Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United

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I would test the waters with a Kane bid. At the least, if rejected it will likely stop Atalanta from squeezing this fee.

They would have done that back in June if there was any encouragement,clearly that didn't happen so moved to Hojlund instead
 
FFP has changed for this season and will be changing further next season so what City and Chelsea have historically done won't be an option going forward, note how quickly the 8 year contract loophole got closed once Boehly found it. Our FFP issue is genuine in that we massively overspent last summer in a year without CL football, the Antony deal was essentially borrowing from future spending. We need to get our business done at around 100M net this year to get out of FFP jail for next summer. Of course if we could get Kane for 100M on September 1st we would do it but it is just kicking the can down the road at that point and it would probably be done on the proviso that we are going to spend the 2024 transfer window signing free agents and loan deals to balance the books.
Not really. The yearly difference in wages + amortized transfer fees is not much between the two, Hojlund and Kane. At €70m vs €100m, plus salaries, you’re looking at roughly 15m a year which is minimal compared to the 60m-80m we’d earn from CL participation.
 
Lewandowski at 20 was actually ridiculously talented. Granted he was playing in Poland but if you watch videos like this one you can see he had everything - fantastic ball striking technique, using the outside or inside of his right foot and ability to bend the ball or hit it flush, ability to use his weak foot when needed, elite heading technique and aerial ability, pace to run behind, composure in one on ones, ability to score both in transition and in crowded boxes.

Hojlund is a good striking prospect and he is facing a higher level of competition but he is not showing anywhere near the level of technique and ability to score different kinds of goals that Lewa showed at a similar age.


It's not for nothing that back then we had the choice between Rvp and a more younger, unproven Lewandowski. Great as he was for us for a year, with the benefit of hindsight Lewy might have been the better signing.
 
Hojlund is not someone we're hanging our hat on for the next ten years. I'm all for buying the next Kane or Lewa if one can find them, for now someone like Hojlund will have to do and I think he'll do well for us even at his age, his attributes are there for the chances we create and miss centrally. We should be able to get a decent fee back if he doesn't make it or we sign better ready players or prospects.
 
Not really. The yearly difference in wages + amortized transfer fees is not much between the two, Hojlund and Kane. At €70m vs €100m, plus salaries, you’re looking at roughly 15m a year which is minimal compared to the 60m-80m we’d earn from CL participation.

Bayern have had an offer in that vicinity rejected, he’ll be moving for a lot more than that. Plus the difference in wages alone will be around 15m a year. We’d also be daft to offer a 5 year contract to a 30 year old. The difference in yearly cost will be significant, see my post above. The gamble here is if Hojlund is enough to consistently get us qualifying for the Champions League. I don’t have an opinion either way as I haven’t seen enough of him, but it’s not a straightforward decision in my view.
 
Jesus, it’s not even close. That volley at 0:49.

I think we should be prioritising a striker who is technically excellent, remember when RVP joined Arsenal - the technique was always there. Hojlund worries me, honestly.

The physicality etc can be added later - technique wise it’s much harder.

Yeah I’m struggling to get excited for this tbh. Watched a bunch of videos and havent see a single exceptional thing in them, let alone the potential for shelling out 60-70m, and that Lewa video (along with the kind of stuff that ‘he who shall not be named’ displayed instantly) just makes me even more concerned that this whole “rawness” thing is a bluff. I know I haven’t watched him live but he looks for all the world like a back up punt for £20-30m and we’re getting properly rinsed here. This is where proper scouting should come in and find us a Chica or sommat.

I just hope ETH knows just how to use him to get the absolute highest level possible out, and it’ll all comes together tactically.

At least I’m confident enough in my own ignorance to convince myself I’m probably missing something massive
 
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Kane will cost us three times as much per year (which is the way the club and FFP views it) as Hojlund.

FeeWages - weeklyContract LengthWages AnnuallyTotal CostAnnualised Cost
Kane£ 120,000,000.00£ 400,000.00
4​
£ 20,800,000.00£ 203,200,000.00£ 50,800,000.00
Hojlund£ 60,000,000.00£ 100,000.00
5​
£ 5,200,000.00£ 86,000,000.00£ 17,200,000.00

  • Kane will be 30 on Friday, we shouldn't be offering anything longer than 4 years.
  • Wages are as widely reported, though rumours are Kane is after even more than that (£580k weekly according to one source)
  • Levy has reportedly rejected £80m from Bayern already - he will get more from Bayern and it'll be even more again to us
  • Hojlund will have resale value, even if he flops. If we're shifting Kane, it's because he's not worked out and his wages will be an impediment to getting rid.
The kid is not guaranteed to be a hit, but if you had the choice of two investments where one would cost three times as much as the other, how would you quantify the upside potential for one over the other?

