Paul Pogba | Undergoing Medical | Helping out the Laundry Ladies
- Thread starter KM
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no one was bothered when he wrote it the first time, nor the second time, nor the third time, nor the fourth time, nor the fifth time, nor the sixth time, nor the seventh time.
We should offer £100,800,000 as a gesture of good will.not quite, didn't they pay us 800k compensation
Espanyol are local rivals of Barca. Espanyol have a horrible record v Barca but guess who Barca's big rivals are who can go toe to toe with them?
Fair enough you got me beat.
I think I read here he's a Liverpool fan or at least has a soft spot for them. Could explain things a little I suppose. On the other hand it could just be some are being a little over-sensitive as regards the wording of his tweet which could actually be the truth.
Calm down. Di Maria probably would have chose to stay at Madrid if we hadn't made Madrid a generous offer, and also he was clearly not wanted there anymore. He never settled here. Although I doubt LVG'a philosophy helped.
Yeah stop picking on us, did we pick on you at Juventus when you got relegated for match fixing? did we?
Okay Im still waiting for you to explain the "we forced him to come here" part.
Did we?Yeah stop picking on us, did we pick on you at Juventus when you got relegated for match fixing? did we?
I'm starting to hate the match fixing club. Their fans and so salty.
According to this thread Ballague supports 83 clubs.
Meeeoowww, saucer of milk here please.Yeah stop picking on us, did we pick on you at Juventus when you got relegated for match fixing? did we?
when will it be our day?According to this thread Ballague supports 83 clubs.
I'm not knocking him as a player but as you keep repeating how much of a bargain Alli was (the type that is extremely rare and will be more so in the future) how much do you think Spurs would ask for him? Easily £60m plus if we came knocking i reckon.
Focus on Pogba buddy. No need to talk about any other player, especially one that is not even world class at any point in his life.
No, Juventus and their fans can feck off, they won't even be relevant after this window after selling Bonucci and Pogba to clubs in a much bigger and better league.
wink wink
Ha, we got them in the end. Smart Woody.not quite, didn't they pay us 800k compensation
More like Smart Gilly.
We're Manchester United. Despite a few poor years, we are still at worst the 4th biggest club in the world behind Barca, Real and Bayern who all have super teams. Our main issue is that we have gotten are last two managerial signings wrong. We've remedied that, he isn't my favourite choice but he's the best available and an outstanding candidate. I'll be the first to admit that we lack quality in midfield and are in my opinion pretty well stocked everywhere else now (expecting 2-3 to leave too).
Our midfield issue is two fold. We don't have a good enough player in dm. In today's game at the level we aspire to, your dm must be good at the defensive side of the game and good at playmaking. We have Carrick, Blind, Schwensteiger and Schneideirlin. For me the best choice is blind but he lacks of athleticism is so glaring that he needs to play with midfield partners who will cover for him and beware of runners coming off him. Schneiderlin defends to a very high level but in position isn't good enough for our level, he knows it too. Quite regularly you would see him taking up positions where couldn't get the ball in build up. Meaning his midfield parter would have to come and do it and that would leave us with a gapping whole in the middle meaning no link from midfield to the final third or an attacking midfielder having to drop deep meaning again no link to final third and less bodies to disorganise the opposition. Carrick can playmaker and hit passes but again has no legs and is now a sieve defensively, Schweinsteiger the same thing. This is our first problem and was a very big one under Van goal and will continue to be one. I assume Scheneiderlin will get another chance and if he can execute the basics in that role we will be just about able to cope.
Our second issue was cm where we had Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Fellaini, Schneiderlin and at times Rooney. This player is your controller there're several ways this can be executed (your Keane, Viera, Schweinsteiger types or your Scholes, Xavi, Modric types) but he needs to control the midfield for you. This player tends to be technical, have vision, mobile, can link play. Again we didn't have a player good enough to carry out that role for us. So we struggled to get a hold of games and due to the first problem our midfield and attack struggled to link, We just ended up passing the ball around in safe areas and barely destabilising the opposition.
