Nemanja Matic| BBC says deal agreed

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NinjaFletch said:
It's been weird for everyone in that respect though. I genuinely can't think of a single player linked with a move that I'd be genuinely excited about the prospect of us signing with the exception of Greizzman (who even then I had no idea how he was supposed to fit in) and Sanchez.

Beyond that it just seems there is a real lack of quality around and what there is is ridiculously expensive. It says a lot when the big transfer story of the summer is whether some kid no one had heard about a year ago is going to move for over £100m.
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Actually, there's too much quality around - we just don't look at the right players. Naby Keita is 22 and he won't cost more than £40m......why are we not even throwing a bid at him. Keita would run all day for United, he has about 6 lungs but Matic is what we prefer?

Attacking wise - Aubameyang, Lacazette, Timo Werner, etc are all obtainable but we want to spend £80m on Morata. United are fast becoming that rich charming bloke that doesn't attract classy chics.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Actually, there's too much quality around - we just don't look at the right players. Naby Keita is 22 and he won't cost more than £40m......why are we not even throwing a bid at him. Keita would run all day for United, he has about 6 lungs but Matic is what we prefer?

Attacking wise - Aubameyang, Lacazette, Timo Werner, etc are all obtainable but we want to spend £80m on Morata. United are fast becoming that rich charming bloke that doesn't attract classy chics.
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RBL just put an 80 mil price tag on him.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
What an underwhelming signing. Limited ball winner aged 28 for 40 million. Maybe it'll work out superbly and he'll be the rock infront of our back 4 but it seems like such a pointless and uninspiring signing, in how the player doesn't really have anything of note when it comes to quality on the ball.

Jose just seems to love strong, tough and hard working players. Bah, I just don't connect with his ideas on football.
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This is part of it as well, function over flair is not the way I want to see a United team built.
 
ravi2 said:
I still cannot believe we see seriously linked with 2nd rate players like Perisic and matic. I hope this is either a smokescreen or they are the plan B.
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An LB or a 2nd CM (4 is the minimum to play 4-3-3 really, so Pogba, Herrera, Matic and another box to box type with Fellaini paying for half of Matic's fee would be logical business) of their quality, age and overpriced nature would be fine, since either they´d be solid or Shaw would win the job, but I agree that the attacker and CM we need to sign should have the potential to be stars.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Actually, there's too much quality around - we just don't look at the right players. Naby Keita is 22 and he won't cost more than £40m......why are we not even throwing a bid at him. Keita would run all day for United, he has about 6 lungs but Matic is what we prefer?

Attacking wise - Aubameyang, Lacazette, Timo Werner, etc are all obtainable but we want to spend £80m on Morata. United are fast becoming that rich charming bloke that doesn't attract classy chics.
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See that's exactly what I mean. Keita has been quoted at double that price and has had one good season. He may well be a good player and go to be a great signing, but it's definitely not a sign of an abundance of quality that that's the best example you can come up with.

Aubameyang is the most exciting on the list, but even then it summons up a yawn from me. He's in the category of players I don't want to see sign for our rivals but that I'm not convinced would be worth the money for us.

Maybe I'm just jaded by our recent experiences with big money signings.
 
NinjaFletch said:
It's been weird for everyone in that respect though. I genuinely can't think of a single player linked with a move that I'd be genuinely excited about the prospect of us signing with the exception of Greizzman (who even then I had no idea how he was supposed to fit in) and Sanchez.

Beyond that it just seems there is a real lack of quality around and what there is is ridiculously expensive. It says a lot when the big transfer story of the summer is whether some kid no one had heard about a year ago is going to move for over £100m.
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I don't disagree and I do think if we had got Griezmann in early doors (as intended) this type of signing would have been more accepted - though I would have personally been more intrigued to see Bakayoko, which makes this potential transfer even more frustrating.

What worries me the most is going forward (last season) we lacked star quality, yet have only been linked with Morata and Persic. Yes, Morata might be decent, but let's be honest he isn't good enough for Real. Persic, is just completely meh for me, would have preferred Douglas Costa or Lucas Moura, bit more of a risk, but potentially more exciting (see Mane and Coutinho).

I'm all for not chasing the 'pipe dream' players, but, we bought the most sought after player on the planet last season, without CL!

At this point, I would be more excited to bring in Ross Barkley.
 
SammyUnited_83 said:
The problem is, when we qualified for the CL we all expected better than this.

Matic, Persic and to some extent Morata, hardly an exciting trio. Saying all that, the stellar names we had bought, up until last year were all shite.
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Qualifying for the Champions League is obviously a good thing in-and-of-itself (vital, really, for a club of United's stature), but as it turns out, it has probably had little-to-no effect on our transfers this summer (at least, if recent reports are to be believed).
 
This is obviously payback for when we gave Mourinho 40mil for a reject (mata). He now redresses the balance by giving Chelsea 40mil for a reject.

Except both times we lose out and they benefit.
 
