Harry Maguire | Signed

Status
Not open for further replies.
Don't be silly my guy, our debt is higher than the whole value of your club.

I don't mind you embracing your moment since winning the league but just try and make the best out of it, as very soon the natural order will be restored. :cool:
:lol::lol:

Interesting Insult.
 
Just randomly had a feeling this one's happening.
I think it will... Can't see us making a £70m bid, and then pulling out of the signing because of £10m. Hope it gets done, would sort out our CB situation (though would need to sell a couple of course). Think our midfield will remain a mess, but the defence I think we'll sort out with Wan Bissaka and Maguire. Never been a massive fan of his, but he's undoubtedly better than what we have, is big and strong, very good in the air so that partners Lindelof well, while also being good on the ball so we would have 2 CBs who can build the play up now. Also 2 CBs who stay fit so we could have a clear back 4 for the first time in a decade basically (and even then, our right backs were always changing).
 
I'm not just talking about us though, the luck that Leicester have struck is bound to finish very soon so it might be wise to get some money out of it while they can.
you don't achieve anything over a period of time via luck, its sound strategy and investment
Finances not your strong suit I take it?
humour isn't yous clearly
 
Don't be silly my guy, our debt is higher than the whole value of your club.

I don't mind you embracing your moment since winning the league but just try and make the best out of it, as very soon the natural order will be restored. :cool:

Think I've just found my favourite comment of this years transfer window.:lol:
 
I don't mind you embracing your moment since winning the league but just try and make the best out of it, as very soon the natural order will be restored. :cool:
The natural order when I was born was Liverpool finishing near the top and Man Utd moving around between 3rd and 13th... seems like we're there already!
 
you don't achieve anything over a period of time via luck, its sound strategy and investment

humour isn't yous clearly
You're a good sport I have to say, or as they say in the land where our pre-season tour is being held - a fair dinkum bloke.

But you probably understand why a comment like yours "tickles" a bit on a United forum, right? :D I just can't resist not biting.
 
So yeah, that's why it takes more than 2 days to prepare a bid, and more than 4 days to complete a transfer.

Yes but not 1 month? And I am sure you would agree they have conversations with agents who know what bid will be accepted.

Maguire's agent would be in contact with Manutd and Leicester, no way Manutd will be offering £80m if they didnt already know the player is interested. Therefore; Maguire's agent would have had conversations with Leciester who would have said £90m is his value and that would have been relayed to manutd. However; the transfer window is open for over a month so things have to happen quick, it cannot take a month to get bids lined up knowing it will be rejected and not to have a counter that is just foolish business planning.
 
Budgeting in organizations like Manchester United is a bigger undertaking than you imagine.

First: The club are looking at more than 1 player. It's not a simple question of "just bid £10 million more". £10 million is an absolutely insane amount of money. You might think its worthless, but to you and me, £10 million is fairytale money, but in regards to transfers its something we read about in the newspaper and don't have any relationship to, so its difficult to even imagine how much money this is.

The biggest distribution contract I've signed in my company was worth £4 million over 2 years, and we spent nearly 3 weeks arguing about variables that were worth a few thousand. My point is that nothing is straightforward.

Football contracts have clauses in them, and often the clauses are the sticking point. Clauses are offered, re-negotiated, improved on, rejected, rewritten and presesented in a new package. You have to go back, and forth, thinking needs to be made, people need to sign off. It's not a tit for tat process. Ed Woodward is not always part of a negotiation and he's in the loop, has to sign off on certain elements, you go back to the table, involve other people, and so you go. And that's just for the clauses.

When you offer say £10 mill for a player. The other club wants £15. What's the big deall, its just £5 million?

Firstly: The selling club nearly always has a overvalutation of their player. They want as much as they can get for a player. Simple enough.

The bidding club has an analyzis in place that evaluates all the players metrics and characteristics that place a max value on a player. And on top of that comes the "gut" feeling that has some leeway, but these numbers don't pop out of a hat. They are figures based on real data. Comparable transfers, a players age, potential (risk factor), inflation, all play a part in how much a player is both worth, and judged to be worth.

