Kostas Manolas

Even if Jose is after another CB, I think it would be someone with a different playing style than what Baily and Smalling already offer.
From the very little I know of Baily, he is kind of the same mould as Manolas;big, strong, loves a tackle, and quick.

I have this feeling Mourinho will still demand one of Stones, Marquinhos or Varane and that Baily guy is a sort of a cushion incase those deals and negotiations drag on till the end and we return empty handed. Now that we seem to have got Baily deal completed, it allows us to take our time in negotiations and even abandon the pursuit without pushing the pjanic button.

:lol: Was that deliberate?
 
Dont think it will happen. The rumours completely died down, which doesnt have to mean something. But shortly after we went for Bailly. I would be surprised if we bought another CB for 30-40m pounds.
 
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There was something about Olympiakos being paid 50% of a transfer this summer if Manolas was sold.
We would have to make a dodgy loan/transfer deal instead, which i'm not sure the club would like to do.
 
Strootman has made his full comeback
Is he still alive? SO is this his third comeback in two-three seasons. looks like we dodged a bullet there. He played in Dublin for 70 minutes in a game Ireland dominated last week. Where his opposite number was MOTM, one Harry Arter.

Can anybody say how he has been since coming back? A friendly is not fair to judge the lad on.
 
Smalling is far worse on the ball than everybody makes him out to be.
He's passing percentage is at like 80% I believe probably more. There is a common theme of people here being over dramatic and you'd think he passes at 20% listening to them.
I know most he's passes are to blind, de gea, our cm or our right back but that's all he needs to do really. It's silly to think otherwise
 
Dont think it will happen. The rumours completely died down, which doesnt have to mean something. But shortly after we went for Bailly. I would be surprised if we bought another CB for 30-40m pounds.
Agreed, unless Bailly is going to play fullback.
 
Is he still alive? SO is this his third comeback in two-three seasons. looks like we dodged a bullet there. He played in Dublin for 70 minutes in a game Ireland dominated last week. Where his opposite number was MOTM, one Harry Arter.

Can anybody say how he has been since coming back? A friendly is not fair to judge the lad on.
I haven't seen him play since his return so I can't really comment on whether he's back to the level he was pre-injury. But from what I've read he's recovered pretty well. Saying that before his injury that took him out of the world cup, he was up there with, if not even out performing the likes of Pogba and Vidal in Seria A.
 
He's passing percentage is at like 80% I believe probably more. There is a common theme of people here being over dramatic and you'd think he passes at 20% listening to them.
I know most he's passes are to blind, de gea, our cm or our right back but that's all he needs to do really. It's silly to think otherwise
I really don't think it is. Not if we want to be contending for major trophies.... I really hate this modern obsession with abstract and largely meaningless stats.
Bailly is a better version of Smalling in terms of style. I can see us signing another CB, probably a ball playing CB to partner Bailly in our first choice line up. Blind is not a Mourinho defender by any stretch of the imagination.
 
I really don't think it is. Not if we want to be contending for major trophies....
Bailly is a better version of Smalling in terms of style. I can see us signing another CB, probably a ball playing CB to partner Bailly in our first choice line up.
Agreed with this. Manolas will fit in with Bailly as a CB pair. Bailly/Smalling not so much. Of course there's the possibility of Bailly being played as RB.
 
Agreed with this. Manolas will fit in with Bailly as a CB pair. Bailly/Smalling not so much. Of course there's the possibility of Bailly being played as RB.
Smalling is going nowhere... Silly to even suggest Smalling wont be playing centre back. Was probably the best english center back last season.

With an actual defender partnering him he will be even better too. Jose at the helm will also bring him on.
 
I really don't think it is. Not if we want to be contending for major trophies.... I really hate this modern obsession with abstract and largely meaningless stats.
Bailly is a better version of Smalling in terms of style. I can see us signing another CB, probably a ball playing CB to partner Bailly in our first choice line up. Blind is not a Mourinho defender by any stretch of the imagination.
Yeah I really hope we sign another cb aswell but I personally would prefer a smalling over a blind, mascherano, pique, stones etc.
it's really the central mids job to be the ball player and bring it out from the back
 
Personally, I'm hoping we get Koulibaly who is used to playing on the left side of the central defence pairing, unlike Bailly, Manalos, Marquinhos and arguably Varane. The link to Manolas didn't surprise me given he's not only "big, strong, loves a tackle, and quick" but he dominates his aerial duels (won 76%) whereas Bailly won just 54%.
I guess we'll have to trust Jose's judgment for now. And I hope he gets it right for everyone's sake.
 
I believe (more like hoping) Jose would sign this lad to enhance the defensive lineups. In defensive setups Jose probably would play Manolas and Smalling as CB with Bailly at right back. Depending on teams of course. I rather like supposed Jose's pursuit to improve the spine of the team first.
 
Smalling is going nowhere... Silly to even suggest Smalling wont be playing centre back. Was probably the best english center back last season.

With an actual defender partnering him he will be even better too. Jose at the helm will also bring him on.
We've been linked to a lot of CB's lately, since Jose took over. Bailly, if he's used as CB, looks a lot like Smalling. There's also the option of Jose using him on the right and bringing in another partner for Smalling that is more comfortable on the ball.
 
I believe (more like hoping) Jose would sign this lad to enhance the defensive lineups. In defensive setups Jose probably would play Manolas and Smalling as CB with Bailly at right back. Depending on teams of course. I rather like supposed Jose's pursuit to improve the spine of the team first.

From what I can tell, Bailly has played a total of two matches in the last two years at RB. Maybe he played there as a youth player but I doubt he is at all prepared to play there regularly for a club like Manchester United.
 
