Agreed... When your option from the bench in attack is Young things are pretty dire. He's a good squad player and the kind all teams need. Young can play in a number of positions, doesn't moan when he's not playing and is good enough to do a job in some games. But he's not someone to come on and change a game for us.
Sadio Mané
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I have no idea to be honest. I've seen very little of the fellow. But someone with pace to burn and decent strength who scores goals? I'll take that at this desperate stage.
That's what worries me, how desperate we look
It happens. Chelsea look desperate for a defender right now. Arsenal look perpetually desperate.
How it's come to this I'll never know, but even if we really want him Southampton just won't sell at this stage, and I don't blame them.
Not sure his strength is a strong point at all, he's actually small enough too. His main asset is definitely his pace and ability to go by his man. His end product is erratic and very hit-and-miss. After today, people just want a shiny new toy and I don't think Mane is what we should be aiming for.
After being snubbed by the A listers, I think the B and C is exactly what we should aim for
It's not about a shiny new toy. It's about needing something badly. And when you need someone badly with 2 days to go, you generally can't sign the best.
This deal won't happen. Simple as that. There's no way Southampton will sell him, barring an obscene bid - and he isn't good enough to justify such an offer. They're the very definition of a selling club, but even they know that you can only sell so many players and still have some chance of on-field success. If they say he's staying at this point, then he's staying.
This! If he has one more good season, he'll go next summer. But not now
Continually signing C listers is what dropped us from CL finalists 3 out of 4 years to not qualifying last year. Mane is better than nothing but long-term I don't see us being where we want to be. I think rather than Bale/Neymar, we should be going for the next crop of 'stars', like Chelsea did with Hazard...not that I know who they are.
I wasn't really including yourself in the 'shiny new toy' statement, you're defo one of the better posters on here. It just smacks of desperation to me. I mean I rate Mane for what he is but he's had one season in the PL that was hit and miss and he won't come cheap. We are in a precarious situation but it's a situation that we shouldn't find ourselves in. If we settle for what will be a very overpriced Mane, then it's our own doing. Long term will he help is achieve our goals? I think not.
To be honest, I have absolutely no idea whether this guy is good enough short term/long term/very short term/very long term. All I know is we need pace and goals and he has a bit of both. So I can't really say I'm against the signing purely based on that even if I can't judge the player himself in any real way.
We're not paid to do that. We pay handsomely to a CEO and scouts to do just that. They never come up with them.
Mike Carr at Newcastle scouted Cisse,Cabaye and a host of good young players that would have done well here. why we can't is a mystery
It shouldn't have come to this though. It was abundantly clear that we needed another attacking player, preferably one with pace, a long time ago. How it's come to near the end of the window without one defies belief. Depay has been a good addition and he's still settling in, but after LvG basically said we were chasing Pedro, it was clear he knew what we needed. We fecked that deal up and now we are left in this situation. After today, the hysterics will only get worse.
The problem with B and C options these days - especially at the end of the window and being bought from PL clubs - is that they often cost as much, if not more as the original option A would have cost. Then that B or C option inevitably won't be as good nor effective as the option A that should have been wrapped up weeks ago.
I have watched him for a season now and he is raw. However he has very good control at pace, is a heads up player who is aware of whats around him. What he lacks is simply experience. I think he would do a much better job than Young does in attack and he would be a good fit for the right side of the pitch although he is quite capable of playing on the left. He can cross with either foot. I dont think he would be as good as Young in defence though.
His main weakness that i think he has is that he can lose concentration especially after something doesnt go his way. You can see from time to time a few histrionics and he is lost to the game for a short while till he gets his head sorted. I am not sure if thats something that can be improved but to me he looks like he has the right technical abilities to handle taking a step up.
His main weakness that i think he has is that he can lose concentration especially after something doesnt go his way. You can see from time to time a few histrionics and he is lost to the game for a short while till he gets his head sorted. I am not sure if thats something that can be improved but to me he looks like he has the right technical abilities to handle taking a step up.
Look it's impossible to judge. He scored a-lot for Salzburg but I'll be fecked if I've ever watched an Austrian match in my life. Soriano is a demi-God over there and scores a goal a game, if not more.
