The search for a left back...

BenitoSTARR said:
Don’t think we need one. Williams and Shaw is fine for now.

Unless we go all out for Grimaldo there’s not much point when other areas need investment more urgently
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Is Shaw fine though? He pretty much spends about half a season injured each year, whatever you think of his ability his injury record isn't good enough, right this second he's out injured again after spending most of the first half of the season injured, he's completely unreliable.
 
Rozay said:
Think Shaw would need to go too before we bring in another LB. Which I think is fair. I don’t think much of Shaw, but if he’s here, no point having 3 senior left backs. I’d bring in a top one and let Williams understudy, as I don’t think he’s a top tier talent personally, although can develop into a very good full back.
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What top tier LB you thinking?
 
if there is any truth in Leicester wanting Shaw we should bid for Chilwell right away with a Shaw + money bid

otherwise perhaps players like Telles, Grimaldo, Gaya, Digne or even kurzawa for free so Williams can share the games with him
 
Andersons Dietician said:
What top tier LB you thinking?
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There are a few at ‘selling clubs’ like Grimaldo and Telles for a start. I like Grimaldo, he has great attacking qualities, although has his own injury concerns.

Beyond that, I don’t know if a good fee could tempt others. David Alaba is often linked with other top clubs, for example. I’m sure he’s not on the transfer list, but I’d happily pay £60m+ for him, for example, and perhaps that would get it done. Jose Gaya at Valencia is one we could get too. Then of course, there’s Benjamin Chilwell, who will likely move to a bigger PL club in the next 18 months. Digne could probably be gotten too for a decent few.
 
Rozay said:
There are a few at ‘selling clubs’ like Grimaldo and Telles for a start. I like Grimaldo, he has great attacking qualities, although has his own injury concerns.

Beyond that, I don’t know if a good fee could tempt others. David Alaba is often linked with other top clubs, for example. I’m sure he’s not on the transfer list, but I’d happily pay £60m+ for him, for example, and perhaps that would get it done. Jose Gaya at Valencia is one we could get too. Then of course, there’s Benjamin Chilwell, who will likely move to a bigger PL club in the next 18 months. Digne could probably be gotten too for a decent few.
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Gaya and Grimaldo are bigger sick notes than Shaw and Phil Jones combined so for me that would be a no.

Personally I still think Shaw has a future here but if he was to leave Digne is the only one I’d really replace him for. For now, Williams has rightly taken first spot even if he is largely protected and making mistakes his good parts are currently outweighing the bad. So I’m quite happy to go in to next season with Williams, Shaw and Dalot as options for there.

I’m not convinced Chillwell is as good as everyone thinks. Defensively he backs off people and lets a lot of balls and crosses come in.
 
Andersons Dietician said:
Gaya and Grimaldo are bigger sick notes than Shaw and Phil Jones combined so for me that would be a no.

Personally I still think Shaw has a future here but if he was to leave Digne is the only one I’d really replace him for. For now, Williams has rightly taken first spot even if he is largely protected and making mistakes his good parts are currently outweighing the bad. So I’m quite happy to go in to next season with Williams, Shaw and Dalot as options for there.

I’m not convinced Chillwell is as good as everyone thinks. Defensively he backs off people and lets a lot of balls and crosses come in.
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Digne would be great, especially as he is already settled in the NW. He has great delivery too, of which we literally have none in our team pretty much, and that’s an essential quality for the next FB we buy I think.

I think Williams is alright, but I’m wary of what I think is a tendency we have with our young players to overplay their good form by confusing the lines of doing well by their own expectations and doing well by Manchester United’s. He’s doing well, but for me, not well enough at both ends to be satisfied with him taking the first choice LB slot just yet.

What you said about Chilwell is one of my biggest issues with Shaw tbh.
 
It’s Williams

I can’t see the club investing in a new left back with a few other positions in dire need of reinforcement

Not saying I agree with it but when was the last time we were proactive with recruitment? We wait until the situation is desperate before we address it.
 
