What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

A RW (maybe Bergwijn) He plays some brilliant football at PSV. And we desperately need a ready made world class CB. (Varane available? Agent P could do us a favor;))
 
A RW (maybe Bergwijn) He plays some brilliant football at PSV. And we desperately need a ready made world class CB. (Varane available? Agent P could do us a favor;))
and how brilliant would it be to get Sancho as a RW? Uh I'd like to see those City fans :lol:
 
Under Ole our Team improve that much, that we didnt need an improvment. But if we get one that would be nice.
Therfore I would go for the talents which could became one of the best. At the moment for me these are Sancho, Joao Felix and De Ligt.

Sancho would be already our starting RW and DeLigt our starting CB.

Joao Felix could play all Positions in our attack and also be the substitute for Pogba.
Would be a nice rotation in our front.
Else our team have a nice mix of old experienced and young players.

There are not that often chances to buy such talents, because often they are already at big clubs.
 
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Let's talk Dybala with Juve. That Ramsey contract will create some issues surely. Pity he's still got well over 3 years on his deal 'cause he'd be the perfect Mata replacement.
 
Highly unlikely tbh, Jones and Smalling have both signed new contracts, Lindelof seems to have found his footing whilst Bailly is a peculiar one. My money is on Bailly getting sold if we are to go after a new CB this summer. Also Tuanzebe will probably be added to the squad for the next season .

I definitely feel we are going to cut a corner somwhere this summer when it comes to the back 4, either selling Bailly to bring in one or we'll bring in one and use Bailly or Jones at RB instead of addressing that position.
 
Completely off topic but it just seems like City have dodged a bullet with three players.... who've supposedly refused to go to City and instead been dud signings for their current teams aka Sanchez, Fred and Jorginho.
 
Let's talk Dybala with Juve. That Ramsey contract will create some issues surely. Pity he's still got well over 3 years on his deal 'cause he'd be the perfect Mata replacement.

Dybala is again one overrated player whose best position is No. 10 and our system does not accommodate that. Wouldn't want him here.... Mata struggles in our system because he's not quick as a winger should be.... Cheaper alternative.... Nicholas Pepe.
 
Under Ole our Team improve that much, that we didnt need an improvment. But if we get one that would be nice.
Therfore I would go for the talents which could became one of the best. At the moment for me these are Sancho, Joao Felix and De Ligt.

Sancho would be already our starting RW and DeLigt our starting CB.

Joao Felix could play all Positions in our attack and also be the substitute for Pogba.
Would be a nice rotation in our front.
Else our team have a nice mix of old experienced and young players.

There are not that often chances to buy such talents, because often they are already at big clubs.

Not sure if Sancho can replicate the same form next season. He's good but he isn't 100m good. Sancho has better stats than O Dembele but does not make him the better player. Just like Lukaku has the better stats than Rashford but Rashford's the better player.
 
Not sure if Sancho can replicate the same form next season. He's good but he isn't 100m good. Sancho has better stats than O Dembele but does not make him the better player. Just like Lukaku has the better stats than Rashford but Rashford's the better player.
Ehh, Sancho has immense technical ability. Nobody is saying he's better than Dembele right now. They're just saying he's of similar talent level and thus is worth the same amount Barca paid for Dembele.
 
I definitely feel we are going to cut a corner somwhere this summer when it comes to the back 4, either selling Bailly to bring in one or we'll bring in one and use Bailly or Jones at RB instead of addressing that position.

I'm thinking that if we go after Koulibaly, Bailly may be used as part of the transfer to sweeten up the deal. Regarding RB idk really, idea of Ole playing Jones or Bailly there doesn't fit with what he's shown so far (but then again, he is SAF's student after all), his tendency to play attacking football with FB's very high up the pitch. Think it's more likely we will have Dalot, Young and TFM competing for that spot next season.
 
Ehh, Sancho has immense technical ability. Nobody is saying he's better than Dembele right now. They're just saying he's of similar talent level and thus is worth the same amount Barca paid for Dembele.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that for the moment. In my opinion, he's a tier below Dembele, Mbappe, Martial and Rashford. I would almost put him in the same category as Pulisic, Leon Baily, Lozano for the moment.
 
