No quality available in the January Window

Sparky Rhiwabon

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Suarez and Sturridge to Dippers
Evra and Vidic to us
Arteta to Everton
Duggary to Brum
Dempsey to Fulham
Young to Villa
Mascherano to Dippers
Martinez to Swansea
Sigurdsson to Swansea
Jelavic to Everton
Cisse to Newcastle
Cahill to Chelsea
Hangelaand to Fulham
Samba to Blackburn
Dawson to Spurs
Adebayor to Arsenal

Nope might as well forget it.
 
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Mascherano and Tevez moved to West Ham in the summer.

Though good old Pards didn't trust them til they were in a relegation scrap after Christmas so fair enough.
 
Suarez and Sturridge to Dippers
Evra and Vidic to us
Arteta to Everton
Duggary to Brum
Dempsey to Fulham
Young to Villa
Mascherano and Tevez to West Ham
Martinez to Swansea
Sigurdsson to Swansea
Jelavic to Everton
Cisse to Newcastle
Cahill to Chelsea
Hangelaand to Fulham
Samba to Blackburn
Dawson to Spurs
Adebayor to Arsenal

Nope might as well forget it.

Most of those transfers just look like typical January moves - not one of them was playing in the CL at the time of the move, with the exception of Sturridge who just wasn't playing.

Mascherano and Tevez moved in August.

The one that you missed out that makes me think there is quality out there is the Matic to Chelsea move, if someone like him becomes available then we should make a move.
 
Most of those transfers just look like typical January moves - not one of them was playing in the CL at the time of the move, with the exception of Sturridge who just wasn't playing.

Mascherano and Tevez moved in August.

The one that you missed out that makes me think there is quality out there is the Matic to Chelsea move, if someone like him becomes available then we should make a move.
Yes, but just shows that there are decent players not playing in the Champions League. Hey, we've even got one or two ourselves!
 
Who said there isnt quality available in January? If you throw money around, you can get top players for sure, but we are overpaying no matter when.

Vlaar or Strootman would be typical January signings, but if they would be good enough is another question. ( Strootman after injury)
 
Am i the only one who feels confident enough to carry this campaign on with our current crop of crocked flops :D honestly think top 4 is nailed on for us. Summer makes much more sense for us to obtain our most wanted targets. The lure of CL, the mammoth wages on offer, the sexy football that will be show cased until season end will surely be enough to get exactly who we want? Im not sure we have even seen our stongest Xl together on the same pitch yet.
 
Suarez and Sturridge to Dippers
Evra and Vidic to us
Arteta to Everton
Duggary to Brum
Dempsey to Fulham
Young to Villa
Mascherano to Dippers
Martinez to Swansea
Sigurdsson to Swansea
Jelavic to Everton
Cisse to Newcastle
Cahill to Chelsea
Hangelaand to Fulham
Samba to Blackburn
Dawson to Spurs
Adebayor to Arsenal

Nope might as well forget it.
Only Studge, Suarez, Evra, Vidic, Mascherano & Cahil were "quality" on that list.

In addition all of those players took at least 6 months to show much.
 
The majority of that listed is within hindsight. None were certified quality players when they signed. Evra and Vidic shambolic in their first 5 months.

Saha is the only one who was top of his game/form when we signed him that i remember.
 
The reason there haven't been many January transfers that goes straight in to the first eleven is because top teams are usually just preparing for the CL knock-outs and they can't have played for any other CL participant.

That makes it nearly impossible to find a top quality player who can solve your problems, so instead the January window has for the top clubs been more about finding players who are expected to have a squad role. So that the players who will play in the CL knock-outs will be better rested, and the team has a better chance to win the league.

But this year we aren't in the CL and we aren't affected by this, but the teams we buy from will still be. That said, there are plenty of teams who already got kicked out like Liverpool/Roma/Benfica/Ajax/Zenith(Garay) etc etc or teams like us who just didn't make it to the CL at all.
 
Only Studge, Suarez, Evra, Vidic, Mascherano & Cahil were "quality" on that list.

In addition all of those players took at least 6 months to show much.

Nah there's exceptions to the '6 months to adapt rule' with the 'top class for 6 months before turning to shite' rule. Jelavic scored 9 in 13, Cisse got 13 in 14 in their first 6 months. Jelavic then scored 7 in 46 before moving to Hull, Cisse scored 10 in 60 before this season. Cisse has definitely picked up again which is good to see, think he has a lot of quality but schizophrenic consistency.
 
Am i the only one who feels confident enough to carry this campaign on with our current crop of crocked flops :D honestly think top 4 is nailed on for us. Summer makes much more sense for us to obtain our most wanted targets. The lure of CL, the mammoth wages on offer, the sexy football that will be show cased until season end will surely be enough to get exactly who we want? Im not sure we have even seen our stongest Xl together on the same pitch yet.
Yup. Won't be upset if we don't get anyone in next month. Smalling and Rojo are about to return so that means all our CB are fit. We def need a WC CB in the summer if we are to return to the CL
 
Yup. Won't be upset if we don't get anyone in next month. Smalling and Rojo are about to return so that means all our CB are fit. CL
For how long though? Our defenders are so injury prone that we could be down to Carrick and Fletcher within a week of the window closing.
 
After this last run of wins I'm starting to think we'll get 4th easily enough even if we don't sign anyone. But it couldn't hurt to buy a defender - it really couldn't when you consider we've a) been getting away with murder at times back there and b) been troubled by injuries to an insane extent (meaning: some of these crocks of ours are not only likely but practically guaranteed to get themselves injured again...and again).

