Yep, it's pretty gimpy especially when they get into the realms of Neymar and Mbappe.
Jadon Sancho| Staying at Dortmund for now
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Yep, it's pretty gimpy especially when they get into the realms of Neymar and Mbappe.
That still not enough.
I think we need to add a top midfielder and another attacker on top.
We really need to go all-out Muppet mode this summer or I expect more of the same from the last 7 seasons. A tough scrap for 3rd or 4th.
Nah we dont need to go all muppet mode. We need Sancho/Hudson Odoi for sure, to sort out the right wing and complete the attack for the near and longer future. After that, we need to just let some of them develop. Both Hudson odoi or sancho, if we get either one of them, are only 18. Rashford turned 21 this season. Martial turned 23 this season. Same with Shaw. Dalot turned 20 a week ago. Literally half of our hopeful/probable starting 11 next season is 23 or younger. So they just need to develop a bit. We shouldnt be demanding winning the title ahead of a team in its prime. Compete, fight for every trophy and see where we end up, but I wouldnt expect us to win the title next season even in the best case scenario summer window. Next season is just too soon for that if you look at the make up of our squad. Season 2020/21 is when we realistically we should be aiming to start the peak of this squads cycle, if we hold on to Pogba and De Gea. You'll have Martial, rashford, shaw, dalit, sancho/CHO all entering or on the verge of entering their peak years, while our 2 current world class players being at their peak still, along with ample time to fill the gaps like the 2 midfield positions around Pogba and the CB situation.
Couldn't agree more. Key here is Sancho IMO and a CB. The other key being the growth of these players (Rashford/Martial/Shaw/Dalot/Pogba) together.
You think Pogba and DDG are going to hang around playing with a team who are all 'still developing'. ??? When they can play for Real Madrid, who are always competitive and will attract the best? Real are linked with Neymar, Mbappe, Mane... they not get any, they may get all three.. who knows..?? but that's what we are up against. And so we should be.
I have stated my opinion on other similar threads: Manchester United need to be buying proven, top-top quality players.. and maybe one emerging youngster. We have an excellent youth set up.
Sancho would provide balance, but are you seriously not interested in players of the calibre of Kane, Hazard, Kante, Kroos, Verrati, Dybala, Rabiot.. if not, why not?
Those are the types of players I want us to sign. I think we should be looking to offload a youngster or two.. why not? They haven't really come on in leaps and bounds have they? hardly a Rooney, or Ronaldo...
It seems some fans are scared of buying big names, good players. SOmetimes they don't work out (Forlan, Veron, Blanc, and of course Sanchez etc...) but there is nothing wrong with that. It happens, there is no shame, and it is actually one of the characteristics of a truly big club. You should seek to compete and buy the best.
I don't want us to be like Arsene Wenger Arsenal. He ended up, quite reluctantly, buying big, and now look.. Aubamayang and Lacazette, alongside Torreira, have helped redefine the team. I wish we had those players.
I completely agree. I doubt you will get many replies though. I ask the same questions and people just ignore me and continue going about their day with their heads in the sand.
I think it's a forgone conclusion that Pogba & De Gea will both be gone by next summer at the latest. It's exactly like you said, why should they stick around in a developing team when they can be playing for the likes of Real? Proper teams who want to challenge every season and don't settle for 2nd best.
What did we do when we finished 2nd last season? Sat back on our laurels and allowed the likes of Liverpool to overtake us.
Our owners only interest is profits and keeping the gravy train rolling on.
Looks like we are going to have to suffer for more years to come.
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I agree, I dont see our elite players sticking around past next summer unless they know that they are on a team capable of winning titles and I do not blame them.
This upcoming transfer window is one of our most critical transfer windows ever and will shape the direction of the side for a long time.
I wish I had more confidence in Ed and the board but I do not and I doubt their ambition
De Gea, honestly I'm not worried about. If he really wanted to move, he waited too long. Barca have Ter Stegen. Madrid have Courtois. Bayern still have Neuer. Atletico have Oblak. Szceszny has turned into a quality goalkeeper for Juve, while they also have another quality Italian goalkeeper in Perin. He's not going anywhere in England nor would any English side splash the cash at this point considering they're all set pretty much. PSG are the only real possibility for him, and I really just can't see him going there.
