Wot, no transfers?

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Lyng said:
I feel that’s a bit of a oversimplification of Martials abilities and issues.
When Martial was at his sparkling best he would destroy defence, always find space and even take out one or more defenders. Now this was during the part of Van Gaal’s time, just before Shaw’s injury.
And here are, in my oppinion, the key aspects of Martials issues.
1) He had complete trust from Van Gaal.
2) He had a fantastic partner in Shaw.

I think, given Martials young age and perhaps personality, he needs this.
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Shaw only had about 8 good games for us, before he got injured "that" season. Martial did okay that season. As a comparison, Ibra, the following season, comprehensively beat Martial's goal tally the previous season. Now Martial was young, so this can be excused.

I think you may be one of those who believe Martial is the reigning Ballon Dor and that Shaw is the best LB in the World. Neither of which are even remotely close.

The truth is that Martial had a good opening season, considering his age. I think that people made him out to be better than he was because his first goal was against LFC.
His second season was weak and most people put this down to his young age (ie. inconsistency).
His third season went completely pear-shaped, since the arrival of Sanchez and it would seem that he simply does not want to compete for a place in our starting line-up. He wants to be given an automatic starting berth, which under Jose, he will never get.
 
Roboc7 said:
Even if board caves in and buys Alderweireld and Willian I don’t see the point. They improve the team in short term but we still wouldn’t win the league and its 2 more players in the starting eleven who are expensive short term investments.
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...and I think that's why the board don't want to spend the cash.
Invest £100M+ and still no league title.
 
Roboc7 said:
Better off saving the money and putting a proper plan in place for next summer, it’s farcical we have still been intent on Willian/Perisic/Bale just as we were last season. We should have moved on and found alternatives, that’s what has to be done now for the right wing and both full back positions.
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Our scouting and transfer targets deserve to be questioned, we really haven't shown much imagination with the player we have targeted. I hope we can pull something out of the bag but time is ticking away and we will now have to pay top dollar for any new additions.
 
Another thing that everyone seems to have forgotten is that we have only sold Blind so far. We can't simply add players to the squad without letting go of anyone. Darmian and Rojo are the only ones who have even been linked strongly but even that might not end up happening. This being a short transfer window, I was expecting lots of moment very early but has turned out to be the opposite.
 
MUFC OK said:
Our scouting and transfer targets deserve to be questioned, we really haven't shown much imagination with the player we have targeted. I hope we can pull something out of the bag but time is ticking away and we will now have to pay top dollar for any new additions.
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We know that Woodward can get last minute deals done. Martial and Falcao come to mind. But one big problem is that only the EPL window is closing so none of the European clubs will be in any hurry. This stupid rule is going to hurt the English teams.
 
Cliche Guevara said:
That’s exactly what people were saying last year in relation to Perisic. Of course back then, people were also saying they prefer Malcom/Bailey/Fekir as though they somehow had a say in which alternative player would be signed.
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The time to buy perisic or Willian was last summer, makes no sense to be in for them again a year later when they will cost the same or probably even more. Their ages are a factor that can’t be ignored, clubs rarely pay large fees or offer long term contracts to players who are 29 or over because they know decline is going to kick in at some point.

There has been plenty of time and resources to come up with alternatives. Who fans want to buy is irrelevant but we don’t have access to a wide ranging and expensive scouting network.

Someone at the club has to face reality, accept it will take time and focus on what the club wants to achieve and how they are going to achieve it. Panic buying and throwing money at quick fixes isn’t the answer.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
If we sign Toby Alderweireld and Willian before the window shuts, I'd be over the moon.#

We'd be buying two top class players, who, not only have experience in the Premier League, but experience at the highest level too.

Both leaders in their own way. Alderweireld being more vocal. Would bring a much needed calmness and leadership to our back line, whilst Willian, on the other hand, would bring his level of consistency and performance.

Hoping we can get this done before the 9th.
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Yes, at this point, they would be very welcome signings.

Willan would cost quite a bit, and also he's not getting any younger. But it's not my money, and it would make us title contenders.
 
LoneStar said:
Yes, at this point, they would be very welcome signings.

Willan would cost quite a bit, and also he's not getting any younger. But it's not my money, and it would make us title contenders.
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Very much doubt we'll get Willian with what has been said. However, I do believe we'll get a centre back.

Dont think Mourinho will play with wingers if we dont acquire one, hence why he's been using a 352 during most of pre season.
 
We scored less goals (68) than any of the top 4 teams last season and only conceded 1 more than City.

I think we should be looking at bringing in a goalscoring winger before anyone else.
 
