Importance of the January 2020 Transfer Window

I think we could easily upgrade #10 and add depth at 9 this window, and should do both.

CM we need to upgrade quality at some point, but not sure the right quality upgrade is going to be a jan window signing, same for rw... quality at 10 should be very straight forward to come by though
 
Do we really need to panic buy in Jan? Maybe I am being slightly optimistic given the results in the last 7 games but for the first time in a while we can really see a solid first 11 on the pitch with 11 players who seem to genuinely want to play and give there all. There are a few positions in the 11 that started on Sunday that can be replaced immediately, namely Lindeloff and Andreas but I can see Tuanzabe and Pogba slotting into them roles nicely. Dare I say it, Ole may have had a long term vision after all and step one was to fix the rotting flesh at the bottom. We have seen Lukaku, Sanchez, Darmian all leave in the summer. We did not really replace positions we thought we should have, especially when you add Herrera and to some extent, Fellaini. So far this year we have seen Matic (against his belief) and mata play bit part roles, adding experience (if that is what you call it) where necessary. Surely evidence of that is on the training field or in the dressing room. Ole has even dropped Lingard, finally someone has seen through him and his coasting personality. For the first time in a while i was excited after a game. I know we only really played amazing after the 65th minute, but the resilience to score a quick fire and search for more really threw me back. Bournemouth expected us to sit back but we did not. We attacked and attacked and attacked to the extent they got put off there game.not since 2018 had we done that. Ole will be here until at least the end of the season and I am slowly starting to visualise his plans. He wants to play attacking, he wants to press teams (we did that to some extent on sunday) and he wants a young hungry team. The average age was less than 24, the lowest in a long time and they looked good. This has me thinking that in Jan, we need to add depth rather than rising stars or superstars. Manduzkic for 5 or 10m, Ibra for free, Bale on loan, Rakitic on loan - all would add numbers and some quality with zero obligation to play them at the expense of rashy martial james greenwood. I like Haaland, from the 3 or 4 games I have seen of him. Who on here can really say they know his game though? For 60m or 80m, that is him basically replacing Greenwood. Another talent to nurture, is he really that good? I really want to see more of Garner, Gomes and Chong - maybe a loan is in the bag already? My point is, i am starting to think Ole was right. There will be good and bad times, we have had the bad and now are we on course for the good? None of us have managed Man Utd, players and managers have turned us down because of how toxic we have been. Maybe Ole has managd this better than anyone? In order to fix a falling rock, it still needs to fall but then you catch it. Once caught you are able to think of strategies with what to do with it next and I think Ole has this all planned out. The only signing I would love to see serious money spent on is Bruno Fernandes. I really think he will lift the weight of creativity that burdens Pogba and our Midfield.
 
Crashoutcassius said:
I think we could easily upgrade #10 and add depth at 9 this window, and should do both.

CM we need to upgrade quality at some point, but not sure the right quality upgrade is going to be a jan window signing, same for rw... quality at 10 should be very straight forward to come by though
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We need numbers in midfield we are seriously light.

Unless Garner is ready to step up
 
———————Martial
—-—Rashford————Sancho
Williams———————————James
————-Pogba————McT
—-Maguire——Tuanzebe—Wan Bissaka
———————-De Gea

Romero
Dalot
Lindelöf
Garner
Fred
Haaland
Greenwood
 
We have to get a CM in January, we are so short there it's ridiculous, the problem is getting the quaiity as the 2 CM's this squad needs should be good enough to start for us.
 
leges said:
To be honest if we do as you say I don't think we will be able to buy Maddison in the summer: Leicester will go to Champions League while we won't; why should he change team? And why would Leicester let him go?
So let's be realistic and let's take Eriksen, he isn't as good as Maddison but we need to give some quality to this midfield if we want to catch the 4th place and give a sense to this season.
There is also the possibility to sign James Rodriguez on loan instead of Eriksen, but it is very unlikely to happen as i think Real Madrid wants to use him as a part of exchange for Pogba;
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The CL will be a factor but money is a bigger factor, United would likely double his wage which is off more importance to a player. It would allow Leicester to buy 2 top players with the money too which looks like a business model their happy with.

Eriksen's wages are a factor, he's going to command more than he normally would because of his contract expiring next summer and then there's the issues that creates when renegotiating contracts with existing players. James on loan in January makes sense to me.
 
MrBest said:
Do we really need to panic buy in Jan? ...The only signing I would love to see serious money spent on is Bruno Fernandes. I really think he will lift the weight of creativity that burdens Pogba and our Midfield.
Click to expand...

