It's a stupid comparison because when Pogba was leaving for Juventus...many on here were saying that it was no big deal as they had watched every reserve game and Tunnicliffe and not Pogba was the new Roy Keane. Bayern and Barca have had incredible central midfielders since the beginning of time...we have really struggled on that department because Fergie was able to still win leagues with a central midfield that was far weaker than anything else that any other top 4 team had. Moyes came in and believed his own hype and opted not to sign McCarthy who would have been a major improvement to our team and instead opted for Fellaini and we been doing everything we can not to drown completely as a club ever since. McCarthy will play for a top 4 club sooner or later
James McCarthy
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
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It's a stupid comparison because when Pogba was leaving for Juventus...many on here were saying that it was no big deal as they had watched every reserve game and Tunnicliffe and not Pogba was the new Roy Keane. Bayern and Barca have had incredible central midfielders since the beginning of time...we have really struggled on that department because Fergie was able to still win leagues with a central midfield that was far weaker than anything else that any other top 4 team had. Moyes came in and believed his own hype and opted not to sign McCarthy who would have been a major improvement to our team and instead opted for Fellaini and we been doing everything we can not to drown completely as a club ever since. McCarthy will play for a top 4 club sooner or later
Vidal to McCarthy come on.
Chelsea were better than us last year and had a better squad....they sign Luis, Fabregas and Costa.
We have lost all of our experience, and sign two good young additions (who may both well play first 11) and ... McCarthy? That would not be a good summer. We really need some proven players to come in.
I know this is just one tweet but surprised how many are saying they'd be happy with this.
Chelsea were better than us last year and had a better squad....they sign Luis, Fabregas and Costa.
We have lost all of our experience, and sign two good young additions (who may both well play first 11) and ... McCarthy? That would not be a good summer. We really need some proven players to come in.
I know this is just one tweet but surprised how many are saying they'd be happy with this.
I just don't get this place sometimes, so he is not a big enough name it automatically means he is not a good enough fit for our club. Imo he is good enough to succeed Carrick and would compliment Herrera perfectly and that is what matters. The only problem is the fee Everton would demand for him and as stated above he is not worth that much .
I'd definitely take him next to Ander. Would finally give us solid quality in CM to play 2s and 3s of Ander, McCarthy and Carrick
Unfortunately I expect him to cost more than he's worth
Unfortunately I expect him to cost more than he's worth
Strange. I remember Sky ran a story on our interest but then pulled it the same day. I think he's a quality midfielder and would be a good addition. Everton would want a lot, but we could work Cleverley into any deal.
McCarthy is only underrated because he is Irish.
This thing about Irish posters overrating McCarthy comes up every time we're linked with him. Truth is it's not just Irish posters, pretty much every fan or journalist who has watched him regularly at Wigan or Everton has rated him highly. If you flick back through the McCarthy threads you'll see plenty of us last summer saying we should have gone for him instead of Fellaini and that he'd prove to be a brilliant signing for Everton. Sure enough, we were proven right within one season.
Your point about Barca and Bayern not being interested in him is flawed. They probably wouldn't be interested in Herrera either. That doesn't mean he isn't a quality signing for us. What you said about McCarthy could just have easily applied to Strootman last year too, yet he's now one of the caf's favourite targets.
It doesn't really matter who Bayern/Barca would or wouldn't sign. We're dealing with our team and who would improve us. We're also dealing with the realities of who we can/can't sign. Nobody is saying McCarthy is a better option than someone like Vidal but the truth is there aren't that many potential targets who'd be a better fit than McCarthy if deals for superstars don't materialize.
Your point about Juve not signing someone like McCarthy is even more off as they actually got the likes of Pogba and Vidal by signing them before they were megastars and developing them into top players, which is pretty much the opposite of what your logic demands.
Anyway, I was really talking about their styles of play when I said Herrera-McCarthy would be a machine. In terms of mobility, industry, intelligence and balance they'd be an excellent fit. As I said though, prohibitively expensive too.
I've never personally seen anything special about him, but on this one I'm willing to bow to the wisdom of the caf. I'd happily take him and view him as Carrick back-up for now.
I reckon Martinez would back himself to get Cleverley playing good football, so if we could work him into the deal we wouldn't have to be robbed. Either way I'm not one of those who cares how much we spend on players (and nor do I use their price-tags to judge their performances). We're fecking rolling in cash, might as well spend it on a midfielder.