Shame that doesn’t seem the case. RW was the most obvious spot in our team that had to be strengthened this summer, and yet it doesn’t look likely at all now.
 
sunama said:
...and I think that's why the board don't want to spend the cash.
Invest £100M+ and still no league title.
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I think you are correct and as frustrating as it is sometimes it's better to do nothing than go for expensive older players.
 
Bestietom said:
We scored less goals (68) than any of the top 4 teams last season and only conceded 1 more than City.

I think we should be looking at bringing in a goalscoring winger before anyone else.
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There's a thread about this in the United Forum, I think. Tend to agree with you, pity we didn't buy Mahrez at the price he went for.
 
LoneStar said:
Yes, at this point, they would be very welcome signings.

Willan would cost quite a bit, and also he's not getting any younger. But it's not my money, and it would make us title contenders.
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I would agree with you that Willian would make us much better but I would not pay ridiculous money to bring him here. Its just short sighted. "It is not my money", I really cant understand this argument (many people seem to be using it??). You'd have poor Ed pay too much for an old quick fix and then not invest in the future for a better alternative option which would potentially result in longer success? Would you consider that a good move? As we all know that we don't have the money that City or Psg have.

With all this said, I would take Willian in a heartbeat for a reasonable price. We truly need a new RW.
 
The ideal manager for the Glazers would be Jose Mourinho with no ambition: Mourinho is more or less capable of managing us to a top four finish in his sleep. However, he wants to win the title. His pride would be severely bruised if he couldn't get one over on Guardiola again. Plus, even if Pep wasn't around, for the sake of his ego he wouldn't want to leave Man Utd without winning the Premier League.

The Glazers want a manager who will finish fourth and not make too much fuss about pushing on. If you're in a 'battle' for fourth your games will get televised just as much as if you're trying to win the title, and the prize money from winning the title ain't that much bigger. From the Glazers' perspective is it worth £100m to £200m more of the club's money, much of which they could pocket themselves, just to finish a few places higher?

The squad we have is competitive enough to finish fourth, especially with Mourinho. Ergo the Glazers won't sanction anymore big spending. People are ignoring the fact we had to drop out of the top four for them to let the club spend some of its money on the team. That was the equivalent to those sides who are in the drop zone going bonkers in January to try and avoid it. All they want is top four.

Eventually Mourinho will get sick of it, as will any top manager who actually wants to win things. However, in the end I'm sure the Glazers will get a guy who is just grateful for the privilege of managing at United and can keep us top four and they'll just stick with that person.
 
#07 said:
The ideal manager for the Glazers would be Jose Mourinho with no ambition: Mourinho is more or less capable of managing us to a top four finish in his sleep. However, he wants to win the title. His pride would be severely bruised if he couldn't get one over on Guardiola again. Plus, even if Pep wasn't around, for the sake of his ego he wouldn't want to leave Man Utd without winning the Premier League.

The Glazers want a manager who will finish fourth and not make too much fuss about pushing on. If you're in a 'battle' for fourth your games will get televised just as much as if you're trying to win the title, and the prize money from winning the title ain't that much bigger. From the Glazers' perspective is it worth £100m to £200m more of the club's money, much of which they could pocket themselves, just to finish a few places higher?

The squad we have is competitive enough to finish fourth, especially with Mourinho. Ergo the Glazers won't sanction anymore big spending. People are ignoring the fact we had to drop out of the top four for them to let the club spend some of its money on the team. That was the equivalent to those sides who are in the drop zone going bonkers in January to try and avoid it. All they want is top four.

Eventually Mourinho will get sick of it, as will any top manager who actually wants to win things. However, in the end I'm sure the Glazers will get a guy who is just grateful for the privilege of managing at United and can keep us top four and they'll just stick with that person.
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Agree with all of that. And the point about them only really spending until we were out of the CL places cannot be made often enough. There are quite a lot of people who seem to think we've been ambitious over the last few years when it was more panic stations.

The main reason I was happy with Mourinho being appointed was exactly his ambition. Absolutely not a yes-man. So after years of no-value-in-the-market the board appointed two fools. Things went to shit. People still thought we had a competitive squad. Our best players under SAF were approaching retirement and he milked everything out of that squad in his final season.

The most truthful analysis of our team came after Mourinho's biggest mistake, when Sevilla knocked us out. The awful team selection is on Mourinho, but his rant afterwards was dead on. You don't have to be for or against Mourinho to realise that if all our players were currently at other clubs there are very few you'd want to sign.
 
