[crossy1686]

Surely this would be a loan move right? Or are we actually considering selling him already? I mean, he's been woeful, he hasn't improved at all and the money Leeds are willing to pay could be what we need to finally land Sancho.

If it's a case of selling him so we can land Sancho we should have him in a taxi to Bielsa's gaff now.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Leeds rumoured to be making a £12m bid. Honestly you could remove the m, I'd sell him for £12. Shocking shocking "footballer"

Surely this would be a loan move right? Or are we actually considering selling him already? I mean, he's been woeful, he hasn't improved at all and the money Leeds are willing to pay could be what we need to finally land Sancho.

If it's a case of selling him so we can land Sancho we should have him in a taxi to Bielsa's gaff now.

Sell now. He's lacking the basic fundamentals of a footballer. He'll never be good enough. Sell now when he can still get close to our money back. If we keep him another season we'll never shift him, he'll be the winger version of Phil Jones stealing a living here.

 

[crossy1686]

Leeds rumoured to be making a £12m bid. Honestly you could remove the m, I'd sell him for £12. Shocking shocking "footballer"

Are these rumours coming from Leeds side or United's side? It's hard to work out whether we're pushing for this to happen or not.

 

[elnorte]

Leeds rumoured to be making a £12m bid. Honestly you could remove the m, I'd sell him for £12. Shocking shocking "footballer"


Sell now. He's lacking the basic fundamentals of a footballer. He'll never be good enough. Sell now when he can still get close to our money back. If we keep him another season we'll never shift him, he'll be the winger version of Phil Jones stealing a living here.

Yep. More chance we'll offer him a new contract. I'm serious.

 

[0le]

When you really think of it, this was a stupid signing. It's one thing having world class or top class options and signing James as a development prospect but in our current team we have no room for that.

His best position is also on the left and I would start Rashford or Martial every time before him there so what is the point of him. He's comfortably the worst player in our team that gets regular minutes and plays in such a vital position.

You've come up with some odd logic there. The very fact that we have two players that can play in his natural position means that we could afford to buy him and develop him slowly. Unfortunately we now play him out of position on the right.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Yep. More chance we'll offer him a new contract. I'm serious.

Oh yeah, for sure. With a big pay rise too. Jones is on 120k apparently, so expect James to match that at minimum.

 

[Paxi]

How much did we buy him for? If we can recoup that all the best at Leeds. Nothing personal but the lad isn’t good enough to play for Man Utd.

 

[VorZakone]

Not having him I'm afraid, even if he was sold he wouldn't be missed as I feel we could adapt the team formation wise that would make us better than having him in the side.

Aside from the comedy players we've had over the years, Bebe, Dong, Bellion etc..

He's the worst player I've ever seen wear the shirt, he's pathetic. Kick and rush football has no place in the Premier league and they've got him sussed.

I've watched the Championship and I don't see many like him playing in that league either, it's almost non league style play, kick and run. Premier league defenders don't even give him a chance.

Christ, that's grim. what was SAF thinking?

 

[pratyush_utd]

I wouldn't sell him even if we buy a RW which is looking highly unlikely. As a backup for LW, he isn't that bad and with games this season and Rashford form, we might need him more than we think

 

[Camilo]

He was making a point to those in power.... I hope.

The point presumably being, "I'm a shit manager"?

He's got. Perfectly decent squad to choose from, miles better than Palace.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

How much did we buy him for? If we can recoup that all the best at Leeds. Nothing personal but the lad isn’t good enough to play for Man Utd.

I think it was 15 rising to 18. If we can get 12 rising to 15 back I'd take the 3m loss in a heartbeat and move on. We took a fairly low price gamble on a raw player and it didn't pay off. Move on and get him off the wage bill.

Nothing personal, seems like a good kid, but he's miles off it. He'd have to improve everything about his game dramatically for him to make it here, so much so that he'd basically just have to forget everything he knows and change everything. Essentially start from scratch. It's not gonna happen. Take the money and run.

 

[Cassidy]

I wouldn't sell him even if we buy a RW which is looking highly unlikely. As a backup for LW, he isn't that bad and with games this season and Rashford form, we might need him more than we think

Ole disagrees as we saw in the run in last season, he doesn't rate him at all
In that sense we better just get rid

 

[KetilOwren88]

I am sorry it’s not working out for him at all here. He has shown even at Swansea that he can hurt good teams (City in FA Cup), but his confidence is gone. I don’t think it’s a left or right issue. Looks like he could do well with a break from the limelight, just focusing about training and develop further as a player. Then he can return to the team sheet for some games like Fred did. If it still doesn’t work out for him, it’s best just to move on.

 

[Paxi]

I think it was 15 rising to 18. If we can get 12 rising to 15 back I'd take the 3m loss in a heartbeat and move on. We took a fairly low price gamble on a raw player and it didn't pay off. Move on and get him off the wage bill.

