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

[croadyman]

I’m convinced we still have another big signing in us before the week is done. I can’t see Ole saying that he’s hoping for a new face or two to join us and us ending up with none.

Sure, Dybala probably is a no go but I’m sure we’ll be going for another option.

My prediction: Dembele from Lyon.

I had that belief a few days ago that we would pull a CM midfield rabbit out of the hat, however after tonight's double body blow, really can't see where a creative midfield signing is going to come from because we cannot just rely on Pogba all season

Can anyone suggest any realistic midfield targets apart from Longstaff who just feels like an underwhelming option

 

[beingshe7don]

Ole will probably need to eat his words. Not only we've not strengthened the squad enough, we've not even gotten rid of the deadwood but awarded contract extensions.
1. Ole said after the Everton game that some of the players won't be here next season and last time I checked, the only player we've lost was Herrera and he wasn't referring to him.
2. Ole said that we will attract the big names despite not offering Champions League football. And Dybala rejected us.

I know this is not dependent on Ole but Ed and board but Ole shouldn't be showing us fans dreams that's a complete bullcrap.

As a fan, I don't know if I can trust Ole with what he says because even if he came out and said we will finish in the top 4, I highly doubt we will since all of the other 5 top teams have stronger midfields than us.

 

[Judas]

Disaster of a window it looks like. We've once again failed to fix issues that we've been plagued with for ages. The business we have done is good, but there simply hasn't been enough of it.

 

[Cee90]

I still think this transfer window can be salvaged.

Assuming Maguire is a done deal at this stage, if we added 1 more quality midfielder in addition to AWB and James, then overall I think we've done ok.

We needed more, but at least it is a start. I am also expecting us to concede less this season and the general performance levels of some players (e.g. Martial, Rashford and DDG) to simply improve from last year, not to mention our youngsters filling in some of the gaps here and there.

Don't get me wrong, I am not happy at all that we've once again allowed ourselves to be in this position in the transfer window, but I think we can still come out of it with a decent outcome overall.

 

[buckooo1978]

Bruno Fernandes was a name that was leaked back in March as being a top target and a player that we had scouted extensively, if he wasn't on the list, then who was?
Clearly not Ndombele, Lo Celso, Van de Beek, Tielemans or Partey and we haven't been linked with any other MFs in Europe as far as I can remember,
Domestically Neves, Ndidi or Rice havent even been mentioned, and other than Longstaff I can't remember any other rumours having any substance.

Ole has said on a number of occasions, he wanted 2 MFs signed to replace Herrera & Fellaini, if none of those players I've mentioned were deemed good enough or of interest, then who the fcuk is on that list???

I believe that we DID want Bruno Fernandes, but we arrogantly thought we could turn Sporting over, and sign him on the cheap.
Months of dithering and haggling from United and now Spurs have swept in and paid Sporting what the player is worth.
United trying to save face by saying, we didn't want him anyway......
So please explain why we didn't want a MF that scored more than 30 goals last season, why would he not be of interest to us?

I've no clue but for me Fernandes had to be a player we were interested in....

the main interest seemed to be in Longstaff at Newcastle though did that get any further than an enquiry?

I dont think we've aggressively pursued any transfers for midfield/attackers

God knows who was on the list but Ole is setting himself up to fail by not adding to the squad - if Pogba gets injured

 

[buckooo1978]

Bruno Fernandes was a name that was leaked back in March as being a top target and a player that we had scouted extensively, if he wasn't on the list, then who was?
Clearly not Ndombele, Lo Celso, Van de Beek, Tielemans or Partey and we haven't been linked with any other MFs in Europe as far as I can remember,
Domestically Neves, Ndidi or Rice havent even been mentioned, and other than Longstaff I can't remember any other rumours having any substance.

Ole has said on a number of occasions, he wanted 2 MFs signed to replace Herrera & Fellaini, if none of those players I've mentioned were deemed good enough or of interest, then who the fcuk is on that list???

I believe that we DID want Bruno Fernandes, but we arrogantly thought we could turn Sporting over, and sign him on the cheap.
Months of dithering and haggling from United and now Spurs have swept in and paid Sporting what the player is worth.
United trying to save face by saying, we didn't want him anyway......
So please explain why we didn't want a MF that scored more than 30 goals last season, why would he not be of interest to us?

