Solskjaer target 5 signings; 6 players could leave [BBC, Telegraph, Guardian]

[roonster09]

Yeah sure, but still, it baffles me a bit. If it's your full-time job scouting players and watching games, you should aim to find the next Sancho or Rice yourself from whatever (lower) league in the world, not buy the emerging young players elsewhere from £50m upwards imo.

I know that for every Kante there are five other flops, and maybe a club like United can't afford to gamble like that, but such players cost next to nothing.

It's not about cost to nothing, it's about game time for them to develop. With stakes so high, it's hard enough to gamble on youngish players, it's even harder to gamble players from obscure leagues.

I love those kind of players but when we used to sign them they were additions to the squad with superb first 11. We didn't rely on them to win games. Now we need strong first 11 to take that risk.

For example, if we had strong 11 like City, then would have loved few punt signings.

Also tbf to the scouts, no one knows how many Rice, Sanchos they have found and prepared reports, it's not on their role to sign these players. It's on the club recruitment team. Also next Rice and Sancho are usually signed at academy level.

 

[RobinLFC]

I love those kind of players but when we used to sign them they were additions to the squad with superb first 11. We didn't rely on them to win games. Now we need strong first 11 to take that risk.

Fair point, yes.

Although in that case, I'd say you're not even sure Wan Bissaka or Rice would fit right in and handle the pressure that comes with playing for United. Sancho is only 19 years old. Of course you never know, and the chances that they'd succeed are more likely than not.

 

[VP89]

5 players of high quality. Not squad additions or mediocre talents. And 4 certainly isnt enough. We need 5 minimum.

2cm
1cb
1rw
1rb

And ideally another centre half on top.

 

[roonster09]

Fair point, yes.

Although in that case, I'd say you're not even sure Wan Bissaka or Rice would fit right in and handle the pressure that comes with playing for United. Sancho is only 19 years old. Of course you never know, and the chances that they'd succeed are more likely than not.

Yeah, I'm not really sure on Rice. Think AWB will be good addition considering we are playing Young as RB and Dalot as RW. Only draw back is his attacking game, which might improve. I would rather sign some other midfielder.

 

[Cassidy]

We had these types of articles come out whilst Jose was here and also LVG... really hope we do full something like this off but I'm not exactly hopeful

 

[Trizy]

I think we can all agreed we need 5+ signings. RW, RB, CB, CM, CM. We may even need another CB and ST to that list but the former will do for now.

I think the exception of a 6th signing should be made with it comes to CHO and Rabiot since both can be picked up for £30m. That of course is me being very optimistic.

Would love CHO, De Ligt, Sancho, Rabiot, Tanguy and AWB.

-------------De Gea
AWB---Lindelof--De Ligt---Shaw
-----Rabiot--Tanguy--Pogba
-Sancho----Martial----CHO

Very young squad full of quality. Average age 22.45. But again, I'm being very optimistic.

 

[PlayerOne]

I don't understand the whole British core thing. None of the top clubs have a British core, you bringing in the best players you can that can play together as a team.

 

[VP89]

We had these types of articles come out whilst Jose was here and also LVG... really hope we do full something like this off but I'm not exactly hopeful

LVG did bring in a lot of players tbf. Blind, Herrera, Rojo, Di Maria, Shaw, Depay, Schneiderlin, Falcao, Darmien.

He spent £146m in one season (and £125m the following season) . Adding the vast inflation in the past few years that probably equates to a £250m spend required today.

 

[Zlatattack]

I dont think, doing a mass change of squad will be fruitful, neither is it viable. United surely can sell upto 6 but signing 5-7 will create imbalance. Even with all the money at Man city. It took pep 2 years to get the players he needed and ine more year to get the team he needed. Ofcourse man utd has the resources and money but you guys will need to move lot of dead wood. Man Utd i believe was paying the most wages while having one of the worst squads among top six.

I've heard this before for several windows, and up until now i've bought it as a valid arguement. Now i'm wandering - what great fecking balance do we have right now that will be disturbed?

 

[PlayerOne]

Different journalist getting different info is not a strange thing.

One of them is Jamie Jackson, so it's best to ignore him.

