What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

FrankDrebin said:
In the January window, I think United would look to bring in a forward player.
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Why the need to wait for January?

If we have strikers card marked then I'm pretty sure if we can get Sancho shifted then it won't be a problem signing one. We have brought in a lot of fees from sales, and considering 3 or 4 of those will go on the books as pure profit - it shouldn't be a problem.
 
VanGaalyTime said:
Completely agree here. Even if Rasmus scores 15 goals we're still ridiculously short up front compared with City, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Can't see us scoring more than 70 in the league, so our defence and goalkeeper... have to be incredible to make the CL.
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We’ve not scored over 58 PL goals in the last three seasons and no Dutch coach at Man United has ever scored 60 goals let alone 70PL goals huge ask and most definitely our biggest problem.

We don’t have that man since Zlatan, we’ve had great strikers ; RVN, RVP, Cole, Ronaldo, Sheringhan, Yorke, Saha, Rooney, Zlatan, Hughes, Cantona, Ole, Chicarito, what we currently have would not get near any of those squads, I’d say right now if there was a lazy version of Berbativ, the fan base would be lauding him because we are so desperate to eulogise over a true United number 9 and number 10 for that matter?
 
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We need Sancho to leave at this point that will be a major deal taking us forward
 
Anyone else worried that we are at least one player light in central midfield? Mainoo shouldn't be expected to play every match at his age, evidence suggests that Casemiro can't last a full season, Eriksen can't last 90 minutes, and with Mount out....
 
VanGaalyTime said:
Completely agree here. Even if Rasmus scores 15 goals we're still ridiculously short up front compared with City, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Can't see us scoring more than 70 in the league, so our defence and goalkeeper... have to be incredible to make the CL.
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Arsenal are weirdly short up front to be fair
 
Scriblerus said:
Anyone else worried that we are at least one player light in central midfield? Mainoo shouldn't be expected to play every match at his age, evidence suggests that Casemiro can't last a full season, Eriksen can't last 90 minutes, and with Mount out....
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I don't even really know what system we play, but I guess we have casemiro ugarte Bruno mount mainoo eriksen collyer for 3 slots. We certainly are another injury away from a crisis. Mazraoi or lisandro would play centre mid in a pinch I guess
 
I really hope we can pull one more suprise out of the bag, it's not looking too likely now but the muppet in me can dream.
 
There are always a few free agents floating about if we take too msny injuries. Rabiot or Jazici could be options for the middle
 
A LB that can stay fit and a #8 who can play in #6 if needed
 
LB, CM, LW, ST.

LB - Malacia out for long and Shaw injury-prone
CM - more of a passer to dictate tempo etc
LW - Antony and Amad as RW options aren't great but Garnacho can play there and is arguably even better there then on the left. So not counting Garnacho we've only got Rashford for LW and he's been poor for over a year now. Can see Mount playing there at times this season
ST - I like Hojlund and Zirkzee could turn out to be good but both still developing. Experienced striker would give us plenty of goals

Other positions - we're yet to see if we solved that.

GK - not sold on Onana though he's been good enough so far I guess.
 
Already looking foward to next year when we can get rid of Lindelof, Maguire and Eriksen too :lol:

Another CB (Branthwaite), a CM (De Jong's contract will be running down ;)) and a winger will likely be the focuses then I imagine.
 
I'm not going to predict what we need next season, but as of now we're still lacking a CM, Winger(s) and LB in that order if we want to be title challengers or be a shoo-in for the CL spot.

It makes sense to strengthen next year considering the circumstances but I'd have like to see us strengthen 1 position at least because we're dangerously short in quality depth. I'm also hoping a quality GK becomes available for cheap in January. We could do with one.
 
what do we skill need???? to figure out a bloody way to score goals and get fecking 3 points
 
Semenyo's started the season very well for Bournemouth. Might be one to monitor between now and January.

