Do we need to up our game with targeting free agents?

Lee565

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Seems like we very rarely get great pre agreements in place between January and when the summer window opens back up for those in the last year of their contracts compared to the likes of madrid, psg, juve, man City and Barcelona.

Whilst some contracts will likely change between now and January, there are some great options who are in the last year of their contracts - https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/endendevertraege

You have kante, Douglas Luiz, auoar, Teilimens, laimer ( likely odds on for Bayern), kroos (gotta re-create that ucl madrid team), guillamon (would be an absolute great signing) to help bolster our weak midfield.

oblak if we don't extend de gea contract.

moussa dembele, thuram and Zaha would all be good strength in depth options in attack if ronaldo leaves and we shift martial on and possibly rashford if he doesn't get his act together this season.

Skriniar (surely psg bound), gaya (replace shaw) and ndicka as options for our defence.
 
Either one of Thuram or Dembele makes a lot of sense. Not sure Guillamon is all that good, Aouar was benched by N'Dombele. Tielamens and Dahoud should be looked at as well
 
Not just free agents, we need to be targeting players with favourable contract situations in general. Players with a year or 2 years to go, where you've got a strong negotiating position.

Players are too expensive, and we're not rich enough to keep trying to bulldoze everyone over. That's where we get fecked over. It's a seller's market, so try and work in favourable conditions to optimize your chance of success.
 
If they're any good, quite simply.

Some of these you wouldn't even want for free at the moment. Tielemans for example, if he continues the form of the last season or so where he walks around and pings a few passes. Or an ancient Kante on his last big payday. They all leverage the free transfer into the contracts so unless they're going to be a proper contributor then it's quite costly to have them.

I think it's quite important to get ones that play the season well. Says a lot for their professionalism rather than just running a season down to get the big free contract they've been plotting.

So yeah, I think like any other transfer you still have to do the due diligence on the players.
 
I always feel that some clubs speak with players and agents and reach a gentlemen's agreement way before the law allows.
 
Yes.

Should sign a mix of free agents and then a small number of top transfers targets.

Bin off signing middle of the road players players.

Free agents are becoming more common due to ridiculous transfer fees pricing players out of a move, so we need to adapt to the times. It also makes it easier to move them on if needed, rather than being lumbered with 50m Wan-Bissaka or 80m Maguire. Can't lose face selling a free agent for £5m.
 
led_scholes said:
I always feel that some clubs speak with players and agents and reach a gentlemen's agreement way before the law allows.
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Yes, a couple of years before contract expiry they make agreements to run down the contract with an agreed signing on fee and salary, well before they become a free agent. I wouldn't be surprised if teams agree to insert a buyout clause in advance, for example city with haaland. Hopefully we have done that with all of our future targets....
 
Yeah, we need to be like some of the other big clubs across Europe who shamelessly tap players up and speak about targets in pressers. I think we’re too clean cut in how we conduct our transfer business.
 
You can only sign a Jan pre-contract with players outside your association. So foreign clubs have a six-month window to tie up Kante, Luiz and Zaha before United (or any other PL team).
 
100% if Oblak is available then we should offer him a better contract than he’s on to bring him in and move both De Gea and Henderson on which saves us £500K a week in wages plus whatever Henderson brings in transfer fee wise (£15-£25 million ?)

I’d probably bring in Zaha or Dembele on a free as Ronaldo will be off and both of those can play centrally as well as out wide which provides diversity and fluidity, don’t think Aouar on a free is a bad shout either if VDB is moved on.
 
Agreed. We need to start approaching these players' agents ahead of time. Part of the problem is that we don't really ramp up our transfer activity until the window actually opens, which means we end up playing catch-up.
 
Lee565 said:
Seems like we very rarely get great pre agreements in place between January and when the summer window opens back up for those in the last year of their contracts compared to the likes of madrid, psg, juve, man City and Barcelona.

Whilst some contracts will likely change between now and January, there are some great options who are in the last year of their contracts - https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/statistik/endendevertraege

You have kante, Douglas Luiz, auoar, Teilimens, laimer ( likely odds on for Bayern), kroos (gotta re-create that ucl madrid team), guillamon (would be an absolute great signing) to help bolster our weak midfield.

oblak if we don't extend de gea contract.

moussa dembele, thuram and Zaha would all be good strength in depth options in attack if ronaldo leaves and we shift martial on and possibly rashford if he doesn't get his act together this season.

