Manchester United ready to back José Mourinho with £100m-plus in January

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Zlatattack

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José Mourinho will be backed in January to strengthen Manchester United if the right deal is possible in what can be a difficult transfer window to find value.

The manager wants a central defender and goalscoring forward after unsuccessfully trying to sign each in the summer.

More than £100m is potentially available. Mourinho was interested in Real Madrid’s Raphaël Varane before the start of the season and United were prepared to pay that level of money for the 25-year-old had the transfer been possible. The same degree of finance remains.

Leicester City’s Harry Maguire and Bayern Munich’s Jérôme Boateng were two other Mourinho targets at centre-back but United declined to pursue them as the board did not believe either was an upgrade.

This caused the manager some disquiet and it is understood he will be supported in the winter window should a player who can improve the squad become available.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ck-jose-mourinho-january-transfer-window-100m
 
Horrified. 3 more nothing signings that will soon be dismissed on here as Woodward's.
 
So it's another "we have the money but need the right targets brief".

If we couldn't buy in the summer, we won't buy in January.
 
VP89 said:
So it's another "we have the money but need the right targets brief".

If we couldn't buy in the summer, we won't buy in January.
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This.
The chance that Inter would sell a player like Skrinnar in January is less than zero.
 
Chairman Steve said:
So where the feck was this level of backing in the summer? :wenger:
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It was there in the summer. Club won’t back buying aging players.

Essentially nothing has changed, so this is either papers rehashing an old story for clicks, or the brass are making it clear to Mourinho he has to change his targets to better reflect the long term values the club desire if he wants the money.
 
Was the case in the summer. Not going to spend 60mil on 30 year olds. Already regretting Matic and Sanchez
 
InfiniteBoredom said:
It was there in the summer. Club won’t back buying aging players.

Essentially nothing has changed, so this is either papers rehashing an old story for clicks, or the brass are making it clear to Mourinho he has to change his targets to better reflect the long term values the club desire if he wants the money.
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And the board are right, we are already looking at replacing Matic, Mata in the very near future, we can't keep on doing this, we need to build a solid core who can go on for 5-6 years then only we can properly rebuild.
 
That will buy us one top player really, with some spare change left for a Dalot type signing. So if we are to assume that will be a CB, do people really think that a new CB will solve our problems?
 
Adisa said:
This.
The chance that Inter would sell a player like Skrinnar in January is less than zero.
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And it was less than zero in the summer too, what else is the board going on do? Manufacture players out of thin air? We'd do well to pick up Alderweireld on the cheap and look at the RW position.
 
VP89 said:
We should buy if they're available in Jan. Which they aren't.
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Hard to say one way or the other. Glad the club is briefing the press that the manager will be backed.
 
Pavard definitely should be possible given where Stuttgart are in the Bundesliga and his fee could help Stuttgart reinforce their team in January as well.
 
Yes, a club with our sort of revenues should never be scrimping on spending. I'd like to see cover for Shaw, a new CB and a midfield playmaker. New deals for MArtial and De Gea as well please.
 
Another point is, what will be challenging for in January? Let's say we have the player in late January, we will definitely be out of the title race by then (I think we already are!), my gut feeling is that we will be out of the CL, and by the time said new player is integrated into the squad and is up to speed, we will probably be out of the race for the top 4. So maybe at best we would be buying him for a Hail Mary in the CL.

Stop throwing fecking money around. Get a DoF soon and give him till the summer to plan our post-Mourinho life (our next coach, targets, and all the other stuff they need to look at)
 
We need to make a big signing in the CB position and if we can do it in January then fantastic. But we do need a dominant player like say a Koulibaly to come in. I personally would also look at De Ligt...
 
Defender from serie A is probably our best guess. Would require crazy money though if we are aiming for the likes of Koulibaly, Skriniar, Romag...
 
Adisa said:
This.
The chance that Inter would sell a player like Skrinnar in January is less than zero.
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I mean I get the point you are making....but I just cant compute a negative percentage chance of obtaining a player! What does that mean....!
 
NinjaFletch said:
Stable door
Horse
Bolted
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Quite and not quite!

A financial injection to get top 4 will be the focus now. That plus it sets us up better for next year.