I’d say we can recoup that money. He proved he can hang in the Premier League. Okay he’s not good enough to challenge for the league but for newly promoted team, whom are looking for players who can play in the league, I say 15 million is doable. I don’t want to lose 3 million to those dirty bastards.

 

[YAMS49]

The point presumably being, "I'm a shit manager"?

He's got. Perfectly decent squad to choose from, miles better than Palace.

I guessed you missed the point on purpose?

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

I’d say we can recoup that money. He proved he can hang in the Premier League. Okay he’s not good enough to challenge for the league but for newly promoted team, whom are looking for players who can play in the league, I say 15 million is doable. I don’t want to lose 3 million to those dirty bastards.

He did alright for the first 6 weeks or so but he's a one trick pony, once opponents wised up to that one trick he was nullified and became basically useless. I think if anything his stock has probably gone down since coming here, as he's regularly bantered and memed on social media and pretty much unanimously seen as someone miles out of his depth in the PL.

 

[crossy1686]

Giggs is that mate you've got that says that everything is amazing when he really means "yeah, it was alright". His opinion shouldn't be considered any more past this point.

 

[Paxi]

He did alright for the first 6 weeks or so but he's a one trick pony, once opponents wised up to that one trick he was nullified and became basically useless. I think if anything his stock has probably gone down since coming here, as he's regularly bantered and memed on social media and pretty much unanimously seen as someone miles out of his depth in the PL.

Luckily a lot of premier league managers won’t see it that way. He’s got huge problems when teams are sitting back but if he’s constantly on the counter then he has definitely something to offer with his blistering pace. It’s hard to find players like that and teams at the bottom need that.

 

[El Jefe]

You've come up with some odd logic there. The very fact that we have two players that can play in his natural position means that we could afford to buy him and develop him slowly. Unfortunately we now play him out of position on the right.

There's nothing odd about it. When we had Ronaldo, Giggs, Nani and Park, signing a wildcard like Tosic was understandable. In our current team, we have no space to carry a wildcard like James. There's still question marks over Rashford and Greenwood is still very young. We've put ourselves in a position where James is a vital squad member and his ability is far from deserving of that.

 

[caid]

He’s limited but still potentially useful If used correctly. If you’re a goal up in a game and the opposition are having to commit players forward, he would Still be very useful from the bench to either push them back or exploit the space behind. I think having a winger with limited trickery or dribbling abilities and pairing with him a full-back who doesn’t like to overlap or underlap is always going to result in an impotent flank.

Like a number of players in our squad I believe he’s a good player made to look weaker as they’re quite often paired with a partner that amplifies their weaknesses rather than offsets them.

Yeah was thinking similarly re Martial and Rashford. I think his confidence is damaged on the right at this point and getting it back up could be difficult. But i think he was throwing in decent crosses early last season and the above weren't doing a very good job of taking advantage of that. Neither is that strong in terms of making near post runs for easy tap ins or getting on the end of crosses. Martial in particular improved last season in this regard but as they got better James got more fatigued and low on confidence and the number and quality of crosses fell.
Don't think Rashford provides much in the way of chances to whoever's on the right either and that's another problem for James that isn't really his problem.

I was kind of hoping yesterday might see a re energised James throwing crosses in for a sharper Martial and Rashford but they were back to their static worst yesterday and there was rarely anything to aim at in the box (other than a lot of Palace players) so ... I find it hard to hold yesterday against him. Others have said it looked a bit like he was set up to fail and that seems kind of convincing to me. Thought similarly of using McTominay as a dm and Fosu Mensah at full back. They're all players we'll need and use frequently this season without new signings. Throwing them out there on day 1, while the window is open, to show what level they're at might not be a bad plan. Its harsh though
He's gotten fairly rough treatment from management in his time here.

 

[hobbers]

£12m back for him would be daylight robbery, bite their hands off.

Nothing wrong with taking punts of players like James, but when it's clear they dont have the ability you move them on quickly, like we did with Bebe and Tosic, albeit Bebe was via lots of loans.

 

[Lennon7]

£12m back for him would be daylight robbery, bite their hands off.

Nothing wrong with taking punts of players like James, but when it's clear they dont have the ability you move them on quickly, like we did with Bebe and Tosic, albeit Bebe was via lots of loans.

Tosic ended up being alright. Don’t think James is as bad as people make out either - we just need a big player to start ahead of him.

 

[El-Manos]

He literally just started the last game. He’s going nowhere. We have barely any wingers as it is.

 

[Stretender]

£12m back for him would be daylight robbery, bite their hands off.

Nothing wrong with taking punts of players like James, but when it's clear they dont have the ability you move them on quickly, like we did with Bebe and Tosic, albeit Bebe was via lots of loans.

