They've also signed Matip on a free, who was never seen as some kind of talent like Konaté for example, but has been a very good player for them.
Boubacar Kamara | Signs for Aston Villa
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They've also signed Matip on a free, who was never seen as some kind of talent like Konaté for example, but has been a very good player for them.
He’s free so we’re going to add him to our imaginary formations until he goes elsewhere.
I can understand this a bit but we’ve thrown away our chances of champions league football because we didn’t after midfield which in turn makes it harder to attract players. Also, I thought one of the benefits of a director of football is that recruitment is less manager oriented which promotes continuity when managers leave.
Was never gone on the idea of Koumara with Tchouameni far and away my first choice but now I feel by the time we enter the market, deals will have been completed for anyone worth their salt. My biggest fear is we leave the position unaddressed for another year.
Point is that either the scouting team is shit, or they're being ignored. Time will tell which is the case for Kamara. But either way, United as a whole pass up a hell of a lot of good, cheap options for problem positions and then complain there isn't anything decent available or wonder how other clubs jump ahead while spending less. Like Newcastle, being a relegation level club and signing a midfielder who would walk into our midfield for a reasonable price in January.
We'll wait 2 years until we can get Rice on a more reasonable 80m and then claim it's a win.
They signed Matip on a free from Schalke because their German manager obviously liked him. It is not to Klopp’s surprise that he has been a ‘very good player for them’. That’s why he signed him. There are hundreds of free players he has since not signed, and instead signed players, for money, in the positions they play in. I can only assume it is because he didn’t want the free players.
Unfortunately these last 10 years our recruitment has probably thought the same way, therefor hundreds of millions have been wasted, many many market opportunities have been lost and we are in such a shitty situation with a shit squad and we are the worst run big club in the world.
I'd feel a bit better to be fair, knowing that we have changed our approach and tried to do a smart deal for once.
Scattergun approach has nothing to do with Kamara to be precise. He was on the market and established young CDM for more than a year, we had enough time to explore his willingness and worth to come and play for the club. Scattergun approach is going and wasting 50M+ plus of someone like Fred and realizing you got a 15m player at best.
You are just waffling at this point. They signed Matip on a free, because he was a decent player available for good value. The same is true for Kamara. It's not like there is as much clamour for other free players on this forum. We will also sign players, who will cost quite a bit in all likelihood.
How the feck am I waffling? Klopp signed Matip because he wanted to sign Matip. He had been in for him long before his contract actually expired, and a pre-contract agreement was done in the January 6 months before his deal ended. If Van Dijk was out of contract, he’d have signed him for free too. He has not, however, pursued Kamara for free, yet is reportedly pursuing Tchouameni, who is not.
In short, Klopp signs the players he wants to sign, as do we.
He's gone to athletico or people are crying over baseless tweets from nobodies?
Klopp doesn't sign the players for one. You are waffling, because you are presenting arguments like Klopp was a coach in Germany, Matip was a player he was familiar with, that's why he signed him. They signed him, because their recruitment department did their due diligence on him and came to the conclusion that he is a good player to take a chance on. If they are going for Tchouaméni, it's not to replace Fabinho, if anything they are going to play Tchouaméni alongside Fabinho. Hence why they wouldn't need Kamara, they still have Fabinho and Tchouaméni can play Fabinho's role as well.
Nobody who is arguing for his signing, is saying, that we should sign him over Tchouaméni for example.
It’s a common sense argument. It isn’t waffling. Even if Klopp did not already have extensive knowledge of Matip, mere logic would dictate that he was signed because Liverpool wanted the player rather than them deciding we might as well take him because he’s free. Because nobody does that and it is not how to build a team. So your presentation of Liverpool signing Matip as some sort of example has no relevance at all.
Nobody is arguing that we should sign Kamara over Tchouameni by name, but they are basically arguing that we should sign Kamara over the players that we actually want to sign.
Good job we haven't actually signed him. Did Sasa Kalajdzic spring to mind? Or Djed Spence? Or Tyrell Malacia?
Point is we've been linked to plenty well know and plenty lesser known players. Don't go making judgements until business is done, and even then wait and see how EtH makes it work.
No one is saying that. They signed him, because he was a good player, who happened to be available on a free. Again, the same is true for Kamara. You made the point, that Liverpool went ouf of their way to sign van Dijk, as a player they actually wanted over other players available on a free, since he was always going to be better than those players. Again, nobody would argue against that. The whole argument is that Matip has been a very good player for them, who they got on a free and who made signings like van Dijk and Alisson easier, since they are also operating on a limited budget. Which makes bringing up Matip in conjunction with van Dijk relevant, especially since he's been van Dijk's main partner in defence for them.
You and I have no idea whether Kamara actually is a player we want or don't want. Kamara would hardly stand in the way of us signing de Jong, Tchouaméni or other players.
