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

Are you Van De Beek senior ? :lol:

I agree with what your saying although not necessarily with the players, if we can't get the players were after at the moment surely there are other more attainable targets.

Although I don't understand people moaning about us negotiatinf, if Woodward just agreed to every price he'd be called incompetent as well,

The players we are even targeting with huge price slapped on them are even average, if I were to be honest.
 
It's starting to look like we have a pretty low budget this summer.

Haggling over the AWB fee, turning our intentions to alternatives it seems to save money. People expecting 5 signings are in dream land, we're in for a massive struggle next season.

You wanna know why Jones, Young, Mata etc are getting new deals? because we dont have a budget to replace them. The warnings we're there last summer when we spent around £27m net.
 
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It's starting to look like we have a pretty low budget this summer.

Haggling over the AWB fee, turning our intentions to alternatives it seems to save money. People expecting 5 signings are in dream land, we're in for a massive struggle next season.
Have to agree with this.

Originally I felt like Ed and Co. wanted to oversee a rebuild but they were just too incompetent to do it. Now it seems clear that there isn't even the willingness to carry one out. It's looking really bleak at the minute.
 
Have to agree with this.

Originally I felt like Ed and Co. wanted to oversee a rebuild but they were just too incompetent to do it. Now it seems clear that there isn't even the willingness to carry one out. It's looking really bleak at the minute.

But we also didn't spend anything last summer?? So where is the money? We're the wealthiest club in world football. We need at least 6 new players added to this first team for a title challenge next year. Otherwise there will be a dangerous atmosphere at Old Trafford.
 
But we also didn't spend anything last summer?? So where is the money? We're the wealthiest club in world football. We need at least 6 new players added to this first team for a title challenge next year. Otherwise there will be a dangerous atmosphere at Old Trafford.


In Glazers pockets

They don't want to spend big, it's that simple in my opinion.
 
Thing is, last season I remember very similar story leading up to the summer 8 was being talked about strongly with players named to leave and something like 6 in with a big war chest of £200-250m being mentioned, what happened Fred, Dalot, Lee Grant, nobody left until Fellaini in January, our worst transfer season in decades probably, especially as personally I got sold on the stories as obviously needed, as it is again this summer.
Personally I almost hope some of these outgoing rumours are true so that we are forced to bring in 5/6 even if it means it isnt all of the right players leaving.

Yep. Looks like same again this summer. When can we start protesting the Glazers?
 
But we also didn't spend anything last summer?? So where is the money? We're the wealthiest club in world football. We need at least 6 new players added to this first team for a title challenge next year. Otherwise there will be a dangerous atmosphere at Old Trafford.

Just look at Real and compare to us. We're far worse off than them and all we've done so far is sign a nobody from the championship - even then we were ripped off.
 
5 players: CB, RB, CDM, CAM, RW

CB: De Ligt
RB: Cancelo
CDM: Rodri
CAM: Havertz
RW: Sancho

Do you think we could get a better player in those positions? Or they are the best we can get?

You must be living in an alternate universe if you think we will get any of those players. Maybe Havertz and that's the only one I could bet on.
 
You must be living in an alternate universe if you think we will get any of those players. Maybe Havertz and that's the only one I could bet on.

We could offer each of those players higher wages than any other team.
 
This is looking like a much worse team than we had during the early 1970s, will Ole stick around after his comments about signing pl layers will he walk out in protest.
 
You must be living in an alternate universe if you think we will get any of those players. Maybe Havertz and that's the only one I could bet on.
Don't worry. I know we are not going to get them.

We already sign our winger (Daniel James + Mata's contract extension).

For the midfield, it seems Longstaff is going to be the choice. Then, Wan Bissaka and someone like Maguire and that would be it.

I just mentioned in the other post if they are the best available players for the positions we need to fill, or if you consider there are someone better.
 
Things really are looking bleak atm.

There seems to be no will to perform an actual rebuild of any sort, unless we are 'rebuilding' into a bottom half club. When combined with the probable loss of Pogba, Lukaku and DDG (all of which I am in favor of going as long as they are replaced adequately...), we are setting ourselves up for a truly dismal next season. At this point, with only one unproven player signed, preseason starting in about 3 weeks, and total lack of activity, I am speechless as to the situation.

