Leny Yoro is the real deal.
The club that is able to hire him will count on a world class CB for one decade at least.
The club that is able to hire him will count on a world class CB for one decade at least.
Leny Yoro | 8pm announcement
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Kinda obvious where he will go. the club you support.
While I won't deny the rumours link us strongly with him, that's what many people said about Neymar, Pogba and Haaland as well.
Experience has taught me to be skeptical and nowadays the talent is more shared among different clubs in Europe.
He'd be mad not to join, the age of the core of the squad thats being built fits in perfectly for him. Biggest and most successful club in world football (i hate writing that), that is run like a well oiled machine. Whats not to like?
But as you said, new money and state sponsored financing has changed the landscape. If i were him, Madrid would be the project i would join.
I’d love to see us rebuild that way, doing a supercharged version of the Dortmund strategy offering young wonder kids a good amount of minutes at a huge club before they’d normally arrive. Sure we might get growing pains to work through but it would be more enjoyable to watch an Uber talented but young squad grow together than letting these no brainer future stars go elsewhere.
When I listed the players we have to build around, you really do feel like the summer should be 2 defenders, 2 deeper midfielders and a striker, and even if we only go 1/2 with the defenders and deeper mids, we should at least be able to field a decent XI with some subs. I'm intrigued by Olise (his first 5 yards carrying the ball look special) but the priority has to be getting Martinez a partner, some kind of left-footed defender, a star DM and some kind of backup for him and Mainoo.
This feels like the Varane saga all over.
We should be pushing to sign this guy, lets not make the same mistake again then buy him in 10 years when Madrid dont want him anymore for 2x what they paid.
Lets see what you're about INEOS.
We should be pushing to sign this guy, lets not make the same mistake again then buy him in 10 years when Madrid dont want him anymore for 2x what they paid.
Lets see what you're about INEOS.
What the saga where we pushed very hard to get him, but ultimately lost out to Real?
We need to be identifying the top 3-4 best under 21 players in the world, for each position, on a rolling basis so it is updated annually. And trying to sign one of them for each position in the team every year. You start with the priority positions, and then once you have a balanced, talented squad, factor succession planning vs availability and opportunity.
Year 1 you get three of the top u21 talents in, in positions you need. Year 2, you get another 2-3 in. Year three on, it’s maybe one or two a year according to age profiles in the squad and the opportunities and pressures in the market.
CBs this summer for example, we need two. Top 3 or 4 under 21 talents? Probably Yoro, Silva, Diomande, and Branthwaite. Given our needs I would happily take two of those. Any two. Some are better than others, but you have to balance budgets, immediate vs long term needs, and their desire to play with you.
Midfield, players like Neves, Doue etc.
I am not talking about taking a punt on young, potentially very good young players. Like Anselimo. I’m talking about top 3-4 in the world, almost sure fire, guaranteed to be top class or world class talents. You pay 80m for a player like Neves, amortise his fee over 5-6 years. He’s on much, much lower wages than Casemiro, and he ends up staying for a decade or more. The per season cost makes it a no brainer.
We have enough experienced first choice players to be able to build almost exclusively around young talent this summer.
As for Yoro, would absolutely love to sign him. But if we ended up with one or two of the other three instead, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all. It’s hard to compete with Real. Of course, if we let him go to Liverpool, when he was completely gettable, then I’d be annoyed.
Year 1 you get three of the top u21 talents in, in positions you need. Year 2, you get another 2-3 in. Year three on, it’s maybe one or two a year according to age profiles in the squad and the opportunities and pressures in the market.
CBs this summer for example, we need two. Top 3 or 4 under 21 talents? Probably Yoro, Silva, Diomande, and Branthwaite. Given our needs I would happily take two of those. Any two. Some are better than others, but you have to balance budgets, immediate vs long term needs, and their desire to play with you.
Midfield, players like Neves, Doue etc.
I am not talking about taking a punt on young, potentially very good young players. Like Anselimo. I’m talking about top 3-4 in the world, almost sure fire, guaranteed to be top class or world class talents. You pay 80m for a player like Neves, amortise his fee over 5-6 years. He’s on much, much lower wages than Casemiro, and he ends up staying for a decade or more. The per season cost makes it a no brainer.
