What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

Urgent:

-class striker
-class midfielder

Important:

- GK
- Back up midfielder
- Back up striker

Necessary:
- Competition for starting RB
 
After today it could be argued we need 7 players for first XI and squad depth

First XI

ST
CM
GK

Squad depth

CB
CDM
AM
RB/ST

I would say we need to get around 4/5 of these in the summer (new owners permitting)
 
We need better centre midfielders imo. Someone who can cover up for Bruno's lack of midfield nous. Because the goals can come from Bruno and Rashford (and we eventually have to get some end product from Antony and Sancho).

As it is, we don't even create enough chances for our supposed number 9s.

That being said, I'm not for getting Kane, but his tendency to drop deep might be the key to getting Bruno and the rest into goalscoring positions.

But really, we need a midfield that can run the game. Eriksen can't do it past 60 minutes.
 
croadyman said:
Do you think backup CDM/AM is more important
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I'd say CDM is more important as right now we have Eriksen who could play AM, or Sancho when he comes back from his whole issue while we have no one to cover CDM. Unless you consider McTominay cover of course.
 
Cf is undoubtedly the biggest need. Thought Kane was a cert, maybe not with the latest news. This alone would make us title challengers though IMO (along with getting some squad players who fit better). If not Kane, then Osimhen will be heavily targeted I'm sure but will be expensive. Sesko is going to Leipzig. Benzema's contract is currently up in the summer so depending on availability, maybe we get another Madrid star in for a short deal, wait for Sesko and use Benzema in the meantime and spend big on midfield.

CM the 2nd biggest, GK the 3rd. Then CDM cover to replace McTominay and CB cover to replace Maguire. Both of these can be cheap. Frenkie/Enzo and Diogo Costa are obviously the 2 ideal signings for the 2 starters though.
 
Been OK so far with what we got, another striker or 2 maybe, right back , 1 or 2 CM.

Awb was found wanting against Gunners, and if that's the measuring stick, it's another RB .

I like a proven striker and a up and coming one, we all know we had one coming through and he messed it all up. So scouting about for a youngen would do. Something tells me Kane is in the pipe line.
 
SAFMUTD said:
Urgent:

-class striker = Vlahovic
-class midfielder = Enzo Fernandez

Important:

- GK = Dominik Livaković
- Back up midfielder = João Palhinha / Mac Aliister
- Back up striker = Patrick Schick

Necessary:
- Competition for starting RB = Dumfries
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Think it's become obvious by now: centre midfielder and striker for starting 11. Defensive midfielder as cover for Casemiro, new CB when Maguire leaves, perhaps cover at ST if Weghorst leaves after loan and we sell Martial. RB if/when AWB leaves. GK position is another one probably.
 
I'm a big fan of Benjamin Sesko and even though we'd have to be patient with him in the short-term he's showing huge potential as a young up and coming striker with good touch and technique along with being quick and comfortable on either foot. He's also someone that would provide a real box presence due to his 6'4 frame and it's quite rare to see a young striker who is technically of a high level, has pace, comfortable on either foot and is physically a potential powerhouse.

I'd personally be happy if we signed Sesko as our long-term striker and spend a little bit extra on a new keeper and a new creative midfielder who is also capable defensively. Erik ten Hag has mentioned that he requires his central midfielders to have the running capacity as well as the technical ability, hence Blind and Martinez were not seen as long term answers in midfield. And Hannibal does potentially fit that role and has the running capacity as well potentially being good on the ball.

GK, ??
Striker, Sesko
Midfielders, new creative mid and recall Hannibal.

And maybe if possible sign a RB who ticks the boxes defensively but just as importantly, he must provide a high level of technical security on the ball. Is Malo Gusto someone who could potentially be that player? If he is then I quite like the idea of signing a young up and coming RB to challenge Dalot for the RB spot.
 
We just can’t get in a 19 year old with 5 goals in the Austrian league and expect him to be our main striker. He is exactly the type of profile we should be targeting as a second striker though, behind someone like Kane. He’d still get loads of games (see how City use Alvarez) and be well positioned to be first choice in a few years. Problem is that we’d need to pay a small fortune to hijack his Leipzig move though.
 
