Joao Neves | signed for PSG

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I find it mental that so many people demand we move from being a counter attacking team to being more possession based and have control yet every time we’re linked with players that would make that happen we’re reluctant on here to go after the player, Neves has a real Carrick feel about him in playing style and the mood on here at the thought of initially signing them and ever since Carrick left we’ve longed for a regen of him.

Neves’ ball winning qualities much like Carrick’s are so underrated because they’re not a Makelele/Casemiro/Rijkaard/Keane type of midfielder yet Neves much like Carrick is a great ball winner but because he can also be effective further forward isn’t seen as a pure defensive midfielder, as I’ve said before I’d like us to go for Varela at Porto as well as Neves which would be a bit like when we had Carrick and Hargreaves at the same time.
 
I find it mental that so many people demand we move from being a counter attacking team to being more possession based and have control yet every time we’re linked with players that would make that happen we’re reluctant on here to go after the player, Neves has a real Carrick feel about him in playing style and the mood on here at the thought of initially signing them and ever since Carrick left we’ve longed for a regen of him.

Neves’ ball winning qualities much like Carrick’s are so underrated because they’re not a Makelele/Casemiro/Rijkaard/Keane type of midfielder yet Neves much like Carrick is a great ball winner but because he can also be effective further forward isn’t seen as a pure defensive midfielder, as I’ve said before I’d like us to go for Varela at Porto as well as Neves which would be a bit like when we had Carrick and Hargreaves at the same time.
I have nothing against the player, looks great. It’s just that following Sir Jim’s interviews I cannot see us spending that much on one player
 
I have nothing against the player, looks great. It’s just that following Sir Jim’s interviews I cannot see us spending that much on one player
Agreed, I could see us going for him if he wasn’t going to cost so much.
 
I have nothing against the player, looks great. It’s just that following Sir Jim’s interviews I cannot see us spending that much on one player
Bruno just bigged him up again, saying he has a bright future and would love to play alongside the kid. Maybe we can lower the fee with a player, would Lindelof fancy a return perhaps?
 
Bruno just bigged him up again, saying he has a bright future and would love to play alongside the kid. Maybe we can lower the fee with a player, would Lindelof fancy a return perhaps?
They’ll probably play together for the national team
 
Based on what Sir Jim Ratcliffe said, I don't think we'll be spending big on players. He'll probably look for more astute signings such as Khephren Thuram, which would make sense seeing as he knows him from Nice. Not only that, but Thuram would bring something to our midfield that we currently lack - progressive carries.
 
I find it mental that so many people demand we move from being a counter attacking team to being more possession based and have control yet every time we’re linked with players that would make that happen we’re reluctant on here to go after the player, Neves has a real Carrick feel about him in playing style and the mood on here at the thought of initially signing them and ever since Carrick left we’ve longed for a regen of him.

Neves’ ball winning qualities much like Carrick’s are so underrated because they’re not a Makelele/Casemiro/Rijkaard/Keane type of midfielder yet Neves much like Carrick is a great ball winner but because he can also be effective further forward isn’t seen as a pure defensive midfielder, as I’ve said before I’d like us to go for Varela at Porto as well as Neves which would be a bit like when we had Carrick and Hargreaves at the same time.

Im not sure people are against him, but he’s going to cost 100 million, when we require reinforcements in many areas of our squad.

For a similar price you can probably get Branthwaite and Todibo or Varela and Thuram/Onana.

Id be happy if we did get Neves, just can’t see it after the Sir Jim interviews and our finances.
 
Those Ratcliffe quotes can be construed in a variety of ways. But Neves is 19 years old and an incredible prospect. Buying a player like that would make sense for most big clubs.

If Yamal was available, you'd also be mad not to pursue that. There are always exceptions.

