Ruben Neves | Signed for Al Hilal (SA)

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#07 said:
My bad if he was but you get the point.

United can't turn our noses up at players who are better than what we have, just cos we'd like players who are world class.

We are not close to the level where world class players will see us as an attractive destination. So we'd be better off improving to the extent we can, rather than relying on McFred until a top, top player just decides Man Utd is where he wants to go.
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Well well said.

Obviously we want world class players joining our club, but if we can't, then we should gradually improve our first team and squad depth with "lesser" players.
I feel that a lot of posters here are quite arrogant by turning their noses up. The harsh reality is United is not a interesting club to join.
 
Adnan said:
The alternative to de Jong would be someone who has good composure, quick lateral movement and the ability to thread the lines imo. And that player will be the conductor/connector who knits everything together and makes the transition from back to front smoother.

So for me the three players are Bennacer, Caqueret and Vitinha. Vitinha has joined PSG, so he's not going to join us. So if I was in charge right now I'd seriously contemplate signing either Caqueret or Bennacer and would partner one out of the two players with someone like Kone from Gladbach, who is still a little raw but has potential to improve further.

I'm sure there's other players as well but I think I'd be happy with the above scenario if de Jong isn't possible.
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Think those are good picks but we might have missed our chance with them.
 
Unam333 said:
Well well said.

Obviously we want world class players joining our club, but if we can't, then we should gradually improve our first team and squad depth with "lesser" players.
I feel that a lot of posters here are quite arrogant by turning their noses up. The harsh reality is United is not a interesting club to join.
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How many established world class players did Liverpool sign in their rebuild?
 
OleGunnar20 said:
Caqueret & Bennacer would be ideal. With how close to home ETH is playing the incomings though, and our apparent lack of a scouting network at the moment, seems unlikely unfortunately.

I really get the feeling it's FDJ or nothing for CM this summer. Hope I'm wrong.
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I made peace with the fact that when the heads of recruitment were fired that we were going to rely on ten Hag's targets. Because for several years now I've looked into how the top clubs in Germany and England are structured on the football side and applied it to United, and found much descrepency and shared my thoughts in the relevant threads.

Our scouting network from the lead scouts on the ground reporting to their specific regional heads is functional. The problem is since we let Marcel Bout go, is that we don't have a head of scouting, who is the first point of contact for a DoF. Ajax have Henk Veldmate as the head of scouting who is the one that provides the Ajax DoF with transfer lists. Rangnick didn't sign players on his own whim when he was the DoF and had a head of scouting like Christian Mockel who identified the players to sign. And the role of the head of recruitment/scouting shouldn't be confused with the role of the DoF, which many have confused on this forum. So I'm calm and I don't blame people for getting frustrated because we all want to be successful and compete with the best. Edwards at Liverpool went through a rough couple of years and was targeting Southampton football club quite often until the arrival of Klopp.

If it's Frenkie de Jong or nothing then I hope ten Hag turns to the younger players in midfield and utilises Eriksen more often in a deeper role. The McFred partnership has never been the answer and never will be.
 
Adnan said:
I made peace with the fact that when the heads of recruitment were fired that we were going to rely on ten Hag's targets. Because for several years now I've looked into how the top clubs in Germany and England are structured on the football side and applied it to United, and found much descrepency and shared my thoughts in the relevant threads.

Our scouting network from the lead scouts on the ground reporting to their specific regional heads is functional. The problem is since we let Marcel Bout go, is that we don't have a head of scouting, who is the first point of contact for a DoF. Ajax have Henk Veldmate as the head of scouting who is the one that provides the Ajax DoF with transfer lists. Rangnick didn't sign players on his own whim when he was the DoF and had a head of scouting like Christian Mockel who identified the players to sign. And the role of the head of recruitment/scouting shouldn't be confused with the role of the DoF, which many have confused on this forum. So I'm calm and I don't blame people for getting frustrated because we all want to be successful and compete with the best. Edwards at Liverpool went through a rough couple of years and was targeting Southampton football club quite often until the arrival of Klopp.

If it's Frenkie de Jong or nothing then I hope ten Hag turns to the younger players in midfield and utilises Eriksen more often in a deeper role. The McFred partnership has never been the answer and never will be.
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Interesting stuff, thanks for that.

