Zakaria is the one I hope we go for there in the summer and Jack simply has to be the Pogba replacement, however Woody seems to be obsessed with signing Sancho after what happened last time and does feel some noise about it.
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Sancho, Grealish, Rice or Calvert-Lewin?
- Thread starter lysglimt
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Zakaria is the one I hope we go for there in the summer and Jack simply has to be the Pogba replacement, however Woody seems to be obsessed with signing Sancho after what happened last time and does feel some noise about it.
Not sure, but have heard his huge calves don't help in that regard.
The issue with Zakaria is that he's not long been back from a lengthy lay off and hasn't been deemed 100% match fit to start regularly by Marco Rose.
I like Zakaria and wanted him to partner Pogba. But it doesn't look like Pogba is gonna be at the club very long so I'm thinking we maybe need a midfielder who can play deeper and provide the craft and guile we were expecting of Pogba in such a role. We already have the likes of McTominay and Fred but alongside them I would now prefer someone who can control the tempo via his passing abilities and ball retention.
So I can now see the need for a player like Koopmeiners, Locatelli or even our own Ethan Galbraith to step come into the team which would be a better fit. I'm also not saying the aforementioned 3 are good enough to play for us because I've only seen them play sporadically and Galbraith is a United u23 player that will likely need a loan. But I'm just pointing out the profile of player we should target IMO.
That’s wild.
Sorry but this is arrogance of the highest order. It was not even his best game of the season. Yet he was easily the best player on the pitch. Always is.
1) you cant afford him
2) we dont need to sell
3) he does not want to leave yet
4) he must be auditioning for every team he plays against.
Seriously deluded if you think you have a chance.
With all due respect, do you honestly believe United wouldn’t have a chance of signing Grealish, should they decide to try? In my opinion, that’s a more deluded perspective.
I don’t believe for a second that Grealish was “auditioning” for United on Friday. He played a very good game, but I don’t think it was anything more than a professional, hardworking performance from a very, very good player. He was doing everything he could to help his team win a game of football.
I also don’t believe that Grealish would be easy to sign. Villa would fight to keep him, he’d cost a bomb, and he’d probably have to push for the move. That said, if United decide they want Grealish, of course they have a chance of getting him. Every player has a price, and most players are ambitious, wanting to play at the highest level, for the biggest club possible. If United were willing to pay the price, I’d be quite surprised if Grealish wouldn’t jump at the opportunity.
Again, absolutely no offence intended.
Yeah I'm not sure about that,
Grealish and Bruno is probably the next David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.
100% agree with this
Comparing Grealish to this one or that and in pair with Bruno or not is irrelevant, he is his own person and excellent at that. In a fierce competitive team he would thrive and become amazing, and more so than Sancho at least in a two-three years perspective.
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You sound bitter? Is that because he might leave and go to a bigger/better club with more chance of silverware rather than stay at Villa? How do you know he doesn't want to leave? These days footballers have no loyalty.
Even if he stays at your place nothing wrong with United fans saying he's a great player.
Yeah I am a massive fan of him but you make a very good point about us needing to sign a CB and DM before Grealish, however will be absolutely gutted if he ends up going to a rival
I'm not quite sure how Grealish and Fernandes fit in a team together without dropping Rashford. Maybe dropping Rashford is the aim, although I think in many ways that would be PR-suicide.
If united have money to spend in Jan I would like us to go for Rice, I really think we would have the strongest midfield in the league if we got Rice and I think he would allow us to play Pogba and Fernandes together without worrying about Pogba's defensive responsibilities. If Pogba leaves, Rice, VdB + Fernandes is still probably up their with the strongest in the league.
We can then also play Rice,McT and Fernandes in games where we need to be more attritional.
If united have money to spend in Jan I would like us to go for Rice, I really think we would have the strongest midfield in the league if we got Rice and I think he would allow us to play Pogba and Fernandes together without worrying about Pogba's defensive responsibilities. If Pogba leaves, Rice, VdB + Fernandes is still probably up their with the strongest in the league.
We can then also play Rice,McT and Fernandes in games where we need to be more attritional.
Hit a nerve there did i?
We could buy Aston Villa if we wanted to.
Sure you do.
Sure he does.
Nah, just for United. You could clearly see he's gonna love life with us.
at we can’t afford him. We paid 80m for a defender with the turning circle of the titanic, of course we could.Grealish for me.
I know he's not the necessarily the position we need, but having two attacking midfielders of that caliber would make United a pure threat on the field.
Plus, you wouldn't have to worry about United bombing out of the top 4 if Fernandez gets injured, and like Fernandez, he has natural leadership skills, something direly needed on this squad.
