Not sure what Ten Hag sees in this guy, but can we at least not offer him 175k for no reason? Makes it damn near impossible to shift any bad signings
Sander Berge | Signs for Fulham
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran are here to talk about a frustrating 2 points dropped at Crystal Palace. They then discuss the regeneration of Old Trafford. Finally, Nik is joined by special guest Michael Statham from the Football Oranje podcast - who gives us a more in depth look at our EL opposition FC Twente, and then runs through the (many) Dutch connections currently at United.
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Is Onana that much better than Berge physically? We also need physicality in our midfield and if Berge isn’t that good despite being built like a tank then it’s disappointing.
Some people would justify any player we're feckin linked to. I get it, stay positive, find the silver lining.. it’s damn hard with this one though.
Has anyone reliable linked us with this gowl?
It’s not obsession and it’s not about the price. I wanted to compare because they both are like 6’4, physical, played for crap teams in the same position. They do have a lot of similarities and many here wanted Onana including me. So I was curious to know how that might work out for us if we do indeed end up signing Berge.
In my opinion, I think so. Not to say Berge isn't, I'm not sure he's as agile or quick in the first few yards. He's not slow though. I've never been hugely impressed with Berge when I've watched him, but can't say that's been a great deal. I'm happy if the recruitment team are.
He's on a list. You run statistical analysis of the type of players you want, and get your results. I think it is as simple as that.
Played more games in the championship than the PL. Only club in for him was Burnley and he’s gone straight back down with them.
Generally not good enough for a top 12-14 team in the PL feck knows what we are doing.
Generally not good enough for a top 12-14 team in the PL feck knows what we are doing.
By the way, he hasn't been injured since November 2021, according to Transfermarkt.
No. But we do not have £50m.
I get if this is our Amrabat replacement. But a starting 11 player?
Maybe this is a tactic to put pressure on other selling clubs. I hope.
Maybe this is a tactic to put pressure on other selling clubs. I hope.
Is there any way aerial duel stats take in to account the fact that taller players are often just allowed to head the ball uncontested because there's no point in much shorter players contesting with them? Cause if not they'd be severely understating how often the player wins the ball in the air.
Those stats are cheery picked and misleading. Berge last season was better than Casemiro at all the rate-based metrics apart from headers won %.
Think this is one of the signings that I hope we get priced out of.
Just gives me Weghorst vibes in terms of just signing him for the sake of it even though he’s shown nothing in the PL that he can cut it at this level.
Just gives me Weghorst vibes in terms of just signing him for the sake of it even though he’s shown nothing in the PL that he can cut it at this level.
We will soon fix that if he signs for us.
Not a flashy signing , but I think he would be a decent signing all the same to raise the floor of the squad, we could do worse.
Will be so underwhelming if he's the only one but with no signs of sales for Casemiro and McTominay it's starting to look like that's the case
"You can sign young players without them being obvious duds like Dan James"
30m and 100k was reported by the sun.
So are we on the berge of signing him yet?
So yeah, Onana is 4 years younger and better than him already
Yep but hadn't got the funds to rival Villa, grim
Par for the course really. They already have a much better manager, finished 4 places above us, and have now added two midfielders and a left back who could moonwalk into our starting eleven with their eyes closed.
Yeah everything you said is spot on, surely we can find someone better than this guy. The trouble is our midfield targets don't seem to have the same profiles, says to me they still don't know what they are looking for which is worrying to say the least.
Only Onana walks into first 11 from their 3 signings. Hilarious how people get carried away so easily.
We are getting carried away because nothing has happened since Yoro signed and it's frustrating
We don’t even have a left back so Maatsen obviously walks into our eleven..
Shaw is a left back. Just because he was injured last season doesn't mean we don't have one.
Exactly. West Ham currently also look like are about to have a better window than us.
Yeah and we got off to such a positive start too, things went downhill when he tried playing lets show others we won't be messed with, unfortunately that stance leaves us very short. Should be hijacking Zubimendi but instead we are targeting this guy. Doesn't help Erik seems to think keeping the ball is important so no wonder we aren't looking at him.
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I think the median expectation here is that he's a good fit (back up Mainoo and the #6, whether that's Casemiro, Ugarte or someone else) as a squad player but not good enough, so really the only kind of thing that makes sense if he's on a free and we could just sell him next year. If he costs say 15M we should be able to shift him for a similar amount fairly easily in a year or 2, though that sort thing tends to be easier said than done with us.
If the problem was PSR and not cash flow, selling McTominay for 20M and buying Berge for 15M would make sense as we'd be 17M up or whatever, but it seems like people here think (and the structure of the Zirkzee deal confirms) that the issue is cash flow, so that's out as a logic.