So if the bidding club don't want to go over their max value, and the selling club don't want to go down on their overvaluation, what then? Well you try to meet in the middle, throw offers back and forth, both parties have to swallow some pills, you include and remove clauses, and then finally start negotiating clauses that go into the selling contract, performance based, cap based, etc etc, there's too many variables to list. And on top of that the negotiating parties need time to think about the offer, maybe listen to other offers, and so on.

Also something that factors in is a clubs budget. A club like Manchester United has an enormous spending bill, and income report annually. Moving a number around in the clubs budget is not a small task. You can't just go "I'll just take £10 million from here". The club is bidding on other players as well, we have a transfer budget that might rely on players being sold on top of the money already allocated. Future income is judged into the budget for this year. Is a player x likely to bring us to CL and incrase our revenue? Well he's worth x% above our valuation with a risk%. Is that risk% acceptable? No? We walk way Yes? We try to meet in the middle.

Clubs are also in a position of bargaining power compared to us. Harry Maguire is not forcing a move from his club, and Leicester don't have to sell. Reports are that they want £85 million while Man united have made an official bid of £70 million pr. Simon Stone of BBC (Simon is 99.9% reliable). The valuation on the player is a new world record for a centreback. Our offer is already huge. They want more.

And so the clubs are currently going back and forth discussing potential deals. Money upfront, money over time, money based on performance, etc etc etc.

This takes a long long time. Unless a club simply pays the release clause, or by some miracle agree on the first bid, then the process of purchasing a player is a long one. It does take weeks and it's not at all a surprise.

So yeah, that's why it takes more than 2 days to prepare a bid, and more than 4 days to complete a transfer.
Great post.
 
The natural order when I was born was Liverpool finishing near the top and Man Utd moving around between 3rd and 13th... seems like we're there already!
Come on now, play nice or else the fox might end up on the devil's trident.
 
Just sign him ffs.. He improves our team.. And it is not our money..
Remember we are not in the Ferguson era, where players want to come to us to win leagues, champions league... We have to overpay now, to buy decent players as that is the only thing we can provide..
Lets buy him and improve our team.. lets get top 4.. then lets improve the team further.. that is way to go forward..

Posting for the first time after years of lurking and decades of fandom to say that these are exactly my thoughts. Without top four, there is a very real risk of a continued slide as the better players gravitate toward those with CL to offer. Pool finished out of the top 4 in 2009 and proceeded to remain outside the CL for five of the next six years (so 6/7 counting 2009).

There's no reason that couldn't happen here, especially with such a weak core as we have. Top four HAS to be the primary goal. Maguire will help. They should absolutely not pass if he's the best CB available.
 
Yes but not 1 month? And I am sure you would agree they have conversations with agents who know what bid will be accepted.

Maguire's agent would be in contact with Manutd and Leicester, no way Manutd will be offering £80m if they didnt already know the player is interested. Therefore; Maguire's agent would have had conversations with Leciester who would have said £90m is his value and that would have been relayed to manutd. However; the transfer window is open for over a month so things have to happen quick, it cannot take a month to get bids lined up knowing it will be rejected and not to have a counter that is just foolish business planning.

The club made a bid for Maguire July 2nd. It was rejected by Leicester. The reason it takes time to reach a counterbid is for all the reasons I've listed in my post. It simply takes time. The club is also exploring other options. They might not feel that Maguire is worth Leicesters asking price and are looking at better alternatives. We don't know what the club are doing. But if they are walking back to the table with an improved offer, it will take several days before an offer can be finalized and ready to present.

Man United's bid was £70 million, not £80m. Leicester are asking for £85 million. £15 million extra is to say it nicely, an astronomical amout of money extra. The club might be structuring a deal of £70 million + add-ons, we don't really know. There's many reason why a counter offer was not already prepared, or offered. It might have been prepared. The club might wait for Leicester to come down on their valuation, hoping that Maguire will ask for a transfer. The club might feel that £70 million should have gotten the job done, and if not then either Leicester meet them far down the middle of the asking price, or the club explores other options. Italian media reports that the club is exploring a deal of Nikola Milenkovic on top of, or including Maguire.

