He's coming here then yeah?
Matheus Cunha £62.5m release clause
- Thread starter dinostar77
- Start date
The last 10 years we have been an absolute laughing stock, on our knees, a clown show etc
We've still won more trophies than almost every other team in the country, including a European Cup.
Seeing Newcastle fans ball their eyes out, give out keys to the city and ask for statues for a league Cup win shows how much even much less significant trophies mean.
When, at our absolute worst for decades, we still win more trophies than most teams combined, it's not a stretch to see why someone might believe in a project and buy in to us improving and winning more in the next 3 - 5.
If we are THAT bad then it's crazy that clubs like Wolves, Villa etc even have fans at all....
I hope we can wrap this up soon. So far, the signs are positive from all sides. I hate when there is drama around a transfer.
I'm not sure that would work.
Cunha shines when he is given a free role, not when he is asked to fill a specific role.
Today, we played with a 9 (Strand Larsen), and on paper, two wide 10s. Vitor Pereira's system is very close to Amorim's.
Cunha tends to wander a lot in the wide 10 role. He pops up all over the place.
The other in that position, Marshall Munetsi, is an absolute workhorse and does all the running and dirty work, that allows others to shine. He tends to drop in as a 3rd central midfield player when defending, but leads the press up front too. He covers so much ground, and has been somewhat of an unsung hero of our revival.
I'm not sure having 3 flair players like Cunha, Amad and Cherki would work, even for a side expected to have the ball more than Wolves. There's no balance at all.
Assuming you do sign him, you'd might be better off playing someone like Mainoo as the other wide 10, to cover lots of ground and allow Cunha the freedom he needs to shine.
Good post, but Amad runs and presses non-stop.
I don't know about a lot but every decent team gets counters and transition opportunities, we're just dreadful at taking advantage of them.
The amount of attacks I watch us have where we have space and numbers and I say "any decent side would be scoring from this", and the end result is we don't even get a shot away.
Biggest issue with that is that he, at a big club, is not good enough to play in a «free role» where another 10 have to «facilitate for him».
If that is the case, it will be a bit like bringing in a new Rashford.
Ding ding ding ding
Been linked to Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle. I guess that is within his definition of top clubs in this case.
Great to see we are getting transfer business done so early, but how on earth are we going to afford him when we're skint?
62.5m is obviously within our basic, starting budget.
The knock on effect on other signings regarding the remaining budget, particularly without the boost of CL qualification, is the worry.
Just because we do an early deal doesn't mean we'll have a high net spend by the end of the window.
We're likely able to spend £100M - £150M net this summer, just as we typically do. Lots of fear mongering going on about our finances, but that's the way it looks to me. The operating cash flow for the club is still highly positive; we'd only get near PSR limits when at the £100M+ figure. And I don't buy for a second that we don't have cash/credit lines available.
I'd be surprised if we're much under £100M in net spend in any summer moving forward. That's a very reasonable number for United.
I know, man. Hence the white text.
What white text?
Hearing a Wolves fan on The Overlap talk about how it frustrates their fans seeing Cunha take the piss on social media, instead of only doing his talking on the pitch, makes me realise how tiresome it's going to be hearing all about his cryptic social media posts after every United defeat next season.
Bloody good banter
But are we a top club? Recent we’ve made players worse rather than better
Proper number 10 performance today.
I really like him as a player, hes clearly quality, hes the similar type of player than Bruno is crying out for and it seems like hes interested
However, there are some weak points when we look at what he has done before and I can't think of a great argument for why this one would be different to the mistakes of the past spending huge money on a player who doesnt live up to it. I think there are warning signs for it to be a failure due to his lack of goals previous to these past 2 seasons and its only this season that he would be worth the money Wolves spent on him, let alone more and also with him being 26 by the time he signs.
Despite the signs, if it does work out we have another Bruno... If we're going to overpay for anyone I'd pick Cunha / someone who if it works out we have another Bruno. And it goes without saying that I'd be over the moon to be wrong and for him to be our best player and well worth the £60 million or more than that. Its easy to get over being wrong when thats the result.
However, there are some weak points when we look at what he has done before and I can't think of a great argument for why this one would be different to the mistakes of the past spending huge money on a player who doesnt live up to it. I think there are warning signs for it to be a failure due to his lack of goals previous to these past 2 seasons and its only this season that he would be worth the money Wolves spent on him, let alone more and also with him being 26 by the time he signs.
Despite the signs, if it does work out we have another Bruno... If we're going to overpay for anyone I'd pick Cunha / someone who if it works out we have another Bruno. And it goes without saying that I'd be over the moon to be wrong and for him to be our best player and well worth the £60 million or more than that. Its easy to get over being wrong when thats the result.