I reckon Martinez would back himself to get Cleverley playing good football, so if we could work him into the deal we wouldn't have to be robbed. Either way I'm not one of those who cares how much we spend on players (and nor do I use their price-tags to judge their performances). We're fecking rolling in cash, might as well spend it on a midfielder.
I agree with that but sadly I think we might have to bite the bullet and pay an inflated fee now than continue to let that midfield hole fester . If we pay it now and he helps us back in the CL, our options next summer will be much better especially as I think that LVG will be looking to reconfigure our forward matrix and players like Reus will be available .
Like you said a technical player like him would allow us to field a variety of midfield combinations depending on who we are facing, McCarthy-Herrera-Mata could be the primary combo but we could also try McCarthy- Carrick-Herrera/Mata/Rooney or McCarthy-Kagawa-Mata against relegation fodder .
When we signed Herrera some on here were moaning because it was Herrera and not Pogba or Kroos that we signed. 2 performances later and Herrera is already a God here. This is why sometimes going for a young up and coming player is a far better idea than an already established world class star on astronomical wages. McCarthy will take his game to the next level sooner or later just like Herrera has done recently
Oh please.
Keep me away from comments about McCarthy being a "technical" player.
He's a fairly good tackler with some energy and aggression and a decent passer, his technique is quite average.
As for biting the bullet, I feel like we have plenty of players we could talk about including in a deal. From the likes of Kagawa, Hernandez and Nani, who maybe wouldnt want to go to Everton but you never know until you talk to them. To the likes of Young, Cleverley (who Martinez was fond of at Wigan) then there's Fellaini or Zaha.
So I feel like we could manage the fee a bit with for example 1 of the better players + £10-£15 million or one of the other players plus £20 million
Thank you for putting my thoughts more fluently than I could master. People are always on about who we should be signing, from Vidal to Gundogun (admittedly there has been silence on this one since his injury) but conveniently forget who these guys were before somebody else took a chance on them, just look at the relative ease and the modest fees those players moved for and you will notice that they weren't prodigies like Rooney, Ronaldo and Messi. If we get McCarthy he much like Herrera will surprise a lot of people when they progress into top players . He is almost the perfect partner for Herrera and even if we overpaid for him he will be worth it in the long run plus he is not just a destroyer, he can play.
They also ran a story that we are interested in William Carvalho and I can't find it now.
Another one Moyes could have signed last summer.
He'd walk into our team, had a quality season at Everton. They'd probably ask for close to £30m though and I doubt we'd go that high. Weren't there rumours Martinez wanted Cleverley this summer? Throwing him in a deal wouldn't be a bad option.
Would have him here in a heartbeat.
He will probably give atleast another year to Everton though I reckon.
He will probably give atleast another year to Everton though I reckon.
McCarthy is not Osman or Fellaini level, he is a very good midfielder who twice pissed all over Carrick and Co. last season. He'd fecking walk into our team and into England's midfield.
Yep, don't see him leaving this summer. Well I don't see him pushing for a move anyway.
The time to buy him was last summer, Everton would want a big fee if they sold him now. He is a good player who would improve our midfield instantly but I doubt Everton would sell him for anything less than 30m and that is to much for a player of his quality.
Yeah I agree I may have massively overstated his technique but he still would improve us a lot and give us the balance that only Carrick can provide in our squad. As for players I think Martinez will try/push for Danny but will obviously be told where to go with that thought so I think Cleverley plus Powell on loan and twenth million cash could get him. We really ought to have gone in for him last year . And to think that we could be doing the same with Schneiderlin.....
He's got to much respect for Martinez to push for a move and Martinez rates him to highly to let him leave. He's not going anywhere for a while.
Even if he just repeated his Everton form he'd be straight into our first team. At 23 there's still plenty of time for him to keep developing too (the same age Carrick was when he first joined Tottenham, for example).
Agree, signing him last year would've been a bargain at, what, 16m? Our midfield would be in such a healthier place right now.
30m is definitely too much. The only way it'd make sense is if we used Cleverley/Fellaini/whoever to lower the price but those sort of swap deals never actually happen.
There's a problem with that mentality; we can miss out on great investments if we pass on players just because they're not 'proven'. When Vidal was at Bayer Leverkusen and Reus at Munchengladbach (I think), they were both relatively unproven. They're now some of the best players in the world.
