What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

Sell pogba, £120-£140 take money to Lyon an buy Aouar and ndombele, then use our budget for other signings. We all know the others that need to leave and any fees add to the pot. RB choice of 3 Wan-Bissaka, Cancelo, Atal, CB choice of 3 De Ligt Koulibaly, McGuire, Bruno Fernandes and RW Nicolas Pepe
----------------------------De Gea------------------------
Wan-Bissaka---Lindelof---De Ligt--------Shaw
-----Fernandes-----Ndombele--------Aouar---
-------Pepe--------Rash or Greenwood-----James

And if we could stretch it old head up front like Cavani
 
It's sad to see that our main rivals (Liverpool and City) need just 2 players, while we need at least 6 players for the first team considering that De Gea and Pogba will stay.

If Liverpool sign De Ligt and Ndombele, they would make an instant impact because they already have a style of play. Same would be with City.

We could sign great players but we don't even know how we are going to play next season.

Before signing our current players, the caf used to overrated them, for example:
Martial was the new Henry, Bailly one of the best CBs (our new Vidic), we were laughing at Chelsea because we got Matic who was a top CDM, Dalot the best young RB in the world, etc.

I include myself because I had high expectations with Depay

So after a lot of years and spending a lot of money it seems that we need (again) to buy half of the team.
 
Start with a clear out!

Reported £200m budget plus sell Pogba (125m), Bailly (25m), Smalling (15m), Jones (15m), Rojo (5m), Young (5m), Fred (30m), Sanchez (5m), Lukaku (80m). Herrera, Mata out of contract. Give us a healthy +500m to play with and a ton of salaries saved!!

Buy A.Wan Biska @ Palace (35m), J.Tarkowski @ Burnley (30m), H.Maguire @ Leicester (80m), K.Tierney @ Celtic (30m), D. Rice @ West Ham (40m), T.Ndombele @ Lyon (50m), Y.Tielemans @ Monaco (35m), N.Pepe @ Lille (45m), D.James @ Swansea (15m)

First 11;
De Gea​
W.Biska Tarkowski Maguire Tierney
Tielemans Rice Ndombele​
Pepe Rashford Martial

Promote Tuanzebe, Garner, Greenwood, Gomes, Chong to first team.
 
Out : 230M

De Gea 50M
Bailly 30M
Rojo 10M
Valencia free
Darmian 10M
Pogba 130M
Mata free
Herrera free
Sanchez loan
Lukaku (swap with Icardi)


In : 400M
Donnarumma 75M
Meunier 30M
Maguire 70M
Gueye 45M
Ruben Neves 70M
Pepe 80M
Icardi 30M (swap with Lukaku)


------------------------------Donnarumma-----------------------
Meunier-----------Maguire-------Lindelof-----------Shaw
--------------------------------------Matic------------------------------
---------------------------Gueye----------Neves-------------------
Pepe----------------------Icardi----------Rashford


----------Greenwood------Martial--------------------
-----------------------------Lingard----------------------------
-------------Fred--------Mc Tominay--------Pereira----
Young-------------Jones---------Smalling-------------Dalot
----------------------------Romero----------------------------
 
Current guess:

Pogba goes and we sign one of the Frenchman (Rabiot or N'Dombele), Tielemans or get an 8 back from Madrid in the Pogba deal (Kroos or Llorente) to pair with Fred in a double pivot and then an attacking midfielder like Bruno Fernandes and we play 4-2-3-1 next year. Let's say it's Pepe, Koulibaly and Wan-Bissaka to finish things off with Lukaku also going out to keep our net spend around 150M with smaller fees for Bailly and Rojo bringing in some cash.

--------------------Rashford----------------- (Greenwood but really Martial)
Martial-------------------------------------Pepe (Lingard, Mata, James)
---------------------Bruno----------------------- (Gomez)
----------#8------------------Fred-------------- (Mctominay, Matic)
Shaw--------------------------------WanBissaka (Young, Dalot)
---------------Koulibaly---Lindelof-------------- (Smalling, Tuanzebe, Jones)
--------------------DeGea----------------------- (Romero)

This stabilizes us, particularly Koulibaly and having a proper RB and more energy in the midfield, we finish 5th or 6th again rather than being passed by Wolves, Leicester or Everton, which is currently a possibility depending on how their and our summers go.
 
