Another ETH gem. Thankfully its only a loan deal. Still, a 8 million waste.
Sofyan Amrabat | 2023/24 Performances
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His running for the first couple of games he played were ludicrous, it looked as though he was chasing the ball all over the field, keen to impress, problem with that was he left gaps for others to fill.
Mainoo is younger, is a better player and is more aware, it's no wonder he's not getting games.
Can’t wait to see what hidden gem ETH finds this transfer window. He’s clearly got an eye for PL ready talent.
Maybe keeping Sabitzer would've been a better option?
Or kept Fred, who could've been a OK LB option too.
Malen and Brobbey
The Chelsea game was certainly his high watermark, but to be honest he seems to have floundered in a faster league. Whilst I guess it was a bad decision either way, at least the club paid to get an option rather than obligation to buy.
Yeah all true but he barely played when Mainoo was out. Not as DM anyway.
It might be time to give him a try at centre back.
Jesus, he has been bad. Italy in slow motion is his game.
Than God it’s only a loan.
Fred’s energy would have, at least, protected us a little with the gaping chasm in midfield.
It’s crazy that that’s how he wanted to play, and they sold the midfielder with the most legs and energy.
It’s crazy that that’s how he wanted to play, and they sold the midfielder with the most legs and energy.
Classic case of "International ability =/= Club ability"
He joins the club of Milan Barros, Karel Poborsky, Honda, Podolski and Svennson
He joins the club of Milan Barros, Karel Poborsky, Honda, Podolski and Svennson
I wonder what random foreign signing the Caf will be convinced is the answer this summer.
Yep I remember that being the story. We couldn't sign ambrabat until MCT was sold. As he wasn't sold we went for loan. It did feel like we wanted to make him permanent but were restricted.
His usage has been weird. Thought he did decent at lb in the cup. Then we hardly saw him. It was very strange the way we saw him bits and pieces. He probably isn't good enough for this league but he wasn't given enough time either but maybe cos of what he does in training
I said in one of the threads we are going to sell fred and somehow downgrade and we did that. Honestly think we would have done better by keeping one of the youngsters who might be rash but have the legs
Exactly this. Need to stop judging players based on international football.
ETH has been building a team for Serie A.
I dont understand this transfer. He is playing exactly how it was expected. Is Ten Hag surprised?
It’s not very complicated, I think. Mainoo was injured, McTominay was a possible sale for the summer or winter window, Fred was leaving for Turkey, and there was almost no cover for Casemiro specifically. A loan deal for an experienced midfielder able to shield the defence seems a good way out when we didn’t have the money to reinforce from the high end either way.
If we’d had the same injuries in midfield that we have in defence, or if Mainoo hadn’t defies belief as a kid withe a couple of games’ experience coming back from injury, he would have played a lot.
I honestly don't think he gives a shit. New season, new list of players he wants. He belongs at a club like City where they can refresh the squad every year until he gets his perfect team.
If I remember correctly, he was labeled more like a DLP than a DM (Casemiro cover) by people who watched him play more. In that context signing Amrabat for a team that focuses on fast transitions makes little sense to me.
Maybe he was the only one available on loan. Still, it's such a weird way to build a squad (letting Fred go, buying Mount, loaning Amrabat).
Have you not been watching how Casemiro plays at Manchester United?
I don't see your point in context of the discussion we had with Grande.
You’re saying he couldn’t do what Casemiro does in his absence because he’s a “DLP” (I hate these acronyms but presume you mean deep lying passer?) which is exactly what Casemiro has mainly been doing for us. God knows, if we had a proper, mobile defensive midfielder in our squad we might be a better team but ETH seems to be happy with a fairly immobile player in that role, pinging early long passes forward. Which is supposed to be Amrabat’s specialty.
Casemiro role is to get the ball back (he's quite effective at that still, unless he needs to chase) and launch it forward. There is not much finesse in what he's doing. Amrabat seems like a really poor DM/tackler and he was more of a player that spreads the ball wide and provides some passing options. But that is not how ETH wants to play based on how the midfield operates this season.
They both look completely different players to me, and because of lack of speed/agility, unfortunately don't fit together very well. Which is why I don't understand what was the idea behind getting Amrabat. At this moment an argument "because he was cheap and available on loan" is as good as any.
If someone said that, then I disagree with them. As I saw him then, and still do, he was a physical player with good stamina, not unlike McT minus the goal threat but pluss defensive ability, a little better but not great at passing, and able (but not great) to play the 1 in an 4-1-4-1.
