James McCarthy

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Two absolutely ridiculous extremes I've seen on here, one person comparing him to a hatchet man like Tiote and another person saying he is better than Cesc Fabregas. The answer lies right in the middle of the two, he is a good footballer who has performed better than all our midfielders this year and if we wanted to get him, we should have done it last year. Now we would end up getting charged an inflated fee.
 
matherto said:
He had Scholes next to him having a major resurgence in his favourite role though.

I'd like McCarthy a lot but he'd have nothing but shite next to him.
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This is such a weird argument. "I don't want a good player who would improve us because he'd have to play with shite. We are better off not having the good player and having more shite players there."
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
This is such a weird argument. "I don't want a good player who would improve us because he'd have to play with shite. We are better off not having the good player and having more shite players there."
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No I didn't say I don't want him, I was just saying he probably wouldn't have the same impact as Carrick did because of the dross around him.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
This is such a weird argument. "I don't want a good player who would improve us because he'd have to play with shite. We are better off not having the good player and having more shite players there."
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Well I understand where that argument comes from. We've reached a stage where we shouldn't be looking for good players, rather excellent players who would immediately walk into the first team and drastically improve us. Manchester United has to send a statement to the footballing world that last year was but an aberration and that we still maintain the highest levels of quality that is a minimum requirement to enter the club. We need to keep up the elite status. The ground beneath us could slip away all too quickly if we don't.
 
I think he is a good player, however he would be on the B/C list of targets for midfield rather than A for me.
He is a good player, but we should be aiming for more than just good, if we can't get that then yes maybe he can be a backup signing, not that Everton would sell him after just a year anyway.
 
Cassidy said:
I think he is a good player, however he would be on the B/C list of targets for midfield rather than A for me.
He is a good player, but we should be aiming for more than just good, if we can't get that then yes maybe he can be a backup signing, not that Everton would sell him after just a year anyway.
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Who is on your A list ? And forget about unattainable players.
 
JPRouve said:
Who is on your A list ? And forget about unattainable players.
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Depends what makes a player unattainable?

Anyway I would prefer someone like Rakatic/Marchisio/Bender/Kovecic/Verrati than McCarthy, thats just off the top of my head too, I'm sure there are many other CMs out there too.

However even then I don't see why we wouldn't try for Fabregas if Barca are really looking to sell him this summer, I don't see many players as unattainable to be honest.

I think its important to remember that although we're not in the UCL next season, we need to be building a team which could go on and challenge for it in the 15/16 season.

Edit: In fact if we're going to pay top money for an Everton midfielder, I'd rather we went after Barkley tbh.
 
Cassidy said:
Depends what makes a player unattainable?

Anyway I would prefer someone like Rakatic/Marchisio/Bender/Kovecic/Verrati than McCarthy, thats just off the top of my head too, I'm sure there are many other CMs out there too.

However even then I don't see why we wouldn't try for Fabregas if Barca are really looking to sell him this summer, I don't see many players as unattainable to be honest.

I think its important to remember that although we're not in the UCL next season, we need to be building a team which could go on and challenge for it in the 15/16 season.
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I like your list except for Verrati who is unattainable, PSG is not a seller club if you want a player from them you'll have to pay a lot.
For Bender, Lars or Sven ? Sven won't be sold by Dortmund, Lars is a possible target.

Now i don't understand you want Kovacic but snob McCarthy who has been a better player in a stronger league during a longer period, McCarthy is not inferior to the players you want.

And if may add my own targets i would cite Herrera, Iturraspe, Khedira and Schneiderlin.
 
A lot of snobbery towards McCarthy in here. People would do well to reflect on how well he (and indeed Barry) have done playing a style and system very similar to that which LVG is likely to employ.

We don't necessarily need A list superstars in midfield, and if they can't be readily signed without risking a summer long embarrassing pursuit, we should be looking at attainable purchases like McCarthy who have shown in the season gone by they can do the job LVG will require his midfielders to do.
 
JPRouve said:
I like your list except for Verrati who is unattainable, PSG is not a seller club if you want a player from them you'll have to pay a lot.
For Bender, Lars or Sven ? Sven won't be sold by Dortmund, Lars is a possible target.

Now i don't understand you want Kovacic but snob McCarthy who has been a better player in a stronger league during a longer period, McCarthy is not inferior to the players you want.

And if may add my own targets i would cite Herrera, Iturraspe, Khedira and Schneiderlin.
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Like I said it depends on your definition of unattainable, I think we have the money to buy Verrati if we REALLY wanted to.

With regards to McCarthy I think he is a very good player, however he has absolutely no experience in Europe. Like I said we need to be building a team who can challenge for the UCL in the 15/16 which is why McCarthy would be on my B/C list.

