What do we still need? Post Summer 2015 edition.

I think a good long term option to compete at CB like laporte or stones and a good exciting attacking player addition. In an ideal world we'd sign a striker too but we'll see

This would be key because we are this type of player away from having a defense good enough to fight for the title. That and a top class attacker that comes in from the right.

CB's - Still plenty of good options here, Laporte, Stones and Koulibaly being the best.

Guys...

Laporte is having a so so season, Stones is mostly on the bench with Funes Mori starting only Koulibaly is having a good season out of the CBs mentioned.

We need a CB with PL experience, leadership, someone who plays LCB, no nonsense and someone who can guide Smalling and help him be a better player.

Laporte - no PL experience, we need a CB who is ready at the start of the 2016/17 season, not so,done that needs adjusting. He lacks leadership and it will be Smalling guiding him not Laporte guiding Smalling.

Stones - Has PL experience, lacks leadership, Smalling will be guiding him and he has had a poor season.

Koulibaly - out of these 3 the best option but no PL experience, he shows leadership in his play, a no nonsense CB but Smalling will still be the one guiding him.


Who ticks all these boxes and currently having a great season?

Ashley Williams.

He has PL experience, plays LCB, a huge leader, no nonsense CB, he will be the one guiding Smalling and is currently having as good as a season as Smalling with 16th place Swansea...

He would solidify our defence and bring back a British core at the back. I think it would be a best CB pairing since Rio and Vidic.

Mike has now become one of the best CBs in the league has a whoscored rating of 7.18

Ashley Williams is also one of the best in the league but many fail to see it, has a whoscored rating of 7.23. Probably the only reason why Swansea are not sitting in the bottom 2.

Another key fact about Ashley Williams is that he is never ever ever injured. I looked into it and he has never been seriously injured throughout his whole career!

Since Swansea's promotion to League 1 in May 2008, Ashley Williams has played 28,342 of Swansea’s 29,070 league minutes.

He plays over 30 games every season for Swansea and not showing signs of slowing down.

An Injury free CB is what we are crying out for!

Yes he is 31 years old, but we seriously lack Experience, he would be very good for us on a 3 year deal, ready for us to find the next solid CB pairing as Smalling would be 29.

I reckon he would jump at the chance at this stage in his career to join United, he would also be a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the other CBs.

I think we could get him for around £15m

Thoughts?
 
Guys...

Laporte is having a so so season, Stones is mostly on the bench with Funes Mori starting only Koulibaly is having a good season out of the CBs mentioned.

We need a CB with PL experience, leadership, someone who plays LCB, no nonsense and someone who can guide Smalling and help him be a better player.

Laporte - no PL experience, we need a CB who is ready at the start of the 2016/17 season, not so,done that needs adjusting. He lacks leadership and it will be Smalling guiding him not Laporte guiding Smalling.

Stones - Has PL experience, lacks leadership, Smalling will be guiding him and he has had a poor season.

Koulibaly - out of these 3 the best option but no PL experience, he shows leadership in his play, a no nonsense CB but Smalling will still be the one guiding him.


Who ticks all these boxes and currently having a great season?

Ashley Williams.

He has PL experience, plays LCB, a huge leader, no nonsense CB, he will be the one guiding Smalling and is currently having as good as a season as Smalling with 16th place Swansea...

He would solidify our defence and bring back a British core at the back. I think it would be a best CB pairing since Rio and Vidic.

Mike has now become one of the best CBs in the league has a whoscored rating of 7.18

Ashley Williams is also one of the best in the league but many fail to see it, has a whoscored rating of 7.23. Probably the only reason why Swansea are not sitting in the bottom 2.

Another key fact about Ashley Williams is that he is never ever ever injured. I looked into it and he has never been seriously injured throughout his whole career!

Since Swansea's promotion to League 1 in May 2008, Ashley Williams has played 28,342 of Swansea’s 29,070 league minutes.

He plays over 30 games every season for Swansea and not showing signs of slowing down.

An Injury free CB is what we are crying out for!

Yes he is 31 years old, but we seriously lack Experience, he would be very good for us on a 3 year deal, ready for us to find the next solid CB pairing as Smalling would be 29.

