Wot, no transfers?

[All 3 United]

I think the hold up is getting shut of our over paid dead wood/squad players. Which is why Jose has said he doesn’t know. He wouldn’t know if any club(s) are actually going to buy, even if they have already shown an interest.

That’s said. I’d imagine there are a lot of players of whom he’d be willing to sell.

 

[roonster09]

And we resigned Fellaini and a 35 year old goal keeper despite having a number of top young goal keepers at the club.

All out young keepers should be registered too. Joel Periera won't count as U21 anymore.

 

[devilish]

I just don't think we've managed to get the players we've been after, nothing to do with budgets, we're probably still trying to get players in.

No one knows exactly whom we're after to but by the looks of it we're aiming to Sandro and one between Toby or Bonucci. Now I have 3 concerns about all this

a- these players aren't enough for us to seriously compete for the EPL.
b- they are players heading at the end of their careers. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing if we had a pack of top quality young players coming through. However our CBs are mostly 26 years + same with our FB (Shaw looks set to leave next year so we'll only have Dalot as a young FB). So unless we admit that the likes of Rojo, Young, Valencia, Smalling and Jones aren't good enough and then we show them the door then it really makes no sense adding more 28 year old+ defenders in the mix.
c- these players play at top clubs who don't need to sell and won't sell unless we meet their price

The transfer market as a whole seem jammed but those who managed to do some great signings did so because they bought their players from selling clubs. Fabiano, Alisson, Keita, Torriera, Seri, Shaqiri, Mahrez, Lemar, Goretzka, Martinez, De Vrij are all classic example of decent players who moved clubs from selling clubs. We are not the exception of the case. All our signings came from selling clubs with maybe the exception of Grant whom we probably got from a job center/retirement house.

Which truly makes me wonder why weren't we able to find the players we need from smaller clubs? What's the point of having top scouts if they cannot find alternatives for top players like Sandro, Skriniar and Bonucci whom everyone know about?

 

[::sonny::]

 

[red4ever 79]

Like a soap opera this guy. Hopefully his last season in charge

 

[settembrini]

If Mourinho posted in the 'are you optimistic for next season' thread he'd get a load of people telling him to eff off and support Liverpool.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

When the likes of Di Marzio are not even mentioning our name, that is a concern.

If the Sandro deal was anywhere near close, he would be all over that. Especially considering it involves an Italian team. Di Marzio reported Darmian about a week before we done the deal.

 

[Bestietom]

De Vrij would have been a good buy for us. Really surprised at Seri going to Fulham and for 25million. a Steal.

 

[settembrini]

My issue with our transfer policy is how bad we are at identifying which areas of the team to spend money on.

Herrera has a brilliant season at DM? Spend £40m on Matic to replace him.
Martial tearing it up on the LW? Sign Sanchez to play there instead of him.
Have Smalling, Jones, Bailly, Rojo, Blind + several promising youngsters at CB? Spend £30m on Lindelof.

Meanwhile glaring weaknesses such as left back and right wing have been ignored for several windows now.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

We seem to keep adding potential deadwood instead of proven quality - players who are risks at best and second tier at worst. Look at our CB signings for example - Jones, Smalling, Blind (sort of), Rojo, Bailly, Lindelof. We haven’t signed a nailed on “sure thing” quality CB since Rio Ferdinand and he’s now a seasoned pundit!!

Who do you think is of that Quality or was that we could have signed?

There are none and even the next level down you would be scratching around for a "sure thing" and even then the team they play for will not sell or will put a prohibitive price on them. The scenario where Leeds were going bankrupt and had a world class/top level player are a rarity.

Who do you think right now is Rio Ferdinand level or a Sure thing?

 

[Kapardin]

Not even linked to gettable RWs at the moment. Will be very disappointed if we only bring in Toby or some CB. Not nearly enough.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Saw something about us turning to Thiago and Lewa. Bayern keen to sell and we have money. Thiago would be intresting as you’d think buying him would drastically affect Fred, like would Fred be demoted to squad player if that were to happen.

 

[RedTillI'mDead]

The strange part in this post is the World Cup hasn’t affected the targets of our main rivals. Only United are stuck in the quicksand.

