Declan Rice

[RoyH1]

He'll be too much money. Look for someone else in the French/German league for half the price

 

[OrcaFat]

He'll be too much money. Look for someone else in the French/German league for half the price

Fine if there is a player with his ability, consistency and personality.

Otherwise might as well stick with the average players we’ve got instead of spending £50m on another player not able to get in the team. Fred is a great example of what you get for £50m. A decent player with a good attitude and some useful attributes but not good enough for Utd first 11.

 

[Matt007a]

If CDM was the only position we needed to upgrade to complete the puzzle, I'd have no issue with spending £80m on Rice but he is one of several signings we need to make right now so it's pretty hard to justify blowing so much of the budget on one player.

If City, Liverpool or Chelsea spent £80m on him I wouldn't look at that as money wasted on their part. No CDM is worth £100m for me.

 

[OrcaFat]

If CDM was the only position we needed to upgrade to complete the puzzle, I'd have no issue with spending £80m on Rice but he is one of several signings we need to make right now so it's pretty hard to justify blowing so much of the budget on one player.

If City, Liverpool or Chelsea spent £80m on him I wouldn't look at that as money wasted on their part. No CDM is worth £100m for me.

I would agree that the fees being touted are exorbitant. But CM or CDM is a crucial area of the pitch and I would spend the whole budget on that if necessary. I’m all for spending less if we can get someone good enough but I don’t want to blow £75m on two or three players who wouldn’t even get into title winning 11s.

 

[Adam-Utd]

West Ham without their best midfielder Let in 4 goals to Leeds (1 disallowed)

Maybe Soucek is the man we should be after?

I must be a bad luck charm, I keep trying to watch West Ham for a £200m rated midfielder, but he doesn't seem to turn up.

 

[Bebestation]

West ham were playing with Lanzini a regular attacking midfielder as Rice's midfield partner now for 2 games due to injuries to Noble and Soucek.

People acting like this is the first game without Soucek, they won 2-0 vs Norwich just last week.

On the other side, Tchouameni can lose all this in half a season

1-0 vs Lorient
1-0 vs shaktar donetsk
2-0 vs Lens
Draw 2-2 vs Shaktar Donetsk
Lose 2-0 to Marseille
Nice 2-2
Lose 2-0 vs Lyon
Lose 2-0 vs Brest
Lille 2-2
Losing vs PSG 2-0
Draw 1-1 with teams like strasbourg, sociedad and SK Sturm Graz

And Tchouameni gets all the praise and hype by some. Such an overrated player.

If anything it shows how results can or cannot judge a player.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

True enough. Current form not helping any of those guys but I personally think they are all good players.

I’m talking about players like VDB, Cavani, Ronaldo (both still decent but old). Fred wasn’t cheap but he’s never been in the elite bracket. Then you go back to the mixed bag of crap we bought under LVG. We paid big for Pogba and Lukaku I suppose.

In any case, I don’t see us spending the kind of money we’ll need to spend to fix our midfield.

Its a tough one really. I'm stating the obvious, but the best players don't always make the best team. If you look at Liverpool's midfield, for example, I wouldn't say it's anything special on the eye, but they all know their jobs and they do it well.

Going forward, especially when RR goes up top, he needs to think about purchasing players that will compliment the current ones. He's already identified that "one of the biggest issues we have is that we lose too many balls in transition when we are in possession". Therefore, it would be a peculiar decision not to purchase ball playing midfielders.

I'm a massive fan of Rice (a really big fan) but I personally want us to move towards a 433 (hoping RR does too after a better performance against Villa). To me, Rice is much more than a person that just holds. What we really need is a Carrick type player - someone who can really control the pace of the game. I'd look to have something like:

Bruno/Van de Beek (Advanced playmaker) - Neves/? (Deep-lying playmaker) Kessie/McTominay (Box to box)

We'd be able to get Neves for around 40M and Kessie is a free agent. To me, two top players - one of which plays in the EPL so wouldn't have a problem adjusting, and the other one who has had bags of experience in Europe.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

Its a tough one really. I'm stating the obvious, but the best players don't always make the best team. If you look at Liverpool's midfield, for example, I wouldn't say it's anything special on the eye, but they all know their jobs and they do it well.