For the wealthiest club in the world, lagging behind not just our European rivals, but also domestic rivals, the current situation is an utter disgrace and an insult to the fans. As much as I don't like RM, they noticed the danger as just one bad season, identified targets and went out and got deals done quickly... we look like (and are) amateurs.
 
Don't worry. I know we are not going to get them.

We already sign our winger (Daniel James + Mata's contract extension).

For the midfield, it seems Longstaff is going to be the choice. Then, Wan Bissaka and someone like Maguire and that would be it.

I just mentioned in the other post if they are the best available players for the positions we need to fill, or if you consider there are someone better.
They are likely the best options available to us. Are they the best options out there, probably not. Which is a problem in itself.
 
We could offer each of those players higher wages than any other team.

Wages or not, I think it is high time we realized that we have fallen down the list of most attractive club destinations. We have no CL and we certainly look like a club who do not know what direction it is headed.

If wages were everything like you say, then why have we been struggling of late to land major targets? Everyone would be on our doorsteps begging to sign for us.

Yes Man United is still huge but so are other clubs too and they offer a more satisfactory footballing experience than we could, at least currently.
 
It's starting to look like we have a pretty low budget this summer.

Haggling over the AWB fee, turning our intentions to alternatives it seems to save money. People expecting 5 signings are in dream land, we're in for a massive struggle next season.

You wanna know why Jones, Young, Mata etc are getting new deals? because we dont have a budget to replace them. The warnings we're there last summer when we spent around £27m net.

This is exactly what it is. The Glazers have given basically no budget. I expect the happy clappers may finally turn this coming season.
 
I’ve given up caring what happens this transfer window, whether there is a lot of money to spend or not it’s clear the club is all over the place and it won’t end well. There just isn’t the competence to get enough players in and out.

The team needs to be reset but I think the club is still clinging to hope that a few in and few out will be enough. Said last season that rock bottom is still yet to arrive and there’s still very little sign of Utd being an actual football club or an understanding/attempt to be one.
 
Still holding out hope that Woody is going to have some sort of massive reveal day at Carrington and arrive in a decked out luxury Super Puma landing on the training pitches with DeLigt, Bassaka, Sancho, Ndombele and maybe a few others walking off it.

Ed leads them to the press room to announce his massive coup he’s been working on for months and that it will be followed by a lobster and steak buffet with a fire work show and dancing girls as Ed reveals he’s a dead ringer for Sinatra and belts out “My Way” to rapturous applause.

Then slipping in that he sold Pogba who happens to have a virus to Real and Lukaku on the DL.

Anyway in my muppet mind this is what I currently want. Subject to change at the latest shiny player.

DDG
WBS DeLigt Lindelof Shaw
NDom Rodri
Sancho Havertz Rashford
Martial

Rough guesstimate on prices that’s around 450 mil +​
 
So, if we go back to the OP we've done this so far:

Right Back

Released: Valencia
Signing: AWB (almost certainly now)

Darmian will probably go as we have Dalot and Young to fill in at Right Back if required. This all seems 'done' to me and is very in line with what the initial assessment was.

Centre Back

It seems like we're at least somewhat interested in Maguire, but I can't see us matching his price tag any time soon. West Ham seem unlikely to budge on Diop and want a player in return that we aren't willing to part with. Koulibaly seems to have too high of a price tag, assuming our budget for the 4-5 players we're going to sign is such an amount that we won't go spending close to £80m~ on a single player (yet to be seen, but it's possible that James, AWB, and Maguire/Koulibaly would take up in excess of 75% of our budget with 1-2 more players we'd be wanting to sign still). I think De Ligt might have always been a bit too optimistic, as he probably wants to keep playing in the Champion's League and we won't match PSG's wages for a 19-year-old IMO. I'm not sure who else we'd turn to here, but I think settling for Toby Alderweireld makes the most sense in every regard until we can develop a young CB or poach one from elsewhere. Regardless of the CB we sign, I hope we can at least rid of Rojo. I think one CB has to go and it isn't going to be Lindelof, Smalling, or Jones, which leaves Bailly or Rojo. I'm pretty sure one is leaving.

