What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

Well Young and Jones are going nowhere. Still think a clearout is needed though a couple of players have saved themselves from it under Ole, but I feel we need to make space for 4/5 major signings and some of our youngsters within the squad, so for me:

Out: Grant, Bailly, Rojo, Darmian, Mata, Sanchez

In: Bissaka, Kouilibaily, Upemecano, Ndombele, Sancho

Probably a net spend of £200m but I feel that could bridge the gap domestically and in Europe with a young squad as well. Otherwise I would probably sign one centre back and sign two midfielders Ascacibar as a more defensive option than NDombele and some kind of technical playmaler, I lvoed Alan Guimaraes when I saw him a couple of years ago but have barely seen him or his progress since, but cant think of an obvious option that is young and hungry
 
ravi2 said:
Sounds kinda like the Bale situation, we outbid Real for Bale but Levy didnt accept the offer and Bale ended up in Madrid.
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Yes, the only difference might be that Real might not want him, and if they don't then Spurs havew a situation where they either sell him within the PL or lose him for free, as I can't see him going to PSG and his position isn't one I think Bayern's squad is lacking.

ash_86 said:
Yes. I was so impressed with Verratti. Sadly we have 0% chance of getting him. Lots of names like Ndomble are being thrown around. Not sure if any of them fits the description that we're looking for.
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Ndombele is a big Caf favourite but to me he has bits of Pogba, Fred and Herrera in his game but isn't that player to bring balance to the midfield.
 
Forwards: Sancho & Pepe
Midfielders: Ndidi & Ndombele
Defenders: Umtiti & Bissaka

Ole and Woody, you can do it!
 
Right I believe Pogba will demand the £450,000 a week to stay that Real will offer him - and I don't think Ed will go higher than £375,000 a week for him so he could well be off this summer. De Gea might be gone to Madrid also in the summer.

Just thinking how we could look next year if Pogba and De Gea leave...
--------------------Oblak
Dalot-----Smalling---Lindelof-----Shaw
----B. Fernandes------Matic-----Coutinho
Sancho-----------Rashford--------Martial
 
Champagne Football said:
Right I believe Pogba will demand the £450,000 a week to stay that Real will offer him - and I don't think Ed will go higher than £375,000 a week for him so he could well be off this summer. De Gea might be gone to Madrid also in the summer.

Just thinking how we could look next year if Pogba and De Gea leave...
--------------------Oblak
Dalot-----Smalling---Lindelof-----Shaw
----B. Fernandes------Matic-----Coutinho
Sancho-----------Rashford--------Martial
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Why wouldn't Ed?
 
Champagne Football said:
Right I believe Pogba will demand the £450,000 a week to stay that Real will offer him - and I don't think Ed will go higher than £375,000 a week for him so he could well be off this summer. De Gea might be gone to Madrid also in the summer.

Just thinking how we could look next year if Pogba and De Gea leave...
--------------------Oblak
Dalot-----Smalling---Lindelof-----Shaw
----B. Fernandes------Matic-----Coutinho
Sancho-----------Rashford--------Martial
Click to expand...
another top 4 scramble waiting if that's the team we ended up with.
 
abdo99 said:
another top 4 scramble waiting if that's the team we ended up with.
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Not perfect I admit but all the top central defenders seem vastly overpriced. Koulibaly and Skriniar etc. The likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Rabiot, Nicolo Barella will have many suitors. Just trying to imagine life without Pogba and De Gea if we lose them this summer.
 
Think we could do with a striker like Jimenez from Wolves/Benfica. The right age for that position at the moment if we are going to strengthen there, and has a different set of abilities to our other strikers. More of a classic striker. Looks like a United guy.
 
I am going to put forward Kroos as a controlling CM which I feel we lack,also bring in Rabiot who can play in multiple positions in Midfield
 
Champagne Football said:
Right I believe Pogba will demand the £450,000 a week to stay that Real will offer him - and I don't think Ed will go higher than £375,000 a week for him so he could well be off this summer. De Gea might be gone to Madrid also in the summer.

Just thinking how we could look next year if Pogba and De Gea leave...
--------------------Oblak
Dalot-----Smalling---Lindelof-----Shaw
----B. Fernandes------Matic-----Coutinho
Sancho-----------Rashford--------Martial
Click to expand...

Could see Real offering up Varane to get De Gea
 
Okey said:
So there's a story about Barca being ready to cash in on Umtiti. Apparently to free up cash for De Ligt. I understand he's recovered from his injury. A world class left footed CB that won't break the bank like Koulibaly. Highly interesting...

https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footba...y-target-umtiti-told-he-can-leave_353293.html
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We should be the ones after De Ligt instead of Umtiti.