We'll have to agree to disagree on that for the moment. In my opinion, he's a tier below Dembele, Mbappe, Martial and Rashford. I would almost put him in the same category as Pulisic, Leon Baily, Lozano for the moment.
Why would you think that? His technical ability? His age? His physical build? His decision making?
 
We'll have to agree to disagree on that for the moment. In my opinion, he's a tier below Dembele, Mbappe, Martial and Rashford. I would almost put him in the same category as Pulisic, Leon Baily, Lozano for the moment.

Well, you will not get many on board with you in that assessment.
1. Dembele, Martial and Rashford are not on the same tier as Mbappe.
2. Sancho is only 18, and the rest are 20 and older and have played During the next two years Sancho might develope even further.
3. Sancho is more of a technical player, using his ability on the ball to get past players. A number of the players you mention uses their physical ability to get past players more than their ability on the ball.
4. Sancho is a player that does not need space to be effective, Mbappe, Martial, Rashford etc are all better with a little space around them.
5. Sancho has only played around 40 senior games, the rest of the players you mention have over 100 senior games.

Baily at his best is really good, but inconsistent(Same as Leverkusen in general). Pulisic is overrated, and if you do not rush him he will struggle to perform(like this season). Lozano is really efficient on counter attack, but difficult to assess given how "weak" the dutch league is with teams like PSV and Ajax walking over the rest of the teams. Sancho can perform in most areas of the game, and has delivered at a high consistent level for most of the games this season. Regardless of age Sancho is a "tier" or two above the likes of Pulisic and Baily on average. Dembele is the one that is most similar to him in playing style, and i think they are at a similar level if you take their age into consideration.
 
We'll probably need an Herrera replacement as I can't see him signing a new deal! I hope I'm wrong but it looks very unlikely. A rw is needed, not sure if a starter or a young player because Lingard is doing well in this system atm. A new cb to pair with lindelof and a RB with experience.
 
We'll have to agree to disagree on that for the moment. In my opinion, he's a tier below Dembele, Mbappe, Martial and Rashford. I would almost put him in the same category as Pulisic, Leon Baily, Lozano for the moment.

I know you've been advocating strongly for Pepe recently, I'm curious where you place him in these tiers?
 
RB and CB desperate.

CM and RW next.
 
RB and CB desperate.

CM and RW next.
pretty sure you got that mixed up. RW and CM are the desperate musts. We dont have a CM sub right now, and that is relying on Matic who needs to be heavily rotated next season and herrera who might not even be here. Then we literalllllyyyy dont have an actual RW player on this team. Spend 150 million on top CM and RW, and i think the backline can get it done next year. Would hope lindelof stays in form, then rotate smalling who can be decently consistent, get jones and his 5 good games or so before injured, and try and see what bailly can do. Maybe bring back tuanz as cover. RB give dalot a run and have young as cover. Having an attack that can push forward centrally and actually incorporate the right side of the field would be huge and alleviate a lot of pressure from our backline.
 
pretty sure you got that mixed up. RW and CM are the desperate musts. We dont have a CM sub right now, and that is relying on Matic who needs to be heavily rotated next season and herrera who might not even be here. Then we literalllllyyyy dont have an actual RW player on this team. Spend 150 million on top CM and RW, and i think the backline can get it done next year. Would hope lindelof stays in form, then rotate smalling who can be decently consistent, get jones and his 5 good games or so before injured, and try and see what bailly can do. Maybe bring back tuanz as cover. RB give dalot a run and have young as cover. Having an attack that can push forward centrally and actually incorporate the right side of the field would be huge and alleviate a lot of pressure from our backline.
Defence is our problem. Dalot has a future but not there yet and don't want to see Young playing there every big game.

I like to have 2 CBs consistently play week in week out and not hope Smalling/Bailly/Jones can be good enough next to lindelof.

CM sub can't really be the top priority.

RW needed yes.
 
I know you've been advocating strongly for Pepe recently, I'm curious where you place him in these tiers?

Pepe, I would place him in the Leon Baily tier for now. I'm not ready to put Sancho in the tier of the Mbappes just yet. Maybe if he could replicate it next season.... Also, I'm just not completely convinced that Sancho will integrate in the United setup especially if he comes at the cost of 70-80m. City has first refusal on him as it is.
 
