we are miles behind and the gap is probably widening. Which makes me question why we are signing players who will be 30 before the season ends
Toby Alderweireld
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we are miles behind and the gap is probably widening. Which makes me question why we are signing players who will be 30 before the season ends
I think we have to make peace with the fact that this summer he will command a huge fee. I’m in the camp that would prefer see money spent on somebody that might give longevity and form the basis of our defence but right now we need somebody ready made. The age range of our defenders is good and I think more attention is being drawn to his age because it’s mourinho signing him and it fits the narrative that he signs older players.
If alderweireld comes, in league he’s been in for years, settles well, he will immediately improve our defence and who knows maybe allow Bailly and lindelof to improve alongside him without as much of a burden. Is 29 even that old? If he gave us 2-3 very good seasons for 50-60m is the fee justified? Absolutely. It’s not a certainty but Id be happy to welcome him to the team.
Dalot, alderweireld, Fred would Be a decent window if Sanchez, Pogba, rashford and Martial all improve also
If alderweireld comes, in league he’s been in for years, settles well, he will immediately improve our defence and who knows maybe allow Bailly and lindelof to improve alongside him without as much of a burden. Is 29 even that old? If he gave us 2-3 very good seasons for 50-60m is the fee justified? Absolutely. It’s not a certainty but Id be happy to welcome him to the team.
Dalot, alderweireld, Fred would Be a decent window if Sanchez, Pogba, rashford and Martial all improve also
I just realised that Kristof Terreur is the first real/credible confirmation of negotiations for Toby. That tweet is implying that as he is asking around, those are the responses he's getting from the clubs/sources.
Finally, credible and real confirmation of Toby negotiations!!
Finally, credible and real confirmation of Toby negotiations!!
Never really understood the Mina interest, our problem is playing out from the back and building attacks. Auderweireld or Maguire both come out with the ball and Toby is the best long passer in the game from the CB position, giving us the opportunity to hit fast counter attacks. Mina would have been the same as Smalling or Jones and not an upgrade!
Providing there is no last minute problem with the transfer, the Club can now play an aggressive 2 CB system with Smalling or Bailly and Toby depending on whether we need Smalling's height against more physical PL teams or a more possession based 3 at the back with Lindelof Auderweireld and Bailly.
With Fred and Andreas being added to the Midfield plus Sanchez looking like the player we invested in, the spine of the team looks stronger than last year and we should no longer see the brand of football where we take the lead and immediately decide to retreat 80 yards in our own half inviting pressure from all angles, hoping that our defence can see the game out with long ball clearances.
Just to improve that one part of our play would be worth a £250M investment so yep, Fred and Toby plus a recall of Andreas looks like great business to me for £115M and represents a significant upgrade!
Providing there is no last minute problem with the transfer, the Club can now play an aggressive 2 CB system with Smalling or Bailly and Toby depending on whether we need Smalling's height against more physical PL teams or a more possession based 3 at the back with Lindelof Auderweireld and Bailly.
With Fred and Andreas being added to the Midfield plus Sanchez looking like the player we invested in, the spine of the team looks stronger than last year and we should no longer see the brand of football where we take the lead and immediately decide to retreat 80 yards in our own half inviting pressure from all angles, hoping that our defence can see the game out with long ball clearances.
Just to improve that one part of our play would be worth a £250M investment so yep, Fred and Toby plus a recall of Andreas looks like great business to me for £115M and represents a significant upgrade!
No idea what this means
When journalists ask about transfers they would get denials or "we have no interest", but when you start asking about and get "no comment" then it can be a hint something is happening. A club's media relations department wont want to lie directly to journalists (it would harm relations), so they might not be able to say "we're not interested" when they clearly are, but can dodge it by saying "no comment".
The fee is just quoting what the Mirror said last night
Because he will close the gap while others can develop or we can identify younger players with potential.
Put it this way, we are a better team with him - even if it’s for two to three years. We can’t sign another young player with potential (are there any even available?), it isn’t going to close the gap.
You’re going off pure rumours on Mina’s case. I’d be very surprised if he goes for anything more than 25m. The reason he’s not sold, despite being for sale all summer long is because no one is going anywhere near Barca’s asking price, whatever that maybe.
And the closer we vet to the end of the window his price will drop since Barca can’t even register him for next season.
Water isn't wet. Or is that the point? I don't do mornings.
Be realistic mate. City won’t get the same points as last season, and we have Fred and Pereira to strengthen the squad, other players from the WC will have improve, so we can easily beat our points tally from last season.
The gap will definitely be smaller this season.
I rather not give in to Levy's demands. Alderweireld is no Berba. He's one of the best CB in the league but 60m is too much for someone who spent much of last season on the treatment table. Plus he's nearly 30 so what are we gonna get out of him long term?
every single transfer debate on here relies on rumoured fees. My argument about Mina is no different to those claiming Toby is a waste of 60m, another rumoured fee. If we can't debate on rumoured fees, whats the point?
