Our window isn’t the great success many claim

Don't judge our transfer window until May.

Arsenal fans claim they've "won the window" but unless they're celebrating the title in May 2024, the 200 million they've spent is irrelevant.
 
Which of these transfer seasons would you have preferred?

Option 1:
- Goalkeeper from a midtable premier league club in his 30s
- South Korean winger from the Dutch league
- Serbian center back from the Russian league
- French left back from a 10th placed French league club
- Backup English goalkeeper

Costing total of about 20m (70m in today's money)

vs

Option 2:
- Treble winning goalkeeper from Barcelona
- Top Spanish midfield prospect
- Top English left back prospect
- Proven Argentinean winger from Real Madrid (WC runner up)
- Established Argentinian center back (WC runner up)
- Versatile Dutch defender (3rd place in WC)
- Colombian goal scoring machine on loan

Costing a total of about 200m (337m in today's money)

It's not about adding players for the sake of adding. Our squad is good enough (maybe a striker for Martial will be a good addition) but the players barely seem to be in sync. I'd rather we focus on building a team that can work together than adding players for the sake of it.
 
Plant0x84 said:
But if we’re kicking on from 3rd and a trophy challenging for the top spot is a natural progression. I’d also argue it’s easier (relatively) than winning the CL. If we had Kane, Caicedo, Kim etc we would have been well placed to build on last season.
As we are, I’m not convinced we will score more goals or even achieve more points than last season. If we don’t that’s a backwards step.
Click to expand...
It's definitely easier to challenge for the CL than for the Prem currently. Natural progression isn't an every year huge boost. Last season we were pretty much 6th in a lot of metrics. We grinded out very good results, but we weren't necessarily better than Brighton, Newcastle, Liverpool in the league, and were of course well off city and Arsenal. We had good results but it was well above our performance levels, which of course were impacted negatively by our fixture congestion. This season was always about getting the performance levels up to par and then just maintain our points level.

It's easy to say if we had caicedo, Kane, Kim that we could do this or that... But when have United ever been the team that signed a bunch of world class players? What gave people the impression we ever had the ability to sign those players? We are mid takeover, possibly, and are not in the right place financially to buy those players. We signed players in positions of need at the right ages, that we could afford. You gotta be patient and trust the process. We are developing a team, last season was a clean up season where Ten Hag was able to grind out results for us. We are very much still early in the development phase of the team though. People need to remember that.

A natural progression is slow growth, we had a big jump results wise last season but performances were inconsistent as hell. Natural progression on that is getting consistent performances while keeping similar results first, cementing top 4. Challenging for the premier league is a massive jump. Of course it's different and possible if you have no congestion, no other competitions to play in, but that's unrealistic for us. It worked out for Arsenal last season where they could toss aside other cups to focus on the league, and they still finished well off. You'll see them negatively affected this season being in the CL. Same with Newcastle. Brighton will now be affected by being in the Europa League. Liverpool will likely toss away other cups and purely focus on league so will probably find a better consistency level. Chelsea as well. It's a false level, because big teams typically aren't able to just rest the entire week. So it's not a fair comparison with us either, but it's the situation this season.
 
Looks like Mount is the new Maguire after one league game and a couple friendlies.
 
Aye it wasn't great but it is not too bad. We managed to get in all our first choice before season started. Whether they turn out to be good is another matter. But we backed the manager and manage to get all our targets.

On the selling side, I think this will take a few more seasons to fix. Either we price our players out of the market or their wages are prohibitively high for potential buyers. Either way, it will be another 2-3 years when most of them gets out of contract. It gets resolve either way if we can't sell them. Hopefully we don't make same mistakes again, offering crazy contract extensions or asking too much for our fringe players.

We do need to sell to buy regardless what some think. We have been using revolving credit to buy players and if we can't generate income from sales, it is likely we won't be able to make big signings in the future (I'm assuming we are stuck with Glazers).

We have one of the highest net spend amongst the top clubs and it is not because we buy more than others, it is because we can't seem to sell any.
 
My god, iv been as critical as anybody about our performance in the wolves game, but lets give Mount and the Midfield time, no system or style of player in the world would have worked on Monday when Rashford, Fernandes and Garnacho especially, were giving the ball away like they were, the rest were not much better either, i cant remember ever seeing a game where so many players basic techniques were as poor.
 
Plant0x84 said:
A top striker was promised. We are in dire need of goals and we need them now.
Hojlund may be amazing but even if he hits the ground running he isn’t WC yet.
Click to expand...
Who from the club promised that?
 
It's clear to everyone who watches us we need more attacking threat and better quality options in CM and CD. I thought we may be able to bolster the latter but now expecting not to.

