Manchester United transfer news and rumours for summer 2014

Sarni said:
The spirit of Moyes remains, people still think we have an awful, awful terrible team that can't compete because smug Scot has told them so.
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Agree with you to a certain extent, Van Gaal is a massive upgrade on Moyes and he will improve us simply because he is a better manager but I think some people are expecting too much from him, no doubt some players will improve but he can’t turn round the careers of 10-12 players, he can’t stop age catching up with Rooney, RVP & Carrick so we need significant investment over a sustained period of time, let’s not forget that a lot of these players were not performing well enough under SAF as well as during Moyes tenure.

Since we won the league we have gone backwards whilst our opposition have made significant improvements and that is why it will be very difficult to challenge for the title next season without an injection of real quality. Van Gaal has inherited a squad with lots of deadwood, too many number 10’s, a very poor midfield and 3 injury prone cente halves, finishing 4th is a realistic target but it would also be an achievement.
 
Roboc7 said:
Agree with you to a certain extent, Van Gaal is a massive upgrade on Moyes and he will improve us simply because he is a better manager but I think some people are expecting too much from him, no doubt some players will improve but he can’t turn round the careers of 10-12 players, he can’t stop age catching up with Rooney, RVP & Carrick so we need significant investment over a sustained period of time, let’s not forget that a lot of these players were not performing well enough under SAF as well as during Moyes tenure.

Since we won the league we have gone backwards whilst our opposition have made significant improvements and that is why it will be very difficult to challenge for the title next season without an injection of real quality. Van Gaal has inherited a squad with lots of deadwood, too many number 10’s, a very poor midfield and 3 injury prone cente halves, finishing 4th is a realistic target but it would also be an achievement.
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10-12 players?

de Gea
Rafael
Evans
Smalling
Jones
Shaw
Herrera
Carrick
Kagawa
Mata
Januzaj
van Persie
Rooney
Welbeck
Hernandez

Are all very good players who don't look out of place at a team like United. Basically take Cleverley, Fellaini and our wingers away and what you're left with is a very capable team. Replace Cleverley and Fellaini with Carvalho, our wingers with Depay or something and bring a centre half with potentia and we'll be as good team as any.
 
Mali_Zeus said:
We already have Herrera and if we get Vidal somehow that's already a better midfield. Maybe one more CM, CB and a winger and suddenly we have a very good squad.
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Problem? We have not got those players. We are expecting Herrera to walk into the MUFC dressing room and carry the midfield, it's hard to carry a midfield when you have one of cleverly Anderson fletcher fellaini playing along side you. It does not get any better when your wide options are Valencia nani and young.
 
Sarni said:
No, I don't think that a team who was consistently in the title fight for several years improved by two very good players and with a very good manager in charge is capable of finishing above Arsenal who haven't finished higher than 4th in ages. It's certainly completely IMPOSSIBLE that we will finish ahead any of them becasue you say so.

If we get a decent CB and a decent CM our team will be about as good as theirs. If we get a winger on top of that we'll be title challengers, definitely.

de Gea
Rafael new CB Evans/Smalling/Jones Shaw
Herrera new CM
Mata Rooney new winger
van Persie

It'd be a cracking team. CM is the most important, then CB, then winger (we could play Valencia, Kagawa or Januzaj there). If we sign no one then Arsenal are the only team of these three that we could finish above.
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I don't disagree with much of what you are saying. However I still think even with a new CM and CB we are a behind City and Chelsea. A cracking team no doubt about it but I think it will take a little bit of time for us to adapt to LVGs style and philosophy.
That is why I think a title challenger is extremely unlikely this year.

The team that was consistently in title challengers had a back four that included Rio, Vidic and Evra as main stays who are now all gone.
Also SAF as the greatest manager ever, got more out of that team than the sum of their parts, Moyes got way less and LVG will get more than the sum of their parts but not as much as SAF did.
 
Sarni said:
10-12 players?

de Gea
Rafael
Evans
Smalling
Jones
Shaw
Herrera
Carrick
Kagawa
Mata
Januzaj
van Persie
Rooney
Welbeck
Hernandez

Are all very good players who don't look out of place at a team like United. Basically take Cleverley, Fellaini and our wingers away and what you're left with is a very capable team. Replace Cleverley and Fellaini with Carvalho, our wingers with Depay or something and bring a centre half with potentia and we'll be as good team as any.
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I don't think we even need kagwa when we have mata, and I agree take away fletcher Anderson fellaini cleverly Valencia nani and young, it's a very good team, we still need the meat on the bones in midfield.