Midfield

The only movement here is releasing Herrera and re-signing Mata. I'm not sure what this means for any additional signings and there doesn't seem to be much buzz about us being very interested in a player here unless Pogba leaves. I think Pogba is more likely to stay than leave, so I don't see much movement happening. It still should and we'll probably be linked with a big buy here eventually, but at the moment I don't really see an obvious one. Re-signing Mata is a bit of a bad omen for us buying a few quality midfielders, it says to me that we're not going to be able to get who we wanted so we've just stuck with what we have for the time being.

Forward

Signed
: James

This one is difficult as I was convinced Sanchez would go, but now it could be Lukaku, or it could be neither. I wouldn't be surprised to see us go with just James now as the only forward signing. I expect that another attacking player only comes in if we sell Sanchez or Lukaku this window. Sancho was the one most talked about, but I'd be surprised if it happened. He'd be a huge signing and statement of intent without us having Champion's League football.

All in all, this is looking possible at the moment:

Out: Valencia, Herrera, Darmian, Rojo/Bailly, Sanchez/Lukaku
In: James, AWB, CB, CM, FW

I've been of the opinion that despite all the smoke, only one of de Gea, Pogba, Sanchez, or Lukaku leaves this Summer and it's far more likely to be one of the forwards.

A lot depends on our transfer budget, but I'd be amazed if it's anywhere near what most of our fans/posters expect or want it to be. Our highest net spend ever was actually only £138m, so let that sink in. Are we going to give an unproven Ole more than we gave van Gaal or Mourinho? If we do, I reckon it'll be only marginally more.

AWB + James is already about £60m. If we were to sign Maguire or Koulibaly. we're already at or close to our highest ever spend without buying any top midfield or forward players which traditionally cost more. We will need to sell quite well to keep the net spend under £200m and I'd be surprised if that is what we actually blow in one go.
 
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Ed's performance management must purely focus on the clubs finance and we know the owners are only interested in the money it makes them. Our haggling over fees just doesn't make sense otherwise.

You can't go public telling people United can do things other clubs can't do financially and then expect other clubs to sell at a low price. If Ole has singled out AWB as his first choice RB, Palace want £60m and we are offering £50m, then what odds will the extra £10m make long term? To us it's an astronomical amount of money but to the club it's small change. Stop being so arrogant you think you can offer whatever you want and pay the damn fee Palace ask for to back your manager!

We all look at City with envy in the way they wrap up their transfer deals quickly, but it's probably because they don't haggle over trivial fees. They just pay the money and make the move happen.
 
Things really are looking bleak atm.

There seems to be no will to perform an actual rebuild of any sort, unless we are 'rebuilding' into a bottom half club. When combined with the probable loss of Pogba, Lukaku and DDG (all of which I am in favor of going as long as they are replaced adequately...), we are setting ourselves up for a truly dismal next season. At this point, with only one unproven player signed, preseason starting in about 3 weeks, and total lack of activity, I am speechless as to the situation.

For the wealthiest club in the world, lagging behind not just our European rivals, but also domestic rivals, the current situation is an utter disgrace and an insult to the fans. As much as I don't like RM, they noticed the danger as just one bad season, identified targets and went out and got deals done quickly... we look like (and are) amateurs.
You know, at one point, it isn't even about having a strategy and all that, with directors of football and what not. It's just about pride. Pride as a club, when all big clubs we'd like to associate ourselves with just does their business quick and ruthlessly, while we just haggle, dither or just completely ignore obvious talents, players with relatively small buy-out clauses and all.

I will not for a second believe that Bayern Munich and their footballing men running the club has huge IQs and sees everything through structures and plans, but a lot of the time just goes out and gets a player because they can, because it's too good to lose out on or whatever else reason. Or as I mentioned - pride and bragging rights with that. We lack in all these areas. The same goes for Florentino and Barca.

Woodward has been a total failure, whichever way you look at it. Coming out and saying we can do what other clubs can only dream about and calling United an adult version of Disneyland? I mean come on. It all reeks of incompetence and set up for failure.

We are in for a very long and tough ride. This is our Liverpool since 1991.
 
Ed's performance management must purely focus on the clubs finance and we know the owners are only interested in the money it makes them. Our haggling over fees just doesn't make sense otherwise.

