I agree with you on this and I think a number of top clubs already avoid dealing with him.
Matthijs De Ligt
- Thread starter Samid
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I agree with you on this and I think a number of top clubs already avoid dealing with him.
There's this guy somewhere with a sick haircut that has been dubbed the British Maldini that We can get for zero transfer fee and here We are hoping for a weak kid who sleeps with his slippers on, who has rejected us in the past. I don't understand this.
maybe it's because as the saying goes: class is permanent, form is temporary. Whether we still need another CB is a different question
Don't think anyone can make firm transfer plans at the moment.
I’m just saying this is the messy world of football. It’s big business. Him saying ‘he wouldn’t bring a player to United’ is just an opinion like Matt Le Tissier saying ‘I wouldn’t sign for United if I were Jack Grealish’. Well, he isn’t, and if Jack and Villa want the deal, he would sign.
We didn’t miss out on Haaland because of Raiola, we missed out on Haaland because of Haaland. Even if it were true, it is further evidence, following Hazard, that it is us who needs to adapt to the realities of the business we are in, not the other way around. If Chelsea and Dortmund were both willing to meet a demand that we were not, then perhaps the demand isn’t as unreasonable as we make out. Ultimately, they get the player, we don’t.
Also, and I think most importantly, is looking at the reasoning behind his comments. He seemingly has no personal beef with United. He is, however, not afraid to say (when asked) that we are not the ideal club for stars to play for at the moment. It’s not a view that he alone holds, and he’s a straight talker. To refuse to do business with people who say we have fallen off is not mature I don’t think. He would do the same if Bayern Munich suddenly became the 5th best team in Germany for a prolonged period. And he wouldn’t be unreasonable. People say he’s so obsessed with money but in reality, we pay better than most. It’s obviously not about that. He wants his players to ideally be on the best platform for themselves I think. He seems to want to have a stable of players at the top of the game playing for the biggest clubs winning the biggest trophies. Any United fan you ask would say the same thing. I agree, other agents would keep their view to themselves, but we are beyond denial of the point that he makes. And so long as it remains a fact, people in the game will continue to say it.
What we should do is be more concerned with becoming one of the top sides again. I doubt these issues would arise if that were the case. He’s a businessman. He isn’t obligated to bow down and kiss the ring of Manchester United. Us pursuing one of his players is not about bowing down to him but a prioritising OG our own interests and what we see necessary to improve our side. That should be the only priority. Any United exec who adopts a policy of flat out refusing to enter into negotiations because they are ‘difficult’ is not fit for the job or the club.
Not to mention the idea of "Player X doing well in League Y, so we should qualify any assessments on Player Z" is one of the dumbest cliches to ever exist.
Respect your opinion, however, I'm going to side with Sir Alex Ferguson on this one.
Imagine literally no clubs even bother to call him back, just put his number on block, he would go out of business overnight. God knows he's leached enough money out of the game already.
It would be like one of the scene's on Extra's with Ricky Gervais meeting his agent and he's literally had no calls or emails with any work for him. Imagine replacing Gervais with Pogba...
Pogba: 'Any offers coming in Mino??'
Mino: Ummm somebody did call, I wrote it down somewhere. WAIT I remember, Manchester secondary schools are interested in hiring you for sports day events...
Pogba: WTF?? I've two mansions, a bugatti and a massive hairdressing bill to pay Mino!!
Mino: OK.... Shall I mark that one down as a maybe?
Pogba: Feck off Mino! Get me a proper contract with a top club, I'm in my prime FFS!!
Mino: OK I do have something else, this is right up your street, Barrett's have called, they want you to star in an advert for Dip-Dabs, perfect opportunity to drop your signature celebration. They need an answer by midday.
Pogba: Just when I think you can't be any more useless... you come out with this?? And TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!!
Mino: Ah shite it's 4pm...
Pogba: FFS!!
That makes me think you would make a good agent yourself.
Only joking, couldn't resist.
Who’s this British maldini?
I agree I think he is a better prospect than De Ligt without even considering the pace which he has and De Ligt doesn't.
