Jarrad Branthwaite

There’s no point targeting English players if you don’t want to overspend.
 
Rojofiam said:
Tapsoba would be better than all these alternatives IMO. Maybe even better than Branthwaite himself. Been waiting for months now for us to seriously consider him.

Great height at 1,94m, has pace, right-footed, good organizer, good ball progressor, good passer. I think he could play right back in some setups too. Perfect age as well. To me he's a better option even at 60-65m than these reported alternatives for Branthwaite. I feel like all of them have something missing that makes it not ideal for them to partner Martínez. And until we have another CB we are planning for the future with, he's the one I'm planning around. If we already had Branthwaite, then yeah, Todibo Guehi etc. would be good signings, but not yet.
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Tapsoba is very different and in reality about as good as your likely to get as a similar player to Varane and compliment to Martinez. Very calm and considered. I think he's brilliant, and the best defender I've seen who could be attainable.
 
iammemphis said:
Of course, but we do need 7/8 new first team players over the next 2/3 seasons. That's my point. We can't spend £80m plus on every position, and getting Branthwaite for under 45m would be a good start.

We 100% need a left back, centre back, right back, bruno's replacement, casemiro's replacement, a new right winger and striker over the next 2 windows. Even if you want to state Hoijlund's the striker, he does not look capable as much as id love to sugar coat the signing. We need an experienced goal scorer to lead the line over the next few years while he matures, and that will not be cheap.
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So we get 3 now, and a couple of young players. Another 1-2 in January. Then next summer we get another 3-4. Relax, this season we need to have a bit of realism.
 
Rojofiam said:
He's excellent defensively, very good in the air, very good duel winner, ball winner and tackler, incredible physical level, incredible athleticism, really good on set pieces. Decent passer but that isn't one of his main strengths. Very good at defending transitions too, which seems to be one of our biggest issues with neither Amrabat or Casemiro great at that. Him and Mainoo could dominate most midfields. I don't think he's a lone #6 in a 4-3-3, but he's a profile we lack IMO and gives us a lot of variety in the middle. He could play #6 with a guy like Mainoo next to / slightly ahead of him, but also play #8 ahead of a Rice/Rodri/Tchouameni type in certain games/game states.

EDIT: He's also turning 23 soon, with one season in France and two seasons in England under his belt already. Should be approaching his peak years soon. The timing seems perfect, if Everton have to let him go, and he's a profile we need, like I said.
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I didn’t watch him play, but from what you said about him, it reminds me the young Phil Jones we got 14 or so years ago. Seems the similar type of player. But we got Jones at 19 yr old with about 16 mil. After these many years, the quote is four times of that price. It sounds ridiculous amount. We must not overpay under this new structure.
 
Woodzy said:
Because us and Chelsea (mostly) have fecked the market. Look at the Maguire and Fofana signings and is there any surprise English clubs are pricing the best centre backs in that region?

You could argue it started with VVD but at least he was worth it.
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Very true. You have over spent on players & then inflated their wages. It's going to be a tough slog to turn that trend around.
 
Adisa said:
There’s no point targeting English players if you don’t want to overspend.
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I don't think it's even English. It's any PL player. Olise wouldn't have been sold for cheap if he didn't have that release clause.

PL clubs have decent amounts of cash so 50M or their best player isn't a great deal for most.
 
jeff gurr said:
No not really. I was sorry to see Maguire leave to be quite honest. In hindsight it looks like we wasted the money anyway.
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Its usually the way it goes. Money isn't worth much.
We were going to overpay wherever we went that summer. Think i remember West Ham quoting us 60m for Ogbonna that year. And 50m for Longstaff from Newcastle. We had a fair bit of help inflating the market. Getting 80m for a cb probably sounds great until you go to spend it and everyone puts their prices up.
 
Teja said:
I don't think it's even English. It's any PL player. Olise wouldn't have been sold for cheap if he didn't have that release clause.

PL clubs have decent amounts of cash so 50M or their best player isn't a great deal for most.
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100% true. Fulham could keep their best midfielder even when Bayern Munchen came calling and offered a big bag of cash.

Everyone in the Premier League is rich. Midtable teams can drop 50m on players.
 
