Which midfielder do you prefer?

Bondi77 said:
Don't know about you mate but Pogba would not feature in my dreams :wenger:
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I had a dream involving van der sar last night. He was a very nice chap who wanted to tell me stories about playing for united, but I was in a bit of a rush. Also very tall in real life (dreams)
 
Hard to say as we need a completely different midfield pairing. But the thing that would be good long term but also give us the best chance at immediate success is Rice. Rice next to Fred would be solid, Rice is secure with the ball and doesn't give it away cheaply but can grow on it of course. But more importantly, he'd give us that top class midfield anchor and keep that physical presence quality that McTominay at least provides. Fred is a decent enough level that we could make it work IMO, or Pogba would have a chance to work as an 8 if he stayed for a good chunk of games.

After him, really not sure who the right deeper playmaker is. Camavinga looks like a non starter, so not sure. Hard to find them. Locatelli seemingly going to Juve. Verratti and Jorginho already at big clubs. Inter won't sell Barella.
 
I'm not one for defensive midfielders being a playmaker(considering Carrick was one of my fav). Primary role should be shielding and breaking up play, with key ability to be calm under pressure so to keep game ticking.
All these fancy types just don't work for me. We all seem to ignore the greatest strengths of Jorginho, Busquet, Fabinho, Fernandinho, etc is not passing or creativity but positioning and composure.
So, if we want a proper DM let's look at purely defensive minded midfielders and ignore the fancy stuff or else we'll just end up with another Fred. The 18yr old lad I completely rule out for immaturity and Deschamp not taking him to the Euro says it all, that's one position he doesn't make much mistakes. Ndidi is not available right now.

Id go for Declan Rice or get a replacement for Luke Shaw and cover him to a DM.
Neves? Rather look at Danilo or Zakaria. Kroos will always need a pure defender next to him.
 
Kroos - make it happen Ed.

We need someone who can pick a pass and not someone who can defend.
 
bosnian_red said:
Hard to say as we need a completely different midfield pairing. But the thing that would be good long term but also give us the best chance at immediate success is Rice. Rice next to Fred would be solid, Rice is secure with the ball and doesn't give it away cheaply but can grow on it of course. But more importantly, he'd give us that top class midfield anchor and keep that physical presence quality that McTominay at least provides. Fred is a decent enough level that we could make it work IMO, or Pogba would have a chance to work as an 8 if he stayed for a good chunk of games.

After him, really not sure who the right deeper playmaker is. Camavinga looks like a non starter, so not sure. Hard to find them. Locatelli seemingly going to Juve. Verratti and Jorginho already at big clubs. Inter won't sell Barella.
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Rice is a poor man's version of McTominay. It'd be a repeat of Schneiderlin if we went anywhere near him. Shockingly poor on the ball.
 
Any deal we do with PSG should include Veratti as part of a player exchange for Pogba. Draxler is also worth considering.
 
Random Task said:
Any deal we do with PSG should include Veratti as part of a player exchange for Pogba. Draxler is also worth considering.
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No chance, PSG is not stupid. Veratti is by far their best midfielder. Its like Dortmund or Real Madrid asking us for Bruno as part of player exchange for Sancho or Varane.
 
Ideally, Declan Rice. The Euro final showed his worth, when he went off the game moved away from England. Completely unrealistic target unfortunately. I think Neves is a good shout, with their manager gone, and the Bruno connection, could work nicely.
 
For me - Neves and I'd try to retain Pogba, even if we risk losing him for free. I'd be very happy with our squad with that addition.
 
Liverpool have the my favourite and probably the best type for the English game in Fabinho, dream of a player.
 
RedRonaldo said:
No chance, PSG is not stupid. Veratti is by far their best midfielder. Its like Dortmund or Real Madrid asking us for Bruno as part of player exchange for Sancho or Varane.
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Pogba is no mug. He had an excellent Euros and he still carries a top tier reputation across Europe. PSG will be highly reluctant, no doubt, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't push for the deal to happen. They want Pogba, we want a midfielder before the window shuts - preferably one of a similar standard to the one we're losing. We should set our stall out and go for Veratti. Really test how much they want him.
 
