James Rodriguez | joins Bayern Munich | 2 year loan

James Rodriguez - should we go for him?

  • Yes

    Votes: 404 34.6%

  • No

    Votes: 565 48.4%

  • I hate Silly Season

    Votes: 198 17.0%
  • Total voters
    1,167
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Rhyme Animal said:
Pogba and Mkhi are both mentally weak players
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How on earth are people saying this with such certainty? We're are playing crap football in the final third, nothing to do with mental toughness.

If anything Mkhi has shown a mental robustness after his earlier bad treatment to work his way back int of the squad.
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
Yes. He'd be an excellent wide playermaker for us, pace, dribbling ability, creativity and ability to score. If we get him I hope he proves braver than Di Maria.
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It's not even about bravery. It's that Di Maria saw moving away from Real Madrid as a step down, so he rather in Paris enjoying his life beside playing time than further his career in Madrid. I meant I see Di Maria would be happy enough to be a squad player at Real Madrid than leaving.

James seems to want to further his career though and would not be shy from moving away from Madrid.


vk20legend said:
United as a club don't have great success finding and fitting players from South America for some reason. Most of our buys from that continent have not worked out for us. Even when we finally find a player who looks great and plays great for us, they eventually move on in a few years like Tevez or Heinze or are not the same for a longer period of time. Some don't adapt to the new country and lifestyle or some just want to move on to warmer climates or better cities.


Barring Valencia and Tevez, Heinze to an extent, we have had pretty bad success rate with other players. Maybe it's just rotten luck or bad management or wrong player at the wrong time or system, but I always worry when we buy players from South America. Somehow unfortunately they don't fit into our system. :(
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It's SAF. Seems like he doesn't understand the Latin culture so well. Some Latin players can adapt to his management & local culture; but that's very few. Our best successful time with these players come with the time Querioz was the assistant manager and the bridge between the players & SAF. The lack of Italian, & Spanish players signings during SAF's reign is let alone guys from South America.

Mourinho for the obvious reason, work well with Latin players & probably would be the key to change our fortune in this aspect.
 
Robben,
Sneijder,
Ozil,
Di Maria (well not for us)

Great football teams all benefitted from an out of favour galactico.

I'd even be curious about grabbing Pepe on a free.

Sometimes clubs just move great players on. Sanchez, he'll we even snapped Zlatan up

We are so far away from

Suarez, messi, neymar

Bale, Ronaldo benzema (soon to be hazard?)

Robben, lewa, Ribery

Imagine if Chelsea get Sanchez and keep hazard?

We need a finished article. Rashford needs a break.
 
Rhyme Animal said:
Pogba and Mkhi are both mentally weak players, in Mkhi's case, his biggest fans at Dortmund all note his weak mindset as the only flaw in his game. We even saw a bit of this when he joined and couldn't play for months because of some kind adjustment issue.

Anyone questioning whether Pogba is prone to mental collapses on the pitch has either not really watched United much this season, or simply on a wind-up.

Pogba's often an actual liability in big games, and it ain't because of his physical game - it's because he falls to pieces mentally when the pressure is really on.
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You can't distinguish between mental toughness vs being inexperienced, can you?

Pogba losing his head is not about that he's shy away from challenge, but doesn't know how to take it in the heat of the moment. This is similar to young Rooney, Ronaldo. Mental weak is when you disappear in game and shy away taking responsibility, not asking for ball, avoid pressing by dropping very deep & disrupt the team position, avoid going into a tackle, quick offloading the ball to teammate who tightly mark for no good reason... There that's Cleverley, Evans, Smalling... you can see for example.
 
ti vu said:
You can't distinguish between mental toughness vs being inexperienced, can you?

Pogba losing his head is not about that he's shy away from challenge, but doesn't know how to take it in the heat of the moment. This is similar to young Rooney, Ronaldo. Mental weak is when you disappear in game and shy away taking responsibility, not asking for ball, avoid pressing by dropping very deep & disrupt the team position, avoid going into a tackle, quick offloading the ball to teammate who tightly mark for no good reason... There that's Cleverley, Evans, Smalling... you can see for example.
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Erm, Pogba isn't inexperienced at all, mate. He's a 24 year old French International who's played in Champion's League Finals, won Serie A multiple times and been capped 44 times by his country.

Pogba is a highly talented, but mentally weak player under pressure and has disappeared against Liverpool totally, and Chelsea too in a crucial match. And that's just what comes to mind immediately.

His decision making, and ability level drop significantly when it most matters.

He isn't like Rooney at 18 - 20, he doesn't have that 'refuse to lose even you're 3-0 down' mentality, and to suggest he does is an insult to Rooney.

