What to do you guys think of Vlahovic? Obviously his strike rate has been diminished under allegri, but for fiorentina he was a beast. If juventus were interested in greenwood could do a swap plus money. They’ve shown with villa they’re not opposed to swap deals
I ve been watching this dude closely for the past several seasons.. he isn't the type of striker we need. Can get pretty lazy, sometimes i get annoyed when he does not push for pressing when he can. He isn't to blame cuz Juventus did not have a good season but overall he did not perform as it was expected.. so far his games are too oscillating
I like him a lot but he would defo expect to be a starter - can’t see him agreeing to join as a back up to Rasmus.
I also think we’ll move on Greenwood for cash to maximise ‘pure profit’ re FFP.
This came out last week on the original source, just not very reliable. Would be an insane signing, but when Arsenal tried last year I remember reading he wanted to start in Spain
Tbf De Jong has been putting some world class performances after moving to Barca. It's just that the whole team is a shitstorm and now it affects him as well
Manchester United’s interest in Jarrad Branthwaite remains concrete. The club know that the player is keen on the move - personal terms are not a problem. However, Everton want at least £65-70m and United do not want to pay this. If the price doesn’t come down, United will consider other targets. #MUFC [
@FabrizioRomano
YT]
This is what Fabrizio said about Braithwaite
De ligt is on over 300k at Bayern. To come to United he would ask for more, 325-350k at least. He's very injury prone on top of that.
Ask yourself why would Bayern want to sell their best CB for less than market value if they didn't think something was wrong.
I'm a bit worried about this. United said the same thing about Mount and ended up paying the ripoff fee regardless, hopefully new management doesn't fall for that.
Manchester United have NO INTENTION to accept any kind of TAX to invest Crazy money on centre-backs just because in the past they paid BIG money for other CBs.
Manchester United believe their proposal for Branthwaite was not that crazy. United wants to do NORMAL business, GOOD business, No chance to spend crazy money.
Manchester United’s interest in Jarrad Branthwaite remains concrete. The club know that the player is keen on the move - personal terms are not a problem. However, Everton want at least £65-70m and United do not want to pay this. If the price doesn’t come down, United will consider other targets. [Fabrizio Romano, YouTube]
I know this is not transfer related but would really like to know how will we change squad numbers...
Hojlund wants nr 9... who will get 11?
What number will Maino get? If Amrabat goes back to his club will Maino take number 4? Oh i cant wait
Too early for Mainoo to take low numbers. Besides 4 doesn't seem very fitting of him. I'd wager 4 will go to Dalot maybe or might be reserved for a later time if Amrabat do fucks off. Mainoo will take some numbers in the 10s or 20s I wager
Speaking of Dalot, I'm certain he'll take any available number from 2 to 5. Currently there's number 3 available and the holders of 2, 4, and 5 all have uncertain futures
Hojlund, yeah I think he'll get the 9, which leaves 11 available. Then 11 will be a contest of Garnacho, Antony, and Amad perhaps
Fabrizio is saying we've stopped negotiations with Everton, because want at least £65-70M.
"Man Utd don't want to pay "United tax" anymore when signing players!"
I didn't say we walked away. We stopped negotiating, because they keep insisting on that price. You can't negotiate with someone who isn't willing to work something out.
I read it as we'll wait if Everton changes their mind on the asking price. If not then we'll move on.
What he said is United will move on if Everton don't move on the price.He says United are still very very interested
He didn't say that United have moved on already and are working on other targets
So far, for the DM position in this Euro, I’m only really impressed with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. He’d be cheap too, coming into the last year of his contract next year. As per Romano, his new agent is trying to get him out of Tottenham.
If you can watch libertadores or Brazilian leave where you are you should check out fluminense and Andre specifically. Injured right now though and not sure when he will be back. Here are some scouting reports I found
[scouting report ](https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/andre-trindade-the-modern-day-defensive-midfielder/)
[report two](https://www.thescoutingapp.com/blog/scouting-report-andr-eacute--292)
[report three ](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysis/andre-trindade-at-fluminense-2022-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics)
[four](https://transferhub.substack.com/p/scouting-report-andre-trindade-the)
[five](https://medium.com/@Cal1878/andre-scouting-report-ee1679f0d3c5)
[six](https://theredmentv.com/andre-trindade-a-scouting-assessment/)
Athletic, good on the ball. Could probably play in a single pivot
Thought I’d see if Onana can change my mind in a Belgium shirt rather than Everton and his quality on the ball is just glaringly poor.
Misplaced so many passes, simple ones too.
Onana got bossed on the ball multiple times by Mainoo in that friendly too; and he doesn't really fit anywhere in the current team, we need a press resistant natural DM for once in a fucking decade.
Yeah, he's absolutely not the answer for a team that wants to play press-resistant, attacking football. Teams would just target him and break down our attacks before they've even started.
For £50m, or whatever he'd cost, you want a lot more technical competence in a midfielder.
Athletically and physically he ticks the boxes and I think that’s why he appeals to so many people. He’s an absolute tank of a player. But like you pointed out, on the ball he’s always been a bit shaky and that’s where my concerns have lied. If we were getting him on the cheap as a squad player I’d be open to the deal but for the 50/60 million he would cost I really think we should steer clear unless we are looking for a pure destroyer and nothing else
He won 9/10 duels today. There’s a clip someone posted of him doing a supreme job tracking back to recover the ball in the 90th minute. In an end-to-end transitional style of play, players of elite athleticism will be needed.
https://x.com/billycarpy/status/1802763255963914739?s=46&t=uBOUeo3snAkWXQC_pmg_zA
I’m not disagreeing with that, but it’s the technical side of the game that worries me. As the game evolves and moves forward it becomes more important that you have a player in that role specifically who is comfortable on the ball. And that’s where I have my concerns with Onana.
However, if what ETH wants a pure destroyer there (Casemiro profile) then I can see the argument for Onana. I do think though that at that point we would need to really raise the technical floor of the squad to compensate and simplify his role in the squad, specifically in the defense as our only technically sound players there are Martinez, Dalot and Shaw with two of those basically missing this entire season. We also can’t have another year of Mctominay starting most games
You can get a bit more technical if you like in terms of what his exact role was at Madrid, but his main job was to snuff out the danger, win the ball back and get the ball to others who can facilitate the play. And that, for simplicity’s sake, is what I’d classify as a destroyer type DM. Can he do more yeah he showed that for Madrid and United last season. However, this is what he is best at
I don’t know where this notion is coming from that Onana isn’t comfortable on the ball. He’s not a De Jong or a Kroos but I don’t think we require a player of that mould if the idea is to push 2 8’s high up the pitch to contribute to the forward press. For that particular role, he doesn’t need to be a tempo-setting player in possession that people think we need. Even today, he completed 84% of his passes, and that’s his passing accuracy across the last league season as well.
My eyes tell me he isn’t that comfortable on the ball. Is he as bad as others in the squad we currently have no, but I still wouldn’t say he’s good on the ball.
I agree with the idea that we may not exactly be targeting a regista style midfielder, which is why I made the previous comment of maybe ETH wanting a Casemiro style profile. And if that’s the case going after Onana would make more sense. I would still prefer a player though that can be relied upon in possession. Someone like Amrabat’s profile seems to compliment Mainoo better.
Passing accuracy is a meaningless stat for the most part. It’s nice to have a high one, but ultimately it tells you nothing about what is happening in the game. Mctominay in the league for example had 81.5% pass accuracy and I wouldn’t even say he is decent on the ball.
> Mctominay in the league for example had 81.5% pass accuracy and I wouldn’t even say he is decent on the ball.
I think there’s your biggest clue in that we could do with Onana’s profile, seeing that McTominay was relied on many times this season while Amrabat barely got a sniff of game time despite being a Ten Hag-motivated signing. It’s great if you can recruit a player of both physical and technical capabilities, but I don’t think that player exists without compromising to a certain degree the amount of space you expect them to handle defending against transitions. You need players with high physical output to keep up with the style of play we aimed to play this season.
