06-07 & 07-08 were his 2 truly great years here. He half arsed it big time in his final season.
Luckhurst: United prepared to move for a holding midfielder in January
- Thread starter Valar Morghulis
- Start date
But is it cast in stone that it absolutely must be Rice or no one? Looks to me like Ole would rather wait another season, provides him a handy excuse if he doesn't win, for his supposed number one target even if he isn't the best or presents the most valuable option for us. I think Bissouma would have been available if we bid something in the range of £40m and he is a useful player to have as an alternate to one of Fred or McTominay.
I think Ole has become too comfortable and feels like he can waste another season of progression whilst waiting for his favourite, a favourite the club won't afford anyway if we go for Haaland so does it mean we wait for Rice for two seasons? And clubs like City will wait for us whilst we do this one player per window rebuild at a snail's pace?
We need players out and the reason why they are still here is entirely on us-
1. Whoever is the idiot negotiating Lingard's sale and
2. Ole for holding on to James when he had suitors who were willing to spend money on him.
It's moronic for the club to say we couldn't sell players to get a DM in and then persist with a semi retired Matic for a season when we had clubs genuinely interested in Lingard and James and just couldnt lower our valuation or held on to a player clearly out of his depth at the level we are operating at or aspire to reach. Failing to sign a DM because we held on to James and Lingard would be idiotic to say the least.
Problem with the bolded is that because we are as you say the most financially stable club in the world we cannot get that deal. If we call Brighton the price will be 80M and they will want it all up front, just look at the deal to bring Maguire from Leicester. The PL is a cash cow and none of those clubs need to sell to balance the books, you need to look overseas to find leverage like that and of course Brexit has made it far harder to do that.
I think it depends on what you are expecting this season. Early days, but I don't think we can compete with City or Chelsea for the league title. If we want to win something, a midfield starter would help a lot.
If we are happy to write off yet another season as just for transition, then yes, we have a good team. Next season, Pogba is leaving, Cavani would be too old and we need to buy a midfielder. That's not happening.
I’m not sure that that is all entirely true but I see your point.
I think Neves might be doable. It was reported that in that case we had agreed the outline of a deal with Wolves and it was really only a matter of whether we wanted to take the plunge which is where the dependent on outgoing sales part comes in. A figure of 35m was being quoted, I do think we should be able to stretch to that even if we have to wait til January to sell anyone. Hopefully the rumors from this morning that Jesse to West Ham is likely turn out to be true.
We can definitely afford to spend 40m euro on a midfielder though haha
Unlikely unless things fall our way. If Ronaldo goes to City, then it's hard to see anyone beating them out, a mix of Pep and Ronaldo. It's funny as I think we'll have improved massively but as of now would put us at 4th favourites. More likely a cup win though and we really need one.
It gets to a point where the difference between the top clubs is less about player personnel and more about the coaching, and I think we're pretty much there. Ole has done great and I don't want him gone or anything, but I also think City/Liverpool/Chelsea have 3 fantastic coaches, the 2 best of the past decade and Tuchel being a very good tactician showing his impact instantly too, while Ole is merely "decent", but not necessarily providing a huge plus on his own but not dragging us down either. We need a "plus" coach if we want to win the title IMO. Yes we need to revamp our midfield group, but it can't be done in one window regardless. Next summer is the next step, where the dream window is Haaland and getting a new midfield 2 after Pogba leaves in all likelihood (and probably VdB as well).
We have a young squad, we'll be up there, and it's continually progressing really well. Just because oil rich teams are able to spend 100m on a squad player and add on Ronaldo, or can add Ramos/Messi/Hakimi/Donnarumma/Wijnaldum in one summer, doesn't mean we now have to risk our future just to keep up with them. We do what we can. Realistically, Sancho and Varane is doing what we can.
Show me the transfer fee that was paid for him then
If we dont do well this season we can kiss our chances of signing Haaland goodbye.
Not getting that CM/CDM has serious implications
What I meant is we could have kept that money back for this summer and bought one
Yeah it really does
I know Ole sees this but I doubt it bothers the Glazers too much. As long as they can withdraw dividends then they have no problem.
Yeah they are only bothered about shirt sellers and nothing else
Our Midfield must have a solid player now, it's not like there isn't anyone available.
Quite astonishing we are neglecting a key position for yet another summer but all down to poor planning last year
Our squad may never be complete at this rate if we postpone getting a DM this summer. Next season if Pogba leaves it means we would now need a DM and CM. Cavani would be off too so we would need a striker. Been a long time we signed three starters in one summer.
Personally I think though you can say our squad is still missing a DM, I think since we started this rebuild with Ole we have spent enough money to have a complete squad by now.
Well yeah they do, partly because Donny hasn't been given a (seemingly) fair run yet. Obviously we don't know the behind-the-scenes - he might not be performing in training to warrant a selection, he might not be gelling well with the team or he might not understand or fit the tactic. Until he's played a bit more I think it's unfair to judge him properly yet.
If Ronaldo goes to City that'll boil a tonne of piss. If he doesn't they may go in for Haaland and if they get him that will also boil a tonne of piss.
Back to the topic. Now that Scott is out I think a DM/CM is a must! That Saul loan looking really f-ing good now tbh...