Generally though we should be looking to build a team of younger players. That probably will not mean loads of potential players at 10-15m, buying major prospects is never going to be cheap. You can gamble on 2-3 players, but if you are looking to introduce these players into the first XI they are going to cost. Long-term it would make sense to start buying players who are even younger and using the INEOS multi-club network to secure work permits and valuable development time.
 
Hope not, he was talking about united. I think I actually want him more than frenkie now.
With regards to Frenkie, we all know about how ball carrying ability, but defensively how do him and Neves compare. Anyone who’s seen enough of both able to enlighten?
 
Finally a Neves worth signing! Was so bored of saying Ruben Neves wasn't good enough every year
 
With regards to Frenkie, we all know about how ball carrying ability, but defensively how do him and Neves compare. Anyone who’s seen enough of both able to enlighten?
Neves is better defensively definitely. Much harder working than De Jong who can be a bit passive.
 
Based on what Sir Jim Ratcliffe said, I don't think we'll be spending big on players. He'll probably look for more astute signings such as Khephren Thuram, which would make sense seeing as he knows him from Nice. Not only that, but Thuram would bring something to our midfield that we currently lack - progressive carries.
To be honest, I hope this notion of not spending big on players is just doublespeak, misdirection, a red herring of sorts — something your local politician would say. Because being cheap, as some sort of overarching strategy that the club is going to adhere to, should not always be conflated with being sensible, and if Jim Ratcliffe are co. are genuinely of the opinion that Manchester United can contruct a top, top squad (i.e., good enough to genuinely go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in particular, year in and year out) by cutting corners and almost-exclusively targeting Moneyball™ signings, they are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Liverpool had the best (or the second best) coach of the last decade to galvanize their project — something we clearly don't have, which fundamentally alters the relative calculus and puts us in a less fortunate position. A few signings, like Robertson and Matip, were extreme value-for-money outliers, no doubt about that — but Firmino, Mané, Salah, Fabinho all cost upwards of €50 million when you adjust for inflation (all of them representing 10% of Liverpool's annual revenues, if not more, in terms of transfer outlay at the time, the equivalent for Manchester United right now would be €75 million or thereabouts), van Dijk was the most expensive defender of all time, Alisson was the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and so on and so forth. And even though things surreptitiously worked out for them in terms of analytics and recruitment, they still mostly came up short against Manchester City in the league, which shows you how high the bar has been set by our cross-city rival.

This is not supposed to be an improved version of Nice, where you fiddle around for years on end and try to make ends meet with shoestring budgets, and still trail Brest, Lille and Monaco in the league after close to half a decade of ownership, with all due respect to that club, its supporters and its carousel of staff. The objectives of new part-ownership should befit a club that claims to be the biggest and greatest in the world: to build a collective that is at least one of the most competitive of the era, if not one of the greatest and most iconic of all time, commensurate with the stature of an institution like Manchester United.

That isn't to say the club should spend with reckless abandon and always cave in to seller clubs' demands, far from it. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the oftentimes catastrophic debacles in the post Ferguson era, there are some Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability stipulations that we will have to get around (they are not insurmountable if we are clever enough), and you should always pay attention to the bottom line while implementing a well-thought-out plan. If there's a chance to meaningfully improve the collective framework for peanuts, go for it. Even better if they have the versatility, mentality and age profile of Álvarez or Camavinga. But equally, if there's a chance to sign top, top talents who are likely to define the upcoming era and will command a premium in all likelihood, and we turn 'em down because we “don't spend big on players” as some sort of absolutist rule of thumb, more fool us — and to add insult to injury, a few of them will inevitably bolster the ranks of our rivals, and continue to torment us.

As regards João Neves, I'm not 100% sure he is what we need (and you could definitely argue that we might be able to procure 2-3 really good (perhaps even equally good) midfield talents for the same type of initial outlay), but if he truly is a class apart in terms of difference-making potential, it would behoove us to strongly consider him and maybe even bring him to the club as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting and operating with some premetidated, hypothetical timeline in mind in a fluid, everchanging environment like the transfer market, and a bird in hand (to go with the burgeoning core of Garnacho, Mainoo, Højlund) is worth two in the bush.
 
