Alternatives to Jadon Sancho

I think we're slowly seeing Greenwood's weaknesses and inconsistencies in the role , which is perfectly understandable because he's not a wide forward.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
It's encouraging that people seem to believe that two 18 year olds have sorted out the right wing for the next decade, and that every talented young player is going to be breaking records within two years. But I'm a bit skeptical myself. These signings are exciting but there appear to be an assumption that we've signed the next Rooney and Ronaldo already ready to tear teams up. Of course we'd all like that but I don't think players that progress the way Sancho and Mbappe have come around so easily.
Click to expand...
If in 2017 I told you a 17yr old Jadon Sancho for 7m would prove to be better value for money than 150m on Lindelof, Matic and Lukaku you`d call me crazy, heck nobody knew who Martinelli was when Arsenal signed him and he`s now easily close to being a 100m player. Yes there is no guarantee the kids we signed will just rise to stardom immediately but it also doesn`t mean we should just assume they won`t Traore especially is a highly rated talent in Italy lets see over time if him and Pellistri prove to be good value for money.
 
Skills said:
Mason Greenwood sorted the RW out. The other two guys we signed just have to be good enough to back him up for now.

We can't just keep ignoring the fact that we have one of the most talented young forwards in football playing for us - one who scored 17 goals in his debut season. Greenwood is the one we need progressing like Mbappe or Sancho.
Click to expand...

Greenwood hadn't sorted anything out, he's a striker we're playing on the wing because we have no other options. It's a bit like Rashford but Rashford has improved enough to play the LW despite his lack of dribbling ability, but it's taken him a good 4 seasons.

Sancho and Mbappe are in a whole other league - in particular they can both dribble well (Sancho in particular). Greenwood can finish but that doesn't make a RW - primarily they need to be able to stretch play, dribble, and create chances. He doesn't do that which is part of the reason why we struggle against teams that sit back.

Don't get me wrong he's a great talent but he's very raw still. People mentioning the 18 and 17 year olds need to give their heads a wobble - two players that have played about 10 professional matches between them.

Someone like Saint-Maximin - that's a player you can bank on to play wide forward and improve because he's already an excellent dribbler and excellent on the ball. Masons best quality is his shooting.
 
RkkMan said:
If in 2017 I told you a 17yr old Jadon Sancho for 7m would prove to be better value for money than 150m on Lindelof, Matic and Lukaku you`d call me crazy, heck nobody knew who Martinelli was when Arsenal signed him and he`s now easily close to being a 100m player. Yes there is no guarantee the kids we signed will just rise to stardom immediately but it also doesn`t mean we should just assume they won`t Traore especially is a highly rated talent in Italy lets see over time if him and Pellistri prove to be good value for money.
Click to expand...

The reverse is more true though. For every Sancho you get 50 Jordan Ibes, Solankes and Daniel James. How many Varelas, Borthwick-jackson, Fosuh Mensahs have we had that never made the step up? Even a player like Delay, young, but playing in a weaker league, was found out.

In no world is Martinelli close to being a 100m player - he only ever plays in the budget cup games. There's a difference between occasionally showing something good and being consistently great.
 
Ou
amolbhatia50k said:
It's encouraging that people seem to believe that two 18 year olds have sorted out the right wing for the next decade, and that every talented young player is going to be breaking records within two years. But I'm a bit skeptical myself. These signings are exciting but there appear to be an assumption that we've signed the next Rooney and Ronaldo already ready to tear teams up. Of course we'd all like that but I don't think players that progress the way Sancho and Mbappe have come around so easily.
Click to expand...

Its exactly the type of signings Dortmund would have made. Do you want us to spend big on players like Lukaku and Sanchez instead? Of course the ideal signings would be Sancho. But we can't afford him, why not look for the next Sancho?
 
RedRonaldo said:
Ou


Its exactly the type of signings Dortmund would have made. Do you want us to spend big on players like Lukaku and Sanchez instead? Of course the ideal signings would be Sancho. But we can't afford him, why not look for the next Sancho?
Click to expand...

Indeed. They are both big unknowns and they both have a great opportunity to make an impact this season.

let’s see what happens.
 