Skriniar (surely psg bound), gaya (replace shaw) and ndicka as options for our defence.
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Oblak would be great on a free.

We'd have an open run on him too. None of the other big clubs really have a need for a keeper.
 
You need to be careful with this approach, you shouldn't sign players just because there's no fee involved. Juve did that and signed players like Ramsey on expensive contracts.

It depends more on fit. Eriksen? Great passer so a great pick up. Ousmane Dembele would've been a great pickup.

From that list only Zaha sticks out, maybe Tielemans as a depth option. The rest either aren't good enough or I haven't seen enough of. Kante's legs are gone.
 
The ones who make sense to me:

Messi - Basically inconceivable but sure, play him as a 9 he's still good enough on say a 2 year deal. Won't happen.

Zaha, Moussa Dembele or Brereton Diaz - Probably only makes sense if we don't think there's a striker worth the money and we want to save cash here and instead spend massive amounts elsewhere, like on De Jong and a top young RB like Malo Gusto and a top young CB to learn from and spell Varane, and a top GK. Also would require Martial (or Rashford) to have such a good season that we're comfortable signing a backup. Zaha is the biggest talent but flopped here and we didn't treat him great so seems unlikely, though if he's desperate for some CL football it is a different manager and executives. Brereton Diaz was signable this year for 15M or so and nobody went for it, so he's probably not seen as good enough and I don't watch enough Blackburn to know, though he does seem to be physical and link up well which does make sense if Rashford is the option against a high line and we just want a change of pace backup against Martial. But yeah, probably only Dembele here

Alexis Mac Allister - Started the season quite well playing a similar role to Eriksen and if we're not getting De Jong, then selling one of Fred or VDB and bringing him in would make a lot of sense

Bensebaini - Good player, could be a nice backup to Malacia and extending Shaw for a final year and selling him for 15-20M might be the best we can do here.

Tosin Adarabaiyo - Selling Maguire for 30M and signing him to backup Varane would be alright. He's giant and can pass the ball, makes sense as a backup to Varane

Gundogan - Similar to Mac Allister, though not a younger player, and also far less likely obviously, but splitting time with Eriksen, we'd be set in midfield

Douglas Luiz - Same spot as Gundogan and Mac Allister, but probably not quite good enough to make sense, though on a free, he could be a good backup to Eriksen

Laimer - Makes less sense tactically because neither he nor Casemiro are creative, but legs in midfield always useful. Presumably he'll end up at Bayern, Dortmund or Liverpool

N'Dicka - Haven't seen him much but highly rated and we could use a backup LCB.

Benzema - Tough to imagine, but it's Madrid, maybe they'll sign Mbappe or something insane will happen

Depay - I guess, I mean he's Dutch and does well for their national team as a 9, but tough to see him coming back. He's 28 already. I guess if we're skint it makes some sense.

TLDR: Alexis Mac Allister makes sense if he keeps up his form and we can't get De Jong and want to spend money on a star 9 like Osimhhen and a new keeper and RB and CB instead. N'Dicka probably also would be worth looking into, possibly Tosin as well.
 
davidmichael said:
100% if Oblak is available then we should offer him a better contract than he’s on to bring him in and move both De Gea and Henderson on which saves us £500K a week in wages plus whatever Henderson brings in transfer fee wise (£15-£25 million ?)
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No. Oblak is the same as de Gea - excellent shot stopper, but doesn’t look good at crosses at all
 
NoPace said:
The ones who make sense to me:

Messi - Basically inconceivable but sure, play him as a 9 he's still good enough on say a 2 year deal. Won't happen.

Zaha, Moussa Dembele or Brereton Diaz - Probably only makes sense if we don't think there's a striker worth the money and we want to save cash here and instead spend massive amounts elsewhere, like on De Jong and a top young RB like Malo Gusto and a top young CB to learn from and spell Varane, and a top GK. Also would require Martial (or Rashford) to have such a good season that we're comfortable signing a backup. Zaha is the biggest talent but flopped here and we didn't treat him great so seems unlikely, though if he's desperate for some CL football it is a different manager and executives. Brereton Diaz was signable this year for 15M or so and nobody went for it, so he's probably not seen as good enough and I don't watch enough Blackburn to know, though he does seem to be physical and link up well which does make sense if Rashford is the option against a high line and we just want a change of pace backup against Martial. But yeah, probably only Dembele here

Alexis Mac Allister - Started the season quite well playing a similar role to Eriksen and if we're not getting De Jong, then selling one of Fred or VDB and bringing him in would make a lot of sense

Bensebaini - Good player, could be a nice backup to Malacia and extending Shaw for a final year and selling him for 15-20M might be the best we can do here.