I honestly can't see us parting ways with Bruno yet. And you can't play a midfield 3 of Bruno, Neves and Mainoo. We won't bench Mainoo for a 100m signing and we wouldn't spend 100m for a rotational player. So, signing Neves wouldn't make sense for now.

I agree. Feel like Mainoo's successful integration (to put it lightly) into the first team means that we now need to move for a different type of midfielder. Should be a new #6 who can play single pivot behind Mainoo and Bruno, as that's what we are lacking, not a left-sided #8 like Neves, we have that now in Mainoo.
 
To be honest, I hope this notion of not spending big on players is just doublespeak, misdirection, a red herring of sorts — something your local politician would say. Because being cheap, as some sort of overarching strategy that the club is going to adhere to, should not always be conflated with being sensible, and if Jim Ratcliffe are co. are genuinely of the opinion that Manchester United can contruct a top, top squad (i.e., good enough to genuinely go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in particular, year in and year out) by cutting corners and almost-exclusively targeting Moneyball™ signings, they are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Liverpool had the best (or the second best) coach of the last decade to galvanize their project — something we clearly don't have, which fundamentally alters the relative calculus and puts us in a less fortunate position. A few signings, like Robertson and Matip, were extreme value-for-money outliers, no doubt about that — but Firmino, Mané, Salah, Fabinho all cost upwards of €50 million when you adjust for inflation (all of them representing 10% of Liverpool's annual revenues, if not more, in terms of transfer outlay at the time, the equivalent for Manchester United right now would be €75 million or thereabouts), van Dijk was the most expensive defender of all time, Alisson was the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and so on and so forth. And even though things surreptitiously worked out for them in terms of analytics and recruitment, they still mostly came up short against Manchester City in the league, which shows you how high the bar has been set by our cross-city rival.

This is not supposed to be an improved version of Nice, where you fiddle around for years on end and try to make ends meet with shoestring budgets, and still trail Brest, Lille and Monaco in the league after close to half a decade of ownership, with all due respect to that club, its supporters and its carousel of staff. The objectives of new part-ownership should befit a club that claims to be the biggest and greatest in the world: to build a collective that is at least one of the most competitive of the era, if not one of the greatest and most iconic of all time, commensurate with the stature of an institution like Manchester United.

That isn't to say the club should spend with reckless abandon and always cave in to seller clubs' demands, far from it. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the oftentimes catastrophic debacles in the post Ferguson era, there are some Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability stipulations that we will have to get around (they are not insurmountable if we are clever enough), and you should always pay attention to the bottom line while implementing a well-thought-out plan. If there's a chance to meaningfully improve the collective framework for peanuts, go for it. Even better if they have the versatility, mentality and age profile of Álvarez or Camavinga. But equally, if there's a chance to sign top, top talents who are likely to define the upcoming era and will command a premium in all likelihood, and we turn 'em down because we “don't spend big on players” as some sort of absolutist rule of thumb, more fool us — and to add insult to injury, a few of them will inevitably bolster the ranks of our rivals, and continue to torment us.

As regards João Neves, I'm not 100% sure he is what we need (and you could definitely argue that we might be able to procure 2-3 really good (perhaps even equally good) midfield talents for the same type of initial outlay), but if he truly is a class apart in terms of difference-making potential, it would behoove us to strongly consider him and maybe even bring him to the club as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting and operating with some premetidated, hypothetical timeline in mind in a fluid, everchanging environment like the transfer market, and a bird in hand (to go with the burgeoning core of Garnacho, Mainoo, Højlund) is worth two in the bush.

Precisely this, and excellently forwarded as always.

I can’t understand why there seems to be widespread supporter approval for this strategy of seemingly declaring that we will only spend what West Ham would spend on a player. Where is that intended to take us exactly?