I don't see how we can improve on last season with the current squad unfortunately. We needed to upgrade our outfield first team and I don't know if we have.
 
Like a plot twist in a cheap movie, I still have hope we get a couple more out the door and at least one more in. If we sold Maguire and VDB, and brought in Pavard and Amrabat , that would be a pretty great window.
 
I’m not sure why we've spent all that money on Mount based on the first game (small sample admittedly). Would it not have been better to spend a bit more and get the right sort of player? Rice and Caicedo were both available for a start.
 
Our midfield looks worse than last season currently, it's messed up when our answer to being overrun in midfield during a match is basically mctominay... no fred anymore with his energy, eriksen and cas a year older and mount is a square peg in a round hole
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
I’m not sure why we've spent all that money on Mount based on the first game (small sample admittedly). Would it not have been better to spend a bit more and get the right sort of player? Rice and Caicedo were both available for a start.
Click to expand...

There are definite Question marks Over Mount's signing but I don't see how Rice and Caicedo were right signings either they are both who have made their name as Defensive Midfielders unless Plan was to replace Casemiro they weren't ideal fit to play alongside Casemiro at all before we even get to their cost.
 
I don't think the window is done for us yet, can see us bringing Amrabat in at least. Spurs away on Saturday will give us a clearer picture as we struggled away from home last season plus I'm curious to see how well Big Ange gets them playing, he's been a shrewd operator in his career so far, the step up to the PL could be interesting.

It was the defeat away to Brentford on the second week of the season that made us dig deep towards the end of the window.
 
It was a success because we got the players the manger seemingly wanted. If they will improve us remains to be seen.
 
I am Ok with the Incomings and Expecting at least another one before the window Shuts but the real downer is the way we again failed to clear out more unwanted players .
 
We desperately need another player besides Rashford to have quality in the box and put ball in net consistently. (Even Rashford is quite hot and cold in this regard). We can polish the team as much as we want but this is basic necessity. We had plenty of moments in the Wolves match where a quality player would have scored much earlier and then the match would have had quite a different trajectory.

We have got Hojlund for that and I think his performance would be pivotal in whether we consider this window to be successful or not.
 
Lee565 said:
Our midfield looks worse than last season currently, it's messed up when our answer to being overrun in midfield during a match is basically mctominay... no fred anymore with his energy, eriksen and cas a year older and mount is a square peg in a round hole
Click to expand...
As things currently stand, this is an unavoidable truth many don’t want to hear. Midfield needed fortifications and yet currently it’s weaker than it was last season by some distance because Eriksen is a diminished player and Casemiro is not getting any younger, plus Fred’s big game pressing is now gone.

We cannot close out the transfer window with this midfield and expect anything but a rough ride this campaign.
 
Onana. Great signing
Hojlund . Not sure but consider striker market is high demand for everyone. Maybe it's good that we actually got a striker?
Mount. Meh.. If ETH can make it work, he must be a genius, otherwise it's expected that Mount won't be the most important player of this team. Good rotation option maybe.
 
Last edited:
justboy68 said:
It really is a vicious cycle, this thread from early 2020 paints a good picture of it:

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/how-long-until-oles-signings-also-join-the-deadwood-list.451638/


I actually think this thread is showing growth in the caf, in that we are allowed to be more skeptical about new signings without just following the party line that the news guys are the best thing since sliced bread. I think we've all been burned too many times at this point. The above thread was already 6 months into the season so Maguire had already managed to work his magic and get more people to stop believing in him. However, when we first signed Maguire and AWB for 130 million you were shouted down for having concerns. I remember similar thing happening with Pogba when a small group first started having doubts.

It's definitely right to be concerned about spending a chunk of our budget on Mount and hopefully it works out, but based on recent history...well the less said the better. Hojlund is an unknown quantity but I am cautiously excited about him. I'm happy we've moved on from De Gea and I'm hopeful in Onana. On the selling side of things we need to get rid of Maguire and McTominay at least to bring in a decent chunk of change. Overall a very mixed bag of a window.
Click to expand...
It was a prophetic thread. @Skills get a lot of shit for being consistently negative, but he has been consistently right in judging the managers and the players.

We probably need a similar thread for ETH's signings. Malacia is probably already in the deadwood list, Mount and Antony are gonna be failed transfers, Martinez is gonna go to bench when ETH is fired, Casemiro will be 32-33 by then and thus deadwood. Onana I think will be alright, but overpriced, and have no idea for Hojlund, but chances are higher that he won't be that great (as are for almost every young unproven player). Eriksen was alright IMO, a stop gap, but considering that Mount is not a central midfieder, Eriksen will play more than he should this season, and considering that he is past it, he will suck.

