You mean after we bid for a player and wrapped up the deal pretty quickly while Chelsea chose to dick around. Also, Lukaku pretty much said he made up his mind moths ago that he was moving to us after speaking with Mourinho.
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Nemanja Matic| BBC says deal agreed
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You mean after we bid for a player and wrapped up the deal pretty quickly while Chelsea chose to dick around. Also, Lukaku pretty much said he made up his mind moths ago that he was moving to us after speaking with Mourinho.
So according to Di Marzio only Arsenal are interested?
United logic
A swap between Oxlaide-Chamberlain (no wonder its shortened to Ox) and Matic is such a odd idea in my head. Chamberlain is useless while Matic going to Arsenal is just strengthening another rival team instead of United?
United logic
A swap between Oxlaide-Chamberlain (no wonder its shortened to Ox) and Matic is such a odd idea in my head. Chamberlain is useless while Matic going to Arsenal is just strengthening another rival team instead of United?
I'm not convinced the Ox is useless. He may well prove better than Moses as a right wing back. Matic to Arsenal means he wouldn't have to relocate. United are also a rival team. Chelsea let their unwanted players go to Arsenal and/or Utd. EG:Cech, Mata.
He's left out of their preseason squad. I'm guessing a sale is imminent.
If Mou wants him, then I hope he gets him
Can't be right.
Matic is a very decent player.
But he is also....
a) a 29yo who has who's been in decline in the last 2 years.
c) not as good as Pogba or Herrera in their individual roles and therefore unlikely to replace either in the 4-2-3-1 system.
b) in the process of being replaced by his club with a younger, better player.
d) would cost us a fortune due to the fact he's playing for domestic rivals.
I understand the value of experience and such, still believe we can do so much better. I'd rather we go and spend that £40m on Wilf N'didi or something.
But he is also....
a) a 29yo who has who's been in decline in the last 2 years.
c) not as good as Pogba or Herrera in their individual roles and therefore unlikely to replace either in the 4-2-3-1 system.
b) in the process of being replaced by his club with a younger, better player.
d) would cost us a fortune due to the fact he's playing for domestic rivals.
I understand the value of experience and such, still believe we can do so much better. I'd rather we go and spend that £40m on Wilf N'didi or something.
he plays in a different position to bakayoko, so he isn't being replaced. He is a def mid not a box to box midfielder. Chelsea play 3 at the back and don'tt really need a screen. Hence his under performance and sale last year. The year before, everyone was poor. He was excellent in title winning season and in portugal before
I don't fancy him but I'd rather sign him than start the season with no one coming in.
Looks like Chelsea are simply not going to sell to us.
Looks like Chelsea are simply not going to sell to us.
A) He's a 29 yo who doesn't rely on pace/explosive athleticism so he's not going to suffer the same way Rooney did. Claiming he's been in decline the previous 2 years is just nonsense, he was excellent for Chelsea last season and kept Fabregas on the bench
B) It's pretty debatable as to who is a better partner for Pogba in a 4-2-3-1 since him and Herrera hardly set the world alight last season and possible Mourinho doesn't even look to play that system until Griezmann joins.
C) He's being replaced because he's been in contract negotiations for the past 18 months and Chelsea won't agree to his wage demands, claiming Bakayoko is better is again utter nonsense.
D) The prices quoted are quite reasonable given the circumstances.
Dick heads of Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur don't wanna sell to us because they genuinely fear us. Bastards. I'm not too thrilled about either Matic or Dier but if the manager really wants them I want us to get them.
Might be to Juve though.
I am just hoping that Matic and Dier are both our plan B and C. Hopefully we have better targets than these guys. I really don't want to see them in our midfield. They are just average players in good teams.
Thank god for Juve. Giving us their best midfielder and saving us from this slow lumbering lump 
We've already got 1 of those!
We've already got 1 of those!Will probably join Juve for 25m or less
Funny thing is, if we are looking to free up Pogba, then Matic is a better fit than Fabinho. Plus, Matic got 7 assists last season, if that's a poor season of him being in decline, I'll have that.
However, I think Matic is headed to Italy. Dier is not who we need, I seriously doubt he is the #1 target for us. Neither Chelsea nor Spurs are gonna sell to us, and Mourinho by all accounts has cooled on Fabinho, so it will be interesting to see who we actually sign.
Thats the scandal, not him joinig them, but the fee. We would get told 40m and add ons or get out
Absolutely exhilarated by the news that Juve are in for him. Golden chance for us to sign someone else.
Peak Kevin.
Just because Chelsea would prefer to sell to Juventus doesn't mean he has to go there. He could refuse them and request to join us.
