearly wants to move and is coming into his prime and Declan Rice who is a proper defensive midfielder, fits the profile of player we’re looking for, will only get better and much like Eriksen is proven in the league whilst also now being an England regular.

A first choice 11 of De Gea/Henderson, Wan-Bisakka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Eriksen, Rice, Pogba, Sancho, Martial, Rashford is very balanced and a serious upgrade on where we were only last season. With the likes of Dalot, Laird, Tuanzebe, Williams, Garner, McTominay, Gomes, Chong and Greenwood having come/coming through as well we’d be on the right track again.
 
My wet dream is Partey, Havertz and Sancho. If Pogba leaves add milinkovic-savic to that list
 
I would go for:

- James Maddison - PL proven, creative, creator of chances.

- Sancho/Chiesa - ‘cause we need to solve that RW for years to come, with pure Class.

- Timo Werner, relatively Young. Proven goalscorer. Can play a possessien based strategy, and is fast enough to play counter attacking football.

We also need to buy a DM, but if I could only buy 3
 
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davidmichael said:
Now the transfer window is over and we know where we are in terms of who we got in and what we still need I think our three most pressing matters are a specialist defensive midfielder, a playmaking midfielder and a right sided attacker.

The other two I’d go for is Eriksen as he’s Premier League proven, dictates tempo, clearly wants to move and is coming into his prime and Declan Rice who is a proper defensive midfielder, fits the profile of player we’re looking for, will only get better and much like Eriksen is proven in the league whilst also now being an England regular..
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I agree mostly with you, but Eriksen coming into his prime..?
There are plenty of Spurs fans that will tell you that he has maybe passed his prime, they don't seem to be overly upset that his is leaving.
As much as I rate Eriksen, I think we'd be better looking at a younger player for that role, such as Maddison.
 
Steamboat Willy said:
I would go for:

- James Maddison - PL proven, creative, creator of chances.

- Sancho/Chiesa - ‘cause we need to solve that RW for years to come, with pure Class.

- Timo Werner, relatively Young. Proven goalscorer. Can play a possessien based strategy, and is fast enough to play counter attacking football.

We also need to buy a DM, but if I could only buy 3
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So we have a very weak midfield but out of the 3 none of them play in mid.

We don't need two forwards. We already have a young front line, I don't see a need for 2 more when we have major issues in Mid.
 
jderbyshire said:
If Ole's insisiting on sticking to this 4-2-3-1 formation then a new no.10 is a top priority - Lingard and Mata aren't good enough.

I like them both as squad players but we need more creative quality in that position.
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Gomes ??
 
Ikon said:
I agree mostly with you, but Eriksen coming into his prime..?
There are plenty of Spurs fans that will tell you that he has maybe passed his prime, they don't seem to be overly upset that his is leaving.
As much as I rate Eriksen, I think we'd be better looking at a younger player for that role, such as Maddison.
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he's 27. Spurs fans getting salty cos they know he's leaving. His performances probably have dipped, but so have Spurs in general. There's also that feeling that when a player knows he's leaving and wanted to do so in the summer that maybe their head has been turned and their performances suffer. But to say he's finished or on a downward spiral is way off the mark. Either Eriksen or Maddison would be most welcome. Jan is a tough time to buy, ideally I'd want a creative mid like either of those mentioned, a solid DM and help up front. That's greedy in any window let alone Jan, I'd take a creative mid and a striker. Still tough but could be done.
 
sparx99 said:
Who is Marc Roca? I’ve not heard of him?
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Spanish midfielder from Espanyol. Only seen him play a 3-4 times last season so I'm no expert but looks like a solid young DLP. Great passing range, composed and press resistant. Still young so maybe one for the future but with a reported release clause of 40m euros I think he would be a solid addition if the aim is to build young team with lots of upside.
 
I saw a post here few months ago saying that we should do Leicester our b***** like Liverpool made Sotton theirs at the time.

And I think this is particulary right, especially when we need players like Chilwell, Maddison or Ndidi.

