January Transfer Window

Adding more to an already overstocked squad might not be the answer. Id much prefer to to wait until the summer before going on a spree.

We need a clear out more urgently than new signings imo
 
Baines is the best left-back in the league. You lot didn't want the best striker in the league as we already had enough strikers who were not as good, but he was forced on you so you grudgingly accepted. I'm sure similar will happen with Baines if he joins.

For me, it is simply a case of whether we can afford it. Would signing Baines inhibit our ability to pursue the players we desire in other areas? If not, then I have no objection, I can't possibly be sad that our club signs a top player, and one probably better than the one we have already.

Also, I know 'stability' is a bit of a buzzword, and I am generally an advocate for it - but I also feel that with football teams, change is also good at times. New players introduced into the first XI tends to often have a galvanising effect, and keeping the same team for years, even very good players, sometimes leads to them becoming stale. I think great teams, historically, often have a season or two at their very, very peak.

I think a couple of new quality faces (well, quality players, not the quality of their faces - although this should not be overlooked either) would not only improve us by virtue of them being good players, but by giving the players that are linking with them a new lease of life. We could use that I think.

Of course it also goes without saying that players need to go.
 
I would go for Harrera and a LB in January and then look at a LW in the summer depending on Kagawa/Zaha/Adnan's progress and also look at CB with Rio and Vidic a year older and whether Jones and Smalling can step up yet.
 
Rozay said:
Baines is the best left-back in the league. You lot didn't want the best striker in the league as we already had enough strikers who were not as good, but he was forced on you so you grudgingly accepted. I'm sure similar will happen with Baines if he joins.
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Actually, we wanted one of the best players in the world... Baines isn't even nearly that.

A left back next Summer as part of a squad clear out? Sure... but does anyone really think that left-back is where our problems are right now?!
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Actually, we wanted one of the best players in the world... Baines isn't even nearly that.

A left back next Summer as part of a squad clear out? Sure... but does anyone really think that left-back is where our problems are right now?!
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As long as Moyes plays less of Buttner and more of Fabio as cover for Evra than it should prevent it becoming a problem. It shouldn't be high on his transfer list for January however.
 
Decotron said:
Adding more to an already overstocked squad might not be the answer. Id much prefer to to wait until the summer before going on a spree.

We need a clear out more urgently than new signings imo
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We can't be/won't be clearing our squad in January but if a good player like Herrera is available in January when others are not in for him, good to have him in squad rather than waiting till summer when someone else might come in for him and making things complicated. Given he isn't playing in Europe, he will be welcome addition to the squad.
With Baines, similar. We can send Fabio on loan then for rest of the season and sell Buttner in summer.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Actually, we wanted one of the best players in the world... Baines isn't even nearly that.

A left back next Summer as part of a squad clear out? Sure... but does anyone really think that left-back is where our problems are right now?!
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In reality, I doubt players are signed in priority order - many factors probably come into when a deal can be done. No, I do not think that Baines is the one player we need most in the world.

That said, as part of a plan to re-build a Champions League challenging squad, I am all for us upgrading any position in the first XI. I did clearly specify that I would be in favour as long as it didn't affect our ability to do other deals.[/quote]
 
Moyes' fascination with Everton players is going to set us back 50 million quid.
 
Personally I'd go all in for Luke Shaw in the January window. If we don't someone else will, I suspect.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Actually, we wanted one of the best players in the world... Baines isn't even nearly that.

A left back next Summer as part of a squad clear out? Sure... but does anyone really think that left-back is where our problems are right now?!
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LB is only a problem if Moyes keeps playing Büttner imo - which I doubt he will (or hope he doesn't). If Evra and Fabio play I don't see it as something that can't wait until summer when we can look at the likes of Luke Shaw.
 
shaggy said:
Moyes' fascination with Everton players is going to set us back 50 million quid.
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I think we'd be alright to wait to next Summer (though if someone else goes in then obviously we should too). I'd definitely take Shaw over Baines though... and with the amount that Everton will probably demand for Baines, I doubt Shaw would cost that much more.
 
