Have we signed anyone yet? | Yes, with stupid tax

[SamoyedSam]

I can't recall the last time United went out and bought a really good striker in his prime or just before his prime. It's been 1 old stop gap after another. The inability to recruit in this area is woeful.

 

[Red Royal]

I can't recall the last time United went out and bought a really good striker in his prime or just before his prime. It's been 1 old stop gap after another. The inability to recruit in this area is woeful.

Lukaku was supposed to be in his prime when we got him

 

[Isotope]

Many from this list would be useful at United

If we're cool signing ex-Liverpool, i don't mind Wijnaldum from that list.

 

[bosnian_red]

I’m not sure why people are still banging on about still needing a RB and RW when the biggest success of pre-season had been the consistently excellent link-up between Dalot and Sancho, which had given us a more attacking right side than we’ve had for years.

Not having any sort of Plan B in the event that we don’t sign FDJ would be truly negligent. Let’s hope we do.

RW for me is a must for me. We need 3 wingers we can trust and Elanga/Martial to be deeper options for the wings, but we could do Rashford and new RW, Sancho on the left and new RW, or Rashford and Sancho. There are 5 subs, it's a long season, we'll need the depth.

RB is only to replace Wan Bissaka, but kinda whatever about that. He's fine as back up to Dalot.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

The problem I see with our summer transfer-wise so far, is that we mostly strengthened in positions that we already had depth in and not in positions where we are light. And you might argue that we have improved the quality in those positions, which might prove right (or not) depending on how the new signings perform, but we certainly now have the problem of an overburdened squad particularly at the back.

We have 3 left backs:

1. Shaw
2. Malacia
3. Telles

We have 3 right backs:

1. Dalot
2. AWB
3. B.Williams

We have 7 centre backs:

1. Varane
2. Maguire
3. Martinez
4. Bailly
5. Lindelof
6. Tuanzebe
7. Jones

We really need to sell 3-4 players from those positions. To make space in the squad and the wage bill for other players.

Meanwhile we are, both compared to last season and objectively speaking, light in central midfield. We lost 2 MFs in Matic and Pogba and brought in only 1 in Eriksen (presumably as a Pogba replacement). We could be looking at McFred starting most of our games next season again. Even moreso than last year in fact.

And things get even worse up-front. Okay, the loses of Mata and Lingard are inconsequential since they barely played and we have decent cover for the AMC position. But we lost Cavani and Greenwood who haven’t been replaced. We are putting all our hopes up-front on a 38yo, want-away Ronaldo and Martial who returns from loan after 2 atrocious seasons. Our depth on the wings is also extremely poor. On the wings, behind Sancho and Rashford, there is only Elanga. After that it’s the kids, like Pellistri/Amad.

In my humble opinion, if the team is truly aiming for top 4 it needs another good winger and a starting DM. And if Ronaldo leaves, another CF. Not getting players in these positions might mean we’re blooding some young players (Gartner, Pellistri, Iqbal, Amad) instead. But then it’s inevitable that the team will be inconsistent as a result and achieving top 4 would be more of a hope than an expectation or requirement.

Spot on.

I'm sure ETH wants these players. The question is can the club deliver for him.

 

[Matt851]

RW for me is a must for me. We need 3 wingers we can trust and Elanga/Martial to be deeper options for the wings, but we could do Rashford and new RW, Sancho on the left and new RW, or Rashford and Sancho. There are 5 subs, it's a long season, we'll need the depth.

RB is only to replace Wan Bissaka, but kinda whatever about that. He's fine as back up to Dalot.

Except dalot is bang average, we really need a better starting right back and I don't buy there aren't many better players available

 

[jokervn91]

I can't recall the last time United went out and bought a really good striker in his prime or just before his prime. It's been 1 old stop gap after another. The inability to recruit in this area is woeful.

Lukaku and before that RvP are the 2 most recent. The reason we go with old stop gap like Ibrah, Cavani and then Ronaldo is because we supposedly have some good young talents that can develop in Martial, Rashford and Greenwood but they all failed to deliver up to this point.

 

[mitchmouse]

I'm bored already.. We havent seen Eriksen or Martinez play.. and there have been no more signings..

Do something ...

be careful... you'll be fined for being to negative

 

[croadyman]

I’m not sure why people are still banging on about still needing a RB and RW when the biggest success of pre-season had been the consistently excellent link-up between Dalot and Sancho, which had given us a more attacking right side than we’ve had for years.

