It's not like our young players have been setting the world on fire anyway. The likes of Martial, Rashford, Shaw, Bailly, Lindelof etc have blown hot and cold all season. We need experience in the side, proven winners who have seen and done it all before and what is infinitey more important strong characters.
Willian
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It's not like our young players have been setting the world on fire anyway. The likes of Martial, Rashford, Shaw, Bailly, Lindelof etc have blown hot and cold all season. We need experience in the side, proven winners who have seen and done it all before and what is infinitey more important strong characters.
I think a fair few people are overrating Willian on here, most of the people would have probably watched him in CL where Chelsea usually park the bus and Willian gets lots of space to run into with his dribbling but in the league against midtable opposition he is rather poor, he was only a bit part player in Conte's title winning season and again this season has been a backup player for Conte, meaning he is not as good as people here make him out to be.
His stats are rather awful too, sure he'd be an upgrade on whatever we have on the right wing right now but he won't make much difference IMO. He isn't going magically improve our passing tempo, so he'd have to face the same problem that Sanchez and other attackers face, a world class player like Sanchez is struggling to deal with our slow passing imagine what an average one will do. I feel Mourinho is just hoovering up yes men to prevent a Chelsea or Madrid style meltdown next season.
His stats are rather awful too, sure he'd be an upgrade on whatever we have on the right wing right now but he won't make much difference IMO. He isn't going magically improve our passing tempo, so he'd have to face the same problem that Sanchez and other attackers face, a world class player like Sanchez is struggling to deal with our slow passing imagine what an average one will do. I feel Mourinho is just hoovering up yes men to prevent a Chelsea or Madrid style meltdown next season.
We struggle in many things apparently
I'm not saying Willian is a bad player at all, just not overly confident he is the type of player we need at present. I recall him being electric on the counter and his passing range is surprisingly decent. Can deliver a decent cross too.
We struggle in many things apparently
I'm not saying Willian is a bad player at all, just not overly confident he is the type of player we need at present. I recall him being electric on the counter and his passing range is surprisingly decent. Can deliver a decent cross too.
Seems to be a shortage of attainable outstanding players out there on that side. The usual flavour of the month raw young prospects but that’s just a fm gamble.
I would have gone for Mahrez but not sure who else.
It isn't really fair to judge him based on this though, him and Conte does work well together.
He would massively improve us since we have lacked someone on the right hand side for a good while now. Good stop-gap for a few years until Chong is ready.
Do we have unlimited funds? No. Will we sign other players to help the team in attack? Yes. It’s not black and white like you are trying to make it. You point out Spurs and Liverpool forwards and they’re still behind us in the league and we got the better of both when we met this season overall.
You dont see how Sanchez could get better? Crossing the ball more means its a ‘Moyes philosophy’? Give me a break.
How is a 30 year old man, childish enough to post a photograph with his manager scribbled over a strong character?
The same way Fergie used to spend with conviction on players whose better days are ahead of them and help them reach that potential.
What's wrong with Talisca? And it's just a rumor at this point. Not every rumor means we're 'after him'.
Nobody is begging Fellaini, he was offered a contract he refused and I'm sure if he'd stayed he would be used as a squad option. Willian is an option on the right, something we dont have now and a good option at that.
Jose is looking for players he trusts, yes, what's so wrong with that.
Do you mean Conte and Willian don't work well together? Even Andros Townsend is an improvement for our right hand side, doesn't mean we have to buy him, my point is he won't improve us massively, he won't be that difference between us finishing 2nd and winning the title.
Mahrez is a good shout for sure, he contributes in the goals and assists department and does so in a far weaker team than Willian.
For me it would be Bale, though. The idea of a fully fit and firing front 3 (that's a tongue twister!) consisting of 'Sanchez - Lukaku - Bale' gets my nethers going something chronic.
I agree, he would help massively with our transitions which is a problem for us particularly away from home.
Sorry you lost me here mate.
Exactly
We’ve already got the young talent. We need a bit more character and experience mixed in to help them grow but more importantly to win.
Who would be then? Willian is specifically good at transitioning play from deeper areas which is what we struggle with. There are other talented players out there but they excel at different things.
I agree, I don't see Willian helping us bridge the gap to City or fend off Liverpool. Get the feeling Mourinho just wants one of his dog soldier types, and the pro-jose posters are championing him as our future saviour because he is seen as a Mourinho man.
No 1 player will be difference between first and second especially when we are 20 points behind, unless the player is Messi or Ronaldo. It should be a collective effort.
Well based on that theory there isn’t a single player in the world worth buying.
He will improve us definitely but we need 3,4,5 pieces to go along with it to close the gap. He’d be a good start.
We dont trust Jose.
Also, we'll overpay for him while chelsea will use the money to buy someone younger with a higher ceiling. Klopp building his team with mane, salah, Peps got leroy sane and sterling and silva...jose going for willian. Whoopie.
How do you know that though? We payed a reasonable sum for Matic last year and he proved people wrong by being a very good addition, so how do you know that Willian won't do the same?
^ for some reason i thought he signed a new contract last year but it was two years ago. Still i dont think he will be cheap or under 40m. Matic was coming off a poor season. He is still very useful for chelsea.
Yep that cost us a good number of points and goals
I think if we can get him for between 30-40 million that wouldn't be bad all things considered. True about Matic having a poor season and Willian still good for Chelsea though. They way he is being branded as underwhelming and so on though is surprising, I think he would be an excellent signing as we have absolutely nothing on the right hand side and he would offer real quality there.
