That was posted yesterday i think. Still its the mail and so most probably bullshit. I remember the gundogan and benatia rumours from sky, similarity in so many things. Probably his agent is fishing for offers in England.
Leon Goretzka | Bayern player in the summer
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That was posted yesterday i think. Still its the mail and so most probably bullshit. I remember the gundogan and benatia rumours from sky, similarity in so many things. Probably his agent is fishing for offers in England.
I don't know why people think its bs that we'd be interested in Goretzka. A young German potentially world class CM who is going to be a free agent, who shouldn't be interested? An entirely different matter if he's interested in joining us...
This signing would make too much sense so the club won't do it, the amount we've spent on dross post SAF shows that we aren't the shrewdest club in the tranfser market. The guy is class, and when a player of his age with that kind of quality and potential is available for free you don't pass up on it. People say he's Bayern bound, but if it hasn't already been agreed then I don't see why we have no chance. We could surely blow any financial package they could offer out of the water, as a club our profile is certainly as big if not bigger than Bayern, he'd have the chance to work under a top coach in Mourinho etc. If there's any chance he's attainable you go for it, because if we were to buy a player of similar quality it'd cost us 50m+ in this market. I'd rather get a classy player like Goretzka in for free, and use that 50m to fix other holes in our squad.
We clearly need at least two technical and creative CMs to fix our almost non-existent midfield. One guaranteed starter to partner with Pogba and Matic, and another one to play as backup rotation in case Pogba gets injured or does something stupid. Goretzka is a wonderful choice but unfortunately pragmatic and sensible transfers isn't our thing, we'll waste another window spending 100m on individual "star" players and inflate the wage budget even more.
Besides why would Bayern sign him? Their midfield and its depth is already stacked, it's like saying Real Madrid needs more CMs.
Besides why would Bayern sign him? Their midfield and its depth is already stacked, it's like saying Real Madrid needs more CMs.
Bayern likes its German contingent to grow. He could replace Vidal seamlessly
Good post. Totally agree with you that he would be a perfect signing. If we bought him on the cheap in January he would be eligible for the champions league group stage. We could move on mata or miki or fellanai.Then hopefully get ozil the summer.
Been keeping an extra watch on Goretzka this season with him becoming a free agent. We should do everything we can to try and get him to sign in January. If we wait till the summer, we might be too late. He is exactly what we need to play alongside Matic and move Pogba to the #10 position, or even in a midfield 3. He is a very good passer, mobile and can go box to box. Our midfield with Pogba and Matic is simply not good enough defensively against top teams. We need to better in breaking up attacks and also retaining ball possession.
He and Savic, which one is better?
Free signing. In area in which we desperately need player like him. And again he is free. So no brainer here.
In situation where we will spend big on griezmann or bale plus rose, it is the best solution to cover midfield. I hope that jose/ed think like that.
In situation where we will spend big on griezmann or bale plus rose, it is the best solution to cover midfield. I hope that jose/ed think like that.
We have to Do it like Pep and City. Bayern wanted de bruyne and Sane and Gundogan until City came and threw so much money, they couldnt compete.
I'd take him over Savic tbh.
[In my best Mrs. Merton voice] "Jose, what first attracted you to the 19 foot tall midfielder Leon Goretzka?"
Those guys weren't free agents. Goretzka can choose where he wants to go, Schalke don't play a part in controlling where he can go (unless they decide to sell him in January which is highly unlikely).
We dont.
Mourinho signed Ballack, so this signing sounds believable to me.
Another thing people don't realise when saying "just give them 20m in January" is that what incentive would Goretzka have to give up the huge signing on bonus he'd receive if he signed on a free six months later?
My guess is he'll see out the season with his current team then move on and pocket that 20m as a signing bonus spread over the length of his contract in the summer, and unfortunately not to us.
We do.
So you'd play Matic and Pogba (that's two)?
That's Matic who has fitted in seamlessly, shields the defence and looks controlled on the ball (one of the best sitting MFers in the league) and Pogba, who every week looks more and more like the real deal and one of our few world class players.
But our midfield is almost non-existent?
Can't expect every newbie to have sense.
Probably because I don't watch him enough but I'm not really impressed much by him? Good all round player but nothing special. Too good to be a back up for us, not good enough to elevate us as a starter.
Tweak it slightly and you would get something that would work for most of them if not all:
Martial Lukaku
Ozil
Pogba Goretzka
Matic
Ozil
Pogba Goretzka
Matic
Matic is not a chance creator, so that's actually one. Pogba needs another creative CM to partner up with in a 3 man midfield (with one functioning as a CAM), a formation Mourinho chooses in tough games. It's also about preparing for injuries and suspensions situations in relations to Pogba, which is where a 2nd or 3rd signing would be useful for. Also need a signing that'll replace Matic in the future, which is something we might need in less than two seasons.
Considering it gets dominated in almost every single game, yes.
You're right, the "gets dominated by even Benfica's, Basel's, Hudderfield's, Brighton, and other lower tier teams midfields" midfield clearly needs no sorting out.
Hardly dominated our midfield but we sit deeper and invite them to attack whilst waiting for a counter-attacking opportunity. in Basel games, we dominated the midfield with 70% possession in the first half because we don't have a goal yet, if we have a goal, we will not commit more players to attack. We also dominated the Chelsea for first 30 minutes. Jose is a pragmatic coach, he like set up a team to be counter-attacking instead of possession, unlike City that has 60-70% possession because they pass a lot and keep the ball.
You picked a terrible example. The Basel match was a prime example of "possession but incapable of creating attacking chances", and yet you mocked that very idea by claiming that's Pep's strategy.
I don’t see how you can argue that our midfield gets dominated in almost every single game, I just simply don’t see it. I hate to bring it up, but in this case we are second with also the second most amount of goals scored in the league - this would be an incredible feat for a team dominated almost every single game.