Champagne Football said:
Right I believe Pogba will demand the £450,000 a week to stay that Real will offer him - and I don't think Ed will go higher than £375,000 a week for him so he could well be off this summer. De Gea might be gone to Madrid also in the summer.

Just thinking how we could look next year if Pogba and De Gea leave...
--------------------Oblak
Dalot-----Smalling---Lindelof-----Shaw
----B. Fernandes------Matic-----Coutinho
Sancho-----------Rashford--------Martial
Click to expand...

If De Gea wants to leave this summer then he should be gone. We cannot afford players who are half hearted and nor can we afford to let him leave for free. The same goes for Pogba, it should be cash+a player. If we can take Courtois+Bale and cash for both De Gea and Pogba then thats the best option we have rather then letting DDG leave for free. Oblak has 100+m release clause. It seems unrealistic but both Bale and Courtois are not well liked. Varane may be an option depending on his decision this summer and is the only difficult option.
Also Rodri from Atleti has a 60m release clause, Fernandes may cost around 40-50m or Ndombele might be an option. Add Icardi to this as a marquee signing and you have a solid team. If we can bring in one of Skriniar/Koulibaly/De Ligt/Varane/Umtiti then we are not that worse off. Still not good enough to win a title but once we have a decent base we can look to add the 1-2 top quality additions to the squad.

On a sidenote I would rather see Fellaini back playing for the club before I see Coutinho in a United top.

Courtois
Dalot-Skriniar-Lindelof-Shaw
Herrera-Rodri-Fernandes(or Ndombele)
Bale-Icardi-Rashford
 
We have to get half a team worth of first teamers and they need to be top class.

I expect another tough top 4 battle to be hones. The gap is too large to close in one summer for a non-sugar daddy/fan-owned club.
 
KingMinger22 said:
We have to get half a team worth of first teamers and they need to be top class.

I expect another tough top 4 battle to be hones. The gap is too large to close in one summer for a non-sugar daddy/fan-owned club.
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So, better to buy sensible and get top 4 relatively "safe", instead of trying to close the gap in one window?
 
No more messing about, get in top players in their prime. It's what we need to be back at the top.

Meunier, Koulibaly, Eriksen, Sancho

Line up next season as;

DDG
Meunier Lindelof Koulibaly Shaw
Eriksen Herrera Pogba
Sancho Rashford Martial
​
We'd have a decent second 11 too.

Romero
Dalot Smalling/Jones Rojo/Bailly Young
Fred Matic Mctominay
Lingard Lukaku Periera/Sanchez​
 
Zlatattack said:
No more messing about, get in top players in their prime. It's what we need to be back at the top.

Meunier, Koulibaly, Eriksen, Sancho

Line up next season as;

DDG
Meunier Lindelof Koulibaly Shaw
Eriksen Herrera Pogba
Sancho Rashford Martial
​
We'd have a decent second 11 too.

Romero
Dalot Smalling/Jones Rojo/Bailly Young
Fred Matic Mctominay
Lingard Lukaku Periera/Sanchez​
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This would be fantastic.

It's the sort of window I think Real will achieve. I don't this we will get close to this sort of quality of recruitment.

I really hope the club are willing to spend a proper bumper budget to shortcut us back to the top end but I'm sceptical. The sort of spend we need to fill 4 positions with top players is absolute minimum £300m, likely over £400m at current market rates.
 
KingMinger22 said:
This would be fantastic.

It's the sort of window I think Real will achieve. I don't this we will get close to this sort of quality of recruitment.

I really hope the club are willing to spend a proper bumper budget to shortcut us back to the top end but I'm sceptical. The sort of spend we need to fill 4 positions with top players is absolute minimum £300m, likely over £400m at current market rates.
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I agree it won't happen. It's not like as a club we can't afford for it to happen, but the money men won't allow it. A big spend could be off set by spending a lot less in future years or even through sales over the next year or two.
 
Zlatattack said:
I agree it won't happen. It's not like as a club we can't afford for it to happen, but the money men won't allow it. A big spend could be off set by spending a lot less in future years or even through sales over the next year or two.
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Yep, what I've been saying. But I'm sure there is some smart business reason why it makes sense to postpone being competitive for another 2 seasons. I just can't see it.

Agree on your selections too. Will never happen, but would be great and see us as genuine title challengers. Would get rid of Rojo, Bailly, Sanchez and Pereira though, and promote Tuanzebe, Gomes, Garner and Greenwood.
 
KingMinger22 said:
We have to get half a team worth of first teamers and they need to be top class.

I expect another tough top 4 battle to be hones. The gap is too large to close in one summer for a non-sugar daddy/fan-owned club.
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Gap to who exactly? We finished above the scouse last season and they're in the title race this season.