I know that to someone this will sound like a lunacy, but if it's true that the summer budget is 250mil it would be stupid to spend most of that on Koulibaly and Sancho when there are so much holes to fill in in this squad.

How much would Koulibaly cost, around 90mil? I would rather buy both Maguire and Nathan Ake for that kind of money. There is still 160mil left for RB, CM, CDM and RW. Wan Bissaka, Tielemans, Ndidi/Doucure, Malcom/Ziyech. Everyone of them would be upgrade over what we have now.
 
What we need is to fill these positions:

De Gea
RB - CB - Lindelof - Shaw
CDM
CM - Pogba
RW - ST - Rashford
​
Unfortunately, I can't see Ole signing 6 players. I guess we will get 4.
 
I'd like to get out as many as we can and get in as many as we can.

In
RB Cancelo (swap with Sanchez?)
CB Koulibaly
LB Tierney
CM Neves
CM Tielemans
LW Zaha
RW Sancho
ST Jovic

Out
Sanchez
Lukaku
Martial
Herrera
Mata
Periera
Jones
Bailly
Rojo
Darmian
Young
TFM
Mitchell
Wilson
CBJ
Anyone else out on loan with no hope of ever making it at.

Promote
Greenwood
Taunzebe
Gomes
Garner
 
Fer said:
What we need is to fill these positions:

De Gea
RB - CB - Lindelof - Shaw
CDM
CM - Pogba
RW - ST - Rashford
​
Unfortunately, I can't see Ole signing 6 players. I guess we will get 4.
Click to expand...

This is what the club should be looking at. Provided we sell Lukaku for decent money and get Sanchez off the wages we could potentially do this.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Technically no, call it midfielder or midfield.
But I hope that’s not the case.
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Could really do with RB,CB,DM,CM/AM,RW at least this summer, however do these links to a LW suggest that we are not going to bring in one of these because cannot see any way we bring in six this window
 
Such an uphill window due to no CL and the general toxic vibe around the club right now, I'm still 100% behind the diamond formation and I reckon if we buy the cheapo option from Swansea it'll be as a squad player and we'll get a Striker for the front 2, making up a quartet of options with Rashford, Martial and Greenwood.


Untitled93811caa64c5f894.jpg



CB: Koulibaly/Maguire/Alderweireld
RB: Meunier/Cancelo/Wan Bissaka
DM: Rodri/Rice/Ndidi/Gueye
CM: Barella/van de Beek/Neves/Auoar/Ndombele/Tielemans/Pellegrini
Striker: Jovic/Dybala/Icardi

I don't like all of these options but they can't be discounted given our current situation. I put Gomes in the hole but if we got Dybala or van de Beek they could obviously play in there at times and we know Lingard will be getting games and Mata if he stays. I figure if Gomes can't make a case for himself we could look at Havertz, Joao Felix and Zaniolo for the role next summer providing no one snaps them up this summer. One other option for me would be Brandt from Leverkusen as he's versatile for the diamond.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Technically no, call it midfielder or midfield.
But I hope that’s not the case.
Click to expand...
I mean when people generalize positions especially in the way reporters do it. They dont go all football manager about it. There's goalkeepers, right and left fullbacks, center backs, right and left wingers, center mids and strikers. They're not going to really specify (in a quick tweet like that) all the specifics of a midfielder. Could be we go for a box to box, could be a holding mid, could be a playmaker type.
 
bosnian_red said:
I mean when people generalize positions especially in the way reporters do it. They dont go all football manager about it. There's goalkeepers, right and left fullbacks, center backs, right and left wingers, center mids and strikers. They're not going to really specify (in a quick tweet like that) all the specifics of a midfielder. Could be we go for a box to box, could be a holding mid, could be a playmaker type.
Click to expand...

What you just mentioned is being too specific. Defensive midfield is defensive midfield, could go for deep playmaker or destroyer.
 
Could Alderweireld and Maguire be signed for less than £100 million combined ? If so sell Bailly and Rojo for as much as possible (£35-£40 million combined ?) to make room and instantly we're hugely upgraded at centre back.

Valencia and Darmian are both off and Wan-Bissaka is apparently available if someone pays £40 million so that’s a no brainer, I’d also throw £25 million at Celtic for Tierney or Leicester for Chilwell so Shaw is challenged for his position.