I've no clue but for me Fernandes had to be a player we were interested in....dont think Spurs can afford him given they are low balling Betis over Los Celso l

the main interest seemed to be in Longstaff at Newcastle though did that get any further than an enquiry?

I dont think we've aggressively pursued any transfers for midfield/attackers - theres nothing to suggest we've bid

God knows who was on the list but Ole is setting himself up to fail by not adding to the squad - if Pogba gets injured or is inconsistent then we will struggle

not strengthening that midfield means we could be bringing in 3 midfielders next Summer with Matic done and us likely to cash in on Pogba

 

[Cliche Guevara]

I still think this transfer window can be salvaged.

Assuming Maguire is a done deal at this stage, if we added 1 more quality midfielder in addition to AWB and James, then overall I think we've done ok.

We needed more, but at least it is a start. I am also expecting us to concede less this season and the general performance levels of some players (e.g. Martial, Rashford and DDG) to simply improve from last year, not to mention our youngsters filling in some of the gaps here and there.

Don't get me wrong, I am not happy at all that we've once again allowed ourselves to be in this position in the transfer window, but I think we can still come out of it with a decent outcome overall.

Yeah, one more really good signing and it’s absolutely not a bad window at all.

 

[roseguy64]

Bruno Fernandes was a name that was leaked back in March as being a top target and a player that we had scouted extensively, if he wasn't on the list, then who was?
Clearly not Ndombele, Lo Celso, Van de Beek, Tielemans or Partey and we haven't been linked with any other MFs in Europe as far as I can remember,
Domestically Neves, Ndidi or Rice havent even been mentioned, and other than Longstaff I can't remember any other rumours having any substance.

Ole has said on a number of occasions, he wanted 2 MFs signed to replace Herrera & Fellaini, if none of those players I've mentioned were deemed good enough or of interest, then who the fcuk is on that list???

I believe that we DID want Bruno Fernandes, but we arrogantly thought we could turn Sporting over, and sign him on the cheap.
Months of dithering and haggling from United and now Spurs have swept in and paid Sporting what the player is worth.
United trying to save face by saying, we didn't want him anyway......
So please explain why we didn't want a MF that scored more than 30 goals last season, why would he not be of interest to us?

Spurs have paid Sporting what they want? Where have you seen that?

 

[2 man midfield]

That just isn't true though is it? A couple of Italian sources, who have proven in the last few days they aren't always right. Way more reliable sources have said we're not interested.

Only tonight.

 

[oreon]

Only tonight.

No, even before tonight. This is the 3rd or 4th briefing from English press saying were are not in for Bruno. The 1st was when the reports that ManCity had won the race for him. There was quickly a briefing that none of the Manchester clubs were interested. There's been a couple more after that. The journalists linking us to him were mainly foreign journalists. I'd lean towards the English media on this one. My guess is Ed put it out there to avoid any fallout when the deal doesn't materialize. Maybe there was some contact from UTD in acquiring but the pessimism from the English press leads me to believe that UTD don't think a deal will go through.

 

[Sterling Archer]

6 players could leave

That alone would have made for a more promising season because then we'd be cheering on Axel, Gomes, Garner and Greenwood more regularly. Their mistakes and inexperience would be far more tolerable than what we will instead see from the deadwood.

 

[lifted]

God knows who was on the list but Ole is setting himself up to fail by not adding to the squad - if Pogba gets injured or is inconsistent then we will struggle

No, the club is setting Ole up to fail by not adding to the squad. Ole doesn't handle negotiations.

 

[izec]

Not much happening for us. I hoped we would bring in at least another 2 players (Lukaku replacement and a midfielder). I would take Ben Yedder and Bruno at this point, both players would love to join i imagine. i hope we dont think it is enough squad wise, we need to add

 

[Judas]

We're done for the window. It's not good enough, and we'll pay the price once again.

 

[Smores]

No, the club is setting Ole up to fail by not adding to the squad. Ole doesn't handle negotiations.

You do wonder who was actually on the list though considering we've hardly even bid on many players. Seems like we don't even bid in case it makes us look bad when we fail.

