fps
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- Dec 22, 2018
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Every season, it feels like we get to the end of it then look around, blow our cheeks out and ask "So who's available then?". This summer looking no different so far.
I find the bubble some people are putting themselves in, where we somehow exist outside the realm of what's going on around us, quite fascinating to observe.Teams that finished above us: Haland, Alvarez, Nunez, Perisic, Saliba
We: ???
The issue is clear. We can't even back our new manager because our owners use the clubs money for cumrags
This while losing a bunch of players on a free. Pathetic. If you ever wonder what the ambitions for our owners are it's clear as day and have been for ages now. Not going to delude myself and think otherwise until they are gone
DM is the priority
We are a not a top club anymore.so it's not useful to point out the top two clubs in the country have done major business by July 13 and the club which scrapped sixth spot has done nothing...? this is exactly why we are where we are
When Erik ten Hag flew to London last month he knew the sheer scale of the task awaiting him at Manchester United.
The Dutchman had arrived at the club’s Mayfair headquarters as early as possible after finishing his commitments with Ajax to get a head start before the new season.
He spoke with confidence and purpose over his plans to get the club back on track in his first meeting with the media but with the transfer window having being open less than a week he will realise more than ever how difficult it will be to realise his vision.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have already strengthened while United chiefs continue to work on a deal to bring their first summer signing to the club. The ideal is that all new arrivals will be at the club before they fly to Thailand on pre-season tour on July 8 but with no deal close to being completed, as it stands, that will be a stretch.
The Times understands talks are ongoing between the club and Barcelona over a deal for Frenkie de Jong but an agreement needs to be reached on the fee. The La Liga side are in a tough financial situation but United are not willing to overpay for the Holland midfielder which could lead to the deal dragging on.
In one of his numerous brutally honest press conferences Ralf Rangnick warned his predecessor that signing players ahead of Liverpool, City and Chelsea would be tricky and the realities of that are now facing the Dutchman.
Erling Haaland, with his father’s links to City, always seemed destined for the Etihad and now United have been left watching from the wings as Liverpool agree a deal for another player of interest: Darwin Núñez.
The 22-year-old forward was one of a number of players on United’s list of targets. The recruitment department draws up lists for each position and the manager works with football director John Murtough and chief executive Richard Arnold over the order of importance ahead of starting negotiations.
The manner in which United go about their transfer business and negotiations has come under scrutiny in recent years. Protracted discussions without a coherent strategy involving too many people is one of the main criticisms levelled at the club.
While there was a feeling of optimism that the strategy had started to change — Murtough and Darren Fletcher have been handed new roles as football director and technical director, respectively — some sources close to the Núñez deal claim Liverpool’s approach was more streamlined which gave them a significant advantage over United.
From the outside it looks like another player — with the profile to solve one of United’s main issues of overreliance on Cristiano Ronaldo — that has gone elsewhere.
From the inside United do not believe they have missed out. While there were talks and there is an acceptance that he was a player of interest there was never a bid from United as they prioritise spending on a midfielder first.
De Jong is the priority target while Declan Rice is of interest but United would be unwilling to pay the huge fee West Ham United would demand. After securing a midfielder the understanding is they would like to bolster their attacking options. They have not restricted themselves to only signing a centre forward, and right winger Antony, who played for Ten Hag at Ajax, is on their radar. It is also understood that a defender is on the transfer list with Ten Hag keen on another of his former players in Jurrien Timber as well as Villarreal centre back Pau Torres.
Sources say Núñez’s agent, Jorge Mendes, made United aware of the price but the club were not prepared to get involved in a bidding war with Liverpool over a player who was never a priority target.
But, the unfortunate reality for United at the moment is that, even if they had decided to go head to head with Liverpool, they are not the proposition they once were. There is a strong belief within the club they still have pulling power when it comes to landing targets but for players with interest from the top four, it would take a lot of persuading to get them to pick Old Trafford.
Rewind to 2005 and Liverpool missed out on Nemanja Vidic with the Serbian picking Old Trafford. The Merseyside outfit ended up with Daniel Agger instead. Now the tables have turned.
It is not only the big names in the Premier League that United are competing against. Ajax midfielder Ryan Gravenberch revealed this week he had spoken to Ten Hag about a transfer to United before ultimately deciding to move to Bayern Munich.
As Rangnick put it, the club needs to be “realistic”. And the reality is that, without Champions League football and at the beginning of yet another rebuild, the selling pitch to some players has become a lot more difficult than it used to be.
The size of the task laid at Ten Hag’s door will be getting clearer to the Dutchman each day.
This idea that you can do business involving multi million pound deals and keep it under the radar is fantasy. We might not brief the press, but surely any agent worth his salt, and also the selling club would let it be known that player X is available and in discussions. Why should they give a stuff about our transfer plans, end of the day they need to maximise the money they make from selling the player, and I struggle to think of a scenario where that could happen without a bit of noise to attract other suitors / facilitate negotiations.We've clearly reached the stage of the summer where it's one of two situations:
1. ETH and the new crew are really quietly going about their business, and the press have no clue (outside FDJ)
2. ETH and the new crew are doing sweet f*ck all and we're once again going to do a transfer window wrong by not integrating players in pre-season
Given the fact that 7 first teamers have left the club - and these were oddly celebrated as a social media event - someone is aware we have a large hole in our playing squad. So I have, HAVE to assume it's the former option. Which would be amazing. It's in the boards interest, the manager's interest and of course our interest to have a really good summer. If they don't sort it out, the pressure is going to continue to mount in a way that at the very least makes the poor Glazers a bit less comfortable with their theivery.