I reckon he would jump at the chance at this stage in his career to join United, he would also be a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the other CBs.

I think we could get him for around £15m

Thoughts?

I'd wager you'll get a lot of negative responses to this one, personally I think Williams is a good oldschool CB and since the CL is a distant thing for us adding a PL proven CB for the shorter term might be the way too go. I just don't think the club is looking at players of that age regardless, Ibra perhaps being an exception due him being a special talent. We are linked with mostly young players, like the club is thinking of the future at the expense of the present.
 
I'd wager you'll get a lot of negative responses to this one, personally I think Williams is a good oldschool CB and since the CL is a distant thing for us adding a PL proven CB for the shorter term might be the way too go. I just don't think the club is looking at players of that age regardless, Ibra perhaps being an exception due him being a special talent. We are linked with mostly young players, like the club is thinking of the future at the expense of the present.
I know I will get a lot negative responses but like you said the club is looking for the future which imo is a great thing but could be a problem.

I would be all for us signing a young CB along with Williams then Smalling has some genuine competition.

But I just think Smalling would still have to carry us if Laporte doesn't settle in fast enough or if Stones doesn't start showing his 2014/15 season form.

In all I reckon Smalling just needs someone to look up to / take the weight off his shoulders.
 
I know I will get a lot negative responses but like you said the club is looking for the future which imo is a great thing but could be a problem.

I would be all for us signing a young CB along with Williams then Smalling has some genuine competition.

But I just think Smalling would still have to carry us if Laporte doesn't settle in fast enough or if Stones doesn't start showing his 2014/15 season form.

In all I reckon Smalling just needs someone to look up to / take the weight off his shoulders.

I'm not sure I agree with the last part, I think Smalling at his age needs to show he can be the leader in there, not rely on someone to lead him, and he's become a lot more vocal this season. To me where he's found it hard this season at times is the amount of ground coverage he has to do due to how slow and lacking in mobility Blind is.

For instance Koulibaly is very physically similar to Smalling but better on the ball, if we put two beasts like that together with only a couple of years age in difference I could see them forming a powerful partnership, while we blood some of our own young players like Fosu-Mensah, Tuenzabe and RoShaun Williams underneath them.
 
I'm not sure I agree with the last part, I think Smalling at his age needs to show he can be the leader in there, not rely on someone to lead him, and he's become a lot more vocal this season. To me where he's found it hard this season at times is the amount of ground coverage he has to do due to how slow and lacking in mobility Blind is.

For instance Koulibaly is very physically similar to Smalling but better on the ball, if we put two beasts like that together with only a couple of years age in difference I could see them forming a powerful partnership, while we blood some of our own young players like Fosu-Mensah, Tuenzabe and RoShaun Williams underneath them.
Right on, Koulibaly is a great option and with the work we need to do in other areas I don't fancy spending the forty million or more on a CB that Everton would demand for an underwhelming Stones. My doubts with Ashley Williams stem from the issues we've had with Schneiderlin and Fellaini, both signed from midtable teams, struggling with the weight of expectations and the demands associated with being a United player.
If we could get Koulibaly for £20m to £30m I think that would leave us with enough budgetary space to finance the moves for players we need to turn around this ship. The lack of CL football is a problem, though, which makes it difficult for us to make a realistic play for top of the range stars like Griezman and Aubameyang. So we should be focusing more on young players on the brink of a break through season.
 
I'd wager you'll get a lot of negative responses to this one, personally I think Williams is a good oldschool CB and since the CL is a distant thing for us adding a PL proven CB for the shorter term might be the way too go. I just don't think the club is looking at players of that age regardless, Ibra perhaps being an exception due him being a special talent. We are linked with mostly young players, like the club is thinking of the future at the expense of the present.

I will probably response his post in a positive way. Having an old centre back like Ashley Williams or some other defenders doesn't matter as long as they are good enough and available with reasonable price. People might say we should looking for the long term young centre back but is there anyone good available with reasonable price? Do we need to worry about not having long term young centre back for now? Right now we have some young talented and potential to play as a centre back like Williams, Mensah, Tuanzebe and Poole.
Though if we signed Ashley Williams 2 seasons ago, that would be safer as next season he will be 32 which I reckon a final year of a Centre Back's prime age. He might still come good even though he won't be in his prime but gotta say it's risky but still better than spending 50m for another risky player.
 
