I wouldn't look into it too much. He doesn't actually say he will stay at Southampton. He just says that he will focus on the last two league games and will see what happens then. Standard enough comments from a player being linked with a move away. I'm pretty sure De Gea said something similar just before we signed him.
Luke Shaw | Deal done! Almost...
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I wouldn't look into it too much. He doesn't actually say he will stay at Southampton. He just says that he will focus on the last two league games and will see what happens then. Standard enough comments from a player being linked with a move away. I'm pretty sure De Gea said something similar just before we signed him.
Hardly comments to be concerned about, are they?
Doesn't worry me to much at this stage. He hasn't dismissed anything.
He wont come out and say he wants to leave, especially right now
He wont come out and say he wants to leave, especially right now
Nothing to worry about, standard quotes from any player who might be leaving in the summer.
Yep, he's saying what you'd expect him to but he's leaving for sure
People's reactions to quotes always amuse me.
"Well..."
Shit he's staying, pass the razor blade!
It's as if we've never seen a transfer in our lives. Every time. A weak-ass denial, vague non-committal statement, refusing to be drawn, et al
"Damn, it's off!"
"Well..."
Shit he's staying, pass the razor blade!
It's as if we've never seen a transfer in our lives. Every time. A weak-ass denial, vague non-committal statement, refusing to be drawn, et al
"Damn, it's off!"
Also amusing is how a thread as reached 36 pages based on a rumour.
It's the transfer forum
If you watch the video he was directly asked about United. His response hardly rules it out. Positive quotes, if anything.
That's exactly what you would say if you were in the middle of negotiations.
Unless we make other additions, which isn't improbable, we've potentially got a very young defence next year. This pleases me.
Sorry, let me consult my world wide next work of scouts.....as Fergie did when we scouted Evra.
He only needed to ask the French ones to be fair
Please stay.
Why do you want him to stay?
First, IMO Not sure anyone's going to pay 50m for a FB. Dont agree, historically we've scouted across the world and done very well without paying ridiculous amounts of money e.g. Hernandez for us. Man City paid 24m for Yaya only 4 years ago. Its not just about writing blank cheques every time you want a player.
Not more recently than that. Obviously I'm talking about a very recent phenomenon - it jumped with City but recently with the possibility of the money-clubs competing with each other for these signings thanks to the emergence of PSG, Monaco etc, it's taken a serious hike. We had to pay inflated prices for Young (Young!), for Jones, for Zaha... our interest in a player of any quality or potential gives the seller more than enough basis to hike their price. There's simply no way around it.
I'm not saying we should throw the chequebook at every problem. Personally I'm not buying into this 'we have to buy six players this summer' nonsense: I think we need three - a LB and two CMs. But our squad is more than big enough, and we already have young potential. What we need is an instant upgrade to the first team in those three positions, and I'm afraid if you want to do that, you have to pay through the nose. So why shouldn't we? God knows we're making enough money these days.
And obviously no-one's going to pay £50m for a full-back, because no-one would ever try and buy Lahm. But if you wanted to and he was for sale, that would be his going price. It's ridiculous to suggest that full-back is some kind of cheap after-thought of a position full of 'failed wingers and centre-backs', or whatever it was.
Not sure saying a player isnt worth 30m warrants that kind of response. Not sure the idea of scouting talent does either. I think in 40 years of being involved and watching football I know how scouting systems work. Best players are subjective. How much a players worth is subjective too. I'm simply saying a player thats never been tested at the highest level, 1 England cap and plays his football at Southampton where the expectation and pressure each week is lesser so than the big clubs, IMO isnt worth 30m. It represents a massive gamble financially for an unproven player.
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Failed wingers comment was tongue n' cheek but true mostly. Thats why so many of them aren't natural defenders IMO. Whats interesting is only the English clubs are playing the inflated prices for English players. If Shaw is as good as people say, I'd expect the teams who have blank cheque books to be competing with signing him? Utd have probably paid the most premium transfers collectively for English players so we are always going to be linked with good young talent, I'm not naive to that. I just think what it would create is a unwanted precedence which could cause you problems with future transfer targets.
The Alba argument, there is always a number of variables to transfers that go for and against you. Excuse the pun but market forces determine that. Like I said all transfers values are subjective.
Obviously. Why did you think it was, because of the supreme quality of English players?! It's not inflated prices for English players, it's inflated prices for players from the team's home nation. Same reason German teams especially value their German players, Spanish teams their Spanish players, Greek teams their Greek players etc etc etc.
