Saúl Ñíguez \ Joins Chelsea on loan

Status
Not open for further replies.
Keans knows something about midfield and he keeps on saying this for more than a year that we cant anything with Fred/McTominay in the midfield (he got a soft corner for McTominay though as we can use him as a backup)

Means we defintely need a proper DM to unleash Pogba/Bruno in the midfield of 3. Not sure if Saul/Neves can do that. May be someone in Bissouma/Touchamemi mould can help us as we cant play Pogba on left side for the entire season
 
SATA said:
Yeah looks like he’s Chelsea bound. Not fussed at all about this. Now we are left with Camavinga and Neves? If we pull out of the Saul deal, perhaps we have receive some positive encouragement from either one of the two
Click to expand...

I'm not fussed about who we get but we have to get a good CM/DM this summer.
 


How naïve are we? It doesn't have to be Saul but we need a Midfielder!

Our Midfield will clearly be our downfall and we just are going to ignore it?
 
laughtersassassin said:


How naïve are we? It doesn't have to be Saul but we need a Midfielder!

Our Midfield will clearly be our downfall and we just are going to ignore it?
Click to expand...

Early signs are that we are persisting with the more defensive minded 4-2-3-1 formation.

Matic, Fred and McTominay are the only three players that we have that can naturally play in the midfield 2.

So yes, it seems very weird that we would ignore that area. Should have kept Garner really if we have no plans to strengthen that position.

I would also say we’re failing Varane and Sancho if we don’t strengthen CM, because we aren’t getting the best out of either of them without a midfield that can compete
 
Fooza said:
David Kent from the mail? hardly believable source
Click to expand...

Not really just him saying this.

Most are saying no incoming loan or purchase without some major sales.

And well we are very bad at selling players so it looks like we will be stuck with players we got no use for as things stand.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Early signs are that we are persisting with the more defensive minded 4-2-3-1 formation.

Matic, Fred and McTominay are the only three players that we have that can naturally play in the midfield 2.

So yes, it seems very weird that we would ignore that area. Should have kept Garner really if we have no plans to strengthen that position.

I would also say we’re failing Varane and Sancho if we don’t strengthen CM, because we aren’t getting the best out of either of them without a midfield that can compete
Click to expand...
Spot on!
 
laughtersassassin said:
Not really just him saying this.

Most are saying no incoming loan or purchase without some major sales.

And well we are very bad at selling players so it looks like we will be stuck with players we got no use for as things stand.
Click to expand...
I'd say that's looking likely to be fair, it'll be a frustrating end to the window that started off amazing.
 
Fooza said:
I'd say that's looking likely to be fair, it'll be a frustrating end to the window that started off amazing.
Click to expand...

To me it's not acceptable really.

Especially since Ole only plays Fred Matic or McTominay in the two.

How can that be our only options? It's actually mental tbh.
 
laughtersassassin said:
Not really just him saying this.

Most are saying no incoming loan or purchase without some major sales.

And well we are very bad at selling players so it looks like we will be stuck with players we got no use for as things stand.
Click to expand...
It's not just us tbf. Almost every team around us is struggling to make sales.
 
rotherham_red said:
It's not just us tbf. Almost every team around us is struggling to make sales.
Click to expand...

Not strictly true. Chelsea have managed to make some good sales. Liverpool too. Shaqiri, Wilson both for decent fees. Some random Centre forward as well

And those two teams are always good at sales.

For us it's a pattern. Every season. Very clearly we are bad at selling players.

I checked transfermarket and very few teams have 0 sales. Chelsea Liverpool and City have all managed a few and we are competing with them.

We have sold nobody despite having a lot of players for sale. It's poor. Simple as that. It can't be an excuse to have a shit Midfield
 
Last edited:
LawCharltonBest said:
Early signs are that we are persisting with the more defensive minded 4-2-3-1 formation.

Matic, Fred and McTominay are the only three players that we have that can naturally play in the midfield 2.

So yes, it seems very weird that we would ignore that area. Should have kept Garner really if we have no plans to strengthen that position.

I would also say we’re failing Varane and Sancho if we don’t strengthen CM, because we aren’t getting the best out of either of them without a midfield that can compete
Click to expand...

Well said

Hannibal will never play for us under Solskjaer in this system.

He would be perfect in the midfield.
 
laughtersassassin said:


How naïve are we? It doesn't have to be Saul but we need a Midfielder!

Our Midfield will clearly be our downfall and we just are going to ignore it?
Click to expand...


Exactly, and it showed against Southampton where the midfield looked like a Sunday league team's midfield. We could not string 2-3 passes without losing the ball.
 
rotherham_red said:
It's not just us tbf. Almost every team around us is struggling to make sales.
Click to expand...