Tosin Adarabaiyo - Selling Maguire for 30M and signing him to backup Varane would be alright. He's giant and can pass the ball, makes sense as a backup to Varane

Gundogan - Similar to Mac Allister, though not a younger player, and also far less likely obviously, but splitting time with Eriksen, we'd be set in midfield

Douglas Luiz - Same spot as Gundogan and Mac Allister, but probably not quite good enough to make sense, though on a free, he could be a good backup to Eriksen

Laimer - Makes less sense tactically because neither he nor Casemiro are creative, but legs in midfield always useful. Presumably he'll end up at Bayern, Dortmund or Liverpool

N'Dicka - Haven't seen him much but highly rated and we could use a backup LCB.

Benzema - Tough to imagine, but it's Madrid, maybe they'll sign Mbappe or something insane will happen

Depay - I guess, I mean he's Dutch and does well for their national team as a 9, but tough to see him coming back. He's 28 already. I guess if we're skint it makes some sense.

TLDR: Alexis Mac Allister makes sense if he keeps up his form and we can't get De Jong and want to spend money on a star 9 like Osimhhen and a new keeper and RB and CB instead. N'Dicka probably also would be worth looking into, possibly Tosin as well.
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Messi would only happen with owners who are absolutely rolling in it, Gundogan boat definitely sailed back in 2015.
 
NoPace said:
The ones who make sense to me:

Messi - Basically inconceivable but sure, play him as a 9 he's still good enough on say a 2 year deal. Won't happen.

Zaha, Moussa Dembele or Brereton Diaz - Probably only makes sense if we don't think there's a striker worth the money and we want to save cash here and instead spend massive amounts elsewhere, like on De Jong and a top young RB like Malo Gusto and a top young CB to learn from and spell Varane, and a top GK. Also would require Martial (or Rashford) to have such a good season that we're comfortable signing a backup. Zaha is the biggest talent but flopped here and we didn't treat him great so seems unlikely, though if he's desperate for some CL football it is a different manager and executives. Brereton Diaz was signable this year for 15M or so and nobody went for it, so he's probably not seen as good enough and I don't watch enough Blackburn to know, though he does seem to be physical and link up well which does make sense if Rashford is the option against a high line and we just want a change of pace backup against Martial. But yeah, probably only Dembele here

Alexis Mac Allister - Started the season quite well playing a similar role to Eriksen and if we're not getting De Jong, then selling one of Fred or VDB and bringing him in would make a lot of sense

Bensebaini - Good player, could be a nice backup to Malacia and extending Shaw for a final year and selling him for 15-20M might be the best we can do here.

Tosin Adarabaiyo - Selling Maguire for 30M and signing him to backup Varane would be alright. He's giant and can pass the ball, makes sense as a backup to Varane

Gundogan - Similar to Mac Allister, though not a younger player, and also far less likely obviously, but splitting time with Eriksen, we'd be set in midfield

Douglas Luiz - Same spot as Gundogan and Mac Allister, but probably not quite good enough to make sense, though on a free, he could be a good backup to Eriksen

Laimer - Makes less sense tactically because neither he nor Casemiro are creative, but legs in midfield always useful. Presumably he'll end up at Bayern, Dortmund or Liverpool

N'Dicka - Haven't seen him much but highly rated and we could use a backup LCB.

Benzema - Tough to imagine, but it's Madrid, maybe they'll sign Mbappe or something insane will happen

Depay - I guess, I mean he's Dutch and does well for their national team as a 9, but tough to see him coming back. He's 28 already. I guess if we're skint it makes some sense.

TLDR: Alexis Mac Allister makes sense if he keeps up his form and we can't get De Jong and want to spend money on a star 9 like Osimhhen and a new keeper and RB and CB instead. N'Dicka probably also would be worth looking into, possibly Tosin as well.
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I think you are approaching this the wrong way round. We need to forget about who is free, and focus on who we want. Then we make sure that they don't sign a contract extension or move elsewhere. We get one of their international teammates to mention that he is wanted at United, and before he signs anything he should speak to us. It is also legal to ask an agent about availability, and price. So we could tell xxx's agent, when he is available we are very interested. We don't want to pay a transfer fee, but for a free transfer we are in. When is he likely to become available? Then he just runs his contract down. This way, we can get De Jong in three years time for nothing without having to bail out Lever FC.
 
