What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

First we need to rid the squad of mediocrity.
Sanchez, Lukaku, Mata, Darmian Rojo, all need to be sold to create space for incoming transfers.

We need to snap up quality young players like Jovic, Sancho, de Ligt, Joao Felix while they are at smaller clubs. Transfer fees are going to be astronomical but buying these players will be impossible once they move to the bayerns and barcas of this world.
 
golden_blunder said:
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
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Not sure if we need a left back. We’ve already got Shaw and Young just signed an extension so he’s going to be in the squad.

As for the right back position, if we sign Wan-Bissaka (who I think isn’t good enough in attack to play as an offensive sideback/wingback for us) we can just sell Dalot. I’d rather prefer signing someone at the end of their prime, around 28-29 years old so that Dalot can replace them in a few years. Meuiner is the obvious candidate. I also like Florenzi.

Koulibaly or De Ligt would be amazing. I can’t see any of them being available for less than say 70 million though. But that’s what you have to spend to get defenders at that level.

The central midfield needs at least one player. Preferrably someone to rotate and eventually replace Matic (Ruben Neves or maybe James Garner?). And maybe someone to play in the Herrera position too. Not sure who that would be, N’dombele perhaps? Pogba can’t be directly rotated with anyone, if he’s getting rested we’ll have to switch to a 4231 and replace him with a #10. I’d love to see Gomes getting games.

As for the attack, we should be looking to sell Lukaku, Sanchez and Mata. It’s probably unrealistic to sell all of them in one window, but at least one of them so we can bring in someone like Sancho. Greenwood should be involved next season too.
 
RB - Give Dalot a chance to get the role at age 20. If he fails, we can always buy a RB. I don't see it as a priority until that is tested. Promote Laird and O'Connor to be reserves in case of injury.
LB - Same with RB. Have Young be the back up and in case of injury promote Laird and O'Connor.
Cb - DeLigt*
CM - NDombele*. Promote Gomes and Garner.
CF - promote Greenwood
RW - Sancho* and promote Chong

*Priority

It would be a very young squad, but if those buys are made, the first 11 is good enough to compete. Get rid of the deadwood that is taking up wages as they could prevent United from spending money. It's not like they're performing at a level that makes them irreplaceable despite their experience.
 
In Rainbows said:
RB - Give Dalot a chance to get the role at age 20. If he fails, we can always buy a RB. I don't see it as a priority until that is tested. Promote Laird and O'Connor to be reserves in case of injury.
LB - Same with RB. Have Young be the back up and in case of injury promote Laird and O'Connor.
Cb - DeLigt*
CM - NDombele*. Promote Gomes and Garner.
CF - promote Greenwood
RW - Sancho* and promote Chong

*Priority

It would be a very young squad, but if those buys are made, the first 11 is good enough to compete. Get rid of the deadwood that is taking up wages as they could prevent United from spending money. It's not like they're performing at a level that makes them irreplaceable despite their experience.
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I think you're being very naive here. A few young and inexperienced players is not going to be enough to compete with the best teams
 
In Rainbows said:
RB - Give Dalot a chance to get the role at age 20. If he fails, we can always buy a RB. I don't see it as a priority until that is tested. Promote Laird and O'Connor to be reserves in case of injury.
LB - Same with RB. Have Young be the back up and in case of injury promote Laird and O'Connor.
Cb - DeLigt*
CM - NDombele*. Promote Gomes and Garner.
CF - promote Greenwood
RW - Sancho* and promote Chong

*Priority

It would be a very young squad, but if those buys are made, the first 11 is good enough to compete. Get rid of the deadwood that is taking up wages as they could prevent United from spending money. It's not like they're performing at a level that makes them irreplaceable despite their experience.
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I like this.
 
YankManc said:
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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That would be amazing.

However, I estimate those players to cost around £250 million. Depending on our outgoings in the summer, I guess it isn’t out of the question that we’ll spend that amount of money though.
 
We need 2 proper fullbacks, especially on the left where Shaw is doing a great job in putting just enough to stay in the team but offer nothing while doing so. We need to sort out Sanchez who is horrendous, but obviously its not about quality - probably something in his head and figure out how to use Lukaku.
 
