Who led last summer's transfer window?

FrankWhite

Not Frank White
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With all the talk about ETH not wanting this player or that player brought in, It makes me curious, just how many players brought in, was led by ETH vs Ineos, especially compared to previous seasons which were almost exclusively led by ETH.
The fact that we overloaded ourselves with CBs and brought in Ugarte, almost makes it seem like we sort of alreadty had Amori in mind.

IMO, Zirzee, Ugarte, De light and Yoro were Ineos and scouts signings. Only Mazaraoui was ETH.
Thoughts?
 
I think all are INEOS signings, even De Ligt and Maz, both we got them a decent fees which tell us that if they were more expensive then INEOE wouldnt have signed them, Yoro is one for the future and Ugarte is a young defensive midfielder, EtH definitely led the transfers in the he first 2 summers for sure even if some names were suggested to him as options, this summer though it feels like these signings are led by INEOS, we heard the stories for example how Barrada went and convinced Yoro to sign for us, or when Ten Hag said the club recommended De Ligt and Maz rather than him asking for them and so on and so forth.
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
I think all are INEOS signings, even De Ligt and Maz, both we got them a decent fees which tell us that if they were more expensive then INEOE wouldnt have signed them, Yoro is one for the future and Ugarte is a young defensive midfielder, EtH definitely led the transfers in the he first 2 summers for sure even if some names were suggested to him as options, this summer though it feels like these signings are led by INEOS, we heard the stories for example how Barrada went and convinced Yoro to sign for us, or when Ten Hag said the club recommended De Ligt and Maz rather than him asking for them and so on and so forth.
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Oh don't get me wrong, the reason we got them for good prices is because Ineos did all the negotiating. I believed ETH even and said he didn't suggest De ligt, someone else did.
The reason I think he picked Mazraoui is because Maz wasn't an original target he was more an opportunity signing.
This is why I'm calm about Zirkzee.I don't think he's another ETH did signing.
 
FrankWhite said:
Oh don't get me wrong, the reason we got them for good prices is because Ineos did all the negotiating. I believed ETH even and said he didn't suggest De ligt, someone else did.
The reason I think he picked Mazraoui is because Maz wasn't an original target he was more an opportunity signing.
This is why I'm calm about Zirkzee.I don't think he's another ETH did signing.
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Agreed, I remember the article in the Athletic, saying that Ten Hag floated the idea of De Ligt in Jan2024 but in the summer, the club found out that De Ligt is available and he met the criteria the new management set (Young, talented, good character, etc...) and Maz who has the same agents with De Ligt was also available so the club negotiated for both for a cut price which is brilliant, you can say both are really opportunistic signing as they were surprisingly available and meet the criteria and cost a decent fees.

Zirkzee is also a club signing but we have to accept that even with the best football structure, all transfers are still a risk and Zirkzee might be miss more than hit but it's too early to say anything for sure, I am still hopeful Zirkzee will come good
 
All I'd personally be able to do is speculate, not had my ear to the ground on who has said what. Would just look at some of the common things with recent signings and the differences. Silly guesses really.

Ajax connection - De Ligt, Mazraoui
Is Dutch - Zirkzee, De Ligt, Mazraoui
Neither - Ugarte, Yoro

Managers sometimes have a close connection with 1 or 2 agents, sometimes clubs do and you can occassionally see patterns or conspiracies. :lol:

Ten Hag - SEG, the same as Hojlund but none we signed this summer, quite a few Dutchies
De Ligt and Mazraoui - Rafaela Pimenta, no other recent United players in common but Bailly and Mkhitaryan from the past
Zirkzee - Sports Invest (Kia Joorabchian) - Reguilon at the same agency who we took on loan under ETH
Yoro and Ugarte - Gestifute, (Jorge Mendes) - big presence with Portuguese players including a number currently at Sporting
Amorim - NOMI Sports, small agency, nothing too notable

Based off that the conspiracy theory would be Yoro and Ugarte the least likely ETH led ones, while being the most likely INEOS / future Amorim in mind ones.

Then there's Ugarte having played for Amorim of course, and Yoro playing in France where INEOS own another club, they'd have known a lot about him.
 
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OmarUnited4ever said:
Agreed, I remember the article in the Athletic, saying that Ten Hag floated the idea of De Ligt in Jan2024 but in the summer, the club found out that De Ligt is available and he met the criteria the new management set (Young, talented, good character, etc...) and Maz who has the same agents with De Ligt was also available so the club negotiated for both for a cut price which is brilliant, you can say both are really opportunistic signing as they were surprisingly available and meet the criteria and cost a decent fees.

Zirkzee is also a club signing but we have to accept that even with the best football structure, all transfers are still a risk and Zirkzee might be miss more than hit but it's too early to say anything for sure, I am still hopeful Zirkzee will come good
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Good shout, I think I did read or hear of that article too. Also, of course you're right. Even the best structures don't even have a 70% hit rate. It's basically gambling. People only talk about their wins when they're winning. Nothing is guaranteed.
Still I'm hopeful. He just needs to settle in with his team and the league. The confidence and the performance will follow.
 
