Centre Back... Who do we go for?

Fosu-Mens said:
Not any big acquisitions at least. Mata, Young, Valencia, Sanchez, Fred(still early but), Fellaini etc are all earning way more than they should.



Also best under Mourinho, but LVG played extremely safe/slow/short passing from the back. And under Mourinho one of the CMs dropped deep to collect. I'm not saying Smalling is a poor central defender, only that his abilities on the ball does not allign with the way we have played for the last 3 matches.
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Yep, and that is why we need to look at these players if we really want to do something impactful in the transfer market this summer. I would add Matic EDIT and Lukaku of course to the list as well btw.
It will not help to get rid of players like Jones that are on petty wages. If one advocates a squad rebuild this summer, that list is where one needs to start.
 
Johan07 said:
All of those four have one thing in common though: Not homegrown. Spurs has a major problem with this. I agree and am sure they would happily recruit another CB of higher quality than someone like Jones from abroad. But they really cant.
Spurs is in quite of a jam actually: They needed players in this summer but had to look at overpriced British players because of just this.
I am pretty sure they would bite our hands off for Jones. I hope he stays though, but thats me.
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I dont think they'll use their weakest area to juggle homegrown talents.

They can switch some CMs and attackers and still be strong in that area by losing the likes of Dembele, Wanyama, Llorente and maybe Lamela with homegrown talents. They'll still have a strong midfield and attack, but will be able to bolster their aging defense which is conceding more than City and Liverpool which holds them back
 
Johan07 said:
Yep, and that is why we need to look at these players if we really want to do something impactful in the transfer market this summer. I would add Matic EDIT and Lukaku of course to the list as well btw.
It will not help to get rid of players like Jones that are on petty wages. If one advocates a squad rebuild this summer, that list is where one needs to start.
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Agreed.
 
Poch will sell Toby and then come to United next season to be his Manager? I do not see any sense in that.
 
Adamsk7 said:
To me, the talk of Koulibaly being the ‘instant fix’ is wishful thinking - have we not learned that big name players from other leagues can be made to look ordinary in the PL?

I would MUCH rather spend the money on Maguire. With OGS we are getting back to the Utd we know and love and having a core of the best British players was something Sir Alex always made sure we had. Maguire is also a LCB, great in the air, good on the ball and a leader - he’s literally the perfect fit.

I’d look at him and Alderweireld in January or the summer as the pair to come in and I’d sell Rojo, Jones and Bailly, leaving us with Lindelof, Maguire, Toby and Smalling with cover from Axel Tuenzebe.
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On paper Koulibaly looks great and don't get me wrong I'm not against signing him but I see what you are saying. If we were in for him I'd love him to come in and have the same impact VVD has had for pool but we need to remember that VVD had good knowledge of the league. Toby seems a safe bet but I'd also been keen to see what a ball playing CB can bring to the team. My concern with Maguire is pace so I'd like to pair him with someone rapid.
 
Kidders said:
It's a close call, I think that Bailly has the potential to improve whereas Jones is well, Phil Jones !
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Bailly and Jones both suffer from brainfartery, both have a rash streak but it's more pronounced in Bailly, Jones is better in the air and I'd say better on the ball, as of now Bailly I think can stay fitter slightly better than Jones but it's an issue for both.
 
Devil may care said:
Bailly and Jones both suffer from brainfartery, both have a rash streak but it's more pronounced in Bailly, Jones is better in the air and I'd say better on the ball, as of now Bailly I think can stay fitter slightly better than Jones but it's an issue for both.
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Jones is not better on the ball. Bailly is far more composed on the ball. Jones has also been here for a much longer time than Bailly and has done nothing significant. He has had his chance. I dont care if he is playing right now, based of his injury record he has to go. Cant fall into the trap of keeping his substandard players on high wages.
 
M Utd said:
On paper Koulibaly looks great and don't get me wrong I'm not against signing him but I see what you are saying. If we were in for him I'd love him to come in and have the same impact VVD has had for pool but we need to remember that VVD had good knowledge of the league. Toby seems a safe bet but I'd also been keen to see what a ball playing CB can bring to the team. My concern with Maguire is pace so I'd like to pair him with someone rapid.
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Yes I get the criticism of Maguire being slow. I think he makes up for it though and let’s face it, Vidic was no speedster! You’ll probably point out that Rio was about as pacey a defender as you’ll get in his prime and he did cover for Vidic so perhaps you’re right and he needs to be partnered with someone who can make up for that inadequacy.

We do have Bailly, Smalling and Lindelof who are not slow so while we look for that ideal Partner, we can probably make do and still gain the things that he is very good at.

Your reply and a couple of other comments have made me reconsider Alderweireld as his partner then, but who out there is a good defender and can keep up with the most rapid strikers?
 
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Alderweireld is an obvious candidate, I keep thinking about Jonny Evans coming back maybe as a short/medium term solution, but it's injuries that are always the problem with him and United already have too many injury-prone CBs in the squad.
 
sam147 said:
Jones is not better on the ball. Bailly is far more composed on the ball. Jones has also been here for a much longer time than Bailly and has done nothing significant. He has had his chance. I dont care if he is playing right now, based of his injury record he has to go. Cant fall into the trap of keeping his substandard players on high wages.
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I disagree about Bailly being better on the ball but I agree with you on the rest, Jones fitness record is atrocious and on that basis alone we should cut him loose, so you just know he'll be signing a new 5 year deal any day now.
 
Does anybody else think the Koulibaly thread may have been closed too suddenly? We are getting linked tons still.
 
The bottom line is Jones is not good enough for United, Bailly for me has shown a lot more especially in his first season, he’s suffered from being bombed out for whatever reasons and probably been on the end of the famed Mourinho man management skills, under Ole I expect him to settle back down and play a level above Jones.

