De Ligt | €45+5m agreement reached pending medical | Signed!

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I love how the person behind that tweet immediately responded to it with something similar to "by the way this entire stats comparison isn't helpful".

All of our defenders made more defensive actions per game than a defender who played for a team that didn't need to make as many defensive actions per game.
Yep :lol:
 
De Ligt and Branthwaite doesn't make great sense to me. I understand Branthwaite is left footed and prefers the left side, but both of them seem to have pretty similar traits. Big[ger], great in the air in both boxes, quite aggressive and no-nonsense.

Surely after signing De Ligt (or Branthwaite) the focus should be more on type of centre back who can double as one of these more "inverted fullback" types -- very fast across the ground and comfortable on the ball? The Ake, Timber, van de Ven type?

(The above paragraph predicated on us selling Lindelof and/or Maguire. I don't see us buying two CBs unless another goes)
I'd think De Ligt and Todibo would be the better options if we can get the court to rule in our favour over that transfer. De Ligt can also cover the left side too incase Martinez gets injured. Them two to me, offer a lot more than Braithwaite. Plus we could almost get both for around the price he'd cost us.
 

I wanted to bite until I read this comment. This is important context to remember. If a team is dominant, those defensive stats will always be lower. Those are some bad selective stats to compare.


So they tweeted then clarified the tweet was basically a load of bollocks? :lol:
 
It doesn’t say anywhere in that tweet he wouldn’t join PSG, it only says he’s willing to join us even without CL football. PSG could easily offer something crazy like doubling his wages and giving Bayern a bigger fee which could attract him and cause Bayern to push him in their direction. I’d hope playing in the PL and talks with ETH will be enough to swing it in our favour though.
Romano is saying that the player is prioritising Man Utd.

 
He does like the PL, unlike De Jong. I think he'll enjoy it and do well here.
 
I like the fact that many Bayern fans are upset. I also like the reports on his personality being a model professional and has captain potential. Mentality has obviously been an issue with the United squad the last 10 years.
 
It doesn’t say anywhere in that tweet he wouldn’t join PSG, it only says he’s willing to join us even without CL football. PSG could easily offer something crazy like doubling his wages and giving Bayern a bigger fee which could attract him and cause Bayern to push him in their direction. I’d hope playing in the PL and talks with ETH will be enough to swing it in our favour though.

A chance to hate on PSG is not a chance I miss out on

Btw the tweet @Adnan posted is the one I wanted to post as well, I just didn't notice my mistake :lol:
 

I wanted to bite until I read this comment. This is important context to remember. If a team is dominant, those defensive stats will always be lower. Those are some bad selective stats to compare.


That Martinez aerial duels won stat though... maybe its affected by the small number of games he actually played.
 
I know a lot of people here don't watch much football outside of the PL, but did you at least not watch him vs Arsenal/Real Madrid where he was at least on the level of Rudiger/Saliba?

Fair enough there are some concerns, but some posts on here make no sense. Especially the flop ones.
 
Looks like this is a near certainty now. Hope I'm wrong about him.

To be fair, my top 5 list of signings I was happiest about and a list of our top 5 worst signings might actually consist of the exact same players.

Welcome to the biggest club in the multiverse.
 
Why does he not start for Holland? Has he lost his place?
De Vrij is a top defender and fits the tactics better possibly. Though I think jn the friendlies, de Ligt looked great and maybe even better.

De Ligt has had a few mistakes in the NT in the last 7 years and that Dutch CB position is the most stacked in world football so it's fair play.
 
Why does he not start for Holland? Has he lost his place?

I suppose it’s the same as Martinez at the last World Cup, he didn’t start every game and was somehow behind Otamendi.
Managers just have players they prefer, because there’s no way anyone could argue that Otamendi was better than Martinez at the time.
 
De Ligt and Branthwaite doesn't make great sense to me. I understand Branthwaite is left footed and prefers the left side, but both of them seem to have pretty similar traits. Big[ger], great in the air in both boxes, quite aggressive and no-nonsense.

Surely after signing De Ligt (or Branthwaite) the focus should be more on type of centre back who can double as one of these more "inverted fullback" types -- very fast across the ground and comfortable on the ball? The Ake, Timber, van de Ven type?

(The above paragraph predicated on us selling Lindelof and/or Maguire. I don't see us buying two CBs unless another goes)
While I agree we need two CBs, do we really want to drop £40million+ on De Ligt and £60million+ on Branthwaite in one summer when one will warm the bench if Licha is fit? Yes we need to build our squad but we also need to be much better across the board and I worry we'll not have the funds to strengthen in other key areas.
 
Looks like this is a near certainty now. Hope I'm wrong about him.

To be fair, my top 5 list of signings I was happiest about and a list of our top 5 worst signings might actually consist of the exact same players.

Welcome to the biggest club in the multiverse.

Sancho
Di-Maria
PogBack
- All surely get onto that list.