Also there are signings we might have a chance of now that wouldn't be interested if we are definitely out of CL next year
 
bucky said:
Pavard definitely should be possible given where Stuttgart are in the Bundesliga and his fee could help Stuttgart reinforce their team in January as well.
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I don't really know too much about Pavard. Is he someone that you feel will be a commanding CB for us?
 
AlecHDR said:
Another point is, what will be challenging for in January? Let's say we have the player in late January, we will definitely be out of the title race by then (I think we already are!), my gut feeling is that we will be out of the CL, and by the time said new player is integrated into the squad and is up to speed, we will probably be out of the race for the top 4. So maybe at best we would be buying him for a Hail Mary in the CL.

Stop throwing fecking money around. Get a DoF soon and give him till the summer to plan our post-Mourinho life (our next coach, targets, and all the other stuff they need to look at)
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We're 5 points of 4th at the moment. And that despite our diabolical season so far. We are slowly turning the corner. If we can get in a first choice centre back to stabilise us, it's a no brainer.
 
The caveat is if a player becomes available. I think we shouldn't sign just any CB for the sake of it. The quality we should be targeting is the likes of Koulibaly, and they won't be available that easily.

And for goodness sake, I hope by "goal scoring forward", either a RW or Lukaku replacement (unlikely) is meant. I don't want him dropping Martial when he is gaining steam again.
 
We wont buy anyone. Old players Mourinho wants wont be available for cheap and the younger ones Woodward wants wont be available for cheap. The top class players wont be available anyway.
 
Adnan said:
I don't really know too much about Pavard. Is he someone that you feel will be a commanding CB for us?
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That's a difficult question to be honest. Playing for Stuttgart isn't the same as for United obviously, so it's kind of hard to project what kind of CB he could be for us. Also, he's still young, so immediately stepping in to some kind of leadership role for us might be asking a bit too much.

What speaks for him is that he represents value considering how much clubs want for players like Maguire, Alderweireld, Skriniar and Koulibaly. And like I said unlike those players, United might actually be able to convince Stuttgart to part with him before the summer (if we pay a bit more, which could still be considerably less than what is being touted for Skriniar and Koulibaly), before a club is able to activate his release clause. If you can get a player like Pavard for half of what Skriniar would cost, then it's definitely worth it. He's just as good or better IMO. Another advantage is that he can play as RB, which could help until Dalot and Laird are ready. He definitely has all to the tools to become an excellent CB. He's quite good in the air, good on the ball, an excellent passer and a very good defender (Had a relatively poor game on the weekend though, from what I saw).
 
Given the way Varane embarrassed himself in the Clasico, maybe Woodward is hoping he can finally buy him in January. He seems to be the only defender out there who meets footballing expert Woodward's high standards.
 
AlecHDR said:
That will buy us one top player really, with some spare change left for a Dalot type signing. So if we are to assume that will be a CB, do people really think that a new CB will solve our problems?
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£50mil on and CB and £70mil on a striker won't buy us top level players?
 
AlecHDR said:
That will buy us one top player really, with some spare change left for a Dalot type signing. So if we are to assume that will be a CB, do people really think that a new CB will solve our problems?
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Actually, in this case, yes. While much has been made of our attack, it's really our defensive record that has been the architect of our backward steps from last season. A commanding CB would instill much more confidence in the midfielders and attackers to create chances.
 
If our scouts were any good then they should have identified the next Kante in France, Aguero in Argentina, Sane in Germany and Maguire in England so we can pick them up for under 30 million like so many other clubs do!

Look at Liverpool, they haven't splurged eye watering amounts on Salah, Firminho and Mane yet they have one of the best front threes around! Our scouting of players post SAF has been mediocre at best
 
Thiagoal said:
If our scouts were any good then they should have identified the next Kante in France, Aguero in Argentina, Sane in Germany and Maguire in England so we can pick them up for under 30 million like so many other clubs do!

Look at Liverpool, they haven't splurged eye watering amounts on Salah, Firminho and Mane yet they have one of the best front threes around! Our scouting of players post SAF has been mediocre at best
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We need to sign the next Messi.
 
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