Summer 2019 transfers:
We will not challenge for CL or PL. Goal should be to improve the squad and develope our current set of promising players and still be safe for top 4 with Tottenham as the contender for 3rd.
Out:
Sanchez: £0.
Valencia: £0.
Mata: £0.
Darmian: £5m.
Lukaku: £30m?
Rojo: £5m.
Pereira: £10m.

In:
CM Pellegrini: £23m. Clause.
RW(CAM) Suso: £33m. Clause.
RB Meunier: £25m, last year of contract.
Total: £81m.
Assuming we have some £££ left we should be able to spend big on two players. We do need a CB, a CM and preferably an attacking option on the RW.
CB options: Koulibaly or Di Ligt.
CM options: Ndombele, Aouar, Barella, Zaniolo (Can play RW, CAM, and LW as well).

1. Team 2019/2020(Rotational players):
DDG (Romero)
Meunier (Dalot) - Lindelof (Bailly) - Koulibaly (Smalling/Jones) - Shaw (Dalot/Young)
Herrera (Pellegrini/Zaniolo) - Matic (Pellegrini)
Suso (Lingard/Zaniolo) - Pogba (Suso/Zaniolo) - Martial (Suso/Lingard)
Rashford (Martial)​
This team should get us Top 4. Affordable, young players able to play in multiple positions, players comfortable and used to be the main attacking outlet besides Pogba (Suso and Zaniolo), good enough players to fill in for Matic/Herrera when needed.

Summer 2020:
In:
LB: Tierney
RW: Sancho.
CM/CDM: Most promising/Best buy next season.
 
The most disheartening thing about last nights game wasn't the result, it was that it exposed how much this squad still needs. Sanchez, Mata and Lukaku are past it/not good enough and can't play the type of football Ole is trying to implement and using Chong and Greenwood instead isn't going to get it done, they can compete for the 6th attacking spot but we need a couple in with the aforementioned 3 being sold, and of the 2 coming in 1 of them needs some craft, not just speed.

Then there's midfield, once our counter attacking threat went off Verratti and Marquinhos had too much mobility for us with Matic in there, he's still fine as a squad option vs most PL sides, but at this level we need someone more mobile and agile.

^^^ That's just attack and midfield and we are already talking 3 buys needed and that's if Fred can actually start to contribute as well otherwise that'll be another that needs replacing.

Then there's the back 4, I honestly didn't feel CB was a huge issue last night, fullback's were though, not only are we too easy to get at with Young as RB, but at the top level we can't force the opposition fullback backwards as none of our fullbacks are good enough in attack.

There's way too much to do in one transfer window so how Ole prioritizes will be key, if we are on our usual 4 players at most plan then I think sorting the forward line out by selling the 3 that are no good and getting two in is of paramount importance, as long as teams fear the attack they wont press onto the defense as easily. Then I'd get a CM that can rotate with Matic and Herrera and hopefully Fred so we have different options depending on the games, but it's no good getting these pure DM's that offer nothing on the ball, they are useless at CL level. Then I'd get a RB because while Shaw is poor in attack he's solid defensively at least and as I said we can't do everything in one window.

I know there's no CB on the list and people will hang me for it, but that's my take on the squad right now.
 
El-Manos said:
Sancho & De Ligt are absolute must haves now at this point. Especially Sancho
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Agreed. I think both positions need to be re-enforced if we have any chance of becoming a top side again. We also need a CM desperately to. Neves would be a good option IMO.
 
A technically good leftback who adds an extra dimension to the team in the offensive phase is a must, IMO. In fairness, Shaw is often asked to tuck in to provide some stability in the defensive phase so it's not entirely his fault, but still reckon that in terms of overall quality, we're stuck in the Mikaël Silvestre or Gabriel Heinze paradigm from the early to mid 2000s in that while Shaw is usually decent to good, he doesn't possess the elite skill set to be a genuine difference-maker (which Evra was in out last great European team). Doesn't even have to be someone who is a finished product and performing at a consistently high level right now (like Sandro when we were linked with him)...a player who is capable of making a visible impact will do. Like Grimaldo (though his injury record is a bit worrisome), or perhaps Angeliño (unless City have inserted some sort of rejection or buy-back clause in his contract):



Santi Arias is doing reasonably well for Atlético and Angeliño is not far from his level at PSV. Will need some work wrt. his positioning and overall defensive nous, but his upside is quite high.
 