 

[izec]

We're done for the window. It's not good enough, and we'll pay the price once again.

Too little too late it seems. If you do a deal a month, it is only logical that you have to pay the price. Some teams below us have done good business as well.

 

[SER19]

Eriksen, longstaff, mandzukic...130m
Lukaku, rojo, darmian.......95m

35m net.

 

[ForestRGoinUp]

No, the club is setting Ole up to fail by not adding to the squad. Ole doesn't handle negotiations.

Protect Ole at all costs. Spurs have been setting Poch up to fail and he just keeps getting more out of his team. If Ole is on his level as a manager we should be just fine.

 

[crossy1686]

Eriksen, longstaff, mandzukic...130m
Lukaku, rojo, darmian.......95m

35m net.

Rojo and Darmian are going to end up working for MUTV when their contracts are up, we'll literally never get rid of them.

 

[kirk buttercup]

We're done for the window. It's not good enough, and we'll pay the price once again.

Our back 4 looks way better . Some great young guns coming through ,They look good. One or two more signings and I would be pretty confident of top 4 or better

 

[Tibs]

Our defence will now be much more solid, and should concede at least 7-10 less goals that last season...in addition to that, our more attachking play should see a few more goals too.

Couple that with Arsenal having no defence, and Hazard leaving, we will 100% finish at least 4th I'm certain of it.

One thing that could hinder us is if Ole is too soft to drop the likes of Young, Smalling, Jones and Matic altogether so the youth get their chance.

Angel, Mason and Tahith won't be starting, but if he doesn't drop the deadwood then they won't even be making the bench.

I'm fine if we don't sign anyone else, but Ole needs to tell the named above to feck off to new clubs or sit in the stands

 

[Ralph1386]

Our back 4 looks way better . Some great young guns coming through ,They look good. One or two more signings and I would be pretty confident of top 4 or better

Yeah but the question is, are we actually going to get one or two more signings?

 

[devilish]

Our level of incompetence exceeds expectations. Lets start from CM. We allowed Herrera to leave and we will probably replacing him with no one. Sure he asked ridiculous salary to stay after the club took ages to go around a table with him and give him a decent contract. However considering how many players we've got that are stealing a living, was it that terrible to give our 2nd best CM the contract he wanted? If we couldn't afford his salary then FFS let Jones and Mata leave on free and divert all that salary to him. How terrible that would have been? Instead our CM is now made up of Paul Pogba (who doesn't want to be here btw) surrounded by has beens, squad players and that non player we've bought from the Ukrainian league

Then there's the RW whose basically the huge elephant in the room. We basically have no one with talent to play there. Mata is slow and crap, Greenwood is so green he pisses grass, James only has pace and he's a LW btw and don't get me started about Jesse. Not to forget that we'll probably start the season with Rashford as our only reliable striker.

This was the summer were Woodward could showcase his negotiating abilities so he could put to bed the need for some real change at board level. Instead he just confirmed what we already know. This club is lead by incompetent people who can't bring the players we need or get rid of the deadwood that they keep giving long term contracts to. We're in shambles.

 

[Dolf]

Disaster of a window it looks like. We've once again failed to fix issues that we've been plagued with for ages. The business we have done is good, but there simply hasn't been enough of it.

Failed to fix our issues? We’ve just fixed our entire defence by signing Maguire and AWB and by extending De Gea.

Did you really expect us to also buy two top class midfielders and a right winger?

Only City turns over their entire squad in one window. Anyone who thought we would do the same is incredibly naive.

 

[Cypriot]

Failed to fix our issues? We’ve just fixed our entire defence by signing Maguire and AWB and by extending De Gea.

Did you really expect us to also buy two top class midfielders and a right winger?

Only City turns over their entire squad in one window. Anyone who thought we would do the same is incredibly naive.

Wrong. It's been well documented that we were just going for a midfielder. We threw our eggs into one basket again and got stung. We've lost both Herrera and Fellaini from our midfield and haven't replaced them (which by the way, was not the best midfield when they were here). We are thinner in midfield which I didn't actually think was possible.

It's looking a bit of a disaster to be honest, and our great new defence (which I really like by the way) won't make a difference if every single team is walking through our midfield again next season.

