Which midfielder should we buy to give Pogba more freedom

Vadim T. said:
I'd love as much as the rest of us to bring up another youth player, but it's not gonna happen for a number of reasons. Firstly, Jose isn't exactly in love with the notion of playing them. I feel like he's already gone out of his way to bring up McTominay to appease the fans when for me at least its pretty clear that he isn't good enough to be starting games for Man Utd. If there was an exceptional midfield talent, that would be a different conversation, but in my humble opinion, there isn't anyone outstanding. The best youth prospects I would say are Gomes, Chong, and Tuanzebe so we should focus on bringing those up. Gomes is a 10, Chong is a winger, and Tuanzebe, while touted as a potential midfielder is definitely not trusted by Jose to play there as of now. No, I think that we absolutely need to go out an buy at least on mid. With Fellaini likely leaving, Carrick retiring, and Matic turning 30, we need some more depth in the area not just to complement pogba but to play in case he gets injured. I think if we went to Roma and offered 50 mil for Naingollan, they would take it, and IMO, he's the closest thing to Roy Keane in modern football. Milankovic-Savic is a fantastic player and just what Jose would want, but the figures being touted, 150 mil is completely unreasonable if we want to bring in a Dybala as well.
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Fantastic post! Yeah, it isn't Jose style, and if there was one youngster very good Jose would know about it. I'd like to see United trying Wanyama, that guy is a monster physically, but a player from Italian league is cheaper, yeah. We really need someone as good as Pogba in the squad, can't rely on him to control all games. I hope we don't buy another striker unless it's Ronaldo.
 
Vadim T. said:
I'd love as much as the rest of us to bring up another youth player, but it's not gonna happen for a number of reasons. Firstly, Jose isn't exactly in love with the notion of playing them. I feel like he's already gone out of his way to bring up McTominay to appease the fans when for me at least its pretty clear that he isn't good enough to be starting games for Man Utd. If there was an exceptional midfield talent, that would be a different conversation, but in my humble opinion, there isn't anyone outstanding. The best youth prospects I would say are Gomes, Chong, and Tuanzebe so we should focus on bringing those up. Gomes is a 10, Chong is a winger, and Tuanzebe, while touted as a potential midfielder is definitely not trusted by Jose to play there as of now. No, I think that we absolutely need to go out an buy at least on mid. With Fellaini likely leaving, Carrick retiring, and Matic turning 30, we need some more depth in the area not just to complement pogba but to play in case he gets injured. I think if we went to Roma and offered 50 mil for Naingollan, they would take it, and IMO, he's the closest thing to Roy Keane in modern football. Milankovic-Savic is a fantastic player and just what Jose would want, but the figures being touted, 150 mil is completely unreasonable if we want to bring in a Dybala as well.
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Great post and totally agree apart from the bit on Nainggolan. He's older than Matic, will be 30 before the season is out and given the way he smokes (quite the chimney, if stories are to be believed), he's not going to last long at the topmost level - specially in a league as physical as the Prem. Don't therefore see him as a viable option that Jose would go after. This of course, is ignoring the stories linking him with a move to China. I'd take SMS right now. He's a good fit I think and I don't think he'd cost 150 Mn (or I hope not at least). Not certain we're in for Dybala and in any case, given that we would normally have splurged big and got Alexis on virtually a free, I'm certain the funds are there to be spent, if needed.
 
midnightmare said:
Great post and totally agree apart from the bit on Nainggolan. He's older than Matic, will be 30 before the season is out and given the way he smokes (quite the chimney, if stories are to be believed), he's not going to last long at the topmost level - specially in a league as physical as the Prem. Don't therefore see him as a viable option that Jose would go after. This of course, is ignoring the stories linking him with a move to China. I'd take SMS right now. He's a good fit I think and I don't think he'd cost 150 Mn (or I hope not at least). Not certain we're in for Dybala and in any case, given that we would normally have splurged big and got Alexis on virtually a free, I'm certain the funds are there to be spent, if needed.
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That's a great point about Nainggolan, I should have looked into his age. I've just been a massive admirer for a while now and wish we had gone for him at some point. It's so unfair how an absolute moron of a manager in Martinez ruined his international career by not even calling him up for the wc squad. Belgium have all the flair and attacking talent in the world, but if they actually valued hard work and graft that people like Nainggolan provide, they wouldn't constantly underachieve on the big stage. I sure hope that we'll go in hard for Dybala in the summer because he's my favorite non united player in the world and I see him as being absolutely perfect for us in the 10. Genuinely, the lad is a potential Ballon d'Or winner and pairing him with Pogba, Martial, Sanchez, and Big Rom is easily champions league winners worthy.
 
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Class of 63 said:
A short-term fix maybe, but Lassana Diarra(32), on a free transfer is a no-brainer for me, equally good on both sides of the ball, it's just getting him focused.
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He is off to PSG apparently.

Heard Jorginho from Napoli is very good.
 
BorisManUtd said:
He is off to PSG apparently.

Heard Jorginho from Napoli is very good.
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Rumour does indeed have Diarra undergoing a medical with PSG. Would be an underwhelming signing, truth be told, specially at his age and with his injury record. Not sure we should be interested in someone with that history. Barely played in the last year!

Jorginho is good, but isn't he more of a playmaker? Been in that role the few (very few, admittedly) times I've seen him. SMS seems a bit rough, but more like the player we should go for. Will cost a bomb of course. What about Dendoncker though? There were stories linking us (among a thousand other players) with him last summer. Don't follow the Belgian league at all though. Is he any good?
 