Pogba, who knows if he stays or goes. His contract runs til summer 2021, with the 1 year extension option so effectively it's 2022. You think it's crazy to suggest we need to show a bit of patience for 1 season with the young players and then realistically plan a title challenge in 2020/21? Pogba will be here regardless for that season unless we get a huge fee.
Sancho for me is the dream signing. #1. Ahead of Kane, Hazard, Kante, Kroos, Verratti, Dybala, Rabiot, Griezmann, etc.. He's a potential world class player and we'd instantly sort out that side, and with the rest of our squad make up, pretty much sort out our attack for possibly the next 6-7 years if all pans out well and as we'd expect with those players. It's the sort of players you build great teams on. You seem to be obsessing over some big names just because they are big names. Guess what? Most of these players wouldn't improve us. Or they would be so out of place they just really wouldn't fit in or they'd push others around and we'd become unbalanced. That's not how you build a quality side. That's what we've done for the past 6 years and that's why we've been a mess. Kane is quality, but he wouldn't solve most of our issues (nor is he in the slightest bit realistic). Kante is the main exception from that list in terms of being able to come in and balance our midfield (unrealistic anyway). Kroos? Don't want. Verratti? Don't want. Dybala? Juve are trying to become the top team in Europe these days, there's a reason why they're looking to replace him. Nor would he suit us at all. Same with Griezmann. Bale is the classic example for this anyway. Would be one of the most idiotic signings we can make. Rabiot would be a free signing so I'm all for that, but there's question marks how good he is anyway, before we even get to his personality issues.
Anyway, it's beyond dumb to make a short term/older signing for huge money when the rest of your squad make up isn't ready to make the step up. Teams should always be building with the next few years in mind, and see where their squad is at in the cycle and when they can do the title push. Our squad is not ready for one next summer. You spend 100m on 4 players and it's still probably not quite there yet, but you then put yourself in the situation like we have with Sanchez now. A useless player collecting 350k a week and making everyone else want more money. Instead, give our main players who are mostly young right now a bit more patience, find players that compliment that group and balance out the squad, fill the holes where we don't have a lot invested in younger players or a lot of hope (like Dalot at right back, Shaw at left back, Martial/Rashford in attack, that's without even starting with Greenwood/Gomes/Chong), and then just have a bit of patience and then, if still needed, go big on that one player that will transform us. That's not a 1 transfer window process for Ole. The absolute best case scenario is the season after next one, if we're being realistic.
I get this feeling also. After being in the wilderness these last few years we've done well to come out unscathed with some of our better players still here. But i too get the feeling that this summer and next season will be defining. If this all proves to be another false dawn then I think some of these players will starting casting an eye abroad.
So now Real Madrid is an example of ambition and maturity after losing in recent years people like Morata, James, Cristiano Ronaldo, and replacing them with the likes of Mariano, Vinicius, Brahim, and introducing Reguilon, Valverde or Marcos Llorente. Also signed recently Rodrygo (18) and Militao (21). Their global spending since 2016 is actually negative.
It's true they have been succesful in Europe in the last seasons, but their days of glory are truly over. This is not 2003 or 2009 when they did whatever they wanted in the market, and they haven't prepared well enough in the last seasons to face this transition. Their team base is ageing, the supposed new star after Ronaldo (Bale) is half autistic, doesn't talk to anyone and plays once a month.
I mean, if Pogba or De Gea want to sign for Real it would be to stay close to his family, enjoy the sunny weather or to earn more money. Football wise they're not an example of anything at the minute.
It's true they have been succesful in Europe in the last seasons, but their days of glory are truly over. This is not 2003 or 2009 when they did whatever they wanted in the market, and they haven't prepared well enough in the last seasons to face this transition. Their team base is ageing, the supposed new star after Ronaldo (Bale) is half autistic, doesn't talk to anyone and plays once a month.