"One of the best signings we could make"
Name a better free transfer signing in a more important position?
I have Marseille fans as friends that say he’s top-class, multiple reports of his talent, any time I’ve seen him he’s stood out.
I’m looking forward to your 100 game scouting list every time you talk about a footballer from now on. He's a clear upgrade on our current midfield. Going for players just because other teams were apparently going for them got us Sanchez, Maguire and Ronaldo, which went well.
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We need depth at the #6 position so as a squad player on decent wages, I'd advocate a move for him and in 1 to 2 years if he's not a competent backup, sell cheap
I've watched him a fair few times, he'd be a definite upgrade on McTominay and Fred in the pivot/#6 as he seems to be very good positionally, can be pretty loose with his passing though. In the end I'm not overly concerned where he ends up.
I absolutely can understand the frustration though. Our entire fanbase has been crying out for a defensive midfielder since January 2017. Since then we've bought a waning Matic at the back end of his career and... no one else. We're coming up to our 12th transfer window since then. The club has to earn back that trust from the fans, it's not a given.
I absolutely can understand the frustration though. Our entire fanbase has been crying out for a defensive midfielder since January 2017. Since then we've bought a waning Matic at the back end of his career and... no one else. We're coming up to our 12th transfer window since then. The club has to earn back that trust from the fans, it's not a given.
This transfer makes too much sense which means we’ll never do it.
Yeah I would have him and another midfielder in too like De Jong ideally. Liverpool, Chelsea and City and players like Kovacic, Gundogan, Henderson not making their best XIs, whereas we have players like McTominay starting for us, which shows the gap in that area of the pitch.
The guy is missing the point. he loves to talk about players we want and how only that is relevant. Market opportunities are constantly exploited by the likes of Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, now Barcelona and others, and basically all those clubs are better run football clubs than Manchester United. Yet he still thinks or trusts the way our club operates, missing on good players on a cheap constantly probably not being flexible enough to adapt to different scenarios.
Only thing I'd say is I wouldn't see much point in signing him if we wanted De Jong. I think they would occupy similar areas of the pitch, but for different reasons.
We never sign players on a free unless they're terrible like Sanchez.
Called up to the national squad - not any better than Scott though 
Yeah, agreed, my whole issue has been that I don't trust our recruitment. Hopefully with ten Hag that changes.
I don't think we'd play them together. If anything it would be Kamara with Fred or as an upgrade on Fred, Tchouaméni. Us wanting de Jong is one thing, but I am not sure whether we can actually do it.
I think they could work as a double pivot with De Jong and Bruno in front of both.
Maybe, but that's not his role at Marseille from what I've seen, so that would be a bit of a gamble.
Neither Kamara or de Jong press enough or have the intensity for how ten Hag wants to play (Edit: as a pairing, I meant). That would only work against teams that sit back against us. Both need somone like Fred or better next to them.
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For some reason the decision makers at our club has become the best judge of potential football transfers too. So leave it them, they know what they are doing.
Is this guy even good? Surely there would have been more buzz surrounding him if he was half decent considering that he's a free agent now.
Called up to the national squad - not any better than Scott though
Like Lash said, called up for France, can't be that bad.
Martial Beggs to differ.
I understand that that might sound facetious, just trying to say that it might not necessarily mean he's United quality.
Martial Beggs to differ.
I understand that that might sound facetious, just trying to say that it might not necessarily mean he's United quality.
Martial's problem always has been his attitude though. That's not the case with Kamara. I understand your point about United quality, Kamara is not some must have player and he'd probably struggle at first, but if we aren't getting better players like de Jong, then he is the next best option alongside a few other players IMO.
Well than I'm sure ten hag will have a look at him if that's the case.
Let's see what happens.
Like someone already mentioned before, we as fans should have zero faith in the decision makers. So much damage was made that in any other industry they would have been charged for fraud.
There is a bit of a buzz around him, there's 18 pages here after all! It's not based off nothing. He's better than half-decent, he's a very good player with the potential to be world-class. He's only 22 and seems primed to move to the next level.
To compare with Fred and McTominay this season, De Jong (another target) and the top 5 leagues DM/CM leader in these categories in italics:
Passes per game
Verratti 88
Kamara 70
De Jong 51
Fred 48
McTominay 40
Pass accuracy
Kroos 95
Kamara 91
De Jong 91
McTominay 86
Fred 84
Tackles
Ndidi 3.2
Fred 2.3
Kamara 2.1
McTominay 2.1
De Jong 1.1
Interceptions
Tchouameni 2,9
Kamara 1.3
Fred 1.2
McTominay 1.1
De Jong 0.6
Those numbers look good!
I'm surprised Juve aren't in for him as they love a freebie.
Oh dear someone call wahmbulance
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