I love how he plays. This is the striker we should move for since we have Cavani for one more year. still very young and not famous yet. I don't think we can get Haaland with the rumored wage demands. Sesko plays similar to Haaland I think.
We literally bought Sancho with last years money. There’s no reason whatsoever the money isn’t there for a midfielder other than Glazernomics.
Yup I agree with both of you. My point was that this whole transition thing is overrated. We need to win things now, like most big clubs aspire to do. Not at some point in the future.
We should try hard to get a DM and win things this season. If we do that, it would help with getting Haaland, and might even convince Pogba that we are here to win major trophies.
I think your view is fair, but the worry of looping in perpetuity has to be there as servicing one area of the pitch then leaves others thin unless we get a breakout wave of graduates supplementing us in those weak areas.
By this, as an example, say we genuinely put together a package for Haaland, but at the same time lose Pogba; with our outlay per window, the pursuit of a replacement anywhere near Pogba has to be rolled over to the next summer, if not farther, in the meantime, our other players of quality may have their head turned or become disillusioned with the inert state of gaining to lose, or losing to gain (whichever way is still a loop that's practically inescapable), which is a frustrating state to be in, particularly for a fanbase.
What's stuck in the craw for a lot of people is this was a window in which we made ground on City and were ahead of Chelsea, seemingly, only for our work earlier in the window to be top-trumped with us now appearing not to address a serious flaw in our 1st team, whilst those around us are still, even now, strengthening further. So not only have we not closed the gap, we've not even remained equidistant to last season and have instead seen the gap widen.
In terms of organic growth, I can see where you're coming from, but the picture painted in this most inorganic of times is that we're not going to challenge for the title barring a miracle class of unders coming through at the same time, or waiting for Pep to leave or both oil clubs slipping and needing to rebuild at the same time (see Leicester's fortune); I personally feel this is our best chance to give it a go, should we get a proper midfielder in before the window shuts, as next summer so many headaches in the first team will be in need of address.
We’re not signing any more players, are we?
Nope and I doubt we ever were. It's still been a good window for us but dampened by the fact we never got a much needed midfielder and obviously by being completely overshadowed with Chelsea and City's window
Don't think we'll do any further signings. After all signings are done and dusted for all the other teams we'll be left with an underwhelming squad and manager compared to the other teams.
As good as Sancho and Varane are, not signing a midfielder will make us too weak to make any significant challenges. Will probably end up 4th or 5th.
As good as Sancho and Varane are, not signing a midfielder will make us too weak to make any significant challenges. Will probably end up 4th or 5th.
We need a new plan to compete cause we clearly don't have a good one. Chelsea and City have top class managers and money to burn
Liverpool got a top class managers and absolute geniuses on the board who work wonders in the market with making their money stretch.
We got an Ok manager, an incompetent board and an ability to never finish a rebuild. Sometimes you just go to bite the bullet if you want a shot at the big boy trophies.
Where is our Tom Brady?
All the Glazers aim to do is stop the protesets. That's their goal for the season.
Liverpool got a top class managers and absolute geniuses on the board who work wonders in the market with making their money stretch.
We got an Ok manager, an incompetent board and an ability to never finish a rebuild. Sometimes you just go to bite the bullet if you want a shot at the big boy trophies.
Where is our Tom Brady?
All the Glazers aim to do is stop the protesets. That's their goal for the season.
Always has been.
I know but every year the club pretends we got ambitions and well we clearly don't.
Like every year we go into seasons with massive holes in our starting 11.
Liverpool don't do that, City don't, Chelsea don't.
Liverpool are proof it's not even all about money either. A bit of good planning goes a long way.
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There's going to be a ton of activity over the next few days. The dominoes are falling now. United will sell what we need to sell and we'll sign a midfielder. My prediction is the lad from Monaco
Yep, rinse and repeat, it’s almost boring to talk about it but wait for the we’ve spent X amount apologists to chime in.
I can't see anyone breaking into the top four ahead of us, City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
It's also hard to see us finishing much if any higher than 4th though if that's the extent of our business this summer.
No and we never were. Despite what the board fed to the press
Jesus lad, it's not that bad, for Christ sake. I want us to improve midfield, but we will be challenging this year even if we don't.
But look where Pogba is playing right now. He's on the left. A position which Marcus Rashford calls his own. He has, for all intents and purposes, already been replaced with the signings of Bruno (as the #10), Donny (the 8/10) and Sancho (creator from wide positions). The one spot we don't have is the DM, and if Pogba ultimately ends up leaving, then we can use the proceeds from his sale fortifying ourselves in that exact position.
It better not be Saul over Tchouameni or Neves.
I wish I believed this Mr. Baggins, but it seems like every time we sign someone it was in the papers for weeks. There have been a few surprise signings over the years but they seem to be rare. Also we've already been given not so subtle hints from Ole and the press that our summer is over.
Only thing I got out of this thread is Samuel Luckhurst is a massive fraud.
Touchamenni / Bissouma / Carmavinga / Saul / Neves in that order for me, Considering the fact we have players like Hannibal who can play in 8 role when Pogba leaves , we need a proper DM