Guys...

Laporte is having a so so season, Stones is mostly on the bench with Funes Mori starting only Koulibaly is having a good season out of the CBs mentioned.

We need a CB with PL experience, leadership, someone who plays LCB, no nonsense and someone who can guide Smalling and help him be a better player.

Laporte - no PL experience, we need a CB who is ready at the start of the 2016/17 season, not so,done that needs adjusting. He lacks leadership and it will be Smalling guiding him not Laporte guiding Smalling.

Stones - Has PL experience, lacks leadership, Smalling will be guiding him and he has had a poor season.

Koulibaly - out of these 3 the best option but no PL experience, he shows leadership in his play, a no nonsense CB but Smalling will still be the one guiding him.


Who ticks all these boxes and currently having a great season?

Ashley Williams.

He has PL experience, plays LCB, a huge leader, no nonsense CB, he will be the one guiding Smalling and is currently having as good as a season as Smalling with 16th place Swansea...

He would solidify our defence and bring back a British core at the back. I think it would be a best CB pairing since Rio and Vidic.

Mike has now become one of the best CBs in the league has a whoscored rating of 7.18

Ashley Williams is also one of the best in the league but many fail to see it, has a whoscored rating of 7.23. Probably the only reason why Swansea are not sitting in the bottom 2.

Another key fact about Ashley Williams is that he is never ever ever injured. I looked into it and he has never been seriously injured throughout his whole career!

Since Swansea's promotion to League 1 in May 2008, Ashley Williams has played 28,342 of Swansea’s 29,070 league minutes.

He plays over 30 games every season for Swansea and not showing signs of slowing down.

An Injury free CB is what we are crying out for!

Yes he is 31 years old, but we seriously lack Experience, he would be very good for us on a 3 year deal, ready for us to find the next solid CB pairing as Smalling would be 29.

I reckon he would jump at the chance at this stage in his career to join United, he would also be a heck of a lot cheaper than any of the other CBs.

I think we could get him for around £15m

Thoughts?

Risky but it might be the best option based on the ones that available out there and to be honest signing those young, raw and unproven CB with such a big money are also considered the same risk when we actually already have some young talented player who can play as a centre back for long term future. But £15m for 31 or 32 years old centre back might be still a bit too much. Given his contract is until June 2018 £8m or less for me.
 
Right on, Koulibaly is a great option and with the work we need to do in other areas I don't fancy spending the forty million or more on a CB that Everton would demand for an underwhelming Stones. My doubts with Ashley Williams stem from the issues we've had with Schneiderlin and Fellaini, both signed from midtable teams, struggling with the weight of expectations and the demands associated with being a United player.
If we could get Koulibaly for £20m to £30m I think that would leave us with enough budgetary space to finance the moves for players we need to turn around this ship. The lack of CL football is a problem, though, which makes it difficult for us to make a realistic play for top of the range stars like Griezman and Aubameyang. So we should be focusing more on young players on the brink of a break through season.

Koulibaly is coming into the last year of his contract I believe, so we might be able to get him even cheaper than that. There is also Samuel Umtiti who seems tailor made for the PL as well, I honestly think getting a good CB in to partner Smalling should be one of our easier tasks this summer.

I will probably response his post in a positive way. Having an old centre back like Ashley Williams or some other defenders doesn't matter as long as they are good enough and available with reasonable price. People might say we should looking for the long term young centre back but is there anyone good available with reasonable price? Do we need to worry about not having long term young centre back for now? Right now we have some young talented and potential to play as a centre back like Williams, Mensah, Tuanzebe and Poole.
Though if we signed Ashley Williams 2 seasons ago, that would be safer as next season he will be 32 which I reckon a final year of a Centre Back's prime age. He might still come good even though he won't be in his prime but gotta say it's risky but still better than spending 50m for another risky player.