Tarrou said:
It’s Williams

I can’t see the club investing in a new left back with a few other positions in dire need of reinforcement

Not saying I agree with it but when was the last time we were proactive with recruitment? We wait until the situation is desperate before we address it.
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No. We need to temper expectations regarding Williams. He's talented but raw. I've definitely liked what I've seen but not every young player who makes a few impressive appearances makes it and even if he eventually does, he isn't currently the LB we can completely rely on. We need another LB if Shaw goes. And I'd like it be a proper attacking fullback

I'd be very surprised if the club didn't feel that way too and we sign a lb by the summer.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
No. We need to temper expectations regarding Williams. He's talented but raw. I've definitely liked what I've seen but not every young player who makes a few impressive appearances makes it and even if he eventually does, he isn't currently the LB we can completely rely on. We need another LB if Shaw goes. And I'd like it be a proper attacking fullback

I'd be very surprised if the club didn't feel that way too and we sign a lb by the summer.
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To be clear I want a new left back.

When was the last time we were proactive with replacing a player?

We had Valencia as first choice right back for a couple of years past his cell by date. Young should have been replaced years ago too.
 
Tarrou said:
To be clear I want a new left back.

When was the last time we were proactive with replacing a player?

We had Valencia as first choice right back for a couple of years past his cell by date. Young should have been replaced years ago too.
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That’s not entirely true tbh. I mean, it is true in that it is how things ended up, but the issue was players didn’t step up.

We bought Darmian and Shaw and in theory, they should have moved past Valencia and Young long ago. However; Young and Valencia answered our SOS if anything when their supposed replacements let us down. The same could happen now. We could buy a new LB for big money and have Shaw as second choice, then be asking in 3 years why Shaw is still starting games for us.

We got unfortunate/made poor choices with Darmian and Shaw, but the intent was certainly there to not have a pair of 35 year old full backs.
 
Rozay said:
That’s not entirely true tbh. I mean, it is true in that it is how things ended up, but the issue was players didn’t step up.

We bought Darmian and Shaw and in theory, they should have moved past Valencia and Young long ago. However; Young and Valencia answered our SOS if anything when their supposed replacements let us down. The same could happen now. We could buy a new LB for big money and have Shaw as second choice, then be asking in 3 years why Shaw is still starting games for us.

We got unfortunate/made poor choices with Darmian and Shaw, but the intent was certainly there to not have a pair of 35 year old full backs.
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That’s true but in this scenario, for example Shaw as first choice and underperforming but okay, with an ageing back up option in Young...

Sensible squad planning would be to replace the ageing back up with a young prospect such as Tierney or Sessegnon to give Shaw something to think about, don’t you think?

We just sit around until the situation becomes impossible to ignore it seems. I don’t expect us to do anything different this time.
 
Tarrou said:
That’s true but in this scenario, for example Shaw as first choice and underperforming but okay, with an ageing back up option in Young...

Sensible squad planning would be to replace the ageing back up with a young prospect such as Tierney or Sessegnon to give Shaw something to think about, don’t you think?

We just sit around until the situation becomes impossible to ignore it seems. I don’t expect us to do anything different this time.
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Not really, sensible squad planning is to have an experienced back up to your younger first choice LB I think. I see nothing wrong with having a 31/32 year old Young as second choice. The problem was with Luke Shaw, not him. Shaw should have been starting 50 a season, but instead Young had to start 50. You don’t buy two young left backs for one spot I don’t think.
 
M
Rozay said:
Not really, sensible squad planning is to have an experienced back up to your younger first choice LB I think. I see nothing wrong with having a 31/32 year old Young as second choice. The problem was with Luke Shaw, not him. Shaw should have been starting 50 a season, but instead Young had to start 50. You don’t buy two young left backs for one spot I don’t think.
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Yeah that does make sense. But either way, we did nothing and I fully expect the same thing to happen now. Hope I am proven wrong.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
No. We need to temper expectations regarding Williams. He's talented but raw. I've definitely liked what I've seen but not every young player who makes a few impressive appearances makes it and even if he eventually does, he isn't currently the LB we can completely rely on. We need another LB if Shaw goes. And I'd like it be a proper attacking fullback

I'd be very surprised if the club didn't feel that way too and we sign a lb by the summer.
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Yeah, Williams has done enough to suggest we don't need a new backup LB and can even resist buying a RB with Dalot and Laird around, but it's yet another season Shaw hasn't produced (health and form always issues one is unfair) a full year of quality play and so a position to lock up next year. Could argue Williams means we can buy a 25-27 year old instead of a 20-23 year old but that's it.
 
We will not be signing another left back. Williams and Shaw are more than enough. Both Dalot and Laird are comfortable on the left also.
 
