Ole's Recruitment whilst at the wheel at United

Oles business has been excellent. Most of his signings have strengthened the squad, and you can see what the plan was behind them. They have each added something different and strengthened the squad.

The only signing you can legitimately question is Donny, not because he isn’t an exciting talent but just the way he hasn’t been used. It’s utterly bizarre and a real blot in Oles copybook.
 
Bruno and Cavani have been the only sure fire successes. People saying Maguire are having a laugh, honestly. For the price especially he has been average.

Bruno was also probably signed due to pressure and the fact we were relying on Lingard and Pereira a lot that season. Cavani was a desperate last minute punt that has gone well, but he’s hardly an unknown.

Wan Bissaka is extremely over priced for what he brings, and limits our attacking play down the right.

Van de Beek is a terrible signing considering he has no idea how to use him from day 1.

Sancho, see above. We’ve been chasing him for so long and this is what Ole’s grand plan was! Utter mental to think he’s sitting on the bench and has looked clueless when on the pitch.

Telles, Diallo and Pellestri is 70ish million spent on next to nothing since they either never play or are out on loan.

Ronaldo was clearly signed as a desperate marketing ploy. Still a top goal scorer who is way past his best.

Varane, early days but hardly a hidden gem. Any other top club would’ve taken him, if not for a sketchy injury record.

Excellent business, 400 million later.
 
The only player who I think will be a waste of a purchase for the next manager is Awb. Apparently the club is worried about his desire. The way he plays is from a bygone era. Rest of the players get clean slates even if their price was inflated for whatever reason
 
Chip said:
Sadly, as time passes Ole's recruitments might turn out about as bad as LVG's recruitments of Falcao, Di María, Depay, BFS, Herrera, Blind, etc. On paper, very impressive signings, but unfortunately most of them turn out rather disappointing. Too many past their peak players and too many underperformers.

Bruno is the one obvious outlier, and hopefully Varane and Sancho turn out decent as well.
Click to expand...
Disagree, every signing Ole has made has had more contributions at this point than all of those you named that LVG signed besides Herrera (not sure why you included him, he was a very useful player here). Not saying all of the current players are great, but that list of players was literally instant deadwood as soon as they got here.
 
The new manager should have a proven track record of success at previous clubs, drop all this 'Utd Way' and 'Fergies Way' romanticism and put his own stamp on the club.
 
It’s been weird and contradictory at times.

Wants to play high line yet buys slow Maguire

Wants to have full backs be a key role in attack yet buys defensive minded AWB.

Spends majority of 2020 budget on Van De Beek but never plays him

Spends two years chasing Sancho as the elusive right winger, then sticks him left wing and then on the bench.
 
Chairman Steve said:
It’s been weird and contradictory at times.

Wants to play high line yet buys slow Maguire

Wants to have full backs be a key role in attack yet buys defensive minded AWB.

Spends majority of 2020 budget on Van De Beek but never plays him

Spends two years chasing Sancho as the elusive right winger, then sticks him left wing and then on the bench.
Click to expand...
How would he please his favorites if he plays VdB and Sancho?
 
Man who spends nearly £500m improves squad. Some of those players have no business starting games for us though, mind.
 
Maguire and Wan Bissaka look worse signings with each passing season. Both have gone backwards since joining and neither would start for any other top team in the world. Bruno, Varane and Cavani have been the only signings that have worked out for Ole so far.

So yeah this idea that Ole's recruitment has been brilliant is a myth. It's been about on par with Van Gaal's recruitment overall.
 
To be honest it’s hard to judge some of the quality of the signings due to the poor tactical organisation of the team. Some of these players may still come good under a new regime so probably best to hold fire.
 
Sanctioning the ridiculous £130m for Maguire and AWB flies in the face of all "great at transfers" bullshit the Ole supporters bleat about.
 
Ole recruitment was shite to be honest

Wanted to play a high line with attacking football but signed Maguire and AWB
Wanted to play with fast counter attacking footbal but signed system players in VdB and Sancho
Buy Pellestri and Diallo for 50 million only without the intention to play them in the first team. Their cost with VdB is close to 90 million. That's a massive amount of money for players who hardly see the pitch for the first team. You could get a world class midfielder for that money.