Brophs said:
Personally I'd go all in for Luke Shaw in the January window. If we don't someone else will, I suspect.
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He is an excellent prospect admittedly, and i'd take him in a straight choice with Baines. Give Evra another year at most as first-choice.
 
shaggy said:
Yes, him and Barkley are the two young English talents we should be after.
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We should get Ravel back before Barkley I reckon. Cheaper, and for all his faults, he's still our son.
 
Rozay said:
We should get Ravel back before Barkley I reckon. Cheaper, and for all his faults, he's still our son.
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I don't think he particularly cares about us and will go to the club offering him the most money. Probably City.
 
I'd rather us go for a position than an 'exceptional talent', meaning I'd rather we sort out our weakest position than get the next young striker...

For me, strikers, wingers, defenders and keepers are all set, we've had some poor performances causing knee jerk feelings but our squad is solid bar the presence of a decent CM, not so much necessarily in the creative mould as that's what Ozil is, we need someone more for me who can control a game.. I'd like a box to box type player, a sort of player I thought Anderson was before he made the move and was made to play a diff role..
 
Jaybezia said:
I'd rather us go for a position than an 'exceptional talent', meaning I'd rather we sort out our weakest position than get the next young striker...

For me, strikers, wingers, defenders and keepers are all set, we've had some poor performances causing knee jerk feelings but our squad is solid bar the presence of a decent CM, not so much necessarily in the creative mould as that's what Ozil is, we need someone more for me who can control a game.. I'd like a box to box type player, a sort of player I thought Anderson was before he made the move and was made to play a diff role..
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Disagree, I definitely think we need a winger. There is just no consistant threat being offered from Young/Valencia anymore.
 
shaggy said:
I don't think he particularly cares about us and will go to the club offering him the most money. Probably City.
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I'm not sure. I think people separate footballers from other human beings too much in terms of development. He is what, 20? His misgivings as a 17 year old would not be held against him forever if he was not a footballer, and he is just as likely to mature as a person as anyone else.

I think by the time he is 22, he will hopefully be a bit more settled. He's a United fan from what I gather, and I heard still goes to watch us at times. If given an opportunity to join the United first-team squad, I'm sure he'll be happy to do so.
 
Jaybezia said:
I'd rather us go for a position than an 'exceptional talent', meaning I'd rather we sort out our weakest position than get the next young striker...

For me, strikers, wingers, defenders and keepers are all set, we've had some poor performances causing knee jerk feelings but our squad is solid bar the presence of a decent CM, not so much necessarily in the creative mould as that's what Ozil is, we need someone more for me who can control a game.. I'd like a box to box type player, a sort of player I thought Anderson was before he made the move and was made to play a diff role..
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We are 'sorted' out wide because we have numbers. The issue is, some of those numbers need to go, and if they do, we could use another. And somebody exceptional too.
 
A winger is as important as a central midfielder, although I'm willing to wait until the summer. Valencia/Young are not good enough as first teamers, and Kagawa as a wide player isn't all that special either. That leaves us with Nani who's fitness can't be relied upon. We need a top winger but there aren't many I can think of.
 
Rozay said:
We are 'sorted' out wide because we have numbers. The issue is, some of those numbers need to go, and if they do, we could use another. And somebody exceptional too.
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Annihilate Now! said:
Disagree, I definitely think we need a winger. There is just no consistant threat being offered from Young/Valencia anymore.
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The wings would definitely be my next port of call, but they are out form, not ability, Valencia played well earlier in the season and may well come good for us. Zaha was ripping it up at the top end of the tier below, appreciate it's different but it does say something about his ability. Nani on his day is one of the best. And in Januzaj we have another promising youngster as well as Welbeck and Co being able to get games there as our strikers are so stocked.... Nani and Valencia are our strongest for me, followed by Zaha and Januzaj, whereas in the centre of the park, we have Carrick and Fellaini, followed by Cleverley and Anderson. Carrick and Fellaini are probably similar or slightly under that which I consider Nani and Val to be..... However, I would say Ando/Clev are a class below Zaha/Jan....
 
