If rumours are to believed, I reckon it will be:
Holding Midfielder - Phillips, Kamara, Neves
Box To Box Midfielder - Gravenberch, Bellingham, SMS
Winger - Nkunku, Raphinha, Antony
Striker - Schick, Nunez, Isak
Darwin Núñez / signs for Liverpool
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If rumours are to believed, I reckon it will be:
Holding Midfielder - Phillips, Kamara, Neves
Box To Box Midfielder - Gravenberch, Bellingham, SMS
Winger - Nkunku, Raphinha, Antony
Striker - Schick, Nunez, Isak
This logic was used to justify Lukaku who didnt work out, and who scored similar figures in a harder league.
For 40m no problem but for 70 its nuts
Cole was 24 years old when we signed him and his linkup play left a lot to be desired. But Fergie and the coaching staff did a good job on the training ground with him and the improvement was noticeable. Arsenal who had sold him to Bristol City as a 19 year old were then probably kicking themselves.
I don't know a lot about Nunez apart from watching highlights and reading articles on the player's strengths/weaknesses. But at 22 years old, he will likely improve his linkup play, and I don't see a Ronaldo Nazarario de Lima on the horizon for us to sign instead.
Erik ten Hag has also seen him close up in two matches recently and will have extensive knowledge on the player via the Ajax video analysts, data analysts and his own eye test.
if you came to united and were a factor in turning this teams fortunes around.. you get legendary status at this club. You go down in a history that other teams are trying to buy right now. It actually means something beyond Another PL title or FA cup. As a fan base we don’t like any of the players we have (except maybe one or two and even that’s a push). Never has there been a better time to come here and endear yourself to possibly the biggest fan base in world football. Play infront of 76,000 fans week in week out. While getting paid millions to do it. It’s not a hardship.
I hate the way people talk about united like it’s Skegness united in the local league, because we’re in a bad moment. We want winners, characters and players wanting to prove themselves on a world stage. The biggest world stage actually. No team has eyes on it like this one. That’s why so may of our current players are struggling so much. If your genuinely a world class player or something close to it, you don’t fancy coming here and being the difference? Baring in mind the egos that the modern footballers have? We need a turnaround. We need serious players. Professionals.
I think people are too quick to write united off. This club still has appeal to players. It’s a sleeping giant but still a giant.
He's one of those where the stats say a lot and sometimes you just have to run with that, but at the same time, i cant help but feel "meh" when I watch him. At those prices hes a no way for me. 40m max. We have so much to do, we need a DM, we need a RW and we need a CF. Its only worth spending big ever if you are for sure about a player. Sancho was worth it and he'll come good, 0 concern there for me. I think I'd lean Antony would be worth a big spend too for RW. Darwin? Nah. He looks like Lukaku, which isn't the worst thing but he'd need to improve on the areas where Lukaku couldn't (intensity, consistency, big game performances, being more agile so he can be more useful outside the box).
I dunno, modern day forwards seems to be workhorses who drop and help with the press more that anything else. I can’t think of any forwards that aren’t around 30 that attempt to play like your 3 examples which tells me it isnt being asked of modern strikers anymore. It looks as if a top team needs a player to drop deep and link up play then it’s more of a false 9 than some technical, striking wizard.
Just give me a goal scorer who presses from the front and it could be more than enough
Lukaku was fine until he ballooned into mark henry.
He and Nunez are very different players. One doesn't want to run, the other can't stop running. Even if Nunez isn't scoring he is still bringing something to the team, unlike Lukaku.
This guy was all the buzz from the transfer guy on the Football show this morning. Likened him to a young Cavanni.
It does say he offers almost nothing apart from goals, even his pressing numbers aren't that good and he doesn't seem to know how to pass the ball.
There is no rumor about Neves,Bellingham Gravenberch, Raphinha and Schick. Atleast not until now.
I think you've misread that, it's not saying Steve Brown will be doing that stuff, it's saying the guy doing that stuff will be reporting to Steve Brown.
This didn't happen, he was always there.
He's gonna be reporting to Steve Brown who is the scouting coordinator. And together they're going to work towards organising/mobilising the scouts around the world. This has also been confirmed by people on the TGG podcast and Brown did the same job at Everton.
At United the 3 key players in the recruitment process are Marcel Bout, Jim Lawlor and Mick Court. And this has been confirmed by multiple reports.
I'm talking about if rumours are to be believed that those are the positions we are after.
We have also been linked to the players above, albeit probably not serious links, but fact is, no one actually knows who we're 100% interested in.
Modern day forwards like Firminho, Jota etc do a lot more than running around harder. Also the traditional 9s are ridiculously good at dropping deep too.
Nunez may work in a system that focuses on his strengths. But for 70m there are more complete looking targets. Nkunku and David looking like a couple examples?
He was good for one season and is also heavily struggling at Chelsea.
How much have you seen him? Nunez I mean. I have only seen CL and some YouTube highlights and his hold up play looks atrocious. Worse than Lukakus.
Ederson, Dias, Cancelo and Bernardo in City alone
The articles i've read state that Brown played a role in identifying transfer targets at everton, not just in-charge of the ticketing, travel and accommodation.