I think yours was a really good post, as it echoes my own thoughts...the number #10 is the most obvious weak spot for me.
Get that signing correct, and so much should click into place.
 
MrBest said:
Do we really need to panic buy in Jan? Maybe I am being slightly optimistic given the results in the last 7 games but for the first time in a while we can really see a solid first 11 on the pitch with 11 players who seem to genuinely want to play and give there all. There are a few positions in the 11 that started on Sunday that can be replaced immediately, namely Lindeloff and Andreas but I can see Tuanzabe and Pogba slotting into them roles nicely. Dare I say it, Ole may have had a long term vision after all and step one was to fix the rotting flesh at the bottom. We have seen Lukaku, Sanchez, Darmian all leave in the summer. We did not really replace positions we thought we should have, especially when you add Herrera and to some extent, Fellaini. So far this year we have seen Matic (against his belief) and mata play bit part roles, adding experience (if that is what you call it) where necessary. Surely evidence of that is on the training field or in the dressing room. Ole has even dropped Lingard, finally someone has seen through him and his coasting personality. For the first time in a while i was excited after a game. I know we only really played amazing after the 65th minute, but the resilience to score a quick fire and search for more really threw me back. Bournemouth expected us to sit back but we did not. We attacked and attacked and attacked to the extent they got put off there game.not since 2018 had we done that. Ole will be here until at least the end of the season and I am slowly starting to visualise his plans. He wants to play attacking, he wants to press teams (we did that to some extent on sunday) and he wants a young hungry team. The average age was less than 24, the lowest in a long time and they looked good. This has me thinking that in Jan, we need to add depth rather than rising stars or superstars. Manduzkic for 5 or 10m, Ibra for free, Bale on loan, Rakitic on loan - all would add numbers and some quality with zero obligation to play them at the expense of rashy martial james greenwood. I like Haaland, from the 3 or 4 games I have seen of him. Who on here can really say they know his game though? For 60m or 80m, that is him basically replacing Greenwood. Another talent to nurture, is he really that good? I really want to see more of Garner, Gomes and Chong - maybe a loan is in the bag already? My point is, i am starting to think Ole was right. There will be good and bad times, we have had the bad and now are we on course for the good? None of us have managed Man Utd, players and managers have turned us down because of how toxic we have been. Maybe Ole has managd this better than anyone? In order to fix a falling rock, it still needs to fall but then you catch it. Once caught you are able to think of strategies with what to do with it next and I think Ole has this all planned out. The only signing I would love to see serious money spent on is Bruno Fernandes. I really think he will lift the weight of creativity that burdens Pogba and our Midfield.
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I think the point is the squad we have is paper thin and with some of the injury prone players we have it would take a miracle for our whole squad to stay fit from now until the end of the season.

Which is why I’d like to see 3 additions just to bolster our squad depth.
 
United currently have a 25 man squad (but not all of them are registered in the squad). Squad has at least 2 under-21 players in it: Greenwood and Dalot. These two don't need to take up official squad places because a club can play as many under-21s as it wants to without them contributing to maximum squad size. So United have space to sign 2 senior professionals to get 25 senior pros in the squad. I suggest midfielder (DMC) and striker.

The squad also has players who've not been playing:
Lee Grant. Will be 37 in January. He has not played a competitive match since 2017/18 season. We can let him leave now and pay him till June. Kovar can take his place as 3rd choice goalie. That frees another squad place. So buy another senior midfielder or right winger.
Matic wants to leave. Fine. Replace him with a DMC
Mata and Lingard aren't getting many games and aren't contributing much. Sell one (ideally Lingard). Replace with an attacking midfielder.

The squad is still stacked with injured defenders:
  • Eric Bailly
  • Phil Jones
  • Axel Tuanzebe
  • Luke Shaw
  • Diago Dalot
  • Timothy Fosu-Mensah
6 defenders, injured or recovering from injury. Plus we also have 6 fit defenders:
  • Maguire
  • Lindelof
  • Marcos Rojo
  • Ashley Young
  • Wan-Bisaka
  • Brandon Williams
That makes 12 defenders. A squad shouldn't need more than 10. Brandon Williams and Dalot don't have to count to the maximum squad limit of 25 because they're "under-21".
We should strike 1 or 2 of these injured defenders from the squad for the time being (till the end of the season). Probably from: Jones, Bailly, Fosu-Mensah. I would bring in a left-footed left-back because we only have ONE naturally left-footed fullback: Luke Shaw (who is injured).

