Wot, no transfers? It's all happening now!

I’m starting to feel like United aren’t actively trying to sign anybody else this window.

Might wait til January / next Summer when the club finances are clearer
 
The board probably think this team is good enough for top 4 and don't want to invest because that is fine for them
 
The board probably think this team is good enough for top 4 and don't want to invest because that is fine for them
It probably would be had the other chasing teams not got their act together.
 
It probably would be had the other chasing teams not got their act together.
Shock horror, clubs strengthen their squad in the summer window. Remember when Sir Alex said the worst thing in football you can do is to stand still? Even if you win everything, you still need to strengthen and change things up. Yet here we are after 3 seasons without a trophy and barely grinding out top 4, having bought just 1 squad player in our strongest position (a good signing of course), and nothing else.
 
Even the most optimistic of fans will be worried now. The pressure truely is on to make a splash this summer by signing Sancho (and a centreback hopefully).

With each passing day it looks more and more like a game of high stakes chicken. Either that or we just don't have the funds to sign him, at least without departures from Smalling and the like.

Its also worth noting that our quarterly results will be announced soon. That may be another factor for the delay in progress. The results are likely to paint a dire picture. I think either Ed turns into a hero or the fans will turn on him even moreso.
Woodward won't give a shit. This is a perfect storm for the owners without fans being in attendance, they must be laughing their heads off.
 
I’m starting to feel like United aren’t actively trying to sign anybody else this window.

Might wait til January / next Summer when the club finances are clearer

I think we were but Ed genuinely thought he could pay whatever the feck he wanted for Sancho and Dortmund would eat his shit sandwich and smile whilst doing so. Ultimately we don’t have enough cash for what we want to get done and I don’t see that changing until everything is back on track and COVID is forgotten.


The club should have managed expectations better than they have, they should have been able to foresee this financial outcome, but they were still allowing Ole to brief about us being able to take advantage of the COVID market. I don’t believe Ole would have just decided to make his own interpretation of the financial situation and it must have come from discussions with Ed.
 
We still have a few weeks remaining before the window shuts, which is more than enough time to complete a deal or two.

Patience people.
 
It's strange, I think we have the money and they're still trying to get a deal done on the price. In the end, I feel we'll pay up.

No basis, just my feeling.
 
Shock horror, clubs strengthen their squad in the summer window. Remember when Sir Alex said the worst thing in football you can do is to stand still? Even if you win everything, you still need to strengthen and change things up. Yet here we are after 3 seasons without a trophy and barely grinding out top 4, having bought just 1 squad player in our strongest position (a good signing of course), and nothing else.
Yeah, it's quite frankly ridiculous. I'm not happy that Solskjaer will likely feel the full force of the fans' discontent either.
 
I think we were but Ed genuinely thought he could pay whatever the feck he wanted for Sancho and Dortmund would eat his shit sandwich and smile whilst doing so. Ultimately we don’t have enough cash for what we want to get done and I don’t see that changing until everything is back on track and COVID is forgotten.


The club should have managed expectations better than they have, they should have been able to foresee this financial outcome, but they were still allowing Ole to brief about us being able to take advantage of the COVID market. I don’t believe Ole would have just decided to make his own interpretation of the financial situation and it must have come from discussions with Ed.
That wasn't Ole, that was Neville - Ole just responded in the affirmative to Neville's suggestion rather than proactively saying it.
 
We still have a few weeks remaining before the window shuts, which is more than enough time to complete a deal or two.

Patience people.
The season starts in 2 days, we shouldn't be in this position in the first place. 2 weeks left of the window, but we did feck all for 2 months so the only thing that'll throw them into action will be an injury in these first couple of games exposing our pathetic squad depth right away. Its what happened in January, not a chance we would've coughed up the cash for Bruno had Rashford not gotten injured.
 
The club should have managed expectations better than they have, they should have been able to foresee this financial outcome, but they were still allowing Ole to brief about us being able to take advantage of the COVID market. I don’t believe Ole would have just decided to make his own interpretation of the financial situation and it must have come from discussions with Ed.

United have been box-office in the transfer window, making headlines every single day, even more than Chelsea, who've been the actual ones to splash the cash! We have literally blown away the likes of Madrid, Barca (negative publicity withstanding), Bayern, and the rest in the advertising department.

This is precisely what Ed wants - commercial value. I don't think he and others in the board care one bit about managing the expectations of the fans. Is that even a consideration?