Speaking of which, Rooney at 24 was what we should be aspiring to. Pogba, while a different type of player, and a good one, isn't half the player that Rooney was at that age.

And no-one was gibbering on about Rooney 'needing time' when he was 24, because he didn't need any excuses.

Ronaldo at 24 I'll not even bother going into.
 
Seems like a typical Wenger signing. Replace Sanchez with James.

Give us Kroos, Varane and change for De Gea, Señor Pérez.
 
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Rhyme Animal said:
Erm, Pogba isn't inexperienced at all, mate. He's a 24 year old French International who's played in Champion's League Finals, won Serie A multiple times and been capped 44 times by his country.

Pogba is a highly talented, but mentally weak player under pressure and has disappeared against Liverpool totally, and Chelsea too in a crucial match. And that's just what comes to mind immediately.

His decision making, and ability level drop significantly when it most matters.

He isn't like Rooney at 18 - 20, he doesn't have that 'refuse to lose even you're 3-0 down' mentality, and to suggest he does is an insult to Rooney.

Speaking of which, Rooney at 24 was what we should be aspiring to. Pogba, while a different type of player, and a good one, isn't half the player that Rooney was at that age.

And no-one was gibbering on about Rooney 'needing time' when he was 24, because he didn't need any excuses.

Ronaldo at 24 I'll not even bother going into.
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Inexperienced in carrying the whole team on his shoulder. He is burdened as one of the star players of the teams. At Juventus, he just played his part with more experienced player to help carrying the team.

24 year old midfielder is more accurate description. Majority legendary midfielders at this age didn't have to carry their team at this age. Rooney was starting to decline at 26/27, so he's different development curve. Rooney as being pointed out throughout his career play on his instinct than being tactical discipline. Midfielder is experience demanding position where understanding , reading of the game is vital. Rooney never had that so when his physical decline kicked in, it's too late for him to learn to adapt. Pogba showed more matured in understanding of the game, yet still not great & experienced enough for this demanding position.

How can you interpret overplaying, bad decision making (losing his head) as disappearance vs L'pool is strange? Did you read my last post? The first Chelsea game the defending was what lost it the game. Second game 10 men for about 1 hour. Both game having to fare with Fellaini in midfield. Even the great Kante got picked apart vs City partnering Cesc. Football is a team game. Pogba did more than well enough vs Arsenal Tottenham, holding his own vs City even when players around him dropped like flies under City's pressure. The game at Anfield with L'pool was blowing everyone away. Pogba & co dominated L'pool in first half. Showed up carrying the team in second half. For some reasons, those often got overlooked for the 3 games you mentioned.
 
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I don't know what I want anymore.

feck it, let's add him to the collection.
 
Turn his head with the promise of a larger wage than an other clubs interested, then low ball Madrid with a 20-30M offer. They clearly want him gone, they'd have no power in negotiation if he had already decided where he wants to go.

On a side note, he along with Ronaldo are the only foreign players selling stuff in Japan. He's been on a Toyota commercial since the world cup. I imagine we'd make a lot of money off his image.
 
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He's too similar to Mata for me with more question marks too.

So I wouldn't like this signing.

We don't need a player of his profile. We don't need more attacking midfielders who then get shunted out wide. We need an actual winger/inside forward.
 
It would seem pretty pointless imo. A failed Madrid galactico at an exorbitant fee and wages with no likely good return on investment.
 
It's got Di Maria written all over it. Unless we can be certain that he wants to be here and only here, which to be honest I doubt, no thanks.
 
Bit of a risk, so I wouldn't spend more than 95 million on him.
 
If he played with his true performance and didn't copy Di Maria's mentality , then he's much better than all our offensive options , easy as that .

The problem is the mentality of players leaving RM is questionable , they seem to believe any step after leaving Madrid is backwards and thus never play the same as they were in Madrid .

We shouldn't pay anything more then 60 millions on him , even 60 is very high but you know Ed and his love of throwing money every where as if we're a charity .
 
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If we were gonna sign another 10, I'd prefer Silva who can become one of the World's best players.

No thanks James
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
Lets not take a player Madrid want rid of if DDG is to go in some sort of exchange, Kroos, Varane, or Bale would be acceptable, but a player they are desperate to unload would not.
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What about Benzema?, yes he is 29 but still a top top striker who should be playing more. He and Griezmann would be interesting to see play together.
 
Needham said:
Bit of a risk, so I wouldn't spend more than 95 million on him.
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Haha, his marketing alone makes it worthwhile for us.

And once he's got the entire team built around the specific quota he needs in order to perform at a decent level, I feel we'll then see the best out of him.