We have enough experienced first choice players to be able to build almost exclusively around young talent this summer.
As for Yoro, would absolutely love to sign him. But if we ended up with one or two of the other three instead, I wouldn’t be disappointed at all. It’s hard to compete with Real. Of course, if we let him go to Liverpool, when he was completely gettable, then I’d be annoyed.
Besides obviously offering a very competitive wage package, we should dangle playing time in front of him. In Madrid he's going to be a role player for a couple of seasons depending on how Militao and Alaba's recoveries from ACL's develop
Brantwaithe a top 3-4 U21 CB talent??
There are at least 10 better talents.Can you please name them?Brantwaithe a top 3-4 U21 CB talent??
My personal opinion, these players have higher ceiling:
- Leny Yoro
- Antonio Silva
- Giorgio Scalvini
- Ousmane Diomande
- Jorrel Hato
- Castello Lukeba
- Pau Cubarsi
- Levi Colwill (if injuries don't destroy his career)
- Lucas Beraldo (much better on the ball)
He probably makes the top 10, as I had thought Calafiori and Gvardiol would be one year younger.
But take aside the British media hype and he is not as talented as many of the named above.
It’s sort of missing the point. There’ll always be some debate. Of the four I mentioned (and of the nine you did), Yoro, Silva and Diomande were already on my list. I also factored in other things such as availability (Cubarsi and Beraldo at PSG and Barcelona aren’t going anywhere), it’s also why I wouldn’t put Bellingham or Endrick on my midfielders/strikers list. Some players are just out of reach. Of the others, Scalvini is a fair shout absolutely, and maybe you extend the list to five, such is the talent available. Of the others, Branthwaite is clearly ahead in terms of either talent or competition readiness. It’s easy to underestimate the value of a full season of PL football at the heart of one of the meanest defenses in the league.
But again, debating names really misses the point. I just mentioned them as an example. Not as a definitive assessment. The actual assessment would be made by people with a lot more know how and specific resources than either of us, or anyone in a football forum. It would be made up by the scouts, data, and recruitment analysts from the club, and curated by the Sporting Director, technical director and head coach. So when I say top 3-4 (or even 5) top u22 talents in the world by position, yes I mean filtered by things such as availability (you aren’t signing a worlds best 20 year old from Real Madrid), and decided on by the club. The list by the club will be curated according to very specific data metrics, and of course have a subjective filter applied to some degree. This includes the desired style of play, which can be fairly important when deciding the top talents in the world for your system. It may give more or less weighting to certain characteristics.
Even within all that critical nuance, there are likely 2-3 names per position that always stand out higher than others.
I’m sorry that the inclusion of Branthwaite got your knickers in a twist, and you really missed the entire point of my post, but I hope that clears it up.
I see now what you mean. I am just very sceptical about Branthwaite since I believe he is massively overrated and I wouldn't get him for the price Everton wants. Also I am disappointed by INEOS if they thought that he should be the no.1 target, because he is British and EPL-proven, over someone like Yoro who is arguably he best talent on his position. If the Toffees are open to sell him for 40m, I have no problems. Anything above that would be no better than the old board.
Maybe he means the saga where we - after just making our third CL final in four years - pushed very hard to get him, but ultimately lose out to Real?
We can push and push but we're not even in the same ballpark with Real for most of these kids coming up right now.
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Not a bad idea in principle but Branthwaite does stick out like a sore thumb there.
I’d broadly agree with you here. I think you need to have a technical level at CB as well as the physical level now to be a truly top prospect.
Brathwaite has the physical.
If Real Madrid want him, he will go to Real Madrid. Same with pretty much any player in history.
Just waiting to see how much Real actually want him. He will sit out his deal if they ask him to. He’s theirs to fumble so taking that into consideration you have to move on but keep an eye on it in case they mess it up or another postion becomes priority for them in the meantime. He’s got the most potential out of all the players mentioned. Varane 2.0
candidly, when it comes to Branthwaite, I am also not sure. I am also not sold on any “buy British” philosophy. But I am also not sold on whether that is actually their philosophy, or it’s just press conjecture. I don’t think anyone from Ineos has said that publicly.