Personally, I didn't watch him close, but Cullen certainly looked better on the ball and while that's not shameful or anything, it's not encouraging either, even if the idea is to get a big lump in the engine room to replace McTominay.
If the problem was PSR and not cash flow, selling McTominay for 20M and buying Berge for 15M would make sense as we'd be 17M up or whatever, but it seems like people here think (and the structure of the Zirkzee deal confirms) that the issue is cash flow, so that's out as a logic.
Personally, I didn't watch him close, but Cullen certainly looked better on the ball and while that's not shameful or anything, it's not encouraging either, even if the idea is to get a big lump in the engine room to replace McTominay.
Don't really want him but would begrudgingly accept if he was not the main midfield signing
To be fair, Shaw's fitness record is so bad we are constantly looking for back-up options. I think it's time we started searching for an actual replacement.
Agreed, someone like Maatsen would've walked into our starting 11, not because he is better than Shaw, but because there is a high chance Shaw will be injured for a long period that Maatsen will find himself starting more games than Shaw.
I remember losing it back in 96-97 when we went on signing a nepo baby, some 27 year old CB from Besiktas, a 23 yr old from Molde and a free transfer fresh from the Dutch league. I thought that the only decent signing we made back then was the EURO 96 sensation Karel Poborsky. Turned out that 2 of those players were key in the treble season and Rai Van Del Gouw played a huge role during the dark days between Schmeichel's departure and VDS's arrival. Meanwhile Poborsky struggled at United.
Don't take me wrong the failure rate with these signings are high and even SAF had his share of messes. For every Ole there was a Kleberson, for every Johnsen there was a Djemba Djemba and for every Chicarito there was a Bebe. However SAF kept on making them. The reason being is that when done right (fee and salary) they represent a low risk transfer with huge benefits if they do well (ex Ole) and low damage if they don't. Djemba for example was bought for 3.5m. He was then sold for 1.5m. That's hardly a huge loss as opposed to let's say Maguire who will probably leave on a free after being bought for 80m
Don't take me wrong the failure rate with these signings are high and even SAF had his share of messes. For every Ole there was a Kleberson, for every Johnsen there was a Djemba Djemba and for every Chicarito there was a Bebe. However SAF kept on making them. The reason being is that when done right (fee and salary) they represent a low risk transfer with huge benefits if they do well (ex Ole) and low damage if they don't. Djemba for example was bought for 3.5m. He was then sold for 1.5m. That's hardly a huge loss as opposed to let's say Maguire who will probably leave on a free after being bought for 80m
The problem is money!
Such a good point. These days you’d get comments that if Ronnie Johnsen’s not shit, why’s he at Besiktas in his prime?
It's all relative, United have received a huge amount of service from Maguire and probably has facilitated his fee from what we have recouped from him, whereas United got next to nothing from Djemba Djemba, in fact I'd go so far as to say United were at a detriment every time he was on the pitch.
Personally I have nothing against Berge, decent steady player who could do a job, not sure of that's enough for what United needs but it's better than an unpredictable Casemiro right now.
OK thanks . So is Dalot a RB who played as LB for quite a while last season.. apples and oranges . . Cheers though
I think the problem is PSR. Not cash flow. Ineos have cash to spend but just want to play by the rule. The long deal for Zirkzee is to Ammotise over a long period of time so that we can sign more players with the money we have. We have ball players in midfield, what we need is a tackler, someone who comes with high energy and if you watch berg, that is his strength. I just wonder why not activate the Amrabat deal
No matter who we're linked with people will eventually twist themselves in knots to pretend that it's actually a great idea. The cope never ends. (I'm also on the Berge cope train due to my fetish for tall, athletic players)
We could be linked with Jonjo Shelvey and it would play out like:
Monday: This isn't happening
Tuesday: Can't believe we're actually interested in him. He's shit and he's been injured for 3 years.
Wednesday: I guess he was actually good for Newcastle at times... but that was nearly a decade ago
Thursday: He does still have a great switch of play on him. Nice shiny head too
Friday: Here's a YouTube video from his loan at Rizespor: You Won't Believe How Good Jonjo Shelvey Is In 2024 - Amazing Skills, Goals, Passes & Tackles | Technical Elegance | HD
Saturday: This scatter chart shows Jonjo Shelvey is actually still elite. Look at all the green on FBRef. Moneyball?
Sunday: If we don't sign Jonjo Shelvey we're absolutely fecked
This is so accurate. And I say that as someone who often falls victim to this myself. Every player we are linked with or have signed these days (With the exception of Mount) I have convinced myself they would be a really good addition. The best example for me was that I really thought Wout was going to be an excellent signing
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