Kane has averaged 17.2 non-penalty goals (him scoring penalties for us wouldn't be an incremental improvement as we have a couple of reliable penalty takers) over the last five seasons in the league having played 164.1 90s. His record is 0.52 non-penalty goals and 0.19 assists per game. If one assumes Kane's record would be similar with us and he plays 35 league games, that works out to 18 goals and 7 assists. How many fewer goals and assists would Hojlund need to score to still be the better investment?
I think you’re high on Kane and low on Hojlund. Hojlund will be on 150k+ wages no doubt. Kane at most 350k. Levy won’t get 120k for Kane, not when we can negotiate with him in January. The gap is closer to 15m, not 30. Throw in extra CL revenues, clearly Kane is affordable.
 
I think you’re high on Kane and low on Hojlund. Hojlund will be on 150k+ wages no doubt. Kane at most 350k. Levy won’t get 120k for Kane, not when we can negotiate with him in January. The gap is closer to 15m, not 30. Throw in extra CL revenues, clearly Kane is affordable.
He won’t
 
Hojlund is not someone we're hanging our hat on for the next ten years. I'm all for buying the next Kane or Lewa if one can find them, for now someone like Hojlund will have to do. We should be able to get a decent fee back if he doesn't make it or we sign better ready players or prospects.

Not saying he will, but if he fails at Utd, it will be a very high profile flop.

And this club is probably the worst at selling players in the PL if we’re honest.

I guess by then we may have different owners, but as it stands, if he flops here, I wouldn’t expect anything other than a very similar situation to Maguire / Sancho.
 
So who do we sign then posters who are clearly against bringing him in and don't say Kane
 
I reckon its a done deal at this point, expect it to be done a week on Friday
 
I think you’re high on Kane and low on Hojlund. Hojlund will be on 150k+ wages no doubt. Kane at most 350k. Levy won’t get 120k for Kane, not when we can negotiate with him in January. The gap is closer to 15m, not 30. Throw in extra CL revenues, clearly Kane is affordable.
Spurs have offered him £400k to renew so I would say that's accurate. Apparently he wants more than that. Also Hojlund is currently on €12k so £100k would be ridiculous. Rumour is we agreed on £75k/w for his personal terms.
 
Here's the problem with compilations. They cherry pick the optimal moments and omit the weakness of any given player.

What's the alternative. All touches videos? You might say, "Yeah, that gives a real picture of the player", but I would argue that, actually, it does not.
You might see all touches in any given game, however, what you don't get is context. Why do you think scouts watch full games, either in-person or on video, and not "all touch videos?" Because they're misleading and dangerously entice people to commit to very strong opinions about players. For eg.

"We saw all his touches from 3-4 matches. You can see what kind of player he is."

But this is flawed. What do these videos not show you? The don't show you the lead up to any given touch; they don't show you the wider context of supporting player movement surrounding the player. You get zero tactical context to base your observations on. What could be a bad performance could in reality be a bad choice of tactics which produce an environment conducive to errors and the increasing likelihood of probability of errors occurring.

Let's be honest. How many people pointing out his ability on the ball, or his general play, really understand the context behind these moments with any given certainty? Meanwhile, you've got ten Hag and a bunch of top scouts, having watched him in full way more times than you and I likely would have done, and they seem to think that Hojlund fits the profile he's looking for. Is ten Hag missing something that you're somehow picking up?

Hardly.
 
It is entirely possible that there’s a cheaper player out there that is better than Hojlund. Just because we are not linked with one doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. Alvarez as I already said just went to City for 12m, Jackson also looks good and Chelsea got him for 35m.

If Atalanta are slapping a ridiculous price on him then move on. I don’t think we are in a position to spend that type of amount on someone unproven like Hojlund

So who?

Alvarez was the biggest talent in Argentina that every big club knew about and known throughout the world. We just didn't get him because we don't make good deals. You make it sound like City took a random gamble on him and he turned out to be good.

If there was a player like him now, we'd be all over it, but there isn't.

