Kobbie Mainoo (out)

[Crimson King]

Ornstein is never wrong and doesnt write things that are not likely to happen

Yes, but if you actually listen to the podcast Ornstein broke this 'news' on, he is at pains to clarify that United aren't actively looking to sell either of these players. So he's actually saying that nothing is going to happen.

 

[AR87]

Ornstein is never wrong and doesnt write things that are not likely to happen

He didn't say anything is going to happen, just that the club would listen to offers, which seems fairly reasonable. The full article made it sound like it was a long shot as well and that the Chelsea interest is nothing more than them viewing him as a player they'll monitor long-term, because he's young and talented.

 

[NewGlory]

Settle down. Would you rather we came out and said everyone has a price expect for Kobbie Mainoo, basically telling him he has already made it and needn't try any more.

Yes. Mainoo, Amad, and Yoro are off limits. Everybody else can feck off

It is not that he has made it. It is that they are our youngsters and our future. If they drop their level we can change the stance, but this is all about INEOS and Glazer greed

 

[ayushreddevil9]

Jamie Jackson.

Who are we going to play if we just sell everyone? I read credible reports that Yoro and Amad are untouchables. I find it hard to believe that we are open to offers for the only solid midfielder we have.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Yes. Mainoo, Amad, and Yoro are off limits. Everybody else can feck off

So if someone randomly offered £20b for Mainoo, you would not entertain it?

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I would ask for 200k too knowing what Rashford, Casemiro and Antony are on.

Then you can join them on their way out…

 

[AltiUn]

Jamie Jackson.

Jamie Jackson is actually a bull shit merchant so doubt any of his new "information" is worth listening to.

 

[davidmichael]

Jamie Jackson.

Jamie Jackson is as bad as Miguel Delaney as far as credibility goes, should be on the banned list.

 

[Nogbadthebad]

If you want to get back to winning leagues, you don't sell your best players.

If you want to create some player loyalty, you don;t even consider selling your best players, let alone leak to the press that they can be sold for the right price.

Does anyone think Sir Matt would have stood there in '66 and said, 'well, if the right offer comes, of course we'll sell George'. No. There is a reason for that.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

So if someone randomly offered £20b for Mainoo, you would not entertain it?

I get that you're exaggerating a point to make a point, but no one is offering more than 150m for Mainoo, so I understand the poster's point about him being unsellable.

 

[JTW95]

For me not a single player in this team is unsellable. Mainoo is very good for his age but we've seen this with plenty of kids his age just because he is good now isn't a guarantee he will go on to be world class.

I wouldn't sell him easy but if we were able to rinse Chelsea or any other for big money that could fund a couple of players Amorim wants I'll be all for it.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Yes. Mainoo, Amad, and Yoro are off limits. Everybody else can feck off

It is not that he has made it. It is that they are our youngsters and our future. If they drop their level we can change the stance, but this is all about INEOS and Glazer greed

Unless we find a young Messi or Ronaldo nobody is off limits.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Flaws to his game ? He's 19.



Is midfield "a massive issue" ? We have Mainoo and Ugarte right now - both top players with the best days ahead.

I understand he's 19 and therefore has a lot of room to develop but I specifically mentioned PSR, which seems to be the driving issue in the news. Yes, Mainoo and Ugarte are good players, neither are "top" though, but ultimately it is a squad game and you need more than just two players. We're about to lose Eriksen and Casemiro for nothing so there won't be any finances to support a buy from that side.

Now, I suppose a disagreement between us would be where you consider Mainoo and Ugarte to be good enough for a first choice midfield. You might think they are and therefore the investment needed for the other midfield options in the squad won't be a lot and is manageable.

I, though, currently don't. I think both are raw and won't provide anywhere near the control we need to be able to dominate in midfield. Therefore, we need a top class, expensive midfielder to play for us to not have to depend on both of them.

I mentioned in the Casemiro thread that I really like Palacios at Levekusen and think he would be a fantastic player to have in midfield alongside either Mainoo or Ugarte.

 

[rimaldo]

As much as I like him, if this is the way he wants to play - sell him to the highest bidder.

agreed. he’s now me least favourite player and i hope amorim never plays him again.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

If you want to get back to winning leagues, you don't sell your best players.

If you want to create some player loyalty, you don;t even consider selling your best players, let alone leak to the press that they can be sold for the right price.

