What approach would you like to see from us in coming transfer windows?

Of Strootman, Reus and Hummels my guess is that only Strootman will be available in January. Our plan for January really just needs to be monitor who is available and it is someone on our "get" list then go after after him.

edit: Reus is out of contract soon isn't he?
 
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United have the largest following on the planet, and the only way we will ever lose our identity is if we slowly become anything other than the club with the largest following on the planet. So that means that we need to do all we can to stay at the top. The last transfer window has shown that we mean business. We have a top manager and we have recently shown that we can buy the best. Nothing can stop us now. However, it will take some time for all to blend together and the manager needs time. BUt the future looks bright again :)
 
the ideal spot would be massively spend in january and the summer to solidify a top top team. then you only need to buy 1 top player a year which is easily affordable.
 
JustAFan said:
Are there that many racist, biting, cnuts who play football?

Seriously why would we use a Liverpool player as an example?
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When United signed their hugely lucrative new kit deal with Adidas in July it was said to have given them the potential to sign “a Suárez every year”
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Our new kit deal gives us 75m/year. Suarez cost 75m or thereabouts.
 
finneh said:
Ruthless in terms of getting rid of players who aren't up to the task of being squad players (Fletcher, Fellaini, Young, Valencia, Anderson and couple loanees), but more selective in our purchases.

From now on we should be looking at adding one of two players per window that will truly improve us, rather than 4-5 who will "do a job". In the next 12 months we have the funds to be looking at buying for instance Chiellini and Strootman, which would make us a far better team than 5 or 6 merely good player's.

Buying quality over quantity should also allow more first team places for the likes of Wilson, Januzaj and Blackett to develop. Particularly in Fergie's later years he seemed to prefer a Young, Owen, Valencia, Tosic and Obertan - rather than a Yaya Toure and promotong a couple of academy players which would be a similar cost and make a much bigger difference (hell promoting Pogba alone and buying Toure for instance would instantly have solved our midfield issues for 7-8 years).
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Yes! I have been calling for this for years.. Our acadamy is good enough to supply us with our Youngs, Valencias etc.. We should restrict our buying to players who will truly make an impact on the first team and then make up the numbers by our own players.
 
Spend, spend, spend :drool:

Nah all serious, just 1 big name signing a year will do me fine and when i mean big name, I'm not talking the likes of Strootman, i mean names like Di Maria/Suraez/Bale/Ronaldo/Falcao when players are moving for £50m/£60m/£70m i want United to be right there at the front of the cue.
 
I suspect that this summer's window is not the template. I doubt United will be starting a season after finishing 7th for a long time to come. And, LVG isn't going anywhere-so the next few windows will not be conducted under the unusual circumstances of this year.

I expect the windows to be conducted as the one in which Kagawa was signed-early and efficiently. There may be the odd saga (eg, RvP), but that will be the exception.

The money is available. LVG has a clear model for how he wants the team to play, and Woodward, given his performance this summer appears more than capable in negotiating transfer deals.

United are in remarkably good shape with LVG in charge of the football side of the house and the financial muscle available to United as a global football brand.
 
We need to spend whatever it takes to get us to the top. Then once that is done, we spend what it takes to stay there.

GK
De Gea
Lindegaard
Amos
We are well set in this position for the foreseeable future, so the key is giving Dave the big contract that will tie him down and probably finding a replacement for our backups. This is likely to be next sumer, as I can't imagine how much longer Lindegaard is going to want to sit on the bench.

DEF
Rafael
Shaw
Rojo
Blackett
Jones
Smalling
Evans
A lot depends on how these players progress this season. Smalling and Jones were touted as future first choice England CBs, and they certainly have promise, but they need to start realising that. They will play consistently at CB this year, which is what they've been crying out for. Hopefully they step up to plate. As it stands currently, we're missing leadership more than anything at the back, so unless one of these lot take on that mantle, we should look to the transfer market. One thing that does stand out is the lack of options at LB and RB, so LvG has to decide whether the cover can be found from our youth team or whether he needs to spend. The other main issue is injuries. This should be the last season where we tolerate consistent injuries. If Rafael, Smalling and Jones once again suffer the same amount of time away from the pitch because of injuries, we should look to replace them with players less injury prone.