So we need to sign 6 players this January, and say adios to 3: Lingard, Matic, and Grant:
  • midfielder (DMC) × 2
  • striker
  • right winger
  • left-footed fullback
  • midfielder (AM)
Don't dare tell me we don't have enough money for 6. We can sell Smalling for €18m and use the money to buy players form League 1, or South America. Once we have a balanced squad again, we can start bringing in the superstars or muppet-pleasers.
 
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We have to strengthen in January as we have a long way to go to make the top 4. I don’t want to see all recruitment left for the summer window, we just won’t get enough done.

I would like to see an effort made to sign Thomas Partey. Maybe Haaland if the price isn’t insane. If Eriksen is available for a reasonable fee I would be happy with that. It will be so disappointing to not add to the squad this winter, I’m holding out hope that we’ll make a signing or two.
 
TrebleFan99 said:
We have to strengthen in January as we have a long way to go to make the top 4. I don’t want to see all recruitment left for the summer window, we just won’t get enough done.

I would like to see an effort made to sign Thomas Partey. Maybe Haaland if the price isn’t insane. If Eriksen is available for a reasonable fee I would be happy with that. It will be so disappointing to not add to the squad this winter, I’m holding out hope that we’ll make a signing or two.
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The gap to top 4 is likely to grow IMO, buying players for this season is waste of time, should have been done in the summer.

It’s a very good point about there being too much to do in the summer though. We know the club struggle to recruit (assuming we are generous and believe they actually intend to) and even a deal for Haaland where he is loaned back would be worthwhile as it’s one less thing to do in the summer.
 
Mark Pawelek said:
Please. I don't normally call for censorship; but can someone please ban that Longstaff word. There are literally scores of better alternatives.
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Are you trying to bait me into asking you to repost your FM generated transfer wish list?
 
TrebleFan99 said:
We have to strengthen in January as we have a long way to go to make the top 4. I don’t want to see all recruitment left for the summer window, we just won’t get enough done.

I would like to see an effort made to sign Thomas Partey. Maybe Haaland if the price isn’t insane. If Eriksen is available for a reasonable fee I would be happy with that. It will be so disappointing to not add to the squad this winter, I’m holding out hope that we’ll make a signing or two.
Click to expand...
I agree, We need players that will improve us. Eriksen would improve us up front. Partey or Soumare would improve the midfield, and Haaland or Dembele would improve our Forward position.
 
I'm pretty certain we're not signing anyone in January. Perhaps Mandzukic as cover for Martial.
But not that Fred has found form, and James looks happy on the right wing, signing a CM and right winger don't seem so urgent anymore.
 
Mark Pawelek said:
Please. I don't normally call for censorship; but can someone please ban that Longstaff word. There are literally scores of better alternatives.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that Newcastle are currently stalling on dealing with him as they don't seem to think he's proven enough this season to warrant an improved deal. His brother (also nowhere near good enough for us) is outshining him.
 
Champagne Football said:
I'm pretty certain we're not signing anyone in January. Perhaps Mandzukic as cover for Martial.
But not that Fred has found form, and James looks happy on the right wing, signing a CM and right winger don't seem so urgent anymore.
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With McT injured and Matic possibly leaving signing a CM seems more urgent than ever
 
We definitely need minimum 2 players in January transfer window. Ideally, a striker who can also operate from the right wing, and a deep lying play-maker / defensive midfielder. Matic is as good as gone and may be sold in Jan, so we definitely need reinforcements there, and given our record with injury, it would be ideal if we sign 2 midfielders.
 
red_de_pologne said:
With McT injured and Matic possibly leaving signing a CM seems more urgent than ever
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There's not gonna be any decent CM available, unless there's some kid in Ligue 1 that no one has heard of, and our scouts have been keeping an eye on him. Eduardo Camavinga or someone like that. Tonali and Havertz are almost certainly not coming.
But I reckon next summer, Kalvin Philips might be the one we go for if Leeds don't get promoted.
 
Champagne Football said:
There's not gonna be any decent CM available, unless there's some kid in Ligue 1 that no one has heard of, and our scouts have been keeping an eye on him. Eduardo Camavinga or someone like that. Tonali and Havertz are almost certainly not coming.
But I reckon next summer, Kalvin Philips might be the one we go for if Leeds don't get promoted.
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Is he 'good good' or midtable/top 6 good? That's my concern to be honest. I know it's probably a baseless concern but still.
 