This should have been a title challenging season the fact Jose (and maybe the board) fecked it up doesn't reduce where we should have been
 
With the way it seems like all our best players are leaving this summer. We need EVERYONE!
 
deadrevelz said:
Agree on your selections too. Will never happen, but would be great and see us as genuine title challengers. Would get rid of Rojo, Bailly, Sanchez and Pereira though, and promote Tuanzebe, Gomes, Garner and Greenwood.
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I agree with promoting the youth players. The promotions and fine tuning of the squad can be done at a more leisurely pace. They can keep senior players around an extra year if they want the comfort zone, but what we need now is a big investment in ready to go quality players. The standard at the top will only get higher.
 
Zlatattack said:
I agree with promoting the youth players. The promotions and fine tuning of the squad can be done at a more leisurely pace. They can keep senior players around an extra year if they want the comfort zone, but what we need now is a big investment in ready to go quality players. The standard at the top will only get higher.
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Sanchez is more important though, considering what his wages are doing to the club. In fact it should be the first thing we do, so our new signings won't expect parity.
But yeah, people seem to forget that it's not just us improving this summer, everyone else will, possibly at a greater pace.
 
Are we facing a really big clear out this summer?

Valencia, Rojo and Darmian seem certain to leave. There's questions about our three spaniards De Gea, Herrera and Mata and their contract situations. Sanchez looks ready for the US or China.

There's also noice about Pogba and Real, but that may be a possible move for next summer, as he's got two years left on his contract. Then there's also players that I could see leaving for playing time, such as Romero, Grant, Bailly, Fred, Pereira and maybe Lukaku.

Most of these will probably be here next season, but I could still see 6-7 leaving, in addition to youth players currently on loan (TFM, Mitchell, Tuanzebe, Pereira).

If we have to do a lot of squad building this summer, I hope we mainly go young and hungry, with players like De Ligt, Chillwel, Rice, Neves, Hudson-Odoi and Sancho. With older players out and younger ones in it will also free up a lot of wages.

No doubt it will be an important summer, but it will also be a potentially busy one.
 
Zlatattack said:
No more messing about, get in top players in their prime. It's what we need to be back at the top.

Meunier, Koulibaly, Eriksen, Sancho

Line up next season as;

DDG
Meunier Lindelof Koulibaly Shaw
Eriksen Herrera Pogba
Sancho Rashford Martial
​
We'd have a decent second 11 too.

Romero
Dalot Smalling/Jones Rojo/Bailly Young
Fred Matic Mctominay
Lingard Lukaku Periera/Sanchez​
Click to expand...

This seems realistic to me except for Eriksen. I don't see Spurs selling us Eriksen, think they'd rather take 20M less from Bayern or PSG or Madrid or even a Coutinho swap with Barca)

It seems like there are promising 8s available, from the proven like Kroos to the expensive but highly rated Havertz, Aouar and Barella to slightly riskier but productive and talented players in the 22-25 range ready to make the leap like Kovacic (think he's maybe just ill suited to Sarri ball but good player), Bruno Fernandes, Demirbay, Fornals, Lo Celso and probably a couple I'm missing.

Also sell off Jones and get as much of Sanchez' wages covered by whoever will pay, can't see having him around fighting Fred, Pereira, Chong and Greenwood for scrap minutes as the 6th choice attacker (Pogba pushed up when Fred playing obviously) being a good idea for anyone.
 
Njord said:
Are we facing a really big clear out this summer?

Valencia, Rojo and Darmian seem certain to leave. There's questions about our three spaniards De Gea, Herrera and Mata and their contract situations. Sanchez looks ready for the US or China.

There's also noice about Pogba and Real, but that may be a possible move for next summer, as he's got two years left on his contract. Then there's also players that I could see leaving for playing time, such as Romero, Grant, Bailly, Fred, Pereira and maybe Lukaku.

Most of these will probably be here next season, but I could still see 6-7 leaving, in addition to youth players currently on loan (TFM, Mitchell, Tuanzebe, Pereira).

If we have to do a lot of squad building this summer, I hope we mainly go young and hungry, with players like De Ligt, Chillwel, Rice, Neves, Hudson-Odoi and Sancho. With older players out and younger ones in it will also free up a lot of wages.

No doubt it will be an important summer, but it will also be a potentially busy one.
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Definitely going: Fellaini, Valencia, Rojo, Darmian
Maybe: Herrera, Mata, Pereira, Sanchez, Fosu Mensah, Bailly
Outside chance: Matic, Lukaku, Fred, Pogba, Jones
Possible Loans: Tuanzebe, Chong

I reckon 8 players will leave the club. We will buy 4 and promote Greenwood, Gomes and Garner.
 