There's this 18 year old kid who scored 10 goals in 31 games on the flanks. He did so in the EPL not in some farmer's 1 horse league were even Kagawa and Mkhitaryan looked world beaters in.
 
FrankDrebin said:
I think we're slowly seeing Greenwood's weaknesses and inconsistencies in the role , which is perfectly understandable because he's not a wide forward.
Click to expand...
Agree with this, teams seem to be letting him come inside and try to sure then shutting him down quickly.

On sancho - the european football experts i have listened to seem to think the amount dortmund asked for was pretty reasonable and suspect if he has a great season his price will increase again. I also dont understand why some of our fans seem to be annoyed he didnt push for the move. I think if he was willing to do that to move to us he would be more likely to do it in a couple of years if madrid csme calling. People also need to be realistic about where we are at as a club at the moment (e.g. not conpeting for the title or champions league)
 
marktan said:
Greenwood hadn't sorted anything out, he's a striker we're playing on the wing because we have no other options. It's a bit like Rashford but Rashford has improved enough to play the LW despite his lack of dribbling ability, but it's taken him a good 4 seasons.

Sancho and Mbappe are in a whole other league - in particular they can both dribble well (Sancho in particular). Greenwood can finish but that doesn't make a RW - primarily they need to be able to stretch play, dribble, and create chances. He doesn't do that which is part of the reason why we struggle against teams that sit back.

Don't get me wrong he's a great talent but he's very raw still. People mentioning the 18 and 17 year olds need to give their heads a wobble - two players that have played about 10 professional matches between them.
Click to expand...

Yep. People talking up Greenwood, and they should he is one of the best talents in the world, but he is a striker. He is not a natural winger, and that can be seen in his game.

Continuing to play Greenwood in the wing will stunt his progress in the long term. We have Cavani for 1-2 years, so its fine for now, but since the drop in quality between Greenwood and the rest of options in RW is so high, we over-rely on him. That's not good.

bsCallout said:
I'm personally glad we didnt spend 120mil.
Click to expand...

I'm glad too we didnt overspend, but think we should have realised than by August end, and not on deadline day. Also hope you keep the same energy when Chelsea/ Liverpool sign him, and he becomes a ballon d'or contender. I think this is another Hazard scenario all over again.

Bestietom said:
Then you are mad, mate. I would sooner have Kane over Sancho any day.
Click to expand...

Kane is a better player, but our need at RW is more than at CF.
 
devilish said:
There's this 18 year old kid who scored 10 goals in 31 games on the flanks. He did so in the EPL not in some farmer's 1 horse league were even Kagawa and Mkhitaryan looked world beaters in.
Click to expand...
A "former Utd fan" and now Juventus/Serie A fan, talking about the Bundesliga as "one-horse-league" or "farmers league" ... quite amusing.
 
GameOn said:
A "former Utd fan" and now Juventus/Serie A fan, talking about the Bundesliga as "one-horse-league" or "farmers league" ... quite amusing.
Click to expand...

Do you know that tags aren't always true?
 
steve.crowford said:
Iñaki Williams, Leon Bailey, David Neres, Callum Hudson-Odoi...
Click to expand...
Only Neres I rate him to take the RW spot because it suits him better than Greenwood, but not because he's a better player.

Then again it should be Sancho 2021 and move greenwood to the center, or change formation altogether and play with two CF. We don't have wide players at the moment except from James (who has also played centrally under Ole) and the young ones Chong/Diallo/Elanga. We should be looking at either gettin one world class or close to winger and stick with the formation, or go the other way around and occupy the wing with other players coming from other positions.
 
FrankDrebin said:
I think we're slowly seeing Greenwood's weaknesses and inconsistencies in the role , which is perfectly understandable because he's not a wide forward.
Click to expand...

I totally disagree. Greenwood is the epitome of modern forward, capable of playing on the left and right. Like youth RVP, he should and will continue playing on the right until he is truly capable to play in the middle.
 
FrankDrebin said:
I think we're slowly seeing Greenwood's weaknesses and inconsistencies in the role , which is perfectly understandable because he's not a wide forward.
Click to expand...
He'd have 3 goals in 3 games, if not for the assister being offside at the time of the final ball.

Greenwood has been as good as ever. It's his teammates letting him down.
 