A big sticking point in the Wan-Bissaka deal was the clubs 25% sell-on clause involving Zaha. It probably took a long time for Crystal Palace to let it remain in place. They are trying to cash in big on Zaha, and that no doubt had a bearing on the add-on valuation. Crystal Palace are valuing Zaha at £100 million. £25million of that would go to Man United if the player was sold. There was no way that Matt Judge was going to let CP get both £45 million + 25% Zaha sell-on value for Wan-Bissaka. So one party eventually folded. Crystal Palace are investing in a stadium and actually need the money, so there was internal investor pressure to get the deal done, which is why they let go of the sell-on clause demand eventually.

So a deal that was pretty simple became a complicated one, and ended up taking lot of time.

Bad business planning is the least of Man Uniteds concern. I get that "Oh it takes so long everyone involved are clueless!". But are they though? Both Ed Woodward and Matt Judge are investment bankers, literally experts in their field. Not only experts, but extremely accomplished ones. Ed and Matt are not the ones who decide who the club should go for, that's Ole's job. Ed and Matt respectively sign off on the request, and negotiate the deal. Its their job to make it happen, it's Ole and Mike Phelan, in conjunction with the scouting departments job to bring them the names.

I understand the need for quick progress, but the transfer window is a huge jiggsaw puzzle.

Real Madrid completed a ton of signings early on because they made offers that met the selling clubs ask outright. If they can't sell Bale and at least one or more players for a good sum they are very likely to be unable to comply with FFP and might risk a transfer window ban.

Personally I like the way the club is negotiating the waters this window. I would have loved to see both Maguire and Bruno Fernandes in a club jersey by now, but I have a intimate knowledge about financial affairs, so I hope you'll just take my word for it that the club is working in due order and they will cross the finishline without being robbed.
 
Last edited:
The club made a bid for Maguire July 2nd. It was rejected by Leicester. The reason it takes time to reach a counterbid is for all the reasons I've listed in my post. It simply takes time. The club is also exploring other options. They might not feel that Maguire is worth Leicesters asking price and are looking at better alternatives. We don't know what the club are doing. But if they are walking back to the table with an improved offer, it will take several days before an offer can be finalized and ready to present.

Man United's bid was £70 million, not £80m. Leicester are asking for £85 million. £15 million extra is to say it nicely, an astronomical amout of money extra. The club might be structuring a deal of £70 million + add-ons, we don't really know. There's many reason why a counter offer was not already prepared, or offered. It might have been prepared. The club might wait for Leicester to come down on their valuation, hoping that Maguire will ask for a transfer. The club might feel that £70 million should have gotten the job done, and if not then either Leicester meet them far down the middle of the asking price, or the club explores other options. Italian media reports that the club is exploring a deal of Nikola Milenkovic on top of, or including Maguire.

Bad business planning is the least of Man Uniteds concern. I get that "Oh it takes so long everyone involved are clueless!". But are they though? Both Ed Woodward and Matt Judge are investment bankers, literally experts in their field. Not only experts, but extremely accomplished ones. Ed and Matt are not the ones who decide who the club should go for, that's Ole's job. Ed and Matt respectively sign off on the request, and negotiate the deal. Its their job to make it happen, it's Ole and Mike Phelan, in conjunction with the scouting departments job to bring them the names.

I understand the need for quick progress, but the transfer window is a huge jiggsaw puzzle.

Real Madrid completed a ton of signings early on because they made offers that met the selling clubs ask outright. If they can't sell Bale and at least one or more players for a good sum they are very likely to be unable to comply with FFP and might risk a transfer window ban.

Personally I like the way the club is negotiating the waters this window. I would have loved to see both Maguire and Bruno Fernandes in a club jersey by now, but I have a intimate knowledge about financial affairs, so I hope you'll just take my word for it that the club is working in due order and they will cross the finishline without being robbed.


Exactly, the first bid was made on 2nd July. It is 11th July now, we cannot afford to play cat and mouse. It is either you pay £80 /£85m or not at this stage.

I do not doubt the top men at Manutd will be the best in the field, having the best Investement bankers in a commercial setting doesn't make you the best at footballing negotiations. It is quite clear both are reactive rather than proactive in the transfer market.