I’m also not convinced his statement is as absolute as has been interpreted. I also think that he may well simply mean that he’d be happy to go and spend 100m on Hojlund but not on Harry Kane, so to speak. He said we need to find the next one, and not spend huge sums on these sorts of players (Mbappé). I can see a Madrid type of strategy going after the best young talent.
 
I agree. Feel like Mainoo's successful integration (to put it lightly) into the first team means that we now need to move for a different type of midfielder. Should be a new #6 who can play single pivot behind Mainoo and Bruno, as that's what we are lacking, not a left-sided #8 like Neves, we have that now in Mainoo.
If we can play McTominay, Mainoo and Bruno together against Liverpool non the less. I see no problem with Neves,Mainoo and Bruno.
 
To be honest, I hope this notion of not spending big on players is just doublespeak, misdirection, a red herring of sorts — something your local politician would say. Because being cheap, as some sort of overarching strategy that the club is going to adhere to, should not always be conflated with being sensible, and if Jim Ratcliffe are co. are genuinely of the opinion that Manchester United can contruct a top, top squad (i.e., good enough to genuinely go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in particular, year in and year out) by cutting corners and almost-exclusively targeting Moneyball™ signings, they are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Liverpool had the best (or the second best) coach of the last decade to galvanize their project — something we clearly don't have, which fundamentally alters the relative calculus and puts us in a less fortunate position. A few signings, like Robertson and Matip, were extreme value-for-money outliers, no doubt about that — but Firmino, Mané, Salah, Fabinho all cost upwards of €50 million when you adjust for inflation (all of them representing 10% of Liverpool's annual revenues, if not more, in terms of transfer outlay at the time, the equivalent for Manchester United right now would be €75 million or thereabouts), van Dijk was the most expensive defender of all time, Alisson was the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and so on and so forth. And even though things surreptitiously worked out for them in terms of analytics and recruitment, they still mostly came up short against Manchester City in the league, which shows you how high the bar has been set by our cross-city rival.

This is not supposed to be an improved version of Nice, where you fiddle around for years on end and try to make ends meet with shoestring budgets, and still trail Brest, Lille and Monaco in the league after close to half a decade of ownership, with all due respect to that club, its supporters and its carousel of staff. The objectives of new part-ownership should befit a club that claims to be the biggest and greatest in the world: to build a collective that is at least one of the most competitive of the era, if not one of the greatest and most iconic of all time, commensurate with the stature of an institution like Manchester United.

That isn't to say the club should spend with reckless abandon and always cave in to seller clubs' demands, far from it. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the oftentimes catastrophic debacles in the post Ferguson era, there are some Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability stipulations that we will have to get around (they are not insurmountable if we are clever enough), and you should always pay attention to the bottom line while implementing a well-thought-out plan. If there's a chance to meaningfully improve the collective framework for peanuts, go for it. Even better if they have the versatility, mentality and age profile of Álvarez or Camavinga. But equally, if there's a chance to sign top, top talents who are likely to define the upcoming era and will command a premium in all likelihood, and we turn 'em down because we “don't spend big on players” as some sort of absolutist rule of thumb, more fool us — and to add insult to injury, a few of them will inevitably bolster the ranks of our rivals, and continue to torment us.

As regards João Neves, I'm not 100% sure he is what we need (and you could definitely argue that we might be able to procure 2-3 really good (perhaps even equally good) midfield talents for the same type of initial outlay), but if he truly is a class apart in terms of difference-making potential, it would behoove us to strongly consider him and maybe even bring him to the club as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting and operating with some premetidated, hypothetical timeline in mind in a fluid, everchanging environment like the transfer market, and a bird in hand (to go with the burgeoning core of Garnacho, Mainoo, Højlund) is worth two in the bush.
Depends on the position of the players too. I can't remember any team winning big honours without a world class goalscorer, a brilliant midfield, watertight defence and a top goalie.