You can't go public telling people United can do things other clubs can't do financially and then expect other clubs to sell at a low price. If Ole has singled out AWB as his first choice RB, Palace want £60m and we are offering £50m, then what odds will the extra £10m make long term? To us it's an astronomical amount of money but to the club it's small change. Stop being so arrogant you think you can offer whatever you want and pay the damn fee Palace ask for to back your manager!

We all look at City with envy in the way they wrap up their transfer deals quickly, but it's probably because they don't haggle over trivial fees. They just pay the money and make the move happen.

City do. That was why they backed out of Fred because of the fees.
 
City do. That was why they backed out of Fred because of the fees.

True but I think we overpaid on Fred by £15-20m. He would have only been a backup player for City. Had he been someone to go straight into their starting 11 I think they'd have fought for him.

It just seems mad to me that we fumble over fees so much. If the report that we offered £40m for Maguire are true then it's even worse. That's an embarrassing offer and frankly disrespectful to Leicester. If they value him at £80m then the opening offer needs to be £60m and then you meet in the middle somewhere.

We've done the same with AWB. Offering £40m when the valuation is widely reported to be £60-70m. It's just a waste of time.
 
Ed's performance management must purely focus on the clubs finance and we know the owners are only interested in the money it makes them. Our haggling over fees just doesn't make sense otherwise.

You can't go public telling people United can do things other clubs can't do financially and then expect other clubs to sell at a low price. If Ole has singled out AWB as his first choice RB, Palace want £60m and we are offering £50m, then what odds will the extra £10m make long term? To us it's an astronomical amount of money but to the club it's small change. Stop being so arrogant you think you can offer whatever you want and pay the damn fee Palace ask for to back your manager!

We all look at City with envy in the way they wrap up their transfer deals quickly, but it's probably because they don't haggle over trivial fees. They just pay the money and make the move happen.

I think we’re not as well-off as people think we are. City pay all sorts of people under the table that we never hear about as well as stumping up large transfer fees. We spend a lot of money but still have to count the pennies with every deal we conduct. It all goes in to financial reports, ROI’s, and so on. Every penny has to be accounted for and justified. City don’t give a feck what they spend, they have a blank cheque book and go nuts. We’re rich, City are wealthy, that’s why they can wrap up deals so easily. They essentially have unlimited money to spend.
 
True but I think we overpaid on Fred by £15-20m. He would have only been a backup player for City. Had he been someone to go straight into their starting 11 I think they'd have fought for him.

It just seems mad to me that we fumble over fees so much. If the report that we offered £40m for Maguire are true then it's even worse. That's an embarrassing offer and frankly disrespectful to Leicester. If they value him at £80m then the opening offer needs to be £60m and then you meet in the middle somewhere.

We've done the same with AWB. Offering £40m when the valuation is widely reported to be £60-70m. It's just a waste of time.

The two players are not worth these money in the first place. Baffles me why we're even interested in the first place.
 
The two players are not worth these money in the first place. Baffles me why we're even interested in the first place.

I agree that they're overpriced, but that is the problem Ed has created for himself. Everyone knows we are pretty desperate for players and he has told everyone we are loaded with cash.

We will have to overspend whoever we buy, so might as well bite for bullet and cough up. It's not our money at the end of the day and the club is never going to go bust by paying these sums.

Whether they're the right players is another argument all together, but if the manager wants them he should be backed.
 
I agree that they're overpriced, but that is the problem Ed has created for himself. Everyone knows we are pretty desperate for players and he has told everyone we are loaded with cash.

We will have to overspend whoever we buy, so might as well bite for bullet and cough up. It's not our money at the end of the day and the club is never going to go bust by paying these sums.

Whether they're the right players is another argument all together, but if the manager wants them he should be backed.

Best thing is we shouldn't go for English players, not even PL players. There are better players abroad than these overpriced above average English players. Point is most of the best English players are already at most top clubs hence it's quite stupid to go for the average ones while getting fleeced in the process.
 
But we also didn't spend anything last summer?? So where is the money? We're the wealthiest club in world football. We need at least 6 new players added to this first team for a title challenge next year. Otherwise there will be a dangerous atmosphere at Old Trafford.

