Our transfers beyond Pogba

Raoul said:
He seems to be better regarded than Morgan at the NT level. Not saying we should buy him, just making the argument that he's underrated because he doesn't fit into standard muppet transfer logic of buying sexy players.
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I can assure you that's not the reason why I, and I'm sure most people, don't want him. I mean, I love sexy players who dribble past players for fun, pass teams to death and showboat to the heavens, but I know having a team full of them isn't likely, and sqaud players are needed.

Two of my favourite CMs ever in Keane and Scholes just went about their business without showing off, much like Matuidi; It's just that they were actually brilliant midfielders. I guess Scholes showed off with his excellent passing, but still. Blind is one of my favourite players at the moment and I wouldn't describe him as a sexy player (bar his looks) or a world class one either. Though, I think he could end up being one. Another example is Wes Brown who was one of my favourite players of all time. He was the exact opposite of a sexy player and just played for the team, which I loved.
 
Raoul said:
If Mourinho's interest is confirmed then yes he actually is. He's put in about 50 appearances a year for a very good PSG side, is a full France international starter etc.
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I haven't seen much of him for PSG, but is there much of a difference between the player he is today & what schneiderlin was for Southampton? Presumably the latter will be reverting into a more flexible role for mourinho.

I personally don't see us signing Matuidi unless Herrera or Schneiderlin are sold. Otherwise we have 5 central midfielders, discounting Blind and merging Carrick and schweinstiger as one option.
 
Zelalem said:
What are our chances of signing Bellerin?
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If Mourinho identified him as a key target it's just about plausible that we could get him. It would obviously all depend on:
a) Arsenal agreeing to sell. He's one of their best, but they've lost their better players on numerous occasions in the last 10 years or so, so it might depend on pitching them a good offer. In the current Premier League financial climate this could be very high.
b) How the player balanced a Champions League place this year and playing for a side who have been better for the last three years etc. vs. a big increase in wages and the chance that Mourinho will haul United back in front of Arsenal

But as with the vast majority of players, he is probably not a target of ours so we will never know.
 
witchtrials said:
If Mourinho identified him as a key target it's just about plausible that we could get him. It would obviously all depend on:
a) Arsenal agreeing to sell. He's one of their best, but they've lost their better players on numerous occasions in the last 10 years or so, so it might depend on pitching them a good offer. In the current Premier League financial climate this could be very high.
b) How the player balanced a Champions League place this year and playing for a side who have been better for the last three years etc. vs. a big increase in wages and the chance that Mourinho will haul United back in front of Arsenal

But as with the vast majority of players, he is probably not a target of ours so we will never know.
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I think as well there is always the factor that if Arsenal did agree to sell would somebody else be in for him that Arsenal would prefer to do a deal with and the player would prefer to play for like say Barca...
 
Fortis Mente said:
Maybe they could've bought any midfielder that was available, but they certainly couldn't of bought any midfielder in the world like what you originally said.
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They had the money to buy anyone provided the selling club were amenable.
 
sun_tzu said:
I think as well there is always the factor that if Arsenal did agree to sell would somebody else be in for him that Arsenal would prefer to do a deal with and the player would prefer to play for like say Barca...
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Yes. I was just noting the (fairly banal) fact of the kind of target he would represent, i.e. somewhere between "Could we sign Ashley Williams?" (Yes) and "Could we sign Lewandowski?" (No). But you're right, of course, that would be a probable obstacle in any real pursuit of him.
 
Raoul said:
Yes any midfielder in the world. It obviously takes two clubs to conduct a deal.
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They wouldn't of been able to buy Iniesta, Modric and Busquets so they wouldn't of been able to buy any midfielder in the world.
 
Saul & Fabinho are all we would need, with Griezmann next summer. We have talent coming through at centre back, there is no point in blocking that and losing potentially amazing players as we did with Pique. Tuanzebe and Williams look special, and Fosu-Mensah looks equally adept at the back or in midfield.

De Gea
Fabinho - Smalling - Bailly - Shaw
Schneiderlin - Saul - Pogba
Mkhitaryan - Ibrahimovic - Martial
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Valencia/Jones/Blind/Tuanzebe/Fosu-Mensah/Carrick/Herrera/Rooney/Mata/Memphis/Rashford rotated as necessary. I would move the rest on.

However, we're likely to see no further signings, as it will be difficult to move players on at any great value and we will likely see Rooney starting the season on the pitch at the very least. It's always difficult to completely overhaul a squad in one summer.