I would be completely not surprised if after ETH's episode we would need another 500m to invest in the squad because our squad is just not that good.
 
On the surface this window does not seem to have solved any problems we have at all (admittedly based on pre-season and ONE COMPETITIVE GAME).

But the No 9 we bought hasn't kicked a ball yet, our midfield is an actual mess, so Mount hasn't found his place yet in the team (ETH will surely tweak his system to improve this) and Onana's impact really cannot be evaluated until later in the season at the very least - I would argue even later down the line.

We should have bought a right back, a solid DM and potentially a winger or more proven striker - but even if we could shift the players we clearly want to at a price that benefits us (which we can't seem to do) we would not change the team so dramatically in one window.

We are where we are, as they say.
 
A lot of the success of this window for me would have been in who left as well as who came in

I wanted to see the back of

De gea
Fred
Mctom
Maguire

About a week ago I thought we had cracked it and we were creating space for real growth over the next 12 months.

Now it’s a bit of a damp squib
 
Revan said:
It was a prophetic thread. @Skills get a lot of shit for being consistently negative, but he has been consistently right in judging the managers and the players.

We probably need a similar thread for ETH's signings. Malacia is probably already in the deadwood list, Mount and Antony are gonna be failed transfers, Martinez is gonna go to bench when ETH is fired, Casemiro will be 32-33 by then and thus deadwood. Onana I think will be alright, but overpriced, and have no idea for Hojlund, but chances are higher that he won't be that great (as are for almost every young unproven player). Eriksen was alright IMO, a stop gap, but considering that Mount is not a central midfieder, Eriksen will play more than he should this season, and considering that he is past it, he will suck.

I would be completely not surprised if after ETH's episode we would need another 500m to invest in the squad because our squad is just not that good.
Click to expand...


No that's actually easiest thing to predict in football that players and mangers would eventually fail or not progress to expected levels you could hardly ever go wrong with that .
 
RedSky said:
Its improved on last season but not by much. Mount is the bizarre signing that doesn't make much sense to me, I am biased though as not a fan of his at Chelsea/England.

We need another transfer by end of window in midfield. We also have too many players unsold.
Click to expand...

The midfield is the most puzzling aspect of this all. Onana is (blatant penalty notwithstanding) an upgrade on De Gea. Højlund cannot be more profligate in front of goal than Weghorst. In midfield though, we've allowed Fred and Sabitzer to leave without any suitable replacement(s) - this has unquestionably weakened this area of the pitch, an area which was already crying out for quality reinforcements. Just a bizarre act of self-sabotage from the idiots that run United's transfer department.
 
Plant0x84 said:
Struck me watching that ‘ludicrous display’ last night that after the substitutes with the exception of Onana we were playing with last seasons team.
I have been thinking about it since and we haven’t actually improved the squad so far.
Onana will modernise our play, and our style will change and hopefully be more entertaining - but is he a better keeper than DDG?
Mount is decent but he’s a cog in the machine not a stand out player.
We’ll have to wait and see how Hojlund affects the team, but all in all we’ve spent hundreds of millions with very little improvement to show for it.
In terms of sales the only sale of note is Fred. Players like Hendo looked all but done before the window opened, and we’ve managed to stuff it up. All the others have been fringe and reserve players.
I’ve seen plenty of comments saying this has been a good window but I’m not so sure. I don’t see a great deal of progression, hopefully this can change before September, but it’s not looking hopeful at the moment.
Click to expand...

I must have missed something, because I've not picked up the vibe that people think we've had a great window. Pretty much all Summer there have been questions about both Mount and Hojlund, and a concern we haven't done enough to replace some deadwood.
 
It’s fecking crazy that after years of mediocrity the likes of Maguire, McTominay and Martial are still at the club and we wonder why we’re shite.

City are currently the best team in the world and just look at the calibre of player they sell to refresh the squad, in the last 12 months alone they‘ve sold or lost Sterling, Mahrez, Jesus, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Laporte (on the way out) Cancelo (Loan)

They aren’t afraid to lose players because they have faith in their transfer recruitment, we’re hoarding shit players like it’s a massive chore to go and and identify a replacement for Scott fecking McTominay
 
gajender said:
No that's actually easiest thing to predict in football that players and mangers would eventually fail or not progress to expected levels you could hardly ever go wrong with that .
Click to expand...
If you read that thread, almost all were criticizing the OP, and saying that Maguire is a great signing, AWB is so great at defending, and James is gonna be a great signing. So, apparently, it was not that easy to predict.

