Potential CB Options

A pacier CB to sit alongside Maguire would do nicely. I don’t mind Lindelöf, but he generally doesn’t excel at anything in particular.
 
UpWithRivers said:
Totally agree on Raiola. His job is to get Pogba out or get as much cash for his players (and himself of course). If that means making interviews and coming across as the bad guy or asking for ridiculous wages, or getting a player to keep swapping clubs then thats what he will do. Thats his job. Thats why the players love him and the clubs hate him. But at the end of the day the players are in charge and he is doing what is instructed of him. There is no way he is going behind Pogbas back or any of his players. I have never heard a player slag him off. Ive never heard Pogba say a word against him. Why? Because he loves him being a cnt.
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Indeed. There is just no way any club of our size should be running away from a football agent. His main crime is being outspoken, but so what? I mean, when Rooney was reluctant to commit due to concerns as to our competitiveness - do you think that because Jonathan Barnett didn’t do an interview that he was not in sync with his client?

I don’t even agree with this ‘Raiola is Pogba’s mouthpiece’ theory either. I think it suits certain sections of our fans to take any words from Raiola as if they came from Pogba himself to justify their dislike for the player. Of course, I don’t doubt that Pogba has expressed his unwillingness to sign a nee contract with his agent, as that would be common sense - but the idea that he goes and speaks about it to the press on Pogba’s instruction is far-fetched. Raiola is a straight-talker. If he’s being interviewed and is asked about Pogba’s future, he will answer directly and say ‘I don’t think he will stay’. But in the grand scheme of things, in this current football world of chatter - players, agents etc talking, I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to avoid doing business with someone. This isn’t the playground.

I also don’t believe the part you say about Raiola getting his players to ‘swap clubs’ in order to make money. That would indicate that the players work for him and not the other way round. His job is to help his players move when they want to move. The same as any other agent, with the only difference being you actually get to hear him while he’s doing it. There is no way Haaland will move to Madrid against his own will, for example, if he were to join United simply because Raiola has said he wants to get paid.

Mino is nothing but an agent, and has no more power than many other agents. Fans and consumers of football’s soap opera find it convenient to villainise him because it suits their own agenda, or helps them deflect. We haven’t exactly been Bayern Munich in recent years, and the things Raiola has said are the same things everyone else has said in the same time period about the state of our club.
 
Rozay said:
Konate’s injury record is fine.
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I wouldn’t say it’s fine. He’s had quite a lot of problems and is out now again. We need a CB who has very high probability he can stay fit. We already have many who can’t.
 
I’m gonna say Wesley Fofana of Leicester. Aged 20 - very good already with the potential to improve further. 6 foot 3 Frenchman bought by the Foxes from St Etienne for a fee that could rise to £30m. Good in the air, reads the game well and has good pace.
 
CM10 said:
Neither of them are bad players individually but I don't think they complement eachother particularly well. There's just too many faults between them to make it as a partnership, or at least one that can help us sustain a title push.

As you say, the pace might not be that significant. But when you factor in Lindelof's 30-something% success rate in aerial duels and the number of individual errors still occuring at the back, it doesn't give you a great deal of confidence in them over the course of a season.
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Yeah now, I often read these myths about Lindelöf around here. According to official Prem statistics he has:

Aerial duels won: 218
Aerial duels lost: 137

Other than that I quite agree with much that Rozay has written.
 
Zen86 said:
A pacier CB to sit alongside Maguire would do nicely. I don’t mind Lindelöf, but he generally doesn’t excel at anything in particular.
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Could Badiashile/Torres be options after all we did look at them back in the summer too. I also think that Milenkovic could be available for decent fee.
 
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We were linked with him when he first broke through at 17, but Nathan Collins looks pretty good tonight against Spurs. Would definitely keep an eye on him.
 
