Nemanja Matic| BBC says deal agreed

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Crustanoid said:
Mourinho is wumming us, just like he did when he sold us Mata, except this is an even worse value for money, and it's being done from the inside
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People go on about the fee but £40-50mil is not that much to United these days.

We will probably end up spending £200mil this window and this will probably only rise every summer.

Loublaze said:
Terrible value for money indeed. He's an experienced player who will improve United's midfield but he'll need replacing himself in 3 seasons. No sell on value at all. I would've preferred Dier
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He has mainly bought in players that are under 24 so the odd older player is no harm.
 
B20 said:
I reckon you'd rather have a more creative player than herrera given that freedom though.

You've won titles in Carrick and Scholes in midfield, ffs. I'm a bit flabbergasted so many think you now need two defensive midfielders and a box-to-box midfielder to be balanced.
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Herrera is box to box and he is very creative he just wasn't given that much freedom to create since he was tasked with the main defensive duties which he performed brilliantly. Matic will of course give Pogba more freedom but don't be surprised to see Herrera creating a lot more key passes this season too. He started to get forward a lot more towards the end of last season and got some decent goals and assists.
 
Loublaze said:
Terrible value for money indeed. He's an experienced player who will improve United's midfield but he'll need replacing himself in 3 seasons. No sell on value at all. I would've preferred Dier
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Why do we need players with sell on value? We are not skint.
 
Loublaze said:
Terrible value for money indeed. He's an experienced player who will improve United's midfield but he'll need replacing himself in 3 seasons. No sell on value at all. I would've preferred Dier
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You do realise our captain is 36? Why do you think Matic will be finished when he's 32?
 
So then title it is within the next 2 years. Less than 2nd place should be unacceptable this season tbh.
 
RedTiger said:
:lol: what's his rating?
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He's a gem. Best cdm in the game if nurtured properly. Tbf to FM it's good for finding young talent even if a lot of them never become anywhere near as good. I will say that what I watched of Maia has been good. It will be interesting to see how he does in France.
 
Loublaze said:
Terrible value for money indeed. He's an experienced player who will improve United's midfield but he'll need replacing himself in 3 seasons. No sell on value at all. I would've preferred Dier
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Good job we aren't Arsenal or Spurs then. The priority is now, not in 10 years time. If Matic helps us regain the title then the price is absolutely justified.
 
B20 said:
I reckon you'd rather have a more creative player than herrera given that freedom though.

You've won titles in Carrick and Scholes in midfield, ffs. I'm a bit flabbergasted so many think you now need two defensive midfielders and a box-to-box midfielder to be balanced.
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Describing Herrera as a DM because he had to fill the role in a 4-2-3-1 beside Pogba is disingenuous. Herrera regularly played as a #10 for Bilbao and posted good assist figures and key pass figures for a supposed DM last season. And whenever he, Carrick and Pogba played as a 3 we functioned better, created more and won more. This is an obvious improvement on that trio.
 
ivaldo said:
So then why would it 'not look good on us'?
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Media tried to spin Bakayoko joining Chelsea to include us and make it look as though we missed out on him even though we had never registered an interest.

So can you imagine the headlines if Chelsea went and signed a player we wanted last summer a player Mourinho has spoke highly of?

Hated, adored, but never ignored.
 
Individually looking, Matic is a little bit underwhelming.

But when you look at him in this set up: Matic - Herrera - Pogba, then it looks very good and makes much more sense. Let's get this done.
 
Skills said:
So then title it is within the next 2 years. Less than 2nd place should be unacceptable this season tbh.
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You make it sound as though 6th to 1st/2nd is a guarantee this season. :lol: I am quietly confident and positive that we can win the title this season but if we don't, I'd be happy with a top 3 finish. We really should challenge for the title though.
 
B20 said:
I reckon you'd rather have a more creative player than herrera given that freedom though.

You've won titles in Carrick and Scholes in midfield, ffs. I'm a bit flabbergasted so many think you now need two defensive midfielders and a box-to-box midfielder to be balanced.
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I don't believe that signing Matic means we'll be playing 4-3-3 every week.

I think our standard formation with be 4-2-3-1 with Pogba and either Herrera or Matic playing next to him, dependant on the game. Easier and less physical games Herrera will play, more physical games Matic will. Mkhitaryan, Mata or Lingard will play ahead of them in my opinion.

Against the best 5 teams in the league I can see a 4-3-3 but those games will be decided by defensive solidarity more than creativity I believe.
 
Judas said:
That's what I keep wondering. Everyone seems to suddenly think players legs fall off around 32. It's a boring baseless statement seemingly based off Rooney's collapse.
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Once you're past 30 you're ancient, that granny Rooney shagged was actually 35!
 
Judas said:
That's what I keep wondering. Everyone seems to suddenly think players legs fall off around 32. It's a boring baseless statement seemingly based off Rooney's collapse.
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Our top scorer and arguably our best player last season was 35. It's not 1980 anymore. Players aren't finished when they hit 30 these days.
 