Jaybezia said:
The wings would definitely be my next port of call, but they are out form, not ability, Valencia played well earlier in the season and may well come good for us. Zaha was ripping it up at the top end of the tier below, appreciate it's different but it does say something about his ability. Nani on his day is one of the best. And in Januzaj we have another promising youngster as well as Welbeck and Co being able to get games there as our strikers are so stocked.... Nani and Valencia are our strongest for me, followed by Zaha and Januzaj, whereas in the centre of the park, we have Carrick and Fellaini, followed by Cleverley and Anderson. Carrick and Fellaini are probably similar or slightly under that which I consider Nani and Val to be..... However, I would say Ando/Clev are a class below Zaha/Jan....
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Perhaps we assess their qualities differently then. Valencia is rubbish in my view. Nani is quality (more often than not). Young is rubbish. Zaha, I am not sure about as of yet, but I doubt he's ready to make a proper consistent impact yet. Januzaj is a very promising player, who is also in the final year of his contract. I'd have him as third choice personally, as things stand.

Basically, I think Nani, Zaha, Januzaj and Kagawa are the only wide options worth considering. That is a good bunch, the only thing is if we could go and get a van Persie for that position, I would be in favour, as nobody has really been able to establish themselves in that role for ages.
 
Rozay said:
Perhaps we assess their qualities differently then. Valencia is rubbish in my view. Nani is quality (more often than not). Young is rubbish. Zaha, I am not sure about as of yet, but I doubt he's ready to make a proper consistent impact yet. Januzaj is a very promising player, who is also in the final year of his contract. I'd have him as third choice personally, as things stand.

Basically, I think Nani, Zaha, Januzaj and Kagawa are the only wide options worth considering. That is a good bunch, the only thing is if we could go and get a van Persie for that position, I would be in favour, as nobody has really been able to establish themselves in that role for ages.
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Your initial post made reference to the fact you would consider our wingers more a need now than our CM, so by extension, your chosen 4 of Kagawa, Zaha, Nani and Jan you think aren't as good as Carrick, Fellaini, Anderson and Cleverley?
 
Jaybezia said:
Your initial post made reference to the fact you would consider our wingers more a need now than our CM, so by extension, your chosen 4 of Kagawa, Zaha, Nani and Jan you think aren't as good as Carrick, Fellaini, Anderson and Cleverley?
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I'm not sure that's what my post says at all. I think my point is our issues to address have now grown past just being a 'central midfield issue'. The team needs improvement in more than one area, and I doubt the exact order in which we move for these players shows how we prioritise them.
 
Rozay said:
I'm not sure that's what my post says at all. I think my point is our issues to address have now grown past just being a 'central midfield issue'. The team needs improvement in more than one area, and I doubt the exact order in which we move for these players shows how we prioritise them.
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That goes back to my initial post though, I think we should..
 
Jaybezia said:
That goes back to my initial post though, I think we should..
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Surely, that only matters if signing one player affects our ability to sign another?

If we draw up a list and decide we want:

Herrera
Alexis Sanchez
Baines
Mangala

for arguments sake, and it becomes clear to our men quite early that a deal can be done for Sanchez, what sense would it make to not sign him until we sign Herrera, when we know we wish to sign all four?
 
Rozay said:
Surely, that only matters if signing one player affects our ability to sign another?

If we draw up a list and decide we want:

Herrera
Alexis Sanchez
Baines
Mangala

for arguments sake, and it becomes clear to our men quite early that a deal can be done for Sanchez, what sense would it make to not sign him until we sign Herrera, when we know we wish to sign all four?
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As we'd be placing our efforts on the thing of second most importance, there isn't always 'enough' time left after to get the first one you wanted, this summer showed us that.
 
Jaybezia said:
As we'd be placing our efforts on the thing of second most importance, there isn't always 'enough' time left after to get the first one you wanted, this summer showed us that.
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In my scenario, Sanchez would be signed first because the deal would be easy to get done first.

Do you think signing Varela affected our chances of signing Fabregas in the summer? Or do you think we prioritised him over Fabregas?
 
Rozay said:
In my scenario, Sanchez would be signed first because the deal would be easy to get done first.