I mean, if Pogba or De Gea want to sign for Real it would be to stay close to his family, enjoy the sunny weather or to earn more money. Football wise they're not an example of anything at the minute.
I highly doubt any club would be aiming to buy Pogba off us. He isn't worth the money we would be asking whilst he requires highly specific tactics to get the best out of him.
I also doubt he would want to leave - he is treated like the central rockstar at United, has his friends here whilst also getting attention more so than he would anywhere else.
I also doubt he would want to leave - he is treated like the central rockstar at United, has his friends here whilst also getting attention more so than he would anywhere else.
TBF, if United signed someone like Sancho and De Ligt, we wouldn't be pulling an Arsenal. Arsenal's youngsters weren't the greatest talents.
Elite players want to be either winning or consistently challenging for titles and the point is he can make the same money elsewhere and be actually winning the league and /or champs league with another team. The harsh truth is we currently arent a top 5 European team and haven't been for a while.
This can change if we invest wisely but our board doesn't fill me with confidence that they are capable of doing what it takes to get us back on top.
If we spent 75% of our budget on Sancho and then the rest on trying to find a random midtable RB from Spain or France we like for real cheap and just paid some veteran CBs release clause (presumably Alderweild or Manolas) and ignored the midfield for a year, I would take that right now, Sancho seems like that good a signing for us.
I did say elsewhere in this thread that I hadn't seen nearly enough of him to make an informed decision
Yep. We can get squad players easily every year, but finding top class players isn't easy.
Give Ole 250m to get Sancho and Koulibaly. If we can get them for 100m each, get Pereira from Leicester with the remaining funds and if we lose Herrera, bring in Rabiot on a free. Sorted.
Eh, it's Madrid, they'll probably look like this by the start of the 2020-21 season (ages then) under Zidane and be scary again:
---------------Mbappe/Kane/Icardi---------------------
Asensio/Vinicius----------------Neymar/Sancho/Hazard
-------------Kroos/Isco--Havertz/Pogba/Eriksen-----
------------------------Casemiro---------------
LB/Theo/Regulon---Varane-Militao-----Carvajal/Odriozola
---------------------Courtois/Navas---------------
That CB pairing looks very, very strong with Casemiro in front, and they have very skilled young wingers and Kroos, Isco and Carvajal should all be productive again under Zidane for the final years of their prime. Marcelo, Modric and Ronaldo are a huge loss but I still think they can somewhat mitigate that by upgrading their 9 from Benzema to a feck off 40 goals a year type forward and just buying a great midfielder like they did with Modric and Kroos, whether that's Aouar or Barella or they'll just sign Verrati and he'll become the best CM around like Modric did. feck.
Have we signed him yet? Has he liked any more of Rio's tweets? Are we preparing a bid? What does Ole think? These are the only things I now care about regarding Jadon Sancho.
Didn't know Real had a spare £600m lying around? Hazard is realistic, maybe Icardi too, but that's £160m that doesn't make you a top team. Finding players of the calibre of Modric and Ronaldo is tough nowadays.
It's interesting how you're so certain all the names you've mentioned wouldn't improve the team or you wouldn't want them in but you're so certain that Sancho would. Those players are far more proven than Sancho. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Sancho as well, but he is relatively unproven compared to the other names you've mentioned.
You just have to look at the type of players they all are. Sancho is a right wing. Kane in would move Rashford to the right which is meh. Hazard is left or central. Dybala and griezmann are basically purely #10's, but also both very heavily system oriented. Bale was world class as a 10 with Spurs built around him. Has struggled to ever really get the fans on side at Madrid and he's always in and out of the side because on the wing, he straight up isnt that good. Then for midfield it's all well and good naming some top players but it's pointless to go for them if they dont suit what you have.
That's what I'm getting at. Its dumb to sign a top class player just because of their name, when we have gaps that need to be addressed. Address the holes in our squad, focus on those areas. Sancho fits that bill 100%. I dont care too much about getting some player who is really proven. Some times you need that. That's not where we are at right now though. We need the right type of player to compliment what we have and to complete our side. After that, then see where we're at and what we need to target.