Townsend, Lennon, Walcott, Brooks. They should be able to keep us in the top flight. If we’re more ambitious maybe Zaha.
 
How about Jeremy Doku? He is a right winger. How good is he?
 
I say there are plenty of options: Zaniolo, Adama, Stengs, Diaby, Sarr, Anthony, Thauvin, Oyarzabal, Kulusevski, Kubo, Trincao, and Sabitzer.
 
Last edited:
marktan said:
The reverse is more true though. For every Sancho you get 50 Jordan Ibes, Solankes and Daniel James. How many Varelas, Borthwick-jackson, Fosuh Mensahs have we had that never made the step up? Even a player like Delay, young, but playing in a weaker league, was found out.

In no world is Martinelli close to being a 100m player - he only ever plays in the budget cup games. There's a difference between occasionally showing something good and being consistently great.
Click to expand...
And for every Jordan Ibe etc you`ll still get a Martial, Martinelli, Alphonso Davies, Sancho, Chicharito, Kuvuzelski, Joe Gomez etc its a big risk yes but its better to take such a risk than spend lavishly on plan Bs with too many question marks around them like Dembele, Chiesa, Sarr, Chukweze etc it doesn`t always guarantee success but it also doesn`t always GUARANTEE FAILURE like you are trying to paint it. And in these two youngster`s case for Traore he`s had few professional games up his sleeve but don`t you think even the most brain dead scout as blind as Stevie Wonder wouldn`t be okay with us spending big on him if they didn`t know his potential was BIG? Every big football pro/analyst in Italy is calling this purchase a coup for us. Let`s actually wait and see him and Pellistri play before we rule them out like 90% of us ruled out Martial
May have exaggerated on Martinelli(I watched Arsenal a lot he`s started in many PL games for them not just cup games even ask their fans) but point still stands the 2 kids we signed don`t need a wealth of European Experience to make a name for themselves in the PL if you are good enough you are old enough.
 
RkkMan said:
And for every Jordan Ibe etc you`ll still get a Martial, Martinelli, Alphonso Davies, Sancho, Chicharito, Kuvuzelski, Joe Gomez etc its a big risk yes but its better to take such a risk than spend lavishly on plan Bs with too many question marks around them like Dembele, Chiesa, Sarr, Chukweze etc it doesn`t always guarantee success but it also doesn`t always GUARANTEE FAILURE like you are trying to paint it. And in these two youngster`s case for Traore he`s had few professional games up his sleeve but don`t you think even the most brain dead scout as blind as Stevie Wonder wouldn`t be okay with us spending big on him if they didn`t know his potential was BIG? Every big football pro/analyst in Italy is calling this purchase a coup for us. Let`s actually wait and see him and Pellistri play before we rule them out like 90% of us ruled out Martial
May have exaggerated on Martinelli(I watched Arsenal a lot he`s started in many PL games for them not just cup games even ask their fans) but point still stands the 2 kids we signed don`t need a wealth of European Experience to make a name for themselves in the PL if you are good enough you are old enough.
Click to expand...

We'll see. I mean we signed Dan James for £20m and he's just not cut out for this level. There is a big gap between the youth teams and the first team, and a bigger one still into the PL. Our transfer record post SAF has been patchy at best. But hopefully we've signed someone decent as we really could use options in the RW.
 
marktan said:
We'll see. I mean we signed Dan James for £20m and he's just not cut out for this level. There is a big gap between the youth teams and the first team, and a bigger one still into the PL. Our transfer record post SAF has been patchy at best. But hopefully we've signed someone decent as we really could use options in the RW.
Click to expand...
I'm seeing this Dan James signing fee of £20m quite alot on the Cafe... where does it come from? I'm pretty sure it was £15m max which remains in punt territory. I'm sure we could recoup that easily. £20m starts to go beyond a punt.
 
marktan said:
We'll see. I mean we signed Dan James for £20m and he's just not cut out for this level. There is a big gap between the youth teams and the first team, and a bigger one still into the PL. Our transfer record post SAF has been patchy at best. But hopefully we've signed someone decent as we really could use options in the RW.
Click to expand...
He didn’t cost 20 and if we actually played him on the left consistently we might actually see some progress with him
 
Highfather_24 said:
Very pessimistic prediction : Pellistri will struggle in England, he will take time to adapt.