MID
Herrera
Anderson
Carrick
Fletcher
Di Maria
Blind
Januzaj
Young
Valencia
Fellaini
Still needs quite a bit of surgery. Herrera, Blind and Di Maria should be our first choice midfield 3, while Januzaj has huge potential so there should be no question marks over those four. Carrick is a good option for this year at least, but we should be looking to replace him next summer at the latest. The rest are dispensable and the sooner we replace them the better.

ATT
RvP
Rooney
Falcao
Wilson
There is no need to look for new strikers in the next 1 or 2 transfer windows, provided they perform as they should be doing and provided we secure Falcao permanently. Apart from Wilson, they are all getting towards the latter stages of their career, so regardless of form, we will soon need to dip back into the market, although that's a problem for summer 2016, not next summer.

The players in Bold are the ones we need to ship off as soon as possible within the next two windows. As you can see, it's only midfield where we definitely need to replace players. The players in Bold and Italics should be replaced depending on certain circumstances. This is mainly in defence, where players need to 1) stay fit and 2) show they can be first choice United defenders. I've think the reserve goalkeepers are in the same boat in that it's mainly up to them - if they are happy, keep them. If not, sell and replace.

So, in answer to the OP, we need to spend big in the next two transfer windows to replace the bolded midfielders. We also need to add more depth at LB and RB. If our Bolded defenders realise their potential, the need to splash out on defenders is reduced. If not, we need to get at least one CB.

January: offload Central midfield deadwood (fellaini) - bring in Strootman
Summer 2015: evaluate performance of defenders before buying/not buying replacements - offload Young, Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher and buy replacements. Buy backup LB and RB.

After all that, we should be looking to add no more than 2-3 players each summer to keep us ticking over, (ala Bayern) and not spending huge to get the shiniest new players (ala Madrid)
 
JustAFan said:
Of Strootman, Reus and Hummels my guess is that only Strootman will be available in January. Our plan for January really just needs to be monitor who is available and it is someone on our "get" list then go after after him.

edit: Reus is out of contract soon isn't he?
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Not sure when he's out of contract, but I believe he has a clause saying he can go for £28m next summer. If that's the case, I say we go to Dortmund in January and offer them £35-£40million for him to try and beat the rest to the punch. Not saying that will work, as the player might prefer Barca or Bayern, but we should be trying to get in there before the mad scramble for him in the summer.
 
Just keep signing world class players that will fit the system. Louie says: 'better team selection'. I don't think you could send more clearer message to the supporters than this. There's no higher philosophy required.

Big club spending big ? Wow, what a feckin concept that is... but of course Mourinho gonna go full retard and whine about how his Chelsea is a poor club from London oppressed by UEFA.

United's guilty trip about spending is a laughable matter for such a club especially when the money comes from their own work for success not only through last 20 years but also from Sir Busby era which built strong foundations for things to come.
 
Wouldnt say no to Strootman, Hummels and Reus. First two are in positions we could still use some strengthening in. Last one injects a bit more pace in attack. None of them have the feel of randomly buying people based on their name alone.
 
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Hummels, Strootman, Reus and Ronaldo next summer. :drool:
 
Van Piorsing said:
Just keep signing world class players that will fit the system. Louie says: 'better team selection'. I don't think you could send more clearer message to the supporters than this. There's no higher philosophy required.

Big club spending big ? Wow, what a feckin concept that is... but of course Mourinho gonna go full retard and whine about how his Chelsea is a poor club from London oppressed by UEFA.

United's guilty trip about spending is a laughable matter for such a club especially when the money comes from their own work for success not only through last 20 years but also from Sir Busby era which built strong foundations for things to come.
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Buy players that improve the team. That's the only strategy that makes sense.

We've wasted an obscene amont of money on dross like Bebe, Manucho, Dong, Miller, Kleberson, Diouf, Bellion, Djemba Djemba and no doubt a sh!tload of others who achieved nothing, but were £7-8m a pop.
That whole lot? Or one top player for £30-40m? No brainer really.
 
