Nemanja Matic| BBC says deal agreed

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SSN - Transfer close
OK from Sky who of late have been pretty shite, but they have put this on.

BREAKING NEWS

Sky Sources: Manchester United are close to signing midfielder Nemanja Matic from Chelsea.

The deal should be done in the next few days after Juventus gave up on signing the 28-year-old.

Our colleagues in Italy are reporting Juventus are now targeting PSG’s Blaise Matuidi, Sevilla’s and Steven N’Zonzi.
 
RedSky said:
He has been on the decline @Varun

Still a declining Matic is still way better than Fellaini but think people will be disappointed by him. He had a very good season for Chelsea when Jose resigned him and then two average ones.
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Yeah, won't find me arguing against those who feel he's on the decline as his best performances did come 2yrs back. My personal preference has been Fabinho all along but I'm confident of any of the 3( Fabinho, Dier, matic) giving us what we need as a team.
 
RedSky said:
He has been on the decline @Varun

Still a declining Matic is still way better than Fellaini but think people will be disappointed by him. He had a very good season for Chelsea when Jose resigned him and then two average ones.
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Not sure how much this is true given he was better last season compared to the year before.

van der star said:
Chelsea lack of resistance towards this deal seems a tad concerning. I hope Matic doesn't get a case of the BFSs here.
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If a player wants to go, certain managers would rather not have them in the squad than force them to stay. Conte is one of those managers.
 
Not a fan. But if he fits the system jose wants to run I suppose we should grit our teeth and live with it
 
Not my preferred target but we could've done a lot worse imo, I'll be happy if he gets here. Hope Jose can get him back to his form from their title winning season, he was unstoppable back then.
 
If it proves to be a bad signing at least we can use his name in the

"Wo oh oh it's Matic , you know , you,d never believe it's not scholes"
song when carrick disappears to the elephants graveyard .
 
Varun said:
Re read the post I quoted and pay closer attention to the time line mentioned.
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You mentioned his Chelsea stint which consisted of one good season followed by a extremely poor and then average one. Why would United fans bite their hands off for another average player when we've got an abundance of them already?

Who are you to call Chelsea fans clueless when they watch him stumbling about week in, week out? Which leads me to ask much of him have you exactly watched in the last three years? While probably not exactly happy to sell him to a direct rival (as it could potentially bite them in the ass - see Welbeck, RVP, De Bruyne, Lukaku), they're quite happy to get him of their books.
 
Nighteyes said:
Matic is better than Fabinho and proven in a better league. Don't get the obsession with Fabinho at all.
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I like Matic and am happy with his signing.. At the same time I would like us to sign Fabinho too now,especially if Fellaini is leaving.. He could give us cover for both positions as DM as well as an Rb..
 
VP89 said:
If a player wants to go, certain managers would rather not have them in the squad than force them to stay. Conte is one of those managers.
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I hope this is indeed the case and that Conte hasn't identified him as the weak link in their midfield. I never got over Schweiny's dismal tenure here, don't want another repeat with Matic.
 
kotha said:
I like Matic and am happy with his signing.. At the same time I would like us to sign Fabinho too now,especially if Fellaini is leaving.. He could give us cover for both positions as DM as well as an Rb..
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I'll be surprised if Fellaini leaves tbh. But yeah, if he does leave we need one more CM in there
 
I prefer him over Dier. Not an exciting signing but fills an absolutely vital need for a holding midfielder. Knows Mourinho's system well so signing him late in the transfer window shouldn't be as big an issue as it could be.
He was bad in Mourinho's last season, better but not great last season.
Hopefully the change of scenery, added to more responsibility without Kante can make him the player he once was.
 
Varun said:
Yeah, won't find me arguing against those who feel he's on the decline as his best performances did come 2yrs back. My personal preference has been Fabinho all along but I'm confident of any of the 3( Fabinho, Dier, matic) giving us what we need as a team.
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I see Fabinho as quite different. Although he converted from RB, and is combative enough, he does not sit deep or screen the defence. I think Mourinho has been looking for a true defensive midfielder.
 
Sassy Colin said:
Exactly! So why are they apparently happy to sell?
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Because the player is keen to leave?

van der star said:
I hope this is indeed the case and that Conte hasn't identified him as the weak link in their midfield. I never got over Schweiny's dismal tenure here, don't want another repeat with Matic.
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Schweinstiger was older and quite visibly over the hill. IMO we could have made better use of him despite that.
 
VP89 said:
Schweinstiger was older and quite visibly over the hill. IMO we could have made better use of him despite that.
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Schweinsteiger was 30 when we signed him and Matic is going to be 29 in a few days. Schweinsteiger also had a storming World Cup the season previously for the world champions whilst you could argue Matic may already be past his peak of two years ago. It's not a good sign when people are saying they hope he brings back the form of a few years ago or rolls back the years.
 
Prefer Dier, but he'll be a decent signing. Not one to get excited about but we need a player like him. Hopefully he brings his form of a few seasons ago.
 
Not many DM's are exciting but Matic can at least play a bit, unlike Dier who looks like a CB playing in that role.
 