If we start next season with Young and Lingard on the right side I am gonna be really mad and don't buy any merchandise. That will show them.
 
Invictus said:
A technically good leftback who adds an extra dimension to the team in the offensive phase is a must, IMO. In fairness, Shaw is often asked to tuck in to provide some stability in the defensive phase so it's not entirely his fault, but still reckon that in terms of overall quality, we're stuck in the Mikaël Silvestre or Gabriel Heinze paradigm from the early to mid 2000s in that while Shaw is usually decent to good, he doesn't possess the elite skill set to be a genuine difference-maker (which Evra was in out last great European team). Doesn't even have to be someone who is a finished product and performing at a consistently high level right now (like Sandro when we were linked with him)...a player who is capable of making a visible impact will do. Like Grimaldo (though his injury record is a bit worrisome), or perhaps Angeliño (unless City have inserted some sort of rejection or buy-back clause in his contract):



Santi Arias is doing reasonably well for Atlético and Angeliño is not far from his level at PSV. Will need some work wrt. his positioning and overall defensive nous, but his upside is quite high.
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Do you think the club feels that they need a new starting LB when they gave Shaw a £150k a week contract only 5 months ago? I do agree with you that Shaws contribution when we have the ball is not up to the standard that we need at all, but with all the weakpoints in the squad we have a lot of issues to fix, and unless we are able to make good deals on other players then.... We can still make top 4 next season with Shaw as a starting LB, if we are going to aim higher he needs replacing.

Angelino, Tierney, Grimaldo etc. Many attacking options out there. I personally would prefer Tierney next summer.
 
In order of importance:
CB
RB
RW
CDM
CM playmaker
LB
LW

I don't care about the cost, the owners have leeched enough from us and it's ruined this club post 2009. Time to invest now.
 
Fosu-Mens said:
Do you think the club feels that they need a new starting LB when they gave Shaw a £150k a week contract only 5 months ago? I do agree with you that Shaws contribution when we have the ball is not up to the standard that we need at all, but with all the weakpoints in the squad we have a lot of issues to fix, and unless we are able to make good deals on other players then.... We can still make top 4 next season with Shaw as a starting LB, if we are going to aim higher he needs replacing.

Angelino, Tierney, Grimaldo etc. Many attacking options out there. I personally would prefer Tierney next summer.
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Realistically? Not really, if I'm being honest. It was just a suggestion regarding what we should do as opposed to what we will do!
 
RB - Wan Bissaka
CB - Koulibaly, De Ligt
CDM - Ndombele
RW - Sancho

Would be my first choices but we have to realistic how much money we have to spend. Sancho alone will probably cost £120m. He is playing better than Dembele was when he moved to Barcelona. Plus the fact he's English which increases his value further.

I still think Maguire looks top class as well but not sure he has the pace to become a real world class defender. Rabiot should be an option if he's available on a free. It would save money buying a player in a position we need, his value is only likely to increase as he's still young.

We can only target players from clubs in the tier below us. Gone are the days we could bully any club into selling their players, even if they are just squad players.
 
Invictus said:
Realistically? Not really, if I'm being honest. It was just a suggestion regarding what we should do as opposed to what we will do!
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What we should do (from a footballing perspective) will never be the same as what we will do (from a business perspective). And herein lies the crux of the matter...
 
Josep Dowling said:
RB - Wan Bissaka
CB - Koulibaly, De Ligt
CDM - Ndombele
RW - Sancho

Would be my first choices but we have to realistic how much money we have to spend. Sancho alone will probably cost £120m. He is playing better than Dembele was when he moved to Barcelona. Plus the fact he's English which increases his value further.

I still think Maguire looks top class as well but not sure he has the pace to become a real world class defender. Rabiot should be an option if he's available on a free. It would save money buying a player in a position we need, his value is only likely to increase as he's still young.

We can only target players from clubs in the tier below us. Gone are the days we could bully any club into selling their players, even if they are just squad players.
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I like it.

