Donny Van De Beek

We need both. Unless you enjoy seeing Lingard and Pereira struggle.

It’s a squad solution. They are playing because Pogba is injured. When he isn’t, it would have been Fred, Pogba and McTominay - which would be considered ‘first choice’ and still not good enough, because Pogba can’t pass the ball to himself to control a game. I’d prefer Harry Winks personally, as I think he’d make our first choice midfield much better. That said, I’d take Donny as a back up.
 
Sounds like Flossie the carrier pigeon is getting prepared to deliver a bid.
 
I would be very happy if we could get him, £50m seems a lot though. Also, 1000% we're not in for him. Or anyone.
 
If i was a VDB a Ajax player and want to continue to improve and develop, would never join United on transfer first, loan with option to buy first. Lets see the workings of those coaches behind Ole and then make a decision.
 
Oh we can definitely improve the team. We could easily improve our team by cherry picking players from the bottom 6 in the PL let alone from Ajax. I just don't think we'd be desirable to Van De Beek. Better teams around Europe will be interested. Real Madrid were heavily linked with him weren't they?

You always seem to say the same things when we are linked with players. "We are shit, they won't come" which suggests you feel it's pointless trying to attract top talent. Can't understand that mindset. Top players move to underperforming clubs all the time.
 
You always seem to say the same things when we are linked with players. "We are shit, they won't come" which suggests you feel it's pointless trying to attract top talent. Can't understand that mindset. Top players move to underperforming clubs all the time.

Yes and everyone has a price. Although i still would rather the player ideally wants to play for us.

Dont want a repeat of Di Maria again.
 
Yes and everyone has a price. Although i still would rather the player ideally wants to play for us.

Dont want a repeat of Di Maria again.
He hated the league and its physicality, not us. (well not until the robbery anyways)
 
He hated the league and its physicality, not us. (well not until the robbery anyways)

The impression i got is that he did not want to join us but we outbid everyone else. One good thing about Ole is he is not falling for that.
 
We need a proper midfielder, not a player who plays ‘just in front’ of the midfield. Fred and McTominay is the part that needs upgrading most - a better ball-user and manipulator in the 8 position. VDB is not a player that helps us control a game.

I’d take VDB as he’s a good player, but not the upgrade on our first XI midfield as such.
And I agree. He's not going to stop us getting beaten up in midfield. That's part of the reason it's game over for us whenever the other team scorers first because we are never organised in a way so that we can be dominant in midfield. But I think he can be one of the main beneficiaries from a midfield conductor. I read that he is a goal scoring midfielder that arrives late into the box maybe he is very well suited to the game in England..
 
He'd be a really, really smart signing. I fully endorse this one, hope we can get it done in January.
 
And I agree. He's not going to stop us getting beaten up in midfield. That's part of the reason it's game over for us whenever the other team scorers first because we are never organised in a way so that we can be dominant in midfield. But I think he can be one of the main beneficiaries from a midfield conductor. I read that he is a goal scoring midfielder that arrives late into the box maybe he is very well suited to the game in England..

That’s exactly the type of player he is. We need the player that plays 10/15 yards behind him. Frenkie De Jong is the one who would have really transformed this team.
 
The impression i got is that he did not want to join us but we outbid everyone else. One good thing about Ole is he is not falling for that.
He could have said still said no. I think it was a combination of the physicality of the league and LVG being a massive weirdo combined with the break in that ruined him. Just a signing that didn't work out.
 
“I don’t want to leave during the winter break,” Van de Beek told Voetbal International.

“I play here all season, I finish at Ajax this year. That gives me clarity and tranquillity. I will see what happens next.

“Maybe someday in my career it will happen that I switch clubs during the winter break, but now I don’t like it.”
 