Just because there is a striker that scores goals, doesn't mean he's a great striker that will fit our system. In that case, we can just take our pick. Elye Wahi, Folarin Balogun, Jonathan David, Lacazette, Openda, Ben Yedder, Moffi, Gouiri, Habib Diallo, Lautaro Martinez, Boulaye Dia and more.
Plenty of average strikers score goals, which is why, when scouting a young striker, you don't necessarily look at the goals, but the combination of abilities and characteristics that player has.
For a 20 year old, Højlund has all of it that can potentially be nurtured and making him an elite striker. He has the potential to explode if he can improve these abilities. Most of the players that I listed above are lacking in one aspect or another (or more), but Højlund has it all. He has strength, pace, movement, the natural instincts that Cavani had, acceleration, hold-up play, link-up play, intelligence and more. This is what makes him the ideal target, and not Boulaye Dia because he scored 15 goals, and this is probably what Ten Hag sees in him too.

There is no guarantee that he will knit all this together, and that's okay because that would make him world class, but Ten Hag sees the potential in him and believes he can help him be a great striker.

Another thing people forget when thinking about signings is the mentality and attitude aspect Ten Hag is looking for in his players. Which of his transfers have looked weak mentally, bad attitude or not willing to put in the work? Absolutely none. They're all motivated, hard working, fierce and strong mentally. It would appear Højlund scores high here too.
 
So who do we sign then posters who are clearly against bringing him in and don't say Kane
Ollie Watkins, Toney, Goncalo Ramos could be options, though I, as a Højlund sceptic, concede that it's difficult and that it might be a case of a suboptimal signing being better than no signing.
 
Watched some videos, wasn't impressed, couldn't help but look at videos of a striker of a similiar age we have at the club still who couldn't play for the past year or two. I'd rather have him back to be honest, the difference in quality is astonishing.
 
So who do we sign then posters who are clearly against bringing him in and don't say Kane

It’s not so much a case of being against him, as much as it’s “there are thousands of footballers in the world - surely one of the biggest and most famous clubs can find some untapped gems without just defaulting to about 2/3 well publicised options with no real experience that we’ll get absolutely extorted for?” It’s more a failure of scouting, planning and organisation than anything.

No I don’t know who else to sign, but I’m not paid huge sums by Manchester United to find that out, am I?
 
Yes, on 4 different players.

We can’t go and splurge big on Osimhen or Kane.

Which is a lot of money for everyone including us and has nothing to do with past spendings. We could splurge big on Osimhen or Kane but like every teams that has done something like that, you will have to compromise and not improve other areas.
 
Jesus, it’s not even close. That volley at 0:49.

I think we should be prioritising a striker who is technically excellent, remember when RVP joined Arsenal - the technique was always there. Hojlund worries me, honestly.

The physicality etc can be added later - technique wise it’s much harder.

Of course not, Lewandowski is one of the best strikers of his generation. You can't just pick someone who is technically excellent and expect him to be a great striker.

Osimhen is talked about in the same sentence as Kane, and he has very average technique.

You're overexaggerating regarding Højlund's technique, by the way. He's nowhere near as bad as you make him out to be.
 
Ollie Watkins, Toney, Ramos could be options.

Would Love Watkins, he’s also actually earned a move to a bigger PL club which I like with a CF especially.

Toney would be amazing at Utd imo, he’d really thrive on it I reckon, but not many seem to be talking about him due to the January ban I guess - but seems a bit short sighted.

Basically I think either of those would really fit this current Utd side and both have proven themselves in the PL and earned a step up imo.
 
Bayern have had an offer in that vicinity rejected, he’ll be moving for a lot more than that. Plus the difference in wages alone will be around 15m a year. We’d also be daft to offer a 5 year contract to a 30 year old. The difference in yearly cost will be significant, see my post above. The gamble here is if Hojlund is enough to consistently get us qualifying for the Champions League. I don’t have an opinion either way as I haven’t seen enough of him, but it’s not a straightforward decision in my view.
I think a mistake that many make when reviewing these types of deals is only looking at the costs line item, not factoring in revenue gains. Business owners look at both, and also view Kane as an asset. Neither one of us know the details in rumored bids, but our chances of CL football shoot way up with Kane over 3 years vs. Hojlund. Deep runs in the CL, prize money from winning the league are all revenue boosts that potentially add upwards of 100m to the bottom line. Kane gives us a much better chance of those revenue gains than Hojlund. If Hojlund was 30m and 100k/wk, then maybe you roll the dice with him, or buy both. But the difference of only 30m between a top 3/4 no. 9 and a very raw prospect is ridiculous.

