In an ideal world, of course.
But so many deals happen after the season begins as clubs and players reassess, that's just how it works. I'd imagine more deals happen in Europe in the final 3 weeks than in the first 2 months of the window.
Is it still possible to have an excellent transfer window?
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In an ideal world, of course.
But so many deals happen after the season begins as clubs and players reassess, that's just how it works. I'd imagine more deals happen in Europe in the final 3 weeks than in the first 2 months of the window.
We've somehow made it worse by shackling ourselves with a player everyone will come to realise needs selling before the seasons end but will be impossible to - again - because he's on way too much money.
Silly me for thinking we'd improve. We've gone backwards instead.
Silly me for thinking we'd improve. We've gone backwards instead.
Who hurt you?
Manchester UnitedWho hurt you?
Who is the player?
IF we get another CM, a RW and a RB it could be a fairly decent window. I don't think Ronaldo is leaving, so I'd rather wait until next summer for a striker - take a run at top 4 - and try to land Lautaro Martinez from Inter.
So far, the ones we have actually got are pretty good signings who all solve an issue.
Malacia - Long term signing, really like what I have seen so far.
Martinez - Long term signing, seems like he will need some time to get used to the physiciality of this league and the pace of it. He needs to play with someone quicker than Maguire.
Eriksen - Quality playmaker and clear upgrade on Bruno at current form. Was free too. We are 6 years too late on bringing him in, but I like him.
Casemiro - It took us 17 years to replace Roy Keane, but we finally have a DM who is a leader, protects his team-mates and drives his team on. Better late than never I guess. IMO we signed a captain to help us sort out the loser mentality in our squad. Can't wait to see his impact.
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Now we have been linked with and gone after a lot of weird players this summer, but the ones we have actually brought in are very useful signings IMO.
Some of our supposed targets are also very interesting. I have no idea who our next CM target is, could be we are going to rely on a Brazilian double pivot with Iqbal/Savage/Mejbri as backups.
RW:
Antony - The quoted price is just insane, but should we land him he would be a long term signing with a lot of potential. I like his arrogance and confidence - Need more of that. Brazilian revolution incoming?
RB:
Hakimi - I would love this one, but seems unlikely given where he is.
Dest - Very unsure about his quality, but at least he's decent going forward. Given how promising Malacia looks, I guess we'll just have to trust Ten Hag on this.
At the end of the window we should have brought in 1 captain, 4 long term signings, 1 free bargain and maybe a backup keeper. That isn't too bad to be honest, and if you add another CM - which I really hope we do - you could even claim it's a fairly good window, bar all the crazy links and weird offers to inexplicable targets we seem to have been doing.
So far, the ones we have actually got are pretty good signings who all solve an issue.
Malacia - Long term signing, really like what I have seen so far.
Martinez - Long term signing, seems like he will need some time to get used to the physiciality of this league and the pace of it. He needs to play with someone quicker than Maguire.
Eriksen - Quality playmaker and clear upgrade on Bruno at current form. Was free too. We are 6 years too late on bringing him in, but I like him.
Casemiro - It took us 17 years to replace Roy Keane, but we finally have a DM who is a leader, protects his team-mates and drives his team on. Better late than never I guess. IMO we signed a captain to help us sort out the loser mentality in our squad. Can't wait to see his impact.
---
Now we have been linked with and gone after a lot of weird players this summer, but the ones we have actually brought in are very useful signings IMO.
Some of our supposed targets are also very interesting. I have no idea who our next CM target is, could be we are going to rely on a Brazilian double pivot with Iqbal/Savage/Mejbri as backups.
RW:
Antony - The quoted price is just insane, but should we land him he would be a long term signing with a lot of potential. I like his arrogance and confidence - Need more of that. Brazilian revolution incoming?
RB:
Hakimi - I would love this one, but seems unlikely given where he is.
Dest - Very unsure about his quality, but at least he's decent going forward. Given how promising Malacia looks, I guess we'll just have to trust Ten Hag on this.
At the end of the window we should have brought in 1 captain, 4 long term signings, 1 free bargain and maybe a backup keeper. That isn't too bad to be honest, and if you add another CM - which I really hope we do - you could even claim it's a fairly good window, bar all the crazy links and weird offers to inexplicable targets we seem to have been doing.
Who?
Get in another CM, Antony, a right back, goalkeeper (plus another striker if Ronaldo leaves)
We will definitely go for a ST if Ronaldo leaves and same with a RB if AWB goes. I am not sure about whether the others happen. We certainly won't be signing nine in one window, seven absolute max.
Before we signed Casemiro I could only rate this summer as 4/10, as there are plenty of problems we didn't address at all, even though I like all 3 of our signings, I just don't see Martinez and Malacia would improve our immediate defense, nor Eriksen alone would improve our midfield at all. We actually got abit worsen from the squad we have last season.
