Daniel James | Officially Signs

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Adrian Kajumba was the first one to break the story.


Adrian Kajumba: "Manchester United are close to finalising a deal for Swansea starlet Daniel James.
And talks have progressed to the point that there are now only a few minor details left to be sorted out before a package worth in the region of £10m is agreed between the clubs. United are also on the verge of agreeing personal terms with the 21-year-old."
 
shamans said:
10 million for this kid is a bomb deal. If this goes through then I really commend the first transfer of the season. He's worth a punt!
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You've watched lots of him? I like that it's a no risk deal but to be a 'bomb' he'd have to be a very good footballer.
 
Not many clips online on this kid but he doesn't look laboured on the ball which given his insane pace is a very good thing. Hopefully he's a keen learner and we can hone his game over the next few years.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Not many clips online on this kid but he doesn't look laboured on the ball which given his insane pace is a very good thing. Hopefully he's a keen learner and we can hone his game over the next few years.
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Apparently he tails off in games, struggles to play a full 90
 
Loublaze said:
Apparently he tails off in games, struggles to play a full 90
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Maybe he can improve that over time. Thankfully he's only 21. Could also have to do with the number of sprints he makes due to his pace?
 
How does he compare to Norwich City's James Maddison who was signed by Leicester last summer? Maddison was also 21 at the time..

I don't think you can go wrong with a signing that only costs £10m.
 
Adnan said:
How does he compare to Norwich City's James Maddison who was signed by Leicester last summer? Maddison was also 21 at the time..

I don't think you can go wrong with a signing that only costs £10m.
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Maddison had 14 goals, 8 assists and made the PFA team of the year last season.
 
Adnan said:
How does he compare to Norwich City's James Maddison who was signed by Leicester last summer? Maddison was also 21 at the time..

I don't think you can go wrong with a signing that only costs £10m.
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Bebe at 7 million comes to mind :D
 
Not sure I agree with people’s view of ‘we cant go wrong for £10m’

It’s a cheap price that’s for certain but will he be viewed as our only wide attacking player that’s signed this summer? I mean if he’s a squad signing then fair enough but we need players to improve our starting 11.

So if we don’t sign another wide attacker it can go very wrong as we’ll be waiting another 12 months.
 
Castia said:
Not sure I agree with people’s view of ‘we cant go wrong for £10m’

It’s a cheap price that’s for certain but will he be viewed as our only wide attacking player that’s signed this summer? I mean if he’s a squad signing then fair enough but we need players to improve our starting 11.

So if we don’t sign another wide attacker it can go very wrong as we’ll be waiting another 12 months.
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Maybe we really do have a plan and are just prepared to take things slow. Maybe that means finishing out of top 4 again.
 
At the very least he'd be a good option coming off the bench against tired defenders. £10 million would seem a good buy
 
Adnan said:
Javier Hernandez straight from the Mexican league also comes to mind.
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Nick Powell comes to mind. I can't think of a player United has purchased from a lower domestic league that has been a success in the PL era. Maybe im missing someone? The Mexican league is stronger than the championship
 
Loublaze said:
Nick Powell comes to mind. I can't think of a player United has purchased from a lower domestic league that has been a success in the PL era. Maybe im missing someone? The Mexican league is stronger than the championship
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But players have been bought from the championship and even league one and have done well in the EPL. For £10m it's a very low risk.

I also believe we'll sign a established winger. I'd be happy with Sancho or Chiesa from Fiorentina. There's no way we'll burden young Daniel James with the responsibility of starting games for us so soon. He'll be a squad player at first and if he performs well, he'll get more minutes and some full games.
 
Loublaze said:
Nick Powell comes to mind. I can't think of a player United has purchased from a lower domestic league that has been a success in the PL era. Maybe im missing someone? The Mexican league is stronger than the championship
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We have purchased many players from worse league than Championship, who were very good players for the club.
 
I don't care if he's from the championship, I'm just happy we've getting a player who can actually beat a man. Sick of our wingers being so slow and just passing it back because they don't have the pace/ability to beat a man.
 
Adnan said:
But players have been bought from the championship and even league one and have done well in the EPL. For £10m it's a very low risk.

I also believe we'll sign a established winger. I'd be happy with Sancho or Chiesa from Fiorentina. There's no way we'll burden young Daniel James with the responsibility of starting games for us so soon. He'll be a squad player at first and if he performs well, he'll get more minutes and some full games.
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This is what i'd expect but my fear is he'll be given more responsibility if other established targets turn us down. The links to Sancho seem to have gone cold for the time being and it appears we could be in a bidding war with CL clubs for Nicolas Pepe the other reported target. The odds are against James if he's given a baptism of fire IMO going by United's poor record with such signings.

Other teams in the PL, especially midtable and below sides have fared better with signings like this because those players don't face the same scrutiny and are not placed under the same pressure they'd face at a club like United. I think Powell, Mame Diouf and James Wilson (not a championship player of course) were bigger talents than this kid but the big stage was too much for them.


roonster09 said:
We have purchased many players from worse league than Championship, who were very good players for the club.
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Not in recent times we haven't. Who would make this list over the last 20 years/after the treble season? Maybe im missing something
 
Loublaze said:
Not in recent times we haven't. Who would make this list over the last 20 years/after the treble season?
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Only us or any club? Because the filter conditions are getting bigger.

