So we didn't sign a central midfielder

2007.


The last time we bought a first team midfielder. One of them turned out to be an injury wreck, the other an injury wrecked fat disappointment.



wink can you see the the white text?
 
amolbhatia100 said:
This is what surprises me most. In all these years we haven't even done the united thing and signed a couple of bright young talents. It's like we just decided "feck that position, it's doesn't matter".
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Pogba, Powell, Petrucci, Eikrem, Daehli
 
So Bale is off to Real. Sickening thought but Real always get their man. Meanwhile, back in OT, we face the ever increasing reality that Ed doesn't know what he's doing.
 
dar10nian said:
So Bale is off to Real. Sickening thought but Real always get their man. Meanwhile, back in OT, we face the ever increasing reality that Ed doesn't know what he's doing.
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When it came to addressing a glaring weakness in our squad the last 4/5 years Fergie or Gill were hardly inspiring

Talking Scholes out of retirement was the height of it

We will sign a midfielder by next week - all the Martinez/Moyes comments are laying the ground rules for another bid
 
I think we all have to accept reality. Fellaini is probably the best we can get, which is so utterly depressing I might have to do a punishment run in the rain tomorrow.
 
buckooo1978 said:
When it came to addressing a glaring weakness in our squad the last 4/5 years Fergie or Gill were hardly inspiring

Talking Scholes out of retirement was the height of it
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Did we talk Scholes out of retirement?. I thought that Scholes approached Fergie and told him he was missing playing too much.

"
"He came to see me and said he wanted to come back, he was missing it too much," Ferguson told ITV."​
 
It's a beyond a joke now.

Makes me sick seeing Chelsea sign the likes of Willian out of nowhere dispite having a midfield jam packed of world class talent, and seeing City and Spurs flash the cash while the boardroom staff at OT sit and twiddle their thumbs.

Why not attempt to lure Willian from early on? We all knew his former club were having a clear out.

I'm sorry, but our standards should be higher than bloody Fellaini and Baines.
 
Yeah i know. I was using Willian as an example of our lack of/lazy activity in the transfer market. I didn't explain properly though, apologies.
 
GE said:
Yeah i know. I was using Willian as an example of our lack of/lazy activity in the transfer market. I didn't explain properly though, apologies.
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We are looking for a particular type of player to be fair. We need a top central midfielder, ready to slot in and not a "prospect" as we have done recently. It is a tough market, not alot available in that position and that style. There are plenty of wingers and attackers to chose from, hence the likes of Chelsea, City and Spurs doing relatively well. We lost Scholes, and are looking for at least 1 player in that department. We dont need a squad overhaul or build depth like the others have done. City are still fecked defensively actually, it has been their downfall the last season or so.

So it isnt really lazy, it is being really particular with who we want. People like yourself cant see that line at all, just because other teams are buying around them mean we need to do the same. We have a decent squad, just lacking that extra bit in midfield. That is all! Moaning idiots.
 
We just can't possibly go into September without having signed a midfielder or two. It'd be suicidal. Just get Fellaini signed up and then look for another, more creative player.
 
Sarni is a prophet, he declares early on every window that we will not sign a midfielder, and is always challenged. He wins the argument every time.
 
Lynk said:
2007.


The last time we bought a first team midfielder. One of them turned out to be an injury wreck, the other an injury wrecked fat disappointment.



wink can you see the the white text?
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6 fecking years ago....6 years...

Lets see:

1. 6 years ago Nokia was still a mobile technology leader
2. George Bush was a president of USA
3. Liverpool were a top 4 team
4. Feel free to continue
 
Mr Anderson said:
We are looking for a particular type of player to be fair. We need a top central midfielder, ready to slot in and not a "prospect" as we have done recently. It is a tough market, not alot available in that position and that style. There are plenty of wingers and attackers to chose from, hence the likes of Chelsea, City and Spurs doing relatively well. We lost Scholes, and are looking for at least 1 player in that department. We dont need a squad overhaul or build depth like the others have done. City are still fecked defensively actually, it has been their downfall the last season or so.

