January Transfer Window

We should buy someone in January if that someone is the right someone. And that would be, for instance, a left back who would provide instant competition for Evra. We could do with one of those. A midfielder would come in handy too, but I largely agree with those who are skeptical of bringing in another contender, as it were: someone who isn't a dramatic upgrade on what we have. If a top class CM is actually available, we should obviously jump at the chance - but the likelihood of that happening seems slim.

The fact is that we're three points off 4th as we speak. After having played largely - far - below par. And after having sustained injuries to key players. If we assume that Moyes is starting to get through to these boys - and that we are in fact capable of much better than we've shown - it's not an impossible task to finish the season decently with the current squad.

We need to strengthen certain areas, obviously. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary to do so in January. Not if the goal is to qualify for the CL.

Agree with all of this.
 
Does anyone actually believe the current squad will get us above Liverpool or Arsenal? Because that's what is required to reach the CL next season. And that supposes Everton and Tottenham slip up more than we do.

We're in a spot of form but let's be honest, even against lower table teams we've hardly looked great. We've ground some important points, but have we looked better than Pool and Arsenal? I certainly don't think so.

We need an influx of real talent and we need it 6 months ago. If we have to pay 5m more to secure it in January, that's the price of the summer's mistakes.
 
Does anyone actually believe the current squad will get us above Liverpool or Arsenal? Because that's what is required to reach the CL next season. And that supposes Everton and Tottenham slip up more than we do.

We're in a spot of form but let's be honest, even against lower table teams we've hardly looked great. We've ground some important points, but have we looked better than Pool and Arsenal? I certainly don't think so.

We need an influx of real talent and we need it 6 months ago. If we have to pay 5m more to secure it in January, that's the price of the summer's mistakes.
Very true but at least we have got some points of late and after the Newcastle game I never thought we'd take 12 from 12.We could win the league but it's very unlikely unless we bring in the players who will dramatically improve the side and get the injured players back and into form.Right now, fears for a CL position are real and our recent results are slghtly papering over the cracks, but January is almost with us, and it's the most important transfer window this club has ever entered into imo! You're perfectly correct to say that we'lll have to accept paying over the odds for the players we want and that is due to not just last summers crap dealings, but our transfer activities over a number of seasons.

Anyway, we're in 6th and 8 points of the top and Moyes will know exactly who is fit to play for this club and is good enough to be a part of his plan for the future of our team, or at least he should do.Let's hope that behind the scenes we are actively looking to make the required changes so we can move forwards.
 
Does anyone actually believe the current squad will get us above Liverpool or Arsenal? Because that's what is required to reach the CL next season. And that supposes Everton and Tottenham slip up more than we do.

We're in a spot of form but let's be honest, even against lower table teams we've hardly looked great. We've ground some important points, but have we looked better than Pool and Arsenal? I certainly don't think so.

We need an influx of real talent and we need it 6 months ago. If we have to pay 5m more to secure it in January, that's the price of the summer's mistakes.


Tough one, I mean we've got some tough away fixtures in the second half of the season with the home losses to Everton and toon as well as a home draw to Southampton being 8 points we shouldn't have dropped. But at the same time even if we're not playing great we're getting some belief and have RVP and Carrick to properly come back in to it and Fletcher who could prove to be a big plus , as well as seeing some signs of recovery from the wingers. Add to that we seem a lot more settled in defence.

Also you have to consider if the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal can maintain the form they've carried all season. Liverpool have had some good results driven by Suarez playing fantastic, can he maintain it for the rest of the season? Add to that we've undoubtedly under performed over half the season and are only what 2 points off them and 3 points off fourth, we're only 8 points off top and we've dropped a lot of bad points.

I mean we've had a lot of issues which you really wouldn't think will be such an issue in the second half of the season, Moyes knows his squad now, our injury problems are hopefully easing, Carrick has carried his achilles problem for a while so hopefully the surgery will allow him to play better, the form and fitness of Rooney and Welbeck hopefully mean we don't have to rush RVP this time, and a few of the other players seem a lot more confident. Liverpool in fairness should have Suarez available for more games given his ban earlier in the season, but as I said he'll do very well to maintain his form and plus we have RVP who can easily find his.