Toddler said:
I would agree with you that Willian would make us much better but I would not pay ridiculous money to bring him here. Its just short sighted. "It is not my money", I really cant understand this argument (many people seem to be using it??). You'd have poor Ed pay too much for an old quick fix and then not invest in the future for a better alternative option which would potentially result in longer success? Would you consider that a good move? As we all know that we don't have the money that City or Psg have.

With all this said, I would take Willian in a heartbeat for a reasonable price. We truly need a new RW.
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I would rather us spend the money and win something than the Galzers pocketing the money.

Willian can easily play for 3 seasons after this. So it's not entirely short sighted.

Meanwhile we have promising youngsters who could then replace him .
 
LoneStar said:
I would rather us spend the money and win something than the Galzers pocketing the money.

Willian can easily play for 3 seasons after this. So it's not entirely short sighted.

Meanwhile we have promising youngsters who could then replace him .
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I see, okay. But as it stands, Glazers are "pocketing the money" and we have a budget. Its really tempting though, the idea of Willian. But I don't think he is that good that we should over spend on him. My heart tells me to say yes to overspending on him and my head the opposite! hah. Its ridiculous though how long we've been without a good rw.

If we end up with no Rw, we should consider 352 in my opinion. Maybe thats mous plan?
 
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What do folks think the odds are we have one true star signing to come? Sure some of the names thrown around are good players but none with big star power. It appears to me everything United is doing (or not doing) is set to throw the press and other clubs off the trail again like we seemed to have been very good at the past few years no matter what the naysayers think. If there is a star signing out there for us - who do you guys think it could be? I thought Dybala could be possible but now with Rash taking the no. 10 that seems even more unlikely.
 
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Redplane said:
What do folks think the odds are we have one true star signing to come? Sure some of the names thrown around are good players but none with big star power. It appears to me everything United is doing (or not doing) is set to throw the press and other clubs off the trail again like we seemed to have been very good at the past few years no matter what the naysayers think. If there is a star signing out there for us - who do you guys think it could be? I thought Dybala could be possible but now with Rady taking the no. 10 that seems even more unlikely.
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I'd rate it very low but more likely than a signing we actually need like a full back.

The United commercial model is all about glitz, big advertising, getting new sponsors. If a genuinely big star came on the market the club would make a real effort. Spending £100m means nothing if you're going to get in a few new sponsors on the back of it cos they want a star player selling their goods.

The problem is convincing the money men at United to spend £50m on a player like Perisic or Sandro, someone who'd improve us but who they can't photograph next to a tractor or some tires and sell to people.
 
Bastian said:
You don't have to be for or against Mourinho to realise that if all our players were currently at other clubs there are very few you'd want to sign.
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A lot of MUFC fans don't want to admit this.
I mean who would want to sign Valencia, Young, Smalling, Jones? That's our first team backline, right there.
It would be very disappointing if we have now settled to be the next Arsenal - aim for the 4th place trophy, using very little (transfer) money, so that the Glazers can pocket the money and buy whatever mansion or yacht they have their eyes on.
 
Redplane said:
What do folks think the odds are we have one true star signing to come? Sure some of the names thrown around are good players but none with big star power. It appears to me everything United is doing (or not doing) is set to throw the press and other clubs off the trail again like we seemed to have been very good at the past few years no matter what the naysayers think. If there is a star signing out there for us - who do you guys think it could be? I thought Dybala could be possible but now with Rady taking the no. 10 that seems even more unlikely.
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I don’t think we are in for any star signings personally. Right now I’d say it’s 50/50 on bringing a centre back in before the window closes.

What a depressing summer it’s been for us. I just hope the doom and gloom around the club right now can be lifted with a top class performance against Leicester.
 
sunama said:
A lot of MUFC fans don't want to admit this.
I mean who would want to sign Valencia, Young, Smalling, Jones? That's our first team backline, right there.
It would be very disappointing if we have now settled to be the next Arsenal - aim for the 4th place trophy, using very little (transfer) money, so that the Glazers can pocket the money and buy whatever mansion or yacht they have their eyes on.
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Who would want to sign Mourinho with his negative tactics and drab football?
 
Toddler said:
I see, okay. But as it stands, Glazers are "pocketing the money" and we have a budget. Its really tempting though, the idea of Willian. But I don't think he is that good that we should over spend on him. My heart tells me to say yes to overspending on him and my head the opposite! hah. Its ridiculous though how long we've been without a good rw.

If we end up with no Rw, we should consider 352 in my opinion. Maybe thats mous plan?
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The problem with 352 is that it relies on fullbacks a lot, and safe to say, we don't have really good fullbacks.

Hopefully Dalot hits the ground running, and makes the RB spot his own. I'm fine with Young at LB for now.
 