In a dream world, with CL and a good overall atmosphere around the club, my top targets would be :
  • Chilwell (60M)
  • Rice (80M)
  • Maddison (85M)
  • Sancho (150M)
 
Chaky_Best said:
I saw a post here few months ago saying that we should do Leicester our b***** like Liverpool made Sotton theirs at the time.

And I think this is particulary right, especially when we need players like Chilwell, Maddison or Ndidi.

In a dream world, with CL and a good overall atmosphere around the club, my top targets would be :
  • Chilwell (60M)
  • Rice (80M)
  • Maddison (85M)
  • Sancho (150M)
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I agree with Sancho, but is going to be difficult to sign him. IMO there are better alternatives than Rice and Chilwell.

Do you rate Maddison higher than Havertz/Eriksen?
 
Fer said:
I agree with Sancho, but is going to be difficult to sign him. IMO there are better alternatives than Rice and Chilwell.

Do you rate Maddison higher than Havertz/Eriksen?
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My fear with Eriksen is a bit like Sanchez. I see him less involved in games than two years ago... I don't say that he's finished like Sanchez but he's on the decline for two years now. Maddison is a top prospect. As for Havertz, would you say that even with our money, we could compete with Bayern or Pool to lure him ?
 
Amadaeus said:
Yea, I was thinking about which youth Lb we had at United. Completely forget about Brandon Williams.

Rashford is still young. He has showed more at his age than Salah did when he was the same age. He just need a manager to unleash his potential. There is definitely a good player in there. I haven’t seen much of Partey. I feel like such an addition will be at the cost of Fred. However, I would like to see Fred get some more opportunities this season before fans begin to further write him off.
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Rashford is young no doubt but he's had 5 good years now in the first team and hasn't made strides in terms of improvement. Also, he's played under 3 managers (Van Gaal, Mourinho and Ole) and I thought he would improve immensely under a goal scorer like Ole but unfortunately that hasn't been the case. His decision making is questionable and probably you're right he needs more time but he's currently one of the two main strikers at United with all the responsibility and needs to deliver. I wouldn't use Salah as a comparison but instead Rooney who although never hit the heights of his true potential but was one of the deadliest strikers in Europe at the age of 18, so I wouldn't give Rashford the benefit of the doubt. I do like Fred but I'm not too sure if he's got what it takes to succeed at United. I mean he may have the technique and flair but not sure of his mindset.
 
We might be looking to reign in the spending, as we've done since the Mourinho/LVG period, capping our outlay (net) around 60-70m per year, I guess 3 signings to improve us is pretty much out of the question.

If the club would be ready to spend and it more being a question of players wanting to join then I guess both Neves and Chilwell from the OP are realistic options. Given how much Maguire cost and Wolves already having a strong financial base, I couldn't see either costing less than 60-70m.

I think we need our scouts/recruitment team to identify players who are on the cusp of something special. We used to do that back in the day.

Personally I'd go for Richarlison as a forward option. I'd also like to pillage Everton for Digne.
 
Based on our current formation our pressing needs are
1. A destroyer DM
2. A creative AM
3. A right winger

For the DM spot I'd pick Ndidi but seeing our current trend of getting English players I would be realistic and say Rice.

For the AM position I wouldn't bother spending money on Maddison until I've seen Gomes play. They are both young and getting Maddison will most likely reduce Gomes game time especially seeing how good Gomes is. A bit unrealistic but I'm hoping Ed can perform some miracle and get Eriksen in January which seems more ideal as Gomes could still get a chance to take over from Eriksen in the future.

For RW we go all out for Sancho and hopefully he wants to come to us

So basically get Eriksen in January. Get Sancho and Rice next summer.

--------------------------------De Gea?--------------------------

AWB-------Lindelof-------------Maguire----------Shaw

--------------------Rice-----------------Pogba? -----------------

Sancho------------------Eriksen----------------Rashford

------------------------------Martial------------------------------
 
Chaky_Best said:
My fear with Eriksen is a bit like Sanchez. I see him less involved in games than two years ago... I don't say that he's finished like Sanchez but he's on the decline for two years now. Maddison is a top prospect. As for Havertz, would you say that even with our money, we could compete with Bayern or Pool to lure him ?
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You may be right about Eriksen, also, it seems that he wants to play abroad.