Ha, not sure I feel quite that strongly but (if the latest stories turn out to be true) I do feel as if Juventus may be saving Mourinho from the worst of his negative instincts.
I think he's exactly what our midfield needs. A cool headed DM with bags of experience. His technic and ability to move the ball are understated as well. Yes, he's old but for a CDM age counts for experience more than anything. All this coupled with the fact that that we'd be weakening a PL rival makes this a no brainer.
Juve wont pay the money and the story all along has been he wants to come to us.
Its clearly a Chelsea negotiation tactic
Its clearly a Chelsea negotiation tactic
Not going to lie. Would pain me to see him at Juve knowing we want him. He'll add balance. Still think we need two midfielders though.
Looks like us or Juventus.
I honestly wouldn't mind Matic. He's a true defensive midfielder. Apart from Carrick, we haven't got someone like that. Someone who sits in front of the back four and just cleans up.
I honestly wouldn't mind Matic. He's a true defensive midfielder. Apart from Carrick, we haven't got someone like that. Someone who sits in front of the back four and just cleans up.
I'd definitely take Matic here. Exactly the type of player we want, not just in terms of what he would do personally, but he would also allow Pogba to play more advanced which will benefit us immensely.
It's clear Matic wants United move but Chelsea wants to move him to Juve or Inter. He'll need to push for a move to United to be complete, otherwise, not gonna happen.
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Would be a great signing.
Agreed. He could easily give us 3 good years as a stop gap while we add a solid replacement.
If Jose wants him, he would be a PERFECT signing. Whatever Jose wants, is what counts.
Posters on here slagging this potential signing like they know what our team wants more than Jose Mourinho.
If Jose wants him, he would be a PERFECT signing. Whatever Jose wants, is what counts.
Posters on here slagging this potential signing like they know what our team wants more than Jose Mourinho.
Your average poster knows far, far less about football than the likes of LVG or Moyes too. That doesn't mean some posters weren't right when they called out transfers those managers pursued/made.
I don't really get the comparison - Carrick has a lot more to his game than just cleaning up. My worry with a player like Matic is that last season our attacking was very limited: we have very little attacking threat coming from full back and our wingers have been poor. Arguably we may be worse off now, since, though Lukaku is a good goalscorer, he strikes me as less creative than Ibrahimovic. If we start regularly deploying a destroyer in midfield we risk becoming even less creative. I understand that the argument is that it could free Pogba from all defensive duties, but It'd much rather see us sign someone more like Carrick and less like Matic; someone who can sit relatively deep but who is a a bit more incisive in his passing.
Bang on. The 'Jose knows best' mentality displayed by so many posters of late is not just annoying but a little troubling.
On the contrary, having a destroyer in the midfield will release the full backs and other midfielders especially Pogba from the defensive duties allows them to push more forward.
The number of offensive players on the field doesn't mean anything. Chelsea last season got 7 players with defensive duties, a 3 CBs and 2 DMFs with the 2 wing backs, so on paper they have only a 3 players attacking, or a max of 5 if the wing backs pushed forward. On the pitch it's a complete different thing and they were very strong on the offense and scored loads of goals winning 30 out of 38 in the league.
It's about the system not collecting as many offensive players as possible on the field. Sometimes adding a defensive player allows the more offensive players to push easily and get you more goals giving more balance to the team and more consistency.
Agree. However, if the alternative is Dier (who has even less to his game than Matic) then I'm all for this transfer going ahead. Ideally it wouldn't be a choice between the two but..... *shrugs*
Though it's less a lack of creativity that worries me and more a lack of control.
I wasn't comparing the two, and I know Carrick has a lot more to his game than just cleaning up, but that is one of his many attributes, although I personally feel the need for a deep lying midfielder is becoming a bit overstated, in my opinion.
For example, Spurs created the most chances in the league last season, and they play with at least one, if not, two out and out defensive midfielders in Wanyama and Dier.
If a 4231 is played correctly, the creativeness should come from the front four and attacking full backs. Yes, a defensive midfielder can get involved in the attacking play from time to time, if/when needed.
That said, creativity wasn't our problem last season, it was actually finishing off our chances. We created more chances (447) than champions Chelsea (446). Our problem; however, was finishing off our chances. Lukaku, along with a goalscoring winger and a number 10, who will get us 10-15 league goals should solve this problem.
But you can't possibly know what a manager wants exactly. Making any questioning of a signing, whether under Fergie, Moyes, LvG or Mourinho is mortifying. You don't have the inside track. I mean, we don''t even know what formation Jose is playing next season, yet you know which players he should and shouldn't sign? It's boring football drivel.
This. Unclear where though.
juventus are in for him big time!
If we want him we need to act quickly.
If we want him we need to act quickly.
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