Going forward, especially when RR goes up top, he needs to think about purchasing players that will compliment the current ones. He's already identified that "one of the biggest issues we have is that we lose too many balls in transition when we are in possession". Therefore, it would be a peculiar decision not to purchase ball playing midfielders.

I'm a massive fan of Rice (a really big fan) but I personally want us to move towards a 433 (hoping RR does too after a better performance against Villa). To me, Rice is much more than a person that just holds. What we really need is a Carrick type player - someone who can really control the pace of the game. I'd look to have something like:

Bruno/Van de Beek (Advanced playmaker) - Neves/? (Deep-lying playmaker) Kessie/McTominay (Box to box)

We'd be able to get Neves for around 40M and Kessie is a free agent. To me, two top players - one of which plays in the EPL so wouldn't have a problem adjusting, and the other one who has had bags of experience in Europe.

I would cry tears of unadulterated joy if we did that. But we wont, so I wont.

 

[Bebestation]

Its a tough one really. I'm stating the obvious, but the best players don't always make the best team. If you look at Liverpool's midfield, for example, I wouldn't say it's anything special on the eye, but they all know their jobs and they do it well.

Going forward, especially when RR goes up top, he needs to think about purchasing players that will compliment the current ones. He's already identified that "one of the biggest issues we have is that we lose too many balls in transition when we are in possession". Therefore, it would be a peculiar decision not to purchase ball playing midfielders.

I'm a massive fan of Rice (a really big fan) but I personally want us to move towards a 433 (hoping RR does too after a better performance against Villa). To me, Rice is much more than a person that just holds. What we really need is a Carrick type player - someone who can really control the pace of the game. I'd look to have something like:

Bruno/Van de Beek (Advanced playmaker) - Neves/? (Deep-lying playmaker) Kessie/McTominay (Box to box)

We'd be able to get Neves for around 40M and Kessie is a free agent. To me, two top players - one of which plays in the EPL so wouldn't have a problem adjusting, and the other one who has had bags of experience in Europe.

Beautiful line.

When I look at Liverpool with Thiago for example, I preferred how that team played with Henderson and Widjnaldum.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

I would cry tears of unadulterated joy if we did that. But we wont, so I wont.

I think the benefit of RR being interim and moving up is that he can really identify what we need. I'd be very worried if he didn't indentify that we didn't need players of that ilk. It might not be those players per se, but it's clear what we need.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Beautiful line.

When I look at Liverpool with Thiago for example, I preferred how that team played with Henderson and Widjnaldum.

RR has banged on about balance since he's been here. Its what we need! On Saturday, we certainly had a better 'balance' to our team but the ability in midfield is questionable.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

I think the benefit of RR being interim and moving up is that he can really identify what we need. I'd be very worried if he didn't indentify that we didn't need players of that ilk. It might not be those players per se, but it's clear what we need.

If was left to it I have total faith in him, but I doubt he will be allowed to do what needs doing.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

If was left to it I have total faith in him, but I doubt he will be allowed to do what needs doing.

I'm not too sure. Having done what he's done in the game, I don't think he'd have accepted anything less than being in full control. Let's face it, what we've done in the past clearly isn't working, so something needs to change and hopefully RR can change that if he has the power to do so.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

I'm not too sure. Having done what he's done in the game, I don't think he'd have accepted anything less than being in full control. Let's face it, what we've done in the past clearly isn't working, so something needs to change and hopefully RR can change that if he has the power to do so.

I really hope you are right, it would be a huge direction change that we sorely need.

 

[lloyd2wayne]

Fine if there is a player with his ability, consistency and personality.

Otherwise might as well stick with the average players we’ve got instead of spending £50m on another player not able to get in the team. Fred is a great example of what you get for £50m. A decent player with a good attitude and some useful attributes but not good enough for Utd first 11.

You are making it sound like Rice is some special player with no one like him in world football. A player who is not rated outside of England.

I mean Rice name doesn’t get mentioned in Europe along side young future midfielders. Same way as Maguire and Grealish were not recognized outside of England but in England they were the second coming.

If Rice gets signed for a record fee, he will be along side Maguire and Grealish as the most expensive English players ever. You see the trend here? HYPE.