Wan Bissaka, Koulibaly and Ndombele would be a fantastic transfer window. I think that the Sancho ship has sailed. A more achievable option on right wing would be Douglas Costa. He has the experience that Chong doesn't have. This would add the balance that we are lacking. Imagine Costa and Wan Bissaka tearing up the right hand side! Give him a 3 year contract and ease Chong in over a period of time.
 
Wheato said:
I like it.

Wan Bissaka, Koulibaly and Ndombele would be a fantastic transfer window. I think that the Sancho ship has sailed. A more achievable option on right wing would be Douglas Costa. He has the experience that Chong doesn't have. This would add the balance that we are lacking. Imagine Costa and Wan Bissaka tearing up the right hand side! Give him a 3 year contract and ease Chong in over a period of time.
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You are probably right with Sancho. I'm not sure Costa would want to come to us. Being at Juventus he's guaranteed a league title and their fighting for the Champions League every season. There is a real lack of top class RWs available. I did want Lozano from PSV but not sure he has really pushed on since last season.
 
I’ll say it again... the sort of money needed to take us to the level of the team we played yesterday is amount that has never been seen in football.

A hot prospect of a right winger alone is going to cost north of £140m (Sancho).

The idea we can sell Lukaku (would get good money for him though) and get a new top quality centre forward seems... unlikely. £200m+
 
KingMinger22 said:
I’ll say it again... the sort of money needed to take us to the level of the team we played yesterday is amount that has never been seen in football.

A hot prospect of a right winger alone is going to cost north of £140m (Sancho).

The idea we can sell Lukaku (would get good money for him though) and get a new top quality centre forward seems... unlikely. £200m+
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If the club thinks that they should be able to challenge for PL/CL title next season, then yes, the amount of £££ needed has never been spent by a club in one transferwindow before. If we are trying to build a team that can challenge in 2/3 years time it is possible with spending on the same average that we have for the last 4 seasons: £150m each summer with transfers received as additional funds.

The longer we keep Lukaku, the less money we will receive from him, unless he suddenly becomes efficient with the ball in his feet and not being winded after 20 minutes. Rashford is our main striker, with Martial as our second option if he was not needed on the left wing. A world class striker is not what we will buy if we sell Lukaku.
 
beingshe7don said:
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.
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I wouldn't put Sancho in the Mbappe bracket either, but I think he's got more in his game than Pepe and Bailey, he's not as reliant on pace, his decision making and passing is better, and I think he's a better dribbler than both. As for if he'd intergrate into this team it's hard to say for sure but I can see him gelling with Rashford, Lingard and Pogba pretty easily.
 
NoPace said:
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.
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The thing with Fernandinho is that he's actually a good long passer from deep as well as being able to do the defensive duties beind their two #8's, he's a bit of an all rounder and they are very hard to come by without a doubt.

Paredes was a good option I agree and reasonably priced in today's market, but as is so often the case we are slow to move, I mean Matic has needed someone to at least share that role for some time and we've done nothing about it, just playing him into the ground. As for Neves, I think defensively he is decent and working with Carrick should develop that part of his game further, his dribbling isn't up to much though, it's the one question mark over him, whether he'd be press resistent enough, but then again neither Carrick or Alonso were good dribblers and they played that role to the highest level.

The midfield will be in flux a bit over the next couple of seasons I think as we try to get the combination right, I just think for the immediate future the Juve model is the one we can settle into easiest and then see how things progress from there.
 
Jeez, it really goes to show just how shambolic our recruitment has been these last few years.
 
Whenever there's a thread like this, the other side of the coin is who needs shifting as well.

Most of us would agree that Darmian, Rojo and Valencia are 3 certainties to go. Add in Fellaini just gone, and that's 4 players trimmed straight away.
You'd probably have a good argument for Mata going too, and if someone said we had a good offer for Lukaku/Sanchez or Fred, we'd probably listen to them.

How many players can we bring in over one window though? 3-4 is probably perfect. Any more and it's a bit too much to integrate?

I just hope our scouts are really analysing the young players on the cusp of greatness, playing in "lesser" European teams. Rather than our mad pursuits of current top players on insane fees.
 