Once we're back on top or thereabouts I'd like us to make one huge signing a summer. Mix that with younger players with potential.
 
Globule said:
Not sure when he's out of contract, but I believe he has a clause saying he can go for £28m next summer. If that's the case, I say we go to Dortmund in January and offer them £35-£40million for him to try and beat the rest to the punch. Not saying that will work, as the player might prefer Barca or Bayern, but we should be trying to get in there before the mad scramble for him in the summer.
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Plus Dortmund will probably still be in the cl so that could be another barrier to him going
 
Sandikan said:
Buy players that improve the team. That's the only strategy that makes sense.

We've wasted an obscene amont of money on dross like Bebe, Manucho, Dong, Miller, Kleberson, Diouf, Bellion, Djemba Djemba and no doubt a sh!tload of others who achieved nothing, but were £7-8m a pop.
That whole lot? Or one top player for £30-40m? No brainer really.
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Like fellaini or Veron?
 
I'd like us to have one more big summer, bring in that world class midfielder and defender to complete the present team. Then start to buy up the next big thing every couple of years after that as our current players get older and start to wind down. this big spend was only really needed to get the team back on track. Once we have done that, we should be looking to only make one big signing each window and then potential world class players that we can take up to the next level.
 
NoWinNoFee said:
Spend, spend, spend :drool:

Nah all serious, just 1 big name signing a year will do me fine and when i mean big name, I'm not talking the likes of Strootman, i mean names like Di Maria/Suraez/Bale/Ronaldo/Falcao when players are moving for £50m/£60m/£70m i want United to be right there at the front of the cue.
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I don't really agree with that.

We spend on what we need. However we must make sure that whatever happens we've got a solid and dependable 22 men squad. I received plenty of abuse when I criticized SAF for not bringing quality players to replace Schmeichel, Irwin (who was ageing), Johnsen and Blomqvist (injury prone) after the treble. The squad was deemed invincible back then and many believed that we would keep winning everything despite replacing those 4 important players with the likes of Taibi, Bosnich, Silvestre, club Legend Fortune and Jordi Cruyff. Guess what? Despite the amount of hungry top quality young homegrown talent we had, we never won the CL again with that squad. Same thing happened after we won the third CL. We went on to replace Giggs (as winger) with Young, Ronaldo with Valencia, Tevez with Berbatov and the CM was left to its own device. SAF even saw fit to replace himself with a 3rd rated manager (David Moyes). Such decisions contributed greatly in bringing United to this present state.

I am all in favor of bringing in young talent and take a gamble once in a while but these players should start as squad players. If they do make the grade and prove themselves at the highest level and on a regular basis then I have no problem seeing them first teamers. However the aim should always be to have a 22 men squad that you can rely on, irrespective if you're playing against Stoke or against Bayern Munich and that must be achieved irrespective on whether its made up of 22 WC players with fancy South American names or 22 homegrown talent who were born and raised 10 minutes away from OT. For a team to keep on winning it must always keep its players on their toes, it must make sure to tackle any possible weaknesses (even if it means replacing a good player with someone better) and it must get rid of the deadwood and players who simply can't improve the squad.
 
Joga Bonito said:
This.

I just fear we might lose out to Chelsea and City on the youth recruitment front. City have a state of the art youth academy and are poaching promising youngsters from all over the world. They will reap the benefits of this scheme in the near future and besides they might even start intensifying their youth recruitment policy and using these players as a viable alternative to making big money signings, with FFP hounding them as well. Chelsea too have been signing youngsters wholesale and have a ridiculous loan policy which is ultimately beneficial to them in terms of revenue and potential first team players. A world where youngsters start getting chances in the first team for City and Chelsea might sound far-fetched but both these teams are stable whilst having solid cores and can afford to be patient without making knee-jerk short-term big signings esp in this new FFP era. I am just not convinced by our youth recruitment policy which has been dismal in recent seasons and I don't see the steps being taken to improve on this front.
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Spot on. This is my fear precisely especially when you consider that City have put in a fantastic youth set-up in place. There is a reason why RVP and Neville prefer to send their kids to City's academy preferring it to ours. After Soriano and Txiki have come into their administration, they've been trying to replicate the best practices at the Barca Youth Set Up at City. It is often commented today that City have in fact overtaken United when it comes to recruiting young talents - something which historically is the 'United way'.