 

[bosskeano]

You don't pay the money that West Ham will want for the type of player that Rice is whether you think he's potential world class or not

 

[SirScholes]

If CDM was the only position we needed to upgrade to complete the puzzle, I'd have no issue with spending £80m on Rice but he is one of several signings we need to make right now so it's pretty hard to justify blowing so much of the budget on one player.

If City, Liverpool or Chelsea spent £80m on him I wouldn't look at that as money wasted on their part. No CDM is worth £100m for me.

I would say centre midfield is an absolute must and needs sorting before anything else
A strong midfield would solve a lot of problems

they’d take pressure off the defence
Ball retention
Limit attacks
Spot runs from wingers
Spot runs from strikers
Chip in with goals themselves

are current options do non of those things

 

[SirScholes]

RR has banged on about balance since he's been here. Its what we need! On Saturday, we certainly had a better 'balance' to our team but the ability in midfield is questionable.

Exactly my thoughts, for most the match I was thinking how much better we looked
With such a simple concept, players playing in their proper positions being to asked to do what was within their skill set.
The obvious problem that ralf couldn’t help was the lack of consistent quality, and the current fragile mentality once a goal went in (understandable after the last few month)

 

[OrcaFat]

You are making it sound like Rice is some special player with no one like him in world football. A player who is not rated outside of England.

I mean Rice name doesn’t get mentioned in Europe along side young future midfielders. Same way as Maguire and Grealish were not recognized outside of England but in England they were the second coming.

If Rice gets signed for a record fee, he will be along side Maguire and Grealish as the most expensive English players ever. You see the trend here? HYPE.

No, I’m saying what I wrote - if there is a player with the ability, consistency and personality of Rice, for half the money, yes, fine, sign that player. Could be such players exist and are available.

I like Rice, I rate him very highly. People often jump on one bandwagon or another. There’s a Rice is Overrated bandwagon that seems pretty crowded.

 

[Ixion]

I can just imagine ours scouts are the sort to say they've scoured the world and Declan Rice for £100m is the best option.

 

[OrcaFat]

I can just imagine ours scouts are the sort to say they've scoured the world and Declan Rice for £100m is the best option.

Yeah. I know £100m is such a lot. But it’s the modern day equivalent of £3.75m that we paid for Keane. We don’t have to buy Rice, it can be anyone as far as I care, but if we want someone of the highest calibre, we can’t expect to get them for £50m. I’m not saying it won’t happen but it’s not very likely.

I agree, our scouts don’t seem up to much. No matter how good our scouts are, they’re not going to be significantly better than those at any of 20 of the top clubs in Europe. If there’s a gem out there, they all know about him. It’s a matter of who will pay enough or who will pay the most.

Maybe we’ll get lucky.

 

[TwoSheds]

West Ham without their best midfielder Let in 4 goals to Leeds (1 disallowed)

Maybe Soucek is the man we should be after?

I must be a bad luck charm, I keep trying to watch West Ham for a £200m rated midfielder, but he doesn't seem to turn up.

I was at the game yesterday, Rice did pretty well. He's too shot shy but otherwise he was, as Jose used to say about Matic, an "island of personality" in the midfield. Lanzini was atrocious and both Diop and Dawson were awful on the ball at the back. Meant Rice was having to do everything himself and he gave it a fair stab. He's not the most talented player I've ever seen, although he's not bad, but he's a great heart and understanding of the game.

Soucek is a very good player though.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I was at the game yesterday, Rice did pretty well. He's too shot shy but otherwise he was, as Jose used to say about Matic, an "island of personality" in the midfield. Lanzini was atrocious and both Diop and Dawson were awful on the ball at the back. Meant Rice was having to do everything himself and he gave it a fair stab. He's not the most talented player I've ever seen, although he's not bad, but he's a great heart and understanding of the game.

Soucek is a very good player though.

i'm semi trolling - but it just shows every midfielder needs a good partner.

No midfielder can run it all by himself, and they can also be made to look better in a proper team.

I like to try to bring a bit of balance to this giddy thread.

 

[TwoSheds]

i'm semi trolling - but it just shows every midfielder needs a good partner.

