This is what I think is most likely to happen.
Manchester United Sign Anthony Martial!
- Thread starter RonaldoVII
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Rooney being back at the number 10 position isn't limiting the team though ?
Try telling Mad Lucky Louis that.
I'd rather have Herrera (or Mata but then we don't have anyone good enough on the right) there but I doubt Van Gaal agrees.
In the last few years, our best attacking football has come with Rooney and Welbeck in the same team. Martial looks a similar player to Welbeck, so might bring the best out of Rooney. Plus, he might create a bit more space for Depay to exploit. So a front four of Rooney, Martial, Depay and Mata could be great. Time will tell.
Surely, considering he's left-footed, LVG intends to play him as a RW? That is, until he can mature into a striking role.
Hold on, is he left-footed? I watched one video and definitely looked to be favouring the left, but in others he's primarily using his right.
Maybe the video was mirrored...
Hold on, is he left-footed? I watched one video and definitely looked to be favouring the left, but in others he's primarily using his right.
Maybe the video was mirrored...
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Rooney in any position is limiting the team at the moment.
He seems untouchable under Van Gaal though so I guess it's just a question of where he does the least damage.
60 million euros for a 19 year old?????!!!!!!
One: It's a €48m base fee. Two: City just spent €66m on a player only one year older.
Such is the market.
and Martial looks to have very good movement with something fans have been crying out for, PACE. If many want to think he is a younger henry lol. If VG goes with a 2, makes you wonder why didnt VG sign another winger, oh well always next year to sign a winger CB and a GK when VG gets to his third season
This stat about him being the highest scoring teenager....
Impressive but does anyone have an accurate list of attacking players that are teenagers and how many games & goals they have since the start of last season?
Would be interesting to assess the competition - especially if Sterling counts or not.
Impressive but does anyone have an accurate list of attacking players that are teenagers and how many games & goals they have since the start of last season?
Would be interesting to assess the competition - especially if Sterling counts or not.
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This shit is really doing my head. Name one plausible reason why Van Gaal is persisting with Rooney if he's not happy with what he's doing on the pitch? (or in training, whatever)
Unless I'm very much mistaken, Van Gaal has a reputation for being absolutely ruthless and has no hesitation falling out with players (or club owners) if he thinks they're detrimental to his team. Feck it, he's already cast aside RvP. The player he is most likely to have an irrational attachment to, being both Dutch and a player he's previously managed. This idea that he's completely blind to Rooney's flaws and biased to the extent that he's unwilling or unable to have an informed opinion on his contributions so far blows my mind. WHY is Van Gaal giving Rooney preferential treatment he's never given star players before, either at previous clubs or at United? Can someone please answer this question?
If not, it's safe to assume that he won't hesitate to drop Rooney as and when he feels his presence is no longer a benefit to the team. Which is as it should be.
Hopefully, what worries is that Rooney looks a third of that great player he was from a fitness, strength and speed level.
Name one plausible reason why he should be happy with Rooney's performances(apart from the usual shit that you will always praise him for, running, pressing etc.).
If he is happy with Rooney's performances since start of the season then that alone is enough to sack him because quite obviously that would make him the biggest idiot at the club.
I've been thinking about Rooney playing in #10 role again. Nearing 30 maybe he doesn't have the legs to do the job Van Gaal wants from a central striker. Wilson/Martial might be able to do it, at least the running part! I really do hope Wilson doesn't go out on loan and stays.
Also, unrelated to this quote.
Can we play put the price of Martial on the announcement. If I have to read "OMG he cost £80m or €80m once more I might combust.
Wilson said that he would like to be given a chance on the wing, a position he is familiar with. So he might have a chance at some point to play there.
I don't understand this either. I actually see Rooney as the final hurdle to us becoming a real top team again. Once we get rid of him, we stop having to try to fit him into whatever formation we want to play. He's not a very good no.9, no.10, nor a winger. He works hard for the team, has the occasional flashes of brilliance, but is really not a shadow of that exciting, instinctive young player he was 7-8 years ago.
And the last thing I'd want now is him messing up the development of Depay and Martial, and impeding Herrera's carreer.
Van Gaal obviously didn't have faith in RVP, Falcao, Januzaj, Wilson or Hernandez so who else is he going to play? The only striker we seemed to genuinely be linked with was Muller and we couldn't get him so we're stuck with Rooney. His performances have not been good enough, any other player on the pitch would have been dropped but there is no one to replace him. Dropping Rooney and playing Fellaini as our sole striker is obviously not a realistic option.
He played on the left wing in a preseason game I think, looked good too.
idk why Van Gaal is so preferential to Rooney. Lots of managers make decisions that I can't understand and don't work for them. Van Gaal has made a whole raft of them already like the 5-3-2 disaster, misuse of Herrera, moving Di Maria away from his best position etc.