Our midfield is our cancer, van gaal and Herrera is like our chemotherapy, it's a start, but it's not a guarantee. We need far more treatment, we defiantly have been set back with the Carrick injury
 
Oneunited26 said:
I don't think we even need kagwa when we have mata, and I agree take away fletcher Anderson fellaini cleverly Valencia nani and young, it's a very good team, we still need the meat on the bones in midfield.

Our midfield is our cancer, van gaal and Herrera is like our chemotherapy, it's a start, but it's not a guarantee. We need far more treatment, we defiantly have been set back with the Carrick injury
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It will take more than a year to fix our midfield I think. The way Ferguson neglected it was outrageous IMO.
 
Sarni said:
It will take more than a year to fix our midfield I think. The way Ferguson neglected it was outrageous IMO.
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Premier League titles:
2006–07,2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

The 2011-12 we lost on goal difference and the 2009-10 by 1 pont! I'm not sure if neglect is the right word, or whether he simply knew how to get the best out of them/ the players are underrated. Very close to 7 straight titles is a phenomenon.
 
RedTillI'mDead said:
Premier League titles:
2006–07,2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

The 2011-12 we lost on goal difference and the 2009-10 by 1 pont! I'm not sure if neglect is the right word, or whether he simply knew how to get the best out of them/ the players are underrated. Very close to 7 straight titles is a phenomenon.
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So? That doesn't prove that our midfield was good. Teams with deficiences can still win trophies.

Between 2006 and 2009 we had Scholes and Carrick pulling the string so obviously it was good. Around 2010 Scholes was no longer the top player he used to be and we went worse, with Ronaldo departure. We won 2011 and 2013 titles in spite of our midfield rather than because of it (and it helped in 2013 that Carrick had a monster of a season).

There's absolutely no excuse for not signing any of the handful of top class midfielders who have moved between 2009 when we realistically should have realised we needed to bolster that are and 2013 when Fergie left.
 
Oneunited26 said:
Problem? We have not got those players. We are expecting Herrera to walk into the MUFC dressing room and carry the midfield, it's hard to carry a midfield when you have one of cleverly Anderson fletcher fellaini playing along side you. It does not get any better when your wide options are Valencia nani and young.
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We dont have that players now but it's not exactly 31th of August is it?
 
RedTillI'mDead said:
Premier League titles:
2006–07,2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13

The 2011-12 we lost on goal difference and the 2009-10 by 1 pont! I'm not sure if neglect is the right word, or whether he simply knew how to get the best out of them/ the players are underrated. Very close to 7 straight titles is a phenomenon.
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We won despite the midfield not because of the midfield in the latter years.... Van Gaal should give himself the best chance against city and Chelsea and as of the moment they are far ahead of us.
 
Sarni said:
10-12 players?

de Gea
Rafael
Evans
Smalling
Jones
Shaw
Herrera
Carrick
Kagawa
Mata
Januzaj
van Persie
Rooney
Welbeck
Hernandez

Are all very good players who don't look out of place at a team like United. Basically take Cleverley, Fellaini and our wingers away and what you're left with is a very capable team. Replace Cleverley and Fellaini with Carvalho, our wingers with Depay or something and bring a centre half with potentia and we'll be as good team as any.
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I am sure Van Gaal can get more out of this squad but there are lots of question marks against a number of players not just based on last season:

de Gea - Agree
Rafael - If he can stay fit and rediscover form
Evans - Injury prone
Smalling - Injury prone and yet to show he is good enough to be first choice
Jones - Injury prone and yet to show he is good enough to be first choice
Shaw - Agree
Herrera - Agree
Carrick - Age possibly catching up with him
Kagawa - Yet to hold down a place in team and unlikely to play in best position
Mata - Agree
Januzaj - Agree
van Persie - Injuries are a concern but great if fit
Rooney - Agree
Welbeck - Not convinced
Hernandez - Agree

Add to that the likes of the following, who either are yet to demonstrate they are good enough or have not played well for 2,3,4 seasons:

Anderson
Cleverley
Fellaini
Young
Nani
Valencia

I just think it is a big ask for him to turn all these players around, some will get better, some won’t and Van Gaal no longer has the luxury of being able to turn to the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Scholes etc. We have been in decline for a few years now and it will take time and money to address that as well as working with some of what we already have.
 
