That's like saying don't sign Pogba and Matic because we've already got Herrera and Carrick.
Antoine Griezmann| Catalunya Radio say Griezmann to Barcelona is done for €100m
- Thread starter charlenefan
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
- Status
It's certainly doable if Griezmann has set his mind on joining us. We could actually try to get Athletico to accept a structured payment deal in return for not signing him in January. Everything will depend on the performance of both the clubs in the next few months. If we are on top of the table and Athletico are quite far away from the top 2, then he might prefer to move here in January itself. But if Athletico finish top of their CL group are are within striking distance of Barca and Real, he'll stay till the year end.
I'm basing all this on reports that we almost signed him but he decided to stay after the ban. He did actually say that he has 60% chance of joining United. Also, his release clause being raised just for this summer and then dropping back to the original level does seem like his stay is going to just be temporary.
I'm also a bit confident that he will choose us over other clubs mainly because he'll get to play in his preferred position which will get the best out of him. If he moves to Real or Barca, he will have to play as a wide Forward.
92m seems low now. Perhaps we've benefited from the big move hype dying down a bit.
Yeah that makes no sense. Not only does he look better than both, but he's younger and should be hitting his prime just as he's settling in.
Yeah that makes no sense. Not only does he look better than both, but he's younger and should be hitting his prime just as he's settling in.
Really?? I prefer Mkhi in that role; he's actually really good defensively as well, closes down and intercepts well. We're better off signing a RW.
His buyout was always around the 90m bracket, poor from Atletico to not follow the Barca/Real model and out an unattainable fee against him
He wouldn't have extended if they had tried to.
I can't see it at all to be honest. I think he has his heart set on playing in the PL and wearing that #7 shirt that we are keeping to one side for him.
The lad is only 26, he could play for us for two seasons, if it doesn't go to plan or if he doesn't take to England and still wants to go back to Spain won't exactly be short of takers!
True but I was more referring to before the summer/when he signed his first contract with them
True there, well mata's contract has not been extended yet, would expect him to take mata's place. I do think he would give us a new dimension to our attacking play, especially having matic and pogba behind him. griezmann, mkhi and martial/rashford playing off lukaku would give us the firepower and weapons we need to really go to the next level. With a new LB we would have the kind of players to really score the goals, griezmann and lukaku seems like a devastating partnership as they dove tail brilliantly, especially we have the midfield to play a proper no9 and no10. lets get the very best front players, now we have pogba and matic in their prime or coming into their prime
His bro is the Utd fan he was a Beckham fan. He admired beckham at real and milan as well. He's never been quoted as supporting Utd as far as I can see.
Said it a month ago, I think this deal will eventually happen. But it won't be January I don't think. Will be our main transfer next Summer.
I think we will pay his buy-out in Jan and 'loan' him back to Atletico until the end of the season with them paying his wages. If they get knocked out the CL in the group stages I think he will play for us in January.
^^Brilliant^^
That's exactly the argument I have when people say we don't need new defenders we have Blind, Darmian & Young..!
True, it does seem low in hindsight but I am not sure when he signed the contract before last. Pogba's fee looked ridiculous only a year ago. Just hope we get him, I was gutted it fell through this summer.
Yeah that could be a possibility. Especially if Atletico sign Costa in January which you would think is nailed on at this point.
This would be ideal imo. Some don't like incorporating another player in Jan, but that injection of quality and difference in our play would be great for the second half of the season, just as some teams are thinking they might have figured us out.
They probably don't realise that Griezmann is X factor, or close to it.
Griezmann is quite creative, and Mata isn't setting the world on fire. The only downside might be switching Mhiky's position to the right side. Mhiky has been excellent this season (already 5 assists) but somehow has gone under the radar.
So true. Last year, we were playing attractive football till the year end and then our game became pretty stale for whatever reason. When Jose won the league with Chelsea, they dominated in the first half of the season and then followed it up with a number of 1-0 wins in the second half. Even under LvG, we struggled in the last few months. So bringing in someone like Griezmann even if he can't play CL would be a big boost to the team.
I assume that's because he's a professional footballer and it'd possibly be disadvantageous to declare an affiliation to a certain club while there's a chance of playing for a rival club. If I was a professional I wouldn't be very public about my love for Man Utd since it would rule out the possibility of playing for our rivals, which wouldn't be very good from a professional point of view. But I could probably admit that Solskjær was my boyhood idol and my brother supports Man Utd and people would add 2+2 and be right in their assumptions that I'm a Man Utd supporter too.
I hope and think this is the case with Griezmann as well.
Personally I think this ship has sailed
I think his buyout clause would have gone up if he wasn't leaving next summer. They've rewarded him for his loyalty and not leaving them in the shit this season - with an agreement he can leave if the buyout clause is met.
We won't be getting him in January unless Atletico are out of Champions League and Diego Costa has been signed.