Antony I think we all knew was a massive overpay from the get go and Mount felt very much like DVB redux, but both are surely contenders.
 

I wanted to bite until I read this comment. This is important context to remember. If a team is dominant, those defensive stats will always be lower. Those are some bad selective stats to compare.

It's easily fixed, just normalize it by both teams time out of possession to get an actions per 90 minutes of defending.

United had 51% possession in the PL on average last season, Bayern had 59%. Still not perfect as I didn't check the possession stats for each players games, but still should be a better picture:

de LigtMaguireMartinezEvans
Tackles2,372,673,412,90
Interceptions32,781,413,02
Headed clearances4,736,022,274,20
Aerial duels won6,497,671,144,74
So he tackles less than all United defenders last season, but intercepts more (except Evans) and has more aerial superiority (except Maguire)
 
While I agree we need two CBs, do we really want to drop £40million+ on De Ligt and £60million+ on Branthwaite in one summer when one will warm the bench if Licha is fit? Yes we need to build our squad but we also need to be much better across the board and I worry we'll not have the funds to strengthen in other key areas.

If the last 2 years of EtH management has shown we play a lot of games in cups, it makes sense to have a lot of options, when SAF was manager towards the end we had established defenders in Rio and Vida and then Evans and Smalling as back ups, its good to have top options that are not Lindelof
 
It's easily fixed, just normalize it by both teams time out of possession to get an actions per 90 minutes of defending.

United had 51% possession in the PL on average last season, Bayern had 59%. Still not perfect as I didn't check the possession stats for each players games, but still should be a better picture:

de LigtMaguireMartinezEvans
Tackles2,372,673,412,90
Interceptions32,781,413,02
Headed clearances4,736,022,274,20
Aerial duels won6,497,671,144,74
So he tackles less than all United defenders last season, but intercepts more (except Evans) and has more aerial superiority (except Maguire)

I prefer interceptions. Like a Rio, who anticipates rather than last ditch tackles.
 
While I agree we need two CBs, do we really want to drop £40million+ on De Ligt and £60million+ on Branthwaite in one summer when one will warm the bench if Licha is fit? Yes we need to build our squad but we also need to be much better across the board and I worry we'll not have the funds to strengthen in other key areas.
We absolutely need a CB who can play LB I think.
 
So they tweeted then clarified the tweet was basically a load of bollocks? :lol:

Basically yea. They tweeted that graphic that Sky showed on their channel probably.

That Martinez aerial duels won stat though... maybe its affected by the small number of games he actually played.

It definitely has impact but I'd say theres other things affecting it too. When Maguire and Evans were playing, a lot of the time we were deep in our box defending for our lives or holding on to slender leads. Obviously those stats shown would shine. With Martinez he would push higher up the pitch being aggressive near the half way line.

I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure Arsenal's defenders would be below Maguire and Evans for those stats as well. Simply because of their dominant play and how little defending they have to do each game.
 
If the last 2 years of EtH management has shown we play a lot of games in cups, it makes sense to have a lot of options, when SAF was manager towards the end we had established defenders in Rio and Vida and then Evans and Smalling as back ups, its good to have top options that are not Lindelof
There's no doubt signing two solid CBs would strengthen us more than signing just one, but it's all an issue of the alternative cost. Our budget is not unlimited, so the question our management has to answer is if spending 100m+ on two central defenders would still allow us to strengthen other areas.
 
HIm and Jerky are 2 more dutch players..I just hope its not Ten Hag making these suggestions... his track record is pretty garbage.
 
HIm and Jerky are 2 more dutch players..I just hope its not Ten Hag making these suggestions... his track record is pretty garbage.
He has never worked with Zirkzee so doubt he'd be the one picking him.
 
There's no doubt signing two solid CBs would strengthen us more than signing just one, but it's all an issue of the alternative cost. Our budget is not unlimited, so the question our management has to answer is if spending 100m+ on two central defenders would still allow us to strengthen other areas.

Agree with this - seems excessive to me. Martinez is our best player and with another top CB (De Ligt) I think we would have arguably the best pairing in the league.

Obviously having a top third centre back would be beneficial for depth, as it would be for all positions, but improving the starting XI surely needs to be a priority.
 
Bayern have upped and now agreed a £48m deal for Palhinha - wonder if that has anything to do with reaching an agreement in this deal…
 
Have to say, this guy and Ugarte would be huge deals for a team without CL football. Both established players yet to hit their prime.
 
De Vrij is a top defender and fits the tactics better possibly. Though I think jn the friendlies, de Ligt looked great and maybe even better.

De Ligt has had a few mistakes in the NT in the last 7 years and that Dutch CB position is the most stacked in world football so it's fair play.
Someone pin that post. Can't count how many times the same question had been asked
 
Barca may not want him anymore and his contract goes only for another 2 years if I’m not mistaken. Good chance that we come back for him next year, ETH loves him.
If you mean 2025, you've got a lot of faith in ETH still being at the club in 2025.
 
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