Alabaster Codify7 said:
It's interesting that Newcastle are currently stalling on dealing with him as they don't seem to think he's proven enough this season to warrant an improved deal. His brother (also nowhere near good enough for us) is outshining him.
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Sean Longstaff signed a deal less than 12 months ago that s why Newcastle are not in a hurry.
Matty Longstaff before signing the new deal would have been available for 400,000 at end of the season.
 
dev1l said:
Sean Longstaff signed a deal less than 12 months ago that s why Newcastle are not in a hurry.
Matty Longstaff before signing the new deal would have been available for 400,000 at end of the season.
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I'd stick 'em both in a nice ginger blender, personally.
 
Have to see what is available in January, never easy, would rather wait than panic buy and spend like 30m on Can etc.

Mandzukic for 4/5M would be good for the short term, back up to Martial, gives us an option from the bench then go after Haaland/Werner in the summer. Alternatively, United might be looking at Dembele/Wilson for January but you are paying a premium.

Think everyone agrees we could do with a DMC/B2B midfielder to slot in next to McTominay (if Ole is going to play Pogba further forward when he returns). I would offer 40/50, for Van Der Beek in January, test the water. Really hope that he does not pay mental money for Rice, not sure the likes of Allan/Partey etc. would leave their clubs in Jan so if none of the top targets are available, happy to wait until the summer rather than panic buy.

RW, again not sure if top targets will be available, Sancho I just can't see him coming to us so I would go for Ziyech, again test the water in Jan but more than likely summer.
 
I see a lot of people talking about buying a DM in January, but I think we've got a totally different problem when it comes to balancing our midfield.
Fred has been used as a DM. I know he's supposed to be a box-to-box or whatever, but he's absolutely playing as much of a DM role as we've had since coming on. His heat maps, positioning and stats show that.
The bigger issue is Scott isn't a #10. And if Pogba also isn't considered a #10 by Ole. He could be, but to be fair to Ole he doesn't press well or as quickly and as high as Ole wants out of a #10.
The midfield will never balance in his 4231 with both Scott and Pogba on the pitch with the current system if it doesn't change. There's not enough back-line cover between the 2 of them. Scott is more of a wrecking ball that goes forward in defense. Pogba is Pogba.
I see no way we can play Pogba and Mctominay together in Ole's preferred formation. We could play a 433 with Fred deep center and Pogba+Mctominay up further left and right. But if we want to play Ole's 4231, I don't see how Scott has a place in our best XI. The ideal "balance" would be Fred/Pogba/#10 or Fred/Mctominay/#10.
 
Alabaster Codify7 said:
Is he 'good good' or midtable/top 6 good? That's my concern to be honest. I know it's probably a baseless concern but still.
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In a year Garner should be putting pressure on other CM's. Mejbri probably another 2 years. There's 2 monster talents.
I've no idea If Kalvin Philips and Longstaff will ever be good enough but our scouts can make that call as to which CM.
 
Champagne Football said:
In a year Garner should be putting pressure on other CM's. Mejbri probably another 2 years. There's 2 monster talents.
I've no idea If Kalvin Philips and Longstaff will ever be good enough but our scouts can make that call as to which CM.
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I worry about our scouts a little, have not been impressed with Longstaff this season, but maybe thats down to his injury
 
Mark Pawelek said:
United currently have a 25 man squad (but not all of them are registered in the squad). Squad has at least 2 under-21 players in it: Greenwood and Dalot. These two don't need to take up official squad places because a club can play as many under-21s as it wants to without them contributing to maximum squad size. So United have space to sign 2 senior professionals to get 25 senior pros in the squad. I suggest midfielder (DMC) and striker.

The squad also has players who've not been playing:
Lee Grant. Will be 37 in January. He has not played a competitive match since 2017/18 season. We can let him leave now and pay him till June. Kovar can take his place as 3rd choice goalie. That frees another squad place. So buy another senior midfielder or right winger.
Matic wants to leave. Fine. Replace him with a DMC
Mata and Lingard aren't getting many games and aren't contributing much. Sell one (ideally Lingard). Replace with an attacking midfielder.

The squad is still stacked with injured defenders:
  • Eric Bailly
  • Phil Jones
  • Axel Tuanzebe
  • Luke Shaw
  • Diago Dalot
  • Timothy Fosu-Mensah
6 defenders, injured or recovering from injury. Plus we also have 6 fit defenders:
  • Maguire
  • Lindelof
  • Marcos Rojo
  • Ashley Young
  • Wan-Bisaka
  • Brandon Williams
That makes 12 defenders. A squad shouldn't need more than 10. Brandon Williams and Dalot don't have to count to the maximum squad limit of 25 because they're "under-21".
We should strike 1 or 2 of these injured defenders from the squad for the time being (till the end of the season). Probably from: Jones, Bailly, Fosu-Mensah. I would bring in a left-footed left-back because we only have ONE naturally left-footed fullback: Luke Shaw (who is injured).

