United have no scouts.....The myth the CAF likes to peddle.
- Thread starter UnitedSofa
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Your right God damn it, our scouting system is fantastic!
Ole recommended Haaland initially. He didn’t want to come. Next
Dias - no idea what happened. I think nobody wanted to buy Ralph players
Nunez chose Liverpool. Not our fault
Sesko, still undecided
Dias - no idea what happened. I think nobody wanted to buy Ralph players
Nunez chose Liverpool. Not our fault
Sesko, still undecided
Reads like bullshit, Nunez was a donkey up to last season with very few games even under his belt
The Glazers are to blame. They are vermin.
You think they were all recommended only this summer?
Have they recommended an alternative to a certain 33 year old striker known for his less than savoury "banter" on the pitch?
We should also see a list of players we signed that were recommended by our scouts and turned out to be crap. I would expect it to be very long.
I don't think it's an issue of identifying the players. It's an issue of actually signing them.
We rarely do more than 3 or 4 deals in a single summer, or whatever the equivalent of £100m net can get you. It'll be the same reason why we're looking at an easy/cheaper deal for Arnautovic instead of signing a promising young forward who can contribute in a meaningful way.
We rarely do more than 3 or 4 deals in a single summer, or whatever the equivalent of £100m net can get you. It'll be the same reason why we're looking at an easy/cheaper deal for Arnautovic instead of signing a promising young forward who can contribute in a meaningful way.
Im pretty sure a few years ago under Mourinho it was said we had the most scouts in the premier league.
We didnt listen to them. Also yeah you can name a bunch of guys who im sure were suggested and they were great. But the list of players the scouts suggested and turned out to be poor may be a list twice as long and nobody is making that list
We didnt listen to them. Also yeah you can name a bunch of guys who im sure were suggested and they were great. But the list of players the scouts suggested and turned out to be poor may be a list twice as long and nobody is making that list
Sesko was recommended while at previous club, and we judged 3m to be too high.
Very noticably. No midfielders listed....
The same scouts who told Ralf that Vlahovic wouldn’t improve us. Yes, kudos for knowing who Erling Haaland is…
We have a vast scouting network but that doesn't count for shit when there's no overarching blueprint guiding our recruitment.
The best sailors in the world will be useless if you stick them on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean with no map nor compass and tell them to get you back to land. (Apologies if this analogy is poor, my knowledge of naval matters is not the best)
The best sailors in the world will be useless if you stick them on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean with no map nor compass and tell them to get you back to land. (Apologies if this analogy is poor, my knowledge of naval matters is not the best)
Yet we sign Pellistri for £10m and clearly he’s never going to make it.
We also love to hold on to crap hoping they come good until they become valueless.
We should be willing to let go of some and try other up coming players, we'll find more gems that way.
We should be willing to let go of some and try other up coming players, we'll find more gems that way.
Where did i say that?You think they were all recommended only this summer?
im showing that sometimes we lose out and it’s no one’s fault.
You're talking in the present tense, listing things that have just happened as if they weren't recommended prior to this summer.
Of course it's someone's fault, either the person who isn't listening to the scouts, or the person who's negotiating to bring the player in. What's the point in having scouts or a DoF, if neither are going to be listened to, or successfully negotiate their transfers.
You do realise that sometimes players just want to go somewhere else? It’s quite arrogant to expect that every player will always choose United
The bigger problem is finding a promising young forward. I understand the paucity in forward position in the market but the lack of backup options for midfield is unforgivable.
We've had an extensive scouting network under Woodward. The problem was that our managers never listened to them - famous one is of course when Mourinho overruled them and made us sign Matic over Fabinho.
I thought, having a DOF would help give the scouting network a bigger influence over transfers but it's gone the other way. Murtough and Arnold have just ripped it all up and made us manager FC.
I thought, having a DOF would help give the scouting network a bigger influence over transfers but it's gone the other way. Murtough and Arnold have just ripped it all up and made us manager FC.
If we’re actually signing players based on the fact they’ve previously played for our manager and coaches then we should’ve gone for Pochettino after all. At least his former players are the likes of Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Son and Kane rather than Arnautovic. 
Tommy Møller Nielsen (Utd scout) was on Brann Stadium when Haaland (17) scored 4 in 20 minutes agains the current league leader in Norway. He continued showing up on norwegian stadiums to follow Haaland that season, while 17 year old Haaland was banging in the goals.
Somehow United never made an offer, and Haaland had to choose between Juventus and RB Salzburg.
As a Molde fan I never understood why an offer didnt come from Utd, as Utd was probably the club that was following Erling closest. The talent was so obvious even a blind man would spot it, and the transfer fee would only have been about 5 mill euros. Was it a no from Mourinho?
Somehow United never made an offer, and Haaland had to choose between Juventus and RB Salzburg.
As a Molde fan I never understood why an offer didnt come from Utd, as Utd was probably the club that was following Erling closest. The talent was so obvious even a blind man would spot it, and the transfer fee would only have been about 5 mill euros. Was it a no from Mourinho?
Pretty sure I read reports that our scouts recommend we sign De Ligt and De Jong when they were 16-18 too, our club just refuses to listen to them.
I think United are caught in a trap at the moment. OK, maybe we could have signed Haaland 3/4 years ago. But we've constantly been in this cycle of needing instant results. We need to sign players that can make an instant impact.
City can chance Haaland and Alvarez because they have KDB, Grealish, Mahrez etc etc. Liverpool the same with Nunez as they have Salah, Jota to carry the majority of the burden.