Does anyone think Sir Matt would have stood there in '66 and said, 'well, if the right offer comes, of course we'll sell George'. No. There is a reason for that.

ignoring all sorts of context? Are we debt free? Are we clear of PSR implications?

This wouldn’t have been an issue under SAF since we were winning. Now we have emptied our coffers on trash and are struggling to break even.

 

[MaMa given red]

Could actually be that this is a negotiation tactic.

We are telling Mainoo to either accept our best new contract offer or he'll be sold.

Going forward it does actually make sense to do this rather than letting players dictate massive wages. It's the only way things are ever going to change.

 

[hellhunter]

Could actually be that this is a negotiation tactic.

We are telling Mainoo to either accept our best new contract offer or he'll be sold.

Going forward it does actually make sense to do this rather than letting players dictate massive wages. It's the only way things are ever going to change.

You can't sell a player against his wish

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

As much as I like him, if this is the way he wants to play - sell him to the highest bidder.

It's just a case of his agent trying to get the best possible deal for his client. There's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'd rather Mainoo got a fair pay rise than see Ratcliffe and his cronies penny pinch some more.

 

[McTerminator]

Jamie Jackson.

Let’s be fair here. What SJR is quoted as saying there is perfectly reasonable and something we have been lacking since SAF left.

We ought to be selling players for decent money especially when they get carried away with their own image and/or worth.

We did it with Beckham just fine when we were a well run club.

 

[hellhunter]

Let’s be fair here. What SJR is quoted as saying there is perfectly reasonable and something we have been lacking since SAF left.

We ought to be selling players for decent money especially when they get carried away with their own image and/or worth.

We did it with Beckham just fine when we were a well run club.

Considerably easier to do from a winning position, to be honest

 

[Woodzy]

I feel less comfortable with Ornstein reporting it.

Feels like we are inviting bids but could also be a tactic to get these players to lower their demands and raise their game.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Let’s be fair here. What SJR is quoted as saying there is perfectly reasonable and something we have been lacking since SAF left.

We ought to be selling players for decent money especially when they get carried away with their own image and/or worth.

We did it with Beckham just fine when we were a well run club.

Who are the Scholes/Giggs/Keanes in our current squad who are ready to pick up the pieces if we sell Mainoo this summer?

 

[McTerminator]

It's just a case of his agent trying to get the best possible deal for his client. There's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'd rather Mainoo got a fair pay rise than see Ratcliffe and his cronies penny pinch some more.

Agreed, but a fair pay rise isn’t £200k a week. Id have thought 120k per week is more the level for an intermittent starter at a Champions league club and at present you could debate the last bit.

The greed from the players and the weakness from the club has to stop and just like with the current league position, fixing that after over a decade of failure may be painful.

 

[AndySmith1990]

It's just a case of his agent trying to get the best possible deal for his client. There's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I'd rather Mainoo got a fair pay rise than see Ratcliffe and his cronies penny pinch some more.

What do you consider penny pinching? Because if you mean refusing to pay obscene wages that overrated United players demand, as we have done for the past decade, then I welcome the penny pinching. We sure as feck need it before the club collapses in financial ruin

 

[Kaos]

Considerably easier to do from a winning position, to be honest

Clubs like Brighton and Dortmund do it all the time. Yet they seem to have no issue replenishing the pool of talent with some very good recruitment.

 

[hellhunter]

I feel less comfortable with Ornstein reporting it.

Feels like we are inviting bids but could also be a tactic to get these players to lower their demands and raise their game.

I get where you're coming from, but surely we'd have less public channels if we wanted to invite bids

 

[tomaldinho1]

I get that you're exaggerating a point to make a point, but no one is offering more than 150m for Mainoo, so I understand the poster's point about him being unsellable.

£150m and he's long gone. Love Mainoo but that is a bonkers fee.

The reality is if he/his agent are being unreasonable, the club should look to sell him. I get he seems great but we can't be having someone like that just run down a deal + cause issues (not saying he is going to do that, I think he'll sign) but if a player won't sign you have to sell them.

 

[hellhunter]

Clubs like Brighton and Dortmund do it all the time. Yet they seem to have no issue replenishing the pool of talent with some very good recruitment.

Fair point, but teams regularly winning stuff usually don't

 

[McTerminator]

Who are the Scholes/Giggs/Keanes in our current squad who are ready to pick up the pieces if we sell Mainoo this summer?

They picked up the pieces to win league titles. All we want is a top four finish. Ugarte, Bruno and Amad seem to fit the bill with that in mind.

