Transfer Muppetry - A different perspective.

Pexbo

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Yet another thread about transfer muppetry, however I'd just like to give a different opinion and see who shares it.

There are very few fans who if you injected a bit of truth serum couldn't honestly tell you that they don't enjoy the odd marquee signing and all that goes with it.

On this forum and on many others you'll be ridiculed for wanting the likes of Sanchez, Sneijder or Hamsik. In honest truth I'd love to sign them as much as anyone but I'm starting to really appreciate this whole "value" thing.

The likes of Hernandez at £7m, Vidic at £7m, Park at £4m, Evra at £5m and the Twins at £2.5m each.... in all honesty I couldn't care less if we sign another marquee player. When you see the pressure on £30m Berbatov, and see the joy in the football Hernandez plays, you realise that money can actually be a bit of a monkey on your back in football.

If we were to spend £20m 3 or 4 players this summer, will you now be disappointed, or have you been converted, like me, to the fact that there is value out there?

This Fergie fella seems to know what he's doing.
 
I love it when a low fee player makes the grade, marquee signings are overrated and not as much fun, I much more enjoy watching say a Bébé (I still hold out hope) grow into a top player than signing someone who is already there.
 
We all like a bit of 'Dimi, Dimi the man after midnight' or 'Arse have him after the deadline'.
 
I love it. And I hope it continues. But I hope we spend a bit more to replace Giggs, Scholes & VDS with some real talent, not just potential. After those guys have gone we have a pretty young squad overall and not much will need changing.
 
I wouldn't base our transfer policy in the difference between Hernandez and Berbatov. Giggs and Scholes cost feck all, Rooney and Rio were rather expensive.

The only transfer issue that matters is having a good enough scout network and the ability to convince players you want.

I'm sure there is an element of "Glazer" in this thread but I personally think the failure of the "Green and Gold" will have made our club look moe desirable in the players eyes. A rather important issue so many of you seem to miss.

Money isn't everything, it can even be the enemy. Yet so many United fans seem to think that money is all that counts.
 
I prefer when young players come through. I'd take Welbeck and Cleverley becoming top players over any transfer target.
 
Compare the likes of Hernandez to Torres going for £50m.


Im not sure, but if we signed a player for that kind of a fee, even if they do perform well, its somewhat bittersweet since you are buying an established player, the expectation and assumption is that they will perform, and anything else is regarded as a flop.

If Torres and Hernandez scored a similar amount of goals and played at a similar level, you would obviously regard Hernandez as the better signing due to price, but it goes a little deeper than that - I think that as fans (and surely for SAF as well) we can draw satisfaction out of snapping up these bargains, bringing in players who barely anyone has heard of, and turning them into stars.

That is what the club does, and it does it extremely well. If we win the Prem this season, there will be that certain edge of satisfaction and probably smugness in knowing that we have done it without spending hundreds of millions of pounds on expensive superstars.




Having said all that, and it may sound contradictory, I do always feel that if we distinctly lack quality in a specific area of the pitch, there are times when we do need to spend big and bring in a player of established quality rather than a player who will hopefully come good within 2-3 seasons - ie Midfield at the moment. This summer I think we have no choice but to bring in a top quality midfielder, as we cannot afford to wait years for some of our youth prospects to be ready.
 
Basically yeah you see people, me included though not so much, talking about players outside the club. You see them thinking their scouts with their notepads telling us how so and so plays. Well united have scouts and they do ok so basically thats it. It's a global game now. It's not 'ohhh let me switch on la liga to see who we should buy next.'
 
Regens who end up banging in 50 goals a season, then you flog them to Huddersfield Town for 29.7 million in 2018


What are we talking about again?
 
SFraser said:
I'm sure there is an element of "Glazer" in this thread but I personally think the failure of the "Green and Gold" will have made our club look moe desirable in the players eyes. A rather important issue so many of you seem to miss.
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I think you'll have to explain this as it seems to make little or no sense.

