Jack Grealish / signs new 5 year contract

[Fracture90]

If you follow the news you would see that we are close to getting Sancho - a proper RW, all the reliable journalists have also said we want a CB and Ole sees Mctominay as Matic's successor

Mate I've been following news ever since Ronaldinho was supposedly 1 foot through the door, but it fell through. When i see Sancho holding UTD shirt I'll believe it.

I cannot say whether or not Ole sees MCT to be Matic'replacement, but i do know is that Ole studied under SAF and SAF had a habit of keeping academy players to fill the squad because they were more willing to accept the side role.

 

[Superunknown]

Thing is, we won't be attacking all competitions next season anyway, this is a multi-year project.

I'd look to fix my starting 11 first before spending big for a squad player.

Realistically, a club of our stature needs to be doing both. We will be competing in the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League cup next season, provided that all of those competitions go ahead due to Covid-19.

Getting in a player or two with the first 11 in mind isn't really going to do it. We do need to be looking at the first 11 plus improving the general state of the rest of the squad. There will be injuries, fatigue, players dipping in and out of form, suspensions, so the whole squad needs looking at. It's not realistic to do an entire overhaul and get 10 players in, but we need to be looking at players who can set foot into the first 11 and also improve the rest of the squad. With the impact of 5 subs being used, it means that we have the opportunity to rotate more players now than before.

We tired out rather badly in the last 4 or so games and could have done with better options from the bench. Having to rely on Mata, Lingard and Pereira as our bench options isn't going to help us in these competitions. I think we can all admit that our bench when compared to the first 11 is very, very weak. Part of the Summer should be about closing that gap between the first 11 and the rest. We ideally want a competitive squad with players fighting to get into that first 11.

 

[romufc]

Thing is, we won't be attacking all competitions next season anyway, this is a multi-year project.

I'd look to fix my starting 11 first before spending big for a squad player.

I really do not get this logic though.

We won't attack all competitions? We will have to attack the PL, that is the bread and butter.

CL - There is no way Ole is playing a weakened team in the CL, the players will still play, we cannot have all our eggs in one basket. Are you trying to say, we will rest Bruno, Pogba, Rashford, Martial in the CL?

I am sure everyone thought we wont attack all comps this season but we are in the semi final of competitions.

 

[Red_toad]

Telegraph, Mail, Sun (lol) all say £41m?

It's at parity with EUR anyway. Romano says EUR43m so it's the same thing.

Hmm nope not at parity as 90p is 1€
Is plenty of reports saying it’s £35m and €43m is around £38m

 

[Fracture90]

Realistically, a club of our stature needs to be doing both. We will be competing in the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League cup next season, provided that all of those competitions go ahead due to Covid-19.

Getting in a player or two with the first 11 in mind isn't really going to do it. We do need to be looking at the first 11 plus improving the general state of the rest of the squad. There will be injuries, fatigue, players dipping in and out of form, suspensions, so the whole squad needs looking at. It's not realistic to do an entire overhaul and get 10 players in, but we need to be looking at players who can set foot into the first 11 and also improve the rest of the squad. With the impact of 5 subs being used, it means that we have the opportunity to rotate more players now than before.

We tired out rather badly in the last 4 or so games and could have done with better options from the bench. Having to rely on Mata, Lingard and Pereira as our bench options isn't going to help us in these competitions. I think we can all admit that our bench when compared to the first 11 is very, very weak. Part of the Summer should be about closing that gap between the first 11 and the rest. We ideally want a competitive squad with players fighting to get into that first 11.

Sure, but we don't have £300m to spend though.

I get the injures/dip in form and all the other variables but we won't be playing 3 games a week for prolonged period of time after a long break like we did now.

Also who's to say that Grealish would hit the ground running? In Villa he's the main man, everything goes through him, in UTD he won't have that status.

 

[DannyDee]

The reason I am hesitant to bring someone else in, we have not had the best luck signing unknown players from Europe for a while now, we need a player that will hit the ground running.

100% I would sacrifice Grealish for a DLP but again, there is no clear choice. I would say Rice, but we wont get him so no point me mentioning names we wont get.

Grealish is realistic and a very good age.