What I do know is that they are putting the right people in charge. Or at least sell to be. O can see the merits of an English team in the top English division, having a core of British players I always felt United had some of, if not the best British and Irish players at the club, but I don’t think it’s anything like a prerequisite for success. And usually works mainly because they are here from a young age and have familiarity. This isn’t 1997 though, and a buy British mentality seems a bit outdated. Premier league proven has its merits, but is also self limiting. So I hope neither of those supposed policies are anything other than press conjecture.
It’s a rubbish policy, and a failed one because even the very best British players STILL want to go to Real Madrid instead anyway. We don’t even get the very best British players, and have barely had any representation in the England first XI for a long time now.
I remember this narrative that Latin players all prefer Madrid, until we went for Gareth Bale, and even he went there ahead of us. Bellingham is the current Real poster boy, and Harry Kane and Declan Rice went elsewhere too. If we continue down this road it will lead to mediocrity very quickly.
Here we go guys new regime but same old United.. these actively monitoring, will lead to 3 months of news for journalists.
He didn’t say monitoring.
Wait the transfer window hasn't started, we will be monitoring him soon.
He’s almost certainly ending up at Madrid with his french mates in the dressing room there. Unless PSG can lure him by stuffing his mouth with gold and selling him their new french youth based project. No other club stands a chance.
I just can't see it. Everything points to him wanting to join Madrid. If they can't get it done this season, I expect he would simply run down his contract and go there on a free next year. Good that we're interested in him, but I doubt it's realistic.
Looks very good.
I'd only say Yoro and Scalvini are clearly better out of those. Silva and Branthwaite would be the next tier imo. I think you're underrating Branthwaite a lot tbh, as the bottom half of the list being starters for us certainly wouldn't make me feel very comfortable.
It would be like signing a young Varane if we could pull this off
A "buy British" policy is equally as stupid as a "he's British so must be overrated" viewpoint, which is prevalent on these boards.
Branthwaite looks a good footballer. A lot of people on here saying don't buy him were saying the same about Rice last year.
Regarding my list, certainly not everyone is as ready as Branthwaite is, because of their respective leagues, age etc. But I was listing the top CB targets which includes their expected ceilings. And imo I think most of the named players have a higher ceiling than Branthwaite, especially because they are much better on the ball. Yes, physically, I would take JB in a hearbeat, but I also need the football skills which he seems to lack from what I have seen so far (not that he is bad at it, just not a future top class CB). I would definitely take the other players on my list long term.
You're right. I'm all for finding hidden gems from South America like Anselmino, or taking cheap punts from within the continent like Malacia or Daniel James, but we also need to be in for the absolute best, more established talents more often, like the ones Madrid and City have signed in recent years. I'm talking about the talent level of Bellingham, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Haaland and Gvardiol. Tchouaméni and Haaland had already turned 22 by the time of signing but you get my point. I feel like we've made some of those signings as well post-Ferguson, but far too few of them. Pogba, Sancho, Hojlund, Shaw and Martial come to mind that IMO fell into this category at the time of signing. Won't mention Bruno as he was already 25 when he joined United.
Yoro is arguably the biggest U21 centre back prospect out there right now, so if we have a chance of getting him, we need to be all over him. Simple as that. Joao Neves is another name you mentioned that I feel like is in that elite bracket, however I have my reservations about signing such a similar profile to Mainoo for what is going to be around a 100m transfer fee.
I wish we were in for Willian Estevao as well. Seems weird to me that all the big clubs just let Chelsea have a free run at him.
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When you say he lacks "the football skills", what do you mean exactly?
Playing for Dyche his opportunity to showcase technique is limited, but he seemed to do OK with PSV before that in a team dominating possession and playing out from the back with a high press. No?
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It’s the muppetiers… the muppetiers…… when will you learn 
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Unfortunately he wasn’t so good for PSV on the ball that you neglect the fact he’s not being asked to do anything remotely resembling our build up play whilst at Everton.
At least with someone like Diomande you know exactly what he’s been drilled to do and it’s clear he’s confident in doing it.
I'll take that for Diomande, but in a Yoro thread - I'd say Branthwaite has shown more on the ball so.far than Yoro. Yoro is great positional, but it's sideways passes.
How much would he cost?
@BerbaclassIt’s the muppetiers… the muppetiers…… when will you learn
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