Personally, I think Woodward is incompetent. He knew there was going to be the World Cup. All the deals should have been completed before the tourney started.

And you thinks selling clubs aren't going to spend as much of the window as possible maximising their fee. Good players rarely go early in the window for this reason.

 

[Trizy]

Fred -£48m
Dalot -£20m
Blind +£18
= £50m spent.

I'm sure we'll spend another £100m. £150m seems to be our new summer window budget.

Let's just hope we're not trying to hold our for Bale for £100m. He is NOT the answer. One good game in the CL does not make up for his injury record. £100m gets you Sandro and Bailey. Our 2 most concerning areas.

 

[Bastian]

Saw something about us turning to Thiago and Lewa. Bayern keen to sell and we have money. Thiago would be intresting as you’d think buying him would drastically affect Fred, like would Fred be demoted to squad player if that were to happen.

That can't have been a credible piece. Thiago linked with Barca and we've already bought Fred and I don't see why we'd sign a declining super expensive and not universally wanted Lewa. Would have to play Lukaku on the right then (which strangely people are suggesting every now and then). Pretty pointless. I'd take Robben for 12 months though.

 

[Dennis Viollet]

Saw something about us turning to Thiago and Lewa. Bayern keen to sell and we have money. Thiago would be intresting as you’d think buying him would drastically affect Fred, like would Fred be demoted to squad player if that were to happen.

we don't need them, what we still need: LB, CB, RW

 

[Andersons Dietician]

That can't have been a credible piece. Thiago linked with Barca and we've already bought Fred and I don't see why we'd sign a declining super expensive and not universally wanted Lewa. Would have to play Lukaku on the right then (which strangely people are suggesting every now and then). Pretty pointless. I'd take Robben for 12 months though.

Yeah I want to say it was Sam Lurkhurst or whatever. It was in the transfer tweet feed. No idea if he is reliable or not but yeah seems like one of those tedious links with no truth. I’d love Thiago but like I was saying that seems a weird signing having bought Fred. This story will probably merge with the tentative Pogba to Juve links and become Thiago is a replacement for Pogba.

 

[dove]

Like a soap opera this guy. Hopefully his last season in charge

Soap opera is posters like you and guys like Luckhurst posting fake tweets. Watched the conference, if the question from journo is "Are you worried because half of your squad is missing in the tour" what is he supposed to say? "No"? ...

 

[Bastian]

Yeah I want to say it was Sam Lurkhurst or whatever. It was in the transfer tweet feed. No idea if he is reliable or not but yeah seems like one of those tedious links with no truth. I’d love Thiago but like I was saying that seems a weird signing having bought Fred. This story will probably merge with the tentative Pogba to Juve links and become Thiago is a replacement for Pogba.

I think Bayern are just trying to flog their ageing players and there are no takers, at least not at the prices Bayern may fancy. Highlighted best in Jerome Boateng. It also didn't help that both him and Lewa had atrocious World Cup performances (and their teams).

 

[Andersons Dietician]

I stopped here. Insane how much criticism there is of us, then there have been a few posts today praising Spurs for not signing anyone and even even saying it was planned.

They were linked with Sessegnon and failed with that.
They were linked with De Ligt and failed with that.
They were linked with Martial and failed with that.
They've been going after Grealish for ages and are still not close to a deal being done with the asking price going up to over £30M.

As it stands the only business they've done is sell a couple of youth players. If we had the window they had so far, the caf would have been burned to the ground.

To be fair isn’t that standard Spurs, then 4 hours before the deadline Levy will pull off like 4 signings for bargain prices. Their fans are probably use to that.

As for our transfers I think Woody has bet the farm on getting Bale in so has been waiting to see how that developed and now with it looking like Bale is staying he’ll move on to his other targets.

 

[iHicksy]

Last year I wasn't worried as there were plenty of rumours going around and it was clear we had set targets. E.g a striker, centre mid etc. This year...well with the transfer window closing in 21 days i'm getting really worried. We aren't linked with any Right wingers which is the most concerning thing. Not even a sniff. I can only hold out hope that that's because we have some amazing new formation lined up that doesn't require one in the traditional sense. This coupled with the Pre season shambles and World cup players not being ready for the first game (Lukaku, Lingard, Young) this is certainly one of the least optimistic summers so far. Especially so, since I expected this to be the window Jose finally completed 'his' squad and we'd start to see a real Jose side of the past.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

To be fair isn’t that standard Spurs, then 4 hours before the deadline Levy will pull off like 4 signings for bargain prices. Their fans are probably use to that.