I can understand your reservations, but what I will say is that it’s been a long time since we’ve signed a player having a great season in the PL and who seems to be in the ascendancy in their career. I suppose that without shopping in the top bracket at big prices, this is as close as you can get to minimising the potential for it to be a waste of money. The fact he’s doing it in the PL is good and shows he’s got the ability. It’s up to us to bring it out of him here, if we sign him.
Just ignore it. It’ll do you good.
Where did I say United weren't a bigger draw than Wolves? I've already said we are resigned to him leaving, and have been since news of his clause came out.
United may have won some trophies recently, but Cunha wants to win the bigger honours and play in the CL as he has stated publicly. Not saying he wont get that at United eventually, but he has easier routes if he wants it now.
I think a lot of United fans might need to come to terms that there are several other clubs that are now a bigger a draw than United.
Lets not be silly here. Realistically lets look at his options. Outside of England who can afford him? PSG, Bayern, Real and Atletico. None of them need Cunha, one of them already sold Cunha.
Inside of England who has a realistic chance of winning a trophy.. City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle, thats it.
Newcastle, Arsenal and Chelsea wont be spending 62 million on a player that would be a squad player if he went there. Not a slight on him but they have exceptional players in the positions he could play. I think City are after a KDB type player so doubt they'd be interested.
If United are serious about getting him they'll be getting him without a shadow of a doubt and I dont think the list of admirers is as long as Wolves hope it will be.
All they need is one, since it's a release clause. Not much they can do.
I barely use social media but annoyingly I still hear a lot about footballer's posts. You'd have to have been living under a rock to not have seen Onana's tweet about Matic. It just puts unnecessary added pressure on the team when they have players who take the piss on social media.
Yeah I get you. Maybe I’m just getting old and fed up, but I find it quite easy to just pretend it’s not there these days and just watch football without worrying about all of the media bollox. It makes it a lot easier.
Don't know if you noticed but we're skint
Why would Wolves want a long list of admirers? He has a set minimum fee, so there wont be a bidding war. The only beneficiary of that will be Cunha, hence why I think its his advisors who have been leaking the United links.
Agree with you that it is United that needs him the most, but it was Arsenal that he nearly joined in January and who have been linked with him since last year. If the fee can be paid in instalments, I expect Liverpool and Chelsea to perhaps get involved. I cant see him wanting to join Newcastle, Forest or Villa.
He has previously said his biggest career regret was not making the last WC squad with Brazil as he was out of the picture at Atleti. Playing for one of the truly big clubs (including United) will be forefront in his mind as that would get him in the Brazil side, but he also wants CL football.
Interesting link out, thank you! The conclusion seems to be - high variance player .. at least when it comes to goal scoring and if the variance doesn't work out in his favor, he'll look a bit shit. It goes into some other claims that basically say "a scorer of great goals, not a great goal scorer"
I'm not really buying it -- too many confounding factors and very little out there in terms of player comparison. It's true that he overperformed his xG significantly this season - took a ton of shots and many went in and on a different season they might not actually go in and he'd be having a 8G / 7A in 28G - which is .. fine I think? Given the context around Wolves this season.
15 returns in 28 is still quite good and it misses all of the other stuff he brings on to the table like his ball carrying (world class by any measure and a consistent feature of his game for the past several years).
I can understand concerns that a player may be a one season wonder.
But worrying he's a two season wonder seems a tad paranoid.
I just saw him totally control the game for Wolves tonight on MOTD.
Very Bruno Fernandez. Here is his career disciplinary record.
Here is Bruno's
Not massively different, maybe I was over-reacting before.
Based on his performance today he would have be our best player / equal with Bruno.
Buy him. He looks like a great upgrade on whomever he will replace.
Very Bruno Fernandez. Here is his career disciplinary record.
Here is Bruno's
Not massively different, maybe I was over-reacting before.
Based on his performance today he would have be our best player / equal with Bruno.
Buy him. He looks like a great upgrade on whomever he will replace.
Last edited:
The way some talk about him you'd think he was a psychopath that is trying to kill every time he steps on the pitch.
If it's killing off a game then I'm all for it.
But he isnt? As I said, I really like him, but even for the £42.877 million that Wolves paid for him 12 league goals and 7 assists in 29 starts isnt amazing.
Its just this season with 15 goals and 6 assists in 26 starts that he's looking like he should be an expensive player. And thats why hes been linked with clubs this season but not last summer.
So yes especially when the price is now going up to £62.5 million for the release clause its just this season that you could make an argument that he might be worth that kind of money. It would have been lunacy last summer
I think I'd prefer Eze but he most likely wouldn't be remotely affordable. Happy enough with Cunha.
Probably could afford both if we won Europa, then again there are other areas which need addressing first
Top performance. I have my reservations, but he is the best we have been linked to, and he takes up the right positions for our formation.