I think our young CB's will factor in to things, in much the way Ibra coming in as our new striker would allow a shorter turnover and not hamper the development of Martial and Rashford, I think an older CB might be considered to not stunt the chances of those you mentioned, it's a tricky balance to try and achieve..
 
After another mess of a season resulting in no CL I think it's highly unlikely that players will leave teams like Atleti, Juve and Dortmund to come here, and despite all logical thought it seems inevitable that Rooney will still be here and worse still, starting most games.

With that in mind;

CB's - Still plenty of good options here, Laporte, Stones and Koulibaly being the best.
As far as I know Puyol is the agent of Laporte, so I can see him going to Barca or to City with Pep. Although, he said he wants to stay at Bilbao.
Stones could come or go to Chelsea/City. For the money that Everton wants, I prefer Koulibaly plus more opportunities to Fosu-Mensah.

CM's - Like CB there are good options like Goretzka, Kante, Xhaka and Neves.
IMO a player like Gundogan or Kroos could form a better partnership with Schneiderlin. But I would be happy if we sign Kante. For the rumors, it seems that we are after Renato Sanches so I hope he fulfill his potential.
RW - Mahrez is the best option of the proven choices, if we go for young potential then Sane and Dembele seem strong options.
Totally agree, for me one of those players has to be in our team next season, if we can sign 2 even better.
If we play 442 with Martial and Ibra/Lukaku up front. We could have Memphis plus 2 more wingers as options to play wide.

#10/AM - Can't see anything happening here with Rooney dug in like an Alabama tick.
You are right. It also depends on our main formation for next season. Let's see if we continue playing 4231 or if we move to a better 433. There are interesting players like Isco, James, Gotze that could be available.
Striker - Ibra and Lukaku or the only. 2 realistic options in my view.
Zlatan or Lukaku would improve our attack. The difference it's that one is a short term solution while Lukaku could be here for years.
 
I saw a post by @Raoul last night where he said he didn't think we needed to buy more potential, it's a fair point when you look at our attack and defense.

Up top we have two very talented young forwards who are 20 and 18 respectively, and the other 4 players jockeying for those front 4 positions are between 20 and 23. In defense our best LB is 20 and we have players like Fosu-Mensah, CBJ, Riley, Varela and McNair who are all under 23.

So it's maybe a summer to get in established players rather than more prospects, apart from in midfield where we don't really have a huge wealth of talent coming though.
 
Absolutely spot on. We have more than enough youth and need established world class, or near world class players only imo.

Ibra, Griezmann, Kroos, Gundogan, Laporte, Pogba, Aubameyang, Bale etc are the types we should be looking at.
 
For defenders we often mention Stones and Laporte. But what about Hummels? I think we need a leader like him.
 
I'm in serious muppet mode.

DDG
Damo Smalling Laporte Shaw
Kante Carrick
Dembele Kroos Martial
Ibrahimovic
 
In that midfield the poor guy will be dead come January. :p

Haha, i'm not sure thats possible with him.

But seriously, i think it could Work. Bayern had a similar setup in 12/13 with Martinez, Schweinsteiger and Kroos.
Kante is really fast and his stamina is out of this World.
 
Haha, i'm not sure thats possible with him.

But seriously, i think it could Work. Bayern had a similar setup in 12/13 with Martinez, Schweinsteiger and Kroos.
Kante is really fast and his stamina is out of this World.

Carrick's legs have gone though, Martinez and Scheiwnsteiger were in their prime to cover for the fact Kroos doesn't do any work. I honestly think we need to build towards the league we play in, we need players who are athletic and can put the hard yards in, Kroos is a luxury player and Carrick needs to retire IMO.
 
Carrick's legs have gone though, Martinez and Scheiwnsteiger were in their prime to cover for the fact Kroos doesn't do any work. I honestly think we need to build towards the league we play in, we need players who are athletic and can put the hard yards in, Kroos is a luxury player and Carrick needs to retire IMO.

Kroos is still a class player, maybe the best passer in the game.

Let's put Xhaka in there instead of Carrick and we have a deal? :)

Kante Xhaka
Kroos

:drool:
 
Kroos is still a class player, maybe the best passer in the game.