​
 
Fortis Mente said:
They wouldn't of been able to buy Iniesta, Modric and Busquets so they wouldn't of been able to buy any midfielder in the world.
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Yes, in the context that you're discussing it, what matters is which players PSG could actually acquire to replace Matuidi. Keeping his place is no mean feat as PSG could attract a very high quality replacement, but it does nothing to demonstrate his quality relative to players who PSG would like but whose clubs won't sell, or players who wouldn't countenance moving to Ligue 1.
 
Don't we also have to be mindful about the home grown quota, with Rooney Carrick and Young not going to be here for much longer. Possibly Jones.
 
Noc-Z said:
When you consider what we still need, it's criminal how this squad has been developed over the last few years.
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Yes, even with the four fantastic (on paper, at least) additions we have made this summer, our squad and first 11 is still lacking in key areas.

We have an abundance of question-mark players, shite ones and past-it's on our booKS.

Our right hand side is quite literally championship level:

Damian, Valencia and Depay?

Embarrassing.

I think anot RB and RW are far more important than a CB frankly.

Mahrez would be wondeful.
 
We dont have enough games to fill everyone.

I suspect We wont be too arsed with el since league would be a priority.

But jose team is ussually fit and there little rotation.

We're good i guess baring major injury. Whether our current squad is good enough is another matter
 
I think Pogba will be the last. Mourinho said in his press conference that he had 4 targets.
 
JTW95 said:
I think Pogba will be the last. Mourinho said in his press conference that he had 4 targets.
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If we don't sell anyone (bar maybe a midfielder) then you're probably right. But he also effectively said that if we were to sell, we would replace them.
 
We need a centre half. Other than that and we're grand.

Some people would do well to realise the depth of talent we have in our squad, and that many of our under-performing players, (Herrera, Schneiderlin, Januzaj) amongst others, can kick on and excel under the right guidance.
 
Get Pogba and I think we still need a right winger to give us balance. Mane would have been good or Sane. Right back we can get away with but an upgrade would be good as much as I like Valencia. Everywhere else I think we are actually covered adequately enough.
 
I think if we sign Pogba the money will be up for this year:

-Zlatan free but on very high wages
-Mkhitaryan cost £26m and also on high wages
-Bailly was £30m
-Pogba would be £100m and also on very high wages

That is £156m + 3 very high wages added to the bill, I'd say that is about as much as we can afford to spend this season

Without first selling some players I can't see us really signing anybody anymore

Maybay we could be in the market for a cheap back-up experienced centreback like Vedran Corluka

Matuidi I see him coming if we either can't sign Pogba or if we first sell off Schneiderlin or Fellaini for a decent amount that would sort of free up the money it would cost to afford Matuidi (transfer fee + wages)

I do think regardless a couple of players will be going if only to lower the wage bill a bit, Schweinsteiger, Jones and Rojo to be prime candidates.
 
If we sign pogba as our 4th signing then for our 5th and last maybe we will go for that Fabinho fella then that'll be it I think

Considering Fabinho can play rb or Dm then it kills 2 birds with one stone
 
Lawman said:
Get Pogba and I think we still need a right winger to give us balance. Mane would have been good or Sane. Right back we can get away with but an upgrade would be good as much as I like Valencia. Everywhere else I think we are actually covered adequately enough.
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Mkhitaryan is signed for the RW and back-up will be Lingard

The 10 Jose will play Rooney and Mata

Basically it will be like this:

---------------------------DDG/Romero----------------------
Valencia/TFM----Bailly/Tuanzebe---Smalling/Blind---Shaw/CBJ
----------Schneiderlin/Carrick----Pogba/Herrera----------------
---------------------------Rooney/Mata-------------------------
Mkhitaryan/Lingard------------------------------Martial/Depay
--------------------------Zlatan/Rashford-----------------------

Reserves:

Keeper: Johnstone
Defence: Darmian, Jones, Rojo, Blackett
Midfield: Schweinsteiger, Fellaini, Pereira
Attack: Young, Januzaj, Keane, Wilson

I think he will want to clean out that reserves list by:
-selling Jones and Rojo and replacing them with signing a new experienced CB
-selling Schweinsteiger (old, injurry prone and expensive)
-Loaning out Blackett
-Loaning out Januzaj
-Loaning out Wilson
 
The red panther said:
Mkhitaryan is signed for the RW and back-up will be Lingard

The 10 Jose will play Rooney and Mata

Basically it will be like this:

---------------------------DDG/Romero----------------------
Valencia/TFM----Bailly/Tuanzebe---Smalling/Blind---Shaw/CBJ
----------Schneiderlin/Carrick----Pogba/Herrera----------------
---------------------------Rooney/Mata-------------------------
Mkhitaryan/Lingard------------------------------Martial/Depay
--------------------------Zlatan/Rashford-----------------------

Reserves:

Keeper: Johnstone
Defence: Darmian, Jones, Rojo, Blackett
Midfield: Schweinsteiger, Fellaini, Pereira
Attack: Young, Januzaj, Keane, Wilson

I think he will want to clean out that reserves list by:
-selling Jones and Rojo and replacing them with signing a new experienced CB
-selling Schweinsteiger (old, injurry prone and expensive)
-Loaning out Blackett
-Loaning out Januzaj
-Loaning out Wilson
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Unfortunately Lingard is shite and if Mkhitaryan struggles we are going to drop the standard massively with Lingard. I'd rather have Young there.
 
Lawman said:
Unfortunately Lingard is shite and if Mkhitaryan struggles we are going to drop the standard massively with Lingard. I'd rather have Young there.
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Well first of all Young is there, I have listed a 27 man squad including Young, if Lingard is total shite Jose can always play Young instead

Second I rate Lingard much more than Young, I agree Lingard is not very good but he is miles better than Young at this point
 
The red panther said:
Well first of all Young is there, I have listed a 27 man squad including Young, if Lingard is total shite Jose can always play Young instead

Second I rate Lingard much more than Young, I agree Lingard is not very good but he is miles better than Young at this point
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Sorry not at any point for me! He has little to no end product. Very similar to TC23.
 
Lawman said:
Sorry not at any point for me! He has little to no end product. Very similar to TC23.
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Young also has no end product, no goals, very little assists, been like that ever since his first season at the club. Lingard has much more endproduct than Young
 
Lawman said:
Sorry not at any point for me! He has little to no end product. Very similar to TC23.
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But Young is one of the worst 'end product' players I've ever seen at United. Lingard scored as many goals for us last season as has Young has over the last four years.
 
soapythecat said:
You talk as if we have signed Pogba. If he comes, then I doubt we will buy others, unless we sell a few but I doubt we'd get much for our squad players.
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I don't think it's the fee from selling squad players that matter in case we need to sell them. We need adequate replacement that fits Mourinho's profile. If there ain't better replacement for these squad players, then there is no point selling them regardless of fee. We can always pay extra to get the adequate replacements not too reliant on the income from selling squad players. It's more about squad space to fit new signings.
 
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Experienced CB to share Bailly's position (Jones and Rojo need to be shipped out) and a DM to play alongside Pogba. If we're playing a midfield 2, and Pogba is one of the 2 then we need someone solid in there to allow him to roam.

RB too but there won't be time to focus on that you'd have thought, plus I don't mind seeing Darmian given another season. Valencia and TFM offer varied and relatively deep cover.
 
If we get Pogba, I would like to see Mata and Fellaini leave. We won't have space in midfield for them, and Mata must not be played on wing.
 
I honestly don't see Blind playing much if at all at CB under Mourinho. So we definitely need another centre back. We could also do with a proper RB, i hope Darmian improves this year but its a risk going into a second season with him being the only recognized right back in the squad. If he is shit again i'm not ecstatic at the thought of us having to shoehorn Jones, Valencia or Mensah in there when it's not their natural position.
 
golden_blunder said:
Darmien, Valencia and depay, championship players, really?
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Mk has been signed to play right wing also, it's a given. Also a reason why I don't blink mata will be sold as he's a clear replacement for rooney if he underperformes at 10
 
Think a young right winger could be a good option, just because even if we sign an established star like Mahrez (not that I'd complain) we'd still need to oust Rooney from the team as he is clearly a weak link. I'm just not sure I see that happening.

So someone like Ounas who wouldn't demand an instant first team spot and can develop at a steady pace could be a good option. Aside from that and experienced centre back wouldn't go amiss and you could see why there are calls for a right back too given Darmian's uninspiring first season and Valencia not exactly pulling up trees.

Personally, if we sign Pogba and our business ends there I'll be more than happy. I think we'll have a squad capable of competing on all fronts even if it has its caveats.
 
A RB and CB and then we're complete.

Pique/Varane and Azpilicueta/Carvajal/Fabinho. We're sorted. :devil:
 
All we need now is a RB, CB and a #6 with good passing and vision. Realistically, if we do sign anyone else this window, it'll be a defender.
 
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