Random Task said:
Pogba is no mug. He had an excellent Euros and he still carries a top tier reputation across Europe. PSG will be highly reluctant, no doubt, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't push for the deal to happen. They want Pogba, we want a midfielder before the window shuts - preferably one of a similar standard to the one we're losing. We should set our stall out and go for Veratti. Really test how much they want him.
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Absolutely zero chance of that happening. Why would he want to leave them for us anyway? They're trying to build a team to win the CL, whilst clowns on here think we can challenge after selling our best player.
 
Top target should be Camavinga, with Brozovic as a backup and Neves as 3rd option.
 
Red_toad said:
We need a disciplined holding midfielder, who has a good passing range, in my opinion.
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This is something we needed regardless of Pogba leaving, but I don't know who fits this description. Locatelli can play that role but don't think he's leaving Italy, hope we don't buy Rice, not sure if Neves or Saul are that kind of players.

If Pogba leaves I'll absolutely take Goretzka in a heart beat, him alongwith the above mentioned holding midfielder can enable Bruno to continue playing the #10 position. We can even look at Tielemans.

Camavinga we should b buying purely because he's got so much potential.
Maybe even sell Fred/Scott/Matic to accommodate him.
 
MUFC OK said:
Absolutely zero chance of that happening. Why would he want to leave them for us anyway? They're trying to build a team to win the CL, whilst clowns on here think we can challenge after selling our best player.
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Since I'm one of those clowns, I'm inclined to take offence at your statement. How very dare you call me a clown. I fecking hate clowns.

Why is there zero chance of it happening? PSG will be dealing with the biggest club in football who, believe it or not, is also trying to build a team capable of winning the CL, and Veratti would go a long way to achieving that goal.
 
MUFC OK said:
Absolutely zero chance of that happening. Why would he want to leave them for us anyway? They're trying to build a team to win the CL, whilst clowns on here think we can challenge after selling our best player.
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Except Pogba is not our best player
 
Random Task said:
Since I'm one of those clowns, I'm inclined to take offence at your statement. How very dare you call me a clown. I fecking hate clowns.

Why is there zero chance of it happening? PSG will be dealing with the biggest club in football who, believe it or not, is also trying to build a team capable of winning the CL, and Veratti would go a long way to achieving that goal.
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If we try to include Veratti their response would be "no thanks, we'll wait until next summer" and take Pogba for free. Seeing a lot of bullishness suggesting we sell PP but I think we risk massively destabilising our squad. To be fair, at least you're suggesting we get a world class replacement and not "give VDB a shot".
 
I think Rice could be the missing piece. I really like him and his style of game and he could become a lot better. If United manage to Dell Pogba than Rice and Neves would be a great purchase. They would not be the most agile combo but i think they would compliment each other well. Rice doing the dirty work with Neves feeding Bruno and the front three. One of McFred to be brought in for energy reasons. Try to offload Lingard plus Cash for Rice, Pogba to PSG and then sign Neves.
Hendo
AWB Varane Maguire Shaw
Rice Neves
Sancho Bruno Rashford
Cavani
With McT, Fred, Donny, Martial, Greenwood and hopefully an attacking RB option (looking at Trippier) as options
 
MUFC OK said:
If we try to include Veratti their response would be "no thanks, we'll wait until next summer" and take Pogba for free. Seeing a lot of bullishness suggesting we sell PP but I think we risk massively destabilising our squad. To be fair, at least you're suggesting we get a world class replacement and not "give VDB a shot".
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Getting a world replacement for a world class player is only natural, no? Given he has a year left on his contract, selling Pogba for a straight cash deal will result in a significant loss. We have to push them as hard as humanly possible for any potential deal that benefits the club. Veratti should be top of our transfer departments collective minds when discussing any deal with PSG for Pogba.
 
Why would we want to sign Verrati anyway? He's not really a very good DM, more a box to box that's pushed back.

We have enough box to box players, which is why neither Saul nor Neves are great fits either. Our midfield has been lopsided for a good while now and I'm not sure one player really fixes that. What we really need is a DM in the Fabinho, Casemiro, Fernandinho mould that can tackle and pass, and then on top of that add the previously mentioned names for quality in depth.