All are Ineos - it was reported as such and there's no reason to disbelieve it.

ETH likely helped in getting both of them in, I am sure he was happy to work with them (he did not veto them) but Ineos picked all targets this summer.
 
All are INEOS signings. ETH's awful football and results triggered people, and hence they try to find more things that they can pin on him.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
All are Ineos - it was reported as such and there's no reason to disbelieve it.

ETH likely helped in getting both of them in, I am sure he was happy to work with them (he did not veto them) but Ineos picked all targets this summer.
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Who reported it?
 
I just don't understand how or why INEOS would go after someone like Zirkzee. Considering ETH's striker targets, even trying to sign Marko Arnautović and actually signing Weghorst. It really does make you wonder.
 
Shark said:
I just don't understand how or why INEOS would go after someone like Zirkzee. Considering ETH's striker targets, even trying to sign Marko Arnautović and actually signing Weghorst. It really does make you wonder.
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Give him time. Hojlund didn't score an epl goal in his first 17 matches. Obviously it's more than just goal scoring but I think zirkzee is a confidence player. It'll all come together for him.
 
Chipper said:
All I'd personally be able to do is speculate, not had my ear to the ground on who has said what. Would just look at some of the common things with recent signings and the differences. Silly guesses really.

Ajax connection - De Ligt, Mazraoui
Is Dutch - Zirkzee, De Ligt, Mazraoui
Neither - Ugarte, Yoro

Managers sometimes have a close connection with 1 or 2 agents, sometimes clubs do and you can occassionally see patterns or conspiracies. :lol:

Ten Hag - SEG, the same as Hojlund but none we signed this summer, quite a few Dutchies
De Ligt and Mazraoui - Rafaela Pimenta, no other recent United players in common but Bailly and Mkhitaryan from the past
Zirkzee - Sports Invest (Kia Joorabchian) - Reguilon at the same agency who we took on loan under ETH
Yoro and Ugarte - Gestifute, (Jorge Mendes) - big presence with Portuguese players including a number currently at Sporting
Amorim - NOMI Sports, small agency, nothing too notable

Based off that the conspiracy theory would be Yoro and Ugarte the least likely ETH led ones, while being the most likely INEOS / future Amorim in mind ones.

Then there's Ugarte having played for Amorim of course, and Yoro playing in France where INEOS own another club.
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This is an interesting angle, the agent links. Yoro and Ugarte ones were well documented. I guess having those relationships is a plus. So long as it's not one of the main reasons we're signing the players.
 
FrankWhite said:
With all the talk about ETH not wanting this player or that player brought in, It makes me curious, just how many players brought in, was led by ETH vs Ineos, especially compared to previous seasons which were almost exclusively led by ETH.
The fact that we overloaded ourselves with CBs and brought in Ugarte, almost makes it seem like we sort of alreadty had Amori in mind.

IMO, Zirzee, Ugarte, De light and Yoro were Ineos and scouts signings. Only Mazaraoui was ETH.
Thoughts?
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None would have been led by EtH. There were some pretty large coincidences but that was what they were, coincidences.

That'll be the way for Amorim too, and the way it should be. He's Head Coach after all, not the DoF or the Technical Director or the Chief Scout or the Head of Recruitment.

His job is to take the lads who are contracted to play football for the club and make them better at it.
 
Shark said:
I just don't understand how or why INEOS would go after someone like Zirkzee. Considering ETH's striker targets, even trying to sign Marko Arnautović and actually signing Weghorst. It really does make you wonder.
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He's barely had chance to settle in a highly dysfunctional team in a brand new league.

Let's give him at least this season before we declare him a total bust. It's not like any other player is outscoring him right now is it!

Worst case, we'll sell him on in 12-24 months for most of the money we paid. That's what makes him an INEOS signing. Retaining the ability to move on and "fail fast" when we inevitably sign players who don't quite succeed.
 
FrankWhite said:
This is an interesting angle, the agent links. Yoro and Ugarte ones were well documented. I guess having those relationships is a plus. So long as it's not one of the main reasons we're signing the players.
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Yes, I don't think it will be anything like that thank goodness.

When doing the Yoro deal it could be that we asked about Ugarte, or mentioned we needed a player in his position and Mendes said he'd keep us informed. Or having done the deal for Yoro , Mendes contacted us to see if we were interested when Ugarte became available late in the window. I don't know how long we were after Ugarte, just that he signed 6 weeks after Yoro. Perhaps those who were following more closely could rule those possibilities out?

You get little club/agent relationships forming all the time like that, or manager/agent ones if the manager has a lot of power in transfers.

Don't think we'll go to Wolves levels with Mendes or any other single agent, they signed so many from him under Nuno, with Nuno also being a client of his.
 
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It signing Branthwaite could look like a terrible decision

Okay Branthwaite has been out injured this season but the kid is class and will be englands future centre back for the next 10 years
 
Rooney25 said:
It signing Branthwaite could look like a terrible decision

Okay Branthwaite has been out injured this season but the kid is class and will be englands future centre back for the next 10 years
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Imagine him as the left CB in a back three. He's amongst duel winner and a giant. The only question mark is around his ability on the ball.
 