IMO Maddison could cost as much as Havertz, that's why I said the latter would be a better option. If we can compete for Sancho, we can compete for Havertz. It depends on Bayern signing Coutinho or using that money for Havertz. I found a bit difficult for Bayern to sign Havertz and someone like Sane.

I would be happy with Maddison. I rather a player who wants to play for us (like James), than trying to convince a player (e.g. Dybala).
 
jamesjimmybyrondean said:
Based on our current formation our pressing needs are
1. A destroyer DM
2. A creative AM
3. A right winger

For the DM spot I'd pick Ndidi but seeing our current trend of getting English players I would be realistic and say Rice.

For the AM position I wouldn't bother spending money on Maddison until I've seen Gomes play. They are both young and getting Maddison will most likely reduce Gomes game time especially seeing how good Gomes is. A bit unrealistic but I'm hoping Ed can perform some miracle and get Eriksen in January which seems more ideal as Gomes could still get a chance to take over from Eriksen in the future.

For RW we go all out for Sancho and hopefully he wants to come to us

So basically get Eriksen in January. Get Sancho and Rice next summer.

--------------------------------De Gea?--------------------------

AWB-------Lindelof-------------Maguire----------Shaw

--------------------Rice-----------------Pogba? -----------------

Sancho------------------Eriksen----------------Rashford

------------------------------Martial------------------------------
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I'd rather James than Rashford 100%.
 
Julian Weigl - DM
Kai Havertz - CAM
Federico Chiesa - RW

Please
 
We need to stop fantasying about potential players.

There is becoming such a big divide at this football club from.

Fans expectation to clubs ability to deliver.
 
GlastonSpur said:
How is it realistic to expect Eriksen step down into the Europa League when he's now playing in the CL?
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Thats a lazy argument. If Pogba could do just that, so could Eriksen. So its absolutely realistic.
That said, he will end up abroad, but it has nothing to do with that fact.
EDIT
I should add that Di Maria went from winning the CL and being named the MoM in the final to doing the exact same thing that you deem to be unrealistic for Eriksen: transferring to a team that "just" qualified for the EL. Its hardly a new thing, especially not for United with the pull this club has. And the money of course.
EDIT EDIT
Well, I will have to continue to edit myself; we did not even play in the EL the season Di Maria joined. How about that?
 
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Johan07 said:
Thats a lazy argument. If Pogba could do just that, so could Eriksen. So its absolutely realistic.
That said, he will end up abroad, but it has nothing to do with that fact.
EDIT
I should add that Di Maria went from winning the CL and being named the MoM in the final to doing the exact same thing that you deem to be unrealistic for Eriksen: transferring to a team that "just" qualified for the EL. Its hardly a new thing, especially not for United with the pull this club has. And the money of course.
EDIT EDIT
Well, I will have to continue to edit myself; we did not even play in the EL the season Di Maria joined. How about that?
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Well, both Pogba and di Maria joined United before the club's decline had become as pronounced as it is now - when there was more of an expectation that losing out on top 4 (and thus CL qualification) was more of an exception and less of the 'rule' that it has more become since then.

It's one thing for a player to believe that a single season outside of the CL is OK, but real doubts set in when they start to think that it could easily be more than just a single season. Eriksen will be 28.5 years old when next season kicks off, so I don't think he'd be willing to gamble on United for the remainder of his career.
 
GlastonSpur said:
Well, both Pogba and di Maria joined United before the club's decline had become as pronounced as it is now - when there was more of an expectation that losing out on top 4 (and thus CL qualification) was more of an exception and less of the 'rule' that it has more become since then.

It's one thing for a player to believe that a single season outside of the CL is OK, but real doubts set in when they start to think that it could easily be more than just a single season. Eriksen will be 28.5 years old when next season kicks off, so I don't think he'd be willing to gamble on United for the remainder of his career.
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That's simply not true. They signed for United because we are/were one of the few clubs in Europe capable of meeting their salary demands, as was the case with Sanchez among others. Nothing has changed regards the clubs finances since then.