Loublaze said:
Terrible value for money indeed. He's an experienced player who will improve United's midfield but he'll need replacing himself in 3 seasons. No sell on value at all. I would've preferred Dier
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Who the hell cares about vfm?
When have we ever, ever bought a player because of possible sell on value?
Dier was not for sale. Poch said it himself. It's like saying 'I'd have preferred Busquets'. Pointless comment.
 
gr3yham3 said:
Why do we need players with sell on value? We are not skint.
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I do realize that sir. Im just saying i'd have preferred a long term signing
The Bloody-Nine said:
You do realise our captain is 36? Why do you think Matic will be finished when he's 32?
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Carrick is a rare breed. You know the question of a replacement will be brought up constantly when Matic hits his 30s and rightfully so. Its just short term in my eyes but hey, its happening
 
It's times like this when you need a Brian Clough as manager. If the fans gave him any shit over a signing like this, he'd call them idiots with a straight face and then wait for the next question from the journalist. :lol:
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
I think this migh be pushing things given that they were 24 points better off than us last season!
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But their squad isn't exactly 24 points worth better than ours. Chelsea had no European football as a distraction last season, while we had Thursday nights to deal with. The point is, selling Matic weakens Chelsea and directly strengthens us, so it is a questionable thing to do from a purely footballing perspective.
 
SuperiorXI said:
OK name another player remotely close to the profile of Matic we could have signed for less than 40m?
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I like Matic, but there are definitely much younger options out there. Krychowiak, Fabinho, Carvalho to name a few. Mou seems to want someone however to slot in straight away
 
Loublaze said:
I do realize that sir. Im just saying i'd have preferred a long term signing


Carrick is a rare breed. You know the question of a replacement will be brought up constantly when Matic hits his 30s and rightfully so. Its just short term in my eyes but hey, its happening
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If he is performing well on the pitch his age is irrelevant, in my opinion. I certainly won't be talking about a replacement for him next season.
 
Rhyme Animal said:
Question for those more knowledgeable, everyone is saying how Matic ensures a 433, but would this 352 work (or change the players as you wish)?

------------------DDG-----------------
-----Bailly-----Lindelof-----Rojo------
Valencia-------------------------Shaw
-----Herrera----Matic----Pogba-------
-------Rashford------Rom-------------

Yeah, it's narrow, and it does lack creativity, but it does look tidy.
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I'd say there's a definite possibility you'll see that shape at some point chasing a goal. Mourinho used it a bit at Chelsea in his second stint.
 
MullerUtd said:
You make it sound as though 6th to 1st/2nd is a guarantee this season. :lol: I am quietly confident and positive that we can win the title this season but if we don't, I'd be happy with a top 3 finish. We really should challenge for the title though.
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We shouldn't have been 6th though. It was a squad Louis Van Gaal got 5th with the season before and Mourninho came in and spent 150m on including a world record fee. Our 6th place finish was the managers own failure, which he did a good job of masking by winning the Europa League.
 
Skills said:
We shouldn't have been 6th though. It was a squad Louis Van Gaal got 5th with the season before and Mourninho came in and spent 150m on including a world record fee. Our 6th place finish was the managers own failure, which he did a good job of masking by winning the Europa League.
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And the league cup.
 
starman said:
I like Matic, but there are definitely much younger options out there. Krychowiak, Fabinho, Carvalho to name a few. Mou seems to want someone however to slot in straight away
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Krychowiak would be a risk after such a shitty season, Fabinho would definitely have cost more than Bakayoko so more than Matic definitely, Carvalho is so overrated.
 
finneh said:
I don't believe that signing Matic means we'll be playing 4-3-3 every week.

I think our standard formation with be 4-2-3-1 with Pogba and either Herrera or Matic playing next to him, dependant on the game. Easier and less physical games Herrera will play, more physical games Matic will. Mkhitaryan, Mata or Lingard will play ahead of them in my opinion.

Against the best 5 teams in the league I can see a 4-3-3 but those games will be decided by defensive solidarity more than creativity I believe.
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I think you'd need to. Part of the reason that midfield looks dour to me is that you don't exactly have shining lights in the front three to provide spark and creativity. Asking that midfield three to carry that weight is asking a lot. I think you will simply need that extra creative body going forwards to score the goals you need.
 
kouroux said:
Krychowiak would be a risk after such a shitty season, Fabinho would definitely have cost more than Bakayoko so more than Matic definitely, Carvalho is so overrated.
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Yup and now we are signing Matic he has instantly become the world's best DM... Although very good the guy has been nothing compared to his first season at Chelsea
 
Its actually comical like lads sitting here with no insight into football finance or football in general and like '40m ok... as long as it isn't 50..." haha
 
DJ Jeff said:
Describing Herrera as a DM because he had to fill the role in a 4-2-3-1 beside Pogba is disingenuous. Herrera regularly played as a #10 for Bilbao and posted good assist figures and key pass figures for a supposed DM last season. And whenever he, Carrick and Pogba played as a 3 we functioned better, created more and won more. This is an obvious improvement on that trio.
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I don't see how matic improves on carrick in possession.
 
I just can't wait to enjoy our corners. Provided we have a good delivery: Pogba, Matic, Lukaku, Bailley, Lindelof will all be lukring. Might even be able to throw Zlatan in that list from January.
 
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