Falcao
Di Maria
Valdes
Sanchez
BFS
Some absolute shambles there on stupid wages.
Di Maria
Valdes
Sanchez
BFS
Some absolute shambles there on stupid wages.
Puzzling transfer dealings we have made in the past decade
- Thread starter TsuWave
- Start date
Blind is definitely makes sense. He fits the LVG philosophy. ADM would have fit in to LVG system if he has the right attitude and fully committed.
How many of those transfers/players quoted have you actually queried at the time though? Cant be many, on paper made sense, easy in hindsight.
Pogba for £89m the same summer that Chelsea bought Kante for £32m.
Passing on Thiago then signing Fellaini
Signing Mata when we had Rooney
Passing on Mane and signing Depay
Passing on Kroos
Signing Maguire and AVB for mega-money
Selling Evans and buying Lindelof
It was actually 802 scouted Fullbacks, even more comical
What really happened? I read somewhere Moyes promised him and he agreed to come, but some how ended up at Madrid.
We didn't pass on Mane btw - he turned us down. Agree with the others. Evans showed he was a top CB and had years left him in.
Mane: "Yes, I was really, really close because I even met up with them. So I was coming, I was there and I spoke with the boss who was there before (Van Gaal).
"They made an offer, but in the same week, Klopp called me. He said: “I think it’s the right club. The right coach for me, and I think it’s better that I go to Liverpool’. For me I think it was the right time as well. I said, “I am going to Liverpool.”
1) Spending £130m on Maguire and AWB, arguably the worst business we have ever done
2) The 2020 summer window where we signed Telles, Pellistri and Amad only, the worst transfer window we've ever had?
3) Bringing Pogba back to the club for a world record fee, only for him to leave us on a free yet again in a few years after a disappointing spell here.
4) Pretty much all of our transfers under LVG, minus Shaw, Herrera and Blind although they were hardly game-changing pickups.
5) Signing Fellaini for more than his release clause which expired the week before, and making him the only signing of Moyes' first and only summer window. I grew quite fond of Fellaini under LVG and Mourinho and that's the only reason he's this low down the list.
2) The 2020 summer window where we signed Telles, Pellistri and Amad only, the worst transfer window we've ever had?
3) Bringing Pogba back to the club for a world record fee, only for him to leave us on a free yet again in a few years after a disappointing spell here.
4) Pretty much all of our transfers under LVG, minus Shaw, Herrera and Blind although they were hardly game-changing pickups.
5) Signing Fellaini for more than his release clause which expired the week before, and making him the only signing of Moyes' first and only summer window. I grew quite fond of Fellaini under LVG and Mourinho and that's the only reason he's this low down the list.
Robben was so obvious and we wouldn't have skipped a beat having lost Ronaldo.
Bayern scored huge. Robben and Ribery on the wings was cheating.
Bayern scored huge. Robben and Ribery on the wings was cheating.
If we signed Fabinho and Mahrez and Liverpool and city signed Matic and Sanchez….they would have probably been great for the last 3 years and Fabinho and Mahrez would have been underwhelming. The coaching plays a huge part in their success.
Not signing de Bruyne was a real head scratcher, at that time we looked like the better Manchester side coming off lvg first season.
Signing di maria when both Pedro and sanchez were available.
Signing lukaku over griezmann because Zlatan got injured and mourinho was obsessed with having a big target guy up front.
90 million pogba over kante who was available for 30 million the same Summer.
Bissaka over any of the other 800+ rb reportedly scouted.
Maguire over smalling based on Maguire being a minimal upgrade for 80 million.
Signing di maria when both Pedro and sanchez were available.
Signing lukaku over griezmann because Zlatan got injured and mourinho was obsessed with having a big target guy up front.
90 million pogba over kante who was available for 30 million the same Summer.
Bissaka over any of the other 800+ rb reportedly scouted.
Maguire over smalling based on Maguire being a minimal upgrade for 80 million.
Moyes was obviously completely unaware of how ramshackle United was behind the scenes without SAF holding it all together.
While starting earlier would certainly have opened his eyes earlier, I'm not inclined to blame him. The disastrous "transition" was the fault of the club, not the incoming manager. Nor the outgoing one, for that matter.
Undoubtedly. A "Something Must Be Done" buy. More Woodward than Moyes, surely?
Letting young Pobga go for free.
Buying Pogba back for the largest transfer fee at the time
Letting Pogba go for free in 2022.
Number 1, though, is NOT BUYING A YOUNG DM in the past 8 years. Instead we got Matic, Fred and DvB. The latter two aren't DMs and Matic was only going to be good for a year or two.
Buying Pogba back for the largest transfer fee at the time
Letting Pogba go for free in 2022.
Number 1, though, is NOT BUYING A YOUNG DM in the past 8 years. Instead we got Matic, Fred and DvB. The latter two aren't DMs and Matic was only going to be good for a year or two.
Instead of signing {player that flopped}, it was so obvious at the time that United should have signed {player that succeeded elsewhere under different expectations and coaches}
This!
I don't think it was ever a choice between the two and Mourinho tried to sign Kante, even called him personally to convince him to come to United.
The puzzling transfer dealing at United is how long you've kept a lot of your players.
£130m for Maguire and AWB it isn’t getting worse than that.
this wasn’t the intent of the thread, nor do I think that’s how I framed it.
I mean:
There is no guarantee, our coaches are shit. Mahez might flop or unable to reproduce Leicester form. Fabinho, we will complain he is too slow. I think a proper coach can mask a player weakness.
Its basically what happens when you let managers have too much influence and don't have a proper analytical Scouting department in-place.