SteveW said:
We will not be signing another left back. Williams and Shaw are more than enough. Both Dalot and Laird are comfortable on the left also.
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This, we won't be seeing any LB signings unless Shaw goes, which is not going to happen this window at least.
 
I think Shaw might want to leave if he can't regain his spot back from Williams by the end of the season. And if that is the case, then signing a experienced LB for a small sum might be the best way forward perhaps?
 
Adnan said:
I think Shaw might want to leave if he can't regain his spot back from Williams by the end of the season. And if that is the case, then signing a experienced LB for a small sum might be the best way forward perhaps?
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Might be best option. It would be a problem if Shaw was back up left back on £150k a week, and it looks like it's heading that way. If your back up is £150k what would your first choice be looking for? Of course Young was always on big money and was never really first choice.
 
Scholsey2004 said:
Might be best option. It would be a problem if Shaw was back up left back on £150k a week, and it looks like it's heading that way. If your back up is £150k what would your first choice be looking for? Of course Young was always on big money and was never really first choice.
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If Leicester are truly interested it might be a good idea to cash in on him if Williams keeps up his performances, trimming 6 million a year or so off of our wage bill in the process.
 
NoPace said:
Yeah, Williams has done enough to suggest we don't need a new backup LB and can even resist buying a RB with Dalot and Laird around, but it's yet another season Shaw hasn't produced (health and form always issues one is unfair) a full year of quality play and so a position to lock up next year. Could argue Williams means we can buy a 25-27 year old instead of a 20-23 year old but that's it.
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Agree. I do hope we look for a primarily attacking LB. With the make up of the squad, given a choice I'd prefer someone with more skill and pace than defensive acument.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Agree. I do hope we look for a primarily attacking LB. With the make up of the squad, given a choice I'd prefer someone with more skill and pace than defensive acument.
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For sure, we can basically play Wan-Bissaka the way Pep has used Kyle Walker as a sort of third CB type and get our attacking width/threat from an LWB type and then obviously we need a proper right-sided creative type. Basically what Mourinho wanted in Perisic I guess to cover LWB and RW in one player, which is why someone like McNeil at Burnley, Sessegnon before he moved to Spurs, or Guerrero at Dortmund would have really helped us this and last season and probably started 95% of games at one position or another.

The alternative is to play 4-4-2 as our first choice plan, which makes sense if you believe strongly in Daniel James and also that he's much better out left than out right. Then we could use a quality LB regardless of style rather than an attacking type:

-------Rashford----Martial/Greenwood---
James-----Pogba---Fred--------------RM
LB----Maguire-Lindelof-WanBissaka
 
We'll see in the summer how much we can trust Williams in the coming years. I think we can confidently sell Shaw in the summer if things continue to go the way its going.

If we're feeling like trusting Williams and decide to sell Shaw then looking for a bargain back up that fits our style can work. Someone easy to get over the line. Not sure about his potential but I do think he has decent attributes and in some games have been more impressive than Max Aarons. Would be good enough to be in rotation, imo.
 
I don't know anything about him but who is Panzo?

He is a FM player - a English player abroad - anyone seen him?
 
What has it been now ? 3 seasons that Telles continues to impress and yet he's still playing in Liga NOS.
 
Am firmly in the camp that we should loan Dalot out to get him a proper season of football as he's still so raw, and sign a LB since Shaw is good enough but can't be relied upon so we just need two proper left backs like Real and Chelsea and about half the big teams always seem to have. With Shaw having looked good at LCB and Wan-Bissaka better defensively on the other side we should probably look for a proper left-footed wingback type and they can play together when we go 3 at the back.

LB: Shaw competing with new LWB
RB: Wan-Bissaka backed up by Brandon Williams (who is also the 3rd option at LB, and it's easy to find a 3rd RB from the academy like Laird or even throw Tuanzebe out there at times to defend or James to attack)

No idea who that would be. The Reims LB is having a good year but not in terms of assists.
 
For all the talk about the transformative effect of Liverpool's fullbacks, most of the PL fullbacks aren't very impressive. Even the ones bought for big money. I'd like an upgrade on Shaw and Williams doesn't look very impressive but if it's a difficult problem to solve we have more important areas to focus on.
 