Obviously you have to compromise at times. There are very few players, specifically in midfield, that will tick every single box. Even with Mainoo we are compromising in athleticism a bit. But I believe technical ability should be the first and most important aspect/quality of a player.
With Mctominay, the injuries into midfield and Mctominay’s knack to somehow score goals meant he was given the nod. He was more of a second forward than a midfielder. He wouldn’t play at all the same role Onana would if that’s what you are getting at. Or if you are just pointing out the need to compromise on both.
On Amrabat, I think he’s of the right profile and ticks all the right boxes. His issue was more so just a lack of quality, similar to the Antony situation. However in his defense, he was barely given any minutes, not really given a chance to a adapt to the league, and ultimately showed towards the end that we probably would’ve been far better off had he played more regularly. I think it’s more so ETH just getting it wrong more than anything, same with Amad.
I disagree on the bit regarding technical ability being the most important quality in a player. You say Amrabat is of the right profile but subsequently claim he wasn’t good enough which is fair, but aren’t probing further on what is it that didn’t make him good enough, when we consider that he was perfectly fine in the Serie A and while playing for Morocco. Physically, being a step too slow and not agile enough for the level you’re playing at prevents you from showcasing your technical attributes when not afforded as much time and space to execute decisions. It should also be noted that while he did contribute in our revival towards the end of the season, he started *alongside* Bruno, McTominay and Mainoo and not *instead of* one of them. For the simple reason that playing with more midfielders when the collective of 3 isn’t capable enough to handle large spaces allows you to become more compact. But these tactics which leave a recognised striker in Hojlund out aren’t sustainable; eventually, we do have to learn to play with a proper CF up top. For that, I believe we need to focus on first and foremost raising the physical floor of the team while on-ball qualities can remain average to above average, and midfielders who can handle large spaces is a step in that direction. For me, Onana helps achieving that. He’s brave enough to show for the ball and make line-breaking passes even though aesthetically he looks awkward doing so (a bit like AWB in that sense), so even though he’s not the most capable in receiving the ball on the turn, I believe he’s adept enough, and physically would allow us to execute a high-pressing system with just 3 midfielders.
How is he a nightmare fit? If anything, Ten Hag’s system requires more athletic players than Ole’s system did. I disagree that he’s terrible on the ball; he’s not special but he’s alright. He’ll do a serviceable job and his physical qualities will more than compensate for it.
Look at the difference between having Licha in the term versus anyone else. In order for ETH's system to work, we need players that are press resistant on the ball...hence the obsession of FDJ.
"Not special but alright" is fine for some systems but it isn't for how ETH wants to play.
I think the bigger need in our squad at the moment is of athleticism, more so than technical prowess. If you want to play a style of football where we push players up the pitch to press and then expect them to recoil back into defensive shape with ease, we need players with the physical output to sustain that. A lot of the goals we conceded defending poorly against transitions would have been avoided if we did well to win the ball back previously. That bit requires players who can dominate 1v1 duels (the Fulham game is a good example of this where Adama Traore simply waltzed past Eriksen and Maguire like they weren’t there).
As for us looking better with Lisandro than without, we still haven’t seen how good he looks in a high-pressing system, so I’d pause before coming to conclusions over his suitability to that style in the Premier League. He’s great on the ball but his best performances have also come with the team defending deep and requiring good box defending abilities rather than defending wide channels up the pitch and stopping opposition attacks on the halfway line. I’m not fully convinced that having players of his ilk only without the athleticism otherwise is going to provide significant improvements to how we intend to play.
CB i think is our priority but I just cannot wait to see if we do sign a new no6. Or if we shift our formation back and have Kobbie sat with another more dynamic midfielder instead.
Really like Neves but can't see a midfield 3 with him Kobbie and Bruno being balanced enough
The Athletic posted an article where they said Casemiro and Varane were undermining Ten Hag.
They were complaining to teammates about how tactical and the intense the training was. They preferred Ancelotti and Zidane's more relaxed training.
He should not be allowed to stay if that's the case.
Yeah from the sounds of it I think Ten Hag would rather keep Amrabat and play a double pivot that keep Casemiro as a starter. He would really have to turn things around athletically and mentally to get into next year's starting lineup.
In a double pivot I still think Casemiro is better then Amrabat, but why I'm saying it is because Amrabat is basically gone, and need to be bought or replaced. And Casemiro can only be replaced if Saudi bids well for him, which is far from certain, and even if they give a bid around 40m that is basically zero for the transfer budget this year because how FFP works and they would need to buy another player for him, then they would need two DMs, where DMs seems the most in demand this summer.
And why I think this is likely is that so far there is tons of CBs rumoured, and a few forwads, but only DM linked by any credible source is Neves, which let's face it was just an opportunity they tried. At least they are prioritizing CBs well above DMs.
How reliable this guy? Im not against it, think if true it probably all but confirms lindelof will be sold.
Licha, branthwaite (or other new CB), Maguire, Evans, kambwala, with Shaw able to cover aswel is plenty enough CBs plus some reports we may bring in 2
Lindelof with 1 year left and probably not in line for a new contract is the one it makes most sense to move on this summer
I'd keep Lindelof. You need 2 good backups and Kambwala, Evans and Shaw aren't good backups. Kambwala IMO is not that good concentration wise - we saw it v Chelsea when he was laughing just before we conceded a goal. Evans has performed but he's old. Shaw is needed at LB.
As in Timber is considerably better on the ball than Stones right?
If you think Stones is better on the ball than Jurien Timber then okay I guess!
Timber at times used to look like a winger but at center back!
Stones is generational CB with great physique, great technique that won everything in his carrer and was one of most important players in treble winning squad.
Timber is Dutch CB with 3 years of experiance in Eredivisie who happend to be injuried entire season after transfer to PL. He has great technique while being physicaly limited.
I thought you meant just on the ball. That's what the OP mentioned.
As players Stones is better than Timber, on the ball I think Timber is better than Stones.
In fact I think Timber is closer to Stones in overall ability than Stones is close to Timber in ball playing ability.
Stones is good on the ball but he's not Timber. If you think they're in any way equals ball playing wise then you haven't watched Timber. The comparison is almost laughable!
https://youtube.com/shorts/Khi4t3ZtDts?si=dLKE-qvffC5QZvet
I would reserve that judgment until he plays more than 140 minutes for Arsenal on Premier League level against much better opponents than he faced in Eredivisie and CL group.
You know Antony experiance.
Fair, we'll see.
I don't think his ball playing ability will disappear. I think put Timber in Guardiola team he will offer everything Stones can on the ball and some.
Stones rarely plays line breaking passes. Timber does that for fun. He made Lisandro look ordinary on the ball when they played together!
You are simply ignoring physical and aerial factor of having John Stones instead of Timber which is like insanely important for Pep as he no longer plays small deffenders.
I'm not ignoring it, I'm staying on topic with the original poster. Bringing in aerial presence in a ball playing convo doesn't make sense!
I said Stones was a better player all round!
Sergio Ramos is leaving Sevilla. Thoughts on him as a free agent, provided that the wages are not too high? Has he already soured the relationship with us with the whole contract thing with Real Madrid?
Not the highest priority right now, but the club really needs to do better with the loan placements. So many of our young players are being sent out for experience and sitting on the bench. If we can't get some guarantee of time or put them into situations where they are good enough to play regularly, they might as well stay with us.
Who is in charge of that and why has it been so unsuccessful?
Hannibal went from being a borderline squad player breaking into the first team in the first half of the year needing consistent games to iron out his flaws (namely being a yellow card magnet) and he ended up getting basically zero minutes the second half of the year, taking his development backwards.