Let's say we sign Nunez or Haaland. Our entire season is probably resting on them. We don't have the foundation, nor the quality in the team to support young, talented players. Sancho has looked lost since he joined us. Do you think he would look like that in the City or Liverpool team?
And of course signing Haaland now is much less of a risk than back in 2017 or whenever he started to come through. But I can't ever remember a period in the last 10 years where we have had a settled squad and been able to spend some money on young, up and coming talents for the future. We did that with Diallo, and you have people already claiming he's not good enough because he hasn't broken into the team yet.
City can chance Haaland and Alvarez because they have KDB, Grealish, Mahrez etc etc. Liverpool the same with Nunez as they have Salah, Jota to carry the majority of the burden.
Let's say we sign Nunez or Haaland. Our entire season is probably resting on them. We don't have the foundation, nor the quality in the team to support young, talented players. Sancho has looked lost since he joined us. Do you think he would look like that in the City or Liverpool team?
And of course signing Haaland now is much less of a risk than back in 2017 or whenever he started to come through. But I can't ever remember a period in the last 10 years where we have had a settled squad and been able to spend some money on young, up and coming talents for the future. We did that with Diallo, and you have people already claiming he's not good enough because he hasn't broken into the team yet.
The risk was approx. 5 mill euros. If he didnt make it, no one would even notice. Basically there was no risk signing him back in 2018.
They probably have scouts. But as I myself work within coaching and scouting, I am really curious to see what on earth they are doing in that department. The club is a huge mess on and off the pitch.
The problem is not the scouts, but rather the way recruitment is decided. Its obvious the previous recruitment structure did not take into consideration the long term solution and were too focused on budget and critical need planning, thus we had a huge change in the recruitment department along with ETH's arrival.
Since the changes will take time, ETH went ahead with players he knew would fit into his tactical approach. That's why most players recommended are those managed by ETH or observed by him in other matches.
Since the changes will take time, ETH went ahead with players he knew would fit into his tactical approach. That's why most players recommended are those managed by ETH or observed by him in other matches.
Mourinho would love to have him. He like tall and big striker.
This does not say alot really. I m sure everyday they recommend players. The issue is a) how did they recommend then, e.g. Good players to keep tabs or must-sign players, and b) to whom they recommend and how much their opinion is valued. I believe our issue is mainly b.
But A is also a problem too. They probably said that Amad is a generational talent so we opted to buy him. Did they say the same for Haaland or Nunez or for Sesko? And if A is not true and they are actually really good as the OP is hinting, why on earth don't we have a cm to recommend rather than Rabiot? I don't think that Rabiot is ETH recommendation, thus I assume we turned on our scouts for a CM and whom did they recommend? Rabiot. Didn't RR say that the scouts told him there is no value for CM and CF?
This is the meat of the issue. Due to the way the club's been run we're constantly firefighting, there's no room for long-term thinking even if the desire is there. Right now we're trying to get enough warm bodies in to patch us up for this season, while a serious club would getting the right profile of players assembled for 3-5 years down the line.
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One of the Journo's from The Athletic was on about this on the podcast months ago. Said that players are offered around to all of the top clubs by agents and the mostly, clubs will have the same players on their radar - which is hardly surprising.
The question is why United opt for players who aren't good enough, or don't get deals done ahead of other clubs. The problem is not the scouting department - it's the people dealing with the transfers and/or deciding on who should be signed.
What I meant was that he is now a guaranteed WC striker, but his true potential was unknown back then.
I agree that it was a low risk transfer with a very high reward, but if I recall correctly in the summer of 2018 we were chasing Maguire, Willian and Perisic under Jose. Jose was most definitely the type that would have preferred to spend the €5m on wages for established players.
Not saying what I'd prefer here, but just giving my opinion on the thought process of why we have not pursued certain deals these past years.
If you were managing United right now, would you pursue deals like this, or on a player who will guarantee you 10-15 goals this season and you know what you're buying? Like signing Cavani and kicking the can down the road in terms of long term thinking, just to save your skin and the season from a managerial point of view.
Not defending the decisions, but we've been jumping from one stage of crisis to another for a number of years now, as many of our signings have shown. Signing a prospect for €5m who can step up in a year or two solves none of the immediate problems we seem to always have every transfer window (just phrasing it from a managers point of view).
I agree with this sentiment generally. I think we do have a good scouting network. Our conversion is horrible though.
There is this story of how a United scout was recommending Alphonso Davies for a period of time and had even developed a relationship with him but Utd never acted.
There is this story of how a United scout was recommending Alphonso Davies for a period of time and had even developed a relationship with him but Utd never acted.
Only recommending 4 players over several years is quite poor tbf.
It's clear we have scouts and a decent scouting network.
It's also clear that we give our Managers far too much power on who they are allowed to bring in and our short/long term planning is abysmal.
It's also clear that we give our Managers far too much power on who they are allowed to bring in and our short/long term planning is abysmal.
Now show us the list of duds.
Bullseye
Brighton, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Leicester are not more attractive than United but all those mid-table clubs have a recent track record of making astute signings that usually earn them lots of money. Many of them would walk into our team e.g. Lamptey, Ricardo Pereira, Caicedo, Mwepo, Doucoure, Olise, Daka, Kamara Have any of United's signings in the last ten years even appreciated in value since we signed them? Bruno maybe?
Sacrificing Nunez to go all in for De Jong and not getting it done will be disastrous. How on earth haven't they been listened to about any of these players is absolutely mind blowing but also not surprising at all