No midfielder can run it all by himself, and they can also be made to look better in a proper team.

I like to try to bring a bit of balance to this giddy thread.

Well only Maguire on a very bad day could be as poor as Diop or Dawson were in possession yesterday, and Lanzini just isn't a deep midfielder in any way, so I think a DM could at least count on better support here than at West Ham with the injuries they have atm. But yes, there isn't a midfielder in the world that could be a silver bullet for us I don't think, although a few could be close.

 

[Lash]

Yeah. I know £100m is such a lot. But it’s the modern day equivalent of £3.75m that we paid for Keane. We don’t have to buy Rice, it can be anyone as far as I care, but if we want someone of the highest calibre, we can’t expect to get them for £50m. I’m not saying it won’t happen but it’s not very likely.

I agree, our scouts don’t seem up to much. No matter how good our scouts are, they’re not going to be significantly better than those at any of 20 of the top clubs in Europe. If there’s a gem out there, they all know about him. It’s a matter of who will pay enough or who will pay the most.

Maybe we’ll get lucky.

What? No it isn't. Pretty sure 100m is roughly our yearly match day revenue.

 

[RedCurry]

He’s just not a 50m player let alone some of the other absurd values we are hearing. Frustrating part is that we don’t have a face of United who can come out and pretty much quash the rumour linking him to us. Spending silly transfer fee and giving silly contracts is exactly how we got into this mess, yet we don’t seem to learn from it and every window we demand for much of the same.

 

[TwoSheds]

He’s just not a 50m player let alone some of the other absurd values we are hearing. Frustrating part is that we don’t have a face of United who can come out and pretty much quash the rumour linking him to us. Spending silly transfer fee and giving silly contracts is exactly how we got into this mess, yet we don’t seem to learn from it and every window we demand for much of the same.

There actually aren't that many better DMs in the world though and £50m ain't what it used to be. Bissouma for example would probably cost £50m if he gets cleared so Rice would be at least that as he's at a bigger club and has a longer contract. I wouldn't want to pay Rice's fee but at least it wouldn't go to his head I don't think, he's a very level headed sort of lad. Would be a better use of the £73m than Sancho I suspect.

 

[RedCurry]

There actually aren't that many better DMs in the world though and £50m ain't what it used to be. Bissouma for example would probably cost £50m if he gets cleared so Rice would be at least that as he's at a bigger club and has a longer contract. I wouldn't want to pay Rice's fee but at least it wouldn't go to his head I don't think, he's a very level headed sort of lad. Would be a better use of the £73m than Sancho I suspect.

This is not directed at you but the kind of thinking rather. Caf said the same thing about Sancho. “if Maguire is worth 80m then Sancho is definitely worth 120m”. This kind of thinking is self-fulfilling. We pay more because we pay more.

Let’s say we do pay 100m for Rice in summer. For a DM. Then what happens when we are eventually in the market for a striker? Rice is not going to ever justify the price tag and other teams will ask for 150m for average prospects because they know we will pay. And then you don’t give a 100k a week contract to a 100m valued player obviously so they all get 200k a week wage.

We will never get out of this rut until we publicly distance ourselves from exorbitantly priced average players. Promote from the academy and let them show their worth. Or get players on loan. Worst case, find a solution from within the squad.

 

[Bebestation]

Rice was involved in 2 of the goals yesterday.

He made the run that caused the corner that led to the 1st goal.

Rice then made the progressive pass to Antonio which led to Antonio setting the pass to the goalscorer.

I thought Rice was shit the way people were talking about him after the match - but when I looked at the replays he was involved in both attacking goals whilst he was not the cause of the goals vs West ham.

The first goal he went for the tackle but the ball was passed in to areas of Lanzini who completely missed the tackle and area for the goal.

2nd goal was a set piece from a corner. The 3rd goal was a mistake where a West ham player let the ball go to Leeds whilst West ham were going to go for an attack and Leeds were able to cut through the rest of the back of West ham.

 

[RkkMan]

Rice was involved in 2 of the goals yesterday.

He made the run that caused the corner that led to the 1st goal.

Rice then made the progressive pass to Antonio which led to Antonio setting the pass to the goalscorer.