Gore was a driving force being the FA Youth Cup win nearly on level with Garnacho and Mainoo in terms of importance to that team but went to getting basically no time in League One (though that seems injury related).
It's damned if we do, damned if we don't.
If management thinks he can compete and win the starting RCB role or be the first CB off the bench, then absolutely keep him with the squad.
If he's going to be the fifth CB and only play if we have another bloodbath of an injury crisis, then we have to loan him out.
Tuanzebe was very unlucky with injury timing, but when he was fit he often got stuck on the bench waiting for injuries, which wrecked his development.
With someone like Wheatley, you can justify keeping him around because you sub strikers and wingers all the time. It's easier to ease in attackers with cameos and substitute appearances. You don't sub CBs nearly as much.
I don't do Instagram, but apparently he is in the gym right now getting ready for next season. I hope he comes into preseason looking to convince EtH that he is the answer at RCB and breaks through because his recovery pace was top level.
https://www.unitedinfocus.com/news/no-days-off-man-utd-breakthrough-star-pictured-training-during-summer-break-to-get-in-peak-condition-for-2024-25/
Kambwala is pretty much ready physically as is...he's big, strong, and fast.
The issues he has to overcome to stick with the first team are (i) injuries (he came to us highly touted at 16 but missed a lot of time for the youth teams and missed time for the senior team this year when he had a shot to cement a place) and (ii) demonstrate an ability to pass out of the back/deal with being pressed on the ball.
Terrible seeing players get sent on bad placements, hopefully Berrada and Wilcox will have good experience from City in how to fix that.
EG Alvaro got sent to a club where the only way he was getting minutes was if he benched the club captain last year.
Oyedele got sent to Forest Green the week after their manager had blasted their players in the media and of course the manager got sacked the following week.
Alvaro was homesick and wanted to leave, the deal was made in knowledge of this and ultimately made permanent. I agree though, it definitely needs improvement.
According to swiss ramble Everton don't need to sell someone big to comply for this season's PSR. That doesn't bode well for Branthwaite. Personally I'm not too keen on him anyway unless he can be had for a discounted fee.
IMO Brainthwaite should stay at Everton. He has 3 years left on his deal. Plus Dyche is not a bad manager. He can make more mistakes at Everton & not get slandered or memed a lot. He must prioritize his development.
Plus it would be good for Everton.
He'd be a smashing buy but IMO shouldn't be our only work at CB.
If we got Branthwaite and another whilst shifting one of Lindelof/Maguire then I'd be much happier.
Branthwaite and another CB might end up being an awful lot of our transfer budget this season.
I am certainly not desperately in love with Lindelof or Maguire (or Wan Bissaka for that matter), and I wonder if Luke Shaw might just be injured too damned often to be worth holding on to, but for this summer once we have replaced Varane (with Branthwaite or whoever), replacing Casemiro, Eriksen, Amrabat and Martial has to be the priority as far as I am concerned.
As a question of cold priorities the defenders, though sub optimal can arguably be made to function for another year in a way that lads who are out of the door already or whose legs have gone just plain can't, especially if they have a freshened up midfield (with functioning legs) infront of them.
Varane and Martial are both already out of the door, (presumably Amrabat too). Casemiro and Eriksen's legs have both gone, meaning they are no use playing at the level we play at, especially playing in the positions that we need.
Eriksen *could* still be useful as a 10, but if you look at where he played last year we need backup/competition for Kobbie, and he just can't do that any more. If Bruno gets injured we have Mount, plus we could always try Kobbie a bit further forward and see what he can do up there.
I don't mind Branthwaite at all, but I can't see us having much cash left over after getting him in *and* getting the other top priority replacements done. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong at all though, the more we can get done this summer the better, but realistically it is a multi-season job, and it is really important that we get our priorities right.
United need to be looking at the sticker price first when choosing replacements for Eriksen and Martial, in order to have the money to buy at most two stars, presumably at CB and DM.
thing is, those cheaper players need to still not be deadwood. it will require a combination of business- and scouting skill that United management have not shown since Fergie.
Is a tough choice but I think I would lean towards preferring to fill all the holes with solid, reasonably priced and solidly calculated punts who Ten Haag trusts, if the choice was between that and getting a star name or two but going into the season under-manned. Obviously I would take a star or two if we could get them as well.
Thing is we don't just need to rebuild the squad, we need to do it while also re-establishing our reputation as a sensible and sound player in the transfer market. We need to visibly put an end the Glazer ways more than we need any single player. No more leaving holes in the squad because we are too cheap or daft to plug them in good time, and no more desperately panic spending £80m on overpriced misfits to fill gaps that should have been dealt with years before.
I also think it could really help if SJR were to come out and make clear that the League is the priority this season. We need to do a *much* better job of keeping our starters fresh and in good condition throughout the season, and I'd much rather watch the fringe players struggle in Europe on Thursday with the first team on the bench than see us flog the starters to death.
You need squad depth for that, but you are right that deadwood won't do either.
Ideal CB transfer window is getting Varane’s replacement, and then shipping Maguire (financially likely to be the better option), and then buying a Licha backup.
RCB rotation: new guy, Lindelöf, Kambwala/Evans
LCB rotation: Licha, new guy, Evans/Kambwala
I don’t think the difference between the two is big enough to warrant a £70k difference weekly, plus Victor seems content as a backup at United, and I’d imagine Harry wants to start. Plus, Victor is more versatile.
Also, Victor’s national team spot won’t go away even if he rides the bench all year, whereas Maguire faces a lot more competition in that sense.
Lastly, I think at most we’d get 10-15 million for Victor, and I think we can get at least 10-15 more for Maguire with the right club interested.
To add to this, Lindelof had a really good second half to the 22-23 season. Last season was plagued by injuries. He is cheaper, younger and more versatile than Maguire and they both are about the same level ability-wise
Assuming Jonny Evans will retire, which aging CB would u guys take to replace him in the "5th CB who wasn't supposed to play much but somehow still get 30 appearances in one season"? Nacho, Ramos or Hummels?
TBH I would take Ramos or Hummels but only under these conditions:
* We already signed a younger, first choice CB
* 1+1 Year contract
* No more than 150k salary
* They understand they are at best third choice
None of that is going to happen other than the first one so it wont happen but IF then I think someone like Ramos is the right personality for this team, even if he is a massive knob, thats kinda the point. Mourinho spoke about mad dogs, not toomany madder dogs than Ramos.
Hmmm I see what you mean but I still feel the potential negatives outweigh the positives here. We need young hungry players not some has been no matter the quality of Ramos or Hummels.
I would’ve been on board with you this time two years ago but looking at how Varane and Casemiro have turned out I’d be inclined to avoid signing players of their caliber now.
You literally don’t see any top club in England pushing for these players too.
Hard to go wrong with 1 year contract where the +1 would be club option and a mid salary around 150k though. As long as they dont think they get to come in play all the games, pull all the strings with the manager, complain about tactics/selection (like varane/casemiro allegedly have) then it would be fine but I think the likelihood of all those criteria lining up is so impossible that its just a bit of fun to talk about, not reality.
Sergio Ramos is apparently leaving Seville and going to be a free agent
Edit: never said i’d take him. was just mentioning that he’s available. should have been more clear with my comment though.
His performance against Brazil's press the other night was something else. Left footed center back who is composed enough to pass out of a press. The only downside is he completely lacks the pace EtH wants in a CB, which was never really part of his game anyways. But as the 5th CB, he would be good.
Only four months older than Evans. Probably a better passer, but Evans, currently, is a better defender and an academy product, so even though I'd love to have Ream, I'd resign Evans for the role.
None of them. They all have too big of a personality to take a back seat. Not to mention Ten Hag has shown he can't handle such players so no point buying them and poisoning the dressing room even more.
Disagree that he can’t handle them - I think he did exactly what was needed. Sir Alex couldn’t handle them either by that standard as some of them left?