Not having any sort of Plan B in the event that we don’t sign FDJ would be truly negligent. Let’s hope we do.

Yeah we do it's our youth products so let's just say playing this waiting game gonna backfire

 

[croadyman]

Inexcusably poor transfer window from us. The Glazers have completely lost their appetite to invest in the team (they barely had one to begin with) and would rather keep the dross we have than spend money. The lack of sales is almost as disgraceful as the lack of incomings.

They couldn't give a shite about helping Erik have success on the pitch and it's frankly disgraceful

 

[Irwin99]

Have people really given up on de Jong? I feel if he's the last addition then it's a good transfer window as we reinforce our most problematic position with a massive player. If he doesn't come and no one else does then the pressure will be enormous if we go through a rough spell (and the owners will be to blame)

 

[croadyman]

I know what you mean about the defensive signings, but it does make sense. Martinez is an expert at progressing the ball and allows Maguire to play on the right side of of the CBs where he tends to play a more progressive game himself. You were lacking a good LCB and Martinez fixes that. I imagine you'll try to sell some of those others like Jones, Tuanzebe and Bailly. That leaves you with good strength and depth at CB.

Malacia is an odder signing as I would have thought RB is where you need to strengthen, but again if you get rid of Telles then it makes a lot more sense and gives great competition there.

I don't think Eriksen is a direct Pogba replacement. In fact the idea of replacements is misleading, you don't want to replace Pogba like for like. He never worked in your team. Eriksen played as an attacking midfielder for Spurs, for Inter he dropped back a bit and tended to drift out onto the left, but for Brentford he dropped quite a lot deeper and also worked on progressing play, often with some beautiful passing. I think you'll see quite a lot of him picking up balls from Martinez and Maguire and linking in your forwards far more rather than your current midfield which always seems to miss the progressive pass in favour of the safe sideways or backwards move.

ETH said you seemed to have forgotten what to do with the ball in possession, Eriksen changes that quite a lot, he's the sort of player you haven't had for donkeys years. The plan to get De Jong as well makes perfect sense in that set up. You're biggest problem was lack of prgression last season leaving Sancho, Ronaldo, Rashford etc isolated and making them look even more rubbish! Martinez and Eriksen fix that, and with FDJ on board it revolutionises your set up.

It also means you do not need a traditional DM/Matic replacement, you won't play with one. With high pressing from the front and FDJ able to sit in front of the defence, or a full back slotting in as move forward., you won't need one.

I'd agree though if CR7 leaves you will need an attacking replacement, just to bolster your line up, Martial is looking good again right now, but if he goes off the boil or gets injured you have very little back up. But overall I don't think your signings are disappointing at all.

ETH also said a big part of his challenge was developing the squad you have, I think players like Fred and Rashford can offer much more than they did last season and will make quite a few people eat their words. Under Ole and especially RR with his second string coaching staff they went backwards and noone seemed to want to do anything about it. You now have a first class coaching team and that can make a huge difference along with a progressive spine to the team linking the defense, midfield and attack far better.

The signings will make much more sense when we see who else goes and when (not if, I think) you get FDJ, I think the future will be looking quite good for you guys.

Wish I had that belief it was a matter of when not IF with De Jong, genuinely what do you think will happen to make us get this deal over the line then.

 

[Frank Grimes]

With the 2 games being on back to back days next week our main team really only has 1 game before the season starts. Not impressed with how the board have gone about things this window.

Feel for Ten Hag, got a vibe off him in the pre match interview that he wasn't best pleased with how things are progressing.

 

[croadyman]

if we start well and the likes of Martial particularly hit the ground running, no one will care about the transfer business..... however if we say get less than 9 pts from the first 5 games and are already a step or two behind in the league then there will be blood. a few fan protests with some homemade signs and some people might leave a bit early, and a few will rant on radio stations and glazersout will trend. might even be a banner on a plane. god forbid.

We still need around 5 players for this first XI no matter how we start the season

 

[RkkMan]

Wish I had that belief it was a matter of when not IF with De Jong, genuinely what do you think will happen to make us get this deal over the line then.