I thought Rice was shit the way people were talking about him after the match - but when I looked at the replays he was involved in both attacking goals whilst he was not the cause of the goals vs West ham.

The first goal he went for the tackle but the ball was passed in to areas of Lanzini who completely missed the tackle and area for the goal.

2nd goal was a set piece from a corner. The 3rd goal was a mistake where a West ham player let the ball go to Leeds whilst West ham were going to go for an attack and Leeds were able to cut through the rest of the back of West ham.

He's not shit but he's DEFINITELY not worth the £100m West Ham are asking for, no CDM in the world is(and nowadays he plays more as a B2B)

 

[devilish]

Wasn't this guy on the same England's team that made Italy 's midfield look like prime Xavi and Iniesta? After throwing 200m in the bin for Maguire, Sancho and AWB I was expecting United to stir away from massively overrated and overpriced British players

 

[Bebestation]

He's not shit but he's DEFINITELY not worth the £100m West Ham are asking for, no CDM in the world is

I absolutely love Rice because I find him a very interesting player to watch who I've started to follow regularly - but at the same time I don't think he is worth 100mil because as you said, no one is and alot of players bought for such prices have failed whether they are English or not.

But at the same time, I'm not a fan who sits there crying about the money that has left us because ultimately its not come out of my wallet.

When I look at Pogba and him costing nearly 90 million - is it the price that fustrates me or his lack of consistency? For me it's the lack of consistency.

If anyone says Rice is not worth 100 mil, I would agree - but ultimately if we do sign him for that much then I wouldn't exactly be sitting there crying about it either.

 

[AneRu]

This is not directed at you but the kind of thinking rather. Caf said the same thing about Sancho. “if Maguire is worth 80m then Sancho is definitely worth 120m”. This kind of thinking is self-fulfilling. We pay more because we pay more.

Let’s say we do pay 100m for Rice in summer. For a DM. Then what happens when we are eventually in the market for a striker? Rice is not going to ever justify the price tag and other teams will ask for 150m for average prospects because they know we will pay. And then you don’t give a 100k a week contract to a 100m valued player obviously so they all get 200k a week wage.

We will never get out of this rut until we publicly distance ourselves from exorbitantly priced average players. Promote from the academy and let them show their worth. Or get players on loan. Worst case, find a solution from within the squad.

Agreed, the only way this move makes sense is if he'd be coming in as a final piece to a performing team that is just one player, a DM short, from challenging like Liverpool were before VVD. We don't have that here, we are in need of major surgery and of a huge shift in mentality - the more dramatic might say we don't have a team.

What we need now are two or three additions to balance out the squad so that the team becomes equally good on and off the ball. I think a braver manager should come in, maybe sign Tchouameni and a starting RB but have the like of Garner/Galbraith/Hannibal/Amad being given more prominent roles in the team.

I want to see Garner and Galbraith being able to play the CM playmaker role if paired with a DM who is on top of their game who can cover for some of their rough edges that lead to errors, a Ndidi type of player. I think it's only then that we can see more balance and bite with or without the ball. A more skillful RB gives us the ability to hurt teams from out wide.

If we don't become more confident with our youth and make a more conscious effort to play them it will take longer, if not forever, for us to move out of this rut.

 

[RedCurry]

I absolutely love Rice because I find him a very interesting player to watch who I've started to follow regularly - but at the same time I don't think he is worth 100mil because as you said, no one is and alot of players bought for such prices have failed whether they are English or not.

But at the same time, I'm not a fan who sits there crying about the money that has left us because ultimately its not come out of my wallet.

When I look at Pogba and him costing nearly 90 million - is it the price that fustrates me or his lack of consistency? For me it's the lack of consistency.

If anyone says Rice is not worth 100 mil, I would agree - but ultimately if we do sign him for that much then I wouldn't exactly be sitting there crying about it either.

100m itself is not inherently the problem. Ultimately, every supporter wants the best possible player to play and win trophies. The issues are a little deeper than that though

• When you buy a 100m player, you are likely also going to pay a lot in wages. You can’t indefinitely pay high transfer fee and high wages without running into financial troubles.
• The media will put all sorts of pressure on the manager to play the said player.
• Given our record of big money signing, we will chase Rice for entire winter and summer window and ignore any other areas that need strengthening.
• The owners will only allow a certain budget on transfers and we have more than one position to improve upon.
• No transfer comes without risks and if it doesn’t work out for him at United, with 100m transfer fee and whatever wages he will be on, he will be non-sellable like much of our underperforming squad.