To be honest, there isn't really anything you can point to in our recruitment post-Fergie where you can say we excel recruiting from there. We've had expensive EPL busts (Sanchez and to a lesser extend Lukaku although we recouped most of that), we've had bad big name Euro purchases (Di Maria, Mkhitaryan), we've had bad cheap English purchases (James), we've had bad cheap Euro purchases (Memphis). Arguably, our best purchase post-Fergie value-wise has been Martial, who while raved about in youth circles was relatively unknown to the general public (Bruno has quickly put himself in the discussion too).

Now, it would be unfair to hold anything prior that happened before Ole got here against him (or credit him for good prior purchases). So, we are really looking at 4 transfers for Ole (Maguire, Fernandes, AWB and James), but what looks to be his best purchase so far value-wise is Fernandes who while known was from the continent. Maguire and AWB are good players, and while requiring overpayment, accomplish what we brought them to do. James is the only real unknown, and while its too early to completely write-off a 22 year-old, he doesn't look close to making the grade for the squad we aspire to be.

So, I'd just say to keep an open-mind about all possible areas we explore transfers, because its not like there is one style of transfer we are hitting on at a high-rate since SAF left. Its been a very mixed bag when it comes to all styles of notable transfers. Even youth recruitment hasn't produced much, as most of the young kids who've broken through were long-term academy players (Rashford, Greenwood, and to a lesser extent McTominay and Henderson), and not guys we brought in from Europe at 16 (although, I'm obviously very hopeful when it comes to Mejbri but we are a bit away to determine the success of that).

 

[ArjenIsM3]

I wholeheartedly disagree with that notion. Like i said people want a new toy for the sake of it and that's it. We can get Buendia and VDB for the money we'd be forced to pay Grealish.

Don't know why you keep saying this. If we had a squad like City this might be the case but we don't. It's about providing competition for places and being able to rest the likes of Rashford, Bruno and Pogba. You might rate the likes of Buendia and VdB highly but I'd much rather get Grealish. Agree to disagree I guess.

 

[Fracture90]

I really do not get this logic though.

We won't attack all competitions? We will have to attack the PL, that is the bread and butter.

CL - There is no way Ole is playing a weakened team in the CL, the players will still play, we cannot have all our eggs in one basket. Are you trying to say, we will rest Bruno, Pogba, Rashford, Martial in the CL?

I am sure everyone thought we wont attack all comps this season but we are in the semi final of competitions.

What's not to get? Building a team is a process and even though we had our purple patch of form it's unrealistic to think that will be in the position to win all competitions next season. Sure as a fan i want to believe that we will be but there are so many glaring weaknesses that teams in CL will loot to exploit easily.

I stand by my words, look to get your starting 11 fixed that build on that foundation.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Mate I've been following news ever since Ronaldinho was supposedly 1 foot through the door, but it fell through. When i see Sancho holding UTD shirt I'll believe it.

I cannot say whether or not Ole sees MCT to be Matic'replacement, but i do know is that Ole studied under SAF and SAF had a habit of keeping academy players to fill the squad because they were more willing to accept the side role.

It's known that we are trying to get Sancho and he is the one that we have prioritied so that means we have every intention of fixing the RW hole that you say we should prioritie over Grealish.

Stone Ducker Hirst has also said we want a CB so that's another glaring hole we want to fix this window that should be prioritied over Grealish

We also just gave Matic a three year contract and Ole has said Mctominay is learning from Matic, Carrick has also said Mctominay can take his place. Ole also preferred to use Mctominay as our DM before Matic earlier this season. Then there's the lack of DM links. All signs point towards us being satisfied with Matic and Mctominay as our DMs. I'm against it but that's what the club sees.

 

[Fracture90]

Don't know why you keep saying this. If we had a squad like City this might be the case but we don't. It's about providing competition for places and being able to rest the likes of Rashford, Bruno and Pogba. You might rate the likes of Buendia and VdB highly but I'd much rather get Grealish. Agree to disagree I guess.

Because in my opinion we should fix our starting 11 before spending big to improve on our squad, it's rather simple, really don't know what's confusing you.

