Farewell good sir
mount didn’t get a send off like that did he? He didn’t get a video montage…just an article on the website.
Awaiting Chelsea’s fire sale: who goes where?
- Thread starter Fortitude
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mount didn’t get a send off like that did he? He didn’t get a video montage…just an article on the website.
Really something bad happened between him and management. That's for sure.
agreed. For him to not even get a goodbye video. It seems bitter almost. I reckon he must of been treated poorly for him to even want to move and now he so happy to be elsewhere. He looks relieved almost. I just had a look on the chelsea website and his exit is brutal. Nothing like other players who have left. Very blunt and to the point. No love whatsoever.
him leaving must of really really hurt.
Means he will want to bang goals in against Chelsea 
I think one of the biggest blunders done by marina. After cl win she must have tied up some of the players (mount,rudiger,christensen) with longer contracts. They were performed admirably well.
There’s squad rebuilds and then there’s this.
That’s not exactly far off how different our first XI will be in that same period if we get Onana and a striker to be fair. It’s the bench that it changes.
I don’t think it was an amicable departure.
You say that as if a "goodbye video" is a normal thing.
Azpi was captain, played over 500 times for Chelsea, won everything possible for the club and was released on a free as a reward for his loyalty.
I love Mount and wish him the best but a fawning "goodbye vid" for someone in their early 20s who wanted to sign for a rival because he didn't think 200k a week was enough to stay is absurd.
If only we could sell our players on as well as CHelsea. People always talkin gabout our ridicuulous salaries stopping us moving players on, would have thought mpst of these are on simlar salaries.
In my opinion, the numbe rof players they have moved on is the minimum we should be, we have actually moved on five players now already....the obvious dfference though:
3 are end of contracts liek last seasaon......so no ncoming fee at all
The other two are youth players
So we havent even raised £2m so far, we should be raising £150m+
a goodbye video for a player who has been there since he was 6 is actually pretty normal. The other players who have left that have been there a long time and good servants of the club have all got more than what Mason got and that’s the point I’m making. I’d go as far to say that mount was possibly the fan favourite at Chelsea, or atleast with the younger generation. He didn’t get a good send off at all, which suggests it was a very bitter ending. He didn’t even get to say goodbye through chelsea, just a shoddy video via his instragram which went down like a led balloon.
Id Bet almost anything there was a lot more to it than just the money. Chelsea offered him contracts in line with what we offered and he turned it down. Liverpool, arsenal would have offered him something similar, so to say he only come to united for money isn’t true. By the time chelsea offered him what he wanted his mind was made up. United wanted him the most, offered him the best package, the number 7 shirt. The manager went all out with him and made him feel wanted, that counts for a lot. People still talk about United like they’re a conference side, like why would a player like Mason mount possibly want to play for united if not for money? . It’s madness.
the biggest honour in the PL is to play for united in the number 7 shirt and nothing will change my mind
Chelsea or money 
Chelsea are a better managed club than us
the biggest honour in the PL is to play for united in the number 7 shirt and nothing will change my mind
I've seen some bollocks on here but this is up there!
You number 11 had better players. Giggs, Best, Charlton, Beardsmore, etc.
7 was ruined by everyone post Becks.
It's ok, still have the best rightback in the history of the PL
that’s your opinion but for me personally number 7 is the most beautiful number. Yes they haven’t got it right every time.. but when they do, it’s magic.
however, my 3 favourite united players are cantona, becks and Ronaldo (first time around) so it figures.
Yes, Ronaldo was rubbish in it. Agree with the general sentiment though, any united supporter who is a teenager would probably have no idea about the magic of the shirt as has been poorly filled for a while now
The firesale is nearly complete. We’ve added Nkunku, Gusto, Colwill, Maatsen and Jackson. Probably need 2 midfielders and a GK at the very least this summer.
They've done well to clear out players but I'd expect some disjointed performances as they will now be strangers on the pitch. A lack of games could see them take a little while to get going
The problem I see is that it might be a clear out but it’s not a proper clear out since they seem to be handcuffed to the ordinary players they signed last year. A lot of players they’ve sold had at least shown something at the club.
I searched for Lukaku then only realised it's our last season squad and he didn't named in it.
. The moment he feck off it will be huge relief though.Who exactly are we handcuffed to? Koulibaly was by far the biggest problem but he's gone now.
Cucurella, Fofana and Sterling weren't great to say the least but all of them had been playing at a high level in the PL for other clubs before their moves so I wouldn't judge them too harshly based on that clusterfeck of a season alone. All of them are good enough to still bounce back and return to their previous levels in a club environment that will hopefully be a lot more stable than last year.
Mudryk is a bit of a wild card. The talent is there but he's just looked overwhelmed by the level of the PL and playing in a disjointed side who'd all but given up for the season certainly didn't help. Could still turn out very good or could still be shite.