That's minimum 6/7 positions where you probably want to have players in the top 5 of their category across Europe. After that it comes down to managerial ability, game management, tactical nous, luck maybe? And obviously the quality of the more peripheral players, bench options etc.

Problem for United has been spending huge sums of money on wingers. We've spent £150m on two right wingers who don't look near it. Nobody would care if we spent £100m of that on Rice because he's worth it. If we need a couple CM's and a couple of CB's, and I'm talking top quality players, that's going to be £300m probably.

People only point to our spending because of the lack of success that has come with it. It wouldn't be as much an issue if we were successful, maybe rival fans and salty pundits would highlight it. We'll have to spend big in some instances, and be street smart in other transfers. We have a flaky core though, and we're going to have to spend big sums to fix that.

But the notion that we're going to do a Football Manager on it and sign these top prospects for £20m a pop and in 3 years all will be world beaters is nonsense and hopefully diversion / smoke and mirrors as you say. If we want the best and the right players in the club, they're going to cost a fortune.
 
You only need a to watch the highlights video for a couple mins to see he clearly is going to be a world class midfielder.

My only reservation about him is that maybe he's too similar to Mainoo, and I don't mean that in terms of "not signing him so we don't block Mainoo" rubbish, but from a midfield balance perspective.

Our midfield is crying out for a Michael Carrick / Xabi Alonso type DLP, in my view. Now if we were looking at a 433 with Mainoo and Never as 8's and a sitting 6, then absolutely. But as a club we seem to love having that Trequarista-type player, I guess that Cantona-esque, mercurial talent. So I just wonder is he the right fit for us?
 
You only need a to watch the highlights video for a couple mins to see he clearly is going to be a world class midfielder.

My only reservation about him is that maybe he's too similar to Mainoo, and I don't mean that in terms of "not signing him so we don't block Mainoo" rubbish, but from a midfield balance perspective.

Our midfield is crying out for a Michael Carrick / Xabi Alonso type DLP, in my view. Now if we were looking at a 433 with Mainoo and Never as 8's and a sitting 6, then absolutely. But as a club we seem to love having that Trequarista-type player, I guess that Cantona-esque, mercurial talent. So I just wonder is he the right fit for us?

For the way we want to play I think we could do with another Mainoo and a destroyer type at 6. also helps that Neves/Mainoo also provide cover for their profile if either is injured.
Only concerns for me is the lack of height in the squad when/if McTominay is sold and the cost of Neves.
 
You only need a to watch the highlights video for a couple mins to see he clearly is going to be a world class midfielder.

My only reservation about him is that maybe he's too similar to Mainoo, and I don't mean that in terms of "not signing him so we don't block Mainoo" rubbish, but from a midfield balance perspective.

Our midfield is crying out for a Michael Carrick / Xabi Alonso type DLP, in my view. Now if we were looking at a 433 with Mainoo and Never as 8's and a sitting 6, then absolutely. But as a club we seem to love having that Trequarista-type player, I guess that Cantona-esque, mercurial talent. So I just wonder is he the right fit for us?
The way United/INEOS are speaking and planning, I think United are looking more at building a young team now and implementing a new structure which will be ready to start challenging for the title from about 2026/2027 onwards and are building towards that.

By then and beyond, football is likely to evolve into different playing styles. The best teams then won't have the same ways of playing then as they do now. With that and the above in mind, they'll likely be looking into how football is evolving and getting a jump on it. Could be that they think having Mainoo and Neves in the same team will be crucial to playing the way they want to be playing then.

Then again I could be speaking a load of toss
 
I m considering. United and Ten Hag really needs players and Cm players that control and dictate the game. Special not against top teams. Not to disrespect Brentford or others half bottom teams.

If you can be more aggresive or outmuscle those teams. You need players that control the ball and the game.

Neves looks like a young and similar too Stanislav Lobotka.

Against teams United shall dominate. Controlling the ball.


Bruno - Neves - Mainoo . This trio can work.