 

[VP89]

Hmm nope not at parity as 90p is 1€
Is plenty of reports saying it’s £35m and €43m is around £38m

You are correct on conversions but which reports say £35m? I can see Telegraph, Skysports, Mail, Sun, ESPN and BBC broadcaster Chirs Temple saying £41m.

 

[Fracture90]

It's known that we are trying to get Sancho and he is the one that we have prioritied so that means we have every intention of fixing the RW hole that you say we should prioritie over Grealish.

Stone Ducker Hirst has also said we want a CB so that's another glaring hole we want to fix this window that should be prioritied over Grealish

We also just gave Matic a three year contract and Ole has said Mctominay is learning from Matic, Carrick has also said Mctominay can take his place. Ole also preferred to use Mctominay as our DM before Matic earlier this season. Then there's the lack of DM links. All signs point towards us being satisfied with Matic and Mctominay as our DMs. I'm against it but that's what the club sees.

Our desire to get Sancho is unmistakable, but whether or not will the deal be made is a different story. We had too many situations in recent past where it all pointed out that we will be signing a certain player, only for it to fall apart.

 

[croadyman]

It's known that we are trying to get Sancho and he is the one that we have prioritied so that means we have every intention of fixing the RW hole that you say we should prioritie over Grealish.

Stone Ducker Hirst has also said we want a CB so that's another glaring hole we want to fix this window that should be prioritied over Grealish

We also just gave Matic a three year contract and Ole has said Mctominay is learning from Matic, Carrick has also said Mctominay can take his place. Ole also preferred to use Mctominay as our DM before Matic earlier this season. Then there's the lack of DM links. All signs point towards us being satisfied with Matic and Mctominay as our DMs. I'm against it but that's what the club sees.

Yeah I am against that decision too but just gotta accept that Scott will be Matic's understudy next season. Doesn't matter what we all feel about it.

 

[roonster09]

Hmm nope not at parity as 90p is 1€
Is plenty of reports saying it’s £35m and €43m is around £38m

2 of the most reliable reporters for City news.

 

[romufc]

What's not to get? Building a team is a process and even though we had our purple patch of form it's unrealistic to think that will be in the position to win all competitions next season. Sure as a fan i want to believe that we will be but there are so many glaring weaknesses that teams in CL will loot to exploit easily.

I stand by my words, look to get your starting 11 fixed that build on that foundation.

I don't think it is easy to build a team. I am not expecting a title challenge, neither do I want us to be fighting for top 4 next season until the last day.

When you are in the CL, every manager will play their strongest team. Unless as a fan you are happy to write the CL off and not complain if we get knocked out in the group stages ?

I certainly won't be happy, I expect us to get to the quarter final next season, which means we will need a squad.

the starting 11 can be fixed with 2 players, so why can we not expect a squad player who will let our forwards rotate?

 

[Superunknown]

Sure, but we don't have £300m to spend though.

I get the injures/dip in form and all the other variables but we won't be playing 3 games a week for prolonged period of time after a long break like we did now.

Also who's to say that Grealish would hit the ground running? In Villa he's the main man, everything goes through him, in UTD he won't have that status.

It's true that we haven't got a bottomless pit of money like a few other clubs do, no arguing with that. I would argue that the club needs to be better with moving players on who aren't working out much sooner, like how we recuperated a huge proportion of the Lukaku money. This then helps us when it comes to funding other transfers.

There could be a scenario where we could be playing a league game on the Saturday, Champions League in midweek and then another league game on the weekend. It really depends on how we progress in all competitions. Ideally, we want to go as far as we can in all of those competitions and be competing for trophies. So, at the very least, getting out of the groups of the Champions League, aiming for a top four spot in the league (hopefully secure or improve on what we did this year) and get as far as we can with the cups. You can't do that with the same 11 week in week out, it does need freshening up. If the opportunity is there with us being able to use 5 subs, then we need to use that to our advantage as much as possible.

Looking at the squad as a whole, we could argue that we need to be looking at virtually every position. Certainly the goalkeeper situation, centre back positions, full backs, wings and central midfield...there's a lot that needs to be done. It's one of those things where the closer you look, the harder the job seems.

