Wout rocked up at Carrington this morning with a hopeful look on his boat.
Are the lads back in training yet?
- Thread starter RonaldoVII
- Start date
Dude looks skinny as hell.
Not a good idea to discuss the future of MG until the club have confirmed what they plan to do with him.
I haven’t accused anyone of anything, the get him back on deck and good to see a genuine goalscorer back tell you all you need to know though. Your tetchy response also says all I need to know
I haven’t accused anyone of anything, the get him back on deck and good to see a genuine goalscorer back tell you all you need to know though. Your tetchy response also says all I need to know
"Shameful comments" says everything about you too, no one defended him or said anything of that sorts.
Was you doing up the Ryan Giggs appreciation thread?
Trust me, im perfectly fine if "Shameful comments" says everything about me in this situation. You know exactly what those comments imply don't pretend to say otherwise
Are we looking to bring Giggs back now after we've found out everything he did? I haven't posted a single thing in that thread from my memory.
It's been 18 months since he last kicked a ball on a Premier League pitch. That's the time difference between Alexis being world class for Arsenal and rubbish for Manchester United.
Even if he somehow got back to match sharpness (not guaranteed), there's no telling how well he can still play football against other professionals. Players go through phases and drops in form all the time. This is going to be a big one for him. People always talk about the crucial development years between 18 and 21. Well, he's just lost half of them.
Realistically, he probably won't make it back to the top level. I think he's just getting himself into shape to pass a fitness test for when he goes out on loan to a second rate league.
In terms of career trajectory, he'd be back to being on par with a 17 year novice, but with 4/5 years less in longevity.
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He will score with his first shot on target.
I'm not sure you can compare Sanchez who's legs were shot by the time he came to United with a young player who was on the cusp of greatness and missed 18 months of football. Surely you don't just lose your ability in that space of time but I'm obviously just speculating on that. You could be totally right.
Tough to say, every case is different. Paolo Rossi famously came back from a two-year ban to lead Italy to a World Cup win, taking home the Golden Boot in the process. Granted, that was 40 years ago, and football has changed tremendously since then.
Really strange corrolation
He was also banned for a massively different reason, in an age with absolutely no social media. Greenwood and the club will get crucified wherever he goes. Regardless of physically the mental toll on him will forever change him i'm sure
Not denying that at all and I'm not making a policy recommendation either. I'm simply saying nobody knows if he's physically and technically still up to it.
Exactly, I feel that he wont be able to hack it mentally, it would be vile abuse anywhere he went, especially in England.
Would be a very very big move if United were to integrate him back. I am not sure any new regime taking over will want that to hang over their head.
Did not look well/healthy?
How much ability do you think he’s lost? He was still very much in the development phase and I know from personal experience although nowhere near that level if you stop playing for a decent period of time a football can feel alien to kick.
Apologies if you thought my post was getting on your back in some way - didn't mean that - I'm agreeing with you, I think even if he's been training this whole time it's a vastly different prospect than having actual match fitness and sharpness. To me, for the people who actually do want him back, they seem to think he will hit the ground running and it will be like he never left - I think that's never going to happen
Gotcha. Fair points.
If we decide to bring him back, we need to be very astute:
Step 1 - Announce he will join preseason camp in Manchester where ETH will assess his fitness. Include a supportive quote from ETH (who clearly is open to him coming back based on the interview with Henry Winter).
Step 2 - MG and his missus (who is expecting) do an interview together to explain what happened. Some tears would be ideal when talking about the mental toll all of this had on both their families.
Step 3 - He trains in Manchester with club staff and does not go to the US.
Step 4 - He has a baby.
Step 5 - He makes his return as a sub at OT.
Step 1 - Announce he will join preseason camp in Manchester where ETH will assess his fitness. Include a supportive quote from ETH (who clearly is open to him coming back based on the interview with Henry Winter).
Step 2 - MG and his missus (who is expecting) do an interview together to explain what happened. Some tears would be ideal when talking about the mental toll all of this had on both their families.
Step 3 - He trains in Manchester with club staff and does not go to the US.
Step 4 - He has a baby.
Step 5 - He makes his return as a sub at OT.