Players will want to join a side capable of winning trophies and willing to pay the top wages.
 
It's swings and roundabouts, we all love to see people that cost nothing score 20+ goals in a season, however equally as important is experience as erm :nervous: you'll never win anything with kids. :nervous:

Seriously though, buying 1/2 value players and inserting into a well gelled and experienced unit will pay more dividends than inserting 5 values into 11. Sometimes you do need to purchase a more expensive player to suround the kids and nurture them. So you have to mix both up, you can't just sign 11 unknown players and have that as your squad, nor can you go and buy the best for every position FM style.
 
How close is Morrison and Pogba to a first team call up?

If they are a few years away then we need to get in established players next season, if they are close, like say they might be included next season, then we need not go for any expensive marquee signings.

I prefer the kids coming through, it's much more exciting.
 
Jinn said:
How close is Morrison and Pogba to a first team call up?

If they are a few years away then we need to get in established players next season, if they are close, like say they might be included next season, then we need not go for any expensive marquee signings.

I prefer the kids coming through, it's much more exciting.
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I think Morrison is closer then Pogba, but a lot depends on his attitude and application. He may be taken on the US tour and given a chance to impress.
 
Pexbo said:
Yet another thread about transfer muppetry, however I'd just like to give a different opinion and see who shares it.

There are very few fans who if you injected a bit of truth serum couldn't honestly tell you that they don't enjoy the odd marquee signing and all that goes with it.

On this forum and on many others you'll be ridiculed for wanting the likes of Sanchez, Sneijder or Hamsik. In honest truth I'd love to sign them as much as anyone but I'm starting to really appreciate this whole "value" thing.

The likes of Hernandez at £7m, Vidic at £7m, Park at £4m, Evra at £5m and the Twins at £2.5m each.... in all honesty I couldn't care less if we sign another marquee player. When you see the pressure on £30m Berbatov, and see the joy in the football Hernandez plays, you realise that money can actually be a bit of a monkey on your back in football.

If we were to spend £20m 3 or 4 players this summer, will you now be disappointed, or have you been converted, like me, to the fact that there is value out there?

This Fergie fella seems to know what he's doing.
Click to expand...

Hernandez has been a great signing - no doubt. But for every Hernandez there's a kleberson, Djemba-Djemba, Bellion etc. Its easy to ignore the poor

Clearly not all players come off and thats the same at all clubs. Wenger has nurtured some great talent but has had some busts as well.

As with everything its all about balance. As a general rule the more money you pay for a player the better he's likely to be but of course there are exceptions.

Right now United are in a position where they may lose a player of real quality in Scholes and Giggs will of course play less as he gets older. regardless of teh impact of the likes of Hernandez United still rely heavily on Giggs and Scholes in midfield so for me an injection of real quality is needed if and when they need to be replaced.

The same can be said in goalkeeping terms - when you lose a player of VDS stature you need to replace him with a player of sufficient talent and confidence to fill the gap.

In short, my view is that taking a punt on younger players can pay off but can't be relied upon. Benitez spent a fortune on younger players none of who made the grade and in the end wasted £20 plus million which could have been spent on the one player which may have bridged the gap in the league run in a couple of years ago.
 
De gae, RODWELL, Young and hamsik would do it for coming summer
 
I wouldnt care less who we bought and for how much as long as the player delivers or for that matter the club as a whole delivers and wins trophies.

I might be going a bit off topic here but IMHO, the reason lots of people here want a marquee signing soon is because it is hard to buy this whole 'no value in the market' bit. The lack of marquee signing feels more like a cover up for lack of funds.

If we were financially as strong now as we were pre-Glazers, and yet SAF had not signed anyone, the reaction would have been different from what it is now.
 
Hernandez, Smalling.. marquee. Do we really need one?