Yeah that's my take as well.
From a financial perspective having no European football for the upcoming season is a bit of a setback but the bright side is it will give Poch and the squad a lot more time on the training field to work on improving the team play and for everyone to get to know each other better both on and off the pitch. Also with less football to be played the chances of running into a similar injury hell as last season is a lot smaller and having a bit more stability in the starting XI could go a long way into building up some form.
Cucurella might actually be the only player we’re forced to keep that the club would probably like to sell. Kepa too but he’s a problem inherited from the Abramovich era. To say we’re being handcuffed to players we actually want to keep is wild.
The players you sold who had shown they could perform at a top level weren’t worse than the players you brought in, in fact last years crop have an argument to be the worst players you have that are in with a shout for the starting 11.
Mudryk is the prime example. In no way does his performances allow him to escape a cull, he’s only there because he joined mid season on an 8 year contract.
Sterling really looks as if he simply doesn’t want to be there
Mudryk still a kid. He has the equal chance to grow as good a player as he will flop. As for sterling he is our joint top scorer with havertz who was bought by arsenal for 65 mn.
The two players we sold for 120 millions didnt play much better either last season. So not much worried about last season performances.
They had a squad of 33, 34 players. Madness.
Was never intended to be a long term thing. It was becoming clear we were in need of a big rebuild so the club just accelerated these plans and brought in a bunch of new players in January even though it was not possible to get rid of the existing ones to clear space before the summer.
Having a bloated squad definitely fecked us over in what was left of last season but whether doing all that business early now works out in our favor over the next season remains to be seen. At least now we've got lads like Enzo, Mudryk, Madueke, Badiashile having had 6 months to settle in (although in turbulent conditions) so the start of the season should be a bit easier for them as opposed to players who've only just joined in the summer and are taking their first steps at the club. Even the new right-back Gusto joined in January and although he stayed the rest of the season back on loan at Lyon he was still spending a decent amount of time at Cobham to get to know his new surroundings when he was nursing an injury.
So you think if he joined on a more normal 4-5 year deal he'd have been binned after five months and wouldn't be getting a second chance this season?
Those five months was the most disfunctional I've ever seen our team being, way worse than 15/16 under meltdown-mode Mourinho. I wouldn't really judge anyone based on that period. Aside from maybe Mount/Kovacic who had proven themselves to be very good players prior to last season, any outgoing move we've made has been long overdue and based on their performances over the last 2-3 seasons so just being shite for the last few months had nothing to do with it.
No, I think it’s clear he isn’t a 100m player and his only saving grace is that the hasn’t been at your club for long. He looks completely lost at Chelsea and in the EPL. It’s clear as day you’ve been had but there’s so much money tied up in the dud that it hurts your FFP if he’s sold so soon so you’re stuck with him,
If you had me instead of him you could t tell the difference
First of all, right now he's not a 100M player but a 70M one with hefty add-ons in case we win a few PL/CL during his time at the club. Still a ton of money but there's a 40% difference.
As for looking even like a 70M€ player, you're right so far he hasn't in the slightest. If he cost 10-20M he'd probably be deemed a lottery ticket that just didn't pay off and be shipped on loan to find his feet and ultimately be sold if he never does, but the reason he cost significantly more is because prior to his move he'd shown a lot more potential than a 10-20M player generally would have so isn't it natural he gets given the benefit of the doubt to better see what he's made of?
Mudryk's performances in the last months definitely give some reason for concern but I still think it's way too premature to call him a certain flop. That said, the goodwill he may have had last season due to being a new player and joining at such a dysfunctional time is now gone and he needs to start peforming this season and preferably sooner rather than later. This season he'll have had a pre-season with the rest of the team, has had 6 months to settle in the country/club and has seen many of his competitors for playing time being sold. If he still doesn't perform the excuses will run a bit thin but IMO we're not there yet. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.
If you were going to judge any midfielder or forward player in our 22/23 squad based on last season then all of them bar Enzo may aswell retire.
I just don't understand that after spending like there is no tomorrow in the last year and spending 600m+ in that period while also overpaying on quite a few player they have suddenly put on the breaks.
They are now not even doing good deals. Like Onana they were interested early then dragged their feet. Based on how they have spent Onana, Vlahovic, Caicedo, Viega are pretty good deals which should have been wrapped quickly especially with the amount they have raised.
They are now not even doing good deals. Like Onana they were interested early then dragged their feet. Based on how they have spent Onana, Vlahovic, Caicedo, Viega are pretty good deals which should have been wrapped quickly especially with the amount they have raised.
Dont worry mate. Still we are not finishing our selling part. Still lukaku, aubamyang, ziyech , Cho in our squad that we need to sell. Caicedo negotiations still going on.