Roboc7 said:
I am sure Van Gaal can get more out of this squad but there are lots of question marks against a number of players not just based on last season:

de Gea - Agree
Rafael - If he can stay fit and rediscover form
Evans - Injury prone
Smalling - Injury prone and yet to show he is good enough to be first choice
Jones - Injury prone and yet to show he is good enough to be first choice
Shaw - Agree
Herrera - Agree
Carrick - Age possibly catching up with him
Kagawa - Yet to hold down a place in team and unlikely to play in best position
Mata - Agree
Januzaj - Agree
van Persie - Injuries are a concern but great if fit
Rooney - Agree
Welbeck - Not convinced
Hernandez - Agree

Add to that the likes of the following, who either are yet to demonstrate they are good enough or have not played well for 2,3,4 seasons:

Anderson
Cleverley
Fellaini
Young
Nani
Valencia

I just think it is a big ask for him to turn all these players around, some will get better, some won’t and Van Gaal no longer has the luxury of being able to turn to the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Giggs, Scholes etc. We have been in decline for a few years now and it will take time and money to address that as well as working with some of what we already have.
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I agree
It is a huge ask for LVG this season, you look at the highlights you brought, is it any wonder we finished 7th. There are huge problems that will take 3 years to reshape this squad, even if we rebuild the midfield and defence in the next 2 years, the attack will need rebuilding as rooney and RVP will be 30 and 33. So it may even take 4 years to get this squad right especially if not enough signings are made.

This squad is not going through transition because there is not enough potential in this squad,yes DDG jones smalling shaw herrera janazaj welbeck could improve, but we need more. I think we have seen the best of rafeal carrick fletcher anderson cleverly valencia nani young rooney RVP hernandez. So its not a squad of potiential, unless VG sees some stellar players coming through like keane james powell lingard breaking through. Maybe they will

Overall it makes me even more angrier how fergie left the squad to regress
 
Roboc7 said:
I agree but I can’t see the Glazers agreeing to spend another £80-£120m on the squad after they have shelled out £60m already and £60m odd last season so I think we need to be realistic about the calibre of players who are likely to arrive. The improvement will come from players being better suited to his system rather than being huge upgrades on what we have in terms of ability.
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Well if that is the case, it is just another wasted summer and season, and practically a write off with rooney and RVP another year older. Because fergie left the squad in such dire shape and Moyes made it worse with the fellaini signing. I do not care what anyone says, the midfield options in 2013 of carrick scholes fletcher anderson cleverly giggs valencia nani and young would not get into any of the top sides in Europe, funny enough only our club. But that midfield is so out of its depth at this level, its going to take a huge amount of cash to get this midfield back to the way it was. Adding the brittle physical condition of our defence, and our very once paced attack, its a huge job for van gaal
 
Now with Carrick out for a while and Anderson seemingly already left out and no younger players on the brink of promotion, surely there's not much to evaluate in midfield before buying even if we take LVG's words at face value ?
 
JustAFan said:
Putting on my muppet pessimist hat for the moment, I think we are done for the summer.
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I'm a natural pessimist (realist) myself but there's not a chance we're done. Technically LVG hasn't even brought any of his own players in yet, merely giving the nod of approval to both the Herrerra and Shaw deals.

Defence is a car crash waiting to happen for starters. We've just lost our 2 most experienced centre backs.
 
James Ducker and Neil Custis (and Paul Hetherington) are currently on United in Press atm for anyone interested. I will post anything remotely interesting...
 
Ducker said the most at risk are Nani, Young, Anderson and if we can find a buyer, Fellaini. He reckons there will only be around 4 departures and that the 8-10 reported isn't possible. He also said that LvG will use these few weeks to assess the squad then we will see extreme decisiveness, no indecision, no waiting and seeing.
 
I understand why LvG wants to assess the situation - but the problem is that if we wait 3 weeks, we will start the season looking really thin.

We need at least 1 defender, if not 2 - and one midfielder. And we can't wait until the season starts
 
I can't believe I thought we were going to get Kroos or Fabregas. I always convince myself it's ''our time'' with a big transfer but it never happens.
 
LR7 said:
Ducker said the most at risk are Nani, Young, Anderson and if we can find a buyer, Fellaini. He reckons there will only be around 4 departures and that the 8-10 reported isn't possible. He also said that LvG will use these few weeks to assess the squad then we will see extreme decisiveness, no indecision, no waiting and seeing.
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As long as Fellaini and Young go, that is what matters as far as the transfers out are concerned, not even sure Anderson counts as a story as he's been as good as gone since January.
 