Sandikan said:
I just hope our scouts are really analysing the young players on the cusp of greatness, playing in "lesser" European teams. Rather than our mad pursuits of current top players on insane fees.
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Agree with this. As we have 13 scouts in based in Europe outside of the "big 5" leagues , really hoping that our scouting network finds something special.
 
Sandikan said:
How many players can we bring in over one window though? 3-4 is probably perfect. Any more and it's a bit too much to integrate?

I just hope our scouts are really analysing the young players on the cusp of greatness, playing in "lesser" European teams. Rather than our mad pursuits of current top players on insane fees.
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The integration issue is somewhat flawed. Teams have replaced half the squad and still won the league the same season. If you have a style of play and stick to this and/or the players you bring in played in a similar role/system then it might not be an issue at all.

We could easily, and probably should, buy 5/6 players to improve the squad, with 3 of them going straight into the first 11. The question is if the people making transfer decisions(Woodward/Matt Judge/Glazers/Scouts/manager/Fred the red?) sees it the same way. Will we do the smart deals, or go for the known expensive galacticos names? And when failing to acquire the "world class" players go overpaying for someone?
 
Eric's Seagull said:
Agree with this. As we have 13 scouts in based in Europe outside of the "big 5" leagues , really hoping that our scouting network finds something special.
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It's a tough ask, but we need players more ready than Dalot, but not totally established.
 
Cracks me up to see people quote anything under £140m for Sancho.

See: Dembele

It’s 2019.
 
Cee90 said:
That would be amazing.

However, I estimate those players to cost around £250 million. Depending on our outgoings in the summer, I guess it isn’t out of the question that we’ll spend that amount of money though.
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I really like that list and I believe that Woodward, seeing the next appointment, whether it is Ole, Poch or someone else, as a long term manager, will give a huge level of funding to.

I could (with no actual evepudence to back this up) easily see a £250-300m spend with 4-6 coming in, 2-3 ready first team players and 2-3 younger prospects to boost the squad (combined with removing deadwood and promoting some of our own youth).
 
I changed my mind afer last night. We need most experinced players.

I wanted Wan Bisaka and Sanco before but now I prefer Mounier and Son.
I liked Neves but Rabiot is the one that can rise our level.

Shaw is good for PL but for the CL? There are rumours for Marcelo to sign fo Juve. If its true we must go for Alex Sandro.

Alderweireld has a low price and he is good enough for temporary solution.

Mounier 40m
Rabiot free
Alex Sandro 50m
Alderweireld 25m
Son 70+Mata/Sanchez
 
Cee90 said:
That would be amazing.

However, I estimate those players to cost around £250 million. Depending on our outgoings in the summer, I guess it isn’t out of the question that we’ll spend that amount of money though.
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I don't think so. De Ligt will probably go for around the same price as De Jong, Pellegrini apparently has a £25m release clause, and I'm fairly convinced Wan Bissaka and Pepe won't cost a combined £150m.
I wouldn't be too excited about those signings though. Lacks that extra bit of finesse which is sorely lacking in the team.
 
Mcking said:
I don't think so. De Ligt will probably go for around the same price as De Jong, Pellegrini apparently has a £25m release clause, and I'm fairly convinced Wan Bissaka and Pepe won't cost a combined £150m.
I wouldn't be too excited about those signings though. Lacks that extra bit of finesse which is sorely lacking in the team.
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Fair enough, I had no idea that Pellegrini had a £25 million release clause! Seems like a bargain really.

I personally would be very happy if we got those 4 in the summer.
 
Macedonian Red said:
I changed my mind afer last night. We need most experinced players.

I wanted Wan Bisaka and Sanco before but now I prefer Mounier and Son.
I liked Neves but Rabiot is the one that can rise our level.

Shaw is good for PL but for the CL? There are rumours for Marcelo to sign fo Juve. If its true we must go for Alex Sandro.

Alderweireld has a low price and he is good enough for temporary solution.

Mounier 40m
Rabiot free
Alex Sandro 50m
Alderweireld 25m
Son 70+Mata/Sanchez
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Some serious bargains there,wonder if Utd will try and get Rabiot secured for the summer
 
We need a CB and a RB as a matter of urgency we'll be fighting for top four again without serious reinforcements in those two areas. After that I think we need a more modern and dynamic CDM and a upgrade at RW.
 
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