If those teams look to invest in January then I think we might have to consider it, (a fullback is definitely needed regardles imo), as we are needing to make up ground on them and it's not a given that we will significantly improve nor they weaken, but all things considered, being 8 points off the top given a number of poor results for us suggests that with better luck with our squad there's no reason we shouldn't do a fair bit better than we've done so far and in which case I think we should be fine without more major slip ups.
 
I really disagree with those saying we need world class in our midfield. We hardly have many current level world class players in the team anyway. Look at players who have signed for our rivals and are playing very well, few were considered world class at the time.
 
Does anyone actually believe the current squad will get us above Liverpool or Arsenal? Because that's what is required to reach the CL next season. And that supposes Everton and Tottenham slip up more than we do.

We're in a spot of form but let's be honest, even against lower table teams we've hardly looked great. We've ground some important points, but have we looked better than Pool and Arsenal? I certainly don't think so.

We need an influx of real talent and we need it 6 months ago. If we have to pay 5m more to secure it in January, that's the price of the summer's mistakes.

If we get RvP and Carrick fit? I still think we have better squads than Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham. So I certainly think we're good enough to get 4th. After all, we're only three points off as it is.
 
We should buy someone in January if that someone is the right someone. And that would be, for instance, a left back who would provide instant competition for Evra. We could do with one of those. A midfielder would come in handy too, but I largely agree with those who are skeptical of bringing in another contender, as it were: someone who isn't a dramatic upgrade on what we have. If a top class CM is actually available, we should obviously jump at the chance - but the likelihood of that happening seems slim.

The fact is that we're three points off 4th as we speak. After having played largely - far - below par. And after having sustained injuries to key players. If we assume that Moyes is starting to get through to these boys - and that we are in fact capable of much better than we've shown - it's not an impossible task to finish the season decently with the current squad.

We need to strengthen certain areas, obviously. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary to do so in January. Not if the goal is to qualify for the CL.

We'll get 4th spot (or better) if we manage to get more points in the second half of the season than Everton, Liverpool and Spurs (our biggest contenders for the 4th spot as I think 1-3 will go to Arsenal, City and Chelsea).

Without (good) Jan signings we can manage this if:
-Carrick gets back to his best form
-RVP gets back to his best form and stays clear of any major injurries
-Rooney keeps performing on the level that he has been doing so far this season
-If everybody in the team starts to play more like a team (like last year) which hopefully will happen (and has been happening over the last couple of games) as Moyes starts to get through to his players
-If Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham know a setback in the second half of the season.

It is definitely possible, but there are alot of if's and but's. We have been on a good streak the last couple of games, yet the performance on the pitch hasn't improved alot, genuinely we play ugly borring uninterresting football (bar a few exceptions). The difference between the games we lost and won hasn't been so much the performance, rather a combination of luck on the right moments and the players who work harder for it aswell as the general quality of the opposition in the last games (not exactly the best footballing teams in the competition). What I want to say is I feel like our "new found form" is all a bit premature and very vunerable. We also had this other good run of games and than suddenly we fell to pieces against Cardiff, Souton, Everton and Newcastle and got a 2/12. I don't see much difference between this United and that United. It could just as easily happen again and if it does in the second half of the season our chances of getting 4th spot will be as good as over. For the rest there is no guarantee about RVP staying fit (he has a history as an injurry prone player and under Moyes we are having more injurries than ever before). There is no guarantee about Rooney and if he will sustain his form in the second half of the season (he has been known to have setbacks). We're all expecting Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham to have a setback, based on experience from previous seasons, but they are all performing alot better than in previous seasons and big setbacks just don't look likely for me at this point. In short if we don't add to our team on some crucial places, 4th spot is anything but certain, we might get it, we might not. I think it will be a very close race for that 4th spot.

You have to ask yourself the question, what if we don't end into the top 4 ? It is a horror scenario for me. I can understand a setback with SAF leaving, a setback for a club like United means not winning the title and being satisfied with a top 4 spot. However after that transition year i'd expect us to get right back into that title winning race instead of worrying about we will end into the top 4 or not. In order to achieve that I think we all agree we need some quality players (because we are lacking it in vital areas). These players don't have to come in Jan, the summer is ok, but if we don't get into the top 4, we won't be playing CL. Ask yourself the question what top player we will be able to attract without CL football, none unless we settle for a moneygrabber and pay silly money (which we don't do). Top 4 is vital if we don't want to fall into a negative spiral and have a major setback that could last a couple of years (if not decades look at Liverpool).

