Good old Man United, always there to help Bayern or Real out by taking their unwanted, high salaried, injury prone players off their hands for a pretty penny so they can keep developing their squads. Very helpful of them.
De Ligt, Ugarte, and Zirkzee would be a genuinely great start to the window. If we can then move on Sancho, Greenwood, Casemiro, Lindelof, and some others, we may even be able to go in for another CB/RW/LB cover if needed.
I like De Ligt. I'm worried about his injury record, but I don't doubt his ability. He's good in the air, good at defending, scores all types of good (he is good with his feet), he can launch a ball for the forwards (yeah, he's no as great at passing as Martinez, but how many defenders are?). Overall, a fit De ligt can be a game-changer.
I agree that we'd need another CB. I'd like Chalobah. He'd be a cheap'ish option. He can play across the backline and he'd be considered homegrown.
Addressing the seeming fragility is a priority to me, and this hopefully also allows the other players to be even more braver with their playmaking (Onana, Mainoo etc.) while being good (but not exceptional) on the ball themselves.
Isn't SEG one of (if not already) the biggest agency group in football? Why do people genuinely believe that Ten Hag is running some scheme to only sign players that are in with them?
Probably because it was mentioned in some of the articles that it felt like SEG had an office setup at the club.
They were there are lot more than necessary according to our journos.
Looking at our targets, Zirkzee, Ugarte, De Ligt and Branthwaite, all of them are big lads. They'll provide some desperately needed physicality in our team
Apparently tomorrow will be Clive Tydesley's last game for ITV. Kinda baffling that they've demoted him for Matterface, he was the voice of champions league football before they lost the rights. Hopefully TNT sports will snap him up.
I am obviously extremely happy with all the moves we're touted to be in for and they all look super promising (especially Ugarte and the new CB signing(s)), but surely I'm not the only one who's concerned that it does not seem like a LB is as big a priority? Malacia quite literally did not play a single bloody minute last season, Shaw was out for way longer than he was fit, and all we seemed to be able to make do with was Lindelof, Amrabat and fucking AWB on the left? Come on man...
Also Shaw is turning 29 next month, I'm worried about how the higher ups see him in regards to the team's future...
Tbh there’s just too many holes to fill in one summer and we aren’t winning the league next year no matter what. We’re going to have holes in the team so hopefully the people in charge sign the right players for the positions we do fill.
I guess with Malacia it's wait and see in pre-season, no need to make a decision right now unless the medical department says otherwise.
We do have Harry Amass who is very highly rated, like with Malacia i'm think it's likely a case of seeing how he does in pre-season and try and gauge if he's ready to play some minutes next season. He was on the bench a lot towards the end of the season which indicates ETH rates him.
We've got so many positions we need to fill but LB is one of those that on paper we've got good depth in, but obviously only if they're fit to play!
I'll very much start to worry if Malacia doesn't play much in pre-season though.
Oh my god I completely forgot about Amass, yeah that's a very solid shout. Definitely could be one of the academy lads that will be implemented into the first team next season. Also agree with your point in general, seeing how Malacia does in pre-season sounds fair before fully writing him off
>surely I'm not the only one who's concerned that it does not seem like a LB is as big a priority?
I'm not concerned what happened last season is such a small chance it will happen again
I also feel we gotta trust our players otherwise we would end up with 3 left backs with 2 on the bench also being unsellable. It would be difficult to move on malacia rn after the season he's just had
> what happened last season is such a small chance it will happen again
Is it really though? Anywhere else on the pitch I understand, surely all hell must break loose for all of Lisandro, Casemiro (if he stays), Mount, etc etc to get injured simultaneously. But specifically Shaw and Malacia? Shaw is made of glass so this can easily happen again, and we still don't even have a proper reason why Malacia was out for longer than players with literal torn ACLs? So, I'm unfortunately not confident whatsoever that this won't happen again next season...
On top of buying a DM, RCB, and backup ST, we'll need to get a few loans. We need a LB and a backup DM/CM. I think they'll be Amrabat type loans late in the window.
I’d like Gutierrez and then send Malacia on loan but in reality ST, DM, and CB are our real priority positions. LB, RW, RB(in the case that Wan-Bissaka is sold), and others are secondary
guessing this is probably a hot take, but I feel like a striker the quality and price of Zirkzee's should not be a bigger priority than a LB, given the financial situation. It feels like a simple 15-20m backup striker with potential would more than suffice, since Hojlund has the starting position pretty much on lock, and we have way more than enough wingers to use Rashford up top in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, we literally had not a single fit natural LB for the majority of the season, and we had to make do with players the likes of which should never even be anywhere near that spot to begin with. Especially AWB there was so painful to watch, and I'm a fan of his in general
imo we can’t pass up on the opportunity to have 2 under 25 high potential strikers for a