The other thing to factor in is that his record for discipline and hard work wasn’t the best even when he was playing every week. He was constantly gassed after 60-70 minutes. Almost never lasted a full match. So you can only imagine how out of shape he got with nothing to train for.
Then there’s the damage to his development from 18 months without kicking a ball at such a crucial age for improving as a player.
I don’t think it’s far fetched to wonder if this means he will never fulfil his potential, at United or anywhere else.
He’s allowed back at the club and been at the ground.
Also I was just asking the question by the way. It wasn’t an accusation.
Probably the same as having a big injury and playing again. You can recover the only difference with this is he’s had no damage to his body but yes he’ll need time to adjust which might take a season.
Exactly right - you check social media though and you have people actually suggesting he can displace Antony or Amad on the right, or that we don't need to sign a striker because he'll be coming back, it's ludicrous
Not signing a striker because of MG returning would be ludicrous, agree.
But him displacing Antony after getting back to match fitness… I’d be pretty fecking confident of tbh.
If his mindset is right, he’s a vastly superior player.
His return, availability and form could definitely change ETH's calculus in terms of which striker we end up buying imo. It could mean the difference between Kane/Osimhen or Hojlund, which of course would have a knock on effect on how much of our limited transfer funds we could apportion to other transfers.
Lots of young players lose lots of time through injuries. I think the roadblock for Greenwood will be mental and not necessarily physical.
Is there really a suggestion that he couldn’t or shouldn’t displace either if them?
One has been a hot and cold player all season, one has practically zero top level football experience.
If we are ignoring the moral standpoint of his return AND he returns as the player he has shown that he could potentially be, he walks in to our starting XI over anyone bar maybe Bruno and Rashford.
Big if, I know.
Mental state, reputation, what will the club do are a different thing of course.
But purely physically, if players can come back from serious long term injuries - we have had a few of them as well - and then immediately afterwards had some of the best seasons of their career then I don’t see such a big issue with MG.
May take a few months to get fully match fit, but that wouldn’t be too long.
But purely physically, if players can come back from serious long term injuries - we have had a few of them as well - and then immediately afterwards had some of the best seasons of their career then I don’t see such a big issue with MG.
May take a few months to get fully match fit, but that wouldn’t be too long.
I do agree he'll never be what he could have been. But kind of like Rooney, even a MG
who achieves 70% of his potential will be vastly superior to the majority of top flight footballers.
Whether he can even get to that level remains to be seen though, but in terms of natural ability he's vastly superior to the likes of Antony.
Yep he would rather easily displace Antony and especially Sancho, let alone Amad.
It’s not like Sancho or even Martial have developed/improved even a bit while Greenwood was not playing.
It’s not like Sancho or even Martial have developed/improved even a bit while Greenwood was not playing.
Sell him to the Arabs, get some money back and one trouble away.
Partey played every week last season and nobody seemed to care. ‘Twas strange.
I only think it's different because with Partey yes there were reports and quite frankly I don't agree with what Arsenal did and is partially part of the reason they are trying to offload him now. However with MG there were pictures plastered all over the internet as well as that infamous audio, with Partey you can almost say there's some cognitive dissonance going on there because we cannot get our eyes on any of the evidence, but because of the actual physical evidence we could all see plastered all over social media it will make it completely different to ignore for MG. The pictures and audio will get plastered everywhere - all the time - if he starts playing on the regular and he comes into the public eye again especially from rival fans and just think that everyone kinda hates United as is, they will be singing about him all over the grounds.
I know people will say ah people will just forget it etc - but I believe those people are seriously underestimating the impact those pictures and especially that audio has had and will have if he stays in England especially.
This picture being taken and posted/leaked is the first step that he’s going to be reintegrated.
I’d be more shocked if he doesn’t pay for us this season now
I’d be more shocked if he doesn’t pay for us this season now
Needs to bulk up
Have we yet to have a poll on the forum whether we want him back or not?
Still surprises me the amount of positive feedback his potential return has - but maybe because the ones against his return generally feel the lack of need to comment on the negative effect his impact will look on our club.
Still surprises me the amount of positive feedback his potential return has - but maybe because the ones against his return generally feel the lack of need to comment on the negative effect his impact will look on our club.
I reckon he’ll be sent out on loan - maybe Turkey