It´s staggering to look back at United signings since Fergie left and once could claim that the only signing that could be classified as a roaring success is Bruno. Of course I would have liked a couple of signings this january BUT perhaps now that we have a man in Ragnick that has a proven track record of building up a football club like he did with RB Leipzig requires us to take a longer look and face the hard facts.
Perhaps the sensible and brave thing was to clear out some of those not having a future here and focus on finding the right signings for the summer? Also will players like Pogba, Mata, Matic, Cavani, Ronaldo, Lingard, Jones, Bailly,AWB be at Old Trafford next season?
I´ve supported United for a long time and will continue to do so...for me the importance Busby had on giving young players a chance and then Fergie taking that same approach is the cornerstone of United. One could argue that despite all the signings of the last years homegrown players like McTominey, Rashford and yes Greenwood until he fecked his career did better than almost any of the signings we have brought in.
Has Ragnick decided to give Elanga, Shoretire, Hannibal and Fernandez more gametime? Will we really miss Martial, Donny and Amad?
Signings:
I´m no more of an expert than any of us on this forum but my thinking regarding the squad based on the players listed on Man Utd website is:
Defence:
Keep: De Gea, Varane, Maguire,Lindelof,Mengi,Shaw,Lindelof,Fernandez, Dalot, Laird
Signing options: Rudiger(Free), Sule(Free) Zagadou(free) Mazraoui(Free) and a young fast Leftback
Get rid of: Henderson(100K), Bailly(80k), Jones(75k), Telles(90k), AWB(90k), Tuanzebe(50K), Williams(70K) Salary cost of these players is around 550K per week or approx 29 million pounds per year
Midfield:
Keep: Amad, Bruno, Garner, McTominay, Fred, Hannibal, Pellistri,
Signing options: Rice, Bellingham(on 50K at Dortmund), Kamara(Free)
Get rid of: Pogba (290K), Mata(160K), Lingard (75K), Pereira, Matic (120K) ,DVB (120K) - Salary cost of these players is around 800K per week or a staggering approx 39 million pounds per year for that lot. Mata gets 8 millon pounds per year for hardly contributing at all.
Forwards:
Keep: Rashford, Sancho, Elanga, Shoretire
Signing options: Haland(On 130K at Dortmund) Dybala(Free) and a right winger
Get rid of: Ronaldo (510K) ? (Does he want to stay? He´s also 36 years old) Cavani(250K), Martial(250K), Chong and Greenwood(75K) has probably checked himself out already due to his actions. Salary cost of these players is around 1100K per week or a staggering approx 55 million pounds per year.
For me the hard truth is not that the fecking owners have not provided money for signings and salaries, it´s just the uncomfortable truth that we have spent it like idiots on substandard players and we are paying one of if not the biggest wage packet in world football. Let that sink in....for that group of players. No matter how you look at it....there is no way to take this club further unless cleaning out the rest of the deadwood.
Hopefully Ragnick will do that from a sporting director/advisor role with Ten Haag brought in as a manager.
In this video here below you can see people having a look at our signings..pause around the 17 minute mark and look at how the singings have worked out...then look at the rest of the players yet to be rated and it´s just staggering how bad the recruiting has been.