A combination of two like Goretska (or another DM like Bissouma / Ndidi), and a young talented midfielder like Camavinga would be my pick. Though once we have a proper DM any good midfielder on top would do (to replace Pogba).
 
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Random Task said:
Pogba is no mug. He had an excellent Euros and he still carries a top tier reputation across Europe. PSG will be highly reluctant, no doubt, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't push for the deal to happen. They want Pogba, we want a midfielder before the window shuts - preferably one of a similar standard to the one we're losing. We should set our stall out and go for Veratti. Really test how much they want him.
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Sure, but don't forget Veratti also lead Italy to win Euro. Make no sense to let him go as part of exchange for any other midfielder in the world.
 
I've done a little research on DMs and CMs that play in the double pivot and compared it to Pogba's 19/20 season where he played majorly in the double pivot. And the only players we can get that come close to matching his stats in terms of creativity from that position (progressive passes and carries, progressive passes and carries into the final third) are Fabian Ruiz, Locatelli and Brozovic. Brozovic seems the best option of the three as Locatelli has his mind on Juve and Ruiz isnt as good defensively.


https://breakingthelines.com/data-analysis/finding-a-paul-pogba-replacement/

This is an article thay focuses on u-23 replacements for Pogba
 
The absolute dream scenario is Pogba and Matic out with Goretzka and camavinga coming in. Don't think we'll sign 2 midfielders unfortunately.
 
Skills said:
Rice is a poor man's version of McTominay. It'd be a repeat of Schneiderlin if we went anywhere near him. Shockingly poor on the ball.
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He literally isn't at all. He is excellent defensively, plugs gaps constantly and makes it very difficult for the opposition to attack through the middle. On the ball he isn't creative but he is safe and secure and doesn't get dispossessed cheaply, again, something absolutely vital considering all of Fred, McTominay and Pogba are very sloppy and give up the ball carelessly, and none of them are capable of being actual holding midfielders as they don't know how to plug the gaps effectively and close the space.
 
Bentancur and Camavinga. Bentancur sits to protect the defense and passes. Camavinga helps ball progression and aggressive closing down.
 
Renato looked excellent at the Euros. Wouldn't mind him at all.
 
I’d like Saul and Verrati - maybe just Saul if we keep Pogba. As it is it sounds like our window’s already done which is a bit of a joke but can’t say I’m surprised anymore.
 
Kimmich would turn United into the most complete team around. That Varane-Maguire-Kimmich-Fernandes spine would be tremendous.
 
MUFC OK said:
Okay so our second after Bruno but it's debatable, he was very good for us last season and was arguably player of the tournament at the Euro's too.
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Very good? His last PL goal came in January despite playing on the wing a lot in 2nd half of season.

Every day that goes by Pogba seems to get better and better with some of you. He got 6 goals and 6 assists across the entire season. He wasn't very good at all. He was okay.
 
Is Renato Sanches out of everybody's thoughts now? There was a lot of chatter on the internet about him after his Euros performances. Given that wishful thinking is all it takes to get into a thread like this, I'm surprised the talk about him has died down so quickly.

He looked really good this summer.
 
Lets face it we can hardly sign a bad one. From the unlikely to the very attainable there are a plethora of quality central midfield additions......

Kimmich, Goretzka, Veratti, Ndidi, Camavinga, Renato Sanchez, Saul, Rice, Zakaria, Neves, Caqueret, Gravenburch, Locatelli, Barella, Kamara, Tchouameni, NDOmbele (yes I still rate him highly), Bissouma....sure there are absolutely loads more I havent mentioned.

Half of those are very unlikely but then aain so was Varane just a few months ago.

There are a few I think can be ruled out in terms of fees or being for sale even and a couple arent for me though they are good players.

For me, thoug it isnt happening I would love two, the options I would like would be:

Cheap: Caqueret, Kamara, Zakaria - Dont think would be anything over £20M for any of these, Kamara I saw rumours of £10m odd....absolute steal

Main targets: Camavinga, Saul - fee wise I think these represent the best value pound for pound

I havent seen Tchouameni to comment. Bissouma is also a very good option already knowing the premiership and having proved himself in it, all be it over just one season.

Kamara and Camavinga for £40m odd in total would be my choices, absolute bargain...two for the price of half a bag of Rice
 
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