WPMUFC said:
he's not. Fellaini is better in the air, he tackles better and they intercept at the same level. Matic completes a pass more often than fellaini and probably makes fewer mistakes overall. But he's not a better version.
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He is a better version on what fellani was brought here to do. Better in the air? Yeah but where ? in the opposition box or close to it , as the midfeilder he is very mediocre and clueless.
 
prtk0811 said:
And Bayern has been trying ever since then only to be beaten every time, A mid 3 gives more defensive control and ball control , which real madrid now has with casemiro, They have balanced their midfeild better and got the results.

So in Big games as of now with the strenght of europeans teams 3 man mid is the way to go forward if we can to compete toe to toe.
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Which looks to be the direction we are heading doesn't it?
 
Diego Costa and John Terry are also available if we want to.
 
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prtk0811 said:
Better in the air? Yeah but where ? in the opposition box or close to it
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How does herrera, 12cm shorter, 10KG lighter win more aerial duels than matic?

how much slack are we asking herrera to pick up with Matic in the CDM?
 
NinjaFletch said:
See that's exactly what I mean. Keita has been quoted at double that price and has had one good season. He may well be a good player and go to be a great signing, but it's definitely not a sign of an abundance of quality that that's the best example you can come up with.

Aubameyang is the most exciting on the list, but even then it summons up a yawn from me. He's in the category of players I don't want to see sign for our rivals but that I'm not convinced would be worth the money for us.

Maybe I'm just jaded by our recent experiences with big money signings.
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I think we need some decent scouts, and more signings like Bailly, which is to say young players who have performed very well at high levels for strong teams. Lindelof fits that bill, as does Morata. It won´t always work, as injuries can derail a player like might be happening with Shaw, but basically if we keep doing that we will be better off in the longterm. Looking at the Bundesliga, Bayern have signed a DM in Rudy, Dortmund a CM in Dahoud and neither were expensive. Goretzka and Geis are highly rated. In Spain, the next Gabi is definitely floating around some midtable side. There´s young guys like Ceballos who are highly rated. I hope this Juve scout gives us the ability to sign players on the verge rather than just waiting until someone is the finished product all the time.
 
A positive with this signing is that a Pogba injury wouldn´t kill us, since a Matic-Herrera midfield with a 10 like Mata or Mkhitaryan in front of them is a perfectly cromulent midfield, though of course that´s even more true with Fabinho signed instead of Matic.
 
WPMUFC said:
How does herrera, 12cm shorter, 10KG lighter win more aerial duels than matic?

how much slack are we asking herrera to pick up with Matic in the CDM?
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We are not comparing herrera and matic , Its about fellani and matic.
 
Son Of Sam said:
We should just beg David Gill to come back. This transfer window is becoming a nightmare right under our noses. I am not sure if Woodward is mentally balanced or Jose is high on shrooms.

Let's take a step back.

•We have the cash

•We have a top manager that can attract world class players

•We are in the UCL...so there's really no excuse for any top player to refuse Man Utd.

So why then are we still stalking mediocre players? We have the same resources as Madrid/Barca/Bayern and yet the best we can attract is Matic!

It's a shame really.
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:lol: Ay, let's go back to David Gill and bring in the triumphant trio of Bebe, Gabriel Obertan and Michael Owen. What a time to be alive.

I'd love for him to come back and tell Mourinho who to sign.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Actually, there's too much quality around - we just don't look at the right players. Naby Keita is 22 and he won't cost more than £40m......why are we not even throwing a bid at him. Keita would run all day for United, he has about 6 lungs but Matic is what we prefer?

Attacking wise - Aubameyang, Lacazette, Timo Werner, etc are all obtainable but we want to spend £80m on Morata. United are fast becoming that rich charming bloke that doesn't attract classy chics.
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-Aubameyang is just not a great fit for how Mourinho's teams play football. Square peg, round hole kinda situation.

-Lacazette and Timo Werner are lesser quality than Morata

Also Keita has a pricetag off £40m so forget that bullshit about signing him up for half of that.

That however does not mean I find Matic a good signing, but the examples you are using make literally no sense at all.
 
May sound spoilt but I would be furious if this is our midfield signing, a player who Chelsea don't want, who is not versatile or dynamic, who's form has been mixed the last two years, who is 29 and not going to improve. To top it off a superior option in Fabinho is available for a similar price, is only 23 with potential to be world class and he has openly said he would favour a move to mufc.

We wont be signing two midfielders as we know Jose sees Fellaini as an option... I think this is a transfer that we would sorely regret when Fabinho starts tearing it up elsewhere.
 
prtk0811 said:
We are not comparing herrera and matic , Its about fellani and matic.
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Aerial duels won

Fellaini 74.40%
Herrera 60.47%
Matic 60.32%

fellaini wins duels much more often. Herrera, somehow, wins slightly more.

In an aerial duel, don't we want to improve that stat with a new signing? no matter where it is on the pitch?
 
NoPace said:
A positive with this signing is that a Pogba injury wouldn´t kill us, since a Matic-Herrera midfield with a 10 like Mata or Mkhitaryan in front of them is a perfectly cromulent midfield, though of course that´s even more true with Fabinho signed instead of Matic.
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You just wanted to use that word didn't you?
 