Levy will have to sell, his majority owner wants him to(reportedly), he has a price, but that will come down as we get closer to Sept 1. I just don’t see a line of analysis where you’d choose the 20 yr old, unless he’s Haaland or Mbappe, and Hojlund doesn’t have that pedigree. Ideally, you’d want both Kane and Hojlund. In a situation where you believe you are a serious contender for the league and a deep CL run, how can you rely on an unproven 20 yr old?
 
It’s not so much a case of being against him, as much as it’s “there are thousands of footballers in the world - surely one of the biggest and most famous clubs can find some untapped gems without just defaulting to about 2/3 well publicised options with no real experience that we’ll get absolutely extorted for?” It’s more a failure of scouting, planning and organisation than anything.

No I don’t know who else to sign, but I’m not paid huge sums by Manchester United to find that out, am I?

Isn't he one of those not well publicised options?
 
Which is a lot of money for everyone including us and has nothing to do with past spendings. We could splurge big on Osimhen or Kane but like every teams that has done something like that, you will have to compromise and not improve other areas.

FFP restrictions is absolutely about past spendings.
 
FFP restrictions is absolutely about past spendings.

Which has nothing to do with the point made. FFP or not FFP, few clubs are able to spend 180m let alone more than 180m in a single window. 180m is a lot of money for all clubs and not spending more has nothing to do with past spendings.
 
Thinking I might put this thread on ignore like I did with Mount,he is starting become as unwanted from what I can see in here. Sad really because much like Mason he really wants to sign for the club as well
 
I think a mistake that many make when reviewing these types of deals is only looking at the costs line item, not factoring in revenue gains. Business owners look at both, and also view Kane as an asset. Neither one of us know the details in rumored bids, but our chances of CL football shoot way up with Kane over 3 years vs. Hojlund. Deep runs in the CL, prize money from winning the league are all revenue boosts that potentially add upwards of 100m to the bottom line. Kane gives us a much better chance of those revenue gains than Hojlund. If Hojlund was 30m and 100k/wk, then maybe you roll the dice with him, or buy both. But the difference of only 30m between a top 3/4 no. 9 and a very raw prospect is ridiculous.

Levy will have to sell, his majority owner wants him to(reportedly), he has a price, but that will come down as we get closer to Sept 1. I just don’t see a line of analysis where you’d choose the 20 yr old, unless he’s Haaland or Mbappe, and Hojlund doesn’t have that pedigree. Ideally, you’d want both Kane and Hojlund. In a situation where you believe you are a serious contender for the league and a deep CL run, how can you rely on an unproven 20 yr old?

Can we stop with the Kane argument now? Its fairly well established Levy wont sell to us.
 
The opposite of indicated. In other words, we haven't told Atalanta shit.

I'd normally dismiss this source but what they're saying seems pretty credible

Its a paradox. :lol: You have indicated that you are not indicating. Which means you have indicated.
 
Would Love Watkins, he’s also actually earned a move to a bigger PL club which I like with a CF especially.

Toney would be amazing at Utd imo, he’d really thrive on it I reckon, but not many seem to be talking about him due to the January ban I guess - but seems a bit short sighted.

Basically I think either of those would really fit this current Utd side and both have proven themselves in the PL and earned a step up imo.

Watkins would be big price tag as Villa don't need to sell him at all,would like to see us go for Toney when ban is up in January but doubt it
 
Do you think other clubs are on to the negotiation tactics? Seems like it's been the same thing for every transfer:
-Known target
-Submit initial bid
-have media state that this is not only target, and others waiting in the wings if deal can't be found
-state won't go over a certain value, and there are two other targets to go after
-increase bid and reiterate through media that this is final and United are now talking to others
-close deal
 
Spurs have offered him £400k to renew so I would say that's accurate. Apparently he wants more than that. Also Hojlund is currently on €12k so £100k would be ridiculous. Rumour is we agreed on £75k/w for his personal terms.
If Kane is just about the money, then he will run his contract down and move on a free. He’d get well over 500k/wk for 4 years. He’s either wanting CL football + trophies and willing to move now and take less, or he just wants money.

As I said in another post, Antony was on 30k in wages at Ajax and is on 200k now. I don’t see a scenario where a 70m transfer and starting CF is making less than Malacia…
 
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