Yeah to be honest that's a better comparison... hypothetically comparing them to Xavi and Iniesta was a bit dreamy
I think your spot on with the last point. We have a good team as is but without Fernandes we're back up shit creek.
It's all a question of ambition really. Do we want to be good enough that we can win the league (which with luck we might be already) or do we want to be a dominant force again. Signing Grealish would take us a big step towards the latter.
I think we would only sign Grealish as a mostly attacking midfielder, but not for a winger role. It's good he can do both, but it's more about what we need for our system.
Agree. And I think "don't need" is a very relative term. If we lose Pogba, we do need a creative midfielder. And besides, I think most cool heads would agree that, while you need solid defense and attack, as well as a goalkeeper, its' really the strong midfield that wins you trophies. Midfield is by far the most important component to have a deep bench for. Overinvest in midfield because then you can vary systems and adapt to different opponents! If you dominate the midfield, you are one step ahead, but if you have subpar midfield even the best defense and attack become detached and completely useless. Too bad people often forget it.
100 million. Not a chance we would snap your hand off. Sorry
Nowhere near 100 million. Not today. Best at his job in the league. We would turn down 200 if honest. But keep trying. No offence just saying. Villa is his club. So very good luck
Then that's good (for Villa) that you are not any kind of decision-maker at Villa, but if we are back to reality:
1. Your club isn't wealthy enough to decline that kind of money. Nor are they title-contenders to have a reason for being so foolish
2. However, there's no chance in hell that we'd pay you even 100 mill for Graelish. Maybe 70 at most, up to 75-80 with conditions. Which is also why it hasn't happened yet and may never happen
Fair enough if that’s what you think. Him signing that new contract reminds me of Ronaldo signing with us just before he left - it ensures Villa get a fair price under the proviso that he wants the move. If he genuinely signed that deal with no agreement that he could leave at the right price, well then I doubt he’d want to move regardless of the offer (or he just has terrible advisors).
Villa would accept 100m for Villa honestly, credit to where Villa are in the league, but honestly I think if Grealish was offered a United move he would say yes.
Players like him most likely want to win trophies, the best Villa will get is perhaps an FA Cup and get out of the group stages of something like the Europa League in a peak season.
He could go to any club in Europe given his current form honestly.
Statistically this season not many in the Premier League have had seasons like him, and that's saying something.
Wow some incredibly condescending posts here. Jack is worth far more to villa than whatever money anyone gives them. And they are on a upward trend with a good manager, good team and very rich owners.
And also, I would love the talents to be more spread out in the league. And Villa are a big club and one of the few English clubs to be the champions of Europe. I just hope if he ever thinks about leaving villa, he comes to us or goes abroad. Would hate to see him in a Liverpool or a City shirt.
Furthermore, Tottenham could have had him for 35 million pounds. What a front three Kane, Son and Grealish would have been.
And also, I would love the talents to be more spread out in the league. And Villa are a big club and one of the few English clubs to be the champions of Europe. I just hope if he ever thinks about leaving villa, he comes to us or goes abroad. Would hate to see him in a Liverpool or a City shirt.
Furthermore, Tottenham could have had him for 35 million pounds. What a front three Kane, Son and Grealish would have been.
To me Grealish is the best of those options. A front three of him, Rashford and Bruno behind whoever plays striker would be dominant. He's the right type of player, ha sthe right kind of mindset and ambition and the right kind of skill to both be made better by Rash and Bruno and to make them better as well. Also, he's got real positional versatility - not only CAN he play different positions (lots of players do that), he can can play several positions seemingly roughly equally well (which not many players can). That is a huge asset.
Sancho may be great, but it somehow doesn't seem such a certainty that he'll fit in with the others. DCL is a wonderful striker who would give us a box threat we don't have, but I don't think he's a player with potentially transformative impact, which Grealish is. And Rice simply isn't as good as the others.
Sancho may be great, but it somehow doesn't seem such a certainty that he'll fit in with the others. DCL is a wonderful striker who would give us a box threat we don't have, but I don't think he's a player with potentially transformative impact, which Grealish is. And Rice simply isn't as good as the others.
This idea that any player at any club is there for life is old fashioned. It used to be the case, and you will get odd exceptions, but grealish has showed no sign of that (the lad chose England knowing he would have to wait for a call up).
grealish will make a big money move if he feels it is right, the idea that any club can turn down big offers and force a player to stay, as united know too well, is laughable
grealish will make a big money move if he feels it is right, the idea that any club can turn down big offers and force a player to stay, as united know too well, is laughable
I think the biggest importance is balance Sancho slots right into a functional team of our best 11 in their preferred position. That means less complexity for Solskjaer to deal with. Rashford is not a right winger he's best on the left and in terms of productivity he's very useful throughout a season.