If we are selling Pogba then accept no less than £150 million which would pay for the majority of funding moves for Eriksen, Rice, N’Dombele and Rabiot which is a whole new midfield packed with quality, stamina and work ethic which is exactly what we’re lacking in midfield which is why I’d also move on Matic and Pereira then promote Gomes and Garner.

I’d move Sanchez on for free and also do the same with Mata who even though I love him simply doesn’t fit, I’d go all out for Sancho on the right. Looks like we’re in for Daniel James as back to Martial but I’d also move Lukaku on and if we pulled off a swap deal for Dybala we’d have committed daylight robbery.

It’s highly unlikely we’d pull all that off but that’s probably a spend of £250 million when sales are included and a complete transformation of attitude and ability in the squad. If we went into next season (unlikely so hypothetical) with De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Alderweireld, Maguire, Shaw, N’Dombele, Rice/Rabiot, Eriksen, Sancho, Dybala, Rashford/Martial I’d be ecstatic.
 
Meunier
CB
Rice
Bruno
Dybala

There’s smoke around all of those at the moment. If we pull that off with Lukaku and Sanchez leaving we’ll be so much better next season.

Still an outside chance of Sancho signing as well, especially if Pogba leaves.
 
The Nani said:
Meunier
CB
Rice
Bruno
Dybala

There’s smoke around all of those at the moment. If we pull that off with Lukaku and Sanchez leaving we’ll be so much better next season.

Still an outside chance of Sancho signing as well, especially if Pogba leaves.
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Like the look of those signings, as you say could really do with a RW too because imagine that Dybala would play more of a striker role
 
croadyman said:
Like the look of those signings, as you say could really do with a RW too because imagine that Dybala would play more of a striker role
Click to expand...

That’s another positive of signing Bruno. He’s performed at a high level wide right as well as through the middle. Basically what we hoped Mata would be. Could be extremely handy if we have to wait another season for Sancho. Don’t want us settling for lesser players like Pepe.
 
Ideal Football Manager type Lineup from gettable players who are in the right age(mostlty 22 to 25) and are available if United is ambitious and ready to open their wallet(175m+player sales). The big struggle would be to find a buyer for Sanchez and good money for Lukaku.

FirstXI.jpg


SecondXI.jpg

Players Leaving/left(245m): Replacement(420m)
Darmian(5m),Valencia(0):Cancelo(50m) Attacking RB
Bailly(25m),Rojo(15m):Skriniar(60m) Ball Playing CB
Pogba(130m):Neves(60m) Complete Midfielder
Fellaini(5m):Ndidi(60m) BallWinning Midfielder
Sanchez(0),Mata(0):Sancho(105m) Pacy Right Winger
Lukaku(65m): Dybala(85m) Versatile Attacking Player
 
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I like the team in the comment right above. However Skriniar just signed a new contract with Inter. Cancelo said he doesnt want to leave Juve.

So mine would be something like this:

De Gea
AWB Lindelof Koulibaly Shaw
Rice
Neves Pogba
Dybala
Rashford Martial

Romero, Tuanzebe, Jones, Smalling, Mctominay, Fred, Gomez, Chong, Greenwood, Lingard

If we also sell Pogba then... Sancho + Bruno Fernandes can come. Bruno takes Pogba’s place while Sancho goes on the right and Rashford and Martial can rotate (Thus we will have a larger team)

WanB will keep Sanchos back. Ndidi is a good choice, but if Rice comes instead I will be even more delighted.

Getting rid of Lukaku and Sanchez and all the rest of the deadwood is key like getting the new players!

Giving more chances to Chong, Greenwood, Gomez and Gardner in Cups and also trying Tuanzebe. Smalling and Jones only as backup. Hopefully Lindelof and Koulibaly build a strong partnership. For this NO INJURIES is essential so they can play together 50 matches and that we see rarely Jones and Smalling starting.

For me Ruben Neves is a key transfer! Sadly we havent been rumoured with him since Jose left... Whoever gets him will have someone of the Modric mould after 2-3 years. We badly need someone who can speed up or lower the tempo of play. Not only crazy horse box to box or defensive midfielders. Hope Liverpool and City dont get him.

I wasnt a fan of the Dybala rumours but thinking that if all the other players are also bought (again Neves is key), he can be like our own Firmino who is like the glue in the Liverpool attack. With pace around him he will have a good chance to adapt quickly and be very helpful when we play at home and need to think something out of the box vs tight defences.