Defence is our problem. Dalot has a future but not there yet and don't want to see Young playing there every big game.

I like to have 2 CBs consistently play week in week out and not hope Smalling/Bailly/Jones can be good enough next to lindelof.

CM sub can't really be the top priority.

RW needed yes.
it wouldnt be a CM sub. Both herrera and matic should really be rotating with each other (once again assuming herrera even comes back next year). If you have martial attacking left, rash through the middle, TOP RW stretching opposition on the right, with pogba, herrera/matic, and a TOP CM in midfield, that is one hell of an attacking lineup. CB is fine, lindelof is looking good and between bailly/smalling/jones/tuanz we would have plenty of options. RB i would be assuming dalot progresses a bit this season-if not then would prob recommend an actual RB. I think people would be surprised how well our defense would look with a proper FULL unit attacking in front of them.
CM is actually a huge problem going into next year. Matic has been looking rundown for seasons now, herrera is looking decent but not even a lock to be here next season, and fred is nowhere to be found. We def need an upgrade there if we want to challenge for the title.

And yeah i know that we wouldnt really have a "Top class" CB in that group. My guess would be that the improved play would put 90 or so percent of our games in the firmly in control category. Maybe buy toby if need an older experienced CB with his lower fee.
 
The twice we've used it I think it's looked good but we'd need to upgrade Lingard in that false 9/#10 role to maximize it's effectiveness.



I get that a lot of fans want us to gravitate to the City way of doing it, or even Real, with two creative #8's ahead of the holder, but I think we are looking more at the Juve midfield from a few years ago and that requires the deepest CM to have good long range passing, something Ander just doesn't have in his locker. It was telling that when Ole chose to rest a CM against Burnley he rested Ander instead of putting him as a DM and resting Matic who has had his legs ran off over the last 18 months. I just don't see this conversion of Ander to DM happening.

Fair. I guess it depends on how much pressing we plan on doing. From a transfer perspective, though, it's probably easier to find a great #8 and hope Herrera can be our Fernandinho than finding a #6 who can pass creatively and handle himself defensively.

Parades would have made sense for what you're talking about. Haven't seen much of Barella. Neves seems like the obvious move, he certainly has the passing range and seems comfortable sitting. Is he good enough defensively at sniffing out danger and tracking runners, or as a dribbler (the way a 6 like Busquets or Matic use their height to shield the ball) would be my questions.

Either way, we need a top quality midfielder with Matic getting on. Herrera's performances as an 8 since Ole has come imply your method makes sense, but Herrera's age and Fred struggling to get any time implies that position may need to be addressed by 2020 or 2021 even if we do sign a 6, though that's hardly a serious problem, since you figure we'll sign 2-3 players per season anyways.
 
For title challenge in PL we need world class defender and world class winger.
But for being equal to top Euro clubs in CL we need crazy Saudi prince who will invest 600 mil because we need left back, right back, defender, midfielder, winger and striker.

With bunch of solid and hard working players you can't win CL. For that you need pure class on nearly every position.
 
Right wing has to be the top most priority. We need a pure winger who can beat a man. Right now, if opponents shut down the LW, we're basically done. Then we need a RB. Feck Young
 
For title challenge in PL we need world class defender and world class winger.
But for being equal to top Euro clubs in CL we need crazy Saudi prince who will invest 600 mil because we need left back, right back, defender, midfielder, winger and striker.

With bunch of solid and hard working players you can't win CL. For that you need pure class on nearly every position.

Saudi prince or not your post on what we need is 100% spot on

4 players needed this summer
 
Honestly? If we seriously want to compete in the coming years?

For our starting XI I mark De Gea, Lindelof, Pogba, Martial, Rashford and maybe Lingard as good enough. Herrera has been great recently to be fair as well.

Shaw I genuinely think is fine as a backup but not at the level we need to be top class again. Rest of the defenders not aforementioned vary between backup at best (most of our CBs), past it (all RBs not named Dalot) or unproven (Dalot)

In midfield Matic needs replacing, McTominay and Pereira have potential but are still miles from being ready to be regulars, and feck knows what the story with Fred is.