NoPace said:
A positive with this signing is that a Pogba injury wouldn´t kill us, since a Matic-Herrera midfield with a 10 like Mata or Mkhitaryan in front of them is a perfectly cromulent midfield, though of course that´s even more true with Fabinho signed instead of Matic.
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a pogba injury won't kill us, but a herrera one will. Without herrera, but playing matic, we lose our defensive tackling and interceptions.
 
Solid player, disappointed not to get Fabinho but Matic will be very important for us IMO. Being severely underrated in this thread.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
What an underwhelming signing. Limited ball winner aged 28 for 40 million. Maybe it'll work out superbly and he'll be the rock infront of our back 4 but it seems like such a pointless and uninspiring signing, in how the player doesn't really have anything of note when it comes to quality on the ball.

Jose just seems to love strong, tough and hard working players. Bah, I just don't connect with his ideas on football.
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What the hell does Herrara do? We spend most of the season parked in the opposition box trying to figure out how to break them down, then get to 70 minutes and start to panic, we need someone who can calm us down and dictate the play. Matic is perfect. Since when has he been Fellaini? I seen Fellaini pretty much halt a good Rashford through ball because he can't pass, can't remember Matic ever being a 5 yard sideways pass guy.
 
Ballache said:
Solid player, disappointed not to get Fabinho but Matic will be very important for us IMO. Being severely underrated in this thread.
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Careful, you're taking your life in your own hands at merely mentioning the slight hint of the fact you reckon he'll be decent for us. RIP mate, RIP.
 
WPMUFC said:
no matter where it is on the pitch?
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How that does not matter? It completely matters. When fellani leaves his position to join in forward areas as a target man in long ball tactics , which in itself is a plan B because of the faliure to break down opposition defense, he leaves the mid area vacant and prone to counter also then the opposition controls more of the ball because he lacks the mobility to come back in his position and win it which is his main job. Matic on the other hand does not venture forward to become a target man in opposition box and is positionally diciplined and his vision in passing is way better thhan fellani where his key passes does break the opposition defense . So not many aerial duels come to him in that area, but matic does the job which he is put on to do unlike fellani who wanders in final third and then only long ball football has to be played.
 
Mainoldo said:
What the hell does Herrara do? We spend most of the season parked in the opposition box trying to figure out how to break them down, then get to 70 minutes and start to panic, we need someone who can calm us down and dictate the play. Matic is perfect.
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yeah, herrera does nothing, except win the tackles, intercept, make better passes, wins more aerial duels. :lol:

Mainoldo said:
We spend most of the season parked in the opposition box trying to figure out how to break them down, then get to 70 minutes and start to panic, we need someone who can calm us down and dictate the play. Matic is perfect.
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our problem was strikers not finishing, nothing matic can help with.
 
WPMUFC said:
our problem was strikers not finishing, nothing matic can help with.
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It's not that simple, though. If your team has a hard time scoring, it doesn't mean you simply throw infinite attackers in there. Matic, whether or not there are better options, will allow Pogba - and probably others - more freedom, most likely contributing to more goals.
 
So what happened? I was in night sift and don't know newest rumours. Bakayoko is going to Chelsea so Matic is coming to OT...? Or something more concrete?
 
Hanky panky said:
So what happened? I was in night sift and don't know newest rumours. Bakayoko is going to Chelsea so Matic is coming to OT...? Or something more concrete?
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a bunch of low tier journos (ogden jackson luckhurst) are saying Bakayoko to chelsea and matic to united is happening this week.
 
WPMUFC said:
yeah, herrera does nothing, except win the tackles, intercept, make better passes, wins more aerial duels. :lol:
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That was my point;)

WPMUFC said:
our problem was strikers not finishing, nothing matic can help with.
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So how does Fabinho improve this? Our play was disjointed which is why we spent the last third of the season just playing hoof football, we need some intelligence in the middle of the park. We have the graft (Herrara) and the flair (Pogba). Mourinho is trying to get balance, i don't see nothing wrong with that. Chelsea feel Babayoko can be their Pogba, good for them, we already have him.
 
Mainoldo said:
That was my point;)



So how does Fabinho improve this? Our play was disjointed which is why we spent the last third of the season just playing hoof football, we need some intelligence in the middle of the park. We have the graft (Herrara) and the flair (Pogba). Mourinho is trying to get balance, i don't see nothing wrong with that. Chelsea feel Babayoko can be their Pogba, good for them, we already have him.
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Because Fabinho can stay back and do the dirty defensive work while Herrera can push the field and be even more effective as an attacking player?
 
Mainoldo said:
So how does Fabinho improve this? Our play was disjointed which is why we spent the last third of the season just playing hoof football, we need some intelligence in the middle of the park. We have the graft (Herrara) and the flair (Pogba). Mourinho is trying to get balance, i don't see nothing wrong with that. Chelsea feel Babayoko can be their Pogba, good for them, we already have him.
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Fabinho makes more key passes, wins more tackles and intercepts roughly the same as matic.
 
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