I see Brighton have €183m net spend this summer! Surely they'll need to sell? Mitoma might not be a bad option if we want someone on the left. Obviously Ferguson remains an option though I'm less convinced by him and he is very injury prone.
 
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Very poor transfer movement on the final day, surely we still need another CM, a LB, winger and a damn striker. I understand off loading Sancho but not replacing him? we lack wingers also.
 
AndyMUFC said:
Already looking foward to next year when we can get rid of Lindelof, Maguire and Eriksen too :lol:

Another CB (Branthwaite), a CM (De Jong's contract will be running down ;)) and a winger will likely be the focuses then I imagine.
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I genuinely think we will be more active this January than we have ever been. The club roughly reduced their wage bill by £500,000-600,000 per week.

Nearly £1.4m of wages were reduced with heavy hitters like Varane(340k), J Sancho(300k), A Martial(250k) all being taken off payroll, add DVB, MG, Willy Kambawla, Scott McTominay, Brandon Williams, Omari Forson, FP, Hannibal, AWB, Max Oyedele, Will Fish, Alberto Fernandes and Shola Shoretire.

The Club has added maybe £800k per week with the 5 full signings plus 2 youth players, added to Kobbie and Bruno’s new contracts.

The fact that the club sold both Mason Greenwood and Scott McTominay for nearly £50m of 100% net will allow the club to use some of the final $100m of $300m agreed by Ineos which is due to be paid into the revolving credit account by December 2024 and potentially allow another £100-150m to be spent in the winter transfer window if the club chose to do so.

We should be scouting Left Back/Left CB, CM/BTB, Right winger, CFW.

Theoretically the club can still sign free transfers like Adrian Rabiot as well.
 
sdb4884 said:
Very poor transfer movement on the final day, surely we still need another CM, a LB, winger and a damn striker. I understand off loading Sancho but not replacing him? we lack wingers also.
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You surely can't expect us to resolve everything in one window? Especially considering the INEOS staff tookover mid-July and the PSR restrictions.

We've made 5 signings in a great age profile (along with some good youth talent) this window worth £200m and cleared a lot of deadwood and high salary players. It's been a successful window and the incoming players have strengthened the spine significantly. The firepower will probably come next Summer.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
You surely can't expect us to resolve everything in one window? Especially considering the INEOS staff tookover mid-July and the PSR restrictions.

We've made 5 signings in a great age profile (along with some good youth talent) this window worth £200m and cleared a lot of deadwood and high salary players. It's been a successful window and the incoming players have strengthened the spine significantly. The firepower will probably come next Summer.
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We did well considering all the dead wood we had and gaps that needed filling yes, surely though more could have been done late.
 
All in all I think it was a great window. Think a lot of people, including myself were a bit naive as to what we could achieve in this one window. The clear out that we have had, added to the fact that next summer Lindelof, Maguire, Casemiro and Eriksen will leave, paired with at least one of the left backs and possibly Antony. We will have so much room in Ffp and PSR that we’ll be able to go quite big next summer without a worry, possibly have scope to spend in January as well if there becomes a good opportunity in the market. As I look at our squad though I think right back and centre back is solid. Left back needs a starter and for Amass to get game time. Midfield still lacks quality in depth and I’m still unsure where our goals are going to come from. Feel like next summer should be heavily focussed on getting a starting left back, a starting level midfielder who could rotate with both Mainoo and Ugarte and a forward to give us a bit more threat. My picks would be Aït Nouri/ Robinson, Palacios/ Wharton and Williams/ Kudus/ Mbuemo as a wildcard
 
So... anyone have any way too early predictions for who specifically we add next summer? Seems like consensus is forming around LB, CM, Wing, ST as the potential needs, but I'm wondering about specific names and the plan Ashworth and co will use. I don't have all the answers but a high level guess:

LB: We use this season to assess the situation. If Shaw misses 50% or more we try to replace him. Otherwise we hang onto him and try to start working in Amass next season. As far as replacement if needed, I don't really know.