Can't agree more with the final point. That combination has proven to be dysfunctional over and over at this point. We've got talented youngsters ready to be developed in there - let's go with that instead if needs be.
 
Adnan said:
The alternative to de Jong would be someone who has good composure, quick lateral movement and the ability to thread the lines imo. And that player will be the conductor/connector who knits everything together and makes the transition from back to front smoother.

So for me the three players are Bennacer, Caqueret and Vitinha. Vitinha has joined PSG, so he's not going to join us. So if I was in charge right now I'd seriously contemplate signing either Caqueret or Bennacer and would partner one out of the two players with someone like Kone from Gladbach, who is still a little raw but has potential to improve further.

I'm sure there's other players as well but I think I'd be happy with the above scenario if de Jong isn't possible.
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Caqueret has only just signed a new long term deal, he'd be one for next summer.

I also wanted us to sign Caicedo but as usual, the Caf knew best and it didn't fit in with the line of thinking at the time, people probably still thought we had a chance at Tchouameni.

I also wanted us to sign Julian Alvarez and plenty said he wasn't good enough either and likened it to the link to Caicedo. And here we are, being linked to Arnautovic as an emergency signing because Ronaldos kicking up such a fuss.
 
Lash said:
Yep, I recall that as well. Was very disappointed it turned out we didn't take a chance on him. January was a perfect time to invest, let him bed in to the league. He has adapted way quicker than even Brighton would have thought.
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He's someone to keep a eye on because the United scouts in South America seemed to have recommended him hence we tried to sign him. I think Caicedo to United will be a topic of discussion if he has a good season and he's someone who has said he wants to play for Man United one day.
 
With this Arnautovic stuff going on Just pounce for him now before Murtough and co get it in their heads to do a sneaky bid for Fellaini.
 
Changes absolutely nothing. Which new signing has done for the last 10 years….
 
reelworld said:
Neves and FdJ would've been a good partnership tbh.
I'm on the opinion that if we can't get FdJ now, sign Neves and pair him with Eriksen. Would improve our midfield by tens fold
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signing scholes and robson would improve our midfield ha hahah
 
feck me the thought of signing Arnautovic and Rabiot make signing this guy now would feel like prime Scholes, and I don't even rate him..
 
Redcy said:
After that mess today if anyone thinks playing neves alongside Fred is a good idea you are out of your mind. Fred would expose neves lack of mobility, can only consider neves if you are bringing in another dm, and no way we can afford neves and another 30-40m midfielder
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I do not get your reasoning. How would Fred expose Neves lack of mobility?
Neves sits in front of the back 4, Fred gets a supporting midfielder role with an option to push forward a bit when attacking, but needs to stay close to Neves and track back when necessary.
We could easily get Neves and another CM if we didn't go for Martinez.
 
mitchmouse said:
beginning to think we need this guy and FdJ...
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This is exactly it.

But, oh noooo, we're apparently too good to have Neves in our midfield. Only prime Iniesta will do right now.

Come 2nd September, every United fan will be in this thread, questioning why we didn't go for Neves, when we're lining up with a midfield trio of McTominay - Andros Townsend - Cleverley. :lol:
 
DevilRed said:
Beginning? We've been begging for at least 2-3 centre mids all year long.

Its criminal that the glazers haven't released the funds to sign at least 2 centre mids.
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yes, I know we need two. I just hoped we'd find a better option than Neves but I was being stupidly optimistic
 
My worry about ETH is that he doesn't know the players in the Premier League. Combine that with the fact we don't seem to have much of a scouting department.

If he did, surly he would know Ruben Neves would be a great fit for us, at a time when he needs players who don't need time to adapt to the league.

League proven. Plays in the pivot position. Great on the ball. Fantastic passer. Free agent next year and currently on about £50k a week. Plays for a team that are on the decline or have plateaued. Surely wants to test himself at a higher level.

Seems an obvious choose.
 
My issue with Neves is he's really a long passer, same with Eriksen. What the team really needs is someone that excels at short passes in order to build and keep possession. It's why FfJ would be a perfect signing or any player of that ilk.
 
gaffs said:
My worry about ETH is that he doesn't know the players in the Premier League. Combine that with the fact we don't seem to have much of a scouting department.