It's very true what you say about Grealish being a focal point at Villa. He will have to work very hard when he comes here and it's not a guarantee that he would be a starter in every game as he would at Villa. But, you want that in your squad, with players having to work very hard to prove themselves. I'd love to see "that" back at United, the feeling that it's a huge opportunity for players and that they need to work at it.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Define really special.

Very good, I'll admit but 'really special?'

Statistically he jumps out in every category, whether it be key passes, fouls drawn, chances created etc and his performances in the last few games kind of showed that he can be counted on when chips are down, which is a key attribute to add to the squad when you consider how nervy even the most experienced players looked in the final few games.

 

[croadyman]

It's true that we haven't got a bottomless pit of money like a few other clubs do, no arguing with that. I would argue that the club needs to be better with moving players on who aren't working out much sooner, like how we recuperated a huge proportion of the Lukaku money. This then helps us when it comes to funding other transfers.

There could be a scenario where we could be playing a league game on the Saturday, Champions League in midweek and then another league game on the weekend. It really depends on how we progress in all competitions. Ideally, we want to go as far as we can in all of those competitions and be competing for trophies. So, at the very least, getting out of the groups of the Champions League, aiming for a top four spot in the league (hopefully secure or improve on what we did this year) and get as far as we can with the cups. You can't do that with the same 11 week in week out, it does need freshening up. If the opportunity is there with us being able to use 5 subs, then we need to use that to our advantage as much as possible.

Looking at the squad as a whole, we could argue that we need to be looking at virtually every position. Certainly the goalkeeper situation, centre back positions, full backs, wings and central midfield...there's a lot that needs to be done. It's one of those things where the closer you look, the harder the job seems.

It's very true what you say about Grealish being a focal point at Villa. He will have to work very hard when he comes here and it's not a guarantee that he would be a starter in every game as he would at Villa. But, you want that in your squad, with players having to work very hard to prove themselves. I'd love to see "that" back at United, the feeling that it's a huge opportunity for players and that they need to work at it.

Yeah completely agree with that but right now it's hard to see how Utd get the price down for Grealish

 

[Superunknown]

Yeah completely agree with that but right now it's hard to see how Utd get the price down for Grealish

My biggest fear right now is that we drag out the deals for both Sancho and/or Grealish for too long, get late into the window, panic and then pay something like £65million for Zaha.

 

[Fracture90]

I don't think it is easy to build a team. I am not expecting a title challenge, neither do I want us to be fighting for top 4 next season until the last day.

When you are in the CL, every manager will play their strongest team. Unless as a fan you are happy to write the CL off and not complain if we get knocked out in the group stages ?

I certainly won't be happy, I expect us to get to the quarter final next season, which means we will need a squad.

the starting 11 can be fixed with 2 players, so why can we not expect a squad player who will let our forwards rotate?

Depends on the opposition. I assume certain opponents require stronger lineup, some don't. Besides as i said above, we won't be playing 3 games every week throughout the season.

Can we fix starting 11 with 2 players though? Imo RW, DMF and CB are glaring weaknesses which are preventing us from adopting a certain style.

£70-80m is the money you pay for an automatic starter, not a squad player in hopes that he can displace someone from starting 11 here and there and will hit the ground running.

 

[romufc]

Depends on the opposition. I assume certain opponents require stronger lineup, some don't. Besides as i said above, we won't be playing 3 games every week throughout the season.

Can we fix starting 11 with 2 players though? Imo RW, DMF and CB are glaring weaknesses which are preventing us from adopting a certain style.

£70-80m is the money you pay for an automatic starter, not a squad player in hopes that he can displace someone from starting 11 here and there and will hit the ground running.

We are acting as if we were only tired after lockdown. There was games before lockdown where Fred, AWB looked tired too.

We will play 3 games a week over Xmas period. The league starts later this year so the games will be condensed.

Again, I have said the max for Grealish would be £50/55m.

I don't actually think CB and CDM are glaring holes, only the RW. We have a good defensive record this season and CDM, I can see Matic being able to play prem games with McTominay and Fred there for the European ones.

 

[Cassidy]

We are acting as if we were only tired after lockdown. There was games before lockdown where Fred, AWB looked tired too.