Again this will lead to another discussion whether championship is better league than league xyz.
 
The UTD Way said:
I don’t get our fans sometimes....were crying out for some more talented hungry youngsters, and if they have pace to burn then great. Nothing strikes fear into defenders more then knowing your man can strip you for fun. About time we got some brutal pace into the lineup.
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Superior defenders don’t care about your pace. I remember when we were going against AcMilan, we all thought young Ronaldo and Rooney will rip them to shreds, Cafu in upper 30s and the other guy begs to differ.
 
roonster09 said:
Only us or any club? Because the filter conditions are getting bigger.

Again this will lead to another discussion whether championship is better league than league xyz.
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Only United. You did say 'we' and that's what this discussion is about
 
Sereques said:
Superior defenders don’t care about your pace. I remember when we were going against AcMilan, we all thought young Ronaldo and Rooney will rip them to shreds, Cafu in upper 30s and the other guy begs to differ.
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Might be true but then One of the greatest club sides thought Walcott was the most dangerous player because of his pace.

The coach is mindful, though, not to overwhelm his players with detail. He gets straight to the point. "Everything he does is for a reason, he never says things for the sake of it," Xavi Hernández says. This time is no different: "Theo Walcott," Guardiola tells his players, "runs 100 metres in 10.37 seconds."
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Xavi on Walcott and how they struggled to deal with his pace.

Barcelona maestro Xavi has picked his all-time Premier League XI, and spoken particularly highly of Theo Walcott.

The Spaniard looked back at their 2-2 draw with Arsenal at The Emirates in 2010, which saw late goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin stun Pep Guardiola's side.

He told ShortList magazine: "We were playing Arsenal in London, and we were winning 2-0, in total control. There was no way we should have done anything but win the game.

"Then they introduced Theo Walcott. He changed the game for them and it finished 2-2. We didn’t know how to deal with his pace.”
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Loublaze said:
Only United. You did say 'we' and that's what this discussion is about
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Yeah, but I didn't say anything about recently and you added one more condition that it should be post treble.

Anyways how does it matter who signs, when the important point is signing players from lower leagues who went to become very good players.
 
We have been linked with experienced RWs, so I don't think he is being bought to be a starter. 10 million isn't much even if he turns out to be a failure, and his pace is definitely extraordinary enough to take a punt.

I reckon he will play s role similar to Dalot does, just coming on as a sub and filling in when required. He will be the understudy to a proper RW we will likely buy, and I hope this means Lingard does not get into the team anymore.
 
Sereques said:
Superior defenders don’t care about your pace. I remember when we were going against AcMilan, we all thought young Ronaldo and Rooney will rip them to shreds, Cafu in upper 30s and the other guy begs to differ.
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That's because defensively they were good all over the pitch, not just their defenders.

Pace has to be used intelligently. In today's game that Milan side just might be subjected to a high press etc. It might just be different tactical game;you can't compare really
 
Loublaze said:
Apparently he tails off in games, struggles to play a full 90
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amolbhatia50k said:
Maybe he can improve that over time. Thankfully he's only 21. Could also have to do with the number of sprints he makes due to his pace?
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haram said:
Not really efficient though is it.
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Haram makes a god point, however it's up to the team to be efficient and not rely on one player's pace. If we had 3 attackers plus a CM who's also got some pace(Kante) then one player,be it James or whoever, can conserve his pace.

It has been said before by many commentators that Messi at his peak only has around 4 sprints per match. Now he's pretty devastating we know that but Barca had several players with lung bursting energy too so they weren't completely dependent on him.

Now, before people start saying that we're not signing Messi( he's a one off) The point is,the best teams have 6/7 players who have a lot of energy and pace.
 
roonster09 said:
Yeah, but I didn't say anything about recently and you added one more condition that it should be post treble.

Anyways how does it matter who signs, when the important point is signing players from lower leagues who went to become very good players.
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I simply stated that United haven't had any recent successes signing players from lower leagues, isn't that fair? 20 years is a huge sample. You can go back further if you wish, even beyond the PL era but dont you think recent signings show a clearer picture? I don't care if other clubs have had successes with lower league players, has united? Im not saying its impossible, but history is against it.

The following is a list of 'low risk' player signings from lower leagues comparable to the mooted Daniel James signing the club has made going back to 1990 (I may be missing some, probably not worth mentioning but enlighten me): Bebe, Obertan, Diouf, Powell, Varela, Buttner, Manucho, Angelo Henriquez, Zoran Tosic, Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba, Liam Miller (Came from Celtic, but a similar punt nevertheless), Vanja milinkovic-savic, Lindegaard, Ritchie De Laet, Rodrigo Possebon, Tim Howard, Fangzhuo Dong, Bojan Djordjic, Jonathan Greening, Dion Dublin and Pat McGibbon. I won't mention Bellion because he was signed from a PL club, but similar.

My point is United have had very little success with signings like this. Tim Howard is the only standout
 
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