He's not in Conte's plans, we're interested, I think this will be done soon. Or so I hope.
 
PoTMS said:
You mentioned his Chelsea stint which consisted of one good season followed by a extremely poor and then average one. Why would United fans bite their hands off for another average player when we've got an abundance of them already?

Who are you to call Chelsea fans clueless when they watch him stumbling about week in, week out? Which leads me to ask much of him have you exactly watched in the last three years? While probably not exactly happy to sell him to a direct rival (as it could potentially bite them in the ass - see Welbeck, RVP, De Bruyne, Lukaku), they're quite happy to get him of their books.
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I'm amazed you still didn't understand why I called him clueless if you did actually re read the post. His mate has been criticising him since he re signed for Chelsea. Anyone who criticised matic's first season under Jose is clueless, no questions asked.

Re who I am to call a Chelsea fan clueless, it's a forum. If I think an opinion is shite, I'll call it so. Don't like it, stay away from a forum as that can always happen in one.

As far as United is concerned, I think he'll be very good in the right setup and that's in a 3 man midfield with Herrera and Pogba. We'll need to use him correctly because he isn't the most mobile of players but I'm confident in Jose knowing all of that as he's worked with the guy before and knows what he's about.
 
PoTMS said:
Schweinsteiger was 30 when we signed him and Matic is going to be 29 in a few days. Schweinsteiger also had a storming World Cup the season previously for the world champions whilst you could argue Matic may already be past his peak of two years ago. It's not a good sign when people are saying they hope he brings back the form of a few years ago or rolls back the years.
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He was 31 before the season started, visibly overweight and had injury problems for about 4 years previous. Matic wouldn't be my choice but it's not close to the same scenario as Schweinsteiger.
 
sincher said:
I see Fabinho as quite different. Although he converted from RB, and is combative enough, he does not sit deep or screen the defence. I think Mourinho has been looking for a true defensive midfielder.
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Yeah and that's fair. As I said, I'm not looking for a hero in the position, it's a non glamorous position and all about what you bring to the team. More about what you allow others around you to do than what you can do directly in a way and I'm confident matic will have the desired impact if used correctly which I believe Jose will.
 
van der star said:
Wait, doesn't this deal leave Chelsea with only Kante, Fabregas and Bakayoko as their midfield options?! This deal seems even stranger considering they're willing to part with him and rotate 3 players for the 2 CM spots.
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I'm surprised they're letting him go to be honest. I don't know why Conte has been so quick to get rid even though last season Matic was first choice. But as they say, Chelsea's loss is our gain and hopefully we'll see that this year.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
OK from Sky who of late have been pretty shite, but they have put this on.

BREAKING NEWS

Sky Sources: Manchester United are close to signing midfielder Nemanja Matic from Chelsea.

The deal should be done in the next few days after Juventus gave up on signing the 28-year-old.

Our colleagues in Italy are reporting Juventus are now targeting PSG’s Blaise Matuidi, Sevilla’s and Steven N’Zonzi.
Click to expand...

Slowest closing in attempt of all time. Almost there just another 48 hours to the power of infinity
 
Sassy Colin said:
Exactly! So why are they apparently happy to sell?
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It's the system they employ, he's looking for more mobility there which Bakayoko will give them. Matic isn't great in that regard and you need that in Conte's setup even though Kante runs like a madman all game long.
 
I'm not sure how his relationship with Jose went during that disaster of a final season but I really hope Jose knows what he is doing here because 40M on a soon be 29 year old doesn't fill me with confidence even with the dearth of talent in that position.

I'm not sure how you can lose your mobility at 28 but Chelsea play a very compact formation and its hard to gauge him based on their game plan.
 
People make to much noise about age and they also make comparisons for the sake of making them. From what I have read Chelsea fans complain about Matic because his passing game is too simple, he just moves the ball which is what he is supposed to do. People want something flashy but most of the time players in those positions/roles(Pirlo, Xabi Alonso or Thiago Motta) play very simply.

What you want from Matic is someone that can control the flow and shield the defense, he is good at both. In the last two seasons his best role wasn't needed, the back three made him redundant and during Mourinho's last season they needed energy and runs from the midfield.
 
Nighteyes said:
Matic is better than Fabinho and proven in a better league. Don't get the obsession with Fabinho at all.
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Well you've answered it yourself. Fabinho plays in a different league, so very few on here watch Fabinho consistently throughout the season and most of what they've seen on Fabinho is the odd occasional Champions league game or through Youtube videos. And when we started to get linked with him, Fabinho got sort of a cult following among United fans as the saviour of our midfield, so when we were subsequently linked with Matic and Dier (players that play in our league and don't have the same unknown, new signing feel about them), both players were made out to be a lot worse than they actually were and Fabinho a lot better than he is.
 
Last time we played Valeregena in 2012 SAF stayed in UK to get V.persie signing done, hopefully Matic plays as important role as V.persie in our last title victory:drool:
 
Not all signings have to be exciting, think its a transfer that makes sense and he'll certainly strengthen us.
 
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