Bruno was the only one we can say is a good signing given his impact. Varane played too little to judge him, but he might come good

I think those are good players for sure, but what's the point of buying supposedly good players if you don't know how to use it? He better bought players who suited his system rather than buying players who are better but not gonna suit with his system. For example Adama Traore is an inferior player to Sancho, but I think he would make much more immediate impact with the football Ole wanted to play than Sancho
 
Bruno : 8/10 based on last season, but it remains to be seen how he fare from here on.
Maguire : 5/10 80M for an average Defender. Nobody's going to buy him 40M
AWB : 4/10 50M for an even more average full back. A good team won't need his tackle
Cavani : 7/10 Good stop gap. Free
Sancho : Jury's still out. He's not cheap even if he comes good it's not a bargain.
Van de Beek : 3/10 40M down the drain, what a waste. He may or may not be a good player but at this rate it's still money wasted.
James : 4/10 good first 3 games and that's it. 15M punt hardly a big issue. But it shows Giggs lack of foresight and Ole lapping up a false hint.
Telles : ? I think he's just one of those player Ole bought but never really know what / how
Ronaldo : ? Ole regretted this, without him he could still hide behind the "need time to compete", now he's like a ticking time bomb.
Varane : No genious purchase. reasonably cheap for his calibre. But it's far too late I think

All and all, the longer it goes the more damning it becomes. Anyone bar bruno is meh or flop. Even Sancho at his best is just a no shit sherlock kind of purchase.
 
I think we should judge players based on their roles and expectations and how they have fared against those, their price tags should not be a factor for fans .
Just for example we bought Maguire and Wan Bissaka as Bonafide starters and most of Us supporters believe and expect United to challenge for biggest trophies but with their inconsistencies and some serious technical issues I don't believe they could ever be regulars once we get our shit together on the pitch so by this metric I don't think they could ever be considered Successful transfers .
 
gajender said:
I think we should judge players based on their roles and expectations and how they have fared against those, their price tags should not be a factor for fans .
Just for example we bought Maguire and Wan Bissaka as Bonafide starters and most of Us supporters believe and expect United to challenge for biggest trophies but with their inconsistencies and some serious technical issues I don't believe they could ever be regulars once we get our shit together on the pitch so by this metric I don't think they could ever be considered Successful transfers .
Click to expand...

Price tags do matter. Clubs have set budgets to operate with which means if we spend 80m on let's say a CB then we might not be able to bring in a top DM. Also note that buying players over the odds the club is give the message out that its run by incompetent people which in turn makes it harder for them to negotiate at reasonable prices. Finally players with a huge price tag around their neck will have to live under the spotlight. That's already tough if the price in question is in line to the player's talent let alone when its not. No wonder why even Manchester City with their unlimited funds had bailed out from signing the likes of Maguire and Kane.

Whoever was involved in us signing Maguire and AWB on those ridiculous fees should be held responsible. I am referring to the negotiators who negotiated the deal, the transfer committee who gave the nod for it and possibly the scouting team IF they couldn't come out with alternative names. Some might say that the manager may have adopted a 'my way or the highway' attitude to transfers. That might be the case on VDB who was frozen out from day 1. However its up to the higher ups to notice such character flaw and factor that next time talks about whether a manager should stay or not are made. DOFs, Technical directors and co are there to support the club not to act as yes men to the manager.
 
devilish said:
Price tags do matter. Clubs have set budgets to operate with which means if we spend 80m on let's say a CB then we might not be able to bring in a top DM. Also note that buying players over the odds the club is give the message out that its run by incompetent people which in turn makes it harder for them to negotiate at reasonable prices. Finally players with a huge price tag around their neck will have to live under the spotlight. That's already tough if the price in question is in line to the player's talent let alone when its not. No wonder why even Manchester City with their unlimited funds had bailed out from signing the likes of Maguire and Kane.