That said, he's still only 25, so basically we shouldn't expect more from him than we would a talented teenager (since, at 25, he's basically just an old teenager).

Lets do it, lets break that record again!
 
Don't want this guy. Seems to have a reputation built mainly on that goal in the WC, and has been playing in a team and league perfectly suited to him. I think he'd fail badly here.
 
As an opposition fan I would love to see you buy another overrated player who wants to play centrally, don't think he would improve you much at all.
 
hellohello said:
As an opposition fan I would love to see you buy another overrated player who wants to play centrally, don't think he would improve you much at all.
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Don't think he's overrated tbh, most people are of the opinion that he is nothing special. Essentially Mata with nicer hair.
 
I think there are better cheaper options.... a loan to buy move would be nice, I get the feeling he could be another Falcao/Di Maria.... not tough enough to cut it in the Premier League
 
Absolutely not.

We need players that runs, that press and put high intensity.

Rodriguez is an immobile player, terrific with the ball but not mobile enough to give us an advantage.

He would be a better Rooney, but with him, Ibra and Carrick in our team, we would be too slow and predictable.
 
Most people here don't really know him and are talking out of their arse, so let me put this straight: james is one of the biggest talents in the world. Between 2012 and 2015, he was the best player in portugal, then the second best player in france(after zlatan), then the second best player in the WC(after robben), then a top 5 player in Spain(after messi, cristiano and suarez and on the same level as neymar)

His 2014/15 season is right there with Hazard's. At his best, he was incredible for us

The thing is, he only played his best for us while being the galactico of the summer -thus assured of a spot in the starting XI by presidential decree - and with the best man-manager in the world(Ancelotti), who is also a huge believer in talent

He's since fallen out - rather quickly - with two different managers, the second being Zidane, who by all accounts is a good man-manager and generally learned a lot from Ancelotti. Now, as for why Zidane doesn't like him, nobody really knows the truth there

And with all that said...I'm not sure he's what United needs. He's a huge upgrade over mhkitaryan/mata in terms of impact/ability to win games, while at the same time he doesn't have the same consistency during the 90 minutes. He's more like Pogba in that regard, a player who lights up in spurts and can turn a game on its head with one play, but alternates this with stretches of invisibility

It all comes down to the price i guess.
 
Chaky_Best said:
Absolutely not.

We need players that runs, that press and put high intensity.

Rodriguez is an immobile player, terrific with the ball but not mobile enough to give us an advantage.

He would be a better Rooney, but with him, Ibra and Carrick in our team, we would be too slow and predictable.
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Why are we so obsessed with running alot ?? It seems sometimes we only want players that are fast and run alot even if their running is adding nothing and combined with zero productivity

Football is not just run run run move move move pace pace pace , the game has more elements than this .

Each team needs pacey players , and also needs players who can stop the ball , control it and see what it'll do with it ,having a full slow team is bad , but also having a team of brainless chickens who only run aimlessly will lead to a mess in the offense .

Need to combine both types to benefit most from them .
 
I really like him as a player, but don't think it's worth the risk. I'm not even sure we want a player like him for the 10 position (if we persist with Pogba advanced in the 4-3-3) and I don't see Jose being very happy with his work-rate on the wing.

We've got Mata who operates in a similar area, and I'm more than happy to stick with him. He might not always be 100% first choice, but he seems OK with that, keeps working hard and contributes when he gets the chance.

We do need to spend big on the attack it seems, but James isn't the right player for us at this time.
 
He run a lot for us in 14/15, btw. Like, really a lot. 11 km per game, more or less, iirc
 
Chaky_Best said:
Rashford is not that good, that's why is doing so 'well'
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No the obsess with running a lot is just OTT with English teams, hence why they are bang average in Europe. We need players with more ability on the ball, better passers, better dribblers, better understanding, better shooting, more creative, not run more and run faster. That view is so primitive and FIFA-based.
 
Wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

Huge transfer fee? Check.
South American playmaker/creative player? Check.
Doesn't want to leave Madrid but is being forced out so they can buy another Galactico? Check.

No chance. Stop lining their pockets.
 
Tell him he can have the contract of his dreams, if he repeats his World Cup 2014 wonder goal, on cue. If he misses, he is out.
 
Infordin said:
I'm surprised that almost no one on here wants him. He doesn't fit well in Zidane's system but he's still a class player and would work very well in Mourinho's 4-2-3-1.
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Because Mourinho is a Flexible manager and he aint a 4231 manager which does not suit our squad besides James is not united level.
 
If we had a coach who's better at developing youngsters i'd say get in Dembele, since that's not the case he'll do just fine.
 
Yes you should and pay 80me+ for him while you are at it.

I'll start packing his suitcase for you.
 
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