For depth in the squad we absolutely should target 2/3 just to free up some money for positions we need in the starting 11.

Obviously someone like Oblak/Benzema is a no brainier.
 
croadyman said:
Messi would only happen with owners who are absolutely rolling in it, Gundogan boat definitely sailed back in 2015.
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It would be fantasy football and a marketing dream to have both ronaldo and messi in the same side and the image of both on the pitch for the same side would be something else but a nightmare for ten hag of dealing with these two past it global icons
 
Erik the Red said:
I think you are approaching this the wrong way round. We need to forget about who is free, and focus on who we want. Then we make sure that they don't sign a contract extension or move elsewhere. We get one of their international teammates to mention that he is wanted at United, and before he signs anything he should speak to us. It is also legal to ask an agent about availability, and price. So we could tell xxx's agent, when he is available we are very interested. We don't want to pay a transfer fee, but for a free transfer we are in. When is he likely to become available? Then he just runs his contract down. This way, we can get De Jong in three years time for nothing without having to bail out Lever FC.
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Not sure what this has to do with my post. I just gave my opinion on which players out of contract might actually improve our squad on frees, and as I said it's probably just Mac Allister as a backup and hopefully successor to Eriksen as our #8 who can create from deep, maybe Moussa Dembele if there's no strikers we want to pay up for and instead spend huge elsewhere (GK, RB, CB, #8 the obvious spots) and a more mobile CB like N'Dicka or Tosin to replace Maguire if he goes, which he should.
 
Usually signing on fee and bigger wages means you don't necessarily save that much money. Depends if the player is suitable more than anything.
 
I think so, definitely.

There are two ways we can address our shocking net spend and ensure more cash is available for those 'special' players.

One is to use the Academy better to 'farm' players for cash.

The second is to sign one or two good players on a free transfer every year to fill gaps in the squad. We shouldn't be having to 'buy' backup players, we should be able to pick up enough quality players on a free to fill the squad out.

And guess what....if they don't work out....sell them!
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
Usually signing on fee and bigger wages means you don't necessarily save that much money. Depends if the player is suitable more than anything.
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You probably save a bit, as the signing on fee is going to be less than the transfer fee, but also the signing on fee is split between the player and his agent, rather than enriching one of our direct competitors, and you get get the added advantage of not having to negotiate with another club.

Red Shorts said:
Isn't Gavi out of contract next season?
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Yes, he is one that is well worth chasing after, although I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't already got a verbal agreement with someone (maybe us?). This would completely screw Barca over, as we probably wouldn't even be in for him if they had paid Frenkie his deferred wages. Imagine having the pair of them in our midfield!!!
 
DevilRed said:
Oblak would be great on a free.

We'd have an open run on him too. None of the other big clubs really have a need for a keeper.
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No he wouldn't if you want to play a high line. He's a better version of De Gea but he's not the type of goalkeeper that allows the defenders in front of him to push up and I don't see Ten Hag wanting to touch him with a barge pole.
 
Surely we signed the best free agent this summer in Eriksen?

Liverpool would snap our hand off right now!
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
I've always wanted this. I'd love it if we kept close tabs on Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans. In those 2 we could upgrade our midfield depth for zip. Even a forward like Thuram would save us millions on a new 9
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Would Tielemans really be an upgrade? Looked absolutely horrendous against us. I think out of those names Aouar would fit us well.
 
Red Shorts said:
Isn't Gavi out of contract next season?
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Hard to imagine him wanting to swap barca for united like we saw with de jong at the moment for a lot of reasons like weather, stature of the club etc..
 
Lee565 said:
Yes and shows that we are missing out by not attempting free transfers and even loans more often each season and get pre agreements in place before the window opens in summer.
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We do sign FA every now and then. Ibrahimovic, Cavani, etc

Also remember we can't get Prem free agents on pre contract as its illegal
 
Yes. Wenger said it years ago because of the way transfers and wages are now, most players will just leave on free transfers so the market for it will be good
 
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