I totally agree with you, but Fekir Griezz and other world class players we are/could/should aim for expect to play. Not saying Mane doesn't either if he comes, but I'm sure he'll be more willing to be a rotation option rather than Fekir for example. That would be the main reason why I'm ok with signing him, as it's nice to have someone like him to come off the bench or certain situations. If he wants guaranteed time, then he can feck right off.
Sadio Mané
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I get your point about squad depth and we can probably improve in that regard, but I also think we need two players with the quality of Fekir and Griezmann, since Rooney might not get better again and Memphis isn't a consistent player yet. Martial might not score for a few games and we'll struggle. We also have Januzaj and Pereira for the future, hopefully. I just don't think that another decent squad player is what we need for our attack. Mane could help us a lot, but I'd rather make one or two of Young, Fellaini, Mata or Rooney unhappy by signing and playing better player, than signing someone who's alright with being a squad player.
Why do people constantly still use the name and nationality stuff? Lots of us here would like to sign the really exotically monikered John Stones for instance, and I'm sure there's more than one here who'd have no objection to Jack Grealish or Ross Barkley. The only issue with Mane's nationality is that if he did turn into a vital part of the team we'd lose him every other season for 4-6 weeks at a vital stage.
I'm not sure why some find the possibility that some of us just don't think he's anything special for the £30M he'd cost, so hard to digest. I'm very keen to get someone else to play on the right side of our attack, but not just anyone for the sake of adding pace.
I'm not sure why some find the possibility that some of us just don't think he's anything special for the £30M he'd cost, so hard to digest. I'm very keen to get someone else to play on the right side of our attack, but not just anyone for the sake of adding pace.
This. there's a reason SAF didn't sign african players (except for the djemba twins which lets be honest were just too good to turn down) and its entirely down to the ACON, as long as it clashes with the league season its not worth the investment imo and its a shame because its the players that potentially miss out on moves to better clubs. I personally like Mane and think he'd do very well for us
FWIW, comparisons to Costa are erroneous :
From 2009, when Costa was 18 years old :
And he wasn't targeted by just United :
It's not like he just popped out of nowhere at Bayern Munich. Costa was always incredibly talented, he was one of the best players for the Brazil team that reached the finals of the U-20 World Cup, and won the South American Youth Championship. It's just that his form wobbled a bit, and Neymar, Lucas, Oscar, and initially Ganso became more popular while Costa joined Shakhtar who bought loads of other Brazilian players including City's Fernandinho, Willian, Alex Teixeira.
After searching for a bit, turns out he even had a thread on Caf way back in 2008, at age 17/ 18 :
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/douglas-costa.220930/
From 2009, when Costa was 18 years old :
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/jul/12/manchester-united-chase-gremio-douglas-costa
And he wasn't targeted by just United :
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=ukr/news/newsid=1585446.html
It's not like he just popped out of nowhere at Bayern Munich. Costa was always incredibly talented, he was one of the best players for the Brazil team that reached the finals of the U-20 World Cup, and won the South American Youth Championship. It's just that his form wobbled a bit, and Neymar, Lucas, Oscar, and initially Ganso became more popular while Costa joined Shakhtar who bought loads of other Brazilian players including City's Fernandinho, Willian, Alex Teixeira.
After searching for a bit, turns out he even had a thread on Caf way back in 2008, at age 17/ 18 :
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/douglas-costa.220930/
Are you suggesting then we should not look at any players that can improve the team before we address the spine or more that you are only interested in big names and that it?
As for targeting above average premier league players - that right there is what I personally think is snobby. We are Manchester United, we not only target top players in their position but, we also look to bring in players that show a lot of potential. Teams aren't only built on the star players. Our dominance in the Premier League has been built with stars that had a whole lot of role players that were just as instrumental in that success. Last year we targeted two world class players and brought them in and they failed spectacularly. Getting so called world class players is not always the right thing. We've also done it again in bringing in BFS this year and supposedly tried for Ramos. Thankfully though the club realize they can do both - go for the top most players but, still also look to add depth and quality to compliment those top players. Which brings up Mane, still young and who knows what happens with his progression but, even if he doesn't get much better than he is now - he adds to an area we are lacking in depth, a player that has pace, power, dribbling, appetite to go at defenders and an eye for goal.
For 16m, Valencia has been a very sound investment. He might not be your cup of tea but, 3 managers have relied on him for 6 years to compliment the team they are building. Valencia or Robben/Silva is no where analogous to Griezmann/Bale and Mane. Silva was one of many purchases City was making to try break into the top - in that time they had wasted a whole lot of money on a whole lot of other players and he certainly wasn't world class at the time. As for Robben, he had already declined United and had failed at Madrid. At the time he certainly didn't fit into the world class category that you are suggesting we should only be looking at - so it's a poor analogy.
As for Bale, this is a player we've supposedly repeatedly tried for but, has not come. And Griezmann - is top a quality player contradicting yourself because he is no where considered world class.