The fact that we're yet to walk away despite all the supposed odds stacked against us. Most logical people firmly believe he's open to joining hence why Utd are still in this.
If he wanted nothing to do with us then it would mean
1. Frenkie has been lying to a manager he respects a lot about being open to joining when he isn't for some sinister plan we don't know about
2. Frenkie has been constantly telling us no but Ten Hag is insistent we keep running into blind alleys
Neither of which seem likely. It would be something we could expect under Woodward/Judge but not the current set up

 

[moses]

Wish I had that belief it was a matter of when not IF with De Jong, genuinely what do you think will happen to make us get this deal over the line then.

I think it will happen only because of the connection between the player and our manager. The only plausible reason for our stance is that we have an assurance he will come. If this is not the case we are as poorly run as the reactionary loons on here say we are.

 

[Blood Mage]

Many from this list would be useful at United

Would take Wijnaldum in a heartbeat and possibly Icardi too.

 

[croadyman]

I think it will happen only because of the connection between the player and our manager. The only plausible reason for our stance is that we have an assurance he will come. If this is not the case we are as poorly run as the reactionary loons on here say we are.

Just seems mental having to wait literally until deadline day for the most key signing, that should be about bringing in squad depth

 

[moses]

Just seems mental having to wait literally until deadline day for the most key signing, that should be about bringing in squad depth

Yeah, it's totally mental which is why there must be guarantees.

 

[croadyman]

Yeah, it's totally mental which is why there must be guarantees.

When we first heard about that agreement for him had hopes he would be here for start of season, however that belief has evaporated quickly.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Just seems mental having to wait literally until deadline day for the most key signing, that should be about bringing in squad depth

Yep. Unless we do some crazy things in next 10 days, we completely messed up this window. And everyone who is saying opposite is deluding himself.
Backup left back is the only one who was with the team whole pre-season.
Eriksen (another backup) and new defender will have exactly one game before season starts.
On top of that, we are going into season with only 3 attacker and those are who we had last year and same central midfield which we had last year.
Great planning.

 

[Lee565]

Yeah it's hard not to call this window a big failure, to go into this season with martial as our main striker, lack of genuine depth in attack, a depleted midfield that has looking to go into yet another season with mcfred, no first team replacement at rb and I think we would have been better of investing in a new gk instead of another central defender when we already have defenders that are good with the ball at their feet where as dave is not.

This window so far is up there with the one mourinho had in his last summer transfer window and the one ole had when he missed out of sancho.

 

[Revaulx]

It’s been disappointing that only one new signing (albeit one that I think is going to become rather important) was in place before the start of the tour, and it does look probable that the window is going to end with too little too late.

On the plus side, the players we have been bringing in are ones that have been expressly sought out as they fit the manager’s tactical plan. We haven’t been letting selling clubs and agents foist their wares on us.

 

[Matt851]

I’m not sure why people are still banging on about still needing a RB and RW when the biggest success of pre-season had been the consistently excellent link-up between Dalot and Sancho, which had given us a more attacking right side than we’ve had for years.

Not having any sort of Plan B in the event that we don’t sign FDJ would be truly negligent. Let’s hope we do.

Dalot isn't very good and that will be apparent in proper games

Sancho might well be required on the left if rashfords form hasn't miraculously improved

 

[croadyman]

Dalot isn't very good and that will be apparent in proper games

Sancho might well be required on the left if rashfords form hasn't miraculously improved

I'm confident we want a RB, however due to AWB mental wages we are struggling to sell. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much interest in a loan either.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

So we still need to sign a midfielder, RW, RB and ST. That's 4 new signings and they all need to be done within the next 5 weeks.

We're still waiting on De Jong for the midfield signing but for RW i think we need to sort the Antony deal out between this week and the next so that we can move on. ST and RB are both dependent on Ronaldo and Awb leavin so signings in those positions would happen late in the window if at all

 

[croadyman]

So we still need to sign a midfielder, RW, RB and ST. That's 4 new signings and they all need to be done within the next 5 weeks.

We're still waiting on De Jong for the midfield signing but for RW i think we need to sort the Antony deal out between this week and the next so that we can move on. ST and RB are both dependent on Ronaldo and Awb leavin so signings in those positions would happen late in the window if at all

Despite being different positions I reckon the Antony deal hinges on Ronaldo's situation too

 

[bosnian_red]

So we still need to sign a midfielder, RW, RB and ST. That's 4 new signings and they all need to be done within the next 5 weeks.