This team would have the needed pace, power, technical ability and agression.

Hope we get something near it! And as quickly as possible, so they have time to transform into a strong unit :)
 
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Not just certain position, we also need player who can take set pieces free kicks & corner. We struggle to score in corner, set pieces can makes big difference.

I still remember how much we scored from set pieces in 2012/2013, RVP & Rooney really nailed them.
 
HD7 said:
I like the team in the comment right above. However Skriniar just signed a new contract with Inter. Cancelo said he doesnt want to leave Juve.

So mine would be something like this:

De Gea
AWB Lindelof Koulibaly Shaw
Rice
Neves Pogba
Dybala
Rashford Martial

Romero, Tuanzebe, Jones, Smalling, Mctominay, Fred, Gomez, Chong, Greenwood, Lingard

If we also sell Pogba then... Sancho + Bruno Fernandes can come. Bruno takes Pogba’s place while Sancho goes on the right and Rashford and Martial can rotate (Thus we will have a larger team)

WanB will keep Sanchos back. Ndidi is a good choice, but if Rice comes instead I will be even more delighted.

Getting rid of Lukaku and Sanchez and all the rest of the deadwood is key like getting the new players!

Giving more chances to Chong, Greenwood, Gomez and Gardner in Cups and also trying Tuanzebe. Smalling and Jones only as backup. Hopefully Lindelof and Koulibaly build a strong partnership. For this NO INJURIES is essential so they can play together 50 matches and that we see rarely Jones and Smalling starting.

For me Ruben Neves is a key transfer! Sadly we havent been rumoured with him since Jose left... Whoever gets him will have someone of the Modric mould after 2-3 years. We badly need someone who can speed up or lower the tempo of play. Not only crazy horse box to box or defensive midfielders. Hope Liverpool and City dont get him.

I wasnt a fan of the Dybala rumours but thinking that if all the other players are also bought (again Neves is key), he can be like our own Firmino who is like the glue in the Liverpool attack. With pace around him he will have a good chance to adapt quickly and be very helpful when we play at home and need to think something out of the box vs tight defences.

This team would have the needed pace, power, technical ability and agression.

Hope we get something near it! And as quickly as possible, so they have time to transform into a strong unit :)
Click to expand...
Wan Bissaka also said that he wants to stay. Even Meunier wants to stay at PSG.

Do you prefer Koulibaly or Maguire + Alderweireld for the same amount of money?

I like Dybala, would you sign him over Felix/Havertz?

Agree with you about signing 2 midfielders and playing diamond formation to get the best of our players.
 
Some of these figures won’t happen or may be inflated, but I’d like us to do something like this:

Out


Lukaku - 50-60mil

De Gea - 80 mil

Pogba - 130 mil/50 + Varane?

Rojo - 5-10mil

Herrera + Mata - Free

Bailly - 25 million

Sanchez - Whatever it takes 15 mil?

Darmian - 5 million


310 million.


In


De Light - 70 million

Sancho - 70-90 million

Aaron’s - 15 million

Oblak - 80 million

Felix - 65-80 million

Rice - 60 million

+maybe an experienced RB between 28-30


355 million


Oblak/Romero

Aaron’s/Dalot

Lindelof/Smalling

De Ligt/Jones

Shaw/Dalot

McTominay/Matic

Rice/Perreira

Felix/Gomes/Garner

Martial/Chong

Rashford/Greenwood

Sancho/Lingard

Aim for top 4 and build from there.
 
If we play diamond formation next season. Who would you sign as our No.10?
 
-----------------------DeGea
AWB ---- De Legit ---- Koulibaly --- Sessegnon
--------------- Longstaff --McTominay--------
--------------------- Bruno -------------
Pepe ------- Mbappe ----- Felix ------

Bench:
Lindelof
Shaw
Rashford
James
Fred
 
Seeing all names/shapes would make anyone jizz with a shorter refractory period than normal after the past five years of impotence.
 
How big is our transfer budget, realistically?

I mean, I would be all for signing De Ligt, Sancho, Jovic/Felix, Neves and AWB this window.

But if we buy for example Jadon Sancho, can we even afford one of De Ligt, Koulibaly or Felix?
 
What I think will leave: Herrera (free, confirmed), Matic (10m, contract expired next year), Bailly (15m, contract expired next year and replaced by Tuanzebe), (Mata, free).