We haven't strenghtend proparly in the summer (we should have) and if we don't get into the top 4 it will be very difficult to do it next summer. The risk of not getting into that top 4 is too big not to buy in Jan. Not buying is a luxury position we currently can't afford imo ( we should have been in a safer postion for that) and if we take that gamble it might come back and bite us in the ass. I agree that buying someone this Jan is difficult and that whoever we get might not be the most ideal player, but imo we need to do it because the alternative is too risky (not ending in top 4 would be an absolute shame for this club and would be a stain for Moyes that will be difficult to wash off) If we want to continue under Moyes and preform like a topclub again, buying in Jan is necessary. I' don't even mind to see us overpaying in Jan, as long as it is for the right players, but getting those players on board for the second half of the season is crucial imo.
 
I really disagree with those saying we need world class in our midfield. We hardly have many current level world class players in the team anyway. Look at players who have signed for our rivals and are playing very well, few were considered world class at the time.

A) They don't necessarily need to be world class names, as long as we can turn them into world class players, B) Our rivals are the likes of Bayern, Barca, Real, Chelsea, City. They have all signed plenty of top players in their time.
 
the worst thing we could do is panic buy....

in the next few weeks with a bit of luck we'll have fletcher, carrick, cleverley and Jones available in midfield and a fit RVP and Rooney to join Welbeck and Hernandez.....

The current squad is certainly good enough to win more points than Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea over the next few months so it isn't necessary to look at short term solutions

If a top left back, centre midfielder or attacking talent became available or any player who is in Moyes long term thinking is achievable then great but the chances of this are slim

I'd prefer to wait until the Summer and get the player we really need rather than one that can do a job
 
Does anyone actually believe the current squad will get us above Liverpool or Arsenal? Because that's what is required to reach the CL next season. And that supposes Everton and Tottenham slip up more than we do.

We're in a spot of form but let's be honest, even against lower table teams we've hardly looked great. We've ground some important points, but have we looked better than Pool and Arsenal? I certainly don't think so.

We need an influx of real talent and we need it 6 months ago. If we have to pay 5m more to secure it in January, that's the price of the summer's mistakes.

We haven't looked great and we haven't played better than Liverpool and Arsenal. That's a fact. But it's also a fact that we're two points behind the scousers. They've been impressive, so people say. We have obviously been anything but. And yet it's a matter of two measly points.

It's quite evident that we don't need a massive overhaul in order to finish above Liverpool. So if that's the target, we're not in any grave trouble. I'm not saying we'll do it - there are question marks all over the place. But it's clearly not beyond our grasp when we're two points behind at this stage. Our ceiling with this current squad is much, much higher than Liverpool's. We haven't seen half of what RVP is capable of so far this season, for starters.
 
the worst thing we could do is panic buy....


If we're panic buying then tortoises should learn to slow the feck down. We're the least 'panicked' purchasers available. We're so non-panicked we've slipped into several comas over the years.
 
We have made one of the worst panic buys in recent times. Ok, it wasn't Andy Carroll material but it just made no sense other than "oh shit we need someone".
 
the worst thing we could do is panic buy....

in the next few weeks with a bit of luck we'll have fletcher, carrick, cleverley and Jones available in midfield and a fit RVP and Rooney to join Welbeck and Hernandez.....

The current squad is certainly good enough to win more points than Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea over the next few months so it isn't necessary to look at short term solutions

If a top left back, centre midfielder or attacking talent became available or any player who is in Moyes long term thinking is achievable then great but the chances of this are slim

I'd prefer to wait until the Summer and get the player we really need rather than one that can do a job


We've been trying to sort CM for the past 3 years. How the hell can one consider getting a midfielder now as a panic buy?
 
We've been trying to sort CM for the past 3 years. How the hell can one consider getting a midfielder now as a panic buy?
Getting another squad type player for the midfield is what is worrying people and them terming it as a panic buy. For example, If we were to spend 60 million for Gundogan, it's not a panic buy but 30 million for say Cabaye would be a panic buy.
 
We haven't looked great and we haven't played better than Liverpool and Arsenal. That's a fact. But it's also a fact that we're two points behind the scousers. They've been impressive, so people say. We have obviously been anything but. And yet it's a matter of two measly points.

