We don't have any forwards for next season, who do we sign ?

Scholsey2004 said:
We've still got Rashford and Sancho as first choice wingers and Elanga, Mata and maybe Lingard as back up. The squad was bloated for a long time and there was a knock on effect for morale with players unable to get games. Obviously the Greenwood situation wasnt planned for but we've still got enough players imo.
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Mata and lingard as back ups

is this a piss take haha
 
Cavani almost certainly going, as he had to be persuaded to complete the 2nd year option, back last summer.
He's keen to return home, before retiring.

Martial is still on our books, but I think it unlikely he'll be back after this loan spell.

Ronaldo is showing his age now, which he will be 100x more frustrated with than any of us.
That frustration will be magnified if the team are not doing well on the pitch.
If we don't get a CL place, I agree with the speculation that he might decide to bail out.

Elanga, a great breakthrough period for him ATM, but we won't know anything until he's had a good solid run of appearances up to the end of the season.
At the moment, he's just a bright prospect.

Sancho?
Let's hope the lad's confidence is improved and he finally clicks into gear.
At the moment, it's just hopeful thinking.

Rashford has just scored a couple of goals after coming on as a late sub in the last 2 games.
It doesn't give us any indication if this is a real turnaround from his dire form over the last 18 months.
He still has a lot to do and prove.

Mata's one year contract extension finishes at the end of the season.
He'll be gone, or moved into a backroom role.

Lingard is good as gone (we all hope).

Amad Diallo and Pellistri are still youngsters and lack PL experience.
We won't know if either will make it for another year or two, if given a chance to begin with.

Greenwood is gone.

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The squad all of a sudden requires massive investment, and the Glazers won't have the stomach for it at all. Grim situation in the short term but it might lead to us getting new owners soon maybe?
 
We've had massive investment...and this is what we've got as a result !

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Think we need two now. Could see us losing three over the summer and Ronaldo will be another year older. Stunning to think we have a bloated squad but are becoming so weak in key areas. A sure sign of poor squad management over recent years.

Haaland the dream but top 4 essential to even harbour a sniff. Still think City is most likely. No idea who else. Maybe our fantastic scouting network will unearth a gem from Europe…. Cough cough splutter
 
I'm more worried that these days, we're in the Che Adams, Teemu Pukki, Patrick Bamford type of marketplace.
Forget daydreams like Haaland.
 
I can see many links to Icardi coming soon.
 
I still think Ronaldo will be here next season irrespective of where we finish in the league. And part of me thinks Martial might sneak another season too. Cavani and Greenwood I'd say are the certain outgoings.

We still have Rashford and Elanga too. It's not looking like the stacked, vintage forward line we thought we've always had anymore, but we're hardly going into next season with no strikers. Midfield is still the pressing issue, no pun intended.
 
Our club is a mess! Today is the shit flavoured cherry on the cake.
 
I'm hoping the extra requirement of needing to replace Mason, should that be required, doesn't distract from the glaring need of a midfielder, but I'm sure it will.

I don't want Kane, I'm not impressed by his attitude and he's injury prone.

Jesse and Mata are inadequate backups and had we been ruthless wouldn't still be here.
 
VidaRed said:
Greenwood is gone, martial has gone, cavani will go after this season and ronaldo is ancient and will also leave if we don't get into CL.

So on top of not having a midfield, we won't have any forwards either. I bet our board regrets not bidding for julian alvarez from river plate who city signed up on the cheap.

Glazers won't spend a bomb on haaland. Our only realistic option is kane for around 75m and even that might be too much for the glazers.
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I'm genuinely curious do you know how much we paid to sign Pogba? Or Lukaku? Or Harry Maguire? Or Sancho? Or maybe I'm mistaken and you meant a fifth signing for around 75m might be too much for the glazers.
 
I don't think Ronaldo will go due to lack of options for him, so we are really looking at the current lot minus:

-Cavani
-Greenwood
-Lingard
-Mata (surely?)

Maybe Martial, but even if he does well on loan I don't expect a club to put a sensible offer in to us.

That leaves:

-Ronaldo (probably)
-Rashford
-Sancho
-Elanga
-Amad
-Martial (probably)

Plus any academy kids that might break-through.

Not great, but enough if we have a manager playing 4-3-3, with Bruno an option if necessary. It's not like we're expecting a title challenge or anything.