I may be wrong but I remember reading somewhere that most of the money spent post-SAF has not actually been paid to the receiving parties yet. Maybe the Glazers thought that a couple of big summers would undo all the damage that the 'no value in the market' years did to the club and we could steadily pay off the bill over the course of a few season

Remember also, we might be the wealthiest in terms of revenue etc...but how much profit do we make and is it enough to keep funding £150m+ summers as well as dividends/interest payments? I highly doubt it
 
I may be wrong but I remember reading somewhere that most of the money spent post-SAF has not actually been paid to the receiving parties yet. Maybe the Glazers thought that a couple of big summers would undo all the damage that the 'no value in the market' years did to the club and we could steadily pay off the bill over the course of a few season

Remember also, we might be the wealthiest in terms of revenue etc...but how much profit do we make and is it enough to keep funding £150m+ summers as well as dividends/interest payments? I highly doubt it
The Glaziers may be gearing up for a sale and will just do a cheap paint job when a full and costly rebuild is needed. It certainly smells of "dodgy builder" around Old Trafford at the moment.

I don't think we can blame foreman Woodward.
 
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Right now, assuming we do finally get a deal over the line for Wan-Bissaka, I only envisage 2 more signings at most.
Probably a CB and a CM.
Optimism for this window just about extinguished for me.
 
Lost count on how many players we’ve been linked with this summer and I don’t hold much hope we will bring the right ones in.

The club is just one huge mess.
 
I agree that they're overpriced, but that is the problem Ed has created for himself. Everyone knows we are pretty desperate for players and he has told everyone we are loaded with cash.

We will have to overspend whoever we buy, so might as well bite for bullet and cough up. It's not our money at the end of the day and the club is never going to go bust by paying these sums.

Whether they're the right players is another argument all together, but if the manager wants them he should be backed.
pretty sure people were already aware of this fact before his infamous interview.
 
The way we are behaving as a club it seems we are intent on sealing our own mediocrity for the foreseeable future. No statements of intent, no addressing the issues in the squad (shortfalls and deadwood) we are literally accepting mediocrity by renewing Jones, Smalling, Young and Mata. Do the Glazers care? Maybe they realise they can make more money from the commercial side regardless of whether we even get top 4.

Woodward has all the power, talk of a DoF is cheap and Ole, like the 3 managers who preceded him came in with optimism and energy but like them is now realising his hands are completely tied. He is stuck with a squad with players that would not get into ANY premier league team. I bet any money he will be looking jaded, dejected, and depressed within weeks of the start of the new season.

Woodward and the glazers must go before we can even get half serious again, they are taking us all for a ride and making us think that they care about turning this mess around.
 
Lost count on how many players we’ve been linked with this summer and I don’t hold much hope we will bring the right ones in.

The club is just one huge mess.

It's ridiculous. No sign of a DOF, squabbles at board level. Our best players wanting out. Not being able to take players from the likes of West Ham, Palace and Leicester will define this window. We'll end up scrapping around for the leftovers come early August. Disappointing strategy once again from Wayward.
 
Things really are looking bleak atm.

There seems to be no will to perform an actual rebuild of any sort, unless we are 'rebuilding' into a bottom half club. When combined with the probable loss of Pogba, Lukaku and DDG (all of which I am in favor of going as long as they are replaced adequately...), we are setting ourselves up for a truly dismal next season. At this point, with only one unproven player signed, preseason starting in about 3 weeks, and total lack of activity, I am speechless as to the situation.

For the wealthiest club in the world, lagging behind not just our European rivals, but also domestic rivals, the current situation is an utter disgrace and an insult to the fans. As much as I don't like RM, they noticed the danger as just one bad season, identified targets and went out and got deals done quickly... we look like (and are) amateurs.
RT. Feel sorry for all of those who were optimistic we would go out and buy our way back into contention, spending £200m+ and addressing the issues in the squad.

The DoF is most telling of all. people keep saying 'they havent defined the role yet'. It;s because woodward wants to do this role in effect, so hence why no reputable DoF will be hired and they will shove in another former player puppet who they can say 'gets the values of the club' as a token gesture. Hope we have all woken up to realise what is happening at our great club, it genuinely breaks my heart as well.
 
When are fans going to realise that Woodwards sole priority is to reduce debt and allow healthy profit. Signings come way down his list of his priorities.