Wikipedia Portuguese version says Alderweirald plays for Manchester United
Nearly 30? March is far away mate. And CBs play till 33-34 so doesn't worry me.
Oh you can debate on rumoured fees alright. You just can’t use other rumoured fees as a reference point. That’s basic logic.
They had Gimenez who was back then - and still is - a better player and is quite young.
For me the age is not a worry, but if we sign him he really needs to stay fit for most of the season. We just can't afford to be chopping and changing the defence constantly and he would do wonders as an everpresent leader at the back.
He'll have 5 years at the top level yet .
What has being 29 got to do with anything?
Would we be closer if we signed a lesser player who is 26?
I'd take 3 years at the stage
I think the reasoning is that the team will peak when Alderweireld is over the hill.
Yes. Fitness could be an issue
Let's hope Lindelöf's ready by then.
Pace has never been one of his strengths, he has at the very least another 3 good years left in him.
I'm happy to splash 50+ million for a fantastic player that is an automatic leader from day one. Jose praised bailly for injuring himself on tour so he didn't leave the youth players out there to get slaughtered. Jose wants leaders in this team. H
Ermm are you telling me an 18 year old Giménez was better then Toby?
Also is he better than Toby now? I don't follow La Liga very closely, but from what I've seen, Giménez hasn't progressed as expected, you can even say he has regressed. He had a good season after which he was in and out of the squad.
Not to mention he isn't a ball playing CB, which is apparently what we are looking for
Edit : he had 19 starts last year and 6 sub appearances as opposed to 27 in 15/16,the year he was very good
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That's always a terrible point, a slow player can be slower. Also physical decline is difficult to predict and you can't tell how player will adapt.
I think he was giving justification for why Althletico let Toby go, not that United should be looking at Giménez
haven't you heard? 29 is actually the new pension age.
29 is the new pension age
Sure, 29 this year is fine. But we dont have a snowballs chance in hell of winning the league this year. Next year? probably not unless we have a very very different summer than this year.
The year after that? maybe, if we have have made smart transfers. But we will probably need to start looking at replacing the likes of Matic, Alderweireld etc which is why I dislike these short term signings (by a manager who knows he wont be here in the long term). Not the case with the 26 year olds.
So yea Alderweireld will probaly be strong this year, but when in the short term we are so far behind city, well that doesnt mean much to me. But thats just my opinion
The gap in terms of points between City and United may end up being a bit smaller, so you could literally be right, but I struggle to see us even mounting a realistic challange to them. And I can actually see Liverpool passing us and Chelsea approaching our level. But maybe im just a downer
There's no way a Utd manager should ever give up like this. What happens if we're still behind in 3 years time? Write off the following 3 years as well?
Buy quality so we can build off of quality, its the only way.
A successful squad always has an age range. If we hold it to together in 2-3 years Pogba, Fred, Martial, rashford, lingard, Bailly, De gea, smalling, Jones, dalot, pereira, and many more will still be in peak years, not to mention it’s expected a big club signs a couple of players each year. I personally think people need to lose the aversion to signing experienced well established players. If you only sign 19-26 year olds you’ll never have a balance. Under Ferguson we consistently had at least a few older players in regular rotation
We seem a bit all over the place in the transfer market. What was the point of Lindelof at this stage? We have far too many CB's in the squad if no one leaves.
Hope there are some truth to this! How so many posters are finding a way to complain about signing the best CB in the league is absolute nuts though. Not surprising, but still insane.
This is not certain. For example, Ferdinand and Vidic declined at a fast rate after 30. Rio was at his peak at 29 but he literally lost 30% his pace soon after.
Daddy want want want. Potentially a brilliant signing but we desperately need a RW as well.
Has been a solid and reliable defender for the most part of his premier league career, last season being
Vidic did his cruciate ligaments in 2011 and a serious knee injury in 12/13 with us, then I believe he had some sort of back problem when he went to Inter?
So whilst it's not certain that he will or won't be able to give us 3 or 4 years of solid service, the concern would be his history of hamstring injuries in the last couple of seasons.
Rio had a series of debilitating back injuries, which he admitted to hiding which probably cost him a fairytale end to his career.
Vidic did his cruciate ligaments in 2011 and a serious knee injury in 12/13 with us, then I believe he had some sort of back problem when he went to Inter?
So whilst it's not certain that he will or won't be able to give us 3 or 4 years of solid service, the concern would be his history of hamstring injuries in the last couple of seasons.
Alderweireld would be a fantastic signing, he is a top 5 PL CB and would immediately improve our defence. With Fred also signed that's a decent improvement through the spine of our team.
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