I don't know, Chelsea have sold 80m worth, city 35m, arsenal managed about 27m for willock.

We have a real problem selling players. Lingard, Jones, James, Bailly, Matic, Pereira or take your pick of 3 or 4 from 8 or 9 players we should be shifting fairly easily for small fees that all add up. Its a symptom of years of horrific management.
 
SER19 said:
I don't know, Chelsea have sold 80m worth, city 35m, arsenal managed about 27m for willock.

We have a real problem selling players. Lingard, Jones, James, Bailly, Matic, Pereira or take your pick of 3 or 4 from 8 or 9 players we should be shifting fairly easily for small fees that all add up. Its a symptom of years of horrific management.
Click to expand...

It isn't true but people are pretending it is.

The list for anyone interested:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/transfers/wettbewerb/GB1

Wouldn't pay much attention to the fees but shows who's been sold.

Our 3 rivals have sold players. The excuses don't work for us.
 
laughtersassassin said:
It isn't true but people are pretending it is.

The list for anyone interested:
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/transfers/wettbewerb/GB1

Wouldn't pay much attention to the fees but shows who's been sold.

Our 3 rivals have sold players. The excuses don't work for us.
Click to expand...

Biggest issue is that we either decide we want to keep players who we could sell because 'depth' or we overvalue them. Loads of comments about selling Lingard and we are believed to have set a value of 25M which quite a lot of our posters think is realistic or at least only marginally too much when in fact it is a mental ask and we are never getting it. Liverpool selling Shaqiri was mentioned but he was sold for 9.5M with about 3M more in potential add ons and whilst he can be lazy he is a far better and more influential player than Jesse and a similar age. We need to lower our sights for the players we are selling and we also need to consider sanctioning the sales of players who have value but are unlikely to get many minutes.
 
ghagua said:
Exactly, and it showed against Southampton where the midfield looked like a Sunday league team's midfield. We could not string 2-3 passes without losing the ball.
Click to expand...

But in a post match interview, Solskjaer said "Matic was excellent today" when explaining why Donny was snubbed yet again..?!?
 
This feels exactly like the van de Beek transfer. Just signing a midfielder because he happens to be available even though he doesn't fit what we need at all. How does Saul help bring stability to the midfield exactly? Even in his best seasons the move wouldn't make sense, not to mind after the season he's just had. Seems like we're cheaping out because we don't want to spend a fee. Not a fan of Neves and think he's very overrated but he'd definitely make more sense than Saul if Camavinga and Tchouaméni aren't options (wouldn't even be completely against Bissouma tbh even though he is a bit more box to box than dm).
 
His wages at Atletico is massive. Perhaps United think a 25-30M deal and 100K a week for either Neves or Camavinga is a better deal in the long run? I don’t know but i am just being optimistic here
 
SATA said:
His wages at Atletico is massive. Perhaps United think a 25-30M deal and 100K a week for either Neves or Camavinga is a better deal in the long run? I don’t know but i am just being optimistic here
Click to expand...

Yeah he's on serious money. Second highest at the club apparently.
 
Ikon said:
But in a post match interview, Solskjaer said "Matic was excellent today" when explaining why Donny was snubbed yet again..?!?
Click to expand...

I am just as puzzled. Why not give him a run out for a few games and see what he has to offer. I mean he can't play any worse than the midfield played against Southampton.
 
laughtersassassin said:


How naïve are we? It doesn't have to be Saul but we need a Midfielder!

Our Midfield will clearly be our downfall and we just are going to ignore it?
Click to expand...


Yeah if this stance doesn't change between now and next Tuesday I really worry about our prospects this season
 
SATA said:
His wages at Atletico is massive. Perhaps United think a 25-30M deal and 100K a week for either Neves or Camavinga is a better deal in the long run? I don’t know but i am just being optimistic here
Click to expand...

I am that desperate for some kind of improvement will take signing any of them
 
Adam-Utd said:
Yeah he's probably the only one I can think of, even he stayed for over 1 year
True, we signed him with an option to buy though. He was so crap we sent him away.

We just don't really use the loan market like some clubs.
Click to expand...
Ighalo stayed for 2 half seasons. All within a calendar year
 
I'm not sure about this one. Haven't seen enough of Saul over the last few years but I don't like the idea of signing someone whose level has fallen.

Besides I do think we need a bit more class on the ball and passing ability than he may provide.
 
roseguy64 said:
I always saw it as Liverpool leading the race for him
Click to expand...

Yeah, which they were. But our name kept being thrown in as a way of getting Liverpool to hurry up. I have a feeling that’s what’s happening here too
 
Status
Not open for further replies.