Sanchez is Torres Mark II, a busted flush and for everyone's sake needs to move on. Mata has been poor for a while now. Lukaku needs to drop the weight and up the workrate to make himself an option.

Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic but honestly I think the scale of the rebuild needed is fecking massive; 3 first team defenders and a RW to start with as a point if urgency, better depth in the midfield and a LW backup with any spare change.

Christ.
 
I think we are about 6 players off being anywhere near PSGs level for example.

We have zero depth. Any of Martial/Rash/Lingard get injured or rested and the replacements can’t play the same style or are far too slow.

We have zero back up for our midfield 3. Zero creativity without Pogba.

We don’t have a right back bar Dalot, who’s not ready yet. Shaw is debatable at left back with zero cover.

We have one very promising CB in Lindelof. Bailly is a hit or a miss, and Jones/Smalling just aren’t good enough.

Look at PSG. Able to cope with losing 2 of their front 3. We can’t do the same. We won’t manage without Martial and Lingard.
 
Under Ole our Team improve that much, that we didnt need an improvment. But if we get one that would be nice.
Therfore I would go for the talents which could became one of the best. At the moment for me these are Sancho, Joao Felix and De Ligt.

Sancho would be already our starting RW and DeLigt our starting CB.

Joao Felix could play all Positions in our attack and also be the substitute for Pogba.
Would be a nice rotation in our front.
Else our team have a nice mix of old experienced and young players.

There are not that often chances to buy such talents, because often they are already at big clubs.

This would be the best transfer window of all time and set us up for years.

Not a chance it will happen though. Doubt if we could even afford it.
 
Would people be happy with this summer:

RW - Nicolas Pepe
CM - Lorenzo Pellegrini
RB - Aaron Wan-Bissaka
CB - Matthijs de Ligt

I think that is achievable with 200M. Maybe even throw in Rabiot on the free as well. I think going after Sancho or Koulibaly will price us out and we won't get to 4 transfers.

Is that 200M figure straight up or factoring in net (from the outgoing transfers)?
 
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Let's talk Dybala with Juve. That Ramsey contract will create some issues surely. Pity he's still got well over 3 years on his deal 'cause he'd be the perfect Mata replacement.
Would think Dybala would be available considering he is on the bench now days and a certain Balon D'or winner is keeping him out. Pog and Dybala link up again? I think a deal could be done and would be cheaper than Sancho I reckon. Those saying he can't play on the right need a wake up call, he can play anywhere across the front and as a 10, loves to drift would be a massive massive upgrade to our right side which is currently a 6/10 at best.

Rashford and Dybala could easily interchange throughout the game and most likely would, I think Dybala would make more of an impact immediately than Sancho if i'm honest.
 
After yesterday’s game we see where we are vs the best in Europe…. Really far.

We need top player in key positions and upgrade to what we currently have.

If we qualify in CL then we have to make a big statement a sign 4/5 players.

In : 270M

Koulibaly : 80M + Bailly
Chilwell : 40M
Rice : 50M
Rabiot : Free
Sancho : 100M


Out : 50M
J.Pereira (1m)
Bailly (Inc in Koulibaly)
Rojo (10M)
Fosuh Mensah (2M)
Valencia (free)
Darmian (10M)
Tuanzebe (2M)
A.Pereira (5M)
Sanchez (20M)

Team :

De Gea cap (Romero)

Young (Dalot)
Koulibaly (Jones)
Lindelof (Smalling)
Chilwell (Shaw)

Rice (Matic)
Rabiot (Herrera)
Pogba (Fred)

Sancho (Lingard)
Rashford ( Lukaku)
Martial (Chong)
 
A proper RW should be our top priority, which will make us dangerous from the right side as well because atm we're far too reliant and dependant on the left side.
 
After yesterday’s game we see where we are vs the best in Europe…. Really far.

We need top player in key positions and upgrade to what we currently have.

If we qualify in CL then we have to make a big statement a sign 4/5 players.