Look just offer us Maguire money for Varane. It'll be worth it, trust me
 
I think we should challenge Liverpool for the signing of Sven Botman. He's 6'4 and at 20 years old is displaying very high potential as a commanding CB. He's also left footed which is something that is favoured by Solskjaer according to reports.

I think what's important here is the profile of the player we sign for the role in question rather than someone with experience who is missing the key ingredients for that profile. It was reported in August this year by The Athletic (tweet below) that we wanted to sign a CB who could defend in 1v1 situations when the fullbacks were caught up field and also provide a commanding presence at the back.

So it seems like the club are looking for someone who is good on the ball, aerially strong and can can defend space in behind in isolation which requires a commanding presence in both a deeper defensive block and a higher line which would allow us to play a more expansive game and sacrifice defensive stability for goals. IMO the likes of Konate, Botman, Milenkovic and Upamecano fit that role with the first 3 showing high potential when it comes to their aerial game. I'm sure there's other players too, but the aforementioned I feel fit the below profile and we should definitely target one.

 
Upamecano lads. He shouldn’t choose Bayern if he respects RB Leipzig. Show Upamecano the league table and tell him if you come here, we will win it.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Upamecano lads. He shouldn’t choose Bayern if he respects RB Leipzig. Show Upamecano the league table and tell him if you come here, we will win it.
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They won't let him leave in January with that upcoming tie against the scousers surely,will definitely need him & Konate for those two games.

Really want us to buy a CB in January but my gut feeling is that only happens if we can get Jones/Rojo off the books. There is also that possibility of Ole deciding to keep faith in Bailly & Tuanzebe until the summer

Think we might hear Ole come out with we don't need to sign a CB line in January we have Eric & Axel which worries me because Bailly is so injury prone.
 
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He seems like Liverpool bound but by youtube highlights Ozan Kabak seems like a really tasty prospect. Plays very similar to deLigt. If we manage to get Upamecano that will be amazing but Kabak should definitely be among 2,3 shortlisted players for CB signing.
 
What about Pau Torres (Villareal)? He is good in the air, have pace (read an article saying he is the fastest defender in La Liga or something) and is LEFT Footed (will allow Maguire to drift to his preferred right side)

But I haven't seen his performance this year. Any idea??

Anyway whomever we end with, the guy need to be aerially good and need pace (Maguire haven't got any) and if LEFT foot
 
Jibbs said:
He seems like Liverpool bound but by youtube highlights Ozan Kabak seems like a really tasty prospect. Plays very similar to deLigt. If we manage to get Upamecano that will be amazing but Kabak should definitely be among 2,3 shortlisted players for CB signing.
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Will definitely have to wait until the summer for Upamecano/Konate/Alaba however if we wanted one in January then need to look at Torres/Badashile/Milenkovic
 
Wouldn’t mind going for an experienced player here. Even if just to last us through a couple of seasons. Someone who can organize (ie tell the likes of Wan Bisaka exactly where to be at all times!) and lead from the back, and ideally not go into total panic with the ball at his feet.
 
Alan Partridge said:
Wouldn’t mind going for an experienced player here. Even if just to last us through a couple of seasons. Someone who can organize (ie tell the likes of Wan Bisaka exactly where to be at all times!) and lead from the back, and ideally not go into total panic with the ball at his feet.
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The one player who fits that bill perfectly is Ramos but no way would he leave Real
 
LUC1f3R said:
What about Pau Torres (Villareal)? He is good in the air, have pace (read an article saying he is the fastest defender in La Liga or something) and is LEFT Footed (will allow Maguire to drift to his preferred right side)

But I haven't seen his performance this year. Any idea??

Anyway whomever we end with, the guy need to be aerially good and need pace (Maguire haven't got any) and if LEFT foot
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Is that really true, I've read somewhere that pace will be a problem for him therefor disregarded him as an option. If that's true, him having decent pace, he should be a good option also.
 