Why are we prioritizing a left footed center back? I would assume we are wanting a right footer to take the partnership with Lisandro???? Unless he is going to be rotated with him. Then go for another center back that is right footed
 
MyBloodIsRed said:
Why are we prioritizing a left footed center back? I would assume we are wanting a right footer to take the partnership with Lisandro???? Unless he is going to be rotated with him. Then go for another center back that is right footed
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It's been said many times now but Branthwaite is very two footed & is able to play left or right CB.
 
golden_blunder said:
So we get 3 now, and a couple of young players. Another 1-2 in January. Then next summer we get another 3-4. Relax, this season we need to have a bit of realism.
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It is over the top to talk about rebuilding (God, i hate that word) when you have a manager who is here 2 years and who bought 10 players.
In reality (for long term):
Gk position- fully solved
Full backs - fully solved (replacing AWB is an option but Dalot is nailed no1 choice anyway).
Midfield - need dmc (if Case is leaving) and one backup midfielder. Mainoo, Mount and Bruno with new dmc (or Case) is excellent midfield.
Wingers - probably solved. Oldest winger is Rashford who is only 26. We can do one top right winger maybe (but lets see what will happen with Diallo and Antony).
Striker. We have first choice and need backup.
Central defenders: we need one first choice and one backup.

So, we don't need that much. This summer central defender and striker are only must do signings. Backup for Casemiro is also high on the list. Everything else will be replaced naturally.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
It is over the top to talk about rebuilding (God, i hate that word) when you have a manager who is here 2 years and who bought 10 players.
In reality (for long term):
Gk position- fully solved
Full backs - fully solved (replacing AWB is an option but Dalot is nailed no1 choice anyway).
Midfield - need dmc (if Case is leaving) and one backup midfielder. Mainoo, Mount and Bruno with new dmc (or Case) is excellent midfield.
Wingers - probably solved. Oldest winger is Rashford who is only 26. We can do one top right winger maybe (but lets see what will happen with Diallo and Antony).
Striker. We have first choice and need backup.
Central defenders: we need one first choice and one backup.

So, we don't need that much. This summer central defender and striker are only must do signings. Backup for Casemiro is also high on the list. Everything else will be replaced naturally.
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We need at least a LB
 
Teja said:


What's with these valuations? Buying from the uber rich in the PL is going to be a struggle this summer it seems. There has to be someone on the continent (say a Ruben Dias type) that we can sign here instead. All we want is a tall, fast, aggressive CB. A fit Eric Bailly or a right sided Rojo would do the trick. They can't be that hard to find.
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Willy Kambwalla fits the bill.
 
He was probably the no. 1 centre-back target because the club thought they could get him relatively cheap with Everton's situation.
 
jeff gurr said:
No not really. I was sorry to see Maguire leave to be quite honest. In hindsight it looks like we wasted the money anyway.
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Just look at the league finishes of Ajax, Dortmund, and Juventus since we last bought a player off them. Even Real Madrid lost La Liga to a pretty poor Barcelona side the season they sold us Casemiro. Take our money at your peril.
 
MyBloodIsRed said:
Why are we prioritizing a left footed center back? I would assume we are wanting a right footer to take the partnership with Lisandro???? Unless he is going to be rotated with him. Then go for another center back that is right footed
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This LCB/RCB thing needs to die, we ridiculed Van Gaal for it but now everyone is obsessed with it. Rio and Vidic played perfectly together, Pepe and Ramos, Pique and Puyol, Cannavaro and Nesta, Lucio and Samuel, Hummels and Subotic, Bruce and Pallister, Keown/Bould and Adams, Terry and Carvalho list goes on.
 
Remember the geese said:
No he doesn't. As a 5th choice centre back maybe.
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He came to us highly regarded so I would be giving him gametime in Europa and the Cups this season and not write him off just yet.
Let us remind ourselves that Guehi only got the start because Harry couldn't shake off his injury....think about it.
 
Bondi77 said:
He came to us highly regarded so I would be giving him gametime in Europa and the Cups this season and not write him off just yet.
Let us remind ourselves that Guehi only got the start because Harry couldn't shake off his injury....think about it.
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Yes he did come highly regarded, but injuries have taken a massive toll on him. I now have no expectations of him and if he becomes a top centre back that would be a shock and a very welcomed surprise.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I don't see us selling Shaw or Malacia. Shaw is a first team quality (injuries are a problem of course) and Malacia is Erik's signings. Spending on 3rd choice fb would be a luxury.
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Shaw and Malacia could be a mix of Irwin, Maldini, Roberto Carlos but that means jack shit if they are not available for most of the season. Both had been out for most of the season and every man and his dog knows that Shaw is ridiculously injury prone. We can't spend yet another season without a LB.
 