Whoever was involved in us signing Maguire and AWB on those ridiculous fees should be held responsible. I am referring to the negotiators who negotiated the deal, the transfer committee who gave the nod for it and possibly the scouting team IF they couldn't come out with alternative names. Some might say that the manager may have adopted a 'my way or the highway' attitude to transfers. That might be the case on VDB who was frozen out from day 1. However its up to the higher ups to notice such character flaw and factor that next time talks about whether a manager should stay or not are made. DOFs, Technical directors and co are there to support the club not to act as yes men to the manager.
Click to expand...
Price tags matters but at the end of the day what happens on the pitch is a great equalizer you won't find many questioning transfer fees of Van Dyke or Allison anymore . Ideally Club should be paying fair prices for players but it only becomes concerns if they aren't doing business on the field otherwise it just becomes an afterthought.
 
sp_107 said:
If not the Best, definitely better than 2013-2018 signings.

Reason behind our today’s struggle is many below par signings between 2013-2018
Click to expand...
Jesus Christ. How many players he needs to bring before the reasons for our struggles are not players that were before him. Look at this team:


Henderson

AWB Varane Maguire Telles

VDB Bruno

Greenwood Sancho Ronaldo

Cavani​

An entire first XI brought by him. Which does not include Amad, Pellestri and James.

And yet the excuses never end.
 
gajender said:
Price tags matters but at the end of the day what happens on the pitch is a great equalizer you won't find many questioning transfer fees of Van Dyke or Allison anymore . Ideally Club should be paying fair prices for players but it only becomes concerns if they aren't doing business on the field otherwise it just becomes an afterthought.
Click to expand...

That's because they had justified their price tag which is what top players do. Let's face it mate, 80m for a CB with the speed of an old tanker ship and 50m for a RB with the attacking ability of a drunk Philip Neville is just silly. Under Ole administration the club had spent 180m in that defense and yet it keeps leaking goals left right and centre.
 
devilish said:
That's because they had justified their price tag which is what top players do. Let's face it mate, 80m for a CB with the speed of an old tanker ship and 50m for a RB with the attacking ability of a drunk Philip Neville is just silly. Under Ole administration the club had spent 180m in that defense and yet it keeps leaking goals left right and centre.
Click to expand...
That's exactly point my transfer fees only matters if players are underperforming . Maguire and Wan Bissaka would be considered failures even if they cost 40m and 25 m respectively because they aren't good enough to be starters for title winning teams which we clearly expected them to be when we bought them .
 
gajender said:
That's exactly point my transfer fees only matters if players are underperforming . Maguire and Wan Bissaka would be considered failures even if they cost 40m and 25 m respectively because they aren't good enough to be starters for title winning teams which we clearly expected them to be when we bought them .
Click to expand...

I disagree. An 100m rated Gary Neville or Ji Sung Park would still be considered expensive even though they were first teamers at one point of their career. I doubt anyone would criticize the administration so much if we bought Maguire for 30m. They might insist of him not being a first teamer in every game but they wouldn't really call him a flop and we'll certainly wouldn't be a laughing stock for signing him up.
 
gajender said:
That's exactly point my transfer fees only matters if players are underperforming . Maguire and Wan Bissaka would be considered failures even if they cost 40m and 25 m respectively because they aren't good enough to be starters for title winning teams which we clearly expected them to be when we bought them .
Click to expand...

Yeah but don't you think the club would've then spent money elsewhere that summer or the next winter?

The opportunity cost is huge, investing that much in two players that aren't bonafide starters future means we've missed out on upgrading other positions. We now need to continue completing the puzzle that was already incomplete, while also replacing the expensive pieces that we bought and invested time into after realising they're the wrong ones.
 
Dan James - 4 - Started off well but ended as an absolutely atrocious, below average winger. Only ability is pace. Happy that we sold him as he has no future in a serious team.

AWB - 5 - Bare minimum for a 50 million pound right-back. Can't cross, can't defend (other than 1-on-1). Good dribbler and provider of width, but basically a downgrade on Tony V.

Maguire - 5 - Again, bare minimum for an 80 million pound defender. Some good performances but some absolutely shocking ones. Dreadful at the start of each of the last three seasons, improved by the end. Slow and immobile, too static on the ball, bad in the air on offense, weird that he was made captain. Good interceptor and header of the ball defensively.

Fernandes - 9 - Superb. Kept Ole in the job far too long, amazing leadership qualities and if utilised correctly he's the most creative player in the league. Phenomenal striker of the ball, leader and a player that plays too much. Couldn't have asked for much more. Needs to improve against good teams.

Ighalo - 6 - Did his job. A pointless extension degraded his rating, but generally one of the most likable strikers we've ever had.