We've been linked to a lot of CB's lately, since Jose took over. Bailly, if he's used as CB, looks a lot like Smalling. There's also the option of Jose using him on the right and bringing in another partner for Smalling that is more comfortable on the ball.
We have been linked with every player in every league and nearly every division.
Thats what they do. And the inner muppet in us swallows it hook line and sinker.
We currently have Blind TFM McNair and Mr Glass as back up. So maybe he will look to add. But thats TFM and McNair short on game time = never developing.
By far more important than being comfortable on the ball is being able to defend and not make mistakes. Having a real defender beside Mike will help him improve his own football as his trust in the new defensive structure grows it will allow him more scope to play and not be covering everyone which he always has to because we have no midfield cover and only 1 consistant "Defender" in our back 4.
Kudos to Blind for covering when we had need. But he was only cover and exposed too often.
 
I'd quite like to see Timothy Fosu Mensah, Axel Tuanzebe and Ro Williams get some game time at CB next season, especially Tuanzebe. I was initially hoping we'd take a low risk punt on an attacking right back over a defensive right back, as I quite liked the look of Tyler Reid, particularly in the 2014/15 season and I envisaged him being our defensive right back in the foreseeable future. So, if Bailly is to be used mainly as a CB, and we get Manalos on top of that whilst shipping out Jones and Blind, I for one would be disconcerted. However, if Bailly is predominantly used as a RB, and we just get Manalos as a CB, whilst giving game time to TFM/Tuanzebe/Williams then I would personally be fine with that.
 
Yeah I really hope we sign another cb as well but I personally would prefer a smalling over a blind, mascherano, pique, stones etc. it's really the central mids job to be the ball player and bring it out from the back

We've been linked to a lot of CB's lately, since Jose took over. Bailly, if he's used as CB, looks a lot like Smalling. There's also the option of Jose using him on the right and bringing in another partner for Smalling that is more comfortable on the ball.
Why are so many posetrs assuming that Jose is looking for a ball-playing cb? That is an LVG obsession, but I see no evidence that Jose would prefer a ball-playing cb to one who can actually defend. This is Jose Mourinho, who made the largely immobile John Terry his first choice cb for years, and who won the league two seasons ago playing John Terry and Gary Cahill at centre back!
 
Why are so many posetrs assuming that Jose is looking for a ball-playing cb? That is an LVG obsession, but I see no evidence that Jose would prefer a ball-playing cb to one who can actually defend. This is Jose Mourinho, who made the largely immobile John Terry his first choice cb for years, and who won the league two seasons ago playing John Terry and Gary Cahill at centre back!
Van Gaal hasn't been gone long, we're still traumatised!
 
You mean like paying over the odds for Pjanic but very little for Manolas?
No i think he means loan Manolas where we would be obligated to buy in say 6 months. Olympiacos lose their 50% on any fee for Manolas this summer, so that could perhaps lower the fee that we pay along with increasing the fee Roma get for him. Kind of dishonest tbh and would be the sort of thing Levy would do at Spurs.
 
Why are so many posetrs assuming that Jose is looking for a ball-playing cb? That is an LVG obsession, but I see no evidence that Jose would prefer a ball-playing cb to one who can actually defend. This is Jose Mourinho, who made the largely immobile John Terry his first choice cb for years, and who won the league two seasons ago playing John Terry and Gary Cahill at centre back!

Apart from that partnership he made Ramos CB at Real and had Carvalho to partner Terry originally. He also had Lucio/Samuel as a partnership at Inter with Lucio being the ball playing one. It's not like LvG invented it.
 
He is is a very good player and either him or Laporte (especially ) will be perfect addition to the team.People saying we don't need technical ability in defense most be joking,Smalling is horrendous on the ball especially when pressed and Bailly isn't that great either and then you have same people advocating we play Darmian and Schneiderlin as part of that back 5,we will concede many galls from loosing the ball in our final third or persistently hoof it to The Zlat!
It is imperative we add a ball playing centre half and Laporte would have been the best because of his ability to play on the left and both Smalling and Bailly best on the right.
Am I sounding like LVG?
 
Why are so many posetrs assuming that Jose is looking for a ball-playing cb? That is an LVG obsession, but I see no evidence that Jose would prefer a ball-playing cb to one who can actually defend. This is Jose Mourinho, who made the largely immobile John Terry his first choice cb for years, and who won the league two seasons ago playing John Terry and Gary Cahill at centre back!
Terry is a very good ball playing CB.
 
I'm happy with Bailly, but if he is going to play RB as some people suggest, we should go for a CB like Kostas Manolas.

I hope Arsenal don't sign Manolas, there have been some rumors about it. Also Chelsea is linked with him and Koulibaly. Meanwhile, Stones (and Laporte) could go to City. I can see Varane and Marquinhos staying in their clubs.

Barcelona have been linked lately with Umtiti, Lemos and even Marquinhos. It looks like this summer a lot of CBs are going to change clubs.
 
If we can sell both of them to finance this signing, it would be awesome. Smalling, Manolas, Bailly and Blind is a decent set of centerbacks, and all of them have a lot of potential to improve.


We've got stiff competition, that's the problem - he won't come cheap. Oh and Mourinho doesn't want to keep Blind.
 
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I like Manolas but this strikes me as a case of an agent naming clubs to get an improved contract offer from Roma. I don't think we'd have decided to make a move for him yet if the interest was genuine. At most, Mourinho might have contacted him to suggest we might be interested in the future. That being said, I have my doubts whether there's been any contact from our side.
 
Isn't that Khoulibaly chap considered the better prospect?

Doubt Napoli would want to lose another important player after losing Higuain especially now that they no longer need the financial benefits of selling him.
 
We were interested in Manolas very early before the window opened. There might be some truth in this.