So you are trying to tell me Ole is just putting a list together now? Ole knew from April / May what he needs, so why the scatter gun approach now? Longstaff, Lemina, Savic, bruno etc... Surely youd have top choices, 2nd choices, and third choices.

You are making it sound it is an impossible task when other clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern, Juve, City, Liverpool, Spurs seem to get their business done early? Liverpool this season dont need players so they are taking their time. Spurs knew they needed a Cm and got him. Real madrid knew they needed an overhaul and got it done.

That is what good business men/ women do, and in every deal unless there is a release clause there will be someone to lose out. Either you over pay, or the selling club loses out, that is how business is done.
 
Don't be silly my guy, our debt is higher than the whole value of your club.

:lol: interesting take

Real Madrid completed a ton of signings early on because they made offers that met the selling clubs ask outright. If they can't sell Bale and at least one or more players for a good sum they are very likely to be unable to comply with FFP and might risk a transfer window ban.

You do have some valid points, but the reason why some clubs have their transfers done pretty quickly or there is not much back and forth is because they start with the transfer business well before the actual window opens. And with a clear transfer strategy meaning the transfer targets are identified, they willingness and wages well known, even the valuation from the other clubs. Madrid didn't ask for Hazard at the start of the window, but well before and they just finalized the deal once the window opened. So, no, if you think they just paid whatever Chelsea was asking outright you are wrong. You only have to see how many add-ons that deal actually has on top of basic price to recognize that the deal was negotiated probably over a month or two. We concluded many of our signing pretty early during Fergie's years and it is exactly the sign of a good business planing or preparations for a transfer window.
So, bad business planning is not least of our problems. Our transfer dealings in general have been questionable in recent years. And you can say that for both in and out transfer business.

Saying that, think this will happen. It went too quiet after a massive bid, so reckon that the clubs will meet with the valuation in the end.
 
If it means no Maguire because of 10 million, then it's a shame, but I'm happy if we get Milenkovic in.
 
Of course Man Utd are a bigger club than us (Leicester) but we have very rich owners who don’t need to sell Harry Maguire at the minute. If you can’t meet £80m then it looks like you might have to forget it. Why should we sell him any cheaper?
 
Budgeting in organizations like Manchester United is a bigger undertaking than you imagine.

First: The club are looking at more than 1 player. It's not a simple question of "just bid £10 million more". £10 million is an absolutely insane amount of money. You might think its worthless, but to you and me, £10 million is fairytale money, but in regards to transfers its something we read about in the newspaper and don't have any relationship to, so its difficult to even imagine how much money this is.

The biggest distribution contract I've signed in my company was worth £4 million over 2 years, and we spent nearly 3 weeks arguing about variables that were worth a few thousand. My point is that nothing is straightforward.

Football contracts have clauses in them, and often the clauses are the sticking point. Clauses are offered, re-negotiated, improved on, rejected, rewritten and presesented in a new package. You have to go back, and forth, thinking needs to be made, people need to sign off. It's not a tit for tat process. Ed Woodward is not always part of a negotiation and he's in the loop, has to sign off on certain elements, you go back to the table, involve other people, and so you go. And that's just for the clauses.

When you offer say £10 mill for a player. The other club wants £15. What's the big deall, its just £5 million?

Firstly: The selling club nearly always has a overvalutation of their player. They want as much as they can get for a player. Simple enough.

The bidding club has an analyzis in place that evaluates all the players metrics and characteristics that place a max value on a player. And on top of that comes the "gut" feeling that has some leeway, but these numbers don't pop out of a hat. They are figures based on real data. Comparable transfers, a players age, potential (risk factor), inflation, all play a part in how much a player is both worth, and judged to be worth.

So if the bidding club don't want to go over their max value, and the selling club don't want to go down on their overvaluation, what then? Well you try to meet in the middle, throw offers back and forth, both parties have to swallow some pills, you include and remove clauses, and then finally start negotiating clauses that go into the selling contract, performance based, cap based, etc etc, there's too many variables to list. And on top of that the negotiating parties need time to think about the offer, maybe listen to other offers, and so on.