 

[nainaisson]

One thing that could hinder us is if Ole is too soft to drop the likes of Young, Smalling, Jones and Matic altogether so the youth get their chance.

I realize Matic is slowing down, but he's the only real DM we have. Fred still can't control or protect the ball reliably to be trusted as a No.6, and McTominay is still learning the ropes and much better as a No.8. And I know people are blaming Matic for Milan's first goal, but you could argue that was as much De Gea's fault, who should have made the easy pass to Rojo to his left and not Matic, who was surrounded by 2 guys at the time.

 

[MUFC OK]

So that’s our window over. With the midfield we have I find it absolutely unbelievable that Sean Longstaff was the only midfielder we could identify and wanted to sign, who were the other targets?

It’s absolutely negligent, we have no creativity beyond Pogba, but we’ve made our bed now.

 

[Dolf]

Wrong. It's been well documented that we were just going for a midfielder. We threw our eggs into one basket again and got stung. We've lost both Herrera and Fellaini from our midfield and haven't replaced them (which by the way, was not the best midfield when they were here). We are thinner in midfield which I didn't actually think was possible.

It's looking a bit of a disaster to be honest, and our great new defence (which I really like by the way) won't make a difference if every single team is walking through our midfield again next season.

What basket was that?
We barely received anything for Fellaini and Herrera which means that we had to invest money to replace them. We could have, but we spent it on the defence.

 

[Grylte]

Failed to fix our issues? We’ve just fixed our entire defence by signing Maguire and AWB and by extending De Gea.

Did you really expect us to also buy two top class midfielders and a right winger?

Only City turns over their entire squad in one window. Anyone who thought we would do the same is incredibly naive.

Did DDG extend? I have totally missed it


Wish we could change the word "could" in the thread title to should, will or shall...

 

[Rish Sawhney]

What basket was that?
We barely received anything for Fellaini and Herrera which means that we had to invest money to replace them. We could have, but we spent it on the defence.

Also regarding Fellaini and Herrera:
* Fellaini: He was not a first team player by the time he left and does not need replacing.
* He was a first team player but IMO we replaced him with McTominay (who wasn't first team player until the end of the season).
* Fred will also play a lot more than he did last season to cover for the minutes Fellaini did play (although I'm not convinced by him)

 

[Smores]

Failed to fix our issues? We’ve just fixed our entire defence by signing Maguire and AWB and by extending De Gea.

Did you really expect us to also buy two top class midfielders and a right winger?

Only City turns over their entire squad in one window. Anyone who thought we would do the same is incredibly naive.

You know your arguments shit when you have to resort to such hyperbole and then even throw insults out. Do you want to find the post where anyone said entire squad?

Liverpool signed 3 starters and a backup just last summer (and a key player in the prior winter).

We signed 4 starters the summer before last, 4 the one before that, 4 before that, 5 before that.

It is not unusual to sign 3 or 4 starters we've done it many many times over the years. Let's stop trying to make out that asking for more than 2 starters especially in a failing team is unreasonable it's not, you know that.

 

[Xaviboy]

Seriously be disappointed if we don't bring in a midfielder before Thursday. I don't think we will get Longstaff in. I would take matudi and maybe Douglas Costa for swap with Lukaku. That gives us a short term solution for this season and then maybe bring in Longstaff next January or next window. Matudi will bring alot of energy in midfield alongside Pogba and McTominey. Longstaff can replace Matic next window. Douglas Costa can bring what we don't have at the moment which is a fast and direct Right sided player. Use Rashford/Martial/Greenwood as centre forwards.

 

[devilish]

What basket was that?
We barely received anything for Fellaini and Herrera which means that we had to invest money to replace them. We could have, but we spent it on the defence.

So you think our midfield is anywhere good? You expect way better from United then starting with Pogba surrounded by non entities

 

[Cypriot]

What basket was that?
We barely received anything for Fellaini and Herrera which means that we had to invest money to replace them. We could have, but we spent it on the defence.

Not receiving money for Fellaini and Herrera is again, the fault of the club. Going into the season to apparently challenge with Matic, Pogba, McTominay, Fred and Pereira as our midfield is criminal for the so called "biggest club in the world". Not to mention we could still lose Pogba as the other leagues' windows don't close for a while.