Concentrate on the midfield this summer, and any other gaps we might be able to fill, and then look at the forward line the year after when Ronaldo leaves.
 
hungrywing said:
Elanga - Hugill - Sancho/Amad

68 goals in 2022-2023
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Hugill hasnt been starting for the under 23's. They prefer McNeill seemingly. McNeill needs a tad more pace, I think, but he does have an eye for goal.
 
Ronaldo
Rashford
Sancho
Elanga
Amad
+ 1 we'll sign in the summer, probably someone like Coman and Rashford playing through the middle

It wouldnt be my choice and not the most exciting thing like signing the top attacking players that are hyped, but I think that on form those players are still good options and we need to spend in midfield too
 
It's really not that bad. Amad and Pellestri coming back with Elanga breaking through. Plus the likes of Hannibal being an option. We will need a striker though. All this means is that Rashford and Sancho are guaranteed starters for us. We need to be on the lookout for a no.9 and a midfielder this summer.
 
If we can get Ten Hag and he can get the system working, we would only need someone decent. Haller looks great under him but his main function is to hold it up well in the system and give it back to runners around him.
 
tjb said:
It's really not that bad. Amad and Pellestri coming back with Elanga breaking through. Plus the likes of Hannibal being an option. We will need a striker though. All this means is that Rashford and Sancho are guaranteed starters for us. We need to be on the lookout for a no.9 and a midfielder this summer.
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Not the way Elanga is playing. I've been shocked at how little of Bundesliga Sancho we have seen - really hope he gets going with some regular playing time now.
 
I think we'll need one proven, or at least semi-proven at a lower club source of goals. Someone that is at least fairly close to being a 1 in 2 man.

Otherwise we are too Ronaldo reliant, and too praying on Rashfords form reliant. Neither of those situations is good.

If we get that guy, maybe it's an Isak or somebody of that ilk, it will be okay. We'll have to bank on the young players and Sancho improving dramatically around this player.
 
Let’s get Haaland and Mbappe, who are going to be support by McFred behind. And they would turn into shite after half season with us.
 
Charles De Ketelaere seems a total Rangnick signing to me. He’s played all across the attacking midfielder spots and even filled in at LWB recently. But he’s most often a false 9 or second striker. Tall, skilful, hard working and has enormous potential. I can see him playing a Firmino role next season, teeing up the likes of Elanga, Rashford, Sancho and Gr… err never mind
 
Natener said:
I'm genuinely curious do you know how much we paid to sign Pogba? Or Lukaku? Or Harry Maguire? Or Sancho? Or maybe I'm mistaken and you meant a fifth signing for around 75m might be too much for the glazers.
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And whats the common between all of them ? They've all failed to deliver.

I dont think glazers will be spunking north of 100m on any single player anytime soon.
 
I quite like our wide options in Rashford, Sancho, Elanga, Amad and Hannibal. If Ronaldo, Cavani and Martial all leave, then we would need two centre forwards.
 
SparkedIntoLife said:
Charles De Ketelaere seems a total Rangnick signing to me. He’s played all across the attacking midfielder spots and even filled in at LWB recently. But he’s most often a false 9 or second striker. Tall, skilful, hard working and has enormous potential. I can see him playing a Firmino role next season, teeing up the likes of Elanga, Rashford, Sancho and Gr… err never mind
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Good call. He's an option now that we're down a central player, though I thought Havertz would be brilliant in England after watching his work as a false 9 at the end of his time at Leverkusen and it's gone poorly, and they seem a bit similar. Do the people who watch him more think he can fill out and become a 9 and score a ton of goals, or is that out of the question and he's just not a ruthless finishing type?

Side question, would Thomas Muller have been a great (I guess sort of false) 9 in the Prem or played as a 10?

But yeah, I think De Kaetelere goes on the list in a 3rd tier behind the tier 2 guys (Haaland in his own tier) like David.

To the Germans, Is Wirtz a bad fit with Bruno being here, or does making him the big buy to be one of 3 wingers with Sancho and Diallo (and back up Bruno) with Rashford and a cheaper transfer in terms of a 9 like Adeyemi, Shick, Richarlison (only 12 months left come the summer) or Gouiri make sense? He sort of seems like the most talented available young player at any attacking position.
 
From an exciting trio of Martial Rashford and Greenwood to.. erm.. Cavani and Ronaldo?

Unless Sancho turns it on our attack seems to be going nowhere.
 