Brwned said:
For all the talk about the transformative effect of Liverpool's fullbacks, most of the PL fullbacks aren't very impressive. Even the ones bought for big money. I'd like an upgrade on Shaw and Williams doesn't look very impressive but if it's a difficult problem to solve we have more important areas to focus on.
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Them not being impressive is not one of the things we should be trying to emulate from other teams though. It’s not some sort of positive. Spurs were much better when they had Walker and Rose on top form, for example, now they don’t and they a worse for it. Leicester have a very good pairing, and despite being a fairly narrow team they get great width from their pair. I think Walker gives a lot to City at both ends too.

I do think we struggle with width and quality service from wide. It makes us a bit one-dimensional I think, and a player who can get up and down the flank and provide quality delivery will make a huge difference I think, even if it’s just the one flank.
 
LB is way down on the list of priorities. Shaw is great, Brandon can cover for him and WBS. Striker,, and another top drawer CM first, then RW.
 
RedIan said:
LB is way down on the list of priorities. Shaw is great, Brandon can cover for him and WBS. Striker,, and another top drawer CM first, then RW.
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Yep, and if it gets bad, Dalot can cover there too. We have 2 good full backs and 2 okay cover.
 
romufc said:
Yep, and if it gets bad, Dalot can cover there too. We have 2 good full backs and 2 okay cover.
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It’s decent in theory, but you don’t actually have 2 left backs if Shaw is injured all season, every season. For me, if we bring in a new left back, Shaw has to go. I’m not advocating Shaw, Williams plus another. Williams is a back up either way for me, but we need a reliable 40-50 game first choice. If Shaw isn’t capable of that, we need another, otherwise all that will happen is the back up will be the 40-50 game first choice in reality, for which he doesn’t look ready to me.
 
Rozay said:
It’s decent in theory, but you don’t actually have 2 left backs if Shaw is injured all season, every season. For me, if we bring in a new left back, Shaw has to go. I’m not advocating Shaw, Williams plus another. Williams is a back up either way for me, but we need a reliable 40-50 game first choice. If Shaw isn’t capable of that, we need another, otherwise all that will happen is the back up will be the 40-50 game first choice in reality, for which he doesn’t look ready to me.
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Shaw isn't, he has a perception to be.

17/18 played 11 times but alot of the games he was on the bench because Jose didnt trust him and has issues with him
18/19 - 29 Prem games which is decent
19/20 - 16 games so far.

Yes, but if we want to blood Williams in he is capable of playing 15-20 games a season as a No.2 plus having dalot incase.

No one is buying SHaw because of his wage.
 
If Zidane and Real Madrid still send Hakimi on loan to Dortmund for another season. 3 season. Then i would make a call to R Madrid to ask the persmission to talk and convince to come to Old Trafford.
Hakimi is athlete. Quick, skill ful and can play on both sides. Both as left or right full back.
If Dortmund dont have a option to buy him in the loan contract. I would battle for his signature. Young side back, who can play as Right midfield in crisis too. He has a good right cross pass foot. And is been able to score goals too.
And if not Hakimi. I m satisfy with Williams, Shaw and Dalot in crisis as left back options. Hakimi is clearly a level and upgrade from Williams, Shaw and Dalot. Hakimi match Bruno Fernandes quick and precise football level.

From Dortmund. There are two players i want to buy if im United Dof and manager. It is Sancho and Hakimi.
 
Williams is promising but part of me still feels we might need a LB. Shaw cannot be trusted, nor is he particularly great.

Far from a priority though.
 
LuckyScout78 said:
If Zidane and Real Madrid still send Hakimi on loan to Dortmund for another season. 3 season. Then i would make a call to R Madrid to ask the persmission to talk and convince to come to Old Trafford.
Hakimi is athlete. Quick, skill ful and can play on both sides. Both as left or right full back.
If Dortmund dont have a option to buy him in the loan contract. I would battle for his signature. Young side back, who can play as Right midfield in crisis too. He has a good right cross pass foot. And is been able to score goals too.
And if not Hakimi. I m satisfy with Williams, Shaw and Dalot in crisis as left back options. Hakimi is clearly a level and upgrade from Williams, Shaw and Dalot. Hakimi match Bruno Fernandes quick and precise football level.

From Dortmund. There are two players i want to buy if im United Dof and manager. It is Sancho and Hakimi.
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Hakimi is brilliant, but I’d be very surprised if Madrid don’t know it. In reality, I’d rather ask them for Marcelo if they take Hakimi back.
 
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