 

[JPRouve]

Yeah sure, but still, it baffles me a bit. If it's your full-time job scouting players and watching games, you should aim to find the next Sancho or Rice yourself from whatever (lower) league in the world, not buy the emerging young players elsewhere from £50m upwards imo.

I know that for every Kante there are five other flops, and maybe a club like United can't afford to gamble like that, but such players cost next to nothing.

The problem is that the players that you are talking about don't necessarily want to join clubs like United or even Liverpool because they need game time and a patient structure around them. That's why I'm always riled up by lame reports like "United scouted De Ligt and De Jong in 2013 and didn't buy them.", it completely ignores the fact that players have career plans and they have to follow a development plan that will allow them to reach the top in the best conditions possible.

As a Liverpool fan, you should know that because a player like Le Tallec has been used by clubs and agents as an example to not follow, the move was too soon and too big.

 

[Cassidy]

LVG did bring in a lot of players tbf. Blind, Herrera, Rojo, Di Maria, Shaw, Depay, Schneiderlin, Falcao, Darmien.

He spent £146m in one season (and £125m the following season) . Adding the vast inflation in the past few years that probably equates to a £250m spend required today.

True that.

 

[Snafu17]

A lot of those targets sound like they're going to either cost a bomb or just plain be unattainable, especially without CL. For all of our apparent efforts to bring the wage bill down, that won't happen with these targets.

 

[Coxy]

I think we can all agreed we need 5+ signings. RW, RB, CB, CM, CM. We may even need another CB and ST to that list but the former will do for now.

I think the exception of a 6th signing should be made with it comes to CHO and Rabiot since both can be picked up for £30m. That of course is me being very optimistic.

Would love CHO, De Ligt, Sancho, Rabiot, Tanguy and AWB.

-------------De Gea
AWB---Lindelof--De Ligt---Shaw
-----Rabiot--Tanguy--Pogba
-Sancho----Martial----CHO

Very young squad full of quality. Average age 22.45. But again, I'm being very optimistic.

Extremely optimistic. Can’t see De Ligt not going to Barca. And can’t see Chelsea selling to us.

Plus you don’t have Rashford in your lineup?

 

[Zlatattack]

I think we can all agreed we need 5+ signings. RW, RB, CB, CM, CM. We may even need another CB and ST to that list but the former will do for now.

I think the exception of a 6th signing should be made with it comes to CHO and Rabiot since both can be picked up for £30m. That of course is me being very optimistic.

Would love CHO, De Ligt, Sancho, Rabiot, Tanguy and AWB.

-------------De Gea
AWB---Lindelof--De Ligt---Shaw
-----Rabiot--Tanguy--Pogba
-Sancho----Martial----CHO

Very young squad full of quality. Average age 22.45. But again, I'm being very optimistic.

CHO ahead of Rashford? He's scored 13 goals for us this season, has 2 months of the season yet to play and spent half of it on the wings!

I'm not having a go - i've just seen a lot of supporters recently not to impressed with Rashford. What am I missing?

 

[PSingh]

As a fan the news is fantastic - we’ve been crying out for major changes for a long time.

But I’m not sure it’s the most effective negotiation tactic. Surely other teams will raise their prices knowing United are desperate

 

[StrettyEnder07]

Finally a manager with a bit of bottle to bin off the aging shite deadwood, I'm assuming that Rojo will be a given as well, made up with that news, thanks for the memories but see you later.

Hopefully Jones, Smalling, Young & Matic to follow suit next summer but to much for one summer to rid of them all. If Bailly and Rojo do go, hopefully two CBs come in but would even take Tuanzebe being given a squad number next year with one major CB coming in.

If the 7 of them do go, we should be looking for 4/5 signings coming in, be a little short up top so we could do with two players who can play either wing, Sancho and Brooks would be good to go with Martial and Lingard on the wings.

1 hopefully 2 CM's would be great, Neves and Doucoure would be decent.

Koulibaly (Alderwerield if Koulibaly to pricey) and AWB would be class, that would probably cost a small fortune but that would be ideal.