Against top teams like City, Arsenal and Liverpool. You might go more defensive set. And if Casemiro will still be here.

A more defensive trio/combination :

Bruno/Neves - Casemiro/Mainoo - Mount. You bring more ball winner CM players in. Like Casemiro and Mount. Because of the times against those 3 top teams that has gel theirs team together over a long period. Like City and Liverpool. Arsenal in the last 2 years. United will press back. As a unit and collective United are still behind those 3 teams.

But against like above. Teams United shall dominate most of the times during the game. United shall go more for a controlling and more offensive CM trio.

Let the aggresive players and teams chasing and running after the ball. Then i can see Neves ability with the ball. Can bring and help United to control and dominate the game more.
 
I m considering. United and Ten Hag really needs players and Cm players that control and dictate the game. Special not against top teams. Not to disrespect Brentford or others half bottom teams.

If you can be more aggresive or outmuscle those teams. You need players that control the ball and the game.

Neves looks like a young and similar too Stanislav Lobotka.

Against teams United shall dominate. Controlling the ball.


Bruno - Neves - Mainoo . This trio can work.

Against top teams like City, Arsenal and Liverpool. You might go more defensive set. And if Casemiro will still be here.

A more defensive trio/combination :

Bruno/Neves - Casemiro/Mainoo - Mount. You bring more ball winner CM players in. Like Casemiro and Mount. Because of the times against those 3 top teams that has gel theirs team together over a long period. Like City and Liverpool. Arsenal in the last 2 years. United will press back. As a unit and collective United are still behind those 3 teams.

But against like above. Teams United shall dominate most of the times during the game. United shall go more for a controlling and more offensive CM trio.

Let the aggresive players and teams chasing and running after the ball. Then i can see Neves ability with the ball. Can bring and help United to control and dominate the game more.

I think Mainoo/Neves should be a pair we look to build from, with the third player changing depending upon opponent. You can play Mainoo/Neves/Bruno in some games, and Mainoo/Neves/Onana in others, for example.
 
He is this years primo wonderkid and like clockwork I’ll be in here hoping we go for it.

Neves and Onana majorly changes the whole outlook long term. I think with Mainoo it is finally what we’ve been looking for. Pace power tenacity, the ability to win the ball, keep the ball and create chances. We can keep teams penned in more and hopefully develop an effective system to really punish teams that come to play a low block and bypass the teams that want to press us
 
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I see Liverpool are bringing in some director from Benfica so I could see them getting involved in this one after missing out on Caicedo in the summer.
 
I see Liverpool are bringing in some director from Benfica so I could see them getting involved in this one after missing out on Caicedo in the summer.

He’d be perfect for Liverpool’s midfield.
 
To be honest, I hope this notion of not spending big on players is just doublespeak, misdirection, a red herring of sorts — something your local politician would say. Because being cheap, as some sort of overarching strategy that the club is going to adhere to, should not always be conflated with being sensible, and if Jim Ratcliffe are co. are genuinely of the opinion that Manchester United can contruct a top, top squad (i.e., good enough to genuinely go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in particular, year in and year out) by cutting corners and almost-exclusively targeting Moneyball™ signings, they are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Liverpool had the best (or the second best) coach of the last decade to galvanize their project — something we clearly don't have, which fundamentally alters the relative calculus and puts us in a less fortunate position. A few signings, like Robertson and Matip, were extreme value-for-money outliers, no doubt about that — but Firmino, Mané, Salah, Fabinho all cost upwards of €50 million when you adjust for inflation (all of them representing 10% of Liverpool's annual revenues, if not more, in terms of transfer outlay at the time, the equivalent for Manchester United right now would be €75 million or thereabouts), van Dijk was the most expensive defender of all time, Alisson was the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and so on and so forth. And even though things surreptitiously worked out for them in terms of analytics and recruitment, they still mostly came up short against Manchester City in the league, which shows you how high the bar has been set by our cross-city rival.