 

[devilish]

I absolutely love Rice because I find him a very interesting player to watch who I've started to follow regularly - but at the same time I don't think he is worth 100mil because as you said, no one is and alot of players bought for such prices have failed whether they are English or not.

But at the same time, I'm not a fan who sits there crying about the money that has left us because ultimately its not come out of my wallet.

When I look at Pogba and him costing nearly 90 million - is it the price that fustrates me or his lack of consistency? For me it's the lack of consistency.

If anyone says Rice is not worth 100 mil, I would agree - but ultimately if we do sign him for that much then I wouldn't exactly be sitting there crying about it either.

Next year we need to brace ourselves to a max exodus of players. We can see up to 11 players leaving United (Henderson, Grant, Dalot/AWB, Bailly, Matic, Mata, Jesse, Cavani, Martial and Pogba). Most of these players will leave either for free or on peanuts and we'll need to replace some of them. Do you think its worth to spend our entire summer budget on someone whose not even WC such as Rice? Also what's the point of having a DOF, a technical director and an army of scouts if we can't look past spending silly in the EPL? We might as well fire Fletchery, Jony, Bouty and co and rely on football manager.

 

[Bebestation]

@devilish England took the lead in the euros at 2 mins and then the whole team went to park the bus as their tactic due to the managers decision.

It was nothing to do with just the midfielders - it was the whole team playing like a Mourinho team as soon as Shaw scored the goal at 2" mins.

Let's say its true that Rice was the reason that Italy controlled the game - England let in only 2 goals in the whole Euro 2021 tournament (I remember something about no shots on target until a certain point too), so just as people say he did shit all, he also did something too.

Let me see.. people want Tchouameni? Hoping that he doesn't turn out to be like Schneiderlin or Pogba? Our French flops? Hope he doesn't turn out like Greizmann the talk of the redcafe for 2 years who has been a massive flop as well playing in the same league he excelled at? The hype that Ndombele had at Monaco aswell and he can't even do sh*t at Spurs, every time he has one good game everyone dances their hope up once every 2 months. The hype of Ousamane Dembele and some guys still want him after costing millions and millions.

Hate this England players are overrated sh*t, acting like all these other players are always consistent. My arse.

Literally no Italian CM has been good enough in the PL either except Jorginho who is a Brazilian. Di canio & zola were more CAM & forwards.

Literally Pep has the option of turning City to a whole new Spanish team if he has wanted - but he went out of his way to buy walker, Stones, Grealish, Sterling whilst utilising both Foden and Palmer from his youth team.

And then we are supposed to think that utilising English players at an English club is useless.

And no, this act that people know what our transfer budget is bullshit aswell.

A CDM that can hold his position like Matic is not just a player we need to improve on, it's a player we do not have in the squad and stops us being able to play 3 man midfield formations.

Literally so many players are being linked who are more an upgrade on Fred than a replacement of Matic. Running all over the pitch chasing after the ball than protecting the defensive line like Matic does.

What about the free transfers? What about Tielemans? What about Kessie? What about Zakaria? A player like Tielemans would work wonders in midfield with Rice with each player covering each others weaknesses - and we have to pay 60 mil for a french midfielder who just might leave us on a free like Pogba is doing?

Not for me.

The only CM/CDM I want over Rice is Frenkie De Jong because they both have a history of playing in the defensive line and the midfield line - rather than pressing box to box players like Tchouameni who is more a Fred due to the way he is seen defending on the opposite side of the pitch in the positions you find CAM and then chasing back to slide tackle the players that have gotten a free role right in front of the CB'S that he was never covering.

 

[BlackShark_80]

If CDM was the only position we needed to upgrade to complete the puzzle, I'd have no issue with spending £80m on Rice but he is one of several signings we need to make right now so it's pretty hard to justify blowing so much of the budget on one player.