CB: Need to replace Maguire/Lindelof/Evans. Have seen some say Branwaithe, and he fits the youth/left-foot needs, but why would one of him/Yoro/De Ligt want to be fourth choice CB? Seems like overkill. I'd think a cheaper option makes more sense.

CM: This is an almost certain need given the McT sale, Eriksen leaving, Bruno aging, and Mount injuries. Wharton? Does he pair well with Mainoo?

Winger/Striker: I think these will be evaluated together. Does Rashford rebound? Does Holljund/Zirkzee/Garnacho breakout? One will probably happen, but not all. I assume we'll add a big name at one of the positions that doesn't pan out well..
 
bb8 said:
So... anyone have any way too early predictions for who specifically we add next summer? Seems like consensus is forming around LB, CM, Wing, ST as the potential needs, but I'm wondering about specific names and the plan Ashworth and co will use. I don't have all the answers but a high level guess:

LB: We use this season to assess the situation. If Shaw misses 50% or more we try to replace him. Otherwise we hang onto him and try to start working in Amass next season. As far as replacement if needed, I don't really know.

CB: Need to replace Maguire/Lindelof/Evans. Have seen some say Branwaithe, and he fits the youth/left-foot needs, but why would one of him/Yoro/De Ligt want to be fourth choice CB? Seems like overkill. I'd think a cheaper option makes more sense.

CM: This is an almost certain need given the McT sale, Eriksen leaving, Bruno aging, and Mount injuries. Wharton? Does he pair well with Mainoo?

Winger/Striker: I think these will be evaluated together. Does Rashford rebound? Does Holljund/Zirkzee/Garnacho breakout? One will probably happen, but not all. I assume we'll add a big name at one of the positions that doesn't pan out well..
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We need all of those but I'm not too sure about CF yet. We have two talented strikers, definitely have to wait and see how they perform throughout the season. Everybody keeps talking about adding goals, but they can't score without good supply. Hell, ETH isn't even starting one.

We desperately need a hit when securing a winger. Antony isn't up to standards, Sancho failed, Rashford isn't cutting it.
 
AndyMUFC said:
Already looking foward to next year when we can get rid of Lindelof, Maguire and Eriksen too :lol:

Another CB (Branthwaite), a CM (De Jong's contract will be running down ;)) and a winger will likely be the focuses then I imagine.
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Agree with this. Don't see the need for another striker tbh and would like to see how good our existing options turn out.
 
GK
2 LBs
1 CB when Maguire leaves next summer.
2 CMs

God knows what you do with the front 6.

Probably need 3 attackers minimum.
 
thegregster said:
GK
2 LBs
1 CB when Maguire leaves next summer.
2 CMs

God knows what you do with the front 6.

Probably need 3 attackers minimum.
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And finally here it is the truth, two and half years of ETH, £600m spent and we still need an; Elite Goalkeeper(Diego Costa/65m), Young Elite LB( A Nori/45m) ,
Physical Elite young Left footed CB(J Branthwaite/65m)
Creative Midfielder (A Gomez/30m), BTB/AM (M Gibbs-White/60m)
New CF (V Gyokeres/80m)
New LW (N Williams/55m)
New RW(B Mwembo/45m)

That’s another £450-500m and the club simply doesn’t have the cash or SJR the willing until he owns at least 51% of the club to give ETH anything, we’ll spend 3 to 4 years offloading a his players for less than £50m .
 
I do believe that recruiting talent and potential players to build good squad is the most important thing. It's easy to change a manager than changing most of players.

The past 3 years recruitment is much involved with Erik Ten Hag's talent identification which is disaster including Antony, Martinez, Casemiro, Onana, Weghorst, Amrabat, Eriksen.