I mean there are rumours about Gravenberch, Raphinha and Bellingham but none of them are good for United.
Gravenberch to Bayern
Raphinha to Barca
Bellingham to Liverpool
He probably did at Everton but it was also reported that he was in charge of the organisational side of the club when it comes to mobilising the scouts and arranging tickets/travel. And unless his role has changed recently, he is the head of scouting operations and not the head of recruitment, which is Marcel Bout (former assistant to Jupp Heynckes).
He looks like an absolute natural when it comes to finding the net. Always knows where and how to finish.
I watched him against Liverpool and he looked fine. Obviously not Berbatov levels but nothing as bad as Lukaku or Rashford is for us either.
The more important thing for me is he is lightning quick, never stops running and finishes really well. Call me old fashioned but I love goalscorers, and right now barely have 1.
Isn’t Nkunku more of a striker/attacking midfielder rather than a winger?
He's versatile. Currently, he plays up top in a two, where he drops off and drifts into those wide areas but he has played on the wing before.
I mean, lets be honest. If he comes to United, he's not coming in as a forward, nor can I see him taking Bruno's spot, so I could potentially see ten Hag playing him as a wide playmaker like Tadic.
Ronaldo
Nkunku Bruno Sancho
I don't think he's anything like Cavani.
In terms of player profile, he seems way more like the Rashford of two years ago.
Fixed it for you
Can we just all agree that he is a better striker than Rashford & Martial & leave it at that?
Of course, I'm not saying he would be a hit at UTD or that we should buy him, I still want Haaland but no CL football next season is making that look impossible.
Of course, I'm not saying he would be a hit at UTD or that we should buy him, I still want Haaland but no CL football next season is making that look impossible.
Think he's more like fowler. Just an instinctive goalscorer and if he happens to be good at other stuff it's because he needed that skillset to score goals.
Really don't see Schick. Or Neves as a holding midfielder.
Kamara/Philips
A mobile playmaker in the Modric, Kovacic, Veratti mould. Dunno who that is. Gravenberch would have been nice.
Antony/Raphinha
Nunez/Nkunku
---------------------DDG
Dalot--Lindelof--Varane--Shaw
-------------------Kamara
----------Bruno----------Kovacic
--Antony------Nunez-------Sancho
With Ronaldo, Rashford, Fred and VdB in and around the team. Bring back the likes of Garner and Laird, and promote Mjebri and Garnacho. Next summer we can focus on CB, RB and GK.
That's a solid team. That would be a very good summer.
A mobile playmaker in the Modric, Kovacic, Veratti mould. Dunno who that is. Gravenberch would have been nice.
Antony/Raphinha
Nunez/Nkunku
---------------------DDG
Dalot--Lindelof--Varane--Shaw
-------------------Kamara
----------Bruno----------Kovacic
--Antony------Nunez-------Sancho
With Ronaldo, Rashford, Fred and VdB in and around the team. Bring back the likes of Garner and Laird, and promote Mjebri and Garnacho. Next summer we can focus on CB, RB and GK.
That's a solid team. That would be a very good summer.
Don't think Neves fits. Don't think a B2B mid is an urgent need or something we'll do this summer (Fred is good). I like all 3 winger options, but Raphinha and Antony fit more due to left footed/natural right sided vs Nkunku being right footed/naturally left sided like everyone else. Striker is the hardest position for me. So underwhelmed with all of them. Darwin could be a Lukaku or he could be a Haaland, or somewhere in between with his play style/strengths/weaknesses. But it's a big risk at the price. Schick i don't think does enough. Isak i think would be like having Martial up top and generally not good enough. My vote would be Gerard Moreno for a few years because of his all round play and experience for a young team, until a more obvious candidate comes out. Should be a more reasonable cost too, but then again he probably just doesn't want to leave Villareal.
My ideal/realistic summer this summer would be:
- Gerard Moreno/Darwin (likely expensive)
- Antony (likely expensive)
- Kamara (free)
- Johnstone (because we'll need a backup GK)
This sound like what we used to justify Lingard being in the team as well. “He runs a lot!”
Do you not think Ronaldo will be here next season?
apart from the fact Nunez has scored 30 odd goals in around 35 games, sure... just like Lingard
No, or maybe I hope not
So who do you have as back up to Nunez, if he were to come in?
Martial.
i would only keep Ronaldo if he was happy to be a backup (which I am positive he will not be)
That's fair.
Trouble is, we don't actually have a real number 9 in the squad. Even if Ronaldo stays, he isn't one either - he wants to roam around and look for goals rather than giving the team an outlet or a focal point.
With Nunez, he could be a great player, but if he ends up as yet another player who really wants to be playing on the left of the attack, that's £70m we've misspent.
I don't really know who'd be a good option specifically, but if we buy a centre forward I think it’s important that they can play with their back to goal, bring others into play and possibly also give us a direct option. There are others in the squad who can score goals or do the flashier things - what those players need is someone to play off.
Good attempt. But this is what we know to be true.
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