Definitely didn't happen last season when they ended up ceding and signing Davinson Sanchez for £42m, Aurier for £22.5m and a 31 year old Llorente for £13.5m. Not exactly bargain prices. Year before they signed Sissoko for £31m.

Them leaving it late often leads to a poor start to the season for them as well which ends up getting brushed under the carpet.

 

[Infra-red]

Yeah I want to say it was Sam Lurkhurst or whatever.

Miguel Delaney wrote the piece.

 

[edgar allan]

All out young keepers should be registered too. Joel Periera won't count as U21 anymore.

What is it saying to the opportunities for our young keepers if a 35 year old is brought in?

 

[Andersons Dietician]

What is it saying to the opportunities for our young keepers if a 35 year old is brought in?

He was brought in so that the young keepers can go out. Jose spoke about it yesterday saying Joel needs to play hence why they brought in Grant.

 

[Woziak]

Fred?

50 mill is a very large sum, even if in this market. It makes him our fourth most expensive signing ever, and puts him somewhere around 10th in Premier League incomings.

My thoughts are that we could be done with signings..

August 2017: Mourinho was pretty clear that he wanted another attacker and 1-to-2 midfielders to replace Carrick and potentially Fellaini. Since then we have brought in Alexis Sanchez, re-signed Fellaini and Fred has also replaced Carrick. Diogo Dalot has also come in, and I believe he will be given chances on both sides of defence. Some posters on here also feel that he also has the potential to also play further forward at some stage, ala Gareth Bale, Ryan Sessegnon.

We're trying to shift a few players, and any further incoming transfers depend on these players leaving. Blind has gone, and Darmian is by most accounts next. I think there's something in the Alex Sandro talk, but at the same time we are also prepared to make do with Ashley "official FIFA first-team left-back of Russia 2018' Young, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot on occasions. On the right we have Valencia, Dalot and perhaps Timbo.

We can only register a limited number of players for the squad, and at centre-half alone we have 6/7 players. That's insane! We've stockpiled almost-but-not-quite good enough injury prone central defenders for about 5 years now, with no standout pairing. I'd love a nailed on starter to come in (Alderweireld, Godin, Koulibaly) but the Club perhaps rightfully feel that we need to wait until a few of our contracts either expire or we receive a decent offer for someone like Phil Jones.

Ed has an obvious hardcore thirst for Gareth Bale, so he's probably the wildcard at this stage. If we don't pull this off then I feel that Jose is happy enough to use Martial when and where need be. If we're looking to move towards a 5-3-2, then in Lukaku, Martial, Rashford & Sanchez, we have enough options for the two advanced positions. It also negates the need for a right-winger as Valencia, Dalot and Lingard (gulp) will play wing-back.

My ideal scenario sees all of Darmian,Jones and Rojo leave, making way for a new LB and CB. I realise this is unlikely though.

You do know that the Fifa team was bogus right a Hoax!

 

[roonster09]

What is it saying to the opportunities for our young keepers if a 35 year old is brought in?

That young keeper will go out on loan which helps his development rather than sitting on bench whole year.

Don't know how anyone can have issues with this.

 

[Danny Roberts]

Getting a noodles and tractor sponsor are the priorities these day.

 

[edgar allan]

He was brought in so that the young keepers can go out. Jose spoke about it yesterday saying Joel needs to play hence why they brought in Grant.

Fair enough

 

[Sarni]

I remember Jose telling the press that our summer activity will be carried out quickly and the window would be short.

I think we are done in the market. Jose needs his players for the pre season.

Well we only have three weeks left to do our business anyway so it’s not unrealistic to think we will end up with Fred as our only signing for the first team.

 

[lewwoo]

I am starting to believe the club have decided City are too far ahead and are happy to consolidate top 4 for now rather than go all out to catch them. Hope im wrong though.

 

[pacifictheme]

I think somewhere in the OP he has a general valid point.