Even Martinez whom many praised of his passing ability, I still think he's not great defender and one of problem as well. To pair him with another CB, you need very fast and physical CB
who is aerial dominant which we have only one in the team, Yoro, who's still very new in EPL and now got injured. I buy the idea of purchasing Jarrad Branthwaite as new starting LCB to pair with Yoro in the starting XI, but the price must be reasonable.

Midfield is mess of problem. No one in starting XI who have good ball control, good passing range and good ball carrier. Casemiro is no longer good enough. Mainoo has good ball control but contributed very little in ball progressing and carrier. Bruno is the main creator who lost the ball so much. Even Ugarte will just have proper ball control and ball retention, but lack of ball progressing and carrier like Mainoo. Sekou Kone has potential in ball control and ball progressing but he's very young and will start in academy team fist.

Front three also lack of reliable scorers and combination. Wingers are trying every possible actions to shoot first. It always wrong decision most of the time. Rashford and Garnacho need all the space in the world to be proper threat on counters; otherwise they can't dribble past defenders or make something great from possession.

In other perspective, Rashford, Mount and Casemiro are still our first XIs even they are not selected in national team for long period of time. De Ligt and Zirkzee are going to be our first XIs even they are always sideline on the bench in the national team.

We should be very concerned.
 
The amount of cash this clown has wasted on players that aren’t good enough is a joke.
 
Next summer we’ll need another keeper. Onana isn’t it.

Left back situation will need sorted unless Amass breaks through.

We will need another CM. Im more and more convinced that we won’t get a midfield containing both Bruno & Mainoo to work.

It depends how Amad & Garnacho kick on but likely need another winger to be our starting one. Rashford looks totally finished.

Let’s wait and see on Hojlund/Zirkzee but I’ve a feeling we’ll also need a striker.

Worrying.
 
Redfrog said:
A good manager first and foremost.
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May be the “joke” answer

But it’s the right one

Getting a manager who can get more out of the current players will make us feel less is needed in terms of signings

We have some very good players who’d do well at any other PL team who we have written off as shite just because he’s here and doomed to fail
 
Basically a GK, a LB, another CB, two or maybe even three CMs, a winger and a striker. That’s another 250-300m outlay, it’s ridiculous how often we need to ‘rebuild’ this team due to poor signings and managerial incompetence.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
May be the “joke” answer

But it’s the right one

Getting a manager who can get more out of the current players will make us feel less is needed in terms of signings

We have some very good players who’d do well at any other PL team who we have written off as shite just because he’s here and doomed to fail
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Not a joke mate. We are going nowhere with the current one.
I don’t think we have an amazing squad but much better than the sh*t show we are watching for 18 months now.
 
Next window:
Rashford, Casemiro, Antony, Eriksen, Lindelof, Malacia out.

In, a top class Winger and possesion based CM, and a full back.
 
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I really hope the rumours towards the end of the window that we want to sign Edon Zhegrova are true.

If you wanna see what a dynamic winger looks like go youtube him vs PSG yesterday. Unreal.
 
TheNewEra said:
Next window:
Rashford, Casemiro, Antony, Eriksen, Lindelof, Malacia out.

In, a top class Winger and possesion based CM, and a full back.
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Given up hoping for possession based CM under Erik who clearly doesn't value it whatsoever. Ideally would love to sign Williams/Kvaratskhelia but not without Champions League
 
I don’t think we need much except good tactics and the players to play like the should and can. It’s the players attitudes not their abilities.
 
croadyman said:
Given up hoping for possession based CM under Erik who clearly doesn't value it whatsoever. Ideally would love to sign Williams/Kvaratskhelia but not without Champions League
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I think we need to reconfigure our midfield because its poorly designed. We need a playmaking CM to partner Ugarte, if he settles into his role and then maybe use Kobbie further forward as attacking 8. The 4-2-3-1 is just killing us in big games, atm I'd take Rabiot to come and partner Ugarte/Casemiro at the base of midfield just to stabilize things and build a platform off which the whole team will play.
 
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