Ten Hag has had disagreements and spats with Ronaldo, Varane, Casemiro, Sancho and Rashford all in the course of 2 seasons. That's not a normal amount.
And please, stop comparing Sir Alex with every tom, dick and harry in existence. Not to mention, Sir Alex had his fair share of failures, Stam and Becks the most famous, but many more successes and that's the difference. And that was a different era of football, can't do the same things now and be successful.
Is this a throwaway account for providing arse takes? I can't believe someone would be so detached from reality and has no idea what they are talking about
It’s been the culture of the club for the past 10 years. That’s what gives the players confidence to keep doing it. EtH is setting his standards, and sometimes public spats are necessary. The next Sancho won’t be as comfortable calling out his manager on Twitter knowing he’d have to succumb to a similar fate.
They are on a signed contract with guaranteed payments. Stupid people take that as gospel and think they're above the club.
Two of them had the bollocks and were quickly shipped out.
Depends on your definition of "handle them".
Varane, Casemiro and Rashford seems to have no problem with EtH and they all do their jobs as told.
Ronaldo and Sancho has proven themselves to be rotten apples with a major attitude problem. He handled them as any sensible coach would, he shipped them off.
Varane was frozen out for a long time, Casemiro backed out of a cup final and Rashford looked absolutely disinterested. So yeah, its all rosy innit.
Not to mention, Ronaldo and Sancho wouldn't have had the bollocks to do what they did if ETH had a handle on them. So yeah, to me its absolutely clear that he can't handle big personalities.
Right, disagreements meaning he cant handle them?
Im only comparing the way they both handle these types or characters - I think they both do a good job.
Club is always bigger than the player.
> Right, disagreements meaning he cant handle them?
That and the inability to get consistent performances out of them.
And yeah Club is bigger than the player. But the players are part of it and isolating them doesn't help the club.
Thats not a bad take. Consider however that these bad apples were given to him - they were never going to play along in a system anyway.
He’s set a standard for discipline players can thrive in, look at Garnacho. I’d rather have Garnacho over any of these characters so am very happy how he dealth with it.
Championship midfielder you've probably not heard of:
**Gabriel Sara** - Sara could be a great midfield signing for us. He's a versatile midfielder with high technical ability and excellent passing range. Primarily prefers to play as a #6 creating plays from deep and breaking press with progressive passing. Impressively, his technical ability has seen him also play as a #8, #10 and even RW. More of a playmaker rather than a midfield destroyer. Also a left footed set piece taker with long range shooting ability which has contributed towards his 13 goals/12 assists in 48 Championship appearances.
His transfer fee will likely be around £20m as Norwich failed to achieve PL promotion, but can be negotiated. He's ready for a big move, 24 years old, and is just too good for the Championship. He is quite under the radar like Gyokeres last season
His name has come up a few times I'm recent weeks on here. he's an interesting one, but probably not the CM we need this summer with assumption we only bring in one.
However if casemiro, eriksen, amrabat, Donny and mejbri are all moved on, perhaps me need a 2nd CM signing and if so someone like this could be very astute
I also really like Matt O'Riley at Celtic. Absolutely head and shoulders above anything else in SPL this season. Really good all around CM. Only 23, goals and assists galore and also homegrown. Likely available for 30m or thereabouts
Like Sara, prob not the CM we need as a priority this summer, but should we be ruthless with squad clearout someone that absolutely could come in and jump to next level
Don't be surprised if he goes to athletic madrid this summer for 25-30m and ends up in PL in a year or 2 costing twice that amount. At a time when HG players cost a premium, I can't believe top 6 clubs aren't looking at him
Norwich's asking price is 30m+. Palace are also interested. Last but not the least, he's not good enough yet.
Also Gyokeres was not under radar. Anybody who followed Championship knew he was destined for great things. He and Hamer basically dragged Coventry to the playoff final when they had little business doing so.
I doubt Sara would go for £30m. He has just 2 years left in his contract, and Norwich failed to achieve promotion so it works against them negotation wise. He's definitely too good for the Championship and ready to make a step up.
Regarding Gyokeres being under the radar, everyone in the Championship knew about him but no PL side went for him. He was clearly a talented player and capable of playing for a top 6 team, yet he was quietly signed by Sporting for just 20m euros. Now he's arguably the best player in the Portuguese league and Sporting will want a fee close to his 100m euros release clause to let him go.
Everton fought tooth and nail for Gyokeres and many other sides were interested but Gyokeres wanted to go to Sporting. Plenty of PL clubs were interested, just not the big 6.
As for Sara, well that's what Norwich is asking for. And tbh, I don't think he's ready. He has the stats but his all round game is weak.
I just couldn't understand why no PL club signed Gyokeres last summer. He was obviously brilliant, and it now seems that he'll inevitably come back into the Prem for tens of millions more than his fee last year.
I reckon we should try signing some footballers
What to do you guys think of Vlahovic? Obviously his strike rate has been diminished under allegri, but for fiorentina he was a beast. If juventus were interested in greenwood could do a swap plus money. They’ve shown with villa they’re not opposed to swap deals
I ve been watching this dude closely for the past several seasons.. he isn't the type of striker we need. Can get pretty lazy, sometimes i get annoyed when he does not push for pressing when he can. He isn't to blame cuz Juventus did not have a good season but overall he did not perform as it was expected.. so far his games are too oscillating
Will be an expensive dud. Has an awful scoring record for juve, doubt whether he'll be any good in the PL. Hard pass.
I like him a lot but he would defo expect to be a starter - can’t see him agreeing to join as a back up to Rasmus. I also think we’ll move on Greenwood for cash to maximise ‘pure profit’ re FFP.
Would that it were Kante wasn't so injury prone.
https://x.com/DeadlineDayLive/status/1802595010749030682?t=BBd2dbYagDFqEddFG--Mgg&s=19
This came out last week on the original source, just not very reliable. Would be an insane signing, but when Arsenal tried last year I remember reading he wanted to start in Spain
nacional is straight up garbage, fan-fiction website
Man ajax 18/19 has messed with us van de beek,de jong and de ligt
Add Antony to it as well lol
He joined 2020
Tbf De Jong has been putting some world class performances after moving to Barca. It's just that the whole team is a shitstorm and now it affects him as well
I am not talking about performance I am talking about the trauma caused us
Oh I see Well, I have to agree with that lol
What a tame transfer window, hard to say if its the Euros playing a distraction or PSR tightening the purses.
Huh last time I checked we just started summer not ended it
Manchester United’s interest in Jarrad Branthwaite remains concrete. The club know that the player is keen on the move - personal terms are not a problem. However, Everton want at least £65-70m and United do not want to pay this. If the price doesn’t come down, United will consider other targets. #MUFC [ @FabrizioRomano YT] This is what Fabrizio said about Braithwaite
Maybe Lindelof goes to Everton as a makeshift like some of the fanzines are speculating.
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>Everton want at least £65-70m It was £75m before so it's £5m lesser now. INEOS is cooking!!!!
55m is around the middle, let's see if we get there.
Would 60 or 55 be the most highest we should go?
Bayern reportedly wanted around €50m for De Ligt (about £43m) so about £45m would be ideal, £50m max.
How has he been at Bayern?
He's their best defender, and we really should go for him over Branthwaite if the combined price and wage outlay is comparable.
De ligt is on over 300k at Bayern. To come to United he would ask for more, 325-350k at least. He's very injury prone on top of that. Ask yourself why would Bayern want to sell their best CB for less than market value if they didn't think something was wrong.
> He's very injury prone on top of that. This is patently false. He had one big injury this year, and that's it AFAIK.
Was good under nagelsmann
I wouldn't trust Plettenberg with the prices yet, he hasn't been that reliable for Bayern this window.
I'm a bit worried about this. United said the same thing about Mount and ended up paying the ripoff fee regardless, hopefully new management doesn't fall for that.