What we need & must have before the summer window closed:

CB: Koulibaly - (hoping same impact as how VVD made on Liverpool)
CM: Bruno - (a creative midfielder to help Pogba)
RW: Sancho - (a right winger)

Assume both Pogba & DDG stay. These three positions below are priority and by getting them; it’s already considered to be massive improvement to our squad.

And then followed with RB & DM or even LB. However, apart from backup or youth signings like James, Longstaff & etc, I seriously can’t see us signing more than 3 starting XI players unless Pogba & DDG are leaving. Koulibaly, Bruno & Sancho cost more than £250m in total.
 
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What do we still need? = A clear and defined direction.

Why do I keep hearing that " We can't sign seven or eight first team players in the one window"? Why can't we?

I appreciate that it would be difficult and that it is a lot of business to get done. But we all accept that there is a deep rooted problem with the squad and their overall attitude/motivation. If a clear out is required, then clear them out.

It shouldn't be a case of a budget. Rumor has it that we have 200-250 million of a kitty. Now that won't buy 8 proper players, but if you used the revenue from the sale of the players that need to go......... then its affordable.

Not really interested in hearing about the problems of getting 8 new players to gel into a team. There is no "gel" in our existing team, so we not hurting ourselves here.

The only issue I can see, is that its not likely that there are 8 quality players that want to come here.. Now that is a problem
 
When I think about what we need it's frightening.

GK - I think De Gea will leave so we will need a new GK
LB - Shaw will keep his place, more pressing matters to address
CB - Lindelof getting better, still not amazing but will need to keep his place for now as we can't sign 10 players in one window
CB - we need a new one to partner Lindelof. Ridculous to think that when we have so many at the club - Smalling, Rojo, Jones, Bailly....not goodf enough.
RB - required urgently. Dalot not ready and Young not a RB. And is past it.

CDM - I fear Matic will keep his place as we have bigger problems but really we should be signing a new CDM as Matic is done.
CM - Pogba to go please. Fred not good enough, McTominay not a starter. We need 2 new CMs.
CM - 2 new CMs as above

LW - Martial not a LW and not good enough, Sanchez awful. Daniel James to sign? I hope he's ready to go!!!
ST - Lukaku not good enough, Rashford lost his way. Looks like we need a top class ST
RW - we don't have one. Haven't for years. Need to sign one ASAP.

So looking at the state of this squad, I need to prioritise. I swear to challenge for the title and Champions League I wouldn't trust any of them (bar De Gea but I think he'll go)I'd be signing 11 players!!!! Can't do that sop this window I woudl prioritise in this order:-

RB
RW
CM
CDM
CM
LW (Daniel James?)

If we can pull off 5 signings this window, great.
 
Koulibaly - £80m
De Ligt - £80m
James - £15m
B.Fernandes - £65m
Ndidi - £30m
Felix - £75m
AWB - £40m
Bale - loan

Play a diamond.
​
Martial Bale​

Felix​
Pogba Fernandes​

Ndidi

Shaw De Ligt Koulibaly AWB
 
RB - Meunier - £25m
CB - Alderweireld - £25m
DM - Ruben Neves - £65m
CM - Rabiot - £0
RW - Ziyech - £25m
ST - ???? - go big if need be (can use funds from Lukaku sale).

Alderweireld will be good for Lindelof (and maybe even Bailly if Ole still thinks there’s a player there).

Meunier will be a solid option and mentor for Dalot, plus he’ll actually really want to do well here being a massive fan.

Neves - bit of a muppet signing but I love him.

Rabiot - great both technically and physically, and free.

Ziyech - loved watching him play and develop for the past 2 seasons, he’s shown he can do it on the big stage now too.

Striker - anyone but Rom. ‘Rashy’ isn’t quite ready for that mantle yet.
 
Young, sure stars are what we need.

Overpay the players and their clubs to get Sancho and De Ligt and one more similar type and look for bargains at the other spots (which appear to be RB, 2 CMs, GK and a 9 assuming Pogba, Lukaku and De Gea all go).

There have to be midfielders in Ligue 1 and La Liga available for reasonable fees at the positions those leagues tend to have depth in (That tends to be ball winning CMs and passing/holding CMs), and an RB (seems like Ligue 1 has a few decent one mid 20s) and a backup 9 can be found on the cheap.
 
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