Good thing about Timber is that he can come in and be a huge improvement at RB instantly, and then transition into being our CB once we get another RB and he replaces Maguire or whoever at CB.
Jurriën Timber | Arsenal player
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My bet is he'd start at right back and fill in at CB when needed, purely because as you say, Maguire isn't that bad, has his uses, and our right backs are horrendous while he is equally capable in both positions.
If we had any bollocks we'd cash in on Maguire now while he still has some value. If he gets benched for a season all that happens is his potential transfer fee plummets.
Source?
As he played at RB for Ajax? I’ve always seen him as a CB. The versatility will be crucial for us though.
mufcmpb on twitter. Going in pretty strong on this story now.
Exactly that but our owners haven’t got any and they won’t want to admit they’ve made another mistake in signing him for such a huge price and losing a lot of money on him.
Some random guy on twitter saying personal terms agreed. Apparently he tweets out loads of shit early hoping something hits and deletes the rest
United stand. Some Twitter account mentioned on there, from a good source.
But like with anything could be fully true. Might not be.
mufcmpb @MUFC OK (Confirming the account )
Huge egg on the face if nothing comes of it. Let's see. Not hard to deduce that ETH is keen on him.
This season was a CB but has played RB in the past and played it for Netherlands last summer didn't he? He's versatile and his qualities suit the position anyway.
The "source" is yet another no mark twitter transfer news aggregator account, not even bothering to pretend it has come from someone with any credibility, and naming himself as the source. 
I'm not a fan of relying on 1 player to cover 2 positions.
Ideally we should have 4 senior centre backs and 2 right backs.
If one of those happen to be able to play both positions, great. But don't leave ourselves with just 3 CB, 1 RB + 1 utility. It feels a little thin on numbers.
I suspect the likes of Bailly, Jones and AWB will be shipped out but who knows given how poor we are at selling players.
Hope it's very much true but reading through comments the guy has a reputation for deleting when he fears it's bullsh*t
They claimed it first, feels like ITK all over again.
Who the hell are they though
Some dude. With a twitter account. Exactly as much credibility as any random caf member making shit up.
To be fair, Ralf and Ten Hag would need to put the pressure on them to do so. Is Ten Hag bold enough to come in and instantly tell them Maguire is not what he needs, or is he going to say "well let's give him a chance this season and see how it goes". Even though he clearly doesn't have the qualities needed to play a high line or deal with 1v1 situations.
Yes please
Him, coupled Frenkie, and our build-up and possession play improves so much. The more press resistant players, the better!
Him, coupled Frenkie, and our build-up and possession play improves so much. The more press resistant players, the better!
Think the idea is to use him as a 3rd CB in a 3 man defence or as a right back in a 4 man defence. For some weird reason, I think we are going to play a 3 man defence quite regularly next season.
If we get a left footed defender, think we are set with the defence. GK would still be a huge worry.
If we get a left footed defender, think we are set with the defence. GK would still be a huge worry.
What a difference our team will be by just adding 3/4 players that can pass / receive a football without panicking.
I cannot wait to see a United team that doesn't fail under a press.
I doubt Ten Hag has ever played with a 3 man defence. More likely a 4 man defence with Timber as an inverted RB.
My body is ready. Give me ALL the press resistant players.
Absolutely. Two players who based on reputation will really improve our buildup play which is huge for this team.
I agree… although I can see ten Hag liking some parts of Maguires game. He can play out of defence and carry the ball up the pitch… however like you said he won’t cope with a high line and that will cost us.
Don’t think that would be a good idea. We’re light enough at CB and can’t see Maguire’s reputation sinking much lower than it is now. Despite people on here making him out to be some footballing caveman, Maguire is a fairly progressive footballer even if he runs a bit awkwardly. He’s a fair bit better than Varane in that regard.
Timber looks excellent but his height/physicality definitely worries me and while it hasn’t posed many problems for Ajax, they would be dominating possession in most of their games and he just won’t be under as much pressure as he is at United (because we have a mid-table midfield or worse). Also, I’m slightly uncomfortable with people already saying he’ll be a back up or play in a different position already. From what I can see, buying back ups rather than immediate starters just isn’t good squad building. The team needs improving right now.
It's a shite account. Used to aggregate Utd news decently but now they just charge other people to promote their accounts on their timeline and then you've got 'exclusives' like this.
I get the concern about the height issue, but I think people are underestimating how much someone like Timber who can shield the ball, pull a feint and turn to lose his marker, carry the ball forwards and generally add a sense of calmness and composure to the team will improve our general play.
That on top of what seems like excellent reading of the game, so it's not like he's a liability defensively. Quite the opposite, I'd say.
This one is better than mufcmpb.
The only qualities I've seen from Maguire honestly in his 3 years is aerial dominance in duels and physical strength.
If we're asking to play a high line, and press aggressively as a team and ask our centre backs to deal with 1v1 situations, you really can't get a worse profile of centre back than Maguire. He just turns and runs too slow. It's not that he isn't fast, it's that he's one of the slowest defenders you'll ever see at this level.
He came here as having a reputation as a ball playing CB but I've not seen it. Looks no more comfortable on the ball than lindelof, varane or bailly.
I agree we're in need of starting 11 quality players, not utility men.
I watched some ajax matches recently, though most of them were first half only. He's very good on the ball and he can be solid in the air but only when he's attacking the ball like for example during long goal-kick, he could win the aerial duel. However, I had seen him struggling in the air in set pieces.
Hope we sign him. Young and talented, good on the ball solid in defending, understand ETH system well, can play both CB and RB.
How often has Ten Hag played with a back 3? Don't think it's a regular formation for him, though he's versatile. Feel like he usually goes with a 4231/433, and lately doing a 4-2-2-2. My bet would just be as a RB for the most part given our RBs are useless.
Frenkie, Timber and Darwin, with Ronaldo on the left and Sancho on the right
Are Bayern trying to dismantle Ajax or something?
Liverpool only has one Southampton, Bayern have two.
I'm surprised people still think this after 3 years of watching him. His reputation as a ball playing CB is flattering to say the least.
If you give him time and space he'll spray the occasional nice pass out wide but loads of centre backs have that in them. Overall he's not been good playing out from the back for us, he ponders too long on the ball putting us under pressure and makes just as many sloppy passes as the rest of our centre backs.
I think this one is fairly obvious. Will probably be the first once announced.
Were going down
We're signing Timberrrrrr!
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