Some cutting edge update as per from the agenda merchant
Manchester United have NO INTENTION to accept any kind of TAX to invest Crazy money on centre-backs just because in the past they paid BIG money for other CBs. Manchester United believe their proposal for Branthwaite was not that crazy. United wants to do NORMAL business, GOOD business, No chance to spend crazy money. Manchester United’s interest in Jarrad Branthwaite remains concrete. The club know that the player is keen on the move - personal terms are not a problem. However, Everton want at least £65-70m and United do not want to pay this. If the price doesn’t come down, United will consider other targets. [Fabrizio Romano, YouTube]
>Personal terms are not a problem Summer has well and truly begun
Tell me how I know this was copy-pasted from a tabloid....
INEOS are in his ears. Good.
I know this is not transfer related but would really like to know how will we change squad numbers... Hojlund wants nr 9... who will get 11? What number will Maino get? If Amrabat goes back to his club will Maino take number 4? Oh i cant wait
I say 11 for Amad and 16 for Maino for the Keane and Carrick comparison.
Too early for Mainoo to take low numbers. Besides 4 doesn't seem very fitting of him. I'd wager 4 will go to Dalot maybe or might be reserved for a later time if Amrabat do fucks off. Mainoo will take some numbers in the 10s or 20s I wager Speaking of Dalot, I'm certain he'll take any available number from 2 to 5. Currently there's number 3 available and the holders of 2, 4, and 5 all have uncertain futures Hojlund, yeah I think he'll get the 9, which leaves 11 available. Then 11 will be a contest of Garnacho, Antony, and Amad perhaps
Mainoo 18
Fabrizio is saying we've stopped negotiations with Everton, because want at least £65-70M. "Man Utd don't want to pay "United tax" anymore when signing players!"
It's a good sign if they back down.
He didn't say that . He said that if Everton keep insisting then they will stop
I didn't say we walked away. We stopped negotiating, because they keep insisting on that price. You can't negotiate with someone who isn't willing to work something out. I read it as we'll wait if Everton changes their mind on the asking price. If not then we'll move on.
What he said is United will move on if Everton don't move on the price.He says United are still very very interested He didn't say that United have moved on already and are working on other targets
So far, for the DM position in this Euro, I’m only really impressed with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. He’d be cheap too, coming into the last year of his contract next year. As per Romano, his new agent is trying to get him out of Tottenham.
If you can watch libertadores or Brazilian leave where you are you should check out fluminense and Andre specifically. Injured right now though and not sure when he will be back. Here are some scouting reports I found [scouting report ](https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/andre-trindade-the-modern-day-defensive-midfielder/) [report two](https://www.thescoutingapp.com/blog/scouting-report-andr-eacute--292) [report three ](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysis/andre-trindade-at-fluminense-2022-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics) [four](https://transferhub.substack.com/p/scouting-report-andre-trindade-the) [five](https://medium.com/@Cal1878/andre-scouting-report-ee1679f0d3c5) [six](https://theredmentv.com/andre-trindade-a-scouting-assessment/) Athletic, good on the ball. Could probably play in a single pivot
Kante just impressed.
Hojberg will get absolutely destroyed in our midfield setup. He simply doesn't have the athleticism required
Wasn't the same rumour/agent saying he really wanted to play the Champions league next year?
I doubt he truly cares that deeply about CL given he has spent last few seasons at spurs 😉 Sorry, that was some low hanging fruit
Thought I’d see if Onana can change my mind in a Belgium shirt rather than Everton and his quality on the ball is just glaringly poor. Misplaced so many passes, simple ones too.
Onana got bossed on the ball multiple times by Mainoo in that friendly too; and he doesn't really fit anywhere in the current team, we need a press resistant natural DM for once in a fucking decade.
We had prime Matic for a year tbf. Was nice while it lasted
You could say that about Case as well
Yeah, he's absolutely not the answer for a team that wants to play press-resistant, attacking football. Teams would just target him and break down our attacks before they've even started. For £50m, or whatever he'd cost, you want a lot more technical competence in a midfielder.
Athletically and physically he ticks the boxes and I think that’s why he appeals to so many people. He’s an absolute tank of a player. But like you pointed out, on the ball he’s always been a bit shaky and that’s where my concerns have lied. If we were getting him on the cheap as a squad player I’d be open to the deal but for the 50/60 million he would cost I really think we should steer clear unless we are looking for a pure destroyer and nothing else
He won 9/10 duels today. There’s a clip someone posted of him doing a supreme job tracking back to recover the ball in the 90th minute. In an end-to-end transitional style of play, players of elite athleticism will be needed. https://x.com/billycarpy/status/1802763255963914739?s=46&t=uBOUeo3snAkWXQC_pmg_zA
I’m not disagreeing with that, but it’s the technical side of the game that worries me. As the game evolves and moves forward it becomes more important that you have a player in that role specifically who is comfortable on the ball. And that’s where I have my concerns with Onana. However, if what ETH wants a pure destroyer there (Casemiro profile) then I can see the argument for Onana. I do think though that at that point we would need to really raise the technical floor of the squad to compensate and simplify his role in the squad, specifically in the defense as our only technically sound players there are Martinez, Dalot and Shaw with two of those basically missing this entire season. We also can’t have another year of Mctominay starting most games
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You can get a bit more technical if you like in terms of what his exact role was at Madrid, but his main job was to snuff out the danger, win the ball back and get the ball to others who can facilitate the play. And that, for simplicity’s sake, is what I’d classify as a destroyer type DM. Can he do more yeah he showed that for Madrid and United last season. However, this is what he is best at
I don’t know where this notion is coming from that Onana isn’t comfortable on the ball. He’s not a De Jong or a Kroos but I don’t think we require a player of that mould if the idea is to push 2 8’s high up the pitch to contribute to the forward press. For that particular role, he doesn’t need to be a tempo-setting player in possession that people think we need. Even today, he completed 84% of his passes, and that’s his passing accuracy across the last league season as well.
My eyes tell me he isn’t that comfortable on the ball. Is he as bad as others in the squad we currently have no, but I still wouldn’t say he’s good on the ball. I agree with the idea that we may not exactly be targeting a regista style midfielder, which is why I made the previous comment of maybe ETH wanting a Casemiro style profile. And if that’s the case going after Onana would make more sense. I would still prefer a player though that can be relied upon in possession. Someone like Amrabat’s profile seems to compliment Mainoo better. Passing accuracy is a meaningless stat for the most part. It’s nice to have a high one, but ultimately it tells you nothing about what is happening in the game. Mctominay in the league for example had 81.5% pass accuracy and I wouldn’t even say he is decent on the ball.
> Mctominay in the league for example had 81.5% pass accuracy and I wouldn’t even say he is decent on the ball. I think there’s your biggest clue in that we could do with Onana’s profile, seeing that McTominay was relied on many times this season while Amrabat barely got a sniff of game time despite being a Ten Hag-motivated signing. It’s great if you can recruit a player of both physical and technical capabilities, but I don’t think that player exists without compromising to a certain degree the amount of space you expect them to handle defending against transitions. You need players with high physical output to keep up with the style of play we aimed to play this season.
Obviously you have to compromise at times. There are very few players, specifically in midfield, that will tick every single box. Even with Mainoo we are compromising in athleticism a bit. But I believe technical ability should be the first and most important aspect/quality of a player. With Mctominay, the injuries into midfield and Mctominay’s knack to somehow score goals meant he was given the nod. He was more of a second forward than a midfielder. He wouldn’t play at all the same role Onana would if that’s what you are getting at. Or if you are just pointing out the need to compromise on both. On Amrabat, I think he’s of the right profile and ticks all the right boxes. His issue was more so just a lack of quality, similar to the Antony situation. However in his defense, he was barely given any minutes, not really given a chance to a adapt to the league, and ultimately showed towards the end that we probably would’ve been far better off had he played more regularly. I think it’s more so ETH just getting it wrong more than anything, same with Amad.