I really hope someone emerges this season, someone on the up, who we can get for a decent price.
Click to expand...
We will have to wait and see how the 2 develop during this season before thinking about alternatives.
 
"However, Paul Scholes believes the failure to land Sancho could prove a blessing in disguise. He felt the club-record fee needed to sign the England winger would have been better spent elsewhere.

As such, he has told Malaysian outlet Stadium Astro that Harry Kane or Erling Haaland should instead be pursued."
 
Bondi77 said:
He is a better player now.
Click to expand...
if you put Greenwood in the Bundasliga he would RIP it up and we would be looking to sign him . He needs time and not to be overplayed. so we need options hopefully Traore when he comes in January can be the one to fill that void . I think the Uruguayan kid looks more like a Mata replacement ( but I have seen very little of him other than a few videos posted on the caf )
 
wolvored said:
We wont go for Sancho again. I think RW has been bought now....Greenwood as well, thats it for RW.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, that's a £50m quid gamble thrown at RW, that position won't be revisited.
 
Mason should do. We have a world beater in our hands and we need to give him as many minutes as possible and not drop him to the bench.

Wasn’t Mbappe considered as a striker when he first broke through? I’m hoping for Mason to follow the same path as Mbappe.

Can’t we play like Liverpool? We already have two deadly wingers in Rash and Mason, Martial can also play as a Winger, we just need to find ourselves a “Firmino”
 
Greenwood being backed up by Diallo with Elanga and Shoretire coming through should be enough
 
If Diallo is really as good as our scouts think, then he should be given as much game time as possible when he arrives. United fans often complain about us not signing the next big thing before their valuation balloons. We may have that sort of player on our hands now. A failure to give him the chance to develop here would be be another in the long line of failures post-Ferguson
 
Woodenlung said:
If Diallo is really as good as our scouts think, then he should be given as much game time as possible when he arrives. United fans often complain about us not signing the next big thing before their valuation balloons. We may have that sort of player on our hands now. A failure to give him the chance to develop here would be be another in the long line of failures post-Ferguson
Click to expand...
Yes, and from reports the other player we brought in Pellistri is no bad one either.
 
He must be some talent if we`ve monitored him for that long even though he`s made little senior appearances
 
Stacks said:
"However, Paul Scholes believes the failure to land Sancho could prove a blessing in disguise. He felt the club-record fee needed to sign the England winger would have been better spent elsewhere.

As such, he has told Malaysian outlet Stadium Astro that Harry Kane or Erling Haaland should instead be pursued."
Click to expand...

Greenwood is a CF, he has always been a CF, and his best attribute is his finishing. Buying a CF would mean he has to compete with Martial and the new CF for one spot.

Its weird to me that people who speak about Greenwood's development being the reason they wont buy a RW, forget that if we buy a CF its Greenwood's path to his favourite position being blocked.
 
I'm hoping missing out on Sancho will be the equivalent of our Ronaldinho moment. Missed out on him and got Cristiano instead. Hopefully Diallo turns out to be something similar (not C.Ronaldo of course as that's never gonna happen!).
 
Stacks said:
"However, Paul Scholes believes the failure to land Sancho could prove a blessing in disguise. He felt the club-record fee needed to sign the England winger would have been better spent elsewhere.

As such, he has told Malaysian outlet Stadium Astro that Harry Kane or Erling Haaland should instead be pursued."
Click to expand...
Yes, but we haven’t really spent it elsewhere either
 
Stacks said:
"However, Paul Scholes believes the failure to land Sancho could prove a blessing in disguise. He felt the club-record fee needed to sign the England winger would have been better spent elsewhere.
As such, he has told Malaysian outlet Stadium Astro that Harry Kane or Erling Haaland should instead be pursued."
Click to expand...

Oh Scholsey give your head a wobble mate. Harry Kane...???
Our board can't manage to conclude a deal where the other club want to sell, the player wants to come, because the fee is £100m.
Its absolutely delusional to imagine that United could do a deal with a club that does NOT want to sell, a player that does NOT want to come, for a fee that could be £200m
 
You must log in or register to reply here.