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Our first priority is to fill the starting XI with quality that will help us achieve success on the domestic and European front, proven players or those on the cusp of being among the very best in football. Atleast build a surefire spine with 6-7 players. There are still too many what ifs when it comes to our starting XI, we don't need to throw another one into the mix. Once that is sorted, the club can sign whoever they want. When you talk of improvement, why aim for marginal improvement? Why not go all the way and buy the best possible players so atleast one position in the starting XI is sorted for certain for the foreseeable future? I don't see the rationale in spending £25 million (if not more) on a player that will again require an upgrade once we start contending in the business end of the Champions League.
Enough with the 'We are Manchester United' bit already, it's been done to death. When United bought Roy Keane, we had prime Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Ince, Hughes, Giggs, Cantona in the team. When United gave the class of '92 a major role we had Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Pallister, Hughes, Cole, Keane, Giggs, Cantona in the team. And on and on. Whenever we bought players with a lot of potential, the spine was sorted. Right now our center forward is a 19 year old, Rooney is out of sorts, our left winger is developing, Schweinsteiger while brilliant had injury issues at Bayern, Darmian is still adapting to the league, our keeper's fate might still hang in the balance. There are major holes all over the place, and people want to add players that show promise instead of going for the proven quantity.
See, you keep saying that but we added role players to a team of stars, instead of adding role players to a team that is still in the flux, one without a proven bedrock to build upon. It's rather simple to be honest. And what about the world class players who failed, how does that have a bearing? They never really fit into our system in the first place, Di Maria was too risky for Louis' tastes, and Falcao was coming off a major injury. What does that have to do with someone like a Griezmann who is perfect for Louis, going by the discipline he shows under Simeone, is versatile, and can play all four attacking spots in our system. There are (at the very least) 25 better attackers than Mane playing their trade in Europe. Some of them won't even cost as much as what Southampton will demand. What is the fixation with him? If you need complement to top players, why do you need to spend £25 million, when for that amount of money you can instead sign a better player from La Liga or Bundesliga?
It's not a poor analogy. First of all, you need to read back to some of the other posts and realize that I didn't specify only world class. The classifying criteria was world class, on the cusp of world class, or massive talents that are projected to be world class. And you're putting a weird twist to the whole thing when it was a really straightforward qualitative comparison. Silva was at the cusp of word class status even at Valencia, he was arguably the biggest attacking Spanish talent outside out Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga, he had scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in 2009/ 2010 alone, when Valencia for comparison had 8 goals and 8 assists in 3 seasons for Wigan, and he had played 27 matches in Europe, on top of having 30+ caps for the strongest national team of the modern era. Robben didn't fail at Real Madrid, he was still one of the best wingers in Europe, the club had unrealistic expectations as usual, and they were getting Ronaldo and Kaka which made the likes of Robben and Sneijder surplus to requirements. Griezmann is arguably the best player in La Liga outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona, and a Top 5 attacker. Mane isn't even the best player out of the Top 6. The qualitative comparison is really simple to be honest.
Mane has been excellent. I wouldn't have minded signing him up to play RW.
LvG loves Mata. He's the perfect 'philosophy' player. 90+% passing and loads of goals/assists. If Mane were to come, he'd have to replace Depay.
It's a lovely idea to have pace on both wings, but Mata contributes far too much to be slinged out of the team.
He wouldnt have to replace anyone, to compete on all fronts we need depth in the squad.
If we signed him, I have no doubt it was to play down the middle.
That's bullshit to be honest. When did he say that? I think Fergie was keen on African players, we just didn't have much luck with the ones we signed and our scouting presence in Africa and France pales in comparison to other teams like Chelsea and Arsenal. In addition to Djemba-Djemba we had Manucho, Diouf and Quinton Fortune, all of them are/were national team regulars
Mane Mata Memphis
Martial
Martial
Oh boy. Em-an-Em-an-Em-an-Em.
He really wanted Essien too. The work permit was the problem with that one.
And we signed Obi Mikel for a couple of days too... what a signing that was
He really wanted Essien too. The work permit was the problem with that one.
And we signed Obi Mikel for a couple of days too... what a signing that was
I forgot to mention that. We also looked at Drogba but Chelsea didn't think twice about the price. Fergie just mentioned this in his book. Not to mention our strong links with Mahamadou Diarra
He also signed Kagawa and the Asian Cup is played in January.
True
Please sign this fella
Would love to see us sign him in January. A front four like this would be difficult for any team to deal with (and difficult for any commentator to keep their name's straight):
----------------Mane------------
---Mata------------------Memphis
---------------Martial-------------
----------------Mane------------
---Mata------------------Memphis
---------------Martial-------------
Buy him. He's excellent and only 23.
He was excellent yesterday.
He'd be a great addition in a team playing on the counter with his pace. I'm not sure how he'd fare in a possession based United team.
He'd be a great addition in a team playing on the counter with his pace. I'm not sure how he'd fare in a possession based United team.
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