Grealish brings more creativity but I'm unsure if he will suit the fast attacking play we often impose against bigger opposition. He slows the tempo down which is no issue for Villa as he's the vocal point of the attack but he won't receive that here with Fernandes influence.
People need to think objectively regarding Grealish, him being good at keeping possession doesn't mean everything if the team is not suited to maintain his influence. I would put Grealish as the priority if he's doing what he's doing exclusively on the right hand side of play but he's not he's in the left. Anyone talking him playing in midfield hasn't a clue we often deploy a double pivot midfield with Fernandes in front, we don't utilise a 433 consistently.
The player we need to buy needs to add something to our immediate first 11 because that's how we build consistency, Ole will find himself in Lampard's shoes with headaches continually re-evaluating the transition of a team with restarting the building process around individual players. Pogbas leaving we need a DLP to fulfill his shoes, we have no right winger of any use insert Sancho.
Grealish by a country mile. Sancho seems the Instagramy type.
Why should he stay at Villa? He's not going to spend his best years in mediocre team. He will end here or other top club. Soon. For a COVID price
Sancho just scored his first goal yesterday, for the entirety of this season (12 appearances). And that's in fecking Bundesliga! If he was playing with us (in a tougher league) and had that kind of record this season, we would be angrier at him than we are at Dan James (at least we got James for bargain). The reality and the legend of Jadon Sancho don't align.
Grealish on the other hand is a pretty sure bet. The only question there is the price.
Jack does feel like someone who is capable of stepping up if Bruno had a suspension or got injured for a period of time, however the Villa fan could be right about them turning down big offers for him but it really comes down to the will of the player in the end.
Yeah, I don't think Grealish is going to happen either.
The moment you survived the drop, and he signed a new contract that chance was gone. Also, don't think we can pay that much on one player with the current climate.
Yeah this would only happen if Grealish was willing to push for it, however that also applies to rival clubs wanting to sign him as well so doesn't make it unique to Utd
Hey all - just wanted to come and wade in on the Grealish debate and give another view from a Villa fan perspective
Yep this is exactly what likely happened. The price went through the roof after that.
In the reality of a COVID football economy, I would agree with Villa2000 on this. Y'all wouldn't be able to afford him in a sense that he would take up way too much of a percent of your transfer budget for what you as a club need in the summer transfer window... adding to that he shouldn't be a priority signing for you. And TBH I just don't see any real huge money transfers at least until summer. I also don't think many of the big clubs would be able to afford what we will likely ask for Grealish either. PSG hiring Poch does worry me a bit as he tried to sign Jack for that 35 mil that our *then new owners* came in and pulled the plug on.
As far as I know, we wanted around 100m in the summer, and he has only gone on from strength to strength. I don't disagree that if Grealish was offered a United move that he would say yes. But the price would likely be much higher than 100m.
While the club has to adhere to FFP limits, our owners are the 3rd (I think) richest in the PL. We've spent 100m + each of the last two summers, so they are heavily investing in the club. I know everybody has a price (see Coutinho) and I think that's the type of haul our owners would be looking for.
would take the 4 of them here in a heartbeat, all add something different to what we have, only chance of Grealish would be if Pogba goes, sure I read he has a release clause in his contract as well. Sancho still an excellent player and would be fantastic, fee would be alot lower for me now but more competition for his signature, like Calvert-Lewin a lot again would be a big fee but would ideally want to see if he could do it again next season, his overall game has improved dramatically this last 12 months. Rice is the one I would take first of the 4, solves the most problems for me hes better then our current crop of midfielders, his improvement on the ball this season has been brilliant, reads the game superbly as well. 70m fee but it aint my money at the end of the day and its better than it sitting in the Glazers pockets
Rice - Right now I'm happy with the midfield-options we have (Fred, McTom, Matic, DVB and Pogba), and I would save the money for more pressing positions
Calvert-Lewin - Good, but not good enough. Not an obvious 1st choice, so no. I would rather have another go at Haaland before we go for a rotation option up front.
Grealish - Great player, but we have already have great players for the LW/AM position (Rashford, Martial, Bruno and VDB) If he was proven on the right wing as well I would be a lot more positive.
Sancho - I think this is the one I want the most. A dip in form doesn't make his any less of a talent, and I think Ole with his man-management skills would get the best out of him. Seems less likely that we will get him though, with us getting two teenager RWs in.