In even the games you listed, I genuinely don’t understand how you could argue our midfield got dominated by Huddersfield’s for example, nevermind Benfica’s or these other lower tier teams (who exactly?). Even then, for most of your examples our main cm was out injured so it becomes a matter of depth and not being non-existent/absolutely needing sorting out (which implies our preferred options are a mess/always ineffectual, and I acknowledge we should always strive to improve) .
To make it clear I’m all for the signing of Goretska.
I don't see how you could argue otherwise.
I picked Basel games as examples because that's how Jose set up tactically different from all other game that we didn't dominate with 70% possession, it has worked because we didn't sit back or hoof balls. Claiming that our midfield is no existent is really stupid and you know. I wish more people like you need to understand how Jose want to set team tactically, If we don't want to dominate possession, it is called counter attacking which we did in second half of the Basel games, to let them play and attack us and caught them off guard by counter-attacking. in the first half of Basel games, our expected goal is 4+ and created a lot of chances but it's not counter-attacking because we attack them at the first and they were waiting for counter-attacking opportunity. Like I said Jose is a pragmatic coach that'll set team tactically different from other opponents whoever he faces. Jose is not obsessed with possession, he is a pragmatic coach, sometimes he likes to park the bus, sometimes he likes to go out all attacking, sometimes he like counter attacking, sometimes he like play possession games, it depends on opponents whoever he faces. if you don't want opponents to dominate our midfield with over 60% possession or so, you'd tell Jose to change his tactical but getting more midfielders to stop it from being dominated won't solving the problem you claimed cos it is tactical how he wants to set up
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Looks like a midly smaller but more mobile version of Matic.
Amen brother!
You do know that SAF barely ever made signings from the German league don't you? That he went on spending 28m on JSV despite having Scholes in CM and that he completely ignored weak departments for years (CB between Stam to Rio era and CM in his last years)?. I fully agree with us buying Leon as he's a great player. However lets not portray SAF as fool proof as he wasn't especially in his last years were most of his signings were meah
Even Shirikwata FC fans from the Haiti Football Division 5 would say that. It's easier said than done btw.
He's absolutely class and would be a great addition to pretty much every team in Europe, but I'm quite sure he's Barça bound. And if not, then it's Bayern. Seems unlikely we even seriously fight for him.
This guy scores goals and is much better going forward.. could be the next Ballack.
Goretzka on his future as per MEN-
I don't think Goretzka would be a good fit, not as part of the starting XI atleast. He's an all-round player but doesn't posses exceptional abilities in any one facet of the game, a typical old fashioned Box-to-Box player; who have gone out of style lately. Pogba right now is our most important player and anyone we buy/sell in midfield should be made to get the best out of him and I don't think Goretzka is the right player for that. I think he can replace Herrera as a squad player if he does come.
Pogba's weakness right now for me is his ability to control the game, especially against the better teams in Europe and internationally. He has all the skill and creativity in the world but being able to control a game is a separate ability, which I don't think he possess as of yet. Therefore I feel we need to sign someone with who can control that midfield and allow Pogba to use that creativity and skill upfront, you can compare it to having an Alonso to allow Pogba to become a Gerrard (in terms of tactics).
Staying within Germany, I'd look to someone like Weigl who can fulfill that role. Maybe he's a bit too defensive at the moment but his ball retention and distributing abilities were ever improving under Tuchel (Bosz has left him much too exposed defensively this season). Having a midfield of Weigl-Matic-Pogba would be fantastic for the bigger matches, it'l provide control and creativity; for matches against lesser opponents we can opt for either of Weigl/Matic and play with a CAM.
All in all, given he is free and hugely talented, it'd be a very risk free bet but it wouldn't completely solve our problems. We'd still need another midfielder with the attributes of a peak Carrick to get the best out of Pogba. Goretzka would be great for Bayern though, slot right into the Vidal role.
Pogba's weakness right now for me is his ability to control the game, especially against the better teams in Europe and internationally. He has all the skill and creativity in the world but being able to control a game is a separate ability, which I don't think he possess as of yet. Therefore I feel we need to sign someone with who can control that midfield and allow Pogba to use that creativity and skill upfront, you can compare it to having an Alonso to allow Pogba to become a Gerrard (in terms of tactics).
Staying within Germany, I'd look to someone like Weigl who can fulfill that role. Maybe he's a bit too defensive at the moment but his ball retention and distributing abilities were ever improving under Tuchel (Bosz has left him much too exposed defensively this season). Having a midfield of Weigl-Matic-Pogba would be fantastic for the bigger matches, it'l provide control and creativity; for matches against lesser opponents we can opt for either of Weigl/Matic and play with a CAM.
All in all, given he is free and hugely talented, it'd be a very risk free bet but it wouldn't completely solve our problems. We'd still need another midfielder with the attributes of a peak Carrick to get the best out of Pogba. Goretzka would be great for Bayern though, slot right into the Vidal role.
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Well that's some way to introduce yourself to the Caf. Good post(I know nothing about Goretzka so it's good to get some opinions about him)
Yep I agree we eventually need two but Ozil could be one and he’s also a potential free. I can’t comment much in this thread as not seen this kid other than one or two YouTube videos but would love a fully fit Weigl at OT in an United shirt.
From his highlights he has some Ballack in him. Still young, so he'll naturally improve. Looks to have a great shot on him.
For the short term to partner Pogba, I'd choose Özil, but imagine if we had two great cm players going forward with Matic behind them.
For the short term to partner Pogba, I'd choose Özil, but imagine if we had two great cm players going forward with Matic behind them.
It's not like Matic is chopped liver. Going off his first 3 games for United.
It wont matter if we are interested as long as Bayern Munich in the mix.
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