 

[Andersonson]

Hopefully we get rid off some deadwood and buy some quality and let the youngsters have a go!
Darmian, Andreas, Bailly, TFM, Rojo, Herrera and Mata could all get sold. There are more fringe players in at the Club who will get sold, like CBJ and James Wilson.

Hopefully the Club replaces them With some needed quality and some Young talents.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

It sound like just what we've all been clamouring for; 5 or so out 5 or so in, any buys are ideally young with WC potential or established talents, all are potential starters.

I've heard this before for several windows, and up until now i've bought it as a valid arguement. Now i'm wandering - what great fecking balance do we have right now that will be disturbed?

You're not wrong. I'm instinctively against huge turnover in the squad but if we can find buyers for 7 or 8 I don't see too many reasons to hold fire. I suppose the flip side of bringing in 7 or 8 of the required quality is the gamble, if you feel like you're scrambling in the last days of the window just to fill the squad you're liable to add more square pegs, which is the very last thing we need.

 

[Trizy]

Extremely optimistic. Can’t see De Ligt not going to Barca. And can’t see Chelsea selling to us.

Plus you don’t have Rashford in your lineup?

CHO ahead of Rashford? He's scored 13 goals for us this season, has 2 months of the season yet to play and spent half of it on the wings!

I'm not having a go - i've just seen a lot of supporters recently not to impressed with Rashford. What am I missing?

I just don't rate him. He's an average winger and average striker. No matter what position you play him you'll lose quality in the XI. It's just lucky for him that we're terrible up front that he's getting chances. Very limited technically, kick and run and greedy.

He has a mean shot on him and his work rate is next to none but that's not enough for a team who dreams of challenging for titles. Just my opinion since you ask, though.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

People need to stop worrying about a title challenge next season. We won't be in one. Let's get our house in order over the summer and next season and try and be ready for 2020/2021 title race.

We have so much to do I can't see us getting close to City n Liverpool again next year. However if we start building a young exciting team that's enough. You have to start somewhere.

Our fans who demand instant challenge are part of the problem. It's taken Klopp 4 seasons.

 

[marukomu]

I'll believe it when I hear him say it.

 

[Northstand]

"Hi, We're Manchester United. We are the richest club in the world. How much of our money would you like?"

My thoughts entirely. Along with “is it season ticket renewal time already?”.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Less media briefings, more action required.

 

[Zlatattack]

I'm glad this is happening and really hope it's true. We need to make a statement to everyone in the club - you either step up of your out. Fresh young players will bring some drive and hunger to the place.

I hope we see the last of Sanchez, Valencia, Darmian, Rojo, Jones (wishful thinking), Periera, Mata, Fosu-Mensah. It looks like we'll see the last of Herrera too (shame but not the end ot the world).

None of these guys have contributed anything to our season. They can easily be replaced by a mix of new signings and promoting youth players.

 

[Varun]

What's the point of making such briefings other than to appease the muppets

 

[RobinLFC]

The problem is that the players that you are talking about don't necessarily want to join clubs like United or even Liverpool because they need game time and a patient structure around them. That's why I'm always riled up by lame reports like "United scouted De Ligt and De Jong in 2013 and didn't buy them.", it completely ignores the fact that players have career plans and they have to follow a development plan that will allow them to reach the top in the best conditions possible.

As a Liverpool fan, you should know that because a player like Le Tallec has been used by clubs and agents as an example to not follow, the move was too soon and too big.

You simply can't say that because every player will be different. Le Tallec didn't but Gomez and Sterling did, for example.

 

[Big Andy]

As a fan the news is fantastic - we’ve been crying out for major changes for a long time.

But I’m not sure it’s the most effective negotiation tactic. Surely other teams will raise their prices knowing United are desperate

They do this anyway regardless of how desperate we are...

 

[roonster09]

You simply can't say that because every player will be different. Le Tallec didn't but Gomez and Sterling did, for example.

Sterling was academy signings, which every big clubs makes in big number.

 

[davidmichael]

Darmian, Valencia, Bailly, Rojo, Borthwick-Jackson, Fosu-Mensah, Herrera, Mata and Wilson are the ones I’d say are all on their way out and I’d say we need 6 in to upgrade and strengthen.