But with Casemiro in we are already in decent window this summer. Casemiro alone would worth additional 3 points there.
Casemiro - A (best DM int the world, significantly improve our weakest position. Big long contract for a player who in his 30 though, but with us in free fall, we do need significant upgrade immediately, he is the one)
Eriksen - B- (we've got him for free so it can't be bad signing, also would improve our passing straight away. However there is reason no other top clubs wants him, as no one knows for sure whether he will have any health issues in future)
Martinez - B- (he is good in Dutch league, but abit short for PL. We've spend some big money on him, will have to see whether he will come good in PL. ETH knows him well though, so it can't be bad)
Malacia - B (we are buying for his potential for cheap, don't see any risk or negativity there. He is exactly the type of signing we should looking for more here, highly rated by ETH too)
7/10 so far (5.5 if Ronaldo leaves without replacement)
If we add a few more...
Antony - B+ (could be very expensive mistake, but right now he would be instant upgrade from Rashford/Elanga. Very talented winger for long term)
FDJ - A+ (ETH first choice, our whole new system would depend on him, would be very hard to obtain at this stage)
Vanderson? B- (looks like young and talent RB, there is some link with him lately on papers, I hope we get him)
That would be 9.5/10 summer for us if we also get the above 3. (back to 8 if Ronaldo leaves without replacement)
0.5 less perfect 10 as being unable to find GK to replace De Gea.
(I don't think we could find a good replacement for Ronaldo anyway this summer, so I prefer him to stay for another year. But if we could get someone like Nkunku, would be perfect rebuild for us)
But with Casemiro in we are already in decent window this summer. Casemiro alone would worth additional 3 points there.
Casemiro - A (best DM int the world, significantly improve our weakest position. Big long contract for a player who in his 30 though, but with us in free fall, we do need significant upgrade immediately, he is the one)
Eriksen - B- (we've got him for free so it can't be bad signing, also would improve our passing straight away. However there is reason no other top clubs wants him, as no one knows for sure whether he will have any health issues in future)
Martinez - B- (he is good in Dutch league, but abit short for PL. We've spend some big money on him, will have to see whether he will come good in PL. ETH knows him well though, so it can't be bad)
Malacia - B (we are buying for his potential for cheap, don't see any risk or negativity there. He is exactly the type of signing we should looking for more here, highly rated by ETH too)
7/10 so far (5.5 if Ronaldo leaves without replacement)
If we add a few more...
Antony - B+ (could be very expensive mistake, but right now he would be instant upgrade from Rashford/Elanga. Very talented winger for long term)
FDJ - A+ (ETH first choice, our whole new system would depend on him, would be very hard to obtain at this stage)
Vanderson? B- (looks like young and talent RB, there is some link with him lately on papers, I hope we get him)
That would be 9.5/10 summer for us if we also get the above 3. (back to 8 if Ronaldo leaves without replacement)
0.5 less perfect 10 as being unable to find GK to replace De Gea.
(I don't think we could find a good replacement for Ronaldo anyway this summer, so I prefer him to stay for another year. But if we could get someone like Nkunku, would be perfect rebuild for us)
Add De Jong, Anthony and a RB then it becomes the best window we've ever had and potentially leaves us only needing a GK, CB and ST next year.
He’s talking about Casemiro.
Ah ok.
Thanks!
It's mad how one signing suddenly changes things. The Casemiro signing (I'm assuming nothing goes wrong from here) suddenly gives me a much more optimistic feeling. We still desperately need another cm, and definitely some players up front. We could really do with a striker/cf, another wide player, and a right back. If we can get another 2 quality players in, I'll be happy. 3, I'll be delighted.
Because the media and our fans were overreacting to begin with. August is part of the transfer window, yet people have been acting like it isn't. We are the only team that gets criticized for performance in the transfer window before its over, despite 3 signings already before this. This has nothing to do with our bad start either. The fact is that we were always in for a deep lying midfielder. We have also been looking for a forward, those have been our objectives for the start and the De Jong situation affected that.
Its funny how the objectives from fans have changed now. All of a sudden we need 3 additional players to make them happy. Weren't we supposed to build over a few windows, not one.
I don't think it was an overreaction. It was obvious that this team needed a midfielder and/or a brand new midfield entirely. It was obvious last season, and the one before that, and it was obvious going into our opening games. Ideally, you fix your major issues before the season starts so that you can maximise points. That's 6 points we've already dropped without addressing one of several huge areas of concern. I think the fans were completely justified to be angry, and the media were fully justified to rip into us. Yes, there was still time, but it makes more footballing sense to get your transfers done earlier. I know that this is easier said than done.