This is not supposed to be an improved version of Nice, where you fiddle around for years on end and try to make ends meet with shoestring budgets, and still trail Brest, Lille and Monaco in the league after close to half a decade of ownership, with all due respect to that club, its supporters and its carousel of staff. The objectives of new part-ownership should befit a club that claims to be the biggest and greatest in the world: to build a collective that is at least one of the most competitive of the era, if not one of the greatest and most iconic of all time, commensurate with the stature of an institution like Manchester United.

That isn't to say the club should spend with reckless abandon and always cave in to seller clubs' demands, far from it. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the oftentimes catastrophic debacles in the post Ferguson era, there are some Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability stipulations that we will have to get around (they are not insurmountable if we are clever enough), and you should always pay attention to the bottom line while implementing a well-thought-out plan. If there's a chance to meaningfully improve the collective framework for peanuts, go for it. Even better if they have the versatility, mentality and age profile of Álvarez or Camavinga. But equally, if there's a chance to sign top, top talents who are likely to define the upcoming era and will command a premium in all likelihood, and we turn 'em down because we “don't spend big on players” as some sort of absolutist rule of thumb, more fool us — and to add insult to injury, a few of them will inevitably bolster the ranks of our rivals, and continue to torment us.

As regards João Neves, I'm not 100% sure he is what we need (and you could definitely argue that we might be able to procure 2-3 really good (perhaps even equally good) midfield talents for the same type of initial outlay), but if he truly is a class apart in terms of difference-making potential, it would behoove us to strongly consider him and maybe even bring him to the club as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting and operating with some premetidated, hypothetical timeline in mind in a fluid, everchanging environment like the transfer market, and a bird in hand (to go with the burgeoning core of Garnacho, Mainoo, Højlund) is worth two in the bush.
What a beautifully written post. Completely agree.

I've seen a lot of posters on here wanting us to sign mediocre players on "frees". Well, it might turn out well, but it is not the overarchinbg strategy that will see us compete with the top of the Premier League. We definately need big money signings, and for me, Joao Neves ticks that box in terms of talent.
 
What a beautifully written post. Completely agree.

I've seen a lot of posters on here wanting us to sign mediocre players on "frees". Well, it might turn out well, but it is not the overarchinbg strategy that will see us compete with the top of the Premier League. We definately need big money signings, and for me, Joao Neves ticks that box in terms of talent.
you definitely don't have any clue how football business works. we have to replace about 10 players and you wanna spend half of our budget on one player? Then you are even more reliant on free transfers. We're not gonna sign Neves this year.
 
To be honest, I hope this notion of not spending big on players is just doublespeak, misdirection, a red herring of sorts — something your local politician would say. Because being cheap, as some sort of overarching strategy that the club is going to adhere to, should not always be conflated with being sensible, and if Jim Ratcliffe are co. are genuinely of the opinion that Manchester United can contruct a top, top squad (i.e., good enough to genuinely go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in particular, year in and year out) by cutting corners and almost-exclusively targeting Moneyball™ signings, they are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Liverpool had the best (or the second best) coach of the last decade to galvanize their project — something we clearly don't have, which fundamentally alters the relative calculus and puts us in a less fortunate position. A few signings, like Robertson and Matip, were extreme value-for-money outliers, no doubt about that — but Firmino, Mané, Salah, Fabinho all cost upwards of €50 million when you adjust for inflation (all of them representing 10% of Liverpool's annual revenues, if not more, in terms of transfer outlay at the time, the equivalent for Manchester United right now would be €75 million or thereabouts), van Dijk was the most expensive defender of all time, Alisson was the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and so on and so forth. And even though things surreptitiously worked out for them in terms of analytics and recruitment, they still mostly came up short against Manchester City in the league, which shows you how high the bar has been set by our cross-city rival.