A defender will do, though. I'm not in a rush to buy the likes of Strootman, to be perfectly honest. We could use another body at the back, ideally a starter, ideally someone who will take to LVG's system fast.
 
We're a lock for a top four finish, so I'm not as concerned about a massive buy in January as I might be otherwise. Unless Bale is on the menu (seems unlikely) I'd rather give 1 or 2 of our younger players who haven't played yet a chance to show their stuff.
 
We're a lock for a top four finish, so I'm not as concerned about a massive buy in January as I might be otherwise. Unless Bale is on the menu (seems unlikely) I'd rather give 1 or 2 of our younger players who haven't played yet a chance to show their stuff.
I'm not sure the top four is certain yet
Edpecially if our injuries continue... I dread to think where we would be in the league if de gea had been injured
 
I don't really understand the logic behind this idea that "they won't perform right away and won't contribute this season so we should wait until the summer". Perhaps that's true but even if they don't contribute much this season it'll mean they'll have had a good 8 months to settle into a new city/country/league/club which is invaluable preparation for next season. If you want to win the league you really have to hit the ground running now and having those new players fully settled in obviously helps hugely in that regard.
 
The quality is definitely there if we want it. We just got to pay the January transfer premium oh and the Man Utd tax, don't forget about the Man Utd tax where clubs only seem to charge us 40% extra for every player.

If we throw money at Dortmund for Hummels, maybe around £35-40 million, then I think we can get him and he'd be worth every penny.
Also we can activate Godins buyout clause for £28.5million which would also be a excellent addition.

Problem with our defence is it lacks leaders. Smalling, Evans and Jones are all very good defenders but I think they can excel with a Hummels/Godin commanding them.
 
But the thing is, the players mentioned in the OP were available, we can't say the same about our potential targets.
 
Sure there can be some good transfers available but they'll likely be at a premium unless you're buying a player that a club is getting rid off because they can't afford him, they need cash for another deal, or they're offloading someone who doesn't want to be there.

Since United has no cup ties I think January could be a great time to get a head start on getting things lined up for summer whether it is buying/selling/loaning.

Would be a great time to offload some deadwood as it is a sellers market and since nobody is cup tied the return would be full value+.
 
I reckon we should test the waters and bid for Strootman in January, because despite Roma's insistence that he won't move in Jan, that deal seems possible. Signing a centre back is a more pressing matter however and the only ones that will probably be available are short-term fixes like Vlaar. I don't want to see us operating in the market for deals like that and I would much rather we bide our time for the right player in the summer.

I highly doubt signing or not signing in January will make or break our season anyway. I would expect a third or fourth placed finish either way.
 
Who said there isnt quality available in January? If you throw money around, you can get top players for sure, but we are overpaying no matter when.

Vlaar or Strootman would be typical January signings, but if they would be good enough is another question. (Strootman after injury)

Is Vlaar a top player? He also is very injury prone and my understanding that his claim to fame is that he is dutch...that's it. Personally, I just dont think he is good enough.
Strootman is currently recovering from injury. I think he's only played 1-2 times since his injury and he hasn't been particularly good.
Its strange that every player Man Utd are linked with is injury prone and/or returning from injury. Vidal. Vlaar. Strootman. Hummels (this guy has only just made a comeback from injury and has played 10 times so far for his Dortmund).

Rather than buying a sicknote, with a proven history of injury, we need to get in a player who can guarantee us 80-90% of games. Chelsea seem to have no problems finding these players. Unfortunately we end up with players who can barely play more than 4 games in a row.

And if you need reminding, of our 6 Summer signings, only Falcao is able to play a 90 minute game (which is staggering). When we played against Liverpool a few weeks back, none of the Summer signings started the game.

I reckon we should test the waters and bid for Strootman in January, because despite Roma's insistence that he won't move in Jan, that deal seems possible.

Of course they will sell.
Apparently, Roma fans are now booing him when he (rarely) plays, as his intention is to move to Man Utd.
But, would you want to buy another Falcao (ie. an injured player who needs 4-6 months of rehabilitation)?
 
Considering Zenit are out of the Champions League at the same time the Russian economy is crumbling (and that means professional athletes not getting paid in time), I think we should make a bid to get Ezequiel Garay and finish that story off once and for all after years of speculations.

I also saw Athletic Bilbao standing in that midtable mediocrity in Spain, so activating Aymeric Laporte's release clause can also be an option. No negotiation BS for me; just activate the clause straight away.
 
There is quality if we want it. Garay is available for cheap, and so will be good players from the Russian league like Axel Witsel too. Laporte & Godin can also be signed if we talk them into leaving and pay their release clause. I don't think BVB will let Hummels leave in January.
 
There is always quality available, what we know as fans and what is known by scouts all over the world are completely different things. If there is a real intent, there can be reinforcements
 
There's quality available and not having to worry about a player being cup tied for European competition means one less hurdle to cash being splashed.

I'd think that we are a more enticing prospect since the Summer as well, not that we had any major problems making signings but say Hummels might be more inclined to leave a struggling Dortmund for a competing United. Rather than being a shambles you'd imagine most players would see us as being a few key players away from a formidable team again.
 
Great thread, good points. Players are available indeed but with certain rule of January which is additional 7-10 millions to some of the deals.