Doracle said:
We just can’t get in a 19 year old with 5 goals in the Austrian league and expect him to be our main striker. He is exactly the type of profile we should be targeting as a second striker though, behind someone like Kane. He’d still get loads of games (see how City use Alvarez) and be well positioned to be first choice in a few years. Problem is that we’d need to pay a small fortune to hijack his Leipzig move though.
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Yeah that's how I would see him too
 
If we don't get ETH the players he needs NOW, every chance his good work gets undone over the next two months. I mean what happens when we play with the Championship level players who are our so called "back up' was there for all to see against Arse. I really hope we are not wasting the amazing work done by ETH.
 
RedBanker said:
If we don't get ETH the players he needs NOW, every chance his good work gets undone over the next two months. I mean what happens when we play with the Championship level players who are our so called "back up' was there for all to see against Arse. I really hope we are not wasting the amazing work done by ETH.
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We won't do any business in next 7 days
 
RedBanker said:
If we don't get ETH the players he needs NOW, every chance his good work gets undone over the next two months. I mean what happens when we play with the Championship level players who are our so called "back up' was there for all to see against Arse. I really hope we are not wasting the amazing work done by ETH.
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Everyone of our players who started are full international level players except AWB, and of those, only Scotland might be considered a Championship level side

In the real world the players that ETH may want are not available and no amount of money is likely to change that
 
RedBanker said:
If we don't get ETH the players he needs NOW, every chance his good work gets undone over the next two months. I mean what happens when we play with the Championship level players who are our so called "back up' was there for all to see against Arse. I really hope we are not wasting the amazing work done by ETH.
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There for all to see that we lost by a last minute winner away to the team who got 50 points after 19 games you mean?
 
bosnian_red said:
There for all to see that we lost by a last minute winner away to the team who got 50 points after 19 games you mean?
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You can put any spin/excuse you want, won't change the fact that we need immediate reinforcements.
 
Red in STL said:
Everyone of our players who started are full international level players except AWB, and of those, only Scotland might be considered a Championship level side

In the real world the players that ETH may want are not available and no amount of money is likely to change that
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We don't know who ETH wants and the backup to those that may be his first choice. A huge club such as us works on several players for each recruitment. At least I hope so.
 
RedBanker said:
You're probably right. And the impact of this will likely destroy our season too.
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No it won'
It would take a major collapse to not finish in the top 4
We have a good chance of winning the league cup
We have a easyish draw in the FA cup, after that who knows
Europa league, Barca is tough but we get thru that we are should make the finals TBH
 
RedBanker said:
You can put any spin/excuse you want, won't change the fact that we need immediate reinforcements.
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For what though. Without any reinforcements we will finish top 4 comfortably and have a good shot at winning a trophy for the first time in 6 years. Successful season in my books.
 
What are we going to do in the summer? A lot of noise coming out that due to overspending and underselling over the years, we are STILL going to be needing to sell to buy to keep in line with the new FFP. Even with new owners.

feck the Glazers, Woodward and that other nob who did the negotiating for them. Absolute clowns.
 
croadyman said:
We won't do any business in next 7 days
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I'd be really surprised if we did. Midfield loans are hard to come by and we've got players everywhere else.

But I think we're looking at multiple changes over the summer as Ten Hag gets impatient. Passing goalkeeper, new #6/8 and a #9.

One exception could be signing a young player then loaning them back until the summer, like Malo Gusto at Lyon or a RCB with Maguire's agents told to find us the highest fee they can for June.
 
NoPace said:
I'd be really surprised if we did. Midfield loans are hard to come by and we've got players everywhere else.

But I think we're looking at multiple changes over the summer as Ten Hag gets impatient. Passing goalkeeper, new #6/8 and a #9.

One exception could be signing a young player then loaning them back until the summer, like Malo Gusto at Lyon or a RCB with Maguire's agents told to find us the highest fee they can for June.
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I don’t think that’s how football works…
 
Doracle said:
We just can’t get in a 19 year old with 5 goals in the Austrian league and expect him to be our main striker. He is exactly the type of profile we should be targeting as a second striker though, behind someone like Kane. He’d still get loads of games (see how City use Alvarez) and be well positioned to be first choice in a few years. Problem is that we’d need to pay a small fortune to hijack his Leipzig move though.
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Agree that I would expect someone experienced like Kane (or Osimhen) to come in as first choice, but we would still need a back-up / substitute.