So we need to sign 6 players this January, and say adios to 3: Lingard, Matic, and Grant:
  • midfielder (DMC) × 2
  • striker
  • right winger
  • left-footed fullback
  • midfielder (AM)
Don't dare tell me we don't have enough money for 6. We can sell Smalling for €18m and use the money to buy players form League 1, or South America. Once we have a balanced squad again, we can start bringing in the superstars or muppet-pleasers.
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Six players in January. :lol::lol:
 
Cassidy said:
I worry about our scouts a little, have not been impressed with Longstaff this season, but maybe thats down to his injury
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Some Newcastle fans on Twitter look convinced that Ashley will sell Longstaff (Sean) in January.
No idea if this will happen or not. But one thing is sure, that the number of available players in January is very restricted.
 
Mark Pawelek said:
I never said United would get them. I said United need them, and that there's nothing real stopping the club buying 6 players. Nothing except the mindset of management.
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or just the dearth of quality available players. Nor will clubs be willing to let their players go in the middle of the season, especially the ones we should be after
 
RuudTom83 said:
LB & MF

I haven’t given up on the front line just yet, and I’d like to see how they perform with a better midfield behind them.
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It seems obvious enough, right? Pull the trigger on a young LB the club rates and bring in a midfielder with some quality, whether that's paying a couple extra million on a 6 month loan for Rakitic or actually going out and buying Olmo or someone else we think can be a proper starter here for years to come.

Rashford-Martial-James
-----Pogba----CM-------
--------McTominay-------
LB-Maguire-Lindelof-AWB
---------DeGea------------

and if we can't look decent with this lineup by the end of the season, then Ole's not the guy for next year. But right now we're a proper McTominay injury away from basically having no reliable midfielders, the #10 position is a disaster every week when Pogba isn't there and Ashley Young is still playing games at LB.
 
Mandzukic would be good in the short term, for 6 months. He can cover both Martial in attack and Rashford on the wing. There arent many options that can cover both of those roles in the January window - the other option would be buying 2 players.
 
The thing is it isn’t manager hyperbole to cover for our cheap owners that it’s difficult to buy in January. Mandzukic is a great example. We definitely could use another option up front. If we could get him on loan for the rest of the season that would be ideal. If we have to pay a fee and he wants a 3 year contract we shouldn’t even bother.

What we should not do is buy (and probably overpay at that) for players who aren’t an upgrade but just add bodies to the squad. Someone made a thread a month or so back, and I agree that we have a decent squad in the making. Now we need to add genuine quality and it’s hard to get that in January.
 
friendlytramp said:
———————Martial
—-—Rashford————Sancho
Williams———————————James
————-Pogba————McT
—-Maguire——Tuanzebe—Wan Bissaka
———————-De Gea

Romero
Dalot
Lindelöf
Garner
Fred
Haaland
Greenwood
Click to expand...
That's a horrible lineup.
 
NoPace said:
It seems obvious enough, right? Pull the trigger on a young LB the club rates and bring in a midfielder with some quality, whether that's paying a couple extra million on a 6 month loan for Rakitic or actually going out and buying Olmo or someone else we think can be a proper starter here for years to come.

Rashford-Martial-James
-----Pogba----CM-------
--------McTominay-------
LB-Maguire-Lindelof-AWB
---------DeGea------------

and if we can't look decent with this lineup by the end of the season, then Ole's not the guy for next year. But right now we're a proper McTominay injury away from basically having no reliable midfielders, the #10 position is a disaster every week when Pogba isn't there and Ashley Young is still playing games at LB.
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McTominay is not a DM.
 
manutddjw said:
The thing is it isn’t manager hyperbole to cover for our cheap owners that it’s difficult to buy in January. Mandzukic is a great example. We definitely could use another option up front. If we could get him on loan for the rest of the season that would be ideal. If we have to pay a fee and he wants a 3 year contract we shouldn’t even bother.

What we should not do is buy (and probably overpay at that) for players who aren’t an upgrade but just add bodies to the squad. Someone made a thread a month or so back, and I agree that we have a decent squad in the making. Now we need to add genuine quality and it’s hard to get that in January.
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I can agree with your point, but what if either Rashford or Martial get injured, who replaces them? I still feel we have it in use to win a cup this year, I'd hate to see that lost because we are waiting for right bus to come along.
 
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