He would be a very good player for the #6 role, but he looks fairly slow in the BL. Everything you said he does well, his positioning is good and he is fairly strong physically, the problem most likely would be that Mainoo and him don't compliment each other well. I think Stiller needs someone like João Neves next to him to make that work in the PL, at least against better teams. He also doesn't want to leave Stuttgart apparently.
Alternative midfield targets
- Thread starter Bastian
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He would be a very good player for the #6 role, but he looks fairly slow in the BL. Everything you said he does well, his positioning is good and he is fairly strong physically, the problem most likely would be that Mainoo and him don't compliment each other well. I think Stiller needs someone like João Neves next to him to make that work in the PL, at least against better teams. He also doesn't want to leave Stuttgart apparently.
Yeah, but seeing as he's only half a season in the PL, I don't think they will sell him yet. Will cost 80m+ if he continues his ascent.
Ngolo Kante.
If INEOS want to go with youth I can see us making much more use of Gore and Collyer in the coming season. Maybe we won’t even get a midfielder in as we have 3 players (McT, Case, Eriksen) we should be moving on and we can’t sell any of them.
Yes please.
£25mil for 33 year old
Or just pay the asking price for Ugarte and get the Uruguain version at age 23
He is a very good option, but none of the options mentioned in this thread sound like they are viable unless McTominay is sold.
Ten Hags system desperately needs a player like Ederson or Haidara from Leipzig, someone who is elite at covering space and very high work ethic.
S
Sure, lets buy another over the hill defensive midfielder in his 30's who has to do lots of running in the most competitive league in the world. What could go wrong?
He's 33! Even if he was available for free, which he's not, it would be a terrible signing.
This is why none of you mugs would ever be allowed anywhere near actually making a decision at the club.
Can we get Varela for 45m?
Take punt on Hayden Hackney .
Honestly, we're better off rolling the budget to next year and discarding this season, rather than panic buying and still performing poorly.
At least then it wouldn't be Murtough Madness MK.II
At least then it wouldn't be Murtough Madness MK.II
Mainoo was out half the season and Bruno only got better in the last 5 games or so. So tell me again who was outperforming in our midfield
Bruno was our player of the year. And Mainoo was injured for half of the season, and then he was not, and he played very well when he wasn’t. Not sure what the point is there.
The point is that both had mixed contributions last season. Bruno was often discussed as he was poor for a certain period as well. Hence we had no one in midfield performing well over the whole season. Hence we have a shit midfield and continue to have one if we dont buy 2 players at least. We cannot expect Mainoo to play 40 games and outperform while Bruno can be hot and cold. Plus he is no CM
Appreciate the point, but I just simply don't think we can afford the luxury to have another season of Casemiro as no.6 / Eriksen and McTominay as serious options.
Starting the season in worse shape than last. I still cant believe that we have a midfield of Eriksen / Mctominay / Case / Mejbri
Bottom half of the table midfield level.
Hope we have some ace up our sleeve, otherwise, we are fecked more than last year.
Its better to compensate them, than have them on our payroll and play like shit. WOrst midfield from top 6 teams
Bottom half of the table midfield level.
Hope we have some ace up our sleeve, otherwise, we are fecked more than last year.
Its better to compensate them, than have them on our payroll and play like shit. WOrst midfield from top 6 teams
Matt O'Reilly at Celtic? I've seen some of the scrubs we're after and Brighton are closing in on a no-brainer here.
I can’t comment on Stach but I’ve mentioned Boloca on here before. I’ve only watched clips and read stats but on that basis he looks like a real hidden gem. Considering Sassuolo went down last year he’s likely to be dirt cheap aswell. I could see him being a good option to Mainoo.
Pepelu looks an interesting option aswell, just looking at the stats he seems like a similar player to Wharton.
This. No one wants a last minute Fellaini type deal out of desperation
We were a new United buying Zirkzee and Yoro early in the window and now seem to be the old United…. Wallowing and waiting for the final day to make a panic buy. Ugh
Seriously is Sander Berge really the best option we have???
I don't get what our plan is. We clearly lack the funds but even if we ignore that, the players that were linked with us (J.Neves, Ugarte, Hjulmand, Zubimendi, Fofana, Berge, André, J.Gomes, Rabiot and Ederson) are so different from each other (from ball-winning DM to box-to-box running machines to smooth ball players to allrounders).
Meanwhile we are not linked with many interesting players like Alan Varela, Manuel Locatelli (Juve probably selling him to fund Koopmeiners?), Carlos Baleba, Florentino Luis, Ezequiel Fernandez (went to Saudi league), Exequiel Palacios, Pepelu, etc. There are so many options that make more sense than fecking Sander Berge (whom I was hoping we'd sign a few years ago, when he was a cheap talent, but not now).
Also, what happened to the Mandela Keita links? I'd fancy a cheap talent at least. I'm still angry at missing out on Arthur Vermeeren. Other talents would be Hugo Larsson or Lucas Gourna-Douath, although they'd be more expensive than Keita.
I hope the new board can find a good solution, but I remain sceptical.