Let's put Xhaka in there instead of Carrick and we have a deal? :)

Kante Xhaka
Kroos

:drool:

Well I'd say it might work because you have the defensive cover, but in that set up with him as a #10 or AM I'd still prefer someone more dynamic like Griezmann or Barkley, I mean Xhaka would give us the penetrative passing from deeper. I dunno mate, I guess it's just a preference, I'm not a fan of players who are slow with poor mobility, especially given the nature of the PL.
 
Just seen Evra is out of contract in summer. Would happily bring him in and get rid of Rojo. Him, Shaw and CBJ as left back options would be great.
 
Ashley Williams... Good lord just when you think people can't get any worse
 
Just seen Evra is out of contract in summer. Would happily bring him in and get rid of Rojo. Him, Shaw and CBJ as left back options would be great.

It's a nice idea but it would limit Borthwick-Jackson's opportunities

We need to focus on right back if we are after a fullback
 
In terms of what we need it's clear we have youth and potential.... what we need is to add players who are ready to be part of the first team and help the younger guys develop

Out: at least Fellaini, Jones, Carrick, Rooney, Powell, McNair, Mata (if we could attract a player like Griezeman)

In

New more balanced Right Back - Darmian is an excellent backup option but we need a right back who can attack and defend - Danilo?

A top quality CB - Varane would be ideal and he and Smalling can form a strong partnership.... Tempted by someone with more experience but I think we should be thinking of building a team that will challenge for the next 5 years - Stones looks talented and he is playing in a typical defensively poor Martinez side so not sure how good he can be

CM - we need 2 in here I think - Kante is great but if Schneiderlin manages to play like he did at the weekend then he isn't really needed - not sure though if we really need another kind of player like that - ideally I'd want a Modric type player as a playmaker with someone like Kroos or Verrati as a strong more deep passing midfielder as well - Pogba would be a great box to box option

RW - have to say I've been impressed by Draxler when I've seen him this season - Mahrez another obvious choice - Moura?

SS/AM - Griezeman would be great, Rodriguez another good option - adding Harry Kane could be overkill and we aren't likely to be in with a shout - Ibra for 2 years?

I have a feeling we will buy Ronaldo back from Madrid
 
I'm in serious muppet mode.

DDG
Damo Smalling Laporte Shaw
Kante Carrick
Dembele Kroos Martial
Ibrahimovic

A team with Darmian, Carrick, Kroos and Ibra has no chance in the EPL. Might as well put Rooney and Mata in the wings too to finish it off.

Going forwards we can max afford maybe one slow individual in attack and that is it.. I'd prefer to focus on injecting this team with athleticism as well as quality.
 
He's as good as Smalling. If Smalling played for Swansea absolutely no-one on here would want us to sign him.
I'm sorry but he's not even close to smalling. For one smalling is bigger and faster which makes him way better Omar heading and one on one defending. We are crying out for a ball playing defender not a lump like Williams
 
I'm sorry but he's not even close to smalling. For one smalling is bigger and faster which makes him way better Omar heading and one on one defending. We are crying out for a ball playing defender not a lump like Williams
Have you seen him play?
He is actually pretty quick, as quick as Smalling and probably stronger than Smalling.

He reads the game better than Smalling and has an aura of leadership about him.

Williams predominantly plays LCB, so they would compliment each other very well, especially with Williams brining that much needed PL experience to the back 4.

Would be a very solid defense.
 
Have you seen him play?
He is actually pretty quick, as quick as Smalling and probably stronger than Smalling.

He reads the game better than Smalling and has an aura of leadership about him.

Williams predominantly plays LCB, so they would compliment each other very well, especially with Williams brining that much needed PL experience to the back 4.

Would be a very solid defense.
We need someone of a far better standard than Ashley Williams.
 
Won't be a popular opinion but would go for only a CB (Not Stones), a ST- Someone in early 20s-Icardi/Dybala(unrealistic), Lukaku, Kane(unlikely), a RW(only after giving Januzaj a fair chance at right Wing, 5-6 starts from now) and a GK (if DDG leaves). I dont think we need a CM- Schneiderlin and Herrera are alright. Maybe someone to add depth only is needed. RB is ok IMO-VArela and Darmian depending upon the kind of oppo. CAM is also set IMO(Mata is still better than most other players)
 
Such as? A player that will need adjusting to the league?