The transfer planning in the last 4/5 seasons has been very erratic to the point of us still not addressing our right wing position. That to me is utterly baffling. We seem to throw money at whatever big name player is available and then work out the team selection afterwards.

Yeah OP is a shambles but i don't see a cohesive plan or strategy in our transfer dealings really. I honestly don't know for sure what formation we will use next season.

 

[Bradley Leach]

I think the problem is Woodward, he sees the club too much from a business perspective and not enough from a football perspective. he even said himself that what happens with the season performance doesn't really impact the commercial aspects of the business. We all know that United is a global brand that will make money either way but something has to change.

If you look back at the days of Fergie and Gill, they cared about the football, yes we made money but that's always been the case but they put football first; If we had to go out and spend £30m (probably about £80m today) then we did and no one questioned it. Fergie and Gill may be gone, but the legacy and expectations that they left behind haven't, the fans expect whoever is in charge to continue the legacy of our football club.

I've had enough of people blaming managers, I'll admit I'm guilty of this too, but its clear to see now that the managers aren't to blame, Woodward is and probably further up. Yes we are a business and we need to balance books but first and foremost we are a football club, we have a history of winning and unless our executives start treating us like a club again then I worry we may end up like Arsenal, Liverpool and Milan. If you look back Jose said he's leaving the transfers to Woodward, and during the biggest football match of the summer, which is a great place to scout, he watches fecking tennis; Its clear to see he isn't bothered about the transfers.

We need to get back to what we are good at, playing football and winning trophies. No more executives lining their own or the Glazer's pockets.

If this is the way the club, my club, OUR CLUB is going to be ran then we need to make a stand, if the green and gold scarves have to come back then so be it, but I will not sit back and let my club become a team that was.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

We are privy to about 1/100th of what actually happens in the window. Speculating and posting huge diatribes about something you will never be close enough to understand is a strange process. I guess impatience, fear and distrust in Jose/Ed Woodward comes in many forms.

 

[groovyalbert]

I am starting to believe the club have decided City are too far ahead and are happy to consolidate top 4 for now rather than go all out to catch them. Hope im wrong though.

Not sure I would go as far as that, but there's obviously a significant gap in quality between the two clubs and we are not doing enough to close this. There's no shame in coming second to this City side, my current concern is how much Liverpool are improving. On paper - if Alisson and Fekir join them - it'd be hard to argue our starting 11 eclipses theirs.

 

[red4ever 79]

Soap opera is posters like you and guys like Luckhurst posting fake tweets. Watched the conference, if the question from journo is "Are you worried because half of your squad is missing in the tour" what is he supposed to say? "No"? ...

He is supposed to say, that it's pretty much the same for everyone after the world cup . This is life.

 

[the chameleon]

Let's just wait and see. I remember when Fergie did business, you would sometimes only here of the players linked at closing stages of the deal. We've had a few summers of being linked with every name. It became a bit of joke back then. Remember all those transfer muppet threads?

It might be that Woodward is learning to keep things quiet. Hopefully, him and Maureen have been working quietly in the shadows plotting a few deal.

We'll find out soon. It won't be ideal if all things stay as there. Unless they think this Dalot fella could pull off top-notch first season and maybe we are planning on giving some of these youngsters a chance.

 

[Kidders]

Our transfer strategy should be simple, as and when the best players in the world are available we should consider them, Ronaldo, Sandro, Lewandoski, Thiago for example ?

If Jose thinks they strengthen the team above say Mata, Young, Lingard and Fellaini then we go for them, simple.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Ed has an obvious hardcore thirst for Gareth Bale, so he's probably the wildcard at this stage

I have seen this mentioned multiple times in this forum. How did this conclusion ever come about?

 

[sunama]

It's clear he wants more. That's good enough for me. If we don't sign anymore, it's on Woodward.

The blame game doesn't help us move up the league.
You can't finish 5th, say and then tell the FA that because Woodward screwed up, we want to given 2nd place.
We need to make actual signings...not play the blame game.

It’s so unusually quiet compared to other transfer windows. Usually we’re getting heavily linked with players on a daily basis.

We were told that this was due to the WC. But the WC has ended, rival clubs are being linked to other players, but we aren't