It's quite evident that we don't need a massive overhaul in order to finish above Liverpool. So if that's the target, we're not in any grave trouble. I'm not saying we'll do it - there are question marks all over the place. But it's clearly not beyond our grasp when we're two points behind at this stage. Our ceiling with this current squad is much, much higher than Liverpool's. We haven't seen half of what RVP is capable of so far this season, for starters.
Completely agree with this. If RvP starts firing like last season, we could even finish 3rd or better. Hopefully he'll be back completely revitalized. Him and Rooney could turn our fortunes around dramatically.
 
Getting another squad type player for the midfield is what is worrying people and them terming it as a panic buy. For example, If we were to spend 60 million for Gundogan, it's not a panic buy but 30 million for say Cabaye would be a panic buy.


Cabaye won't be a panic buy. FFS he's a better CM then all of our playerS bar Carrick (who is at the wrong side of his career) + last summer clearly showed that we will never spend 60m on a midfielder. We didn't even cross the 35m mark for Fabregas let alone giving 60m for Gundogan.

Some people here underrate how ridiculously weak our CM is. Jones is a defender, Cleverley is a squad player at best, Giggs is ancient, Fellaini is shit and its a miracle If Ando will ever be match fit these days. We need a massive overhaul and that would mean going for less expensive targets such as Cabaye.

We're risking to end up outside the CL zone. Add that to the fact that next summer there will be WC next summer + we're lead by a manager whose pretty unknown material outside the EPL and we have a rookie as a chairman then I wonder how we're be able to attract the talent we need.

Oh well, we always seem to have an excuse ready to cover things up. No value, Moyes was appointed late, January is not the time to buy, the WC......
 
Cabaye won't be a panic buy. FFS he's a better CM then all of our playerS bar Carrick (who is at the wrong side of his career) + last summer clearly showed that we will never spend 60m on a midfielder. We didn't even cross the 35m mark for Fabregas let alone giving 60m for Gundogan.

Some people here underrate how ridiculously weak our CM is. Jones is a defender, Cleverley is a squad player at best, Giggs is ancient, Fellaini is shit and its a miracle of Ando is match fit these days. We need a massive overhaul and not just a injection in terms of quality (ie 1 WC player.

Oh well, we always seem to have an excuse ready to cover things up. No value, Moyes was appointed late, January is not the time to buy, the WC......
Which is why I said "for example"...

I knew you'd still nitpick so I don't know why I bothered.
 
Which is why I said "for example"...

I knew you'd still nitpick so I don't know why I bothered.


I don't know where I am nitpicking. I think I have made some valid points here which are worth to be discussed. Honestly do you see us spend 60m on any CM? Will a 60m rated CM be interested to come to Manchester United in the first place especially if we're out of the CL? Do we have the staff to engineer such a move and are we willing to pay the financial package such World class player would entail?


People get annoyed when one mention the crappy excuses the club uses not to spend money and yet they are perfectly comfortable absorbing and repeating the 'we dont need panic buys' and 'we're happy with the squad' BS the club keep repeating year after year. Well to all those who say that this is nitpicking or frustrating then rest assured that the club's pathetic excuses are as equally frustrating. We say that we're a big club, its time we should start acting like one in terms of investing in human resources.
 
I think we need about three players, 2 central midfielders and a wide player. If we could get the right players I think we could still have a crack at the title, if we're not going after Herrera again, I'd be happy enough with Cabaye, maybe get Fernando from Porto for the defensive side and we'd be much stronger. There aren't many wide players available, but if there's a chance of getting him, maybe Griezmann would be a good option.
 
In my opinion we should get a new CM now. It will provide a kick to the backside to our complacent team, it will add quality to the side and it will give the message that United are in the business and will not be as desperate to keep re-inforcing the midfield as one may think we are. Considering that we cant compete with the big guys in the transfer market and that we would need someone who settles down quickly then Cabaye would be awesome. He'll do very well if partnered by Carrick or Jones.
 
We have made one of the worst panic buys in recent times. Ok, it wasn't Andy Carroll material but it just made no sense other than "oh shit we need someone".


Who?

If you're talking Fellaini we've been tracking him, rightly or wrongly, for an age under successive managers.Hardly a panic buy
 
In my opinion we should get a new CM now. It will provide a kick to the backside to our complacent team, it will add quality to the side and it will give the message that United are in the business and will not be as desperate to keep re-inforcing the midfield as one may think we are. Considering that we cant compete with the big guys in the transfer market and that we would need someone who settles down quickly then Cabaye would be awesome. He'll do very well if partnered by Carrick or Jones.