I paused it so I'm a bit late but Ducker said the Vidal saga has taken on a life of its own. He reckons it's similar to the Gaitan saga where it's the selling club briefing about United's supposed interest in the player to try to create a market. He said United have said that they aren't actively pursuing the player but acknowledges that it is hard for the journalists as they get lied to all of the time (seemingly suggesting that there is a slim possibility that United are lying to the journos), but he expressed his own opinion that Vidal to United won't happen (then said he might go on to regret saying that on record).
 
lysglimt said:
I understand why LvG wants to assess the situation - but the problem is that if we wait 3 weeks, we will start the season looking really thin.

We need at least 1 defender, if not 2 - and one midfielder. And we can't wait until the season starts
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The cynic in me says LVG knows he is walking into a new job, new country and most of the supposed victims will have established roots within the club so this ''three or four weeks to assess the squad'' is simply him trying to create a situation where he looks like he is giving everyone a fair chance but I think he already knows or is close to conclusively knowing who he wants gone and who should stay. I think he doesn't want to look like an axe wielding maniac and alienate a lot of people in the club so he will take his time, what he will do is buy first then look to loan out or sell those he'd have flogged . It's just that the players he will buy will be workmen like signings not the ''three big ones'' some feel we ''deserve''.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
I'm a natural pessimist (realist) myself but there's not a chance we're done. Technically LVG hasn't even brought any of his own players in yet, merely giving the nod of approval to both the Herrerra and Shaw deals.

Defence is a car crash waiting to happen for starters. We've just lost our 2 most experienced centre backs.
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We're not done. But I reckon we've seen our biggest summer transfers done by a big margin.

Anyone coming in now will be your Blinds, Vermaelen's and similarly uninspired types.

However, if Van Gaal gets us winning again, that's all that counts.
 
There is no way we can be done until we buy a central defender
We lost Rio and Vidic so I think its necessary to buy at least one
We could really use another CM as well, with maybe a backup LB
I would be very surprised if we were done
There is still plenty of time left in the summer window
 
If it turns out as badly as some of you guys are predicting then we'll be back here in January asking why we persist with such a shit midfield and don't invest some of this mega deal money we are getting into buying two or three top quality players to boost the first 11 instead of all of the "He can do a job" squad player types you feel we are destined to be lumped with, and then act baffled when we lose more ground on not just PL rivals but Real, Bayern, Barca, PSG etc...in Europe.

It's obvious LvG is a good manager but he is not a miracle worker, hell even Wenger has woken up and realized you need to get with the times if you want to have any hope and I am convinced LvG will want 2 or 3 quality signings to get his reign off to a good start, rather than have some ego driven delusion that he can make Celverley and Fellaini top class or that he has healing hands that will make Fletcher and Vermaelen strong regulars for us.
 
There's a rumour buried in one of those links saying we are interested in Griezmann, I think that's a first this summer.
 
IBleedRed said:
There is no way we can be done until we buy a central defender
We lost Rio and Vidic so I think its necessary to buy at least one
We could really use another CM as well, with maybe a backup LB
I would be very surprised if we were done
There is still plenty of time left in the summer window
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To be honest we are far from done. We need in this order in this window:

1 x CB
1 x CM
1 x Winger (not urgent but would be very nice)
1 x back up LB

And next window we will need either a backup or a world class RB depending on Rafael fitness. I would prefer a starter RB because i cant see Rafael staying fit season after season.
 
jaimoe said:
Give it time, give it time.
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There isn't a lot of time, the first league game is 4 weeks today.

If we learned anything from last year it's surely that we can't just throw on any 11 players and expect to win just because we're Manchester United.
 
I thought this summer would be more exiting in terms of transfer activity, but I still hope we sign at least 2 players. To be honest we’ve found ourselves in very difficult position to sign quality players, hopefully we won’t be using this as an excuse to spend big.
 
Way does everyone say we need a back up LB but ignores the fact we have no back up for RB either and if anything Rafael is likely to miss more games than Shaw.
 
Juan't Mata said:
Way does everyone say we need a back up LB but ignores the fact we have no back up for RB either and if anything Rafael is likely to miss more games than Shaw.
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There are holes everywhere in the squad, we are probably short in all 3 positions of the defense, the midfield and the wide area's, that is why its a huge job for LVG
 
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