Citing RvP as an example of Van Gaal being ruthless is interesting because last season RvP was also terrible and yet we persisted with him as our main centre forward until he got injured. For all we know the same thing could happen with Rooney this season, he will be picked every week regardless of performances and then an injury or suspension will force Van Gaal to pick someone else and Rooney ends up sold next summer.
That is the truth of the situation. Right now, you have to think that Rooney is at least showing form in training. He has often been a slow starter, and I still think he has the ability for us, but I suspect that if he doesn't start showing more soon, Van Gaal will have no hesitation is doing something about it.
Memphis, Martial, Mata as a movable front three with Herrera/Fellaini behind ib the 10 position could be something we see a shift to with Wilson in the mix as well. Not ideal, but I think we have some exciting prospects up front now.
Memphis/Martial/Adnan is something I am really looking forward to over the next three or four years, it could be fantastic.
I wouldn't mind giving Depay a wee break and Wilson a crack at left wing. I think Depay's going to be a star but might be no harm seeing how we do with a really speedy natural left-footer on the wing, to give us a bit more width.
If you want someone on the wings, Pereira is a much better option than Wilson. I can see Memphis and Martial switching roles from left to center and vice versa in games - both have speed and strength.
Presumably because he's his captain and in his words his captain always plays. As we all know Van Gaal is as stubborn as they come and Rooney was the player that he pinned his badge to when he first arrived. He's tried him in several different positions to try and show that he was correct in this regard.
I think it's pretty obvious that he didn't see him as a number 9; so bought Falcao whilst also having RVP. He first tried him as a number 10 which didn't work great and later in midfield where he was very poor; now he's moved him up front (the position he initially didn't feel was his best position). The signing of Martial to be indicates that he isn't happy with how he's performing in that position, so he'll probably try him again in the number 10 position. Eventually he'll probably shunt him out wide to see if he improves and eventually he'll admit defeat.
The one thing that is for certain is that the number of positions he's played indicates that he's proving a real conundrum to Van Gaal. The one thing that no manager does is move players around who are performing excellently.
TL;DR Top managers tend to have huge ego's and will only admit they are wrong when the evidence is overwhelming. It can take years of time and a mountain of evidence to disprove a person like this' opinion. Just look at Fergie with the likes of Berbatov/Anderson (among countless others).
Night and day from the sort of stuff we have to put with in Rooney. Pace, strength, good dribbling and passing? Feck me. Give him the armband.
As everyone knows you can't guarantee anything from a highlight video but if he simply brings the fundamentals that he shows in that video, then he's comfortably a higher threat than anyone else we have bar Depay.
exactly. . honestly he looks better than anything we had or have instantly which says a lot about how much our attack has deteriorated.
It will be the Januzaj / Herrera position. Possibly Rooney could drop to "second striker" with Martial at 9
Very excited about this signing!
I hope we end up paying the full amount including all the add ons
Does he 'dream' of Real, Barca or PSG?
Why would he dream of PSG? lol. Di Maria left because of LVG. If Sir Alex were in charge - maybe even Giggs, he'd still be at the club. If in 10 years he fancies a change? We can sell him, for 120million lol
He's French. He may want to play for the 'best' team closest to home, or his gf's.
He is right footed.
Not to derail the thread, but ADM left because of ADM. He only came to United because of FFP and left as soon as he got the chance. There's no way Fergie would have tolerated that kind of behaviour from a player.
Back on topic, hope that we do eventually pay the 80 million Euros that all our opposition fans seem to want to claim we paid for him. Top scorer four years in a row and World Player of the Year? That'd be worth 80 million
I agree. I think we should also offer an extra 25% bonus to Monaco for letting us have Martial for peanuts.
I can't say he was a dream signing for me a week ago, but I like everything I'm discovering about him so far. Even in his expressions and the way he carries himself he's got "top player" vibe. The truth of it will be on the pitch, and he'll be some time adjusting, but I'm choosing to believe he'll be a success for us ultimately.
Martial 35 games 1830 minutes 9 goals
Mina 20 games 1162 minutes 7 goals
Kamano 24 games 1487 minutes 4 goals
Brandt(winger) 25 games 1120 minutes 4 goals
Rest have less than four. If you include player aged 21 as well, berardi, dybala and vietto did better than him
Looking at his videos it seems he plays best when he has space to run into. I fear our slow tempo will hinder that, we keep the ball well but it lets our opposition shut up shop, that's when we struggle to get space in behind. Hopefully if he's played as a 9 though with his acceleration and energetic movement he will find plenty of spaces behind.
We need creative passing like Herrera to give him the passes, bit worried that Rooney won't be providing this.
We need creative passing like Herrera to give him the passes, bit worried that Rooney won't be providing this.
It's players like this chap and Memphis who should be actually helping with that. Memphis has been given the freedom to run at defenders and get in behind, and the same will happen with this kid. Only issue is that they're both young and it might take them some time to be the game changers that our attack needs.
Let's hope you're wrong. After all, their kids will be growing up in Manchester so gives them a good reason to settle
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