As you say, the club have always been in for players in these positions, but there has to come a point where players need to be signed. Push has to come to shove. The later you buy players in the window, the longer it takes for the side to form a cohesive unit. I'd like to think that we'll be a lot more proactive and quicker next season, but you never know.
That is the case for most teams going into a season and the truth is we all knew we were trying to go for De Jong. The plan was clearly to get him early but that didn't happen due to Barcelona and their finances, not our negotiations. We still managed to get players in other positions we wanted bar the forward, where in previous years we failed completely in that regard. There is no question that Murtough and Arnold have tried to back ETH and have not gone over his head to sign players like Woodward did in the past. My frustration with this is that it's a new team that is leading this project, not Woodward. They have had to deal with issues brought on by the wage structure and mismanagement from the previous regime which has made it difficult to sell some of our players. They have therefore taken more time and care into ensuring we keep our salaries balanced by not overpaying wages in the market for average talent, which was what most fans complained about. Finishing outside the top 4 doesn't help the appeal. In prior years, we would overpay in wages to bring in unproven talent. That's not what we have done in this window, but may also be why we waited for De Jong and we have not yet signed the additional forward. Patience might actually be the right policy for us in the window.
A lot of people want obscure transfers that end up surprising us with quality. However, we made these deals constantly under Woodward. I would argue that the initial rebuild under LVG was so horrible because of the frequent use of this policy. Wasters like Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Darmian, Blind, Bailly, Lindelof, Pellestri and James were signed. We spent so much on both Amad and Martial without a consistent return on investment and in this period we have also given countless players from our academy way too many opportunities - Lingard, Mctominay, Periera, Williams and now Elanga.
There is another element that our fans also don't talk about as much as they should. The media have ALWAYS embellished about our transfer activities. Far more than any other team because we have by far the biggest fanbase. This happened under SAF when we were successful, but is far more useful now due to fan desperation for success. The scattergun approach discussed by the media for example reeks of player agents and clubs using our name to improve their situation. Stories have quickly come and gone with very little verification, yet all the same both fans and the media have lapped it up and used it as an opportunity to bash the club.
We never had a window where we signed more than 6 players under Fergie, and for the most part we signed 2 or 3 at a maximum. We were also never the attractive destination in Europe even when we were consistently winning trophies. Now players choosing not to come here is being used as as a sign of decline, when in actuality, we have probably been more successful in signing high profile players over the last 10 years than we ever were under SAF ( which shows you the true lack of importance people should place on the transfer market). We have rid ourselves of a lot of the personnel issues we had last season and have signed improvements into the team. We haven't had a chance to properly gel, have had a few linering issues in confidence from last season, have suffered a few injuries and have been waiting for some key positions to be field. Patience is the key word.
So Antony and maybe RB, there seems to be no solid midfield targets outside of De Jong
Easy there tiger. All this talking sense is going to get you in trouble. Dont you listen to Youtube fan channels? Its Gospel I tell you. The word of Gods. They have inside information dont you know?
Adding Casemiro, Antony, FDJ, and a RB would make it a very good window, and replacing Ronaldo with new forward would make it 9.5/10. Get rid of the deadwood too and it's a 10/10
What would you give Casemiro, Antony & RB, De Jong won't be revisited this window. How about a score for those three plus alternative playmaker.
This is a really uninspiring signing from my perspective. Yes, it’s a position we’ve needed to strengthen for a long time but it feels another example of signing a player past their peak, and giving RM £70 million which they will probably spend on a 24 year old replacement. I had the transfer window at 3/10 before this and I’d probably put it up to a 4/10, as at least we’ve signed a midfielder, but hasn’t significantly improved my view of the current position.
Would give it a bit more than that maybe a 5.5 to 6, however still need RB, ball playing CM & Antony, also ST (if Ronaldo leaves)
if our next signings were younger (20-25) players Ten Hag can build around then it could rescue an awful window.....
this was a restart with so many senior players leaving and had Ten Hag been given the tools early on we would be much further down the road in terms of players settled in and other players moved on.
Grab a young CM in the De Jong mould, a young wide attacker and an attacking technical RB and it would bdle a decent start
this was a restart with so many senior players leaving and had Ten Hag been given the tools early on we would be much further down the road in terms of players settled in and other players moved on.
Grab a young CM in the De Jong mould, a young wide attacker and an attacking technical RB and it would bdle a decent start
ive never seen him play but the data on Gusto is excellent
Antony is a player he trusts and its not a knee jerk move.
feels like we might be paying well over the odds and you question is it the right move. If he is a long term solution to RW then pay the money.
Not sure what we would do at CM. Certainly need a playmaker and if not De Jong I wonder are we better trusting in Garner for a year until we find the right one.
Yeah I don't like this silence on playmaker targets because we can't expect Eriksen to Donny to provide the level needed