Well yes I have a full brain so would negotiate an awesome contract.
I would have life insurance, company car, dental cover and a lifetime supply of noodles and coffee from Ed’s sponsors by the time I left that boardroom!
I’d live like a king
This is one hype I never really understood. Even in his break through season you could clearly see his defensive weaknesses. He would be an okay signing but due to his hype he’ll come at a massive cost and wages which I hope we don’t get involved in.
Yet, our alternatives are a) Lindelöf b) Bailly c) Tuanzebe d) (God forbid) Jones
That said, de Ligt would make our team better compared to what we have now, there is no doubt about that.
Still, we would be better off investing money in Sancho
The assessment on De Ligt has been over his performances in Serie A and many fell for the hype. He has alot to prove. One can't criticize Lindelof for his lack of pace/aerial ability then champion the signing of De Ligt who has similar defeciencies.
You have to look at what we have at CB and buy someone to compliment what we have at the club. And IMO someone like Ibrahima Konate is a superior CB in comparison and would suit us better. But too many people are sleeping on Konate.
Is he that good?? How has he been this season?
He's exceptional. Only CB I've ever seen make Lewandowski look poor and he's only 20. He's been injured since October and was reported to be back in training before the football was postponed.
Relax, mate. The last time you got all this flustered was about Sean Longstaff and his 8 appearances a summer ago.
Mohammed Salisu is a huge prospect, we should take a look at him. We can't continue with someone like Lindelof in there. Salisu reads the game well, he's a monster the air, good on the ball and has decent pace. He's quite unknown too which will make for a cheap transfer.
This boy is a great defender and I can't see Juve selling him. Many of their fans say they see a future captain in him. He had a dodgy start but he's since sorted himself out.
I'm relaxed mate. It's you who is deflecting here and ignoring everything I wrote on the matter.
This every day and therein lies the problem, he bad mouths us publicly and if he’s saying that publicly he could well be saying that privately to his clients, ok fine, let’s not use his clients, if they’re influenced By him and the things he says then they clearly don’t want to play for United and we need to stop going for the players who come here for the dollar rather than the club.
I personally think this is a bit of a convenient excuse we tell ourselves to allow us to focus anger/hatred on a player rather than the club or team as a whole. We are always worried about players not wanting to be here, but where is it that we are proposing their hearts want to be instead? Manchester City? PSG? Juventus? Personally, except the sunshine in Spain - I don’t see why a player wouldn’t, under normal circumstances, be happy to be at United. By United, I mean a United that is one of the top sides.
If in a few years where we are 5th or 6th a player like Bruno wants to leave United, I think it will be unfair to paint him as some sort of mercenary who just wants money. We pay as well as any team. If a player like Sancho or whoever chose Liverpool or City over us in the summer, we also need to face the reality that it is unlikely to be because these players just dreamt of wearing a Liverpool or City shirt instead of a United one.
Collectively, we need to all take a bit of responsibility for some of these things in the market. I can’t really think of any player in recent years who joined us for money, at least more than any other move he could have made. Sánchez was given a great contract here, yes. But what are we proposing, that his REAL dream was to join Manchester City instead? If he went to City and it worked out better, would it be because he just loves them more? I’m not saying all of these players have an undying love for Manchester United, but I am saying that the players who go and do well at City, Liverpool, PSG, Juventus, Inter etc do not have any greater love for them either. Most players probably don’t care, they want to play ‘at the top of the game’, which will of course include great money, but also competitiveness and exposure. Of late, we haven’t been the happiest place to be at. Players join us and become media targets, clouded by a consensus of underachievement and failure. Before long, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s a place they want to leave. But if they leave and go to Inter it isn’t because it was Inter in their hearts all along.
If we limit our signings to players who simply want to play for United alone, the pool will likely be small, and any players we have who will never think of leaving despite how we are doing are probably the ones who are of no interest to other big clubs.