Of course I wasn't expecting us to go out and buy 2 world class midfielders like you said, however replacing Herrera at least was not too much to ask for. It's incompetence from whoever was responsible for that and we're going to really struggle in the middle this season.

Hopefully some of the current lot can step up to the next level.

 

[buckooo1978]

Seriously be disappointed if we don't bring in a midfielder before Thursday. I don't think we will get Longstaff in. I would take matudi and maybe Douglas Costa for swap with Lukaku. That gives us a short term solution for this season and then maybe bring in Longstaff next January or next window. Matudi will bring alot of energy in midfield alongside Pogba and McTominey. Longstaff can replace Matic next window. Douglas Costa can bring what we don't have at the moment which is a fast and direct Right sided player. Use Rashford/Martial/Greenwood as centre forwards.

2 huge wages with Matuidi and Costa surely given their age and profile

 

[Xaviboy]

2 huge wages with Matuidi and Costa surely given their age and profile

Your right about wages but be nice to think Lukaku, Darmain and Rojo could be taken off the wage bill to help towards the wages for the 2 players mentioned but we know it won't happen.

 

[United22]

We are fecking done for if we don't sign a decent midfielder, it really doesn't matter that we've got AWB and Maguire in. We've lost one of our best midfielders on a free and at the very minimum we should be replacing him, let alone looking at bringing someone else in

 

[Dolf]

You know your arguments shit when you have to resort to such hyperbole and then even throw insults out. Do you want to find the post where anyone said entire squad?

Liverpool signed 3 starters and a backup just last summer (and a key player in the prior winter).

We signed 4 starters the summer before last, 4 the one before that, 4 before that, 5 before that.

It is not unusual to sign 3 or 4 starters we've done it many many times over the years. Let's stop trying to make out that asking for more than 2 starters especially in a failing team is unreasonable it's not, you know that.

Insults? You feel personally insulted because I said some on here might be naive? Okay then... my apologies.
Liverpool spent 141m euros net on 3 starters and a backup. We have already spent 159m euros net so far.
You're right that it's not unreasonable to ask for more than 2 starters but some starters cost more than others. Also I don't think the 'failing team' argument can be used anymore because we've been failing for 6 years now and the club doesn't seem to want to spend more whether we fail or succeed.
I would love to see more players too, because we really need it but when you follow the line we've been on for the past 6 years it's unreasonable to expect more than what we've currently bought. That's all i'm saying.

So you think our midfield is anywhere good? You expect way better from United then starting with Pogba surrounded by non entities

Seriously, where did I say that? Our midfield desperately needs more and better players.
Personally, if we really are willing to only spend on 2 big players than i'd much rather have the two we just bought because I couldn't stand another season with Young as our main RB.

Not receiving money for Fellaini and Herrera is again, the fault of the club. Going into the season to apparently challenge with Matic, Pogba, McTominay, Fred and Pereira as our midfield is criminal for the so called "biggest club in the world". Not to mention we could still lose Pogba as the other leagues' windows don't close for a while.

Of course I wasn't expecting us to go out and buy 2 world class midfielders like you said, however replacing Herrera at least was not too much to ask for. It's incompetence from whoever was responsible for that and we're going to really struggle in the middle this season.

Hopefully some of the current lot can step up to the next level.

I agree with most of what you said. But it would have been criminal to go into the season with Young and Smalling in our back 4 too. We need reinforcements in every defence, midfield and attack. But look at the past years. Was it really to be expected that we were going to go all in? That's all i'm saying.

 

[Alemar]

We should at least sign some average DM. Someone who simply may run, tackle and make a 10 meter pass.

 

[Cypriot]

I agree with most of what you said. But it would have been criminal to go into the season with Young and Smalling in our back 4 too. We need reinforcements in every defence, midfield and attack. But look at the past years. Was it really to be expected that we were going to go all in? That's all i'm saying.

We should be able to do better though considering our stature and apparent financial power. If Lukaku goes, then that's an other £70m we could have spent on a midfielder too. It just seems like we didn't have any contingency plan if Dybala fell through, which at this stage in the window is stupid. The issue I have is that it's not the first time. We're consistently falling short every window. I'm worried that we will finish outside of the top four again and if we do that then we will only fall further behind.