I would like us to get Pellistri back from his loan and start using him to see how he fits. No point wasting him at Alaves if he’s not getting game time
 
I think we'll stick with what we have on the wings. Rashford, Elanga, Sancho, and Amad will be enough. Well, we have to pray that it's enough. It's upfront that is the real problem. We know Cavani will leave. Martial will probably leave. Ronaldo will leave if we don't have CL. We will need at least one striker. Two if Ronaldo leaves. The club may seriously start to think about Haaland again, but I don't see him coming if we're not in the CL. It also means that we spend a large part of our budget on a striker and we're leaving the midfield again. Everything that has happened today has fecked us. We won't be able to fix everything in the summer.
 
With Greenwood we need an addition in attack to build out next great attack around. Ronaldo and Cavani are old. Sancho is potentially a top player but he's a creator. Rashford is very good but I wouldn't expect him to be elite. We need to try and find someone who can spearhead the attack for years to come who can lead the line for a long time to come as we would have groomed Greenwood to do.

Maybe we missed a trick yet again with the CF Juve signed?
 
It seemed a preposterous idea, but Kane probably is very suitable for the current situation. He is a proven striker and knows the league already. He will do for two or three seasons while United conduct a thorough search around Europe for a striker of the future. Levy refused to do a deal with an oil club. Hopefully, he would sit down at the table, at least.
 
VanDeBank said:
The premise is false. Glazers spend plenty.
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Yep. In 2009 when we sold best player in the world Cristiano Ronaldo for world record 80 m and lost Tevez to City we got Obertan, Owen, Mame Biram Diouf and Valencia while City spent 120 m in single window... Next year we get Smalling, Chicharito and Bebe... Great spending by Glazers.
 
Corwin said:
Yep. In 2009 when we sold best player in the world Cristiano Ronaldo for world record 80 m and lost Tevez to City we got Obertan, Owen, Mame Biram Diouf and Valencia while City spent 120 m in single window... Next year we get Smalling, Chicharito and Bebe... Great spending by Glazers.
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I was clearly talking about just the spending (amount) and not recruitment.

There's a graph floating around that show's we've matched City's spending these last few years. Ole's spent like 300 million ?

Us signing the wrong players means the Glazers appoint idiots to handle recruitment, ti doesn't mean they don't spend enough to money on transfers. Like I said, we're at the top for spending, lack of funds isn't our problem.

Also your list of flops is shit. We signed plenty of good players in those days and our rivals have had their fair share of flops. I'm not sure what you think the problem with selling Ronnie was. You're aware he wanted to leave and signed a contract extension before leaving so we could profit?
 
Apart from Haaland who will now be an obvious target, I’d say we should also have a look at more realistic targets like Jonathan David, Osimhen, Raphinha and Schick.
 
Well we absolutely need to sign a striker in the summer. Hopefully Amad can atleast be a squad player next season so we don't have to sign another expensive winger.

But the midfield is our weakest area and I really hope the club won't waste most of the budget on someone like Declan Rice. He's a very good player but I'd argue for that price you can find two very good players somewhere in Europe and still have some budget on that elusive striker.
 
We'll go for Haaland and a mid in the summer giving us Haaland and Ronaldo for CF, Sancho, Rashford, Elanga and Amad as wingers.
 
copen1945 said:
It seemed a preposterous idea, but Kane probably is very suitable for the current situation. He is a proven striker and knows the league already. He will do for two or three seasons while United conduct a thorough search around Europe for a striker of the future. Levy refused to do a deal with an oil club. Hopefully, he would sit down at the table, at least.
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Kane really would be a damning signing. The clearest sign that we've learnt nothing, and we're not changing as a football club.
 
Judas said:
Kane really would be a damning signing. The clearest sign that we've learnt nothing, and we're not changing as a football club.
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Now that Vlahovic and Diaz have been spoken for, I don't think there are any other viable options. Haaland is out there still, but the possibility must be very remote. For now, a sensible long-term planning and a search must be done. The planning should include to define a viable way of playing, and such would lead to the types of forwards United need, power vs agility, etc. United need to buy some time. Kane probably would get United over the hump and into the fourth place.
 
I feel like bumping that thread from the start of the season that asked if we had the best attacking options in the history of all club football.

Ronaldo and Cavani were always going to be short term solutions so we absolutely need to invest in that area as well as midfield. Even more so now with recent developments.
 
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