We will play 3 games a week over Xmas period. The league starts later this year so the games will be condensed.

Again, I have said the max for Grealish would be £50/55m.

I don't actually think CB and CDM are glaring holes, only the RW. We have a good defensive record this season and CDM, I can see Matic being able to play prem games with McTominay and Fred there for the European ones.

Matic can't play 2 games a week consistently and maintain his form. CDM is a big problem

 

[Fracture90]

It's true that we haven't got a bottomless pit of money like a few other clubs do, no arguing with that. I would argue that the club needs to be better with moving players on who aren't working out much sooner, like how we recuperated a huge proportion of the Lukaku money. This then helps us when it comes to funding other transfers.

There could be a scenario where we could be playing a league game on the Saturday, Champions League in midweek and then another league game on the weekend. It really depends on how we progress in all competitions. Ideally, we want to go as far as we can in all of those competitions and be competing for trophies. So, at the very least, getting out of the groups of the Champions League, aiming for a top four spot in the league (hopefully secure or improve on what we did this year) and get as far as we can with the cups. You can't do that with the same 11 week in week out, it does need freshening up. If the opportunity is there with us being able to use 5 subs, then we need to use that to our advantage as much as possible.

Looking at the squad as a whole, we could argue that we need to be looking at virtually every position. Certainly the goalkeeper situation, centre back positions, full backs, wings and central midfield...there's a lot that needs to be done. It's one of those things where the closer you look, the harder the job seems.

It's very true what you say about Grealish being a focal point at Villa. He will have to work very hard when he comes here and it's not a guarantee that he would be a starter in every game as he would at Villa. But, you want that in your squad, with players having to work very hard to prove themselves. I'd love to see "that" back at United, the feeling that it's a huge opportunity for players and that they need to work at it.

I've seen many a post these past few weeks where people are making an estimate on how much we can move our deadwood. Some are realistic, some little less. Thing is we, as a club, are on what seems to be upward course and it's fair to assume that some of those players will be willing to stick around for another year for a chance of maybe landing a trophy or 2. There are those that will never get the same wages anywhere else and are not to fussed to move out.

Most definitely, but that's why we got priorities. EPL and CL being top priority, whilst those throwaway cups should be a good opportunity for youth and squad to shine. Also those instances you mentioned won't be happening non stop throughout the season.

I feel that squad would benefit more from bringing in VDB and Buendia for the money we'd spend on Grealish, if our intention is to bring depth and quality to the squad.

 

[romufc]

Matic can't play 2 games a week consistently and maintain his form. CDM is a big problem

Agree, he can only play one game a week.

I still think Ole needs to get better from Fred and Mctominay in that respect. If we play a Brighton at home, we can get away with Fred, Bruno and Pogba. I mean we should be able to, whether we do, is something else.

 

[Cassidy]

Agree, he can only play one game a week.

I still think Ole needs to get better from Fred and Mctominay in that respect. If we play a Brighton at home, we can get away with Fred, Bruno and Pogba. I mean we should be able to, whether we do, is something else.

We're playing UCL, our week could easily be Leicester away, Bayern away, City home

Ole didn't want to rely on either Fred or McTominay during the run in for 4th even though Matic was gassed.

 

[romufc]

We're playing UCL, our week could easily be Leicester away, Bayern away, City home

Ole didn't want to rely on either Fred or McTominay during the run in for 4th even though Matic was gassed.

I agree, but can you rely on Pogba, Bruno, Rashford, Martial being fit for all ? Rashford and Bruno were gassed too.

 

[Fracture90]

We are acting as if we were only tired after lockdown. There was games before lockdown where Fred, AWB looked tired too.

We will play 3 games a week over Xmas period. The league starts later this year so the games will be condensed.

Again, I have said the max for Grealish would be £50/55m.

I don't actually think CB and CDM are glaring holes, only the RW. We have a good defensive record this season and CDM, I can see Matic being able to play prem games with McTominay and Fred there for the European ones.