I do think ETH pushed for De Ligt and Maz, but all would have been INEOS signings.

And whoever said we should sign Zirkzee should be fired instantly.
 
All clealy INEOS, but with a view to continuing how ETH was playing rather than buying him random players who didnt fit his lineup
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I do think ETH pushed for De Ligt and Maz, but all would have been INEOS signings.

And whoever said we should sign Zirkzee should be fired instantly.
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that was a strange signing, not because he isn't good enough, so far he hasn't been, but we hope for improvement. It was strange in that he was signed so quickly in the transfer window in a position that we were actually well stocked in with Bruno, Eriksen, Diallo and even Mount if fit. We were crying out for some help in central mid and left that signing until as late as possible in the window, meaning we got a Ugarte who had no preseason and wasn't match fit. We could have used that money on a left back, we all knew that was going to be an issue this season.
 
poleglass red said:
that was a strange signing, not because he isn't good enough, so far he hasn't been, but we hope for improvement. It was strange in that he was signed so quickly in the transfer window in a position that we were actually well stocked in with Bruno, Eriksen, Diallo and even Mount if fit. We were crying out for some help in central mid and left that signing until as late as possible in the window, meaning we got a Ugarte who had no preseason and wasn't match fit. We could have used that money on a left back, we all knew that was going to be an issue this season.
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I know right now he looks like sancho on Ketamine, I'll just say, we need to be patient. He is coming from a completely different style
 
poleglass red said:
that was a strange signing, not because he isn't good enough, so far he hasn't been, but we hope for improvement. It was strange in that he was signed so quickly in the transfer window in a position that we were actually well stocked in with Bruno, Eriksen, Diallo and even Mount if fit. We were crying out for some help in central mid and left that signing until as late as possible in the window, meaning we got a Ugarte who had no preseason and wasn't match fit. We could have used that money on a left back, we all knew that was going to be an issue this season.
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He's a striker. So.
 
We must go all out to sign Branthwaite

He is back fit and will be in the Everton team this weekend, with a run of games by Jan he will be back on everyone’s radar including city’s

He’s a left footed tall packet English centre half at the right age and the right quality, this is exactly the sort of signing we need who can cover at left back
 
Because he's Dutch a lot blame ETH for Zirkzee but he's more likely an INEOS signing

He's looking out of his depth and many question why, but he ticked a lot of INEOS boxes:
- relatively cheap
- young with potential to increase in value
- Serie A Young Player of the Year
- easy transaction due to release clause

I still wouldn't write him off completely as it's early days but the odds of him making it here are low
 
FrankWhite said:
Give him time. Hojlund didn't score an epl goal in his first 17 matches. Obviously it's more than just goal scoring but I think zirkzee is a confidence player. It'll all come together for him.
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If we were a bottom-of-the-league team who bought young/unknown players, trained them up, and sold them for big money, this would make sense.
We aren't.
We are a team in 13th-14th place and we need players who can make instant impact.
WE are the team who buy the proven/best players from the bottom of the league teams.

If we use the strategy you described, we will become the team that languishes in the bottom half of the table.

By all means, we should buy some young players, but relying on them to jump straight into the first team and score goals is folly. This is the kind of thing that gets managers fired. This is the kind of thing that got ETH fired.
 
Rood said:
Because he's Dutch a lot blame ETH for Zirkzee but he's more likely an INEOS signing

He's looking out of his depth and many question why, but he ticked a lot of INEOS boxes:
- relatively cheap
- young with potential to increase in value
- Serie A Young Player of the Year
- easy transaction due to release clause

I still wouldn't write him off completely as it's early days but the odds of him making it here are low
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Look no further than this to know he is Ineos. He can also play a variety of positions.
£36.5m is extremely cheap these days for a young player, even if he is just a squad player and sees out his contract it will be a decent transfer. I do think he has a lot of qualities though, I can see him being sold for profit in a couple of seasons or being a good player for us.
 
sunama said:
If we were a bottom-of-the-league team who bought young/unknown players, trained them up, and sold them for big money, this would make sense.
We aren't.
We are a team in 13th-14th place and we need players who can make instant impact.
WE are the team who buy the proven/best players from the bottom of the league teams.

If we use the strategy you described, we will become the team that languishes in the bottom half of the table.

By all means, we should buy some young players, but relying on them to jump straight into the first team and score goals is folly. This is the kind of thing that gets managers fired. This is the kind of thing that got ETH fired.
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I'm not exactly sure what strategy you think I'm referring to. Look, all I'm saying is that a 23year old who only previously had one good season, coming from a much slower league, to a largely dysfunctional team, with no preseason may not necessarily hit the ground running. we shouldn't write him off straight away.
 
I think Zirkzee is suffering. He is clearly not a striker. Should be played as a second striker, I’d love to see him behind Rasmus.

Maybe under Amorim he’ll get played as one of the two 10’s but then I think in the prem I’d prefer Amad and Garnacho in those positions.
 
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