First window a manager under Glazers has actually got his 'first choice' transfer targets?

EireRed_GS

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If we complete the Hojlund deal (which looks likely), and manage to get Amrabat..

Is this the first season, under the parasites that are the Glazers, that a manager will actually get his "first choice targets??" (thats assuming he wanted Hojlund over Kane)

I know we were linked with everyone and their dog since last season ended, but signing Onana(45m) , Mount(55m) , Hojlund(65m?) & Amrabat(??m) could be considered a pretty decent window.. covers the weak areas we had on the pitch.. Or am i missing a big name that EtH really wanted over the summer?

Makes me wonder what this means for Glazers and their intentions, are they staying as expected and hoping another commercial deal evens this out for ffp, or are they leaving and letting next owners pay these fees off?
 
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Early june Sky or the BBC said he wanted Mount, Rice and Kane. So I don't know.

I would say Mourinho got everything he wanted too. Even when he said otherwise after he got sacked. They gave him Pogba, Lukaku, Lindelof, Bailly, Matic, Mkhitaryan, Zlatan and Fred.
 
I'm definitely surprised that we've spent what we have considering the club's future is still up in the air.

But it probably is the first time we've properly identified who we want/need and gone out and got them. The mess that we've seen over the years is really all down to Woodward. I'd chalk this window down as Woodward not having a hand in transfers and Murtough/Arnold having had chance to settle into their roles.
 
I'm not complaining about the transfers or anything, but how do we know that these were all his first choices?
 
Wasn’t Kane the first choice target?

also, managers seldom get all their first targets anyway. That’s one of the points of managing
 
I think Onana is probably his first choice.

Hojlund - we were linked pretty strongly with Sesko, Kane, Gakpo, Osimhen, and Kudus over the last 12 months. I think Hojlund is probably the least prohibitive in terms of cost.
Mount & Amrabat - we were linked with FdJ, Rice and Rabiot for these roles over the last 12 months, and again, probably because of wages, cost or Barca being cnuts that we didn't pull the trigger.
 
It was widely reported we wanted Kane/ Osimhen, KMJ & Mount of those we got 1, we then went to plan B which looked at a cheaper striker and a keeper instead, it looks like we got the first choice keeper but it's clear we wanted a higher profile striker.

As far as defenders go, first and second choice have already gone so while it's an improvement I don't think we have been quick enough still where Arsenal got 3 signings for the tour and we had 1 by the time we flew out
 
I'm pretty sure he wanted Rice and Kane but no matter, we finished our business early which is a big positive.
 
The Corinthian said:
I think Onana is probably his first choice.

Hojlund - we were linked pretty strongly with Sesko, Kane, Gakpo, Osimhen, and Kudus over the last 12 months. I think Hojlund is probably the least prohibitive in terms of cost.
Mount & Amrabat - we were linked with FdJ, Rice and Rabiot for these roles over the last 12 months, and again, probably because of wages, cost or Barca being cnuts that we didn't pull the trigger.
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Its possible Onana wasn't even first choice. We were mostly interested in Costa until we were priced out I think?

Kane I believe was his first choice for the CF position, and arguably Rabiot was preferred before Amrabat became linked to us.

Mount I think was an opportunity signing once we realised he definitely wasn't signing a new contract.
 
I'm not convinced any of our signings apart from Onana were first choice. I think they were just first choice that were easily available. A nice change from chasing targets all summer who don't want to come or the club really dont want to sell.
 
I think ETH likes what he has signed, but I don't think we got what he really wanted. I think he would have preferred to have Kane and Rasmus but ultimately Kane was priced out of it and we ended up spending more than expected for Rasmus. I also think he wanted Rice. But in saying that, I think our incomings have been better thought out than previous years. Lets just hope they are successful.
 
Kaos said:
Its possible Onana wasn't even first choice. We were mostly interested in Costa until we were priced out I think?
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Perhaps - in this instance, I'm glad we've landed Onana instead of Costa. I've been a huge fan of the guy from his Ajax days.
 