Also something that factors in is a clubs budget. A club like Manchester United has an enormous spending bill, and income report annually. Moving a number around in the clubs budget is not a small task. You can't just go "I'll just take £10 million from here". The club is bidding on other players as well, we have a transfer budget that might rely on players being sold on top of the money already allocated. Future income is judged into the budget for this year. Is a player x likely to bring us to CL and incrase our revenue? Well he's worth x% above our valuation with a risk%. Is that risk% acceptable? No? We walk way Yes? We try to meet in the middle.

Clubs are also in a position of bargaining power compared to us. Harry Maguire is not forcing a move from his club, and Leicester don't have to sell. Reports are that they want £85 million while Man united have made an official bid of £70 million pr. Simon Stone of BBC (Simon is 99.9% reliable). The valuation on the player is a new world record for a centreback. Our offer is already huge. They want more.

And so the clubs are currently going back and forth discussing potential deals. Money upfront, money over time, money based on performance, etc etc etc.

This takes a long long time. Unless a club simply pays the release clause, or by some miracle agree on the first bid, then the process of purchasing a player is a long one. It does take weeks and it's not at all a surprise.

So yeah, that's why it takes more than 2 days to prepare a bid, and more than 4 days to complete a transfer.

The club made a bid for Maguire July 2nd. It was rejected by Leicester. The reason it takes time to reach a counterbid is for all the reasons I've listed in my post. It simply takes time. The club is also exploring other options. They might not feel that Maguire is worth Leicesters asking price and are looking at better alternatives. We don't know what the club are doing. But if they are walking back to the table with an improved offer, it will take several days before an offer can be finalized and ready to present.

Man United's bid was £70 million, not £80m. Leicester are asking for £85 million. £15 million extra is to say it nicely, an astronomical amout of money extra. The club might be structuring a deal of £70 million + add-ons, we don't really know. There's many reason why a counter offer was not already prepared, or offered. It might have been prepared. The club might wait for Leicester to come down on their valuation, hoping that Maguire will ask for a transfer. The club might feel that £70 million should have gotten the job done, and if not then either Leicester meet them far down the middle of the asking price, or the club explores other options. Italian media reports that the club is exploring a deal of Nikola Milenkovic on top of, or including Maguire.

A big sticking point in the Wan-Bissaka deal was the clubs 25% sell-on clause involving Zaha. It probably took a long time for Crystal Palace to let it remain in place. They are trying to cash in big on Zaha, and that no doubt had a bearing on the add-on valuation. Crystal Palace are valuing Zaha at £100 million. £25million of that would go to Man United if the player was sold. There was no way that Matt Judge was going to let CP get both £45 million + 25% Zaha sell-on value for Wan-Bissaka. So one party eventually folded. Crystal Palace are investing in a stadium and actually need the money, so there was internal investor pressure to get the deal done, which is why they let go of the sell-on clause demand eventually.

So a deal that was pretty simple became a complicated one, and ended up taking lot of time.

Bad business planning is the least of Man Uniteds concern. I get that "Oh it takes so long everyone involved are clueless!". But are they though? Both Ed Woodward and Matt Judge are investment bankers, literally experts in their field. Not only experts, but extremely accomplished ones. Ed and Matt are not the ones who decide who the club should go for, that's Ole's job. Ed and Matt respectively sign off on the request, and negotiate the deal. Its their job to make it happen, it's Ole and Mike Phelan, in conjunction with the scouting departments job to bring them the names.

I understand the need for quick progress, but the transfer window is a huge jiggsaw puzzle.

Real Madrid completed a ton of signings early on because they made offers that met the selling clubs ask outright. If they can't sell Bale and at least one or more players for a good sum they are very likely to be unable to comply with FFP and might risk a transfer window ban.

Personally I like the way the club is negotiating the waters this window. I would have loved to see both Maguire and Bruno Fernandes in a club jersey by now, but I have a intimate knowledge about financial affairs, so I hope you'll just take my word forit that the club is working in due order and they will cross the finishline without being robbed.

Massive respect @Tom Cato

The better we know how it works the easier it is to understand all ups and downs. Tell Woody that whatever they pay you’re worth it.

Joking asides what I hope is that our negotiators have learned over the last seasons is to find a structure regarding contracts that includes more detailed performance related clauses. Sánchez and Matic was probably the tipping point regarding buying “over the hill” players from what I can see.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.