Adnan said:
I think we should challenge Liverpool for the signing of Sven Botman. He's 6'4 and at 20 years old is displaying very high potential as a commanding CB. He's also left footed which is something that is favoured by Solskjaer according to reports.

I think what's important here is the profile of the player we sign for the role in question rather than someone with experience who is missing the key ingredients for that profile. It was reported in August this year by The Athletic (tweet below) that we wanted to sign a CB who could defend in 1v1 situations when the fullbacks were caught up field and also provide a commanding presence at the back.

So it seems like the club are looking for someone who is good on the ball, aerially strong and can can defend space in behind in isolation which requires a commanding presence in both a deeper defensive block and a higher line which would allow us to play a more expansive game and sacrifice defensive stability for goals. IMO the likes of Konate, Botman, Milenkovic and Upamecano fit that role with the first 3 showing high potential when it comes to their aerial game. I'm sure there's other players too, but the aforementioned I feel fit the below profile and we should definitely target one.

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Milenkovic makes the most financial sense even though he may not be as highly rated as the other options. If it's indeed true that he is available at €25m.

Sign another reasonably priced DM like Koopmeiners and we could be looking at having solved three problem areas for under £80m if Diallo/Pellistri turn out alright. That would be a dream scenario leaving us well placed to drop £80m -£100m on the top striker in the summer 2022 that will catapult us into title winners.
 
Rozay said:
I worry about what I see.

Do you come away from many United games feeling that we desperately need/needed faster centre halves, or is this mainly a concern for the ever growing population of football analysts online?

The logic and rationale is clear enough, and makes sense. You don’t want a defender to theoretically lose in a race with strikers with any sort of regularity leading to concession of goals. In more than one year, has this been your observation from watching them? I mean, it’s not a trick question, maybe your answer is ‘yes’, I’m just saying that it hasn’t been my own personal observation. Mine has been that, despite majority of strikers they face probably being able to beat them in a sprint on an athletics track, they have coped with most of them just fine on the football pitch. And that has to matter above any sort of lazy opinion forming.
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Did your personal observation realise that we've to play two from Fred/Matic/Scott for the defence to work.

It's affecting our attacking when we play such a defensive lineup.
 
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croadyman said:
Will definitely have to wait until the summer for Upamecano/Konate/Alaba however if we wanted one in January then need to look at Torres/Badashile/Milenkovic
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Agreed. I don’t think we will buy a defender in jan.

I would expect (hope!), we’ve identified who we want, and they are unlikely to be available until the summer. I think now more than ever, there will be big price differentials in jan to the summer in any case.
 
Kostov said:
Is that really true, I've read somewhere that pace will be a problem for him therefor disregarded him as an option. If that's true, him having decent pace, he should be a good option also.
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Pau Torres has proved over the last 18 months to be an outstanding CB. We should looking to get him in January before Real snap him up to replace Ramos. Pace is not problem with him, watch Villarreal next game and you'll see, very intelligent CB. I can see Upamecano going to Munich and Alba going to Real or staying in Munich.
 
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elmo said:
Did your personal observation realise that we've to play two from Fred/Matic/Scott for the defence to work.

It's affecting our attacking when we play such a defensive lineup.
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No. I did, however, observe that we need to play two of them more often than not for the midfield to work.
 
Although i dont want him. I can see a scenario where Utd do something stupid and get David Alaba on a free transfer. Ok him and his agent want stupid money and stupid signing on fees (both of them). His ideal move is to spain. However with both Barcelona and Madrid struggling financially and the latter desperate to sign Mbappe. The question becomes where else he could go? It leaves City, us, Chelsea, PSG as the only realistic candidates. Hes a better LB than CB in my opinion however i dont watch much Bundesliga and my judgements are through CL games ive seen.

He has the anticipation, acceleration, pace and concentration required. However his positioning and marking arent all that. Plus hes under 6ft at 5'10. So for PL definitely a LB rather than a CB. Hopefully if he comes to PL then chelsea or City get him. Probably ideal for pep at LB.
 