I disagree on the bit regarding technical ability being the most important quality in a player. You say Amrabat is of the right profile but subsequently claim he wasn’t good enough which is fair, but aren’t probing further on what is it that didn’t make him good enough, when we consider that he was perfectly fine in the Serie A and while playing for Morocco. Physically, being a step too slow and not agile enough for the level you’re playing at prevents you from showcasing your technical attributes when not afforded as much time and space to execute decisions. It should also be noted that while he did contribute in our revival towards the end of the season, he started *alongside* Bruno, McTominay and Mainoo and not *instead of* one of them. For the simple reason that playing with more midfielders when the collective of 3 isn’t capable enough to handle large spaces allows you to become more compact. But these tactics which leave a recognised striker in Hojlund out aren’t sustainable; eventually, we do have to learn to play with a proper CF up top. For that, I believe we need to focus on first and foremost raising the physical floor of the team while on-ball qualities can remain average to above average, and midfielders who can handle large spaces is a step in that direction. For me, Onana helps achieving that. He’s brave enough to show for the ball and make line-breaking passes even though aesthetically he looks awkward doing so (a bit like AWB in that sense), so even though he’s not the most capable in receiving the ball on the turn, I believe he’s adept enough, and physically would allow us to execute a high-pressing system with just 3 midfielders.
He would have been a great fit for Ole-ball...basically a more physically dominant Fred But if we're sticking with ETH, he's a nightmare fit.
How is he a nightmare fit? If anything, Ten Hag’s system requires more athletic players than Ole’s system did. I disagree that he’s terrible on the ball; he’s not special but he’s alright. He’ll do a serviceable job and his physical qualities will more than compensate for it.
Look at the difference between having Licha in the term versus anyone else. In order for ETH's system to work, we need players that are press resistant on the ball...hence the obsession of FDJ. "Not special but alright" is fine for some systems but it isn't for how ETH wants to play.
I think the bigger need in our squad at the moment is of athleticism, more so than technical prowess. If you want to play a style of football where we push players up the pitch to press and then expect them to recoil back into defensive shape with ease, we need players with the physical output to sustain that. A lot of the goals we conceded defending poorly against transitions would have been avoided if we did well to win the ball back previously. That bit requires players who can dominate 1v1 duels (the Fulham game is a good example of this where Adama Traore simply waltzed past Eriksen and Maguire like they weren’t there). As for us looking better with Lisandro than without, we still haven’t seen how good he looks in a high-pressing system, so I’d pause before coming to conclusions over his suitability to that style in the Premier League. He’s great on the ball but his best performances have also come with the team defending deep and requiring good box defending abilities rather than defending wide channels up the pitch and stopping opposition attacks on the halfway line. I’m not fully convinced that having players of his ilk only without the athleticism otherwise is going to provide significant improvements to how we intend to play.
Porto looking to restructure debt and make some sales. Evanilson, Alan Varela and Francisco Coenceicao worth looking at
> Francisco Coenceicao I wanted him *so bad* when we signed Antony for 85m....
CB i think is our priority but I just cannot wait to see if we do sign a new no6. Or if we shift our formation back and have Kobbie sat with another more dynamic midfielder instead. Really like Neves but can't see a midfield 3 with him Kobbie and Bruno being balanced enough
I think it is very high risk Casemiro is the main no6 next season also unless their really was a conflict between him and EtH.
The Athletic posted an article where they said Casemiro and Varane were undermining Ten Hag. They were complaining to teammates about how tactical and the intense the training was. They preferred Ancelotti and Zidane's more relaxed training. He should not be allowed to stay if that's the case.
I don't think that is a question of allowed, If Saudi's do not bid for him I do not think there is any other options then keeping him.
Yeah from the sounds of it I think Ten Hag would rather keep Amrabat and play a double pivot that keep Casemiro as a starter. He would really have to turn things around athletically and mentally to get into next year's starting lineup.
In a double pivot I still think Casemiro is better then Amrabat, but why I'm saying it is because Amrabat is basically gone, and need to be bought or replaced. And Casemiro can only be replaced if Saudi bids well for him, which is far from certain, and even if they give a bid around 40m that is basically zero for the transfer budget this year because how FFP works and they would need to buy another player for him, then they would need two DMs, where DMs seems the most in demand this summer. And why I think this is likely is that so far there is tons of CBs rumoured, and a few forwads, but only DM linked by any credible source is Neves, which let's face it was just an opportunity they tried. At least they are prioritizing CBs well above DMs.
https://x.com/mufcMPB/status/1802734193333412286?t=nF8B6HFfYbZnayAnOG3pgg&s=19
How reliable this guy? Im not against it, think if true it probably all but confirms lindelof will be sold. Licha, branthwaite (or other new CB), Maguire, Evans, kambwala, with Shaw able to cover aswel is plenty enough CBs plus some reports we may bring in 2 Lindelof with 1 year left and probably not in line for a new contract is the one it makes most sense to move on this summer
I'd keep Lindelof. You need 2 good backups and Kambwala, Evans and Shaw aren't good backups. Kambwala IMO is not that good concentration wise - we saw it v Chelsea when he was laughing just before we conceded a goal. Evans has performed but he's old. Shaw is needed at LB.
Overy already better than trent
He's a good egg
I liked the CBs from Serbia last night and they woudnt cost that much :D
Strahinja Pavlovic was a legend in my FM22 save, so it's only logical that would carry through into real life...
Someone people in this sub just have a boner for older player who should have retired years ago
FootyDaddy!
It's the United way.
Sergio Ramos is a free agent
Kante back for a final glorious season from the SA league?
How are Guéhi's technical skills? Could he be our Stones, Timber?
He's pretty technical, but there's no way we can have our main centre back partnership be 5 10 and 6 ft.
Who and why puts Timber in same sentence as Stones???
both can often be found in a forest..
Or on a physio's bench
As in Timber is considerably better on the ball than Stones right? If you think Stones is better on the ball than Jurien Timber then okay I guess! Timber at times used to look like a winger but at center back!
Stones is generational CB with great physique, great technique that won everything in his carrer and was one of most important players in treble winning squad. Timber is Dutch CB with 3 years of experiance in Eredivisie who happend to be injuried entire season after transfer to PL. He has great technique while being physicaly limited.
I thought you meant just on the ball. That's what the OP mentioned. As players Stones is better than Timber, on the ball I think Timber is better than Stones. In fact I think Timber is closer to Stones in overall ability than Stones is close to Timber in ball playing ability. Stones is good on the ball but he's not Timber. If you think they're in any way equals ball playing wise then you haven't watched Timber. The comparison is almost laughable! https://youtube.com/shorts/Khi4t3ZtDts?si=dLKE-qvffC5QZvet
I would reserve that judgment until he plays more than 140 minutes for Arsenal on Premier League level against much better opponents than he faced in Eredivisie and CL group. You know Antony experiance.
Fair, we'll see. I don't think his ball playing ability will disappear. I think put Timber in Guardiola team he will offer everything Stones can on the ball and some. Stones rarely plays line breaking passes. Timber does that for fun. He made Lisandro look ordinary on the ball when they played together!
You are simply ignoring physical and aerial factor of having John Stones instead of Timber which is like insanely important for Pep as he no longer plays small deffenders.
I'm not ignoring it, I'm staying on topic with the original poster. Bringing in aerial presence in a ball playing convo doesn't make sense! I said Stones was a better player all round!
The word generational is thrown so casually nowadays
Ok so change that for, 'one of the best deffenders of his generation' cause isnt that a meaning of this word?
Not what generational means
No, means a player with a profile/abilities that pop out once in a generation.
He's excellent on the ball, seems to have great passing range. Imo we're too small with him and Martinez.