Mourinho (16/17, 17/18)
Solskjaer (19/20, 21/22)

We've indulged them too much for the most part.
 
The Glazers know they have to keep the first team ticking. They've let the other stuff go to wrack and ruin, but a successful first team generates money, which is why they've let United spend its money on pricy managers and players.
 
The Corinthian said:
Perhaps - in this instance, I'm glad we've landed Onana instead of Costa. I've been a huge fan of the guy from his Ajax days.
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Oh for sure, often plan B signings end up being just as good if not better.

See Ronaldo vs Ronaldinho, Martinez vs Timber etc. Ole vs Shearer is a debatable one since I feel Shearer would have been an absolute monster for us, but Ole wasn't too shabby of a backup ;)
 
The idea behind first choice targets is moronic. This isn't football manager.

Unless you're an idiot your first choice striker target should be one of Haaland or Mbappe. Well they're quite obviously not available to us or within our budget. Neither was Harry Kane but for some reason a lot of delusional fools here believe that he was, when all the evidence suggests the contrary.
 
I doubt Kane was the first choice target personally, particularly from a stylistic perspective. EtH is looking for a high intensity pressing team and it appears he's gone for the better fit rather than the better player (which I'm totally onboard with).
 
I don't know if it's the first choice targets but definitely three players he wanted, and we plugged the three main gaps we had

I think it's the first summer where we've plugged all the major gaps, anyway
 
Glorio said:
I doubt Kane was the first choice target personally, particularly from a stylistic perspective. EtH is looking for a high intensity pressing team and it appears he's gone for the better fit rather than the better player (which I'm totally onboard with).
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I think there's very little chance EtH wouldn't have been interested. A world class striker guaranteed to get you 20+ goals a season? He's not as stylistically incompatible as you'd think he is too, considering he'd perfectly slot into this deep-lying forward role he's been experimenting with Sancho.
 
Kaos said:
Oh for sure, often plan B signings end up being just as good if not better.

See Ronaldo vs Ronaldinho, Martinez vs Timber etc. Ole vs Shearer is a debatable one since I feel Shearer would have been an absolute monster for us, but Ole wasn't too shabby of a backup ;)
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I think Gvardiol was on the shortlist also when we bought Martinez. I love Martinez and wouldn't trade him for anyone but Gvardiol is equally good and I have a feeling he'll become something absolutely amazing. But he might not have been first choice though? There were however a lot of reports we put in a bid for him last year.
 
When did Harry Kane sign? That's fantastic news
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Does any manager, at any club, ever get all the players they'd like to sign in a summer transfer window?

Even City's bottomless pockets hasn't got Pep everyone he wanted (Rice, Kane etc)
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You're right, City are one of the few clubs in the world that are capable to sign anyone and even they can't get all their first targets.
 
By 'first choice targets'. I more meant realistic 1st choice.. (not Mbappe / Haaland / Kane / etc etc).

Forgot all about Rice, but something tells me he wasnt a target of EtH anyway.. it was very unlikely he would have come to Utd in the first place (going by Rice's previous coments)

I think the Kane option was up in the air, as you dont know what kind of mood Levy is gonna be in for what he wants, and is pointless talking to him most of the time as he wants crazy unrealistic fees.

Rabiot was a realistic option, but for all we know the negotiations with his mad mum last year may have put the club off a bit.

I think FdJ may have been unrealistic and off the cards since the fiasco of last season. He doesnt seem to want to leave barca, would be another waste of a summer trying to convince him again.

With the likes of Oshimen etc, I think alot of them just fall into the usual 'Linked with / interested in' section that we always have the papers linking us with everyone, with nothing that actually links us with them.
 