I just think there’s a bit too much of that ‘player clearly doesn’t want to be at the club’ in the game tbh. All the top players doing well at top clubs over all the years in footy is not because they were at the clubs of their childhood dreams. You sign a top player and pay him well and make him believe in something, he will do his job and play as well as he can for you. There is overwhelming evidence in support of that anyway. If Nedved’s move from Lazio to Juve never happened, I’m sure he would have happily gone and signed for Madrid or United instead and become the same top player if he had joined say Fiorentina or Valencia who we’re about to decline (if my timing is right), he probably would have left after a few years if things didn’t work out.
My point here is more general, not Raiola or Pogba/De Ligt related. Just about the theory of players not wanting to be here. Herrera probably only ‘wants’ to be at Zaragoza. Beyond that, he was doing his job. When it served his career to leave Bilbao it did, and likewise United.
So you’ve been furloughed too?
Playing in premier league alone is a good atteaction add that to being a top side that compete for the biggest trophies and you can easily be the first choice of alot of players.
I've looked at the players we've signed so far and there's a case to be made that we were able to sign them because of the little or no competition we had for their signature.
Maguire - Us and City who found him too expensive
Wan Bissaka - Us and Tottenham who found him too expensive
James - Us and Leeds, a championship side
Ighalo - No one
Bruno - No one
But look at when we've been faced with tough competition for the likes of De Ligt, Halaand Eriksen and probably Jude now. They go elsewhere. Dealing with Raiola aside, I think we would have gotten Haaland in the Ferguson era without the conversation of a release clause. I doubt current Leipzig would be able to compete with old United for the signing of young prospects.
Anyways I'm happy with the signings and I'm still hopeful Sancho comes
That’s were I’m at too. I think he made the wrong choice going to Italy
I mean, there will always be players we don’t get. Without knowing the reasons Haaland went to Dortmund, it’s hard to say for sure, but we also lost out on promising young talent under Fergie.
I just think that on the whole, when you look at all transfers, not just United ones, and then you look at the successful ones, this idea of ‘really wanting to play for the club’ seems a bit romanticised to me. I think the players we have signed have been happy enough to be here that they are able to play well. If things go left, we’re too quick to throw the ‘signing players who don’t want to be here‘ card out. It’s a two way street. They are happy to come, but that isn’t a lifetime pledge. Depends on how things go. There’s little to suggest that Fernandinho just really ‘dreamt’ of playing for City or Salah for Liverpool. Had things gone differently since they joined, I’m sure both would have been happy enough to change clubs. That fact doesn’t mean they should have been avoided, and neither should we be avoiding players that were not born within a mile of Old Trafford. The principles of football apply to us the same as other clubs.
Barcelona wanted him, they wanted to loan him out. They don't really have the available funds as they are preparing to bring Neymar home.
Not trying to enter the discussion but just want to add note.
For Bruno that Spurs wanted him in the summer while I believe Barcelona also interested to sign him in January. Spurs signed Celso & Bruno prefers to play in PL was the reason we won him.
Don't think we ever interested in Eriksen, if we do, pretty sure we are the one who decided to pull off the deal since he would be sold too expensive by Levy (Levy always sell his players more expensive to PL club than outside).
As for Sir Alex. Remember we lost Bale & Hazard on one point.
How come this guy doesn’t get any criticism for underperforming in his first season like Pogba and Pepe? I think hindsight has proven the 85.5m euros paid for him was a waste of money. I’ve already started seeing rumors of a swap with Barcelona for Arthur.
He had to adapt himself to the new environment for a couple months but following that he played great, as for the Arthur swap it is complete bs, how can a sane mind come up with that?
When your team wins, people care a lot less about how you play. The highlights will do. The microanalysis is for underperforming teams.
If Inter Beat Juve to the title for the first time in years, rest assured there will be far more scrutiny into the success of De Ligt’s signing.
Any player who tried to do that would probably surface on some river after disappearing for 3 weeks.
These agents are like the mafia, everything is designed to go through them and they always profit no matter what.
They're probably all involved with drug and people traffic as well.
I wish they were gathered inside a container and dropped in the open sea.