United will always prove an attractive proposition with or without CL qualification. How do you think the likes of City, PSG and Chelsea attracted players when they first acquired their rich benefactors and were languishing mid-table or worse?
 
So these suggestions are going to be playing very safe. All English and all more or less guaranteed to be good players for us.

Sancho. Is a solution to the RW for the next 10 years yadda yadda, and I believe he is very gettable for us.

James Maddison. Gettable, knows he has the potential to make it at a bigger club than Leicester and hopefully not ludicrously pricey.

Declan Rice. England international, seems to be first choice for the DM slot now that Henderson is given a bit more leeway to run about. Hopefully not ludicrously pricey in a year or two.
 
1. New owners
2. A competent CEO who knows football
3. A top class manager. Love Ole to bits but he's only here because of his playing days.
 
Emre Can would be a smart purchase right now. Cheap (not registered for Juve's CL squad), still young-ish, PL proven, and better midfielder than anyone here besides PP.
 
Ikon said:
I agree mostly with you, but Eriksen coming into his prime..?
There are plenty of Spurs fans that will tell you that he has maybe passed his prime, they don't seem to be overly upset that his is leaving.
As much as I rate Eriksen, I think we'd be better looking at a younger player for that role, such as Maddison.
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I agree with you that I think we’d be better off getting Maddison as he’s younger, a United fan and hungry to be the best but with Eriksen being in the last year of his contract I can see Woodward wanting to go with Eriksen over Maddison as Maddison will cost similar to Maguire.

In an ideal world I’d sign Sancho, Maddison and Rice as our 3 priority signings but I think you’re probably looking at around £250 million for those 3 players and as much as I want it to happen I just don’t see us having those funds based on our net spend over the past couple of years.

Eriksen on a free with Rice and Sancho (which would probably still set us back around £175 million) coming in and then getting Jones, Rojo, Young, Mata and Sanchez (if possible) off the wage bill seems realistic to me and still improves us massively as Eriksen just as Maddison does walks into our team.
 
SoCross said:
Lozano - RW
Donny VD Beek - CM
Richarlison - ST
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Lozano just signed for Napoli. Van de Beek is a good midfielder but we have McTominay, IMO a DM should be a priority. We need someone instead of Matic.

Richarlison is an interesting option.
 
If we're persisting with playing with a #10 there's no way we can continue with Mata or Lingard.

Should seriously look into Havertz or give Gomes some game time or play Pogba there. Current way cannot continue.
 
Maddison, Sancho and a number 8.

How I'd imagine the blueprint of the team in couple of seasons.

Martial/Greenwood/Rash
Rash/James/Chong - Maddison/Gomes - Sancho/Greenwood/Chong
Pogba/no 8 - Garner/McTominay
Shaw/Williams/Laird - Maguire/CB (can be Jones, not a priority) - Lindelof/Tuanzebe - AWB/Laird/Williams
De Gea/Hendo

That's 22 players so there are room for couple of other squad fillers/youth players.

If Laird/Williams can't make it then get Chilwell. Or maybe Pereira, Fred or Levitt can surprise us and we don't need another number 8. If Pogba goes we might need 2 number 8, or plays Gomes deeper and gets 1 more.

I think Dalot will eventually leave because at his age he needs regular football to force his way into the national team etc.
 
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Random Task said:
That's simply not true. They signed for United because we are/were one of the few clubs in Europe capable of meeting their salary demands, as was the case with Sanchez among others. Nothing has changed regards the clubs finances since then.

United will always prove an attractive proposition with or without CL qualification. How do you think the likes of City, PSG and Chelsea attracted players when they first acquired their rich benefactors and were languishing mid-table or worse?
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They may have joined primarily for the money, but the fact remains that they also joined before the United's decline had become as pronounced/extended as it is now.

Now you may believe that Eriksen will be similarly enticed by the money, but I believe that, if he doesn't sign a new contract with Spurs, it's far more likely he'll want CL football with one of the big continental clubs and won't be interested in risking ending up in the EL with United.
 
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