The players you added of course are good too, I think there are plenty of options tbh, so I'm sure we will end up with some good choices next season hopefully
 
Im thinking of some of the players that ended up replacing our signings at their old clubs.

Wins
Reus for Kagawa
McCarthy for Fellaini

Lose
Giroud for RVP

Who else?
 
Cassidy said:
Like I said it depends on your definition of unattainable, I think we have the money to buy Verrati if we REALLY wanted to.

With regards to McCarthy I think he is a very good player, however he has absolutely no experience in Europe. Like I said we need to be building a team who can challenge for the UCL in the 15/16 which is why McCarthy would be on my B/C list.
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He plays City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Everton, and us regularly for the last 5 years or so. He also played Spain for Ireland and was brilliant. No experience in Europe is a weak criticism for any player imo. So they haven't played against Barca, Madrid and Munich. So what? They have played against other top teams.
 
I think after Fellaini/Young etc, some people are afraid of players who aren't at 'big clubs' so to speak, even if the big club players are out of bounds and unrealistic. It's also meaning that some of the players at big clubs are being overrated, such as Kroos - I think he's good, but not as good as some are making out. I suppose it's a sign of the times at United though, and the desperation for a central midfield that can stamp its mark on Europe again. I don't blame these posters, it's understandable, but it would be wrong to write off and to dismiss people such as McCarthy who are very good players (albeit not the top level), but who has a squad of top players throughout the squad? Nobody. Not even Madrid or Bayern (although they're freakishly close).
 
Cassidy said:
Like I said it depends on your definition of unattainable, I think we have the money to buy Verrati if we REALLY wanted to.

With regards to McCarthy I think he is a very good player, however he has absolutely no experience in Europe. Like I said we need to be building a team who can challenge for the UCL in the 15/16 which is why McCarthy would be on my B/C list.

The players you added of course are good too, I think there are plenty of options tbh, so I'm sure we will end up with some good choices next season hopefully
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An attainable player is a player who wants to come play for us and at a price that is not exorbiting we won't spend +40m on the likes of Verrati.

For the european experience: 1) we dont care, we are not in europe next season 2) except Marchisio all the players you are mentioning don't have substantial experience.
 
limerickcitykid said:
He plays City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Everton, and us regularly for the last 5 years or so. He also played Spain for Ireland and was brilliant. No experience in Europe is a weak criticism for any player imo. So they haven't played against Barca, Madrid and Munich. So what? They have played against other top teams.
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European football, especially for a CM is very different from playing in the EPL. The game is just different, its not about the opposition, its the game itself.
Its not a criticism of McCarthy either, I'm just saying he wouldn't be my first choice for those reasons, if we brought in someone with that quality and experience I wouldnt mind McCarthy playing next to them, another reason is that having joined Everton for £13m only last season we're probably going to have to pay north of £20/£25m to get him, for me I'm sure we can get a better player from the continent for that price.
 
JPRouve said:
An attainable player is a player who wants to come play for us and at a price that is not exorbiting we won't spend +40m on the likes of Verrati.

For the european experience: 1) we dont care, we are not in europe next season 2) except Marchisio all the players you are mentioning don't have substantial experience.
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I'm including the Europa League in that experience BTW. In which Rakatic has probably been the best midfielder this season...

I would also argue that we do care (on point 1), if we are going to be investing heavily in the midfield this season, then we want to do so and not have to buy a completely new midfield next summer. We have money, but we are not City/PSG
 
Cassidy said:
I'm including the Europa League in that experience BTW. In which Rakatic has probably been the best midfielder this season...

I would also argue that we do care (on point 1), if we are going to be investing heavily in the midfield this season, then we want to do so and not have to buy a completely new midfield next summer. We have money, but we are not City/PSG
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Sorry i forgot Rakitic.

I will take Strootman-McCarthy for exemple, if we have this two surrounded by very good player like Mata, Van Persie, Kagawa or Rooney, we can be very good in europe.

If a midfield Carrick-Fellaini can do the trick, this midfield will make us strong outsiders.
 
The Red Thinker said:
Well I understand where that argument comes from. We've reached a stage where we shouldn't be looking for good players, rather excellent players who would immediately walk into the first team and drastically improve us. Manchester United has to send a statement to the footballing world that last year was but an aberration and that we still maintain the highest levels of quality that is a minimum requirement to enter the club. We need to keep up the elite status. The ground beneath us could slip away all too quickly if we don't.
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I agree. McCarty isnt going to improve us drastically which is what we need. Id be looking at fabregas or verratti or someone in that mould
 
Too early for him to move for sure but he was exactly what we needed last summer to gradually ease into the team.....just shows how damaging it is to a club when they get the managerial decision horribly wrong
 
United22 said:
Two absolutely ridiculous extremes I've seen on here, one person comparing him to a hatchet man like Tiote and another person saying he is better than Cesc Fabregas. The answer lies right in the middle of the two, he is a good footballer who has performed better than all our midfielders this year and if we wanted to get him, we should have done it last year. Now we would end up getting charged an inflated fee.
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Boom.....Thread Closed. Sums it up completely.