Van de Beek - 2 - One good performance in his whole United career and even that was his debut. No clue what Ole wanted to do with him, he's as far from a Pogba replacement as possible. Will be sold regardless of who the next manager is.

Telles - 5 - Decent player, low cost signing, should provide a good backup. Underutilised and will be a much stronger asset under the next manager. Great crosser and an intelligent player in general.

Cavani - 7 - Superb at the start, missed in between, brilliant in the last 2 months of the last season. Love his attitude, spirit and fight, intelligent poacher that showed us how much we needed a striker. Missed too many games and is now just a weird bench option. Again underutilised.

Amad, Pellistri - / - Weird signings and don't know what we do with them. Pass for now.

Sancho - 3 - Don't know what Ole wants to do with him. Weird that we tracked him for two years, just to put Greenwood in his position all the time. Doesn't suit our style of play and reckon he will be a disappointment under Conte (if he comes)

Varane - 6 - Our defence is unchanged with or without him. Should improve after Ole fecks off.

Ronaldo - 4 - Didn't understand the signing at the time, don't understand it now. 2 good performances and a handful of shit ones, too passive and hurts us defensively. Takes opportunities away from Greenwood up top and Cavani. Has a massive wage that is hard to sell and generally only brings commercial value. Hope he takes penalties and we play more to his strengths for him not to become useless.
 
Revan said:
Jesus Christ. How many players he needs to bring before the reasons for our struggles are not players that were before him. Look at this team:


Henderson

AWB Varane Maguire Telles

VDB Bruno

Greenwood Sancho Ronaldo

Cavani​

An entire first XI brought by him. Which does not include Amad, Pellestri and James.

And yet the excuses never end.
Click to expand...


By looking at his signings, this team might work with proper formation and tactics, Cavani/Greenwood/Sancho can help the midfield.
 
I think his signings have all been at least decent. The major issue I have is not being able to get the best out of Donnie and Sancho. Really strange and doesn’t look good on his coaching/scouting teams.
 
by comparison to Mourinho, Moyes and LVG, Ole has been brilliant at transforming the squad both ins and outs, I have said before I would not mind him as DOF (if the signings have been his influence)
 
For all the stick AWB gets, have everyone forgotten what an incredible liability Ashley Young was on the right back?
 
Tom Cato said:
For all the stick AWB gets, have everyone forgotten what an incredible liability Ashley Young was on the right back?
Click to expand...
Yet we conceded less with Young/Valencia at RB than with him, go figure.

A marginal improvement on 2 aging winger-cum-fullbacks is hardly something to crow about, at 50 million quid.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I hate the idea that selling a player for a profit makes them a good signing. Anyone we sign who turns out not good enough to play for Manchester United is a bad signing, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Ye true, but just correcting the post which explicitly mentioned a small loss. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it was my post
 
He has been as bad as previous managers of having a scatter gun approach to transfers.

We have wasted 120+ million on right wingers - pellestri, diallo, sancho.

We wasted 40 million on van der beek.

We wasted 80 million on a defender that needs maximum protection around him.

We wasted 40 million on a right back that will never be elite going forward and only looks good defensively when in a set up that has a low defensive line as his positioning and awareness is bang average.
 
2cents said:
Bruno - good
Maguire - bad
AWB - bad
Cavani - good
Sancho - too soon
Van de Beek - bad
James - meh
Telles - meh
Ronaldo - too soon
Varane - good
Click to expand...

Oh give me a break - AWB isn't bad. We can argue that maybe he isn't good enough going forward to take us to the title, but he has generally been one of more consistent players over the last few years. Maguire - we paid too much but he has been a very good defender over the last 2 seasons, before he started this one very poorly.
 
lysglimt said:
Oh give me a break - AWB isn't bad. We can argue that maybe he isn't good enough going forward to take us to the title, but he has generally been one of more consistent players over the last few years. Maguire - we paid too much but he has been a very good defender over the last 2 seasons, before he started this one very poorly.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don’t think anything will ever convince me that AWB is a top four standard player. Maybe it’s some weird prejudice I have against him but I just don’t see it in someone with his characteristics. The price-tag then seems all the worse. And I feel similarly towards Maguire although I am a bit more open-minded to the possibility that he can flourish in the right set-up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.