If he did, surly he would know Ruben Neves would be a great fit for us, at a time when he needs players who don't need time to adapt to the league.

League proven. Plays in the pivot position. Great on the ball. Fantastic passer. Free agent next year and currently on about £50k a week. Plays for a team that are on the decline or have plateaued. Surely wants to test himself at a higher level.

Seems an obvious choose.
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Are we a higher level
 
gaffs said:
My worry about ETH is that he doesn't know the players in the Premier League. Combine that with the fact we don't seem to have much of a scouting department.

If he did, surly he would know Ruben Neves would be a great fit for us, at a time when he needs players who don't need time to adapt to the league.

League proven. Plays in the pivot position. Great on the ball. Fantastic passer. Free agent next year and currently on about £50k a week. Plays for a team that are on the decline or have plateaued. Surely wants to test himself at a higher level.

Seems an obvious choose.
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£80m deadline day bid from a desperate United, would not be a shock.
 
El Jefe said:
My issue with Neves is he's really a long passer, same with Eriksen. What the team really needs is someone that excels at short passes in order to build and keep possession. It's why FfJ would be a perfect signing or any player of that ilk.
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Neves can play long and short. The fact his long passes and through balls are so good mean that he has become known for that.
Eriksen cant play in the deeper role. ETH needs someone who can and seems to want someone who is not just there to break up play, but start the patterns of play. Neves is the one.
 
Doubt they sell him, they’ve now got nunes and neves. There midfield is miles ahead of ours. How has that even happened? I’ve a feeling we’re gonna turn into a mid table team if we’re not already.
 
gaffs said:
Neves can play long and short. The fact his long passes and through balls are so good mean that he has become known for that.
Eriksen cant play in the deeper role. ETH needs someone who can and seems to want someone who is not just there to break up play, but start the patterns of play. Neves is the one.
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I've also watched him a lot and I don't think he can and its a big reason why he hasn't moved to a top club yet IMO. I'm not saying he's hopeless at playing it short but it's not a strength of his, which is why Moutinho has been so important for Wolves as he's the one that dictates the short passing for Wolves. A quick look at Fbref confirms what my eyes have seen as Neves is in the 10th percentile for short passes attempted and 98th for long passes in the PL in 2021/22.

If he was a good short passer, he'd be at anyone of the big clubs but its a big limitation of his game. He'd be ace in a counter attacking team but I just don't think that's us right now.
 
gaffs said:
I think £40m would get the deal done. Maybe add a United desperation tax of a further £10m. Sure Wolves would rather take that then let him go on a free at the end of the season.
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His contract isn't ending next year. That's for Tielemans.
 
El Jefe said:
I've also watched him a lot and I don't think he can and its a big reason why he hasn't moved to a top club yet IMO. I'm not saying he's hopeless at playing it short but it's not a strength of his, which is why Moutinho has been so important for Wolves as he's the one that dictates the short passing for Wolves. A quick look at Fbref confirms what my eyes have seen as Neves is in the 10th percentile for short passes attempted and 98th for long passes in the PL in 2021/22.

If he was a good short passer, he'd be at anyone of the big clubs but its a big limitation of his game. He'd be ace in a counter attacking team but I just don't think that's us right now.
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10th percentile for short passes attempted tells me that is because it's not within Wolves play style or team instructions for him to play in that way.

I find it hard to believe that he has the composure and skill to play 50 yard balls, but cant play a 10 yard pass.
 
DJ_21 said:
Doubt they sell him, they’ve now got nunes and neves. There midfield is miles ahead of ours. How has that even happened? I’ve a feeling we’re gonna turn into a mid table team if we’re not already.
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The only chance of us turning into a midtable team is if we started improving...MASSIVELY
 
Your Neves ship has sailed I’m afraid guys, talk of £40m is ridiculous too, FYI we have an option so he won’t be going for a free at the end of the season.
I know for a fact that he will be signing a new contract in the very near future too, first bit of ITK info I’ve ever had but it’s genuine
 
Higgy74 said:
Your Neves ship has sailed I’m afraid guys, talk of £40m is ridiculous too, FYI we have an option so he won’t be going for a free at the end of the season.
I know for a fact that he will be signing a new contract in the very near future too, first bit of ITK info I’ve ever had but it’s genuine
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Good luck to him, such a waste.
 
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