IMO Herrera is good but only in defense, he's lost his attack abilities. We'd need a complete midfielder, someone like Vidal but the options are quite limited imo:
- Kovacic: no way RM gonna sell him to us, even if they do he'd cost us at least 100 m pound.
- Vidal, Nainggolan : a bit too old now
- Koke, Saul: no way they'd leave ATM
- Kante: Chelsea will never sell him to us, especially after the Matic sale.
- Verrati: PSG will never let him leave, whatever the amount
- Thiago: maybe but 150 m pound I think

Personally I've take a liking at Thomas Partey (24 years old), the guy is having a breakthrough season at ATM and will be a beast imo.
 
We should go for younger midfielders like Weigl or Soler. But we will need 2 if Fellaini and Carrick are off.
 
United_We_Stand said:

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If there is any chance that Thiago is available, we need to go get him at all cost.

Pogba, Thiago and Matic would run riot. Thiago is the guy to unleash Pogba and with Sanchez and Martial, we would be unstoppable. I hope Jose has his sights set on Thiago for the summer.
 
beingshe7don said:
If there is any chance that Thiago is available, we need to go get him at all cost.

Pogba, Thiago and Matic would run riot. Thiago is the guy to unleash Pogba and with Sanchez and Martial, we would be unstoppable. I hope Jose has his sights set on Thiago for the summer.
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He is constantly injured.
 
If and when Thiago leaves Bayern, he would probably go back to Barca.
Really good player though and the kind of player who we should be looking at to complete our midfield, although as many have said, his injuries are a concern.
I think a few Real Madrid players will be on the market this year, especially one or two of their midfielders as they have Modric, Kroos, Casemero, Isco, Ascencio, Kovacic and Cabellos for 3 positions.
If Kovacic is available I think we should go all out for him, he's just 23 and I think he's suited to the PL.
With game time and proper management he can be as good as Thiago in a few years IMHO.
 
Sanche7 said:
If and when Thiago leaves Bayern, he would probably go back to Barca.
Really good player though and the kind of player who we should be looking at to complete our midfield, although as many have said, his injuries are a concern.
I think a few Real Madrid players will be on the market this year, especially one or two of their midfielders as they have Modric, Kroos, Casemero, Isco, Ascencio, Kovacic and Cabellos for 3 positions.
If Kovacic is available I think we should go all out for him, he's just 23 and I think he's suited to the PL.
With game time and proper management he can be as good as Thiago in a few years IMHO.
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Kovacic is my dream signing.

Considering how rarely he plays, and the amount of money RM needs to raise this summer to fix their attack, there might be an opening there.

One problem could be RM not exactly loving us after the fax machine though. I reckon they would quote us a higher price than his other suitors, like they did with Morata.
 
SwansonsTache said:
Kovacic is my dream signing.

Considering how rarely he plays, and the amount of money RM needs to raise this summer to fix their attack, there might be an opening there.

One problem could be RM not exactly loving us after the fax machine though. I reckon they would quote us a higher price than his other suitors, like they did with Morata.
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Matic-Kovacic-Pogba could be damn beautiful, seems like a perfect balance.

Lukaku
Martial Pogba Sanchez
Matic Kovacic​
 
Kante. Chelsea are going backwards, Conte is off, they don't mind selling their best players to us and Abramovich doesn't seem like he cares anymore. As their recent action in the transfer market seems to show.

Edit: Then De Bruyne next year. Pep will be off then.

De Bruyne - Kante - Pogba

Sanchez - Kane - Martial

Thats a champions league winning team.

If you're going to muppet lads do it properly.
 
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I don’t think our aim in midfield should be to give Pogba more freedom. Our aim should be to be able to dominate games even against top opponents. We should also be able to continue a title challenge even if Pogba gets a hamstring injury.
 
One option is to find a playmaking #8, think Pjanic/Thiago/Modric, and then some cover for Matic. Second option is to find a playmaking #6, think Weigl/Jorginho, and also a box-to-box player.

The former is the most difficult, as there is so few dynamic playmakers on the market, Seri is the most realistic, but i'm not sure he is good enough tbh. Would love to see us put a 100m bid out for Pjanic, but it would probably be a difficult transfer to pull off.
 
I like Weigl but Kovacic would be available now, I think. We will most likely need 2 in the summer if Fellaini and Carrick are going.
 
I'm leaning in favour of taking Ozil on a free and getting two CMs to replace Carrick and Fellaini. Would love to see us stacked with quality in the centre.
 
I'm a fan of Maxi Arnold from Wolfsburg. Caught a few of his games in the U-21's championship recently and he controlled games well from Midfield for the Germans. Covered alot of ground and was always available for a pass when pushing forward. Could play pushing forward or holding so gives the option to rest Matic or Pogba or play between the 2.
 
I like McTominay.

Preferably someone that is athletic, tall, energetic and who LOVES DEFENDING. I can't stress the last enough. Someone who is content with doing simple passes and nothing flashy.
 
SwSw said:
I like McTominay.

Preferably someone that is athletic, tall, energetic and who LOVES DEFENDING. I can't stress the last enough. Someone who is content with doing simple passes and nothing flashy.
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Was solid today and hopefully he can build on that, I have high hopes for him but he'll need another season or two in the background until he's ready to be a starter I think. Hope he proves me wrong though.
 
^^^
Someone who will follow instructions and apply it to a T, and complement both Pogba and Matic as a bonus.
 
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