Garethw said:
I don’t think we are in for any star signings personally. Right now I’d say it’s 50/50 on bringing a centre back in before the window closes.

What a depressing summer it’s been for us. I just hope the doom and gloom around the club right now can be lifted with a top class performance against Leicester.
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Relax Mate, there are clubs which have made zero signings. I think we will be doing something by deadline day. We are not in such a bad position.
 
sunama said:
A lot of MUFC fans don't want to admit this.
I mean who would want to sign Valencia, Young, Smalling, Jones? That's our first team backline, right there.
It would be very disappointing if we have now settled to be the next Arsenal - aim for the 4th place trophy, using very little (transfer) money, so that the Glazers can pocket the money and buy whatever mansion or yacht they have their eyes on.
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Yeah, it's staggering really. If SAF hadn't won the league in his last year there'd be a lot more realism overall. The Glazers (reading a @ravelston post in the money thread) pocket 25m a year. Another 20m goes to service debts. That's about one decent player. But we are paying 68m (for previous deals I assume) this year and another 68m next year. Which seems to indicate that the two years of Jose spending 130m net were spread across 2-3 years. Hence the sharp dip in the transfer budget. We can't afford to compete at the highest level it seems, absurd as that sounds. Our absolute mare with selling players and our idiotic recruitment over recent seasons, not merely signing average players but paying exorbitant wages, further compounds the misery.

If this is how the next few years are going to be I don't really think there is an option other than mapping out a long-term strategy, signing highly promising younger players on relatively modest wages. To do this we need to hire some capable people at board level and let Ed get on with the sponsorship deals.
 
Patrick08 said:
Relax Mate, there are clubs which have made zero signings. I think we will be doing something by deadline day. We are not in such a bad position.
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On the whole I think we have a fantastic squad. I just don’t have any faith in the manager to get the best out of them without completely changing his tactical system.
 
#07 said:
The ideal manager for the Glazers would be Jose Mourinho with no ambition: Mourinho is more or less capable of managing us to a top four finish in his sleep. However, he wants to win the title. His pride would be severely bruised if he couldn't get one over on Guardiola again. Plus, even if Pep wasn't around, for the sake of his ego he wouldn't want to leave Man Utd without winning the Premier League.

The Glazers want a manager who will finish fourth and not make too much fuss about pushing on. If you're in a 'battle' for fourth your games will get televised just as much as if you're trying to win the title, and the prize money from winning the title ain't that much bigger. From the Glazers' perspective is it worth £100m to £200m more of the club's money, much of which they could pocket themselves, just to finish a few places higher?

The squad we have is competitive enough to finish fourth, especially with Mourinho. Ergo the Glazers won't sanction anymore big spending. People are ignoring the fact we had to drop out of the top four for them to let the club spend some of its money on the team. That was the equivalent to those sides who are in the drop zone going bonkers in January to try and avoid it. All they want is top four.

Eventually Mourinho will get sick of it, as will any top manager who actually wants to win things. However, in the end I'm sure the Glazers will get a guy who is just grateful for the privilege of managing at United and can keep us top four and they'll just stick with that person.
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Agreed. United fans should be kicking off with the board if our transfer window doesn't improve. It's a critical time for us a club after coming back from 4 years of shite. If they don't invest now then we could slip further back again.

No doubt many fans will be calling for Jose's head when in fact we have not backed him enough. The club needed a lot of investment after Moyes and LVG. We've had some but not enough to win the league yet. Even Fergie left a squad which needed investment and we've made it worse until Jose came.

Even if you want Jose out the board need to invest to improve the squad so we can kick on next season and the season after.
 
I'd be quite annoyed at the board if we don't sign at least one more player. For a club like United to spend sub £100m in a transfer window when the team can be improved is negligence.

They are talking about 'inflated' fees, yet all the top clubs are paying these fees. Juventus spent a truckload on Ronaldo, Barca spent a truckload on Coutinho and Dembele, City have spent a truckload on everyone they buy.

It's also quite worrying that all we have is to follow Mourinho's list because there are no footballing people at the top. Most clubs have a system in place that isn't so reliant on the manager. For example, Mourinho could get 1st choice on a position, and if we can't get him the club will also have a player or two for the long term that the manager approves.

There are quite a few reliable accounts that Dembele has been offered around by Barca, and Malcom's arrival also signals that this is a player that is actually for sale. Woodward said that we can do crazy things in the market, so why not Dembele?
 