The issue with Martial is that a) I doubt he would be happy with that role, and b) I'm not sure we can rely on him to be fit whenever he is needed (and we would be looking at Rashford as a number 9 again, which isn't his best position).

For the reserve position, I also like Sesko, but he would cost us a small fortune, and the other one that looks interesting is Evan Ferguson, who is a United fan, but is on a contract until 2026, so won't come cheap either.
 
Agent Rashford is hard at work at finding a midfielder for us...

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Still five players needed at minimum.

A striker, a midfielder to come in for Eriksen, a younger centre half to (eventually) take over from Varane, a right back and a goalkeeper. Even then I’d be looking at keeping Weghorst as a third striking option provided he is decent.
 
croadyman said:
After today it could be argued we need 7 players for first XI and squad depth

First XI

ST
CM
GK

Squad depth

CB
CDM
AM
RB/ST

I would say we need to get around 4/5 of these in the summer (new owners permitting)
Click to expand...
I would say first team:

ST: Kane, £60m
CM: FDJ, £80m
GK: Costa, £60m
RB: Gusto, £30m

Depth (all free agents)

CB: Ndicka
CDM: Rabiot
AM: Tielemans
ST: Dembele

That would give us a squad of:
Costa, Heaton, Butland
Gusto, Dalot
Varane, Lindelof
Martinez, Ndicka
Shaw, Malacia
Casemiro, Rabiot
FDJ, Tielemans
Bruno, Eriksen
Antony, Sancho
Rashford, Garnacho
Kane, Dembele, Weghorst

We could sell / release: De Gea, AWB, Maguire, Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe, Williams, Fred, Mctominay, DVB, Amad, Elanga, Martial. I would expect these sales to bring in excess of £100m, and allow us to make the above purchases.

We would keep youngsters such as Laird, Mainoo, Pellistri, etc., and either give them cup games and cameos in the league, or let them go out on loan.

This kind of approach should allow us to focus on replacing one or two first team players per season going forward, and supplementing the squad with a couple of exceptionally talented kids and a couple of free transfers. We should never be having to look for 4-5 first team replacements in the same window like we were last time and probably again next summer.
 
Absolutely desperate for a Striker. Kane, Vlahovic or somebody like that.

Another top quality CM would make a big difference.

A GK would be nice.

Switch of personnel at RB / CB. Presume one or two will leave so good recruitment to replace them.

3 / 4 good signings and we are flying. Feels so much closer to coming together than it has in the last 10 years.
 
Erik the Red said:
I would say first team:

ST: Kane, £60m
CM: FDJ, £80m
GK: Costa, £60m
RB: Gusto, £30m

Depth (all free agents)

CB: Ndicka
CDM: Rabiot
AM: Tielemans
ST: Dembele

That would give us a squad of:
Costa, Heaton, Butland
Gusto, Dalot
Varane, Lindelof
Martinez, Ndicka
Shaw, Malacia
Casemiro, Rabiot
FDJ, Tielemans
Bruno, Eriksen
Antony, Sancho
Rashford, Garnacho
Kane, Dembele, Weghorst

We could sell / release: De Gea, AWB, Maguire, Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe, Williams, Fred, Mctominay, DVB, Amad, Elanga, Martial. I would expect these sales to bring in excess of £100m, and allow us to make the above purchases.

We would keep youngsters such as Laird, Mainoo, Pellistri, etc., and either give them cup games and cameos in the league, or let them go out on loan.

This kind of approach should allow us to focus on replacing one or two first team players per season going forward, and supplementing the squad with a couple of exceptionally talented kids and a couple of free transfers. We should never be having to look for 4-5 first team replacements in the same window like we were last time and probably again next summer.
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Its not football manager -Striker, CM and DM is a priority for Summer. If we can offload two of Maguire, Bailey and Lindelöf then a center half is needed. Scott isn't on high wages and okay with sitting on bench so I'd probably keep him. No one is going to want to take Martial, VDB after his injury or Bailey or Jones. No one is going to pay Maguire or David De Gea's wages either and why would we want to sell De Gea?
 