In : 270M

Koulibaly : 80M + Bailly
Chilwell : 40M
Rice : 50M
Rabiot : Free
Sancho : 100M


Out : 50M
J.Pereira (1m)
Bailly (Inc in Koulibaly)
Rojo (10M)
Fosuh Mensah (2M)
Valencia (free)
Darmian (10M)
Tuanzebe (2M)
A.Pereira (5M)
Sanchez (20M)

Team :

De Gea cap (Romero)

Young (Dalot)
Koulibaly (Jones)
Lindelof (Smalling)
Chilwell (Shaw)

Rice (Matic)
Rabiot (Herrera)
Pogba (Fred)

Sancho (Lingard)
Rashford ( Lukaku)
Martial (Chong)
Make a big statement and sign Rice and Chilwell:-)
Don't think that this are the players we need to battle teams like PSG.
 
The Glazers didn't buy the club to make us a force on the pitch but to line their own pockets, the sooner we have new owners with the sole aim of making Utd a power on the pitch again the better!
 
After yesterday’s game we see where we are vs the best in Europe…. Really far.

We need top player in key positions and upgrade to what we currently have.

If we qualify in CL then we have to make a big statement a sign 4/5 players.

In : 270M

Koulibaly : 80M + Bailly
Chilwell : 40M
Rice : 50M
Rabiot : Free
Sancho : 100M


Out : 50M
J.Pereira (1m)
Bailly (Inc in Koulibaly)
Rojo (10M)
Fosuh Mensah (2M)
Valencia (free)
Darmian (10M)
Tuanzebe (2M)
A.Pereira (5M)
Sanchez (20M)

Team :

De Gea cap (Romero)

Young (Dalot)
Koulibaly (Jones)
Lindelof (Smalling)
Chilwell (Shaw)

Rice (Matic)
Rabiot (Herrera)
Pogba (Fred)

Sancho (Lingard)
Rashford ( Lukaku)
Martial (Chong)

You would give 80 million + Bailly for Koulibaly? You better be Koulibaly's best friend, his relative or his agent to think he's worth that much.

Also who's gonna give us 20 million for Sanchez considering the wages he's on?
 
Would people be happy with this summer:

RW - Nicolas Pepe
CM - Lorenzo Pellegrini
RB - Aaron Wan-Bissaka
CB - Matthijs de Ligt

I think that is achievable with 200M. Maybe even throw in Rabiot on the free as well. I think going after Sancho or Koulibaly will price us out and we won't get to 4 transfers.

Is that 200M figure straight up or factoring in net (from the outgoing transfers)?
If that’s what we got I’d be reasonably satisfied, I’ve just got a nagging doubt about the first 2

I’m thinking now we need more than I thought, we lack quality depth. If Ole is to stay and implement this fast aggressive press then we cannot carry Lukaku, Sanchez or mata up front.

So to compete PL and CL we need imho :-

RB - meunière or wan-bissaka
LB - tierney or chilwell
Cb - Koulibaly or DeLigt
CM - MDombele AND Rabiot. Veratti would be the dream
CF - promote Greenwood and add Haaland
RW - Sancho (has to be!)

Punts to consider; brooks, Morgan-Gibbs, rice
 
I hope last night showed again just how rubbish our squad is. We have weaknesses in our first 11 and in our squad. Our backup options add nothing, apart from Lukaku perhaps (i think he's just out of form).

Tier 1 - We need immediately for the first team;

RB - We don't have a first team quality one
CB - We need someone world class and better than anyone we currently have
RW - We don't have one at all

Tier 2 - Then we need;
Alternative LB - Shaw only performs when there is a fire under his backside. He needs constant top level competition.
CDM - Matic is good at what he does, but we need proper cover and ideally, we need someone that can contribute offensively too.
CM - someone who can step up when Pogba or Herrera are not there and drive our team forwards.

Tier 3 - Finally we need;
Winger to replace Sanchez and challenge/rotate with Martial and our new RW.

Tier 1 we need this summer. Tier 2 and 3 can wait until next summer, but the sooner we get them the better, because we need these players to make us title challengers and a team capable of beating the likes of PSG.

My suggestions would be;
RB - Wan-Bissaka
CB - Koulibaly
RW - Sancho/Loranzo

LB - Teirney/Telles/Chilwell
CM - Rabiot/N'Dombele/Barella
CDM - Neves/Ndidi/Dacoure

LW/RW - Loranzo/Carrasco