Now I'm not saying McCarthy will be this good. I'm just saying, players don't need to be proven to be a great player. In my opinion and from the small amount of time s I've seen him, he's a fantastic player though.
This
I find it hard to make a fair assessment of the chap given that he plays for Ireland. We've a habit of bigging up largely average players early in their careers because there's such a lack of talent to choose from (see Liam Miller, Kevin Doyle, and James McClean for example) but its hard to know if they're actually good or just the best of a bad bunch.
Besic is a defensive-first midfielder. Maybe he's the long-term replacement there, with the idea being:
LW--Barkley--Mirallas
---------8-------------
------Besic/Barry-----
as a midfield.
So maybe Zaha + 10 or Cleverley + 15 would be enough if Martinez really likes one of them and McCarthy is desperate for the move.
He really would be perfect here sitting deep, paired with Herrera. A technically solid passing DM with some mobility is exactly what we need. I wouldn't think it would happen until next summer, though, or maybe January in a pinch if Everton are languishing in mid-table and out of the EL. The Lukaku rumours make that less likely, though.
Ah no problem, its just a gripe of mine because I've seen it come up a bunch of times that McCarthy is a technical player or has excellent technique, something along those lines which I just cant agree with.
Watching him, he's right in line with what you expect for a player in his role last season, providing security in front of the defence and playing safe passes to teammates who are a bit more talented going forward. There's absolutely nothing wrong with his technique, but if someone tells me he's a technical player or has excellent technique, that to me describes someone like Busquets not James McCarthy.
The only place I've ever seen him have technique that stood out was on football manager where its really high for some reason.
At the same time he's impressed me in other ways. He works hard, did a good job next to Barry nicking the ball off opponents and seeing off danger and now and again I saw him picking the ball up and having a good run forward. I wasn't overly impressed with his passing last season from what I saw he was just doing the basics which again is just what you'd expect in the role he was playing.
A good midfield pairing is more than the sum of its parts and I think he has the kinds of qualities that would bring out the best in someone like Ander next to him.
He's as Irish as Andy Townsend.
McCarthy's a fully fledged weegie. My missus works with his uncle.
Well we'll definitely sign at least one more defender and probably another wing-back. Very unlikely that even if we signed McCarthy (which seems far fetched right now) that our signings would end there. You have to accept that big names aren't what van Gaal cares about, it's all systematic.
Bitter much?
I'd usually dismiss it as preposterous, but I'd wager that everyone here would be creaming over him if he had a half-decent world cup.
He's a good player, but I can't help but feel that signing him would just be repeating past mistakes of going for good but not spectacular players who have a low ceiling of how good they can become. We kept doing this and stockpiling players and look at what we have today: 6 CM's on our books and the 2 that are good enough both have question marks surrounding them (Carrick and Herrera). We can do the same thing with our wingers as well. Would he walk into our team as it is today? Yes, but many people said Fellaini would do the same last season in comparison to our other options. And like Fellaini, he would cost a fortune. If we are going to be spending that kind of money, I'd rather buy someone who is either at the level required now or someone like Carvalho for example who could become a top player.
That exactly what we need, another overpriced average player.
He'd be a better signing than De Jong that's for sure.
Fixed
Would be a Ferguson like signing, may not be the most exciting signing for the muppets as we already know what he's capable of.
I doubt anyone was too excited when we signed Carrick either. We've never been about bringing in the most exciting players in the world, but the right player. McCarthy knows the league, loads of top level experience for his age, rarely injured and won't be looking to move on to Madrid in a few years. Like Shaw we'd be looking at a £30m fee over the next 10 years, well worth the money.
I doubt anyone was too excited when we signed Carrick either. We've never been about bringing in the most exciting players in the world, but the right player. McCarthy knows the league, loads of top level experience for his age, rarely injured and won't be looking to move on to Madrid in a few years. Like Shaw we'd be looking at a £30m fee over the next 10 years, well worth the money.
Yeah, he has a boring name and doesn't yet play for a lucrative club, he must be average.
Lawl, if you honestly think de Jong is a better player I am lost for words. If we end up signing him, you'll be extremely disappointed by his limited contribution. Might as well keep Fellaini if de Jong is the quality we are after.
Not that I'm aware of, thanks for the concern though.I didn’t say anything like that, are you mad?
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