So it isnt really lazy, it is being really particular with who we want. People like yourself cant see that line at all, just because other teams are buying around them mean we need to do the same. We have a decent squad, just lacking that extra bit in midfield. That is all! Moaning idiots.
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And with what sort of budget arewe looking for this established top midfielder? £25m?

If this kind of player was really our criteria, if we were willing to spend nearer double that, more of these players will mysteriously become 'available".

All good saying we want the best, yhen laughing at/critcising every club for idiocity for spending over £35m on a player.
 
Rozay said:
And with what sort of budget arewe looking for this established top midfielder? £25m?

If this kind of player was really our criteria, if we were willing to spend nearer double that, more of these players will mysteriously become 'available".

All good saying we want the best, yhen laughing at/critcising every club for idiocity for spending over £35m on a player.
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We have not set a budget though if the bids on Cesc are anything to be believed, he just isnt that interested in coming here, he would have done a Rooney and kept quiet rather than tell the press he is happy in Barca. We are looking at certain players who would strengthen us, rather than looking for players in a certain price bracket. Players will need to want to come here too, it aint that easy. A lot of these world-class players are playing for top teams and getting gametime, it isnt going to be as easy as throwing money at a club and hoping negotiations with the player in question go swimmingly.

We have to be realistic here. The players that have moved to english teams already, have moved from lesser clubs. Club was happy to sell, player was happy to move to a bigger club. Much easier and not the same situation.
 
Mr Anderson said:
We have not set a budget though if the bids on Cesc are anything to be believed, he just isnt that interested in coming here, he would have done a Rooney and kept quiet rather than tell the press he is happy in Barca. We are looking at certain players who would strengthen us, rather than looking for players in a certain price bracket. Players will need to want to come here too, it aint that easy. A lot of these world-class players are playing for top teams and getting gametime, it isnt going to be as easy as throwing money at a club and hoping negotiations with the player in question go swimmingly.

We have to be realistic here. The players that have moved to english teams already, have moved from lesser clubs. Club was happy to sell, player was happy to move to a bigger club. Much easier and not the same situation.
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My point is, if we went around bidding £40m+ for the best players, I reckon we will be positively surprised at our response. Money is the hugest factor in convincing players and teams to do business, we still seem to be operating in a world where our currency is 'the history of the club'.

Of course Fabregas would rather play for Barcelona than Manchester United. If that, in itself was our question, we probably didn't even need to bid. As I've said before, if the question put to him was 'would you rather play for United as the main star, or play for Barcelona who have just accepted a bid for you?', it may be a more interesting question.

There should be a clear difference in our pursuit of Cesc bloody Fabregas ftom Barcelona than our pursuit of Fellaini from Everton. We cant expect to 'turn his head' with a low bid and then get him to force a move. Who do we think we/Barca are?
 
Rozay said:
Sarni is a prophet, he declares early on every window that we will not sign a midfielder, and is always challenged. He wins the argument every time.
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It's the fourth year in a row although this time I took it into consideration that it may change because we have a new manager. It does seem like it's going to stay the same though unless he takes Fellaini. The laughing smilies and abuse I get for saying that decreases with each year passing though, in 2010 I was called an idiot over and over again, even more so in 2011 but less in 2012 and now.
 
Mr Anderson said:
We are looking for a particular type of player to be fair. We need a top central midfielder, ready to slot in and not a "prospect" as we have done recently. It is a tough market, not alot available in that position and that style. There are plenty of wingers and attackers to chose from, hence the likes of Chelsea, City and Spurs doing relatively well. We lost Scholes, and are looking for at least 1 player in that department. We dont need a squad overhaul or build depth like the others have done. City are still fecked defensively actually, it has been their downfall the last season or so.