In an alternate reality if I didn't have a weaker left foot than Valencia and was a professional footballer if I wouldn't want to play for City/Liverpool unless it meant deliberately stinking the place up every week and scoring own goals for fun
. Would be pretty funny to string them along a transfer saga and then refuse to go the last minute as well I think Mhiki will play the RW role fine. He'll probably be given license to roam as Mata has been. I think our RB position will need addressing next summer though, Valencia isn't getting any younger.
Could be but I have seen other players play for clubs whilst declaring a love to play for other teams they supported as a boy. Ronaldo and Madrid for a big example
Adding him to the team would have been so great. Feck off UEFA with your stupid transfer bans. Ban them from international competitions next time.
You're right but Griezmann would be an upgrade for me. Maybe put Mkhi back on the right?
The caf will be watching Atletico's group games VERY closely.
Errrm, Wayne Rooney being a VERY obvious one...!!
Yes him as well lol. He did leave them though in the first place.
But did Ronaldo say that Madrid was his dream club before 2008? He said that only after they started pursuing him I think.
Why would he have publicly said it before he moved there when he was still under contract to another club ?
Would love the confirmation in January, but you just know this one will drag on. Seems Griezmann likes the fuss and attention and think Woody does too so expecting it to be sort of like the Pogba deal where it's fairly obvious what the outcome is but unnecessary dragging is expected I'd say.
That's what the post I replied to seems to say.
I beg to differ. Your analogy fails to distinguish between the primary roles of Carrick, Matic, Pogba, and Herrera.
Carrick is a deep-lying playmaker. He sits in front of the defence, and uses his vision and passing abilities to open up the opposition.
Matic is United’s number six. He plays in front of the center-backs with the aim of breaking up opposition attacks, and collects loose passes.
Pobga is a powerhouse. He makes shuttling runs on and off the ball to asset his physical presence. He also puts in tackles and makes passes.
Herrera is a box-to-box midfielder. His aim is to make an impact at both ends of the pitch.
In contrast, Mata and Mikhitaryan are both ‘trequartistas’. The trequartista is the link between the midfield and attack.
Griezmann is also a trequartista. United don’t need a third player in that role. In my view, Griezmann would be little more than a marquee signing.
Griezmann is a completely different player to Mata and Mkhitryan. Griezmann is capable of playmaking, but it's hardly his strongest suit. His game is catered around movement, working the channels, linking up with another ST and bagging a feck ton of goals. Mata and Mkhitryan are playmakers, they're never going to get even close to the amount of goals Griezmann could get for us at his best.
I didn't say Greizmann was like Mata and Mikhitaryan. Indeed, Mata and Mikhitaryan differ from each other too. I was using trequartista as an umbrella term.
United don't need Greizmann for goals having just spend £75m to £90m on Lukaku. It's a matter of supplying Lukaku, and the midfield contributing goals to supplement his tally.
It really depends on how details you want to compare a player.
Most people categorize Matic and Carrick as DM, simple as that. But if you say that Matic and Carrick are "different", then in your case, almost every player on the earth is different with each other. In statistics we call this "cluster analysis", that is, task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense or another) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters). It highly depends on how details you want it to be, thus giving you a different result.
It is not a right or wrong thing, just a different perspective.
For example, Jose clearly brought in Matic as a replacement for Carrick and/or free up Herrera. In the case of Herrera, he was needed to play as DM (you know his best role is B2B CM) last season, the best example was our biggest game of the season in EL final where Herrera played deep, and Fellaini/Pogba both played as CM. Also, as evidenced by the first 4 games of the season (including Super Cup), Matic clearly played as DM, freeing up Pogba and Herrera. So I would say Matic is indeed a replacement for Carrick/Herrera. Matic/Carrick/Herrera's (some games last season) main role is to sit in front of CB, hence they are called DM, it is that simple. Of course, you can go into the very details that they all have different attributes, like Matic is more aggressive than Carrick, has better footwork than Carrick, etc. Then in that case, almost every player is different. It is very hard to compare or categorize then. So I believe majority here would like to say that Matic and Carrick are DM, they are the "same type of players", so that we all could discuss and express our opinion.
Last edited:
If the system we are currently using is the bueprint going forward then I think Griezmann will be an upgrade on Mata.
---------Lukaku
Martial---Mkhi---Griezmann
---------Lukaku
Martial---Mkhi---Griezmann
Agree.
Although both Mkhi and Griezmann can play as RW, Griezmann is definitely better on the right than Mkhi. Griezmann is faster, he runs down the channel better, has better finishing, and also he is left-footed which is perfect for a right inside forward. So I believe that should be it. In game they will very likely interchange very often.
In a 3-5-2 where Jose will play this tactically, it clearly has to be Lukaku and Griezmann as the front 2. Perfect and scary combination. A pure #9 and a very good second striker. You can't get any better than that.
LW: Martial/Rash
- Status