And how has buying proven big names worked out over the past 5 years? Di Maria, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, Sanchez. Do you seriously want us to continue with the ‘galactico’ strategy? Are you for real?
You want us to sell a youngster or two too, like who?
Let's say 200 for Mbappe and 80 for Hazard and Eriksen with their contracts being up. James can be sold for 40 or so I'd guess. Modric, Benzema and Marcelo leaving is a massive wages drop and some transfer fees coming back, though nothing huge. Bale could probably still fetch a decent fee from an English team and another huge wages drop. Likely Vazquez gets sold with their wide talent, he's 27 and has 9 Spanish caps as a midfielder, so surely 15-20M right there. Fede Valverde is 20 and talented, think he'd fetch a decent fee from a mid-table English side. Hakimi is a good player and their 3rd choice RB. One of Isco, Kovacic or Kroos could be sold for 60M tomorrow and it wouldn't be a suprise and they'd still have the other 2 and whatever fancy CM they buy around.
They produce a lot of young talent these days, easy to see how they could buy 350M this summer and sell off 150M for a big but hardly insane 200M summer for them rebuilding their team. They've bought young, I imagine Zidane will want a few veteran performers and basically had them agree to it before coming back. Never bet against Madrid transfers.
HIs penalty in training makes me wonder if he's a bit of a cock. He's got confidence I'll give him that, and I think we should break the bank for him.
Has there been any concrete reports on any of this? I have been off the trail for a while.
Is this the thread for the summer, lads?
This is the thread for the muppets to pull their puppets. Fast and furious, wet and glorious.
First true Muppet gathering since Pogba
They will spend a wedge this summer and recruit a few players that we probably could only dream of signing.
Hazard, Eriksen. Start there.
Anyways, we MUST sign Sancho. I think I'll lose my mind if we don't. He is the perfect signing for us and we need him more than any other club.
Yeah, there’s been a bunch crap players coming out of the Bundesliga. Kevin DeBruyne, Firmino, Leroy Sane, Son Heung Min. It’s like Scotland. Only they have four teams in the CL every year. Celtic can’t even get through the knockout to the group stages.
Watch some Dortmund matches before you comment on Sancho.
Love what I have seen of Bruno Fernandes. He hits some absolute bombs from midfield... we need more goals from there to augment our attack.
I don’t see Rabiot as a DM, I feel that in that position we need a Kante-like player who covers a lot of ground and allows Pogba to roam forward.
I actually believe that Sancho can play both RW and LW. He played LW last season with Dortmund, RW this season.
Lozano? He looked very good in the WC and would be great at pressing. I do believe it’s a question if he can bag 15+ goals at this level, a bit of a risk in my opinion. He doesn’t have top drawer finishing from what I’ve seen, but an interesting player.
So it seems that he's our number one target for next season. Personally I think he's a ridiculous talent. For reference he has more goals and equal assists in 200 less minutes than Dembele in his only season at Dortmund.
Didn’t Sancho only join Dortmund this summer? Don’t think he was there last season so couldn’t have played LW.
He joined them in 2017-18.
My bad. Didn’t realise he’s there that long. Might increase our chances of getting him.
Because he scored a panenka in training
seriously? What a weird thing to say.Dortmund have stated publicly that “Jadon Sancho will be playing for Dortmund next season.” According to ESPN’s Honigstein, they plan to keep Sancho for one more season, then consider all bids. If he merely duplicates this campaign, there is going to be a lot of competition for his signature.
Short of Sancho pulling a Dembele and refusing to show up at the training ground, I can’t see this happening this summer. Or a 150m offer that Dortmund cannot refuse.
Short of Sancho pulling a Dembele and refusing to show up at the training ground, I can’t see this happening this summer. Or a 150m offer that Dortmund cannot refuse.
Doubt we'll get him if we don't sign him this summer. If he replicates his form another season, other teams will sacrifice players they already have to make room for him.
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