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RedBanker said:
If we don't get ETH the players he needs NOW, every chance his good work gets undone over the next two months. I mean what happens when we play with the Championship level players who are our so called "back up' was there for all to see against Arse. I really hope we are not wasting the amazing work done by ETH.
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This isn't Football Manager.
 
I hope we get new owners who will allow us to compete.

But just looking at the playing squad right now. If we can just improve on players like McTominay, Fred and De Gea, we will have improved ten fold. And I don't believe it's difficult to improve on the aforementioned players if the aim is to implement a progressive and technical play style.

McTominay never even stood out in the youth teams but he became a regular in the first team. And De Gea's problems have grown on the ball with more and more teams adopting the defending from the front approach via pressing and counter pressing in the last 9/10 years. And his lack of authority is well documented. Fred is a high energy player and has his uses, but again, we should be doing better, and he along with the two players mentioned above will always hold us back from implementing a imposing playing style on the ball.

With these three players we end up sacrificing technical quality on the ball and it's no surprise we haven't evolved as a team in the last 10 years.

I think it's important to match opponents physically and athletically off the ball, but that shouldn't come at the expense of technical security on the ball.

We obviously need a striker and midfielders. But for me it's obvious we need a keeper aswell. So I'd like to see a Vandervoort or Costa arrive and back ten Hag's idea of building the play from the first phase and intiating attacks and bating the press starting with the keeper.

Costa did have a shaky world cup but we've had Jaap Stam in the past who also had a shaky France 98, before arriving at United and being torn a new one by Nicolas Anelka in the charity shield. He eventually settled and calmed his nerves and was a key member of our treble winning team.
 
Being absolutely reasonable our transfer priorities for next two seasons are as follows:

GK - If De Gea is extending his contract it means that he will be first XI GK for at least 2 more years (summer 2025 replacement at the earliest). If not this obviously a priority. Henderson to be sold
CB- Starter CBs locked for 2-3 years dependent on form. Summer 2025 starter replacement. Backup with Maguire/Lindelof + one academy is covered. Baily/Jones to be sold/released Summer 2023. If Maguire has a taker a replacement is a priority.
LB- Shaw/Malacia covered. Replacement dependent on form/market availability. Sell Telles
RB- Dalot/AWB- Better starter/backup is required. Can wait for Summer 2024 at a risk but preferentially this should be sorted Summer 2023 for at least a backup (if AWB is sold).
CM/DM- Backup: Fred is extending so that means that this is being pushed to Summer 2024 for a replacement. If McT is sold than we need a replacement. Starting: Improvement on Eriksen is desirable. Priority for Summer 2023 if we find the right player and release McT.
AM-Backup to DVB if he is sold. Starting is sorted
LW- Rashford/Garnacho/Sancho good for the foreseeable future
RW- Recent investments Antony/Amad/Sancho/Pellistri - we are not going to invest in this position until Summer 2025 at least
CF- Absolute priority on summer 2023.

Transfer strategy:

Summer 2023/2024 (in order)
CF (urgent!)
Starter GK- if DeGea doesn't extend. Sell Henderson
Starter/Backup CM/DM - sell McT , Fred replaced Summer 2024
Starter/Backup RB- sell AWB
Backup CB- sell Maguire/Bailly release Jones
Backup AM- sell DVB
 
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New updating at this time writing this:


+ New CF = A top level CF. The names for me personally so far. Goncalo Ramos, Harry Kane and i will consider Osihmen from Napoli

+ One new CM that is controlling and been able to control against top team like City and Arsenal. Frenkie De Jong or Enzo Fernandez from Benfica

+ New CB. A beast of a CB. So far: Kim Min Jae from Napoli,
Joško Gvardiol . Even left foot. But he is really good at dictate the build from the back. Really precise level.


Those are 3 must positions to strength: CF + control, creative and dictate cm player + a beast of a CB = make United hard to beat and score against. United need that kind of CB
 
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