Once the above sales go through we will sign one more midfielder or if any of santos,casedai, chukwuemeka performances in preseason may stop another midfielder purchase.
Also we have gallagher who can play aggressive box to box role under pochettino. He has the characteristics to play the role.
Pochettino looks like he keep faith in kepa as our no. 1. Will decide about striker after few preseason games and how nkunku,jackson and broja performed as striker then he will decide.
Kolo muani may be our choice if we decide to purchase a striker. We will see.
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Do you not think maybe the crazy spending before is the reason for cautiousness now?
Vlahovic would be a terrible signing anyway. We should stay well clear of him. We’re likely getting Caicedo and one other midfielder, maybe Veiga. Onana would have been great but can’t get every player.
Also they’ve been proactive, already securing Nkunku and Gusto before the summer, so those two don’t feel like summer additions when they actually are. There's also Colwill and Maatsen returning from loan and Broja returning from a long injury, so that's 5 new players we didn't have last season.
Ideally we still need a GK, two midfielders and a RW (the good thing about Cherki is that he can cover the right and the middle so we could kill two birds with one stone by signing him). People say we need a striker but I'm happy to run with Jackson to see what he's got plus Broja. If they're both struggling badly, we can always dip back in the market in January for someone like Toney.
Around £12M for Ampadu. Sad really. Feel he could be good squad option for us if given the chance, but I understand he’s behind a bunch of younger players in the pecking order and he wants to take control of his career after a series of loans.
But why would you even think the heavy spending would go on forever? At the start of the summer our main focus was always going to be on outgoings first and only then think about what's still needed after knowing who we've managed to sell and the new manager having had a first look at what he's already got.
And it's not like the club have been completely sitting on their arses, having already signed Nkunku and Gusto for the next season well in advance and also confirming the signing of Nic Jackson very early in the window. Plus there's Colwill to return from loan too so that's already a bunch of new reinforcements we'll have with the squad from the start of pre-season.
For me the priority signings for this window were a new top midfielder, a new striker and possibly a new goalie if the right opportunity presented itself. With the unexpected departure of Havertz (which I'm personally quite happy about but just didn't think it would actually happen) we could also be in need of another player who can play both ACM and RW to be backup for Nkunku in the middle and rotate with Madueke on the right.
Caicedo is the player I'm a bit gutted we haven't landed before the team leave on the USA tour. Every other potential new signing we're still yet to make can come in later but the need for a starting quality midfielder was well known going into the transfer window and became even more urgent after losing Kante to the Saudis. But with Brighton reportedly demanding £100M+ I kind of understand why it takes time and the club are doing some work to try and drive the price down. Just about every report is saying Caicedo has his heart set on joining us this summer and it's not like there are other clubs in the picture so if we can save £15-20M by negotiating a bit more extensively instead of just caving in to the demands then it's probably worth it.
We're now making progress with pursuing Caicedo and have been linked with Cherki for the ACM/RW role. The goalkeeper situation has gone a bit quiet with Poch seemingly happy to continue with Kepa as number one this year. While it's probably not the most popular opinion I myself am content with Kepa staying on as first choice for one more season and then try to get a top keeper in next year when there's hopefully not going to be too many other positions that need filling with new signigns.
While I'd have preferred the new striker to be someone a little more proven than Jackson, I think he comes with decent potential and wasn't that expensive either so we can see how he fits in and decide later whether another striker is still needed or not. Not convinced by Vlahovic myself, the Fiorentina version of him was the dog's bollocks but the regularly injured and underperforming Juve version not so much. There's just not a great market for strikers at the moment so I'm fine with the club gambling on Jackson being able to develop into a top player instead of going for someone like Vlahovic. It might work out in our favor or it might not.
So yeah, sign Caicedo and a new ACM/RW player and we're more or less set for the season. Poch will decide during pre-season whether he needs another deep midfield player or if he trusts the youngsters to be backups for the Enzo-Caicedo pair. For a season with no European football I think we could get away with going into the season a bit lighter in midfield squad depth than we've grown used to over the last years but a lot will depend on what Poch sees in training from the young lads.
I assumed spending would not continuing at the same rate but still I expected the club would be willing to get good players at decent price like Onana, Vlahovic.
Caicedo the whole world knowns would go for atleast 80m+ and there are reports of a verbal offer of 65m+5m offer placed and rejected last week which is same as what Arsenal offered in January.
It seems you guys have swinged from overspending (Cucurella/Mudryk/Felix loan) to directly being overly cautious on price.
Long term this is a good change just wasn't expecting it to be so sudden.
Btw Kudos on selling your unwanted players so well. Would have appreciated more had you not fecked us with Havertz.