If City, Liverpool or Chelsea spent £80m on him I wouldn't look at that as money wasted on their part. No CDM is worth £100m for me.

I would say only Kimmich deserved for that money.

 

[CloneMC16]

I was definitely in the camp that was saying he was a bit overrated last season, but my opinion has changed. I thought he was a good player, but not as good as others were saying. After watching West Ham quite a few times, and looking at his statistics from this and last season, you can clearly see a big improvement. Especially going forward. He has taken on a lot more responsibility progressing and passing the ball forward. All of his passing stats have improved quite a bit. He's trying and completing a much wider range of passes. His defensive stats have always been good.

£100m is crazy money, though. I don't think he's worth that. Being English has driven up his valuation. For £100m, I would want one of the best #6's in the world. I don't think he's that (yet), but he's still an excellent player. He's only just turned 23, and I'm sure he will improve further as well. He would massively improve us.

 

[devilish]

@devilish England took the lead in the euros at 2 mins and then the whole team went to park the bus as their tactic due to the managers decision.

It was nothing to do with just the midfielders - it was the whole team playing like a Mourinho team as soon as Shaw scored the goal at 2" mins.

Let's say its true that Rice was the reason that Italy controlled the game - England let in only 2 goals in the whole Euro 2021 tournament (I remember something about no shots on target until a certain point too), so just as people say he did shit all, he also did something too.

Let me see.. people want Tchouameni? Hoping that he doesn't turn out to be like Schneiderlin or Pogba? Our French flops? Hope he doesn't turn out like Greizmann the talk of the redcafe for 2 years who has been a massive flop as well playing in the same league he excelled at? The hype that Ndombele had at Monaco aswell and he can't even do sh*t at Spurs, every time he has one good game everyone dances their hope up once every 2 months. The hype of Ousamane Dembele and some guys still want him after costing millions and millions.

Hate this England players are overrated sh*t, acting like all these other players are always consistent. My arse.

Literally no Italian CM has been good enough in the PL either except Jorginho who is a Brazilian. Di canio & zola were more CAM & forwards.

Literally Pep has the option of turning City to a whole new Spanish team if he has wanted - but he went out of his way to buy walker, Stones, Grealish, Sterling whilst utilising both Foden and Palmer from his youth team.

And then we are supposed to think that utilising English players at an English club is useless.

And no, this act that people know what our transfer budget is bullshit aswell.

A CDM that can hold his position like Matic is not just a player we need to improve on, it's a player we do not have in the squad and stops us being able to play 3 man midfield formations.

Literally so many players are being linked who are more an upgrade on Fred than a replacement of Matic. Running all over the pitch chasing after the ball than protecting the defensive line like Matic does.

What about the free transfers? What about Tielemans? What about Kessie? What about Zakaria? A player like Tielemans would work wonders in midfield with Rice with each player covering each others weaknesses - and we have to pay 60 mil for a french midfielder who just might leave us on a free like Pogba is doing?

Not for me.

The only CM/CDM I want over Rice is Frenkie De Jong because they both have a history of playing in the defensive line and the midfield line - rather than pressing box to box players like Tchouameni who is more a Fred due to the way he is seen defending on the opposite side of the pitch in the positions you find CAM and then chasing back to slide tackle the players that have gotten a free role right in front of the CB'S that he was never covering.

Still, Italy managed to embarrass England in Wembley. I assure you this is one of the weakest Italian national teams I've ever seen. The likes of Gattuso and the real Pirlo (not the Yorkshire knock off) would have annihilated both midfield with ease. So don't think for a second that I rate this Italy's CM. I don't and quite frankly no one does. They still made England look silly at home though.

Each signing is a risk. As said before we spent 200m on a brainless CB with zero pace, a fullback who can't cross a ball and the English Messi whose now spending his time waving at Elanga while sitting on the bench. All are English, all were supposed to be safe bets, all were supposed to have United's DNA and all turned out to be not very good. Which is why we need to act smart and start using the army of scouts we hire. You mentioned Schneiderlin as an example. Well we bought him for 24m and sold him off for 20m with clauses that rose to 24m. That's 4m lost. How much money would we lose if we decide to send Maguire back to his level? 40M? 50M? Would he accept the pay cut? I doubt it so we'll have to pay a huge chunk of his salary as well. That's the difference between acting smart and playing football manager.