Do you think signing Varela affected our chances of signing Fabregas in the summer? Or do you think we prioritised him over Fabregas?
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:lol: You really want to respond? Varela, I'll assume you are joking due to him being done very early on and with no complications really?

It was more a comment on for example Fellaini/Fabregas, too much has been said so I don't want to re-open but if we had just wrapped up Fellaini easily rather than piss about with X, Y and Z, we would have had him so much earlier (feck the money), which would alleviate pressure of the manager as he already had one signing (Which you can say was a sure thing, but only happened last day of the transfer market). I'd rather us go for the position we need irrespectively of others.

Meaning, that I'd rather we focus 100% on a new CM, rather than spend X time quickly grabbing another player out wide, then going back to focus on CM, as we've seen this summer, sticking your finger in too many pots leaves you empty handed when you don't have a very experience team in that department, Woodward etc is learning, he isn't a DOF naturally and he will only get better, but for me currently, I would rather he (NOW) work on it, he has from now until January to sort out a negotiation for X player before the window even opens...
 
Jaybezia said:
:lol: You really want to respond? Varela, I'll assume you are joking due to him being done very early on and with no complications really?

It was more a comment on for example Fellaini/Fabregas, too much has been said so I don't want to re-open but if we had just wrapped up Fellaini easily rather than piss about with X, Y and Z, we would have had him so much earlier (feck the money), which would alleviate pressure of the manager as he already had one signing (Which you can say was a sure thing, but only happened last day of the transfer market). I'd rather us go for the position we need irrespectively of others.

Meaning, that I'd rather we focus 100% on a new CM, rather than spend X time quickly grabbing another player out wide, then going back to focus on CM, as we've seen this summer, sticking your finger in too many pots leaves you empty handed when you don't have a very experience team in that department, Woodward etc is learning, he isn't a DOF naturally and he will only get better, but for me currently, I would rather he (NOW) work on it, he has from now until January to sort out a negotiation for X player before the window even opens...
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Fair enough, I agree to disagree. Don't think it should make a difference myself.
 
How many of the people clambering for Herrera have seen him play? And I don't just mean when we played Bilbao.
 
I don't think we need a clear-out by any means. We've got great strikers (who need games, confidence and a conducive style that suits their game), we're well off in terms of defenders - maybe we need to push Smalling and Jones ahead of Rio and see what they're made of for a whole season, Vida is still top drawer. Evans is a good squad player to have. The twins I think most people on the caf rate super high, and rightly so. So maybe it's just a left-back who can compete with Evra and not leave too much space behind (which also has to do with style of play and the obvious lack of a left-footed winger, or the refusal to play Zaha and, to a lesser degree, Nani). De Gea is top class too and we've got good wingers in Nani and Valencia, probably Zaha too and Adnan.

Midfield is well documented but in Cleverley and Fellaini I feel we've got decent cover, Carrick remains our only important player there so we might need one or two more, then there is Kagawa who can be utilized in various positions and maybe needs to be bigged up by his manager (and not just his ex-manager).

1-2 midfield signings (maybe not realistic til the summer), sell Young and a proper plan from Moyes and we're on our way
 
We should've went for Cabaye instead of Fellaini, but going for him now would be odd as probably wouldn't be the long term solution.
 
MUFCgal said:
I would go for Herrera in January. Then come next summer, there needs to be a clear-out.
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Agree.

The clear out doesn't need to be huge I feel, it would depend on how the rest of the season goes, and how each players performs obviously. We should definitely be looking at moving to a new generation of centre backs, replacing Evra (just fecking buy Coentrao) and upgrading our quality on the wings which would mean letting 1 or 2 of them go. How Fellaini and Herrera perform could dictate if we needed even further reinforcements in midfield, which would be disappointing if we did given the 2 new CM's Moyes aimed for when he took charge really should have sorted the problem.
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
How many of the people clambering for Herrera have seen him play? And I don't just mean when we played Bilbao.
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100% this. It's almost as is a lot of people are presuming he's top class because he's a Spanish based midfielder!
 
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