Agreed. There's some terrific players out there too we just need to stump up the cash.
 
Whatever happened to Ciderman?? His bullshit would be very much appreciated in this desert of muppetry! There is almost zilch to get excited about.I do though have a growing feeling that we may have a real surprise in store.Woody is sparing us the foreplay and it's gonna go straight to the bang....I hope!
 
When I watched the Liverpool - Chelsea game last night it showed me how little squad depth the Scousers have. Having to bring on an unproven youngster in that sort of game - and not a prodigal Januzaj-like talent but rather a player who frankly looked a long way out of his depth.

Liverpool have the advantage of not playing in Europe but even so, with so little depth in their squad I can't see them keeping pace with other CL hopefuls in the latter stages of the season.


Arsenal have a better squad but are startlingly short on strikers. Their reliance on Giroud is greater than any other teams reliance on a single player IMO. They do have the opportunity to buy a striker in January but if they don't then again I think they will fall short.


Essentially, I see City and Chelsea as being the top two but I could easily see us getting 3rd as things stand. Having said that I wouldn't want us reliant on other teams slipping up and so I do think that if the right calibre players are available in January then we should definitely bring 1-2 players in. If the right players aren't available though I would rather we want for the summer.

I think our priority should be offloading some of the deadwood and bringing in one or two high quality players. Young, Anderson and Buttner should be on the way out, but essentially we need to replace like with like (positionally). Ie if we sell Anderson in January, we should buy a CM. If we sell Buttner we should buy a fullback etc

I like Coentrao and if he is available, even to loan, I would snap him up. In midfield I feel that we need quality and there may not be anyone available - in the long term Gundogan would still be my choice, or Fabregas or Modric if either were at all available (unlikely).
Winger wise it is less urgent. I'm not a big fan of Sanchez but don't really have any realistic suggestions here.
 
Rumours that Chelsea might try to bring Falcao to London, would be a fantastic signing for the chavs.

One of the few top players who's not cup tied too.
 
Goal.com seems to know something no one else does.

"The owners are keen to make a statement by backing David fully, so expect two or three big bids at least in January," a club source told Goal
 
Big bids... Bayern better brace themselves for a mammoth £20m bid for Schweinsteiger..
 
We've been trying to sort CM for the past 3 years. How the hell can one consider getting a midfielder now as a panic buy?

Because of availability - pure and simple

Who is going to sell now?

Unless you wanted to offer really ridiculously stupid money for a top player

If we were smart we could maybe get a loan deal for a player out of favour and there could be a player a team want to move on for whatever reason but I'm sure you agree we need a midfield player of the class of a Modric or Fabregas
 
Who?

If you're talking Fellaini we've been tracking him, rightly or wrongly, for an age under successive managers.Hardly a panic buy

A panic buy in the sense that we overspent on him by about 8 million

At the end of the transfer window it was a panic buy just to get someone in

Why not buy him in July for the 23 million
 
For his age,I think he is the complete midfileder bar none.Carvalho looks to have a bit of the young Vieira about him, and despite this only being potential at present, he has now become a mainstay in Sporting’s team and is rated as highly as any youngster to come out of the club in the past decade (yes, him included).
 
For his age,I think he is the complete midfileder bar none.Carvalho looks to have a bit of the young Vieira about him, and despite this only being potential at present, he has now become a mainstay in Sporting’s team and is rated as highly as any youngster to come out of the club in the past decade (yes, him included).

Better than Nani? Really!!! No from what I've seen of him he looks the part. Rather him that Porto's Octupus guy.
 
Going by our January fixture list, we'd be idiots if we wait until mid-January, or even worse, late-January to make a signing. It's so busy and there's a few (extra) vital games in there like against Chelsea.

If we don't make a signing within the first week, then I can't see us signing anyone.
 
I'd be happy with Cabaye or a prospect like Carvalho if we shipped Anderson out

Anderson could be a useful makeweight (damn right) in any deal I suppose - why not chuck in a bebe to sweeten the deal

what we need are midfielders of the class of Bayern - I do hope the scouts have been busy finding the next Javi Martinez or schweinsteiger