It often makes me wonder as to why we've not invested more in getting such guys into the system, strengthening our scouting and youth system (Remember, Moyes had identified this as a problem as well and was supposedly trying to rectify the same) etc. As brilliant as SAF was, it possibly points to him being lax and outdated when it comes to modern scouting and development of young players. (Disclaimer being that I am commenting out of whatever public information we have access to). I am hoping this is one of the problems LVG sorts out in the medium term.

Where, however, we are still ahead of the curve is giving chances to youngsters to impress in the first team; a stage where City and Chelsea have not reached as yet.
 
Maroo said:
Spot on. This is my fear precisely especially when you consider that City have put in a fantastic youth set-up in place. There is a reason why RVP and Neville prefer to send their kids to City's academy preferring it to ours. After Soriano and Txiki have come into their administration, they've been trying to replicate the best practices at the Barca Youth Set Up at City. It is often commented today that City have in fact overtaken United when it comes to recruiting young talents - something which historically is the 'United way'.

It often makes me wonder as to why we've not invested more in getting such guys into the system, strengthening our scouting and youth system (Remember, Moyes had identified this as a problem as well and was supposedly trying to rectify the same) etc. As brilliant as SAF was, it possibly points to him being lax and outdated when it comes to modern scouting and development of young players. (Disclaimer being that I am commenting out of whatever public information we have access to). I am hoping this is one of the problems LVG sorts out in the medium term.

Where, however, we are still ahead of the curve is giving chances to youngsters to impress in the first team; a stage where City and Chelsea have not reached as yet.
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I lot of nonsense in this post, Utd's academy is still a huge draw for both local lads and players from afar, there is nothing wrong with our scouting and youth system, the number of players we have at the club that have been with us since the the age of 8 through every age group is testament to this (Blackett, Lingard and Wilson to name a few).

Regarding RVP and Neville's kids, RVP's boy has not signed for any academy, he's too young, Neville's signed for City when he was still at Everton, who's to say we were even interested in him? The two academies have completely different philosophy's, it's up to the kids to decide which approach they prefer.

Moyes never had chance to look at our academy, this is a myth, he had far too much on his plate to even begin to look at it.

SAF as we know was brilliant at delegating, the people he installed to run the academy are still there and have been there for a long time.

We are way ahead of City in relation to youth development, why do you think they are trying to poach our best coaches and young academy players?
 
I wonder which "Suarez" we are buying next summer then. Not that many players of that level / value around...

Di Maria (got!)
Vidal
Bale
Suarez (can't see it)
Ronaldo
Messi

Most realistic are maybe Ronaldo or Vidal?
 
! CB and a proper box to box CM who can run around like a lunatic.
 
Buy the best player possibly available for the positions we need improving most and offloading deadwood as quick as possible should be how we aim to operate. Two poor seasons and players should be out by their ear. How the likes of Anderson, Young and Valencia remain at the club is behind comprehension.

Bayern Munich and Mourinho's Chelsea are leading examples at the moment. Clear, concise and spending big money where and when required. I think we'll operate in a similar manner once we have a settled manager that is given a couple of years to work out how he wants his squad to look. Hopefully that man is Van Gaal.

As for personnel, I still believe we will need two midfielders over the next two windows. A midfielder like Strootman and a genuine defensive midfielder, preferably quite young. Another wide man will be required come next summer, too. Again, the ideal player would be somebody like Reus. Rafael will need either a back up or replacement dependant on his fitness this season.
 
Add a few more Gaalactico's in positions we're relatively weak in!!! Hummels and Reus should do plus maybe Strootman if Schweinsteiger/Vidal are a no go.
 
sun_tzu said:
Like fellaini or Veron?
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Name me someone who thought of Fellaini as anywhere near a top player?