Wan-Bissaka, Koulibaly, Tierney, Rice, Rabiot and Sancho are the six I’d go after which is a British core and a couple of quality additions in too. Pretty much all of that group goes straight into the starting line up and fixes are main weaknesses.

De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Koulibaly, Shaw, Rice, Rabiot, Pogba, Sancho, Rashford, Martial as our starting eleven with Romero, Dalot, Smalling, Tuanzebe, Jones, Tierney, Young, Matic, McTominay, Pereira, Garner, Gomes, Lingard, Chong, Sanchez and Lukaku in reserve is a very strong and balanced squad.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

This sort of thing doesn't really work anymore as a means to "appease the fans". Just look at the reactions on here. I mean, there might be fans out there who decide whether to renew their season tickets based on transfer rumours - but I personally don't know anyone that fickle (or stupid).

Sponsors? If they have doubts with regard to the football they'll presumably make direct inquiries - they won't be reassured by alleged transfers reported by the media.

And if these are actually our targets - why announce them? To make sure the selling clubs are properly prepared to fleece us (yet again)?

The only possible explanation which makes some sense is the old smokescreen routine. But we don't seem to do that very well - plus, the targets mentioned actually seem like players we should be genuinely interested in (as in, in several cases I for one would hope it's not a smokescreen).

 

[GBBQ]

I am hoping that Ole is selling this to the board as big investment in young players up front means we only need to sign one or two players a season max for the next few years. The players mentioned would form the core of a team for a decade if successful.

But obviously a lot of these signings are difficult to say the least.

 

[JPRouve]

You simply can't say that because every player will be different. Le Tallec didn't but Gomez and Sterling did, for example.

Which is why I used the term "necessarily", I didn't talk about every player so I can totally say what I said.

 

[Shark]

This is exactly what is needed but I don't think we will actually be able to achieve it. This also seems like something the United hierarchy leaked to the press to pacify the fans. I hope we can get atleast 2-3 of those targets.

We won't achieve it because some of it should have been achieved last summer. Now the clear-out is going to drag on another two summers, the club is run terribly.

 

[Mourinhonista]

Martial.........Rashford........Sancho
.....................Pogba.........................
.............Matic.........Fred
Shaw....Lindelof....Varane....Meunier
.....................De Gea..................

We can't buy them all. Ole conviced me that a fluid front three can be absolutely brilliant.

We don't have a pacy, good on taking players on right winger. Sancho is English and has been a revelation, pay 100m for him.

We paid 50m for Fred who looked good to me in the return leg against PSG. There're better players out there, but i would prefer strengthening in different areas than midfield.

A world class centerback is hugely needed. Use Pogba to convice Varane to come here.

We're crying out for an attacking rb. Meunier shouldn't cost the world and would instantly improve our attack.

Sell Sanchez and maybe Lukaku if we need more money.

 

[RobinLFC]

Which is why I used the term "necessarily", I didn't talk about every player so I can totally say what I said.

I didn't talk about every player either

Players like Dele Alli and Joe Gomez, coming from the lower leagues, wouldn't think twice about leaving the likes of MK Dons or Charlton Athletic for a big six team, regardless of "career plan". And there are more than enough players like that in the lower leagues in Europe.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Why do people keep going on about Rabiot when he apparently has an agreement with Real Madrid? Real Madrid or Manchester United in yet another transistion and a manager not used to managing at this level. Hmmmmm!

 

[Di Maria's angel]

The good 'ol "we're a few players away from challenging".

 

[golden_blunder]

People need to stop worrying about a title challenge next season. We won't be in one. Let's get our house in order over the summer and next season and try and be ready for 2020/2021 title race.

We have so much to do I can't see us getting close to City n Liverpool again next year. However if we start building a young exciting team that's enough. You have to start somewhere.

Our fans who demand instant challenge are part of the problem. It's taken Klopp 4 seasons.

Agree with that though it’s hard to not get sucked in sometimes.

I think a British core for the PL is important so I’m excited about what this summer may bring.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Also if we are keeping Pogba then that midfield will need to be tailored perfectly for him otherwise he might as well not be there.