We absolutely need him and Soumare and then we need to sign another (2 if Pogba leaves) midfielder on top of that to finish the upgrade. That's not including the number 10 we need also. Look at City's squad and their back ups are better than our first teamers. Keep Fred, McTominay and Pogba (if possible), get rid of the rest and add VDB, Soumare and another midfielder. Then finally get a 10 and we'll be in better nick in the middle. Send Gomes (who hopefully stays) and Garner on loan next year.

The problem is that we need signings like VDB because we need to replace back up players along with signing nailed on starters. It's bleak and thats just midfield.
 
I can see he'd like to finish his season at Ajax, they're top of the league by 3 points. We can offer him a money, Europa and after 10-15 games a significant drop in fitness and training. Might want to see offers in the summer from CL clubs.
 
It’s a squad solution. They are playing because Pogba is injured. When he isn’t, it would have been Fred, Pogba and McTominay - which would be considered ‘first choice’ and still not good enough, because Pogba can’t pass the ball to himself to control a game. I’d prefer Harry Winks personally, as I think he’d make our first choice midfield much better. That said, I’d take Donny as a back up.
I don’t think Pogba will be staying or playing much for the rest of the season
 
People buying into this obvious brief a day after we get dominated by City, when will they learn
 
Even among the limited options who want to come here and are available in January, many players would be an improvement on what we currently have.

The more difficult bit is identifying players who not only provide that immediate improvement but are also future-proofed in the sense that they have the capacity to continue being useful over the long term, as opposed to being overtaken by squad progress and ending up being among the batch we then want to jettison.

Donny may not be all that (I'll bow to the knowledge of people who have watched him more regularly there) but he is a versatile 22 year old midfielder who has already demonstrated that he is capable of being a key part in a high-performing, technical side. Given the both difficulty of signing players in January and the desire not to compromise on long term planning for short term fixes, I would think he's the correct profile of player to realistically target in this scenario.

Of course there may be no truth in the story anyway so.... *shrugs*
 
Please be true. This player could become world class in the future. Already a very good player. Would better us from day one.
 
You always seem to say the same things when we are linked with players. "We are shit, they won't come" which suggests you feel it's pointless trying to attract top talent. Can't understand that mindset. Top players move to underperforming clubs all the time.

We are shit. Have you not watched us?

Top players thus far haven't shown an appetite for playing for Ole. Maguire, Wan Bissaka both decent players but not world class are they? James came from championship and has done okay.

I don't think we are that attractive right now with a foolish CEO, no CL football and a below average manager. Sorry to bring a dose of realism. I know fans like to pretend it's not that bad. Well it is. We won't win the PL or CL again for 10-15 years minimum unless there's major changes from top to bottom.
 
Reliable Dutch media are all reporting it now. So yes, there is truth to the story. But no talk about bids. Reading the articles it does look like there is contact between the clubs.

VI -the biggest Dutch football magazine- is reporting Ajax won't let him go before the summer. United wants him this window.
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/manchester-united-richt-pijlen-op-van-de-beek (yes, it's Dutch. Just hit the translate button)

AD -Big newspaper with very reliable Ajax watcher- is reporting the same. With a little piece about competing with Real Madrid.
https://www.ad.nl/transfer-talk/man...eze-maand-aftroeven-met-van-de-beek~addd04a2/
 
Reliable Dutch media are all reporting it now. So yes, there is truth to the story. But no talk about bids. Reading the articles it does look like there is contact between the clubs.

VI -the biggest Dutch football magazine- is reporting Ajax won't let him go before the summer. United wants him this window.
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/manchester-united-richt-pijlen-op-van-de-beek (yes, it's Dutch. Just hit the translate button)

AD -Big newspaper with very reliable Ajax watcher- is reporting the same. With a little piece about competing with Real Madrid.
https://www.ad.nl/transfer-talk/man...eze-maand-aftroeven-met-van-de-beek~addd04a2/
So it's real then. Question is if they let him go this window.

Need to overpay to make it happen. And we should.
 
He'd be a very welcome addition imo.

Good engine, good on the ball, and can play the final ball that we lack.