It is the same now. If you are not an ETH believer, you are an idiot, knee-jerker, negative etc, despite that I think most signs have been that ETH won't do much more than his predecessors.
 
Though I have my doubts about the window so far it’s impossible to judge so early.

Mount could have the same impact Carrick had and be with us for the next 10-12 years. I thought Di Maria and Pogba would lead us to glory but look what happened.

We haven’t even seen Höjlund who could be the next Harry Kane or the next Nicklas Bendtner. It’s just too early to judge.
 
Infra-red said:
The midfield is the most puzzling aspect of this all. Onana is (blatant penalty notwithstanding) an upgrade on De Gea. Højlund cannot be more profligate in front of goal than Weghorst. In midfield though, we've allowed Fred and Sabitzer to leave without any suitable replacement(s) - this has unquestionably weakened this area of the pitch, an area which was already crying out for quality reinforcements. Just a bizarre act of self-sabotage from the idiots that run United's transfer department.
Click to expand...
That does not mean much considering that we spent 70m on him.

If we signed Lee Cattermore for 20m (back in the days) to replace Eric Djemba-Djemba, it wouldn't have made that signing a good one just because Catermole was better than Djemba-Djemba.

I have no idea how Hojlund is gonna turn out, only time will tell. But for him to be classified as a success, considering the transfer fee, he needs to do far more than just being a bit better in front of goal than Weghorst.
 
Revan said:
If you read that thread, almost all were criticizing the OP, and saying that Maguire is a great signing, AWB is so great at defending, and James is gonna be a great signing. So, apparently, it was not that easy to predict.

It is the same now. If you are not an ETH believer, you are an idiot, knee-jerker, negative etc, despite that I think most signs have been that ETH won't do much more than his predecessors.
Click to expand...

Most Criticizing the OP for his opinion is different thing all together that doesn't refute my point at all I won't expect Fans and supporters of the Club to think rationally and Critically more often than not we would all like to err on the side of optimism and believe things would work out if there is even hint of progress.
 
Pexbo said:
We’ve bought 3 players.

Onana - big upgrade on De Gea.
Mount - will need to settle in but he’s surely an improvement on McFred.
Hojlund - Is he going to be any better than Wout? Yes I think he is.

We should have a better XI than last year when everyone is fit, settled and that equates to a good window.
Click to expand...

Onana - Made sense as De Gea was not good enough anymore, but at the end of the day its replacing a goalkeeper with a goalkeeper.

Mount - a) he's not a midfielder so is not an upgrade on McFred, b) McFred was not part of our first team last season, Eriksen was. Fred just had to play a lot as a stand in c) Mount is neither an upgrade on Eriksen/Casemiro nor a remotely adequate stand in for either.

Hojlund - Wout was an emergency/temporary singing to replace the fact we had no one. Its not so much is he better than Wout as is he good enough for a team looking to compete for major trophies. Hopefully he is and it made sense as we needed someone, but his tally last season was around what Martial/Ronaldo/Wout managed between them, which in itself wasn't nearly good enough. At best he's gong to need a bit of time so I wouldn't expect an immediate massive improvement.

Mount is the sticking point for me. The other two made sense even if they don't work out for whatever reason. Mount creates a problem that was never there and means we now NEED to sign a midfielder before the window closes for it to be a decent window. Otherwise as soon as Casemiro or Eriksen are injured our season is over (and that's assuming Eriksen can re-find his form from prior to his injury). Fred played over 50 times in midfield last season. If Mount plays 50 times in midfield this season, that's 50 games without a midfield. We aren't going to fluke a win 50 times due to the opposition wasiting 10+ chances and the officials ignoring our goalkeeper punching someone's face instead of the ball.
 
Bailly still without a club, Henderson staying on crazy wages. Murtough Madness, just not in the way his sycophants claim.

I am eagerly awaiting more essays from certain posters to explain to the plebs how we don't know anything and how Murtough needs more time :lol: .
 
We've basically signed one guaranteed starter, a prospect, and a luxury signing. In a standard window where the team is established that's a decent window but its not enough for a rebuild.

We need another midfield starter in and we need another option up front. Without both the window simply can't be seen as a success.
 
Smores said:
We've basically signed one guaranteed starter, a prospect, and a luxury signing. In a standard window where the team is established that's a decent window but its not enough for a rebuild.

We need another midfield starter in and we need another option up front. Without both the window simply can't be seen as a success.
Click to expand...

I kind of agree but what's a "luxury signing"?
 
Can’t wait for the brief next week saying we’re unlikely to add anyone else :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.