And Yes Sancho, hugely overrated by CAF and overpriced by Dortmund.
Players you're glad we didn't sign
- Thread starter sillwuka
- Start date
Longstaff never made any sense. Why on Earth would we be in for a player who isn't even in Newcastle's first 11???
A couple of Ferguson ones, mostly strikers interestingly:
Paolo Di Canio - absolute fascist shithouse, glad we didn't sign him.
Morten Gamst Pedersen - the Norwegian Beckham haha.
Dean Ashton - to be fair he looked a decent player, but a complete walking sick note. Ended up retiring at the ripe old age of 26.
Nicholas Anelka - IIRC Fergie was keen on him while he had a bit of a career revival at Bolton. Luckily he eventually moved to Chelsea and missed a crucial penalty in Moscow
Special mention to Rene Adler - not sure if there was any concrete links, but when VDS was retiring, a lot of us (myself included) were creaming ourselves at the idea of him being our new no.1 keeper. He was a huge united fan (I think he might have had a release clause specifically for us) and was a pretty impressive young keeper at Leverkusen. Obviously we ended up signing DDG, and Adler eventually moved to some midtable German side, and phased out of the national team setup entirely when the Germans spawned about half a dozen great goalkeepers around the time. Its funny considering Fergie had an awful track record with signing keepers, and it was VDS that recommended DDG which (fortunately) prompted us to punt for the latter.
Paolo Di Canio - absolute fascist shithouse, glad we didn't sign him.
Morten Gamst Pedersen - the Norwegian Beckham haha.
Dean Ashton - to be fair he looked a decent player, but a complete walking sick note. Ended up retiring at the ripe old age of 26.
Nicholas Anelka - IIRC Fergie was keen on him while he had a bit of a career revival at Bolton. Luckily he eventually moved to Chelsea and missed a crucial penalty in Moscow
Special mention to Rene Adler - not sure if there was any concrete links, but when VDS was retiring, a lot of us (myself included) were creaming ourselves at the idea of him being our new no.1 keeper. He was a huge united fan (I think he might have had a release clause specifically for us) and was a pretty impressive young keeper at Leverkusen. Obviously we ended up signing DDG, and Adler eventually moved to some midtable German side, and phased out of the national team setup entirely when the Germans spawned about half a dozen great goalkeepers around the time. Its funny considering Fergie had an awful track record with signing keepers, and it was VDS that recommended DDG which (fortunately) prompted us to punt for the latter.
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Also, bit of an dissenting take, but part of me still would have liked to see Morata at United.
I was actually a little gutted that we opted for Lukaku over him and genuinely felt he would have suited us better than Chelsea. In fact it seems both the Lukaku and Morata transfers were the wrong way round. Morata also seemed more keen to move us too (that premature red hair dye
).
I was actually a little gutted that we opted for Lukaku over him and genuinely felt he would have suited us better than Chelsea. In fact it seems both the Lukaku and Morata transfers were the wrong way round. Morata also seemed more keen to move us too (that premature red hair dye
).Stekelenburg, Cillesen, Onana.. linked with them just because VDS connection?
Draxler and Benteke.. were highly rate youngsters with a high price too.
Wanyama, we choose Schneiderlin instead of him, but both are bang average players from overate Southampton's team.
Draxler and Benteke.. were highly rate youngsters with a high price too.
Wanyama, we choose Schneiderlin instead of him, but both are bang average players from overate Southampton's team.
Didn’t Mané join Liverpool because Diouf was his idol though? Probably worth taking the hit just to get him.
Brooks, King, Longstaff
From around the time when Fletcher was ill, Anderson was flattering to deceive. Scholes and Carrick were our only proper mids. We were desperate for many midfielders as a fan base.
Also, bit of an dissenting take, but part of me still would have liked to see Morata at United.
I was actually a little gutted that we opted for Lukaku over him and genuinely felt he would have suited us better than Chelsea. In fact it seems both the Lukaku and Morata transfers were the wrong way round. Morata also seemed more keen to move us too (that premature red hair dye
It wouldn’t be hard for both transfers to be better the other way round.
what a wretched choice Chelsea and us had that summer.
I agree Morata would have been a better fit at United.
as it turns out, an appalling use of circa £150m.
who was the belgian CM who had a penpals thing with ferguson?
Patrick Kluivert - I was never a fan of him at Barca and then ended up at Newcastle for a time
Not under Mourinho, imagine him being used as a target man.
Strootman
Vidal
Vidal
Remember when we were linked with Charlie Adam? Fergie even said something about his corners alone being worth his price.
So yeah, him.
So yeah, him.
Beat me to it.
Anelka, Kewell
Werner although if we played him solely up top he could work for us
In terms of players I really wanted at the time, Mesut Ozil.
He’s 25 years old and cost them 75m. Unless he wins them the league time is not on his side and he will be considered a flop. Arsenal were robbed. He’s just not good enough.