Judas said:
Who are the reliable accounts saying Dembele has been offered around? All the talk I see is he's not on the market at all.
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There was a tier 1 Barca journalist saying that Dembele was offered around before the world cup.
 
breakout67 said:
I'd be quite annoyed at the board if we don't sign at least one more player. For a club like United to spend sub £100m in a transfer window when the team can be improved is negligence.

They are talking about 'inflated' fees, yet all the top clubs are paying these fees. Juventus spent a truckload on Ronaldo, Barca spent a truckload on Coutinho and Dembele, City have spent a truckload on everyone they buy.

It's also quite worrying that all we have is to follow Mourinho's list because there are no footballing people at the top. Most clubs have a system in place that isn't so reliant on the manager. For example, Mourinho could get 1st choice on a position, and if we can't get him the club will also have a player or two for the long term that the manager approves.

There are quite a few reliable accounts that Dembele has been offered around by Barca, and Malcom's arrival also signals that this is a player that is actually for sale. Woodward said that we can do crazy things in the market, so why not Dembele?
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Because its pure fake news. We haven't spend £100m this summer. Basically everything we spent on Dalot we recouped by selling Blind and Johnstone. Its voodoo numbers. If we sell Rojo and Darmian for the money that's been touted we'll be at zero net spend or better.

Lots and lots of journalists have reported, repeatedly, that Jose's been told he has to sell to buy. That seems obvious to me.

Luke Shaw, allegedly, refused to go to Everton and that ended our pursuit of a new left back. There's no way we're buying a winger unless Martial leaves.

We're strong enough to challenge for top four football. That's the goal of our owners. Unless we fall out of top four expect net spend to remain small to non-existent.

Their fantasy is clearly a Poch type figure who develops young, cheap (emphasis on the cheap) players and stays in the mix for top four. In their version of the story stays in the top four period. Maybe wins the occasional FA Cup or Europa League so the sponsors can see their logos in pictures with people lifting trophies. That's it.
 
sunama said:
Shaw only had about 8 good games for us, before he got injured "that" season. Martial did okay that season. As a comparison, Ibra, the following season, comprehensively beat Martial's goal tally the previous season. Now Martial was young, so this can be excused.

I think you may be one of those who believe Martial is the reigning Ballon Dor and that Shaw is the best LB in the World. Neither of which are even remotely close.

The truth is that Martial had a good opening season, considering his age. I think that people made him out to be better than he was because his first goal was against LFC.
His second season was weak and most people put this down to his young age (ie. inconsistency).
His third season went completely pear-shaped, since the arrival of Sanchez and it would seem that he simply does not want to compete for a place in our starting line-up. He wants to be given an automatic starting berth, which under Jose, he will never get.
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If that’s how I come of it’s regrettable. I actually think we should sell Martial. I think he will be excellent at a different club but he doesn’t fit in a Mourinho United, and thus should be sold. All I did was take offense to the notion that Martial is a stupid player. He is clearly talented, especially because his talent is based around clever play, instead of someone like Rashford where his pace and physics are his main assets.
 
#07 said:
Because its pure fake news. We haven't spend £100m this summer. Basically everything we spent on Dalot we recouped by selling Blind and Johnstone. Its voodoo numbers. If we sell Rojo and Darmian for the money that's been touted we'll be at zero net spend or better.

Lots and lots of journalists have reported, repeatedly, that Jose's been told he has to sell to buy. That seems obvious to me.

Luke Shaw, allegedly, refused to go to Everton and that ended our pursuit of a new left back. There's no way we're buying a winger unless Martial leaves.

We're strong enough to challenge for top four football. That's the goal of our owners. Unless we fall out of top four expect net spend to remain small to non-existent.

Their fantasy is clearly a Poch type figure who develops young, cheap (emphasis on the cheap) players and stays in the mix for top four. In their version of the story stays in the top four period. Maybe wins the occasional FA Cup or Europa League so the sponsors can see their logos in pictures with people lifting trophies. That's it.
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I think you are right, there is growing evidence for this.

Its absurd that we have a sell before buying policy at the moment. Madrid and Barca match our wages for squad players, while paying their best players a ridiculous amount and well above what we pay our best players. I think it's obvious that we have the financial capability to spend more, but that would mean sacrificing some profitability for a better team. We do not have the footballing people at the top to push for that type of decision making.
 
#07 said:
The ideal manager for the Glazers would be Jose Mourinho with no ambition: Mourinho is more or less capable of managing us to a top four finish in his sleep. .
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Didn't we come 6th in his first season?
 
#07 said:
The ideal manager for the Glazers would be Jose Mourinho with no ambition: Mourinho is more or less capable of managing us to a top four finish in his sleep.
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That's Wenger then. A bonus: massive profit for them too.
 
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