From a purely economic perspective, United have done awe-inspiring business in the window - press, TV, social media, everywhere. We have been "strongly" linked to every single high-profile player from Havertz to Sancho to Mbappe to Messi to Upamecano to Kante to Son to Kane to Koulibaly to Rice to Grealish to Thiago to Bale! The sponsors are happy, the fans are interested, the media is occupied. There is this deliberate gambit of trying to make us appear extremely relevant in transfer-activities even in these difficult times when we actually are not! And the January window will bring more of this 'rinse-repeat' tactic.
 
Everyone is saying we can't spend money right now but why then did we buy Beek? Wouldn't it have been better to save that money for, uh let's say Sancho or something?

Did we absolutely need another midfielder? More than right winger/full back/CB etc?
 
Man this is a tough summer. Everyone around us, even Arsenal and Spurs have been strengthening. Seems quite weird for us to not do anything.
 
That wasn't Ole, that was Neville - Ole just responded in the affirmative to Neville's suggestion rather than proactively saying it.

Having looked for the quote, you're right. The quote in question is not filling me with the same optimism that some of you guys have that this deal will be done at the end of the window either.

“There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United we are one of the biggest, and the biggest, financially well-off. I’m sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to.”
 
Embarassing that we haven't secured a couple of players considering we finished 3rd last season.

We should have secured an attacking player another midfielder (Van de Beek in) and a CB imo.

If it stays like this I see only 1 thing.

A fight for a top 4 place. Woopee
 
We'll be lucky to get a top 6 finish. All the briefs about players joining and Pogba signing an extension and in the end, we get one 40m sub and Pogba probably leaving for peanuts next year.
 
Truth is, no one knows what is going on behind the scenes. Fans are impatient but big money deals are complicated and there is so much at stake currently with the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. I had hoped that MU could take advantage of Madrid and Barca's current financial weaknesses and buy a few more promising players. Our forward line really needs reinforcements, as they were either playing injured or exhausted last year. VDB is a really good reinforcement for our midfield so I am hopeful we can get in two players to support our attackers. Sure I'd like Sancho and someone like Brooks but I don't see the point in people kicking off on social media. No one knows what's being negotiated and no one has an idea of the financial state of the club. I think MU has acted responsibly so far, so fingers crossed there is a balance between investing in the squad and keeping the club in good shape over the next two years.
 
I've conceded we are not signing anyone else this window. If we do make other signings before the window closes then happy days, but it's not worth losing our minds over at the present moment.
 
Don't worry guys. We'll splash the cash next summer for whoever the new manager will want.
 
Don't worry guys. We'll splash the cash next summer for whoever the new manager will want.
I can just imagine them promising Ole that if we don't get Sancho this summer they will make sure they get him for Ole next summer. So Ole will need to make sure he keeps his job.
 
I’m starting to feel like United aren’t actively trying to sign anybody else this window.

Might wait til January / next Summer when the club finances are clearer

I've read an article in the Polish press (most likely some re-print of English media). They said that OGS postponed further reinforcements until next summer.
 
That wasn't Ole, that was Neville - Ole just responded in the affirmative to Neville's suggestion rather than proactively saying it.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...it-transfer-market-after-coronavirus-shutdown

Key quotes from Ole:

"There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United we are one of the biggest, and the biggest, financially well-off."

"We want to be the best at everything, and of course now is a chance to spend more time, you discuss players, discuss plans," he added. "We've evaluated what we need, of course with the coaching staff we've looked at games, evaluated games, discussing on video calls like this."

"I'm sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to."

 
https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...it-transfer-market-after-coronavirus-shutdown

Key quotes from Ole:

"There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United we are one of the biggest, and the biggest, financially well-off."

"We want to be the best at everything, and of course now is a chance to spend more time, you discuss players, discuss plans," he added. "We've evaluated what we need, of course with the coaching staff we've looked at games, evaluated games, discussing on video calls like this."

"I'm sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to."
I guess the last sentence is the important bit? We’re not back to normality and therefore cannot do the business that we want to?
 
If it is a question of sell before we can buy, how the feck have we not shifted anyone apart from Sanchez yet?
We are so ponderous its incredibly annoying.
 
If it is a question of sell before we can buy, how the feck have we not shifted anyone apart from Sanchez yet?
We are so ponderous its incredibly annoying.