English teams want English players because they're: 1) Proven in the English league. 2) Won't have to acclimatise to living in a foreign country. 3) Speak the language (Rooney being the notable exception). 4) Give the team more of a 'local' identity. Etc Etc.
de Gea said the exact same thing before he joined.
Exactly. And in this case, they were dictated by the fact that Valencia couldn't keep him and he only wanted to go to Barcelona. No choice for Valencia but to accept a low offer.
Which still means that you can only use the Alba example if you expect Shaw to demand to leave Southampton, claim that United is the only team for him, and reveal that he was actually trained at the United academy.
There is no question that paying 30 Mil. pound or around 35 Mil. € for a promising FB with one strong season on the national stage is a overheated price in the normal market, but there are a couple of things that inflate Shaw´s price greatly. Shaw is British, which makes him nearly by default overhyped by the media and adds an additional 10-15 Mil. € to the price tag in comparision to continental players. The problem is that the number of top class talents is clearly higher in Germany, Spain or other European nations compared to Great Britain.
Then there is the point about the roles of FBs in most modern systems. Their roles has significantly gained importance over the last decade or so, because there are the source of width in most systems. The directions of most modern systems towards high mobility and interchanging of offensive midfielders and a lone natural striker made the FBs roles more demanding in the offensive department, because they are asked to take over large portions of the tasks what classic winger did. I could argue that no other position needs to strike such a balance between offense and defense. Fullbacks are not just defenders anymore.
In difference to the importance of Fullbacks to the modern game there is a clear lack top rated talents and players on the market in terms of numbers, because there are not many of them who were brought up as such from the youth level. It will still take several years before that happens. Luke Shaw is actually a natural LB and not one who was transformed into one out of necessity. This makes him quite rare right now.
There is a reason, why for example a club like Borussia Dortmund with their pull on the talent market had to build three of their four Fullbacks out of former clear offensive players themselves. It is not because they were not good enough in their former positions, but they had skills that made them usuable for much more needed positions. There are tons of offensive midfielders or striker on the market, but only a few qualify for being used as Fullbacks.
That's how every potential transfer starts, no?
I think with Shaw its more just than a rumor. I think two teams are ahead of the rest of the pack in terms of getting his signature. One of them is us and the other is Chelsea.
he apparently is waiting to see who the next manager is before he finalizes....
That is the most ridiculous thing I've read since coming to the mains. Local identity? WHAT!!!!!
Using your logic then, the German and Spanish teams would pay more for their own German and Spanish player than say a English team WHAT!!!!
They would have if only they not churning out talent after talent.
We paid more because... talented home grown England players is... scarce..
It's only economic supply and demand
Insightful post as always mate. I think buying Shaw is very similar to when we bought Rooney, it's a long term investment.
That isn't what you said. That's a perfectly reasonable opinion. The post I quoted says:
We seem to no longer want to scout players, and think just paying for players that fort the media set the price tag is the option
That's the bit I was replying to and I asked you what that assumption was based on, because I don't think that is the case at all.
At the end of the day any player transfer represents a risk and the club has to trust themselves and the measures in place to make the right decision to mitigate that risk.
The inescapable fact is that as a general rule the best players cost big money. If you repeatedly buy cheaper players, apart from perhaps the odd gem, you end up with a team full of average players.
A signing like this is brave - high stakes and potential high rewards. The club can evidently afford it so I'd rather see him at United than Chelsea or City where given the obvious talent the lad has he'd probably be a first teamer for the next 15 years and earn 100+ caps. Fans would then be moaning about how we missed out on a great talent.
Eh? Shaw is one of the most exciting young players in the world right now, in a position where we are very weak. Why on earth would you not want to sign him?
Kevin is a bit weird. He was delighted last season when we couldn't sign Herrera and Marchisio (possibly Thiago too) and was also delighted when we signed Fellaini (and hoped that we will sign one of Barry/Huddlestone/Parker).
Let me get this right Luke Shaw is in team of the year? What a joke!!!
He's a professor for cluelessness and he won't respond to common sense.
Why? Baines hasn't had a full season and other than Azpilicueta no one else has really stood out. I'd have picked him myself.
Actually not picking Azpilicueta is the farce.
Farce is a bit strong. Decision could have gone either way, I'd probably narrowly give it to Azpilicueta but Shaw really has been fantastic.
The only players I've ever seen Kevin actually attest to wanting were Fellaini (how'd that turn out then Kev?) and Gareth Barry. So go figure.
Azpilicueta has been impressive but hasn't he only been playing left back for half the season?
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