As Steve Howson said the EPL is loaded. They don't need our money. So unless there's an EPL player who is heading towards the end of his contract then we shouldn't even consider buying him

If it was for me I'd bring Haidara and Kamara now. They are both young, they wouldn't cost a bomb, they are versatile, they won't throw a fit for spending some time on the bench, we're desperate for a CM to rescue the season and they are the players Rangnick want. After letting Ole blew 415m on mostly tripe we should at least let Rangnick get his bone especially since they probably wouldn't cost more then 50m. If they fail then we'll recoup most of the money as well. I'd start searching for buyers for Fred and VDB. VDB wants to leave while Fred is at the wrong end of his 20s which is a problem for a midfielder whose only asset is work rate. I doubt that the two are on crazy salaries so we should recoup 50m-60m on the pair. Meanwhile I'd secure Tielemans. A midfield made up of Haidara, Kamara, McT and Tielemans with Bruno as no 10 would mean that we would be in a position were we won't be begging clubs for their players as we did for Maguire and Sancho.

 

[Bebestation]

Still, Italy managed to embarrass England in Wembley. I assure you this is one of the weakest Italian national teams I've ever seen. The likes of Gattuso and the real Pirlo (not the Yorkshire knock off) would have annihilated both midfield with ease. So don't think for a second that I rate this Italy's CM. I don't and quite frankly no one does. They still made England look silly at home though.

Each signing is a risk. As said before we spent 200m on a brainless CB with zero pace, a fullback who can't cross a ball and the English Messi whose now spending his time waving at Elanga while sitting on the bench. All are English, all were supposed to be safe bets, all were supposed to have United's DNA and all turned out to be not very good. Which is why we need to act smart and start using the army of scouts we hire. You mentioned Schneiderlin as an example. Well we bought him for 24m and sold him off for 20m with clauses that rose to 24m. That's 4m lost. How much money would we lose if we decide to send Maguire back to his level? 40M? 50M? Would he accept the pay cut? I doubt it so we'll have to pay a huge chunk of his salary as well. That's the difference between acting smart and playing football manager.

As Steve Howson said the EPL is loaded. They don't need our money. So unless there's an EPL player who is heading towards the end of his contract then we shouldn't even consider buying him

If it was for me I'd bring Haidara and Kamara now. They are both young, they wouldn't cost a bomb, they are versatile, they won't throw a fit for spending some time on the bench, we're desperate for a CM to rescue the season and they are the players Rangnick want. After letting Ole blew 415m on mostly tripe we should at least let Rangnick get his bone especially since they probably wouldn't cost more then 50m. If they fail then we'll recoup most of the money as well. I'd start searching for buyers for Fred and VDB. VDB wants to leave while Fred is at the wrong end of his 20s which is a problem for a midfielder whose only asset is work rate. I doubt that the two are on crazy salaries so we should recoup 50m-60m on the pair. Meanwhile I'd secure Tielemans. A midfield made up of Haidara, Kamara, McT and Tielemans with Bruno as no 10 would mean that we would be in a position were we won't be begging clubs for their players as we did for Maguire and Sancho.

Okay, I don't rate Haidara and Kamara now - it makes me feel like we are turning to Red Bull United with their quality players.

The same as Naby Keita for Liverpool. Henderson, Milner, Widjnaldum, Fabinho, Chamberlain have all had much better performances than him.

Anyway, let's see how Haidara and Kamara develop and which clubs they end up playing well for -

In my opinion Haidara and Kamara wouldn't be able to stop, dictate and control the Italian Midfield of Jorginho, Barella and Verrati either.

Ps I didn't rate Sancho at Dortmund but his performances for us on the RW has been better than on the LW. He is playing only on the LW for us because we are overloaded on the front line - this seasons starting striker being used as our RW again etc.

Also, I'm not backing Maguire here but a defender with no pace would be much better with a Goalkeeper that isn't scared of coming off his line. I hardly had a problem with Maguire last season, especially when our GK changed to be more all rounded and we were less prone to counterattack with strikers who could hold up the ball better than they have been able to in this season.