Wesley Sneijder - I dont think he would have been suited for the Premier League at all.. (not necessarily because I rate the EPL higher than the other leagues, but in terms of playing style)
Ron Vlaar - I remember there was a lot of talk about him after the 2014 World Cup (in which he was brilliant, but it was obviously a major peak)
Alvaro Morata - Wasnt it either him or Lukaka in one summer.. Morata is another striker who is highly dependent on delivery.. Of which we had none for a fair amount of years he would have to be integrated..
Harry Maguire - Oh... wait...
I see a lot of Strootman references here, but that kinda depends which period of his carreer.. Pre double ligament injury he would have been a cracking player for United and the PL I think.. But indeed there was also still quite some talk after he came back and was struggling at Roma/Marseille already.. That wouldnt have been pretty..
PS: Is there an opposite thread? Players we should have signed but didnt?
Ron Vlaar - I remember there was a lot of talk about him after the 2014 World Cup (in which he was brilliant, but it was obviously a major peak)
Alvaro Morata - Wasnt it either him or Lukaka in one summer.. Morata is another striker who is highly dependent on delivery.. Of which we had none for a fair amount of years he would have to be integrated..
I see a lot of Strootman references here, but that kinda depends which period of his carreer.. Pre double ligament injury he would have been a cracking player for United and the PL I think.. But indeed there was also still quite some talk after he came back and was struggling at Roma/Marseille already.. That wouldnt have been pretty..
PS: Is there an opposite thread? Players we should have signed but didnt?
Bakayoko and N.Pepe recently. Players I was so wrong about.
Glad Fergie didin't signed Gascoigne in the end, he would probably cause more trouble despite being somewhat a football genius.
Glad Fergie didin't signed Gascoigne in the end, he would probably cause more trouble despite being somewhat a football genius.
Sean Longstaff
Kondongbia
Bale
Mark Fish
Rice
Kondongbia
Bale
Mark Fish
Rice
Bale, he’s injured again!
James Madison and Thomas Meunier
Yup. I think we seriously went in for him before his Madrid move.
Our fans doing what they do best, comparing us with other teams. Xhaka wasn't hyped until Arsenal were about to sign him, similar to what our fans are doing for Partey. Regret? Thiago. In 10 mins today, did you see how good he was?
Sneijder- Didn't take long before he became obscure. Furthermore, we were going to use him wrongly.
Charlie Adam
Sean Longstaff
Gabriel Batistuta (We got Ruud instead)
Michael Essien (We got Park instead and I love him)
Leighton Baines
Sean Longstaff
Gabriel Batistuta (We got Ruud instead)
Michael Essien (We got Park instead and I love him)
Leighton Baines
Sneijder
Clasie
Vlaar
Cillesen
Vermaelen
Dier
Delle Ali
Morata
Greaseman
Garay
Gaitan
Skriniar
Rakitic
Coutinho
Emre Can
Declan Rice
Sancho (for the price Dortmund quoted)
Clasie
Vlaar
Cillesen
Vermaelen
Dier
Delle Ali
Morata
Greaseman
Garay
Gaitan
Skriniar
Rakitic
Coutinho
Emre Can
Declan Rice
Sancho (for the price Dortmund quoted)
You mean, leading them to 2 league titles, becoming Chelsea's Player of the Year & getting into PL Team of the season in 4 out of his 7 seasons?
Don't give a feck, can't stand the cnut.
I always thought it was a certainty we'd end up with Steven Defour whilst in his early days at Liege.
We were linked with him so heavily, I even remember a letter Fergie wrote and sent to him on the back of a bad injury telling him to get well soon etc.
We were linked with him so heavily, I even remember a letter Fergie wrote and sent to him on the back of a bad injury telling him to get well soon etc.
Arshavin, Deco and Robinho were all a bit shit really but I have super vague memories of Redcafe meltdowns when we were linked and didn't sign them way back before I was a member and just poked my head in. Could be imagining that but I was glad at the time and I'm glad now.
I’m clinging to the hope Thiago will have a similar impact...as unlikely as that is.
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there’s usually a meltdown when any of our rivals sign a player we’ve heard of.
Robinho was an awful signing.
The way he is playing at the moment - I can imagine a lot worse
I remember him and whenever I looked at him, I said WTF... Have our standards gotten this low.. But then again we got Fallaini
Has to be Bale I remember the amount of people saying how he would rip the premiership up.
I would add Longstaff and Shearer too as good as he was I'm not sure how he would have turned out and we would have lost out on Cole and Ole who would have never made it in the team also would we have signed Yorke ?
I would add Longstaff and Shearer too as good as he was I'm not sure how he would have turned out and we would have lost out on Cole and Ole who would have never made it in the team also would we have signed Yorke ?
Ronaldinho is my biggest regret not sign him at United. Maybe here, he could have lasted longer on top level (less partying environment than Barcelona)...or got depressed.
He would still have gone down the same route. I recall when we were linked to him and he was asked about Manchester being too dull for him, and he replied that he could take a chopper to London for the night life.