We're still waiting on De Jong for the midfield signing but for RW i think we need to sort the Antony deal out between this week and the next so that we can move on. ST and RB are both dependent on Ronaldo and Awb leavin so signings in those positions would happen late in the window if at all

RW, ST and RB are all backup/depth positions we are looking for really. I'd say a RW is most important to get right as proper competition, ST can be deeper depth dependent on Ronaldo and RB is whatever, AWB as backup is fine. We need a RW though.

The CM is Frenkie or bust IMO, there is nobody else.

 

[Revaulx]

Dalot isn't very good and that will be apparent in proper games

I’m happy to wait and see about that. Anyway, he’s miles ahead of AWB at the moment, and we will struggle to get rid of the latter thanks to his awful form and high wages.

Sancho might well be required on the left if rashfords form hasn't miraculously improved

Left or right, our strength in depth up front is hopeless. Losing Rashford or any of them to injuries is even more likely than poor form. There’s going to be lots of pressure on youngsters to step up, which is exciting but not ideal.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

RW, ST and RB are all backup/depth positions we are looking for really. I'd say a RW is most important to get right as proper competition, ST can be deeper depth dependent on Ronaldo and RB is whatever, AWB as backup is fine. We need a RW though.

The CM is Frenkie or bust IMO, there is nobody else.

This just doesn't make sense to me. If Frenkie was guaranteed to come the next season if we lose out on him now then id get the whole Frenkie or bust thing but that's not the case at all.

I'm sure we have alternatives, because there are players available right now who maybe can't play the Frenkie role as well as him but can do it better than Fred - Fabian Ruiz, Neuhaus etc. And if nobody is pleased with those alternatives then we can switch style. ETH didn't use a De Jong type of player and used a DM in his last years at Ajax. We can get a DM and play more like the 2021 Ajax

At this point, no matter the style Eth wants to play, we simply don't have the players for it. So buying a midfielder should be a necessity

 

[Andycoleno9]

Awfully quiet last 10 days. Zero rumours about transfers. I am worried now

 

[Matt851]

This just doesn't make sense to me. If Frenkie was guaranteed to come the next season if we lose out on him now then id get the whole Frenkie or bust thing but that's not the case at all.

I'm sure we have alternatives, because there are players available right now who maybe can't play the Frenkie role as well as him but can do it better than Fred - Fabian Ruiz, Neuhaus etc. And if nobody is pleased with those alternatives then we can switch style. ETH didn't use a De Jong type of player and used a DM in his last years at Ajax. We can get a DM and play more like the 2021 Ajax

At this point, no matter the style Eth wants to play, we simply don't have the players for it. So buying a midfielder should be a necessity

The idea that we can't sign another midfielder who is better than Fred or mctominay is plainly mental. It's the kind of thing the club will say if we don't sing anyone but there are quite a number of midfielders who could either do a better job as a deep lying playmaker or act as more of a pure dm.

If we don't sign anyone in that position then we will really struggle to get top 4 and probably not be able to sign our top targets next season

 

[ForeverRed1]

We need 3 more to even reach the bare minimum.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Lost a bit of traction, haven't we?

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Awful window.

Signed 3 depth players but a big zero in first team players.

Can't wait for mcfred on matchday 1.

 

[SER19]

Most people coming to the conclusion that we desperately need far more quality added. Bizarre that this is controversial to some posters. It's like they forget the last 12 months

 

[Superden]

is it not weird that neither Erickson or Martinez are yet to be officially unveiled? transfers announced 2 weeks ago...have we run out of new kit for them? or the interns working on the instagram stories gone missing?

 

[bosnian_red]

is it not weird that neither Erickson or Martinez are yet to be officially unveiled? transfers announced 2 weeks ago...have we run out of new kit for them? or the interns working on the instagram stories gone missing?

Martinez is awaiting visa technically, Eriksen is officially a United player. My guess is we'll just do all that tomorrow when they join the squad

 

[Shark]

The window everyone and their dog knew we had to get right after our worst season in decades and we've somehow managed to blow it again.

 

[UTD_Since_1978]

Awful window.

Signed 3 depth players but a big zero in first team players.

Can't wait for mcfred on matchday 1.

The only positive about that is if Brighton out play us & beat us, at least ETH will get a rude awakening & the transfer window will still be open to do something about it, time will tell, I'm still hoping that Ronaldo will start against Brighton.