I don't get what our plan is. We clearly lack the funds but even if we ignore that, the players that were linked with us (J.Neves, Ugarte, Hjulmand, Zubimendi, Fofana, Berge, André, J.Gomes, Rabiot and Ederson) are so different from each other (from ball-winning DM to box-to-box running machines to smooth ball players to allrounders).
Meanwhile we are not linked with many interesting players like Alan Varela, Manuel Locatelli (Juve probably selling him to fund Koopmeiners?), Carlos Baleba, Florentino Luis, Ezequiel Fernandez (went to Saudi league), Exequiel Palacios, Pepelu, etc. There are so many options that make more sense than fecking Sander Berge (whom I was hoping we'd sign a few years ago, when he was a cheap talent, but not now).
Also, what happened to the Mandela Keita links? I'd fancy a cheap talent at least. I'm still angry at missing out on Arthur Vermeeren. Other talents would be Hugo Larsson or Lucas Gourna-Douath, although they'd be more expensive than Keita.
I hope the new board can find a good solution, but I remain sceptical.
To be honest I'd prefer we do this to get the budget back in line. Next summer most of the shit we are carrying is out of contract and things could be better by then. We have to remember that we have more recent deadwood that we bought at eyewatering prices, who we are still paying and paying their transfer fees and who are contributing nothing on the pitch so the road ahead will be long and leveraging on our youths could help shorten it.
There is a severe lack of imagination aferom our recruitment team. There are a couple of young DMs that will cost the same or lower than Sander Berge and yet we haven’t been linked to any of them. Low risk but high reward players like Mandela Keita and Lucas Gourna Douth. Unless we know exactly whose wan and are waiting for next year when we have a bigger transfer budget.
I wa also pissed we didn’t make a move for Vermeeren, especially at the price he eventually went for
You and @aeh1991 really know how to lift the morale in this thread, Vivell would know about this Gourna-Douth so must be a reason we haven't shown any interest whatsoever
It's just extremely frustrating to see the media linking us with unrealistic or underwhelming potential signings and the lack of action in both selling and buying. We can only hope that it's because Ashworth came in too late and we're doing some background works that no one is expecting.
I think its fair to be underwhelmed by our midfield targets considering that it is an area of weakness for us. Our rivals have strengthened and looking to strengthen in those positions before the end of the window. It's also frustrating that there are midfield targets that we seem to be ignoring. Vivell joined us late, so I doubt he has a lot of influence right now and his views & targets will probably come through next window onwards. However, like i said, if they know exactly who they want and are targeting that person for next summer and just want a midfielder for now that will act as a stand in, then it could make sense. The same way that Liverpool bought Endo last year and now going for Zubimendi.
Yeah I take back what I said my patience wore thin when we tried to play the long game in 3 important positions. Our midfield options are pretty terrible. So you know what feel free to put some new targets in here and maybe the club might take some action.
I think, the problem for us, is the Woodward/Arnold/Murtough legacy of easy marks in the market that the new team has inherited. You can see it in the conduct of Bayern, they agreed a much lower deal for Mazraoui than what they turned around and demanded from us, no doubt they will sell De Ligt for a much lower fee than what they are quoting us. If we were going for an Endo type of signing we'd get quoted an insane fee that defies the purpose.
Yes, that’s a valid point. We have a poor history in the transfer market so even cheap players get a 15%+ markup whenever we’re involved. It will take some time for us to get rid of that label. Definitely feel if another club were pursuing De Ligt and Mazraoui, the transfers would’ve gone through already. Now we’re being quoted 30m for Berge, over 100%higher what Burnley paid for him
Which is why we got to hold our nerve, hindsight maybe, but see how we got a deal more in line with what we wanted to pay for De Ligt and Mazraoui. With PSR, this is a buyers' market and we can't allow ourselves to be held to ransom by clubs that also need our money.
Yeah I will admit we have played it well for them, so getting it back on topic who should be our alternate midfield targets?
Seems player sales is what's slowed us down. We seem to be in a situation after signing the former two to "sell before we buy."
Would you take Sergi Roberto as a backup CM on a free?
No, absolutely not.
Are there no great playmaking CM talents in Europe? Everyone I hear is a DM or box to box now.
If PSG are not budging on Ugarte, Sander Berge and Rabiot coming in with McT going, would probably be the best scenario, considering we haven't been linked with any young DMs. This indicates Ineos aren't convinced there's a great no 6 out there in the market and will bide their time to get the right person in. Berge is a squad player, can back up Case and won't demand too many minutes. Rabiot can play as a 6 and a 8, so rotates with Mainoo and can also play in a double pivot with Mainoo (he's played there successfully for PSG before). Then when Case leaves next year, focus on bringing in an elite young DM.
There are some young un's out there like Mandela Keita or Lucas Gourna Douth, even Ezequiel Fernandez before he went to Saudi but we have not been linked with any of them. So i don't think we'll see a massive target come in at this stage when Ugarte deal completely falls through.
There are some young un's out there like Mandela Keita or Lucas Gourna Douth, even Ezequiel Fernandez before he went to Saudi but we have not been linked with any of them. So i don't think we'll see a massive target come in at this stage when Ugarte deal completely falls through.
Like I have said before we might see some movement with Gourna Douth in a future window as Vivell will know him well from Bundesliga
Would love it