Veron being rubbish is a lazy myth perpetuated by the media. The truth is he was good for us, but not great and came at the worst possible time, where he had an epic midfield.
If he came now the comparison would be a lot easier on him.

Check back his first 6months on the highlights video, scored a lot of screamers and assists.
 
Lets not all forget that LVG is all about giving Youth a chance and embedding them into the first team. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see many new faces unless genuine WC players become available and fit the Philosophy. I can see more faces still to go out then come in.

GK: De Gea, Lindegaard (?), Johnstone. Out: Amos.
CB: Evans (?), Smalling, Rojo, Jones, Blackett.
FB: Rafael, Shaw, Janko, Blind*. Out: Valencia.
DM: Carrick, Blind*. Out: Fletcher, Fellaini.
CM/AM: Herrera, Mata, Di maria, Januzaj, Pereira. Out: Anderson, Young.
ST: RVP, Rooney, Falcao, Wilson.

Some of the loaned players will also leave as will some more youth players. Nani, Hernandez, Cleverley, Zaha, Powell, Vermijl, M Keane, W Keane, Lingard (?), James (?) IMO will leave.
Bring in Strootman to eventually replace Carrick and then add some more academy player like Pearson and Henriquez. Yes it a young squad but its filled with a solid starting 11 and quality young Back ups.
 
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Assuming that all of Di Maria, Blind, Herrera and Rojo build on their promising displays against QPR (big assumption to make this early) and Carrick returns to decent fitness and form (enough to compete with Blind)....

I actually think I want us to do next to nothing in January. I'm sure we could sign players who would get into the starting eleven but would it really be worth disrupting the team again when that's the point where they'll likely have just fully bedded in and gelled?

I think I'd prefer us to leave the likes of Strootman until the summer unless we're seriously struggling again in midfield. If everything is looking okay then I think we should leave the current crop alone and see how they do for the season.

Signing a top CB or a player to compete with Rafael at RB would be nice but beyond that I hope we're not going to continue the spending spree just yet.
 
Out: Hernandez, Cleverley and Nani permernantly. Fellaini, Young, Valencia, Anderson and Fletcher.

In: Varane (break the bank for him, £45m realistic?), Strootman, Cuadrado.

That for me is a complete and top quality squad. It's probably a bit short in squad numbers but with the right balance of age, quality and experience finally there, we can look to fill squad positions with youth from academy or start looking at youth in the market again.
 
Yeah very important to get rid of the old guard squad players over the next 12 months, as they are basically the ones blocking youth from getting more first team chances. If we can get about 50-60m for all of those Pexbo listed, we will could wind up dropping another £100 on new players next summer.
 
Raoul said:
Yeah very important to get rid of the old guard squad players over the next 12 months, as they are basically the ones blocking youth from getting more first team chances. If we can get about 50-60m for all of those Pexbo listed, we will could wind up dropping another £100 on new players next summer.
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I would have thought you're looking at £50-60m minimum for that lot. Especially if some of them start to re-find some form and confidence with regular game time at their new clubs. Their values are rock bottom at the minute after last season's performances. That makes the financial side look even rosier!

Personally from what I've seen so far I'd like:

- A top class CM brought in - Strootman/Vidal level. I'm still gutted Vidal didn't materialise, even though it seems like a good decision so far based on his injury luck (or lack of it). Perhaps even Gundogan could be an option by next summer, but maybe not if they are losing Reus.
- A top class and ideally more experienced CB - Hummels for example (again not convinced Dortmund will only him to leave unless he forces it, which I doubt he would, but someone of that calibre). I think our selection of CBs can potentially still prove themselves when given a fair chance to form partnerships in that position, rather than being played out of position as much as they have been over the past years. However at this stage an experienced CB is probably topping my shopping list, or at least up there with the CM.
- Another wide man to eventually play opposite di Maria - the likes of Reus, or, if this is becoming a serious suggestion these days, Ronaldo. Perhaps someone like Cuadrado if we fail to attract the real big names.
- A backup or someone to compete with Rafael for right back. Perhaps Cuadrado would be a good call as he could offer both.

If we addressed all these issues then the possibilities for this squad are endless :drool:
 
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