This is not supposed to be an improved version of Nice, where you fiddle around for years on end and try to make ends meet with shoestring budgets, and still trail Brest, Lille and Monaco in the league after close to half a decade of ownership, with all due respect to that club, its supporters and its carousel of staff. The objectives of new part-ownership should befit a club that claims to be the biggest and greatest in the world: to build a collective that is at least one of the most competitive of the era, if not one of the greatest and most iconic of all time, commensurate with the stature of an institution like Manchester United.

That isn't to say the club should spend with reckless abandon and always cave in to seller clubs' demands, far from it. Lessons definitely need to be learnt from the oftentimes catastrophic debacles in the post Ferguson era, there are some Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability stipulations that we will have to get around (they are not insurmountable if we are clever enough), and you should always pay attention to the bottom line while implementing a well-thought-out plan. If there's a chance to meaningfully improve the collective framework for peanuts, go for it. Even better if they have the versatility, mentality and age profile of Álvarez or Camavinga. But equally, if there's a chance to sign top, top talents who are likely to define the upcoming era and will command a premium in all likelihood, and we turn 'em down because we “don't spend big on players” as some sort of absolutist rule of thumb, more fool us — and to add insult to injury, a few of them will inevitably bolster the ranks of our rivals, and continue to torment us.

As regards João Neves, I'm not 100% sure he is what we need (and you could definitely argue that we might be able to procure 2-3 really good (perhaps even equally good) midfield talents for the same type of initial outlay), but if he truly is a class apart in terms of difference-making potential, it would behoove us to strongly consider him and maybe even bring him to the club as soon as possible. There's no point in waiting and operating with some premetidated, hypothetical timeline in mind in a fluid, everchanging environment like the transfer market, and a bird in hand (to go with the burgeoning core of Garnacho, Mainoo, Højlund) is worth two in the bush.
A lot of waffle.

Reality is that we are very limited with how much we can spend, and we need to replace a lot of players.

Going big on any player is a fools errand right now, ignoring the fact that they might not work out or we have overrated them, but even if we got another Ronaldo his impact would be limited in this team.

We are currently in a terrible position with nearly the whole of our defence with injuries, we have a very questionable midfield made up of a kid and two heavily criticised players, and an attack that's been shit all season.

We know we have injury prone players, and players that it looks like are leaving in the summer. Big signings should not be in our minds for a few seasons, we barely even have a defence.
 
A lot of waffle.

Reality is that we are very limited with how much we can spend, and we need to replace a lot of players.

Going big on any player is a fools errand right now, ignoring the fact that they might not work out or we have overrated them, but even if we got another Ronaldo his impact would be limited in this team.

We are currently in a terrible position with nearly the whole of our defence with injuries, we have a very questionable midfield made up of a kid and two heavily criticised players, and an attack that's been shit all season.

We know we have injury prone players, and players that it looks like are leaving in the summer. Big signings should not be in our minds for a few seasons, we barely even have a defence.
Sorry that's just not true. If we got a Van Dijk for example, the effect would be astonishing.

There is a real debate to be had if João Neves would be transformative enough for our midfield to warrant spending big - I would argue he is, but I can't totally see the argument as to why he isn't.
 
Sorry that's just not true. If we got a Van Dijk for example, the effect would be astonishing.

There is a real debate to be had if João Neves would be transformative enough for our midfield to warrant spending big - I would argue he is, but I can't totally see the argument as to why he isn't.

Absolutely. Agree with the criticised post. And I hope those Ratcliffe comments aren't a budget saving exercise (I don't think they are tbh). If we can secure outstanding talents then that is always a good thing. And that point about signing Ronaldo today wouldn't be the right call due to our defensive issues is out there.
 
Absolutely. Agree with the criticised post. And I hope those Ratcliffe comments aren't a budget saving exercise (I don't think they are tbh). If we can secure outstanding talents then that is always a good thing. And that point about signing Ronaldo today wouldn't be the right call due to our defensive issues is out there.
It depends if he means Ronaldo when he came back or Ronaldo prior!
 
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