Because testament to our wonderful financial management, we've decided to reward mediocre squad players with outrageous contracts. So its no wonder no clubs want to touch them.

I'm actually amazed we managed to bin Sanchez. Conte really did us a solid there.
 
https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...it-transfer-market-after-coronavirus-shutdown

Key quotes from Ole:

"There might be just a situation there where you can exploit, and I know that we at Man United we are one of the biggest, and the biggest, financially well-off."

"We want to be the best at everything, and of course now is a chance to spend more time, you discuss players, discuss plans," he added. "We've evaluated what we need, of course with the coaching staff we've looked at games, evaluated games, discussing on video calls like this."

"I'm sure we are capable, when we get back to normality, that we can do the business that we want to."
Those weren't exact quotes (the journalist basically filled in the gaps but didn't make it clear - pretty shoddy tbh)

Here's the vid from where the quotes were taken, in full:



Note the difference in tone between what Ole actually said and what ESPN said that he had said.
 
Because testament to our wonderful financial management, we've decided to reward mediocre squad players with outrageous contracts. So its no wonder no clubs want to touch them.

I'm actually amazed we managed to bin Sanchez. Conte really did us a solid there.
Roma want Smalling, so why has that not been done yet? Surely €20m is ok just to bolster our funds a little. Rojo, what the hell is he still doing here? Lingard, Pereira, you can't tell me not one single club would be interested.
We need to be far more ruthless with getting rid of players who are of minimal use.
 
Roma want Smalling, so why has that not been done yet? Surely €20m is ok just to bolster our funds a little. Rojo, what the hell is he still doing here? Lingard, Pereira, you can't tell me not one single club would be interested.
We need to be far more ruthless with getting rid of players who are of minimal use.
There probably would be clubs interested in likes of Lingard but not for the reported when he’s reported 100k a week we pay him.

The top clubs won’t be in for him, and the likes of Southampton (for arguments sake) aren’t going to pay him anywhere near that amount. According to google Danny Ings is their highest earner at 75k so that’s quite a pay cut just to match that.
 
Roma want Smalling, so why has that not been done yet? Surely €20m is ok just to bolster our funds a little. Rojo, what the hell is he still doing here? Lingard, Pereira, you can't tell me not one single club would be interested.
We need to be far more ruthless with getting rid of players who are of minimal use.
It's the wages, nobody will take them on and not sure they would want to take a pay cut.
 
It's the wages, nobody will take them on and not sure they would want to take a pay cut.
Well then we drop the fee. We have to be realistic about this. If we get paid £5m less due to Roma having to pay Smalling more than others in their team then just fecking do it.
Doing nothing is disastrous for us.
 
Well then we drop the fee. We have to be realistic about this. If we get paid £5m less due to Roma having to pay Smalling more than others in their team then just fecking do it.
Doing nothing is disastrous for us.
I have been saying just get rid of them, their value is diminishing anyway. Just get their wages off the bill.
 
If you think buying a hundred million pounds player is the same process and rationale as buying a fridge, I have nothing to say to you.

Also, no business buys without negotiation and attempting to bring the price down. There is a thing called "fair value" and also another thing called "affordability" for each asset acquisition.

Just buying a player because we believe he will make us a better performing team doesn't mean the cost doesn't matter. That's simple thinking that may be acceptable from fans and other clueless outsiders but is out of the question in business and among club decision-makers.
If you want and need something/someone and the sellers tell you there is one price, then you have to pay it. Or no get him/it. Simple. It's basic economics as taught to some of us
 
Thiago just signed for Pool, Bale is likely to sign for Spurs. This is getting depressing for us now. I'm not happy. We're clearly weak in attack, we need more competent men and we're not doing anything about it. Next season is going to be another injury ravaged shit show.
 
If you want and need something/someone and the sellers tell you there is one price, then you have to pay it. Or no get him/it. Simple. It's basic economics as taught to some of us
I think you seriously have no idea how negotiations work. If the buyer says "I'll pay the price", that's not negotiating. If the seller says "I can knock 20m off the price", that's not negotiating either.

Neither of those are actual business approaches to negotiations. Both sides try to stick to their positions as long as possible and in the end if one of the sides is desperate for a deal to go through, they cave. If neither side is desperate, there's no deal. Sometimes both sides indicate interest for a deal to go through and both make concessions until agreeable middle ground is reached.

But "We pay retail price" is not how you do business. Neither is "you can have him for 20m less".