We need a new CB who can allow us to be more expansive.
We cannot keep playing two DMs just for the sole sake of protecting the centre backs in behind.

I imagine Ole, with his long term goal of wanting to dominate games across all fronts, will end up pushing a higher line in future.

Maguire would still be a concern in such situations, but a world class DM in front will help, and so will a faster and stronger CB.

I'm still not sold on Pau Torres. He's been good this year, but isn't this just this year's latest dad? There's always a player everyone goes crazy about, and it seems to be him. I've also got concerns about his pace. Is he actually fast? A top speed doesn't determine whether someone is quick or not.
Whether they can reach that speed quickly and maintain it does.

Upamecano is so raw, and makes quite a few mistakes, especially positionally, that I think he'd get slaughtered here by the media and fans.

Milenkovic has been around a while, so it would be interesting to see if he's matured. He plays at RB so I imagine he's got a reasonable amount of pace.

We've got options at RW in the future, so I'm not too concerned there, but CB and DM are two positions we absolutely have to get right if we want to progress as a squad.
 
MattofManchester said:
We need a new CB who can allow us to be more expansive.
We cannot keep playing two DMs just for the sole sake of protecting the centre backs in behind.

I imagine Ole, with his long term goal of wanting to dominate games across all fronts, will end up pushing a higher line in future.

Maguire would still be a concern in such situations, but a world class DM in front will help, and so will a faster and stronger CB.

I'm still not sold on Pau Torres. He's been good this year, but isn't this just this year's latest dad? There's always a player everyone goes crazy about, and it seems to be him. I've also got concerns about his pace. Is he actually fast? A top speed doesn't determine whether someone is quick or not.
Whether they can reach that speed quickly and maintain it does.

Upamecano is so raw, and makes quite a few mistakes, especially positionally, that I think he'd get slaughtered here by the media and fans.

Milenkovic has been around a while, so it would be interesting to see if he's matured. He plays at RB so I imagine he's got a reasonable amount of pace.

We've got options at RW in the future, so I'm not too concerned there, but CB and DM are two positions we absolutely have to get right if we want to progress as a squad.
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I don't think it's a question of playing 2 DMs to protect the back 4 - it's just that you need hard working midfielders in the modern game especially with ball playing CBs and full backs that push up. Our alternatives in midfield to Fred and Mctominay are Pogba and Matic - both better on the ball but also cover far less ground.

Look at Liverpool - their most common midfield last season was probably Henderson, Fabinho and Wjnaldum. All 3 are hard working. It just so happens that all 3 are good on the ball too.
 
marktan said:
I don't think it's a question of playing 2 DMs to protect the back 4 - it's just that you need hard working midfielders in the modern game especially with ball playing CBs and full backs that push up. Our alternatives in midfield to Fred and Mctominay are Pogba and Matic - both better on the ball but also cover far less ground.

Look at Liverpool - their most common midfield last season was probably Henderson, Fabinho and Wjnaldum. All 3 are hard working. It just so happens that all 3 are good on the ball too.
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Matic is fine. He's all over the place. Ok he doesnt run as much as Fred but he is in the right place at the right time. The problem Matic has is that he is the only one that plays as a sole defensive minded midfielder. He is the one chosen to partner Pogba and Pogba loses the ball or is out of position a lot. Being defensive minded is actually not that hard. It doesnt mean you need to be good at tackling. It just means stand in the right position and be aware of the runners. Its more defensive intelligence. Thats why Scholes was fine. Thats why the likes of De Bryune is fine. You can actually walk into a defensive position. Just get behind the ball.
 
If price isnt a barrier, I think the best combination of first and foremost defensive skills that would improve us - speed, strong in the air, aggressive and being a nightmare to play against while also being confident and positive on the ball and also proven in the physicality of the premier league is probably Caglar Soyuncu



He's all over you like a rash, will catch up to you in a few seconds and when he gets the ball he's happy to try and beat his man or look for a pass that gets the team going forward not just sideways.