We signed Matic and Lukaku because Jose knew them. We signed Dalot and Lindelof because they were recommended by old contacts of Jose in Portugal. We signed Zlatan because Jose knew him.
Likewise we signed Blind, Valdes, Romero and Depay because LvG knew them and Rojo because LvG claimed he was "mesmerised" by some of his performances at the World Cup that year.
We all know about Moyes's first window, when he ended up with just Fellaini, whom he knew from Everton.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Quite simple really.
We signed Matic and Lukaku because Jose knew them. We signed Dalot and Lindelof because they were recommended by old contacts of Jose in Portugal. We signed Zlatan because Jose knew him.
Likewise we signed Blind, Valdes, Romero and Depay because LvG knew them and Rojo because LvG claimed he was "mesmerised" by some of his performances at the World Cup that year.
We all know about Moyes's first window, when he ended up with just Fellaini, whom he knew from Everton.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Quite simple really.
Yep.
That's exactly what I think would've happened.
Unfortunately, no matter who we buy, that player turns to crap within months. Bruno was the only player who maintained a high standard for 18 months....but now, even he has turned to crap.
Di Maria - the best player in the CL final a few weeks earlier, fantastic player, no question about it - he joined us and for a few games, he was dynamite, creating and scoring at will. Then the rot settled in and like so many players since he turned to crap and wanted out.
Ah some magical captain hindsight stuff.
Why did we buy (player that hasn't done well), instead of (player that has done well).
What were we thinking!
Why did we buy (player that hasn't done well), instead of (player that has done well).
What were we thinking!
Yeah, we shouldn't let managers buy these obscure players should we!
Well said.
It will be interesting to see if we finally plan in advance or if we continue to be reactive.
We have signed ETH early (before the current season ends). We also brought in Ralf R, early, so when ETH arrives, he can discuss matters with ETH, Hopefully, this means that we won't have to give ETH to assess the players - Ralf has already done this.
I am still very sceptical and believe ETH will be fired within 3 years BUT we seem to be making better decisions.
that whole Victor Valdes thing was a bit weird
Diouf , obertan and owen all in the same window.
What a nightmare.
Alexander Büttner by a mile. A shite Eredivisie player. And a cnut.
Allowing Chelsea a free run on Kante was a head scratcher. We'd be (mostly) sorted in midfield to this day with him.
Schweinsteiger - whenever I'd question this signing all I would get in response would be "but Bastian fecking Schweinsteiger 
" as if that was the sole reason for him coming here.
Still doesn't feel real that he played for us.
" as if that was the sole reason for him coming here.Still doesn't feel real that he played for us.
Who cares whether they are obscure or well-known? The point is, relying on managers hand-picking players is never going to be a fruitful recruitment strategy
Tom Heaton after renewing Lee Grant
this is not what was intended nor what’s being done but I guess being sassy must be your routine, so please proceed
Hahaha BFS, I remember that. Too bad he had lost his legs already. Such a fantastic player for Bayern.Schweinsteiger - whenever I'd question this signing all I would get in response would be "but Bastian fecking Schweinsteiger
Still doesn't feel real that he played for us.
Going for Mkhi over Mane. Especially seeing Mane tear up big six teams whenever he would face them with Southampton.
Wasn't he a gypsy? I remember having an argument with Dynamite Dutch on the former Maxxed/Fbtz forum when I said after the wigan match (think he scored 2 goals) that he was absolute shit.
I thought the Matic signing was fine and he was excellent when fit that first year before being ran into the ground. Still a successful signing overall for me.
Sanchez was baffling considering Arsenal fans already were saying he was finished.
VdB is an obvious one. AWB after knowing we badly needed a forward threat on that side and we get the most defensive fullback possible for a huge fee.
We needed a striker I know but I never thought Lukaku was a good signing. Just felt like we snagged the best of a bad bunch for a fat fee even though he was good goal wise his first year. There was never a sense for me that he would be "world class".
Maguire for 80 million should have had someone fired that same day. Fred for 50m when our manager didn't really want him or know what to do with him was bad as well.
Sanchez was baffling considering Arsenal fans already were saying he was finished.
VdB is an obvious one. AWB after knowing we badly needed a forward threat on that side and we get the most defensive fullback possible for a huge fee.
We needed a striker I know but I never thought Lukaku was a good signing. Just felt like we snagged the best of a bad bunch for a fat fee even though he was good goal wise his first year. There was never a sense for me that he would be "world class".
Maguire for 80 million should have had someone fired that same day. Fred for 50m when our manager didn't really want him or know what to do with him was bad as well.
Ibra. Matic was good but not great since he's aged too much in his later years. Martial was a good signing even if he didn't end up reaching the heights we hoped, we could have sold him after his first year for double.
A lot of rewriting of history going on in this thread, we have been generally bad at transfers under woodward but lets not act like majority weren't happy with many of these signings being mentioned.
People acting like they knew from the beginning likes of pogba, schweingsteiger, depay etc weren't going to work out, when the general opinion when they signed was a pretty positive one. Also whats with so many mane mentions, i remember liverpool being mocked for signing another southampton player after so many of their southampton signings had flopped, similar to how most predicted salah would flop.
People acting like they knew from the beginning likes of pogba, schweingsteiger, depay etc weren't going to work out, when the general opinion when they signed was a pretty positive one. Also whats with so many mane mentions, i remember liverpool being mocked for signing another southampton player after so many of their southampton signings had flopped, similar to how most predicted salah would flop.
Mourinho wanting Maguire when he was at Leicester always bugged me because he got to see him when he was at Hull City. Why didn't he go for him then if he say potential.