The problem has never been funds but management. Directly it was Woodward fault but the Glazers are responsible for Woodward so it's still their fault. I think if we continue this way success will return (not necessarily Ferguson level dominance).
From a pure football perspective Woodward era was incompetence at the highest level. How can you spend so much on so much poor signings achieving so little, but we know the focus was more on getting sponsorship deals. We became a glorified ad agency.
 
If we identify the weakness in the squad. Bring in players to counter those weaknesses, and conclude our business before the start of the season. Then I'm happy.
 
Just to name a few including last season:

Timber
FDJ
Rabiot
Núñez
Gakpo
Felix
Costa
KMJ
Disasi
Gusto
Kane
 
Fully Fledged said:
If we identify the weakness in the squad. Bring in players to counter those weaknesses, and conclude our business before the start of the season. Then I'm happy.
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This ^^. we seem to have ignored this strategy for a good while now though.. good to see they are actually sorting it
 
Skills said:
Mourinho (16/17, 17/18)
Solskjaer (19/20, 21/22)

We've indulged them too much for the most part.
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And are still trying to get rid of most of the shite they brought in.

I like the way ETH doesn't dick about, he knows what he wants if that player or the selling club is taking the piss or not interested, he just moves on to the next alternative.
 
If we'd been run better in terms of managing wages and flip-flop recruitment then Kane would have been a possibility this summer for sure. There's only so often a player of his calibre becomes available on the market, and that the club hasn't set itself up in a way to take advantage of that is really disappointing.
 
No because we didn't sign Frenkie De Jong. ETH would choose Frenkie in a heart beat over any player that was signed since he started managing the club.
 
Scandi Red said:
I'm not complaining about the transfers or anything, but how do we know that these were all his first choices?
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We don't. The only difference is without Woodward there isn't someome fumbling about turning every transfer into a saga and deliberately leaking every bid we make to the press.

We've still got one hand tied because of him where we've overpaid for so many misfit players and then ended up with them running their contract down where he wouldn't sell them.

I know the Glazers get all the stick (and rightly so, as apart from anything else, they appointed him), but I wouldn't underestimate just how much of a collosal idiot Woodward was and the impact it had on our transfer dealings, whether first choice or not.
 
I'm not sure Hojlund was first choice but i dont know who was. I don't think Ten Hag really wanted Kane, that was just the usual tabloid clickbait nonsense they wheel out every single summer. Maybe Osimhen was.

Mount was first choice but that was only because we knew nobody better was available.
 
noodlehair said:
We don't. The only difference is without Woodward there isn't someome fumbling about turning every tramsfer into a saga and deliberately leaking every bid we make to the press
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I think thats it, im probably assuming these are all some of his first choices, simply as we dont have the usual circus that E.W brought to every window. We prob wont ever know.. but end of day, if EtH is happy enough, thats good enough for me
 
EireRed_GS said:
I think thats it, im probably assuming these are all some of his first choices, simply as we dont have the usual circus that E.W brought to every window. We prob wont ever know.. but end of day, if EtH is happy enough, thats good enough for me
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Yeah. Someone else mentioned FDJ as an example. I suspect if ETH could have chosen anyone he wanted it wouldn't be the same three players, but quite possible they were the three highest names on the target lists that were realistic.

Either way, it's a marked improvement on taking 2 years to overpay for players, when it's by that point already obvious the manager they've signed to play under is going to be sacked.
 
I don't think we have gotten all our first choice targets. But it's the first time since Fergie/Gill that a manager is adequatetly supported in his second summer transfer window and that we can see sensible squad-planning. I guess it has a lot to do with Arnold, Murthough and the new football hierarchy.
 
Whoever wonder say our first choice is Kane, Rice, KJM is probably wrong. Everyone knows how much Kane and Rice would cost and Caicedo as well. These are signing between 80-100 million. Who honestly feel United is able to spend 3-400 million in the transfer market without a new owner? I think Mount, Onana and Hoijung are probably on the 1st choice list and we manage to sign them
 
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