As much as many people don't think, Williams is one of the leagues best CB's.
Vidic needed six months to adjust to the league maybe we should have gone for Joseph Yobo then? A player might take time to get used to the country but then you don't sign players for just one season and more often than not players do settle in this league.
 
Have you seen him play?
He is actually pretty quick, as quick as Smalling and probably stronger than Smalling.

He reads the game better than Smalling and has an aura of leadership about him.

Williams predominantly plays LCB, so they would compliment each other very well, especially with Williams brining that much needed PL experience to the back 4.

Would be a very solid defense.
Yeh I've seen him play and he's a solid blood and guts defender but that's completely the opposite to what we need as Smalling already fills that roll. I can't think of a partnership as bad as Smalling and Williams on the ball and that's a staple at such a big team. Would a team like Barca or Bayern even go close to him, absolutely not! We need to be signing world class players or world class potential not someone like Williams who's frankly not even in his prime.

Stones is my number one choice and I'm not fussed if he costs us £50, he fits the bill we should get him no questions. Time to start really flexing this finacial muscle
 
A team with Darmian, Carrick, Kroos and Ibra has no chance in the EPL. Might as well put Rooney and Mata in the wings too to finish it off.

Going forwards we can max afford maybe one slow individual in attack and that is it.. I'd prefer to focus on injecting this team with athleticism as well as quality.

I definitely agree with this, more power, pace and mobiliy is required in our squad.
 
In
Ibrahimovic - Free
Dembele -£35m
Gundogan £30m
Saul/Gomes £30m
Laporte £40m
Koulibaly £30m
(Maybe a Joau Cancelo or Fabinho too for RB if Darmian doesnt improve)

£165m

Out
Mata
Fellaini
Carrick
Jones

£30m

Net £135m

--------------Ibrahimovic---------
Marital--------Herrera--------Dembele
------Gundogan---Schneiderlin-------
Shaw---Laporte---Smalling--Darmian
--------------De Gea---------------

I would like us to buy a right back and another winger too to ship out Valencia and Young but I guess that can wait for another year. I doubt Rooney will leave this summer either and maybe
 
Part of me wants us to buy no one, but instead get a manager that will first not injure everyone, and second get our current squad playing to their full potential, it might be the only think that will finally shut the few LvG fanboys up.

Failing that Fellaini, Rooney, and Rojo can go, and Aubameyang, Sanches, Mane, and Varane can join.
 
In
Ibrahimovic - Free
Dembele -£35m
Gundogan £30m
Saul/Gomes £30m
Laporte £40m
Koulibaly £30m
(Maybe a Joau Cancelo or Fabinho too for RB if Darmian doesnt improve)

£165m

Out
Mata
Fellaini
Carrick
Jones

£30m

Net £135m

--------------Ibrahimovic---------
Marital--------Herrera--------Dembele
------Gundogan---Schneiderlin-------
Shaw---Laporte---Smalling--Darmian
--------------De Gea---------------

I would like us to buy a right back and another winger too to ship out Valencia and Young but I guess that can wait for another year. I doubt Rooney will leave this summer either and maybe
If we sign Laporte why would we need Koulibaly and vise versa? We would still have Rojo and Blind in the side so, imo, signing two CBs would be overkill. I think the Gundogun ship has sailed and we missed our chance when we picked Bastien over him so now he will either go to City or Barcelona.
 
If we sign Laporte why would we need Koulibaly and vise versa? We would still have Rojo and Blind in the side so, imo, signing two CBs would be overkill. I think the Gundogun ship has sailed and we missed our chance when we picked Bastien over him so now he will either go to City or Barcelona.
I would rather have proper CBs instead of Blind playing there. I don't have much trust in Rojo either at CB so far so I don't want to be one injury to Smalling (who in previous seasons has been injured quite a lot) from having to rely on Blind and Rojo again.

Smalling
Laporte
Koulibaly
and then Rojo or Blind if 2 of them are injured.