But remember, it was the first season that Ole got to do preseason with the team, and our fitness woes were a thing of legend. When he first took over, we were running on fumes shortly after, that's how bad our fitness was. We went from bottom team in distance covered under Mourinho to top3 under Ole. I think that Ole's approach to fitness played a great part to our accumulation of injures and fatigue.

That's still huge money for a player that is supposed to be a bench player that can step in when needed imo. Like i said previously, he was the main man at Villa, everything ran through him (hence the foul stat) but in UTD he won't get the same treatment. Will he be able to hit the ground running?

 

[MadDogg]

Oh God no. I am sick to death of us playing midfielders on the wing. We did it with Mata and Perierra. Grealish on the wing wouldn't work as he has no pace. Would rather play Dan James there.

You do realise Grealish spent almost all this season playing on the wing? Yes he had licence to roam and often drifted into the centre (which he'd also have here), but he's perfectly fine playing on the left wing. Hell, an argument could be made that it's his strongest position.

He doesn't have lightning pace but he's much faster than the likes of Mata and Pereira. He is also one of the best dribblers in the league.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Statistically he jumps out in every category, whether it be key passes, fouls drawn, chances created etc and his performances in the last few games kind of showed that he can be counted on when chips are down, which is a key attribute to add to the squad when you consider how nervy even the most experienced players looked in the final few games.

It could all be moot. I doubt if he's going to be at Utd;we won't be paying anywhere near 80m

 

[Idxomer]

If Ake is worth 40m in one of the worst defenses in the league with a relegated team. Grealish should be worth about 60m, maybe a bit more, which is still a lot and don't think the club would go for him at this price when they sadly won't see him as a high priority.

 

[MadDogg]

What's not to get? Building a team is a process and even though we had our purple patch of form it's unrealistic to think that will be in the position to win all competitions next season. Sure as a fan i want to believe that we will be but there are so many glaring weaknesses that teams in CL will loot to exploit easily.

I stand by my words, look to get your starting 11 fixed that build on that foundation.

We have one glaring hole in our starting 11 - right wing. After that we have a few options.

We can strengthen our starting defence, but it's already decent.
We can strengthen our starting defensive midfield, but it's already decent.
We can improve our options in attack, where everything outside the starting players are absolutely atrocious. These are also the positions that tend to be rotated the most both throughout individual games and between matches.

I'd put all three at roughly similar priority. Then it comes down to Grealish probably being a more sure thing to succeed than anybody we can bring in for similar money in the other positions. In saying that Partey might be an exception from what I hear (I really haven't watched him play in the last two years).

 

[Matriac]

All valid points mate but we got Bruno for less than 50 and doubt we'd pay more for a rotation player.
Also I'd add that these players you mentioned where bought as starting players although very poor outlays on bang average guys.

We'll have paid £55m for Bruno by early next season when he goes over 25 matches for us. Potentially another £12.6m over the next years if he plays really well for us.
Then add on British player tax, and between PL clubs, which is usually £10-20m more.

If we can get Grealish for 40m with add-ons that's great. 50m with add-ons is still decent.

 

[Matriac]

You must be the one overrating him. 55-60m for Grealish to be rotation? Christ.

It's not like his "rotation-spot" would be like filling in for Maguire when he's sick.

Grealish would get plenty of minutes coming off the bench for Bruno/Rashford, maybe even for the RW at times. And he's a different type of player than what we have, much more possession orientated, so he would be a different tactical choice for a lot of matches where he would get starts, not only when Bruno or Rashford is tired.

 

[Cassidy]

I agree, but can you rely on Pogba, Bruno, Rashford, Martial being fit for all ? Rashford and Bruno were gassed too.

No but Sancho Greenwood can covers those, where as we have no adequate cover for CDM imo. Fred could also cover Pogba to an extent.
Anyway I'm not opposed to Grealish my point was more that CDM is a very high priority. Those players can play more consistent games than Matic

 

[Superunknown]

I've seen many a post these past few weeks where people are making an estimate on how much we can move our deadwood. Some are realistic, some little less. Thing is we, as a club, are on what seems to be upward course and it's fair to assume that some of those players will be willing to stick around for another year for a chance of maybe landing a trophy or 2. There are those that will never get the same wages anywhere else and are not to fussed to move out.