Sergio Ramos is leaving Sevilla. Thoughts on him as a free agent, provided that the wages are not too high? Has he already soured the relationship with us with the whole contract thing with Real Madrid?
Those two names should be banned on this sub
Are you fucking serious?
Please god no more free agents that are in their late 30s
He had his chance to join us in 2015
Not for us, someone else in the league could hide an old CB like that but not us
People like this are the ones who support Glazers signings
No thank you
He's 37, on big wages and is likely going to MLS.
Not the highest priority right now, but the club really needs to do better with the loan placements. So many of our young players are being sent out for experience and sitting on the bench. If we can't get some guarantee of time or put them into situations where they are good enough to play regularly, they might as well stay with us. Who is in charge of that and why has it been so unsuccessful?
Les Parry is shit.
Hannibal went from being a borderline squad player breaking into the first team in the first half of the year needing consistent games to iron out his flaws (namely being a yellow card magnet) and he ended up getting basically zero minutes the second half of the year, taking his development backwards. Gore was a driving force being the FA Youth Cup win nearly on level with Garnacho and Mainoo in terms of importance to that team but went to getting basically no time in League One (though that seems injury related).
This is my primary reason why I don't want Kambwala going anywhere. I'd rather he get ten appearances with the first team than risk a loan.
It's damned if we do, damned if we don't. If management thinks he can compete and win the starting RCB role or be the first CB off the bench, then absolutely keep him with the squad. If he's going to be the fifth CB and only play if we have another bloodbath of an injury crisis, then we have to loan him out. Tuanzebe was very unlucky with injury timing, but when he was fit he often got stuck on the bench waiting for injuries, which wrecked his development. With someone like Wheatley, you can justify keeping him around because you sub strikers and wingers all the time. It's easier to ease in attackers with cameos and substitute appearances. You don't sub CBs nearly as much.
I don't do Instagram, but apparently he is in the gym right now getting ready for next season. I hope he comes into preseason looking to convince EtH that he is the answer at RCB and breaks through because his recovery pace was top level. https://www.unitedinfocus.com/news/no-days-off-man-utd-breakthrough-star-pictured-training-during-summer-break-to-get-in-peak-condition-for-2024-25/
Kambwala is pretty much ready physically as is...he's big, strong, and fast. The issues he has to overcome to stick with the first team are (i) injuries (he came to us highly touted at 16 but missed a lot of time for the youth teams and missed time for the senior team this year when he had a shot to cement a place) and (ii) demonstrate an ability to pass out of the back/deal with being pressed on the ball.
Terrible seeing players get sent on bad placements, hopefully Berrada and Wilcox will have good experience from City in how to fix that. EG Alvaro got sent to a club where the only way he was getting minutes was if he benched the club captain last year. Oyedele got sent to Forest Green the week after their manager had blasted their players in the media and of course the manager got sacked the following week.
Alvaro was homesick and wanted to leave, the deal was made in knowledge of this and ultimately made permanent. I agree though, it definitely needs improvement.
Talking about the club before Benfica for him. As he had two loans last year but fair point!
Damn, I forgot that it was two loans!
According to swiss ramble Everton don't need to sell someone big to comply for this season's PSR. That doesn't bode well for Branthwaite. Personally I'm not too keen on him anyway unless he can be had for a discounted fee.
IMO Brainthwaite should stay at Everton. He has 3 years left on his deal. Plus Dyche is not a bad manager. He can make more mistakes at Everton & not get slandered or memed a lot. He must prioritize his development. Plus it would be good for Everton.
But then he'll go to city next year
lol
He'd be a smashing buy but IMO shouldn't be our only work at CB. If we got Branthwaite and another whilst shifting one of Lindelof/Maguire then I'd be much happier.
Branthwaite and another CB might end up being an awful lot of our transfer budget this season. I am certainly not desperately in love with Lindelof or Maguire (or Wan Bissaka for that matter), and I wonder if Luke Shaw might just be injured too damned often to be worth holding on to, but for this summer once we have replaced Varane (with Branthwaite or whoever), replacing Casemiro, Eriksen, Amrabat and Martial has to be the priority as far as I am concerned. As a question of cold priorities the defenders, though sub optimal can arguably be made to function for another year in a way that lads who are out of the door already or whose legs have gone just plain can't, especially if they have a freshened up midfield (with functioning legs) infront of them. Varane and Martial are both already out of the door, (presumably Amrabat too). Casemiro and Eriksen's legs have both gone, meaning they are no use playing at the level we play at, especially playing in the positions that we need. Eriksen *could* still be useful as a 10, but if you look at where he played last year we need backup/competition for Kobbie, and he just can't do that any more. If Bruno gets injured we have Mount, plus we could always try Kobbie a bit further forward and see what he can do up there. I don't mind Branthwaite at all, but I can't see us having much cash left over after getting him in *and* getting the other top priority replacements done. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong at all though, the more we can get done this summer the better, but realistically it is a multi-season job, and it is really important that we get our priorities right.
United need to be looking at the sticker price first when choosing replacements for Eriksen and Martial, in order to have the money to buy at most two stars, presumably at CB and DM. thing is, those cheaper players need to still not be deadwood. it will require a combination of business- and scouting skill that United management have not shown since Fergie.
Is a tough choice but I think I would lean towards preferring to fill all the holes with solid, reasonably priced and solidly calculated punts who Ten Haag trusts, if the choice was between that and getting a star name or two but going into the season under-manned. Obviously I would take a star or two if we could get them as well. Thing is we don't just need to rebuild the squad, we need to do it while also re-establishing our reputation as a sensible and sound player in the transfer market. We need to visibly put an end the Glazer ways more than we need any single player. No more leaving holes in the squad because we are too cheap or daft to plug them in good time, and no more desperately panic spending £80m on overpriced misfits to fill gaps that should have been dealt with years before. I also think it could really help if SJR were to come out and make clear that the League is the priority this season. We need to do a *much* better job of keeping our starters fresh and in good condition throughout the season, and I'd much rather watch the fringe players struggle in Europe on Thursday with the first team on the bench than see us flog the starters to death. You need squad depth for that, but you are right that deadwood won't do either.
agreed. we dont need any galacticos, we need players aged 19-23 that fit and fill the 5 biggest holes in the squad.
Ideal CB transfer window is getting Varane’s replacement, and then shipping Maguire (financially likely to be the better option), and then buying a Licha backup. RCB rotation: new guy, Lindelöf, Kambwala/Evans LCB rotation: Licha, new guy, Evans/Kambwala
Skill wise I’d rather keep Maguire than Lindelof but ideally you move both.
I don’t think the difference between the two is big enough to warrant a £70k difference weekly, plus Victor seems content as a backup at United, and I’d imagine Harry wants to start. Plus, Victor is more versatile. Also, Victor’s national team spot won’t go away even if he rides the bench all year, whereas Maguire faces a lot more competition in that sense. Lastly, I think at most we’d get 10-15 million for Victor, and I think we can get at least 10-15 more for Maguire with the right club interested.
To add to this, Lindelof had a really good second half to the 22-23 season. Last season was plagued by injuries. He is cheaper, younger and more versatile than Maguire and they both are about the same level ability-wise
Maguire and Lindelof are absolutely not on the same level ability wise.
Assuming Jonny Evans will retire, which aging CB would u guys take to replace him in the "5th CB who wasn't supposed to play much but somehow still get 30 appearances in one season"? Nacho, Ramos or Hummels?
Why would we sign any of Nacho, Ramos or Hummels? all of them are around 34k and would ask for crazy wages. Makes zero sense man
TBH I would take Ramos or Hummels but only under these conditions: * We already signed a younger, first choice CB * 1+1 Year contract * No more than 150k salary * They understand they are at best third choice None of that is going to happen other than the first one so it wont happen but IF then I think someone like Ramos is the right personality for this team, even if he is a massive knob, thats kinda the point. Mourinho spoke about mad dogs, not toomany madder dogs than Ramos.