I mention the price because after Maguire I'm sure Leicester would try and fleece us. If we could find another player like him from a lesser league in his very early 20s for a fifth of the price that would be ideal but a longer shot.
 
Ekeke said:
If price isnt a barrier, I think the best combination of first and foremost defensive skills that would improve us - speed, strong in the air, aggressive and being a nightmare to play against while also being confident and positive on the ball and also proven in the physicality of the premier league is probably Caglar Soyuncu



He's all over you like a rash, will catch up to you in a few seconds and when he gets the ball he's happy to try and beat his man or look for a pass that gets the team going forward not just sideways.

I mention the price because after Maguire I'm sure Leicester would try and fleece us. If we could find another player like him from a lesser league in his very early 20s for a fifth of the price that would be ideal but a longer shot.
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I agree with this post but I'm not sure getting fleeced by Leicester again for a player they bought to replace Maguire would be a good idea. He's definitely a very good CB though and ticks a lot of boxes.
 
How’s Koulibaly been this season? Still fallen off a cliff or has he climbed up again?

Haaland said today the 3 best centrebacks in the world are Sergio Ramos, VVD and Koulibaly.
 
Jannik Vestergaard and De Ligt are giving me the best feeling right now.

Vestergaard for his dominance presence and De Ligt warrior and winning mentality.

I would go for Phil Jones + money for Vestergaard in this January. To boost United line up and squad depth. And i think he can turn out to make a impact as Van Dijk for Liverpool. Van Dijk joined Liverpool in January too. Can be a signing make United closer to big trophies and dominance.

Vestergaard this January and maybe De Ligt in a few years or when he wants new challenge than playing for Juventus.

Lindelof/Bailly - Maguire/Vestergaard

A really good one on one and quick Bailly can be really good with Vestergaard. A powerful CB in Vest + a pacey CB in Bailly. So squad depth will definitely be strength and boost.

Mine two best recommendations. They are giving me really good feeling. That they are the one who will strength and make United become a better team.

Vestergaard in January
Diallo in as RW

Can be two really good additions to the squad.
 
MattofManchester said:
We need a new CB who can allow us to be more expansive.
We cannot keep playing two DMs just for the sole sake of protecting the centre backs in behind.

I imagine Ole, with his long term goal of wanting to dominate games across all fronts, will end up pushing a higher line in future.

Maguire would still be a concern in such situations, but a world class DM in front will help, and so will a faster and stronger CB.

I'm still not sold on Pau Torres. He's been good this year, but isn't this just this year's latest dad? There's always a player everyone goes crazy about, and it seems to be him. I've also got concerns about his pace. Is he actually fast? A top speed doesn't determine whether someone is quick or not.
Whether they can reach that speed quickly and maintain it does.

Upamecano is so raw, and makes quite a few mistakes, especially positionally, that I think he'd get slaughtered here by the media and fans.

Milenkovic has been around a while, so it would be interesting to see if he's matured. He plays at RB so I imagine he's got a reasonable amount of pace.

We've got options at RW in the future, so I'm not too concerned there, but CB and DM are two positions we absolutely have to get right if we want to progress as a squad.
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I think you are right in the sense that we have to sign a player who helps us offset Maguire's major weakness against pace because Maguire is here to stay given what he cost us. The major things to look at are - good recovery pace, one one one ability and good ball playing abilities.

I think we have decided to take a punt of Caicedo as the potential Matic successor, I think we see him as a more technically gifted version of Fred and will be looking at how quickly he can adjust to the pace of the PL. How he adjusts will then inform our decision on whether we should spend on a DM or not.

With Fred, McTominay and Matic alternating for the starting roles I think we have the room to take a relaxed approach and assess Caicedo over a period of twelve months.
 
Please tell me we have some kids coming through?
 
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