I'm judging Mane like most on here and it's after last season. What I saw was a promising player playing in a very good side who was raw and erratic. I never once watched him and thought "do you know what, I would love us to sign Mane". I enjoyed watching him as he was unpredictable and could be stunning on his day (fastest hat trick in PL history was very memorable). In equal measures, he would be frustrating and didn't look up to much. It's too hard to judge any player after one season, for better or worse. Ok I'm sure there are some exceptions, but Mane isn't one.
Fair enough. Given you seem to have definitely seen more of him than me, would you say he can reach the level that Valencia did? Because, let's be honest, noone thought we should sign Valencia when we saw Valencia, but we'd take him at his peak right now for sure, at least in the short term.
I agree...with huge money to throw at players and a planet of players to go for, it's unbelievable that we've not yet got the players that we need.
I think him and Valencia are different players. Valencia has always had a very muscular build and plays in a different style. Judging from last season, Mane has a-lot of good attributes but at present, as many bad ones. He's relatively young and I think he can reach a good level but I'm not sure he can reach a level that will dramatically improve us. Valencia was far more accomplished when we bought him and had 3 seasons of PL experience.
If someone said we could get Mane for £10m - £15m, then yeah, I wouldn't be adverse to that. Problem is, he's going to cost a fortune especially this late in the window. Buying a player off the back of one season is very very risky. Especially that it wasn't a particularly amazing season. That's just my take on it.
Na we were winning league titles with Young, Valencia and Cleverley. Appointing a shit manager and not signing the players we needed, when we needed them and for the positions we needed them is what killed us. Now what is killing us is this belief that only players already settled at Bayern, Madrid and Barcelona can improve us. It's always got to be a nice blend of the superstars and the average players willing to put a shift in. What would you rather have Mata on the right or a quick player that won't turn inside all the time and actually stretch defences?
Utd: We need Mane
Sou'ton: We want 50M
Utd: WTF!!!
Sou'ton: It's squeaky bum time
Sou'ton: We want 50M
Utd: WTF!!!
Sou'ton: It's squeaky bum time
Was that meant to be funny or something?
Valencia at his peak was one of the best wingers in the league. If Mane can reach that level it's all good, but that's a long way to go
When you look at players mentioned they are good enough for Newcastle but would not necessarily improve United. It's not like discovering one of the most rated midfielders in France or one of the top scorers in Germany takes amazing amount of insight, it's just that United will not necessarily see these players as worth buying.
Well given nothing more has been said on this since the day the report leaked I doubt anything further will progress now?
It was a smoke screen to cover the fact that we missed out on Pedro. It was our way of saying we had other preferred options.
It was a smoke screen to cover the fact that we missed out on Pedro. It was our way of saying we had other preferred options.
If a smokescreen is used, then really a better than Mané should have been talked about because that's even more stupid in my book.
I'd rather have Martial, on the extremely scientific basis that he's got a much cooler name.
I love this 'smokescreen' stuff. It's either A) player 'insert random name' used us for a new contract or B) 'tis all a smokescreen. Effectively we have the smokiest screens in the land (and we don't ever have Berbatov anymore!) and we have inadvertently negotiated half the continents new contracts this summer (we are working on Austin at the minute) Top work by us, all-in-all.
we're wrapping a lot of stuff up today, wonder if we'll go back for Mane tomorrow.
We had mane days to get this done, but as usual we're leaving it too late.
With even Adnan and Wilson going out on loan, I think we'll be signing one more forward.. Considering we have bid for him earlier,maybe we'll get him also..
Too late we should have sealed this or any other deal before the Martial madness now Soton will fancy they can get £40m or more out of us. God knows we need the numbers uptop and on the wings.
I can see us ending up paying 30 million + for him tomorrow.
He looked very good again this weekend. Problem i have is, the best attacking play we have done has centered around Herrera and Mata. With this new French lad and possibly Mane and rooney being undroppable. Where does that leave Mata and Herrera?
Under LVG it leaves them out of the team I'm afraid.
In which case, that would make me want him replaced over any other incoming/outgoing player deals
I think the Martial deal means this deal is off the table.
Why? Martial will play on the right surely. That's the end of our interest in Mane you would think.
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