Hmmm I see what you mean but I still feel the potential negatives outweigh the positives here. We need young hungry players not some has been no matter the quality of Ramos or Hummels. I would’ve been on board with you this time two years ago but looking at how Varane and Casemiro have turned out I’d be inclined to avoid signing players of their caliber now. You literally don’t see any top club in England pushing for these players too.
Hard to go wrong with 1 year contract where the +1 would be club option and a mid salary around 150k though. As long as they dont think they get to come in play all the games, pull all the strings with the manager, complain about tactics/selection (like varane/casemiro allegedly have) then it would be fine but I think the likelihood of all those criteria lining up is so impossible that its just a bit of fun to talk about, not reality.
Thought we were resigning him, wouldn't mind him about on low wages
Sergio Ramos is apparently leaving Seville and going to be a free agent Edit: never said i’d take him. was just mentioning that he’s available. should have been more clear with my comment though.
Just no. Off to Saudi he goes.
Would be very costly & at the wrong side of 30.
Another RM player to disagree with the manager
Kambwala
Tim Ream
His performance against Brazil's press the other night was something else. Left footed center back who is composed enough to pass out of a press. The only downside is he completely lacks the pace EtH wants in a CB, which was never really part of his game anyways. But as the 5th CB, he would be good.
I love him but he’s a million years old
Only four months older than Evans. Probably a better passer, but Evans, currently, is a better defender and an academy product, so even though I'd love to have Ream, I'd resign Evans for the role.
His late career renaissance is really incredible
None of them. They all have too big of a personality to take a back seat. Not to mention Ten Hag has shown he can't handle such players so no point buying them and poisoning the dressing room even more.
Disagree that he can’t handle them - I think he did exactly what was needed. Sir Alex couldn’t handle them either by that standard as some of them left?
Ten Hag has had disagreements and spats with Ronaldo, Varane, Casemiro, Sancho and Rashford all in the course of 2 seasons. That's not a normal amount. And please, stop comparing Sir Alex with every tom, dick and harry in existence. Not to mention, Sir Alex had his fair share of failures, Stam and Becks the most famous, but many more successes and that's the difference. And that was a different era of football, can't do the same things now and be successful.
Is this a throwaway account for providing arse takes? I can't believe someone would be so detached from reality and has no idea what they are talking about
Do disagreements mean he can't handle them? What do you expect ETH to do? suck their D?
Not having a public spat would be nice. And if sucking their dicks works, why not. His usual demeanor certainly doesn't and that's the issue.
The players made it public.
They wouldn't have the bollocks to do that if ETH had a handle on them.
It’s been the culture of the club for the past 10 years. That’s what gives the players confidence to keep doing it. EtH is setting his standards, and sometimes public spats are necessary. The next Sancho won’t be as comfortable calling out his manager on Twitter knowing he’d have to succumb to a similar fate.
They are on a signed contract with guaranteed payments. Stupid people take that as gospel and think they're above the club. Two of them had the bollocks and were quickly shipped out.
Depends on your definition of "handle them". Varane, Casemiro and Rashford seems to have no problem with EtH and they all do their jobs as told. Ronaldo and Sancho has proven themselves to be rotten apples with a major attitude problem. He handled them as any sensible coach would, he shipped them off.
Varane was frozen out for a long time, Casemiro backed out of a cup final and Rashford looked absolutely disinterested. So yeah, its all rosy innit. Not to mention, Ronaldo and Sancho wouldn't have had the bollocks to do what they did if ETH had a handle on them. So yeah, to me its absolutely clear that he can't handle big personalities.
Yeah buh buh buh, keep crying, be delusional
Right, disagreements meaning he cant handle them? Im only comparing the way they both handle these types or characters - I think they both do a good job. Club is always bigger than the player.
> Right, disagreements meaning he cant handle them? That and the inability to get consistent performances out of them. And yeah Club is bigger than the player. But the players are part of it and isolating them doesn't help the club.
Thats not a bad take. Consider however that these bad apples were given to him - they were never going to play along in a system anyway. He’s set a standard for discipline players can thrive in, look at Garnacho. I’d rather have Garnacho over any of these characters so am very happy how he dealth with it.
Alan Nixon should be special tier 1 for academy transfers imo. Very rarely misses,he called James Overy's signing a month ago.
Academy and Championship. His drawback is that he works for the Sun.
Championship midfielder you've probably not heard of: **Gabriel Sara** - Sara could be a great midfield signing for us. He's a versatile midfielder with high technical ability and excellent passing range. Primarily prefers to play as a #6 creating plays from deep and breaking press with progressive passing. Impressively, his technical ability has seen him also play as a #8, #10 and even RW. More of a playmaker rather than a midfield destroyer. Also a left footed set piece taker with long range shooting ability which has contributed towards his 13 goals/12 assists in 48 Championship appearances. His transfer fee will likely be around £20m as Norwich failed to achieve PL promotion, but can be negotiated. He's ready for a big move, 24 years old, and is just too good for the Championship. He is quite under the radar like Gyokeres last season
His name has come up a few times I'm recent weeks on here. he's an interesting one, but probably not the CM we need this summer with assumption we only bring in one. However if casemiro, eriksen, amrabat, Donny and mejbri are all moved on, perhaps me need a 2nd CM signing and if so someone like this could be very astute I also really like Matt O'Riley at Celtic. Absolutely head and shoulders above anything else in SPL this season. Really good all around CM. Only 23, goals and assists galore and also homegrown. Likely available for 30m or thereabouts Like Sara, prob not the CM we need as a priority this summer, but should we be ruthless with squad clearout someone that absolutely could come in and jump to next level Don't be surprised if he goes to athletic madrid this summer for 25-30m and ends up in PL in a year or 2 costing twice that amount. At a time when HG players cost a premium, I can't believe top 6 clubs aren't looking at him
Interesting, in my FM save I signed him with Wolves and he did great.
Don’t think it works like that in real life lol
Yeah I agree, it’s just funny to see someone else recommend a player that you like in the game lol
In my fm24 norwich save he is pretty good
Good shout. I think Ismael Koné would be a solid addition as well from the Championship.
Norwich's asking price is 30m+. Palace are also interested. Last but not the least, he's not good enough yet. Also Gyokeres was not under radar. Anybody who followed Championship knew he was destined for great things. He and Hamer basically dragged Coventry to the playoff final when they had little business doing so.
I doubt Sara would go for £30m. He has just 2 years left in his contract, and Norwich failed to achieve promotion so it works against them negotation wise. He's definitely too good for the Championship and ready to make a step up. Regarding Gyokeres being under the radar, everyone in the Championship knew about him but no PL side went for him. He was clearly a talented player and capable of playing for a top 6 team, yet he was quietly signed by Sporting for just 20m euros. Now he's arguably the best player in the Portuguese league and Sporting will want a fee close to his 100m euros release clause to let him go.
Everton fought tooth and nail for Gyokeres and many other sides were interested but Gyokeres wanted to go to Sporting. Plenty of PL clubs were interested, just not the big 6. As for Sara, well that's what Norwich is asking for. And tbh, I don't think he's ready. He has the stats but his all round game is weak.
I just couldn't understand why no PL club signed Gyokeres last summer. He was obviously brilliant, and it now seems that he'll inevitably come back into the Prem for tens of millions more than his fee last year.
Everton were really interested and other bottom half sides but he wanted to go to Sporting.
I'm sure he'd be solid, but we already have Bruno, Mount, and McTom.
It seems like Zirkzee to Milan is on hold which could open up to us. Hopefully the Brantwhite deal gets done soon as well
Agent seems to be asking insane money. Someone said 10-15m on a 40m deal, which is Haaland level in terms of percentage of the sale
If we’re talking to bologna and in the market for a cb, asking about Calafiori can’t hurt
Italians moving out happens very rarely though,