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deadrevelz said:
Definitely going: Fellaini, Valencia, Rojo, Darmian
Maybe: Herrera, Mata, Pereira, Sanchez, Fosu Mensah
Outside chance: Matic, Lukaku, Fred, Pogba, Jones
Possible Loans: Tuanzebe, Chong

I reckon 8 players will leave the club. We will buy 4 and promote Greenwood, Gomes and Garner.
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8 players leaving would be perfect but sounds unlikely to me even if you include Fellaini.

Here's my version:

Gone - Fellaini
Going - Valencia, Rojo
Maybe - Sanchez, Darmian, Bailly, Herrera, Pereira, TFM, Mata
Outside Chance - Matic, Lukaku, Jones, Grant
Close to zero - Pogba, DDG, Fred, Martial, Rashford, Lingard
 
sideshow_bob said:
8 players leaving would be perfect but sounds unlikely to me even if you include Fellaini.

Here's my version:

Gone - Fellaini
Going - Valencia, Rojo
Maybe - Sanchez, Darmian, Bailly, Herrera, Pereira, TFM, Mata
Outside Chance - Matic, Lukaku, Jones, Grant
Close to zero - Pogba, DDG, Fred, Martial, Rashford, Lingard
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Forgot about Bailly, I've put him in Maybe too. Have to include Fellaini as we haven't bought anyone to replace him with. Got to be at least six outgoing if you include potential loans.

Feels like a watershed moment for the club imo. Ole has shone a spotlight on the failures of the last 6 years and reinstated the United way. Even Ed can't fail to see it. We didn't spend much in the last 2 transfer windows so there is money available. Whether or not he provides the right budget we don't know, but it makes sense on all sides to get as much deadwood off the books and promote from within if need be. I think releasing players is almost as much a statement of intent as signing new ones. Also, we keep referring to Sanchez as the reason why wages are getting out of control, but forget that when you have crap players who barely get a game on 100K a week, that has the same effect. Time to prune the Red bush.
 
Players I believe we absolutely should sign:

Sancho - £120-140m
Rice - £60-80m?
Kroos or Coutinho - £70-100m?

A top CB - £70-100m

I think they are realistic prices for 2019.

Not sure £400m is on the agenda though. Even if we bought all them, on paper we probably would be looking at the third, maybe second, best squad in the league.
 
KingMinger22 said:
Players I believe we absolutely should sign:

Sancho - £120-140m
Rice - £60-80m?
Kroos or Coutinho - £70-100m?

A top CB - £70-100m

I think they are realistic prices for 2019.

Not sure £400m is on the agenda though. Even if we bought all them, on paper we probably would be looking at the third, maybe second, best squad in the league.
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OUT:
Valencia
Darmian
Rojo
Mata
De Gea
Bailly
Sanchez

IN:
Griezmann ~100M
Kroos + Courtois ~ 30M (on top of De Gea Swap. That could be way off, but I'd gladly lose De Gea for the two of them)
Ruben Neves ~50M
Top CB (Not fecking Maguire) ~90M
Meunier ~40M
------
Total ~310M minus the deadwood we let go brings net spend under 300M

19/20 Squad:
GK: Courtois, Romero, whoever
RB: Meunier, Dalot, Young
CB: Really good player, Lindelof, Smalling, Jones, Tuanzebe
LB: Shaw, Yikes
CM: Pogba, Kroos, Neves, Herrera, Fred, Matic
FW: Griezzou, Lukaku, Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Greenwood

Have some injury luck, and I actually think that team pushes City and Liverpool a bit, maybe not all the way to the finish line.

Edit: @KingMinger22 I forgot I did all of this in response to your suggestions, which I also think would work out pretty well. Only disagreement is that I think we need an established star and game winner in attack to take a little bit of the spotlight off of Rashford (for his own good and the club's). That's why I went for Griezmann. And I think if we could get 2 players in a De Gea swap that it would be a money saver and squad improver.
 
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Martial Rashford Sancho
Pogba Matic Rabiot
Shaw Lindelof Koulibaly Dalot
De Gea​
 
Zaha.

I'm not saying he will be a world beater and he will frustrate at times. But one on one you cant really stop him. He is good on the counter and for teams parking the bus their plan goes out the window when he isolates a full back.

That threat on the right side will change everything for Martial if you ask me. It would also help Shaw and even Dalot.

I think he would be cheaper and more realistic than Sancho and the other during foreign talents.
 
Griezmann
Sancho
Neves
Alderweireld

XI - 4-2-2-2
De Gea
Dalot-Alderweireld-Lindelof-Shaw
-------------Herrera------Neves------------
Sancho---------------------------Pogba
Griezmann-----Rashford
 
I think a brilliant and achievable/affordable summer would be:
Wan bissaka
Tierney
Skriniar
Sancho
And nick Rabiot.

Could also clear out the obvious crud - valencia, rojo, jones, darmian, sanchez etc etc
 
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