But I wouldn't push the boat out for Willian either though, agreed on that.
Not to mention Lukaku and Mourinho. Perhaps we can try for 'Azza too.
Would be a top signing
See the first post of this thread.
Yeah, typo
.Like a few others have mentioned I too would have prefered Mahrez. I guess we have different opinions about Willian as a player when you compare him to Townsend. I do think he will make a difference and that side of our attack has been a problem for too long now.
If we manage to sign one or two new fullbacks it'll be even better aswell.
Exactly. Entirely agenda-driven.
You're talking about Hazard? Why not! Might as well add Kante while we're at it.
We'll overpay him. You know the future? How do you know who will Chelsea buy. They bought Bakayoko for Matić money. Not exactly an inspiring buy. ,
You dont trust him, ok. He isnt going anywhere though.
what is a dog soldier type?
Why can't we be after a very talented young player who we can see making progress after progress. We did it with Ronaldo and it was big fun. City are doing it currently with Sane
and Chelsea did it successfully with Hazard who isn't old today, even after 5 years.
We know what we're getting by fielding Lukaku and Sanchez, they will deliver but won't make huge jumps quality wise. If we end up with Willian, the spots are taken, a few minutes here and there won't do Rashford/Martial nor us either good.
and Chelsea did it successfully with Hazard who isn't old today, even after 5 years.
We know what we're getting by fielding Lukaku and Sanchez, they will deliver but won't make huge jumps quality wise. If we end up with Willian, the spots are taken, a few minutes here and there won't do Rashford/Martial nor us either good.
Who did Ronaldo and Rooney play with?
Who would that be?
You forgot we have a squad full to the brim with young and talented players, adding another will not elevate us to a position whereby we can offer a genuine challenge to City. We need a right winger of proven class and ability, one that brings a consistent and ever-present threat. We need the finished article.
We already have Sanchez and Mata on our books. The striker (Lukaku) has many years of experience too.
If Mourinho wants it at any costs, then we simply have to do it, otherwise the manager has to get the sack. Watching a young player go from strength to strength fascinates me more than seeing a prime player slowly regress. But of course winning is a must and someone is in charge and decides.
The next question would be whether or not Martial will be here next season. Replacing Martial with Willian and only having Rashford as a young gun around would be a tad sad, IMO.
Lukaku, Sanchez and Mata are all very experienced. Young and Valencia can also play further up the pitch. At the moment we have two young players who we'll develop (Martial and Rashford). Selling one and replacing him with a player who's nearing 30 years of age would leave us with only one talent. As stated above, i can come to terms with it, but personally i wouldn't do it.
City's Sane didn't take too long to hit the ground running, he's only going from strength to strength ever since. Is Willian who's never hit double digits in goals/assists in the Prem the right answer in closing in on the gap? Ability wise Bale would be a suitable so-called stop gap, IMO. We need someone who can become a real star very soon, if it means paying double the costs for what a Willian would be demanding, i'd do it. Mourinho's head is on the line next season, maybe he'll survive after putting in a genuine title challenge, but Willian won't get any better in the next 2-3 years, whereas Sane/Sterling/Jesus are just starting to take off. We need to look at the big picture here.
We'd be unstoppable with a team of dog soldiers.
Mata imo needs to go or be a squad option and we can't rely on Young and Valencia anymore.
Who's to say there wont be any more talents from within our ranks?
It's all easy to say we need a player who'll become a star soon but who? And sometimes you need a finished product, that doesn't mean all the youngsters will go bust.
Btw Willian wouldn't replace Martial cause Martial plays on the left.
Firstly, his statiatical return is nothing special. I can focus on it if you want but it doesn't elevate him any further.
Secondly, it's pretty obvious why I'm bringing up Iniesta. If you're going to compare William's end product to better footballers in an effort to big him up, make sure they aren't players who are much better in a creative and playking sense than him. Because your argument flows from an ignorance of the qualities they give that he simply doesn't. Iniesta is a the perfect example of a player who creates a lot without getting the holy grail assist stat. Hazard is twice the player Willian is. Merely matching the formers statistical output does not make you better than him nor makes you a great player.
Finally, despite the overly defensive reactions everyone you question a mourinho target or decision, I've always liked Willian and have often felt he was overreacted. But I'm not going suddenly pretend he's a brilliant footballer. He is very good but I'm not sure he's the player we need. He lacks a bit of individual brilliance.
I brought the stats into account because it's the easiest format to base an attacking player's input. I never said that Willian is as good as Hazard, I was just merely showing that Willian's goals/assists are at the level of most highly rated players in the league, so he'd obviously contribute to a United team lacking in goals and creativity. Honestly, I don't think Willian and Hazard are worlds apart. It's Hazard's burst of acceleration that puts him to the next level, it allows him to turn a tight defender with ease.
I certainly don't defend every Mourinho target, I'm just a big fan of Willian as a footballer and am of the opinion his talent is largely overlooked.
Most posters in this thread who are opposed to the signing of Willian would rather us go for a younger talent, even though the 2 youngest of our attacking talents are either under-performing or not following the manager's instructions.
We also have a youngster in Chong who is very highly rated throughout the club, so purchasing a young winger make result in Chong not getting the chances he might do if we go for a more experienced option.
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