Look where we are right now. Apart from the GK, and Ando not fully maturing yet, we are fine in other areas of the pitch along with the replacements. We have a great squad. Not perfect but it's up there with the best.
 
Wan said:
Hernandez, Smalling.. marquee. Do we really need one?

Look where we are right now. Apart from the GK, and Ando not fully maturing yet, we are fine in other areas of the pitch along with the replacements. We have a great squad. Not perfect but it's up there with the best.
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We're doing well - no doubt, and to be honest probabaly better than a lot of people (including me) thought we would do this year.

Fergie is getting the best out of a good, but not great team and other factors have also contributed to this seasons success. Its seemed at times that the top PL teams have done everything the can to make it a one horse race.

Chelsea, Arsenal and City will definately improve next year. For me the time to buy is when you're on top.

A keeper and an establish midfield player at least.
 
We'll definitely buy a top GK whoever that is in the summer. As for midfield, Ando will grow into that role soon.
 
Wan said:
We'll definitely buy a top GK whoever that is in the summer. As for midfield, Ando will grow into that role soon.
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Hopefully.

Playing more than a handful of games each season would be a start.
 
United need to be careful to maintain the current balance of youth & experience.

With VDS, Neville and possibly Scholes moving out before next season, the fallout might be noticed more in the dressing room than on the pitch in the short term. I think we have enough experience to be comfortable with even after those three depart, but my point is that the balance is very easy to mess up.

I love to see a young player come through as much as anyone, but it's important that we buy the right player, rather than restrict ourselves by implementing an ethos that we won't be prepared to break if necessary.
 
An oddly interesting thread in the transfers :)

I think we should strive to maintain age balance by investing in youth - not just our own, but also bringing in promising youngsters - with experience. I wouldn't be averse to our buying Goetze, Sneijder, and Neuer.
 
I think the main issue is we are not strengthening the areas of the pitch that need that, like midfield, and there is no reason why that happens. The reason is that there is no value in the market but when you see the likes of Sneijder, Ozil and van der Vaart switch clubs for a similar kind of money that we paid for Bebe or a few million more, it just doesn't make sense. For every value signing like Hernandez there happen to be signings like Kleberson that don't work out, we ought to get someone reliable for midfield because that is one area of the pitch where we constantly get outplayed by top sides. Yet I have no doubt at all that we won't sign a midfielder this season either.
 
Another issue that I have is that we costantly ignore promising players from certain leagues. I don't remember when we last signed a recognized player from Germany for example, we completely ignore the existence of France apart from signing two left backs and a Bordeaux reserve. We haven't signed a player from Spain for ages as well, and we haven't looked at any Serie A players since Veron if I remember correctly. We hardly ever pick up rejects from other top sides even though they often turn out to be very good. And the most annoying of all is the fact that we give up on a player each time City or Chelsea become interested. We are a much bigger club than either of them, yet they get whoever they want.

We are doing well though and thank God that Ferguson is so good at this. He could finish top 4 even with Gibson and O'Shea in midfield and Bebe with Obertan on the flanks.
 
I wonder what kind of psychological screening players go through.

For instance, if you want a position in the intelligence community, you are subjected to a series of intense psychological exams. I'm sure the same holds for elite military side of things.

Perhaps we need to institute some form of psychological testing whereby we can separate those who melt from large transfer fees (berba) from those who don't melt from large transfer fees (rio, ronnie).
 
With Berba, we just won the CL and had the money to splash imo. The fans deserved their key muppetery player and got what they wanted.

Right now, our MF is in transition so there is no doubt we will be linked with many players.

We are over flooded with good talent in the front lines, maybe if Bebe' and Obertan can step up a bit and if we give Pettruci and Pogba a run in the reserves, we might not really go for one until we do get rid of a player.

SAF will decide and usually the key factor is what he see's in the player, and what he see's with our current crop in the reserves, which I do think Cleverly and Welbeck will feature a lot more than we will all reckon.

GK is a must and we will definitely get a GK
 
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