The players I mentioned in an earlier post all are either good at the first role or the second role hence why a combination of both would make our midfield much better and after offloading a few players allowing us to have very good quality and squad depth in the middle and we wouldn't need to spend 100 million euros. With the signing of Mkhitaryan I assume the controller/cm is the role Jose wants to play Pogba in. This is not a role he is very good at. He plays further forward for Juve while other players control the midfield, he goes missing for long periods of time, he is sloppy with the ball and he is wasteful but he has fantastic skills and is good for a few vine worthy moments a game. Don't get me wrong he is an amazing talent but one who doesn't play half as well as people seem to think he does. My issue is with paying 100 million for such a player. His performances don't match his hype and we can strengthen and save money. I feel Jose is the best manager to iron out those mistakes in his game but the price for him is too steep when you consider he will eventually be Madrid/Barca bound, we already had him and he left and the game is full of midfield talents he isn't worth it to me. I hate the way Woodward is just turning us into a club that throws money at players who aren't worth it. Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Depay, Mata, Herrera (who I like). Di Maria was worth it but LVG made life here horrible for him.
I apologise for calling fans who want Pogba desperate that was just my frustration, but I hope this explains why I'm so against the move. For another 100 million euros I want all our midfield issues solved and I don't think that will happen with this signing.
It's a relevant question to show the market that we're up against. For me Pogba is overrated, but at the same time clearly better than what we've got so i'm not against the signing if we can pull it off.
Not sold on spending so much on him, admittedly I've not seen him play overmuch, but when I have seen him he doesn't seem to do much bar the odd highlight moment.
For the amount he'll cost I'd expect the best player in the world, which I don't think he will be.
Not my money though, and he would improve us, would just prefer to spend it on Griezmann and get Kroos with the change.
For the amount he'll cost I'd expect the best player in the world, which I don't think he will be.
Not my money though, and he would improve us, would just prefer to spend it on Griezmann and get Kroos with the change.
Neymar's buyout is £210 million and he's probably not even in the top 3 or 5 best players in the world. For half the price of Neymar we'd be getting the new Viera/Yaya who has a touch of Zidane about him and who will only get better...he'll definitely surpass Viera and Yaya in time
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Balague guest on 5live now.
I wonder if the words Madrid, Pogba and choice will come up..
I wonder if the words Madrid, Pogba and choice will come up..
Neymar is much better than Pogba, though. Just saying.
I'm frankly a bit unsure about the price but if we can afford it, we should definitely go for it. We've been severely lacking in that sense of imagination and audacity at United since that RvP season, and if not anything else, Pogba has imagination in spades. At Juventus, he plays to the left of a midfield 3 but if we get him, I'd love for us to play two hard working midfield players and give Pogba a free role in front of them. He currently likes to just drift wide but I think he could really explode playing behind the striker, just as Bale did when Andre Vilas-Boas moved him there.
I've seen a lot of people on this thread say they've never seen Pogba dominate a game, he's a youtube player etc. and I somewhat agree. His game is not consistent enough for him to play in midfield and really dictate a game like an Iniesta or a Modric. The way I see it is that he's basically a modern day Gerrard: he'll never be a midfield metronome but he's just so outrageously talented that if you keep getting the ball to him, eventually he'll do something magical and win you the game. Jose Mourinho is the master at getting a pragmatic 1-0, but if we get Pogba, with Zlatan, Mkhitaryan and Martial already in the team, we could be a lot of fun to watch.
I'd also like to add that while he has a reputation as a cheque book manager, Mourinho is hardly one to throw exorbitant amounts at players. Jose Mourinho's top 5 most expensive tranfers are Diego Costa (£32m), Willian (£30m), Fabregas (£30m), Shevchenko (£30m) and Bailly (£30m). Of course, depending on the actual price, Mkhitaryan could be £33m or £26.5m. And this a manager who's worked under Perez and peak-spend Abramovic. If that should tell you anything, it's that Jose is a pragmatist: he doesn't go for the glamour signings, he assesses the deficiencies of the squad and picks reasonable targets that would have an immediate impact. So the fact that he's willing to blow £100m on Pogba (and he was apparently willing to it last season at Chelsea) should tell you how special player he is and that Jose must have something in mind.
I would rather spend the money on Griezmann or Verrati, but Griezmann just signed a new contract so is not for sale, and PSG would probably tell us to piss off regardless of how much we offered for Verrati. So, taking that into consideration, Pogba is probably the best investment. Even if wanted to leave in a few years time, we would almost certainly make our money back.
As for the "do we really want a player who doesn't want to come here" (I suggest we call it 'The Di Maria conundrum'), if he signs for us, it would be by choice. We were also the second choice for Di Maria in terms of transfers but let's be honest, we were really third choice after PSG and staying at Real. Real forced Di Maria out to finance James, Juve on the other hand would gladly keep Pogba for another year if he doesn't want to come here.