Come on guys we’re taking United here, Fergie was ruthless with players deemed not good enough or not having reached their potential, time for that to return and to let a few go Jones included.
 
Doracle said:
Would Spurs entertain a straight swap of Lindelof for Alderweireld? They get a young relatively promising CB who would probably fit in their wage structure. We get a massive upgrade on our current options whilst retaining as much budget as possible for other purchases. Feels like a win-win?
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Keep Lindelof...he's starting to play well now...think he'll get better.
 
Has there even been a single source linking De Ligt to us? I haven't seen any noise around us. Think he is off to Barca along with his midfield friend. Which is a shame, because if we were willing to pay the money surely VDS would put a good word or two in for us.
 
Womp said:
Has there even been a single source linking De Ligt to us? I haven't seen any noise around us. Think he is off to Barca along with his midfield friend. Which is a shame, because if we were willing to pay the money surely VDS would put a good word or two in for us.
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We've signed players in the past out of the blue. Players like Sanchez, Anderson, Lukaku etc came as surprises.

I'm not sure Barca can afford to sign both players for around £150m. Think they'll sign one though..
 
Adnan said:
We've signed players in the past out of the blue. Players like Sanchez, Anderson, Lukaku etc came as surprises.

I'm not sure Barca can afford to sign both players for around £150m. Think they'll sign one though..
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I'm hoping this is the case, but with just about every top team having some sort of link to him, it's a bit telling that I'm yet to see any links, even from unreliable sources.
 
Jean Clair Todibo is a 19 year old CB that plays for Toulouse in France. I've seen some games he's played in and he looks a top prospect. Fast and physically strong already at 19. His aerial game looks quite impressive too. I hope we're keeping tabs on him, he looks a top prospect.
 
Adnan said:
Jean Clair Todibo is a 19 year old CB that plays for Toulouse in France. I've seen some games he's played in and he looks a top prospect. Fast and physically strong already at 19. His aerial game looks quite impressive too. I hope we're keeping tabs on him, he looks a top prospect.
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Wow, very impressive attributes at 19. Looks a huge talent yeah, a bit similar to Smalling or Varane in style maybe, from that video at least. I like that type of defender. Gonna keep an eye on him
 
Rocknrolla69er said:
The bottom line is Jones is not good enough for United, Bailly for me has shown a lot more especially in his first season, he’s suffered from being bombed out for whatever reasons and probably been on the end of the famed Mourinho man management skills, under Ole I expect him to settle back down and play a level above Jones.

Come on guys we’re taking United here, Fergie was ruthless with players deemed not good enough or not having reached their potential, time for that to return and to let a few go Jones included.
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Stam says hello
 
Seen chat that Hummels is available for 30m on twitter.

At that price surely we’d be daft not to go for him? We could recoup probably half of that getting rid of Rojo.
 
Bwuk said:
Seen chat that Hummels is available for 30m on twitter.

At that price surely we’d be daft not to go for him? We could recoup probably half of that getting rid of Rojo.
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You have to question why Bayern are willing to sell.
 
haram said:
You have to question why Bayern are willing to sell.
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Think he’s their 3rd choice these days, but he’s a leader at the back something we sorely lack, can pass a ball and he’d probably be our first choice CB.
 
tbh I think we need to sell before we buy. There's a massive bottleneck created of CB's we have if/when they are all fit (if ever). We can't be buying yet another CB before this so there's clarity. Clearly Lindelof and Smalling aren't going anyway. I suspect Bailly isn't either leaving Jones and Rojo. Those two players are probably on over £100k a week given they are international so not easy to move on. Didn't Jose offer Rojo another contract too?

It's a absolute mess and signing yet another one, it's going help at present.....
 
I hope we move on Jones (too injury prone) and Rojo (erm, simply shite). Hopefully Woodward finally offloads some of our deadwood. After that, promote Tuanzebe and get another decent CB in. I have a feeling that it's going to be Manolas from Roma. He's a very strong CB, good header, perfect age and what's most important to Woody is he won't cost a lot of money. Believe his release clause is set at something like 36 million pounds.
 
I'm not particularly interested in paying this huge money for Koulibaly considering our track record with big signings. I also don't feel any defender in the world is worth £100m+. It's also a position with a lot of talented players. I'd see what we could get the likes of Pavard or Milenkovic for.
 
Big problem when you are trying to sign 'the answer'. Inevitably it amounts to failure as not many players can live up to that expectation. The media will start with comparisons to VD and making references to how much more he cost. Every mistake on here will be forensically examined and the vultures will start circling focusing on what he can't do and not what he can. He'll be given zero time to settle by many on here into the country, league, team etc.
Lindelof came here for just 35m and the expectation of him to be the complete player when realistically who'd you have to pay double that for. Even playing well, people are still finding fault.
Good luck who comes in next cause 'expectations', there are many on here that would have sold Pogs this month for 'underperforming' based on the 90m we paid for him. Pay 100m for a CB, that's Rio or Jaap in today's money....
 
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Red Dreams said:
Alderweired and De Light will be sufficient.
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This x100.

One proven class CB and the other Europes hottest prospect that already looks like he can take the step up.

I'm surprised how strong De Ligt is. He'll fit right in the league. Both excellent with the ball are their feet too.
 
Adnan said:
Jean Clair Todibo is a 19 year old CB that plays for Toulouse in France. I've seen some games he's played in and he looks a top prospect. Fast and physically strong already at 19. His aerial game looks quite impressive too. I hope we're keeping tabs on him, he looks a top prospect.
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I hope we are as he looks real promising & will be out of contract in the summer. Rumours are that Barca's Abidal is already in pre-contract talks to get both him & Rabiot on Bosman deals.
 
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