If TH usually operates with three central players between defense and striker, and they change positional definitions depending on the situation in the game, but tending towards the roles of a 6, an 8, a 10, then last season probably showed TH that neither Fred nor McT could really do anything but the 8 role. Bruno can do 8/10 during a game, Casemiro 6/8. VdB could at a strech do 6/8/10 but had fallen off a cliff, and were too lightweight as a 6 in the PL either way. We didn’t have money, so brought in Sabitzer who can do 8/10 to a degree. Now Mainoo is knocking at a door who can play 6/8 - maybe not yet, but maybe soon. There is money for two players, and desperate need for three really, short term (striker and two midfielders). Højlund is brought in, and Mount as a 8/10 midfielder. That leaves too little coverage of the 6 role, even if Mainoo can hopefully chip in there, but oops, he’s injured, maybe we could sell McT and Maguire, but oops, those deals break down. How can we get someone in who can play 6/8, for very little money, who don’t need to be stellar or young because we want to grow Mainoo into that part, but who has to have physicality and stamina enough to win those duels in defensive transition and game understanding good enough to not need a year acclimatisation in order to deliver. Yea, there are not many candidates to choose from in that situation. It’s even a plus that there’s one who has played under TH before, because this is a short term, back up need.
I think in that respect, it made sense. Has he delivered on those expectations? Meh. Taking into account that he at first had to deputize out of position as left back because we had four injured options there, and that when he has played it has been in a dysfunctional team where any newcomer would struggle, he has not been a terrible back-up, but neither has he impressed. Thanks to Mainoo flourishing and McT stepping up a bit, the need has been less than it could have been. What deerly needs replacing, is what Casemiro did last season, and you don’t get that for 8 million.
I posted a while back about this.
Forget Amrabat's name and any thoughts you had on him and just think of an overview of his career: 27 year old midfielder who has played for Hellas, Utrecht, Feyenoord, Club Brugge, Fiorentina who the latter want to sell for £20m. He's not really been disappointing, he's exactly about the level we should have expected him to be.
As an aside, I'd be happy to see more of these type of loans though, when you have the option to make it permanent and get to actually see the player first. Makes a whole lot more sense than just splashing silly money left and right.
Yeah. But to be honest, most of our players turned out that way. Amrabat, Antony, Hojlund are playing pretty much as expected. Martinez really stepped out, and Sancho is the biggest disappointment.
People often make it look like player X has been disappointing, but very often he's actually playing on his actual level.
I think with other names, including the other two you mentioned, it's not the same though. Antony was 22 when he came here, Hojlund was 20, that's very different to a 27 year old where you really can see if they can be elite i.e. someone like Modric who everyone wanted but moved at 27 a Real.
Wouldn’t Endo have a similar CV? Probably worse, seeing as he’s older. He’s been doing ok for Liverpool. Better than Amrabat for us anyway.
You might need to call in one of the Bundesliga faithful to confirm but my understanding is Endo was great for Stuttgart but he had a year left on his deal which made the £15m odd fee seem good. I am not going to pretend I have any understanding of how good or bad he was for the bulk of his career in Japan, but I guess you would have a point is he was average there for so long and only really did well when he went to Stuttgart late in his career, I'm not sure we have ay J League watchers amongst us though.
Antony has 2 seasons in EPL under his belt and it's not like he made any progress, he's just playing his game. Hojlund is a tough one because he seems fairly limited player that CAN improve, but it's not a given considering his deficiences in technique is not something you get better at at the age of 20.
In the end I believe we got what was expected from those players, so it's not like they are not delivering, more a problem of identifying the right targets, what was my point.
I wouldn’t pretend to have a clue about the Bundesliga, never mind the J League. But I do think Endo proves you don’t have to settle for players who you know will never be good enough, just because you don’t want to splash out on a massive fee.
Didn't work out .. but we should make his signing ...Now that he has 1 year experience in the PL, he will turn good ..let's sign him permananetly for 50M
I don't think this stands up to scrutiny. A 20 and 22 year old could have vastly different career paths to what we imagine they will if we fast forward 30 years. The key is when we bought them there was clearly an idea of there being potential as well as ability, which I don't think you can argue in Amrabat's case given his age.
Oh I am sure there are bargains to be had but I would assume most of those bargains haven't jumped around as many lesser clubs with quick loans thrown in during their mid twenties (it's not like Amrabat came from an unknown league, he's been in Europe his whole career) and are key players wherever they are, like Endo was.
Think he did alright tonight.
Bang average player but his industry can never be faulted and he does get involved.
Bang average player but his industry can never be faulted and he does get involved.
He was lucky to stay on after that challenge.
But, outside of that, he looked competent.
But, outside of that, he looked competent.
If Ten Hag had his way, we’d have signed this guy for £30 million with the money from McTominay. Frightening.
Probably the worst player I've seen in a utd shirt. Don't like being unkind but this is a forum for honest views.
I feel like ive seen this in about five of our player threads. And tbh, most have a case
I thought given the low bar anyway, he wasnt the worst. He probably should start ahead of Eriksen and Casemiro in the middle next to Mainoo.
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