If he was a bird that i'd fancied previously who walked by now id say"still would".
 
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Red Dreams said:
I felt strongly we should have gone for McCarthy and Dembele last season. They would have shored up our midfield pretty well...and would have together cost less than Fellani.
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For me it wass McCarthy and Strootman. And i still want McCarthy and Strootman or Witsel.
 
United22 said:
Two absolutely ridiculous extremes I've seen on here, one person comparing him to a hatchet man like Tiote and another person saying he is better than Cesc Fabregas. The answer lies right in the middle of the two, he is a good footballer who has performed better than all our midfielders this year and if we wanted to get him, we should have done it last year. Now we would end up getting charged an inflated fee.
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Yep, this is pretty much right. I like McCarthy but I'd only want us to go for him this summer if we were desperate, otherwise we'll be paying an insane fee.

I would certainly keep an eye on him as a potential target for the future though. I'd imagine he'll be looking to move to a top club when he's around 25/26 for a price roughly on par with what he'd cost us right now. If he continues to improve over the next few years he may well be worth the fee at that point.
 
Red Dreams said:
I felt strongly we should have gone for McCarthy and Dembele last season. They would have shored up our midfield pretty well...and would have together cost less than Fellani.
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Dembele who has proven to be completely average and flatters to deceive. He has some nice turns and flicks but he doesn't actually do much. McCarthy isn't the level we should be looking at. Signing players like him is a reason why we've got a lot of mediocrity in the squad and to add to it would be pointless. I wouldn't have been against signing him if we never went for Fellaini but signing another midfielder is who isn't anything close to world class doesn't make any sense too me. Is he really that much better than what we have? We need proper quality, not spend money or more players who can "do a job".
 
Baxter said:
Dembele who has proven to be completely average and flatters to deceive. He has some nice turns and flicks but he doesn't actually do much. McCarthy isn't the level we should be looking at. Signing players like him is a reason why we've got a lot of mediocrity in the squad and to add to it would be pointless. I wouldn't have been against signing him if we never went for Fellaini but signing another midfielder is who isn't anything close to world class doesn't make any sense too me. Is he really that much better than what we have? We need proper quality, not spend money or more players who can "do a job".
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not disagreeing at all. was talking about last season. with all the money being available we see bandied about...I would expect we get top quality. At least get Carvalho for starters. Then break the bank for one of the others. We have wasted one season...cannot afford to waste another.
 
It would have been a far better addition to sign McCarthy last season than this season. Not only will his value markedly rise with Everton looking to make a sizable profit on the £13M investment last season, but we really need to be targeting the high end bracket of midfielder if potentially attainable. Very few will be attainable or we won't pursure - seemingly like Kroos and Fabregas - but I'd still rather players of the calibre of Strootman and Herrera. I like McCarthy a lot, but it's imperative we add midfielders who will have a massive impact on our midfield and McCarthy is likely to cost a fortune.
 
The way things are going, Id take McCarthy in an instant. i just dont see it being likely tho. Everton arent an easy club to negotiate with. The one thing that could favor us, is if there is a clause in his contract.
 
Probably a nothing story but he would be an excellent fit. Has the technique, intelligence, discipline and tactical awareness to suit an LvG team down to the ground. A Herrera-McCarthy midfield would be a machine. Both a nice age too.

Would be prohibitively expensive though and not a signing that would keep the muppets happy.
 
A better player than Cleverley.
 
A better option than many of the other names we've been linked with. But at the price we'd have to pay, he's not good enough. Should have bought him last year.
 
Jev said:
A better option than many of the other names we've been linked with. But at the price we'd have to pay, he's not good enough. Should have bought him last year.
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I agree, this very much sums it up.
 
sullydnl said:
Probably a nothing story but he would be an excellent fit. Has the technique, intelligence, discipline and tactical awareness to suit an LvG team down to the ground. A Herrera-McCarthy midfield would be a machine. Both a nice age too.

Would be prohibitively expensive though and not a signing that would keep the muppets happy.
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United must be the only big club where we think signing McCarthy would be fantastic or would call sticking McCarthy alongside a truely talented player a 'machine' combo.

Don't think you'd get Barcelona fans going Iniesta and McCarthy would be a machine.

Juventus - Pogba and McCarthy would be a machine.

Bayern - Schweinsteiger and McCarthy would be a machine.

So why do United fans? Hererra and Vidal would be a fecking machine combo, not McCarthy and Herrera. Of course would be an improvement, but you aim higher, I'm guessing due to the high number of Irish posters here most of this comes from them, maybe even Scottish but think with your heads not your hearts.
 
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