Well I don't think it would be astonishing.
I do understand the risks, but you can obviously see the payoffs too with big transfers. Maguire was just not a smart transfer based on how we wanted to play. If there was a aerially and physically dominant CB, who can cover big spaces, he would be worth spending a large chunk of our budget on.
I don't think it's the right time, I think we would gain far more value for a deeper more complete squad than a big player.
I don't think they are mutually exclusive, but I understand your point of view.
Thank you for the compliment.
It doesn't have to be though and all of those transfers don't have to be paid up front.
So, mr.expert, do you reckon our summer budget will be big enough to spend 100m on Neves and still make 5-6 signings?
Hardly anyone is genuinely arguing that João Neves is going to transform us into a Top 4 side, to be fair; that's reductio ad absurdum, not a good faith argument. What some do think is that, given his qualities, he would give a boost to our midfield collective, and form a potent long-term partnership with Kobbie Mainoo (provided the coaching and organization is up to scratch (as that can throttle talented players... we need look no further than Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo at Chelsea), and they strike up a decent understanding). Signing someone like him would also not not equate to ignoring other positions, if the club makes the right manoeuvres in the mercato (particularly identifying budget-friendly squad options and wrt. player sales, which would lead to a maxmization of resources).
He definately has a point about us needing more than one player. I think we need at least six new players. Two CBs, a LB, two CMs and a striker but that is for another discussion.
Again, thanks for your polite tone.
Well if going from 6th to 4th is more than "Astonishing", then we must be speaking two different languages.Hardly anyone is genuinely arguing that João Neves is going to transform us into a Top 4 side, to be fair; that's reductio ad absurdum, not a good faith argument. What some do think is that, given his qualities, he would give a boost to our midfield collective, and form a potent long-term partnership with Kobbie Mainoo (provided the coaching and organization is up to scratch (as that can throttle talented players... we need look no further than Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo at Chelsea), and they strike up a decent understanding). Signing someone like him would also not not equate to ignoring other positions, if the club makes the right manoeuvres in the mercato (particularly identifying budget-friendly squad options and wrt. player sales, which would lead to a maxmization of resources).
Also, folk seem to have this idea that we must first build a squad on the cheap (including that rather unpleasant @Hammondo chap), and then add quality pieces — as if that's the only way of going about things (and also as if accounting techniques like amortization are a figment of our imagination), full stop. One does get the sense that this line of thinking is informed by the development of, for example, Arsenal in recent years (who went for relatively cheap options first, and progressively loosened the purse string to splurge on the likes of Rice, Jesus and Havertz) But we should note that Manchester United always has some of the highest revenues in club football, even when the club misses out on the Champions League — and has lots of wiggle room to sign difference-makers, even with FFP and PSR concerns.
In comparison, Arsenal trailed the heavyweights by €200 million or thereabouts in terms of annual turnover, so they were forced to abide by smaller budgets as they went about refurbishing their squad. That isn't to say that we should waste money or pay over the odds for players who are not top talents (as we did for Antony, among others), but if the right profile of top talent is available, we might want to make a serious move instead of throwing our hands up in the air in defeatist fashion. Should also add that I dunno if João Neves is going to be worth a €100 million fee, and am not arguing that we should compulsarily cough up that much money for him.
I don't believe it's as simple as that, wages are stretched out over the contract too, so there's fee + wage spread out over the contract - hence Chelsea doing 7 year contracts. Our yearly costs can't be too much, but selling players like Rashford and McTominay or fully amortized players (Martial must surely be one), means pure revenue into the coffers to mitigate that. Also the lowering of the wage bill makes us more profitable too, so if we have these supposed performance based contracts, we should be more than capable of a massive summer if that's what we want.
This. Thought I clicked into the wrong thread. I want to hear more debates on why moneyball will get us back to the top rather than generational talents.
Young and promising players like Joao Neves and Nico Williams are available in the summer. Both of them have release clause in their contract and are affordable for Man United. Either one will be a good signing for United.
Neves release clause is hardly affordable
Affordable for Man Utd. Man Utd has the resource to buy the best player available in the market. It has almost double the revenue than Arsenal.
Neves is even more hyped but I would say the talent is similar. Neves is better defensively and more of a workhorse, Vitinha is a magician like Mainoo.
That’s a very generous double.
Mbappe was 160m I believe.
Its not affordable especially when you need at least 6 new players and there is something called FFP
Depends on what you can get out the door, especially homegrown.
And of course at what cost we can get CBs in and other players
Is that presuming we spend in payments for neves rather than all upfront?
At the moment, it looks like a promotee, a free transfer and a purchase for CB's, plus whatever we get for selling (Maguire, Varane, Lindelof), so it's not that out there (should sales come off); from our own kitty, it sounds like a pipe dream given all the other areas we need in, but with sales at CB and CM, it really doesn't seem particularly improbable.
Wow, just wow.