Are you being sarcastic?Calm down, people. It's a World Cup year. Glazers will work on these deals once the players get back from the tournament.
No value in January. We will get new players next summer.Are you being sarcastic?
Are we hopeful for a great January transfer window?
What's clear is we're still incapable of negotiating several transfers at once. And those that say that our subsequent transfer dealings are dependent on whether we get FDJ over the line - well that itself is testament to incredibly poor planning. As it stands we're going into preseason with the same failure of a squad from last season, but with even more depleted with outgoings and no one coming in to reinforce it.
I hope our board aren't expecting ETH to be some miracle worker that'll transform the jokers from last season into a CL pedigree team.
Nothing short of embarassing. What is going on at board level, surely Ten Haag was tapped up months ago, therefore we would have had a list of wants and not wanted. We havent shipped anyone really - only the released players have left and we havent brought anyone in?
We'll be at a bootsale soon near you - on our little table will be Aaron Wan Bissaka, Phil Jones, Eric Bailey and Antony Martial - pop along you might pick up a bargain...................................................
Bollox!!!!!!!
Erik ten Hag finding it tough to sell the Manchester United project
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-sell-the-manchester-united-project-kzdctbtpw
What a bunch of horsesht. Can't wait for us to get back to the top and for the vultures in the media to go mad again in frenzy over our success.
I don’t expect we will get into top 4 next season to be honest. All I hope is that we will get more money ball type of signings this summer, to get play the way ETH is looking for. But it seems we are heading into wrong direction into transfer market so far, onto those unrealistic/fairly expensive targets who doesn’t want to join us.Looking at those lineups they do indeed have us beat and both teams have only so far added Halaand and Nunez to their teams. They might add more and the gap will be even bigger. I've given up catching them, Chelsea will get players in, Spurs have already got players in (When they make it official). I know we were going to struggle for top 4 next season but we might end up in the same league position next season as we did last season.
We are such a run down club owners/board have destroyed this club and I don't see anything changing in the future. Mean while teams below us will strengthen and go past us in a couple of years.
Worst season ever in the Premier League, we've still got a load of deadwood in the squad, United are the biggest joke in the league, and you'll still have fools thinking we've changed, saying don't panic, it's only the middle of June, etc etc.
Was hoping not to have to wait until summer after for a great window. This is United though.No value in January. We will get new players next summer.
Maguire being the sure thing is the chef's kiss to that joke.Found this depressingly funny:
Maguire being the sure thing is the chef's kiss to that joke.
I don't know what relevance you think this has? Do you think this summer is the same as 'the others'? Given the myriad of really, really bad circumstances, do you think this is the time to be sitting on our hands and getting players in towards the end of the window, or perhaps some way into pre-season?Toys out of the pram alert. Hahahaha
We make plenty of signings every single summer. Why are people acting like we never do?
It's getting the right players that matters not just getting anyone in because you're like a 8 year old on Xmas Eve that can't wait to unwrap his presents.
Some players might not want to join us either. Have you considered that?
I don't know what relevance you think this has? Do you think this summer is the same as 'the others'? Given the myriad of really, really bad circumstances, do you think this is the time to be sitting on our hands and getting players in towards the end of the window, or perhaps some way into pre-season?
I get why posters such as yourself are trying to assuage others with what you presume is logical and reasonable thinking, but part of logical and reasonable thinking is assessing the whole, not just the parts that seem rational.
It’s the 15th of June; when does pre-season start? How long should it take for players coming from other countries take to settle, as well as their families? And what if we’re not a few days away from signing 2-3 players?It's the 15th of June mate. The season doesn't start for another 7 weeks. For all you know we could be days away from signing 2-3 players. The press really don't have a clue.
And this De Jong lad is about to go on holiday for 3 weeks along with every other player involved in the Nations cup. He won't be training with us even if we get him signed up this week. Not until his holiday is done.
Exactly what would happen. We’d have a budget of about 30m net.Scenes next year when Rebuild FC miss out on Top 4 again and have to start paying fines to sponsors for missing consecutive CLs which will come out of the transfer budget.
It’s the 15th of June; when does pre-season start? How long should it take for players coming from other countries take to settle, as well as their families? And what if we’re not a few days away from signing 2-3 players?
You didn’t answer what I asked you previously, could you?
You’re not answering and repeating what was initially contested by citing precisely what I asked you why it had any relevance in the here and now under wholly different circumstances where time is actually of the essence.You have no idea what the club are doing. None us do and neither do most of these journalists.
We managed to sign Sancho Varane and Ronaldo with Ole in charge. LVG n Jose also got plenty of cash.
It's ridiculous the level of panic already amongst you all. I hate the Glazers with every fibre inside me but lack of signings isn't an issue. We've signed more players than I have had hot dinners. It's signing the right ones.