Man, I promised myself I wouldn't get sucked in to this one, that it was never going to happen but having typed all that out it seems I'm well and truly caught up in the muppetry
In for a penny, in for a pound, if you weren't already excited enough about the Manchester derby for next season, just imagine Pogba vs Toure in midfield:
I've seen a lot of people on this thread say they've never seen Pogba dominate a game, he's a youtube player etc. and I somewhat agree. His game is not consistent enough for him to play in midfield and really dictate a game like an Iniesta or a Modric. The way I see it is that he's basically a modern day Gerrard: he'll never be a midfield metronome but he's just so outrageously talented that if you keep getting the ball to him, eventually he'll do something magical and win you the game. Jose Mourinho is the master at getting a pragmatic 1-0, but if we get Pogba, with Zlatan, Mkhitaryan and Martial already in the team, we could be a lot of fun to watch.
I'd also like to add that while he has a reputation as a cheque book manager, Mourinho is hardly one to throw exorbitant amounts at players. Jose Mourinho's top 5 most expensive tranfers are Diego Costa (£32m), Willian (£30m), Fabregas (£30m), Shevchenko (£30m) and Bailly (£30m). Of course, depending on the actual price, Mkhitaryan could be £33m or £26.5m. And this a manager who's worked under Perez and peak-spend Abramovic. If that should tell you anything, it's that Jose is a pragmatist: he doesn't go for the glamour signings, he assesses the deficiencies of the squad and picks reasonable targets that would have an immediate impact. So the fact that he's willing to blow £100m on Pogba (and he was apparently willing to it last season at Chelsea) should tell you how special player he is and that Jose must have something in mind.
I would rather spend the money on Griezmann or Verrati, but Griezmann just signed a new contract so is not for sale, and PSG would probably tell us to piss off regardless of how much we offered for Verrati. So, taking that into consideration, Pogba is probably the best investment. Even if wanted to leave in a few years time, we would almost certainly make our money back.
As for the "do we really want a player who doesn't want to come here" (I suggest we call it 'The Di Maria conundrum'), if he signs for us, it would be by choice. We were also the second choice for Di Maria in terms of transfers but let's be honest, we were really third choice after PSG and staying at Real. Real forced Di Maria out to finance James, Juve on the other hand would gladly keep Pogba for another year if he doesn't want to come here.
Man, I promised myself I wouldn't get sucked in to this one, that it was never going to happen but having typed all that out it seems I'm well and truly caught up in the muppetry
In for a penny, in for a pound, if you weren't already excited enough about the Manchester derby for next season, just imagine Pogba vs Toure in midfield
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Bit surprised the title has been changed in response to Balague's tweet, he doesn't sound particularly clued up on this transfer. To me, at least.
I think they are just taking the piss out of him.
Would make senseHe probably has no idea whether United will sign him, but if nothing else it reinforces other reports that Real Madrid aren't prepared to pay Juventus' asking price, which is obviously great news for us.
I'm not listening but I'd imagine it would go something like "Pogba dreams of wearing the white of Real Madrid", "Zidane is like a father to him", "the price is to high", "tragic that he will not be able to realise his dream", "he'll be at United but he hates them"
I didn't think Balague was seen as 'reliable'. Maybe it's because I just can't stand him.
Dont leave us in suspense...
Always thought he was overrated and to be honest didn't really care if we signed him or not before.
But after the last few days, there isn't a player out there I want us to sign more at this time. Everybody is butthurting over this signing starting from the Juventus wankers to all our local rivals and ending with Madrid and their buttboys in the press. It's ridiculous and I love it.
Just look at that Ballague tweet, you can actually taste his tears when you read it.
But after the last few days, there isn't a player out there I want us to sign more at this time. Everybody is butthurting over this signing starting from the Juventus wankers to all our local rivals and ending with Madrid and their buttboys in the press. It's ridiculous and I love it.
Just look at that Ballague tweet, you can actually taste his tears when you read it.
Certainly overpriced, but will be delighted it we pull this off. Him and Ravel were a big reason why I followed youth team football when he was around and I always thought they both had big futures at United. Not gone the way I would have hoped, but would be nice to see it partially rectified.
Previous title was pretty old. Been five more threadmarks since so may as well update even if it is Balague. He's changed his tone from just a few days ago.
Does anyone even care what Balague says? He's nothing but the British media mouthpiece for the big Spanish teams