I don't understand what is our plan regarding centre backs. For a season you need 5 of them plus 6th as emergency cover.
At this moment our situation is:
1st choice: Lisandro
2nd choice: empty
3rd choice: Lindelof
4th choice: Maguire
5th choice: Evans
6th choice: Kambwala

Are we going to sell Harry or Lindelof? Are we keeping Evans? If any of them is gone then we definitely need two new defenders.
 
devilish said:
Shaw and Malacia could be a mix of Irwin, Maldini, Roberto Carlos but that means jack shit if they are not available for most of the season. Both had been out for most of the season and every man and his dog knows that Shaw is ridiculously injury prone. We can't spend yet another season without a LB.
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I agree about injuries. But we can't afford spending on another lb while having those 2. And i can't see us selling any of those two.
Is that kid Amass ready for first team?
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I agree about injuries. But we can't afford spending on another lb while having those 2. And i can't see us selling any of those two.
Is that kid Amass ready for first team?
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We are Manchester United. We can afford starting the season with at least 1 reliable LB who won't vanish in the treatment room for most of the season.

Amass is still too young in my opinion. He needs at least 1 year on loan.
 
Remember the geese said:
Yes he did come highly regarded, but injuries have taken a massive toll on him. I now have no expectations of him and if he becomes a top centre back that would be a shock and a very welcomed surprise.
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He had a bad game against Bournemouth
Apart from that I thought he was impressive when called upon and I think he is still only 19.
 
Bondi77 said:
He had a bad game against Bournemouth
Apart from that I thought he was impressive when called upon and I think he is still only 19.
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He did ok against Liverpool. Give him the odd game here and there by all means, but I certainly wouldn't plan with him in mind or use him as a reason not to sign Branthwaite or Guehi.
 
Remember the geese said:
He did ok against Liverpool. Give him the odd game here and there by all means, but I certainly wouldn't plan with him in mind or use him as a reason not to sign Branthwaite or Guehi.
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I would like Branthwaite and if not I would hope we could do a sweet deal on Todibo but I would be giving Willy games over Lindelof and Evans even though Evans was good for us last season.
 
Bondi77 said:
I would like Branthwaite and if not I would hope we could do a sweet deal on Todibo but I would be giving Willy games over Lindelof and Evans even though Evans was good for us last season.
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So in theory Kambwala would be fourth choice behind Martinez, a new signing and Maguire? Ideally we will sign two centre backs, but I have a feeling that might not happen.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
I agree about injuries. But we can't afford spending on another lb while having those 2. And i can't see us selling any of those two.
Is that kid Amass ready for first team?
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As much as I love Shaw as a player, at this point, I think we have to treat him as a bonus. A great option to have when he is fit, covering LB and CB, as we won't be able to sell him.

Problem is, the other players we have for LB and left sided (and also ball playing) CB were both out for a year. So I'm for a real overhaul in the defense. Because I think, this is what hampered us most, last season. We either had very good players, well suited to the way we want to play but injured all the time (Martinez, Shaw), players who were good when played to their strengths (Maguire, Varane), Players not good enough and often injured (Lindelof, AWB, Malacia) and one player who was great (Dalot).

I'd like our set of defenders to look something like this:
LB: Kerkez (Ait-Noury if we are rich), Malacia, Shaw
CB: Martinez, Brainthwaite, Todibo, Maguire, Shaw, Evans, Kambwala
RB: Dalot, AWB, Kambwala

I think this would instantly improve us a lot. Add a good DM and a versatile forward to the mix and it would be a very good window, if we can sell some players (Sancho and Greenwood first and foremost).
 
Remember the geese said:
So in theory Kambwala would be fourth choice behind Martinez, a new signing and Maguire? Ideally we will sign two centre backs, but I have a feeling that might not happen.
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If we do not sign 2 CB's this summer we are in for another fiasco. We just can't rely on Martinez being fit after more than 1 year plagued with injuries. If he stays fit it's a bonus, it cannot be taken for granted.
 
fergiewherearethou said:
If we do not sign 2 CB's this summer we are in for another fiasco. We just can't rely on Martinez being fit after more than 1 year plagued with injuries. If he stays fit it's a bonus, it cannot be taken for granted.
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Agreed. Two should be the minimum. Even three wouldn't be crazy if we were to lose Lindelof and Evans as well as Varane.
 
Remember the geese said:
So in theory Kambwala would be fourth choice behind Martinez, a new signing and Maguire? Ideally we will sign two centre backs, but I have a feeling that might not happen.
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That's about it.
We have flexibility with Luke but we know that Erik will not change his main CBs around barring injury as he wants a consistent pairing.
We need to know if Willy can be a player for us and what are we seriously going to get from Lindelof and it could save us a lot of money.
Like I said....Europa And Cup starts for Willy this season.
 
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