So it isnt really lazy, it is being really particular with who we want. People like yourself cant see that line at all, just because other teams are buying around them mean we need to do the same. We have a decent squad, just lacking that extra bit in midfield. That is all! Moaning idiots.
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We should stop trying to get the unattainable targets though and just try to improve midfield from current standard, it's not going to be that difficult. Only Carrick and Cleverley are good enough for this level, players like Dembele or Gustavo who have moved in the last year or so would have been a big improvement for the squad. We can move for players like Fabregas when they become available anyway, for now someone decent would suffice but I reckon that even if we sign Fellaini we'll still be short (Anderson and Giggs aren't real options, one's 40 and one's unfit).
 
Willian is unnecessary, pay £5-10million more and you get a world class player in Ozil who plays in the same position and is heaps better.

I'm just bemused as to why we weren't even entertaining the likes of Capoue, Paulinho Gustavo or Strootman who've all transferred to inferior clubs. Even now we'd probably have a decent chance in signing the likes of Bender(s), Eriksen or even Marchisio yet we've exhausted our energy making silly, unrealistic bids for Fabregas and now we're tossing around with Fellaini and Baines, offering whats essentially the same bid 6 weeks between them being rejected.
 
I think this talk of Moyes saying we may not sign anyone is just purely talk in an attempt to prevent clubs from playing hard ball against us. I would be astounded if we didn't end up signing Fellaini or a CM. We are a Carrick injury away from being royally effed in CM and the whole season being derailed before it has even begun.
 
wonnie said:
I think this talk of Moyes saying we may not sign anyone is just purely talk in an attempt to prevent clubs from playing hard ball against us. I would be astounded if we didn't end up signing Fellaini or a CM. We are a Carrick injury away from being royally effed in CM and the whole season being derailed before it has even begun.
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Agreed. Surely at the very very least we will end up panic buying Fellaini and paying over the odds. I wouldn't be displeased with that at all.
 
Rowem said:
Agreed. Surely at the very very least we will end up panic buying Fellaini and paying over the odds. I wouldn't be displeased with that at all.
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I can see it going to deadline day and us overpaying massively as you said.
 
Rowem said:
Agreed. Surely at the very very least we will end up panic buying Fellaini and paying over the odds. I wouldn't be displeased with that at all.
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Yep wouldn't be displeased with it either. It's stupid because we could've just paid a similar amount for him over a month ago, let him have pre season here and get used to the team etc.
 
Lynk said:
2007.


The last time we bought a first team midfielder. One of them turned out to be an injury wreck, the other an injury wrecked fat disappointment.



wink can you see the the white text?
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and regardless of those 2 midfield disappointments, we went on to have (arguably) the most successful period in the whole history of the club - who needs midfielders?!

I still reckon we will sign someone, probably Fellaini
 
wonnie said:
Yep wouldn't be displeased with it either. It's stupid because we could've just paid a similar amount for him over a month ago, let him have pre season here and get used to the team etc.
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Yeah, it would be pretty stupid on our part but definitely less stupid than not signing anyone.
 
GE said:
It's a beyond a joke now.

Makes me sick seeing Chelsea sign the likes of Willian out of nowhere dispite having a midfield jam packed of world class talent, and seeing City and Spurs flash the cash while the boardroom staff at OT sit and twiddle their thumbs.

Why not attempt to lure Willian from early on? We all knew his former club were having a clear out.

I'm sorry, but our standards should be higher than bloody Fellaini and Baines.
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I don't know much about Willian, but are you suggesting he's a significantly better player than Fellaini?
 
Anybody want to bet that this thread will still be around in 2015? I wonder if we can reach 2017 and go 10 years without signing an established CM..
 
Cina said:
Yes, he's also not a midfielder. Strange comparison that was.
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I suspect it's more to do with the frustration felt at Chelsea being able to tie up a deal with such speed while United continue to prepare bids and work hard.
 
Feed Me said:
I suspect it's more to do with the frustration felt at Chelsea being able to tie up a deal with such speed while United continue to prepare bids and work hard.
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This isn't United's problem, it's Chelsea's. They clearly don't have a clue what is actually involved in preparing a bid. They just rush through and "sign" the player. What's so good about "signing" people if you haven't meticulously prepared a bid? Fools.
 
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