James is going nowhere. His wages are minimal and he is the least of our problems. Some poster correctly said, you must be crazy to get rid of James while retaining Mata, Lingard, Pereira, Jones and Rojo.

Fortunately Ed Woodward is not that crazy.

He needs to play on the left where Rashford has struggled of late, and we know James has good numbers from that position for Wales and Swansea

 

[0le]

There's nothing odd about it. When we had Ronaldo, Giggs, Nani and Park, signing a wildcard like Tosic was understandable. In our current team, we have no space to carry a wildcard like James. There's still question marks over Rashford and Greenwood is still very young. We've put ourselves in a position where James is a vital squad member and his ability is far from deserving of that.

You just said we had two players to play on the left before we even consider James. So how many more left wingers would you like before you would consider signing a player such as James? 3? 4? 5?

 

[Red_toad]

Ole disagrees as we saw in the run in last season, he doesn't rate him at all
In that sense we better just get rid

You really think Ole doesn’t rate him, yet chooses to select him? That’s bizarre train of thought you got going on there

 

[RikRuud]

He had a good start at the beginning of last season when he was deployed from the left or as a second striker. Can't recall a good performance he's had on the right side.

 

[mu4c_20le]

He actually scored on his debut cutting in from the right I think. But he needs a lot of space to run into, against defenses sitting deep he's pretty useless.

 

[reelworld]

Dan James played 46 matches last season for us, thats about 20 matches too much.
He's an impact sub/rotation player but due to our shite recruitment he ended up as first teamer when he's nowhere ready. I hope we dont' sell him, he needs proper structure and allowed to grow into a role.

 

[SATA]

Hope we are telling Leeds to feck off. 25M or no deal. We don’t need to sell him at all

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Sell him and buy Sarr who is much better

Not sure how good Sarr but given Watford were relegated he shouldn't command a bit fee.

 

[Red_toad]

Not sure how good Sarr but given Watford were relegated he shouldn't command a bit fee.

Watford want in excess of £40 million, that’s why Liverpool passed on him.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Watford want in excess of £40 million, that’s why Liverpool passed on him.

Bloody PL clubs and their unrealistic fee demands. No wonder it's become so difficult to leave these clubs (see Zaha, Grealish etc )

 

[Cassidy]

You really think Ole doesn’t rate him, yet chooses to select him? That’s bizarre train of thought you got going on there

Yes he had little choice since Greenwood didnt train with the first team due to being in self isolation.

Being selected for one game vs not being selected in the most important parts of last season should tell you something.

 

[Red00012]

Why bother signing him if ole is not going to play him in his favoured position on the left? How many times does he have to have awful game on the right for ole to stop playing him there?

Or how many times does Rashford have to have awful game on the left for Ole to drop him?

 

[El Jefe]

You just said we had two players to play on the left before we even consider James. So how many more left wingers would you like before you would consider signing a player such as James? 3? 4? 5?

If you took the time to read and understand, you'd see my point was more about the quality of options rather than the number. But whatever.

 

[0le]

If you took the time to read and understand, you'd see my point was more about the quality of options rather than the number. But whatever.

You mentioned Rashford and Martial who are both quality players...

So your own logic implies that you genuinely think we need three quality left wingers before we can sign a developmental type player.

 

[Andycoleno9]

If Leeds want him we should sell. We tried, he is not our quality, get rid. Simple as that.

 

[westmeath]

I think it was 15 rising to 18. If we can get 12 rising to 15 back I'd take the 3m loss in a heartbeat and move on. We took a fairly low price gamble on a raw player and it didn't pay off. Move on and get him off the wage bill.

Nothing personal, seems like a good kid, but he's miles off it. He'd have to improve everything about his game dramatically for him to make it here, so much so that he'd basically just have to forget everything he knows and change everything. Essentially start from scratch. It's not gonna happen. Take the money and run.

Hate selling to Leeds though, just on the off chance that he does well there, I would just hate that. Agree with your assessment of the player, can’t believe he was selected on Saturday. Can imagine that sent a ripple among the other players - “omg are we really that sh!t?”

 

[Gandalf]

Posts like these are beyond ridiculous, did you play much as a kid? Being on the right side if you’re really best fitted on the left isn’t like a carpenter working as a lawyer one day, come on. If he’s not able to do much on the right, it might just be that he’s shit? So many excuses every week, no wonder why we’re not amongt the best.

I played plenty but that is hardly the point. We have seen his production on the left during the first half of last season and for a 15m signing with no Premier League experience it was very good. James is nowhere near our best player but I can name plenty who are worse and his performances on the left for Wales a couple of weeks ago show that when he is used properly he is decent. I have no problem with people saying he should not have played because in that game, in that role he is never going to be effective and OGS should have seen that much by now. I do have an issue with the fact that he seems to have become the main target of abuse from a large section of armchair punters who haven't a fraction of his ability continually claiming as you have done that he is shit.