Most definitely, but that's why we got priorities. EPL and CL being top priority, whilst those throwaway cups should be a good opportunity for youth and squad to shine. Also those instances you mentioned won't be happening non stop throughout the season.

I feel that squad would benefit more from bringing in VDB and Buendia for the money we'd spend on Grealish, if our intention is to bring depth and quality to the squad.

I keep seeing posts about VDB but don't really know enough about him to comment. Buendia has looked handy and could be a good signing, with little risk and low cost, too.

I'm optimistic that we'll be able to put the squad in a better state at the end of the window than it is currently, with regards to both adding quality and removing some of the extra squad players who need moving on. It won't all get solved in one window anyway and we'll be looking at doing the same thing again next Summer, I imagine. I think that Ole and the club will be smart about this and look to play the long game...I hope. We'll soon see!

If it gets to a couple of days before the deadline and nobody has come or gone, then we panic.

 

[croadyman]

Statistically he jumps out in every category, whether it be key passes, fouls drawn, chances created etc and his performances in the last few games kind of showed that he can be counted on when chips are down, which is a key attribute to add to the squad when you consider how nervy even the most experienced players looked in the final few games.

Honestly think he would be a class signing,however understand him having doubters in our fanbase. We should definitely not go any more than £55m plus addons bu aware that is probably too much too.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

It's not like his "rotation-spot" would be like filling in for Maguire when he's sick.

Grealish would get plenty of minutes coming off the bench for Bruno/Rashford, maybe even for the RW at times. And he's a different type of player than what we have, much more possession orientated, so he would be a different tactical choice for a lot of matches where he would get starts, not only when Bruno or Rashford is tired.

Looking at our best 11 now, Grealish would be used coming off the bench or to replace an underperforming/fatigued player. That's why he's going to be a rotational player. He's not going to be in the first 11 in our first match of the next season. .

Filling for Maguire when he's sick is not who a rotational player is. That's just someone that can do a job and is happy to be on the bench. Like Ighalo.

Also if we get Sancho I'd rather rotate with Sancho on the left and Greenwood on the right.

 

[Fracture90]

We have one glaring hole in our starting 11 - right wing. After that we have a few options.

We can strengthen our starting defence, but it's already decent.
We can strengthen our starting defensive midfield, but it's already decent.
We can improve our options in attack, where everything outside the starting players are absolutely atrocious. These are also the positions that tend to be rotated the most both throughout individual games and between matches.

I'd put all three at roughly similar priority. Then it comes down to Grealish probably being a more sure thing to succeed than anybody we can bring in for similar money in the other positions. In saying that Partey might be an exception from what I hear (I really haven't watched him play in the last two years).

I have to disagree with that mate, RW is not the only hole in our starting 11 imo. We need to improve from decent to very good/great/top class, both in starting 11 and squad of course but starting 11 is priority imo. Decent is not good enough for what we're aiming to achieve and build.

Take for example our starting CB's, i personally think that neither of the 2 is a UTD caliber CB, but when thosr 2 aren't playing, we got no options. One of the reason as to why Ole was playing Maguire non stop.

Partey is a peculiar one. Caf experts would have you believe that passing isn't one of his stronger points but Arteta, whom is Guardiola's pupil and a guy who's by the looks of it trying to implement something similar to tiki-taka with keeping possession and relying on strong passing game, is actively pursuing Partey...

 

[Fracture90]

I keep seeing posts about VDB but don't really know enough about him to comment. Buendia has looked handy and could be a good signing, with little risk and low cost, too.

I'm optimistic that we'll be able to put the squad in a better state at the end of the window than it is currently, with regards to both adding quality and removing some of the extra squad players who need moving on. It won't all get solved in one window anyway and we'll be looking at doing the same thing again next Summer, I imagine. I think that Ole and the club will be smart about this and look to play the long game...I hope. We'll soon see!

If it gets to a couple of days before the deadline and nobody has come or gone, then we panic.

Yikes, that'd be nasty!

 

[Adisa]

Relegated Bournemouth moving Ake on for £41m won't help.

He won't go for less that £60m for sure. Doubt that would even be enough. You can't justify that kind of outlay for a non starting player.