It’s the rest of the squad we need to improve and if we pay every player in or around the first team £200k per week plus that will never happen again.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

The WB's did not occupy the width by themselves at Sporting and not this weekend either when we seemed to have a better grasp on the system.

A much better grasp, players stayed nearer where Amorim wants them.. Newcastle average positions is a mess.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

What do you consider penny pinching? Because if you mean refusing to pay obscene wages that overrated United players demand, as we have done for the past decade, then I welcome the penny pinching. We sure as feck need it before the club collapses in financial ruin

I'm not saying give him obscene wages. People seem to be worried that we'll make the same mistake with Mainoo that we did when we panicked with Rashford and Casemiro, when in reality he would likely accept a salary which is significantly below (almost half) what the aforementioned, ageing players are earning. The '200k demands', if true, are probably just a negotiation tactic from his agent.

Clubs like Brighton and Dortmund do it all the time. Yet they seem to have no issue replenishing the pool of talent with some very good recruitment.

If we had the proven track record of replenishing talent in the same way they did then I would feel slightly less reluctant to sell our best academy product in well over a decade.

 

[Dan_F]

For me not a single player in this team is unsellable. Mainoo is very good for his age but we've seen this with plenty of kids his age just because he is good now isn't a guarantee he will go on to be world class.

I wouldn't sell him easy but if we were able to rinse Chelsea or any other for big money that could fund a couple of players Amorim wants I'll be all for it.

What’s the point. So we sell him and leave ourselves with Ugarte and no one else in midfield? Casemiro and Eriksen are gone by summer so we’d literally have to spend all of that money on a new midfield, with our recent hit rate on transfers not showing that we’d find anyone better than Mainoo.

 

[AkaAkuma]

I dont think he’s going anywhere and people are getting caught up in a drama.

we’re just seeing another example of Ratcliffes team going over all the details in a business like manner. It feels worrying in the moment, but there decisions generally will benefit us in thr future.
In the case of Mainoo; we dont want to reward him too soon, like Rashford. But if he chooses to stay and perform he will be rewarded. Let him question his ego and also question how important staying in manchester is.
I’d guess the reality is that he’d come around to doing things the honest way rather than jumping over to Chelsea. But if not we pocket 80m and invest it in proven players.

 

[Kaos]

If we had the proven track record of replenishing talent in the same way they did then I would feel slightly less reluctant to sell our best academy product in well over a decade.

I mean you'd hope we'd start to bolster our scouting and recruitment network to mimic theirs. My point is we should shift our model from overpaying for mercenary journeyman and giving players who've not proven anything huge contracts, and instead look to be shrewd like other exemplary clubs where we can easily replenish any player we sell. It's a sensible intermediate step.

 

[Bilbo]

Absolutely bonkers how many posters would countenance selling Mainoo. Not that I believe these stories but still, I really don't understand modern football fans.

Losing a homegrown local lad with his talent, at this stage of his career, would be devastating.

 

[hellhunter]

Absolutely bonkers how many posters would countenance selling Mainoo. Not that I believe these stories but still, I really don't understand modern football fans.

Losing a homegrown local lad with his talent, at this stage of his career, would be devastating.

Couldn't agree more. It would be a devastating moment, a terrible sign of what's to come and the end of us as a club in the upper echelon

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Outrageous if we consider selling him.

 

[MaMa given red]

You can't sell a player against his wish

Of course you can. Chelsea have done it with lots of players.

If you tell a player that they aren't wanted and refuse to play them they will move elsewhere eventually. Unless they are Winston Bogarde.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

I mean you'd hope we'd start to bolster our scouting and recruitment network to mimic theirs. My point is we should shift our model from overpaying for mercenary journeyman and giving players who've not proven anything huge contracts, and instead look to be shrewd like other exemplary clubs where we can easily replenish any player we sell. It's a sensible intermediate step.

Ideally, yes. But a latest example of Ineos' attempts to be shrewd in the transfer market was the Zirkzee signing, so I would need more evidence of our scouting and recruitment being bolsted before I backed them on selling Mainoo. Also, if your 'players who've not proven anything' comment was specifically referring to Mainoo then that is simply not true.

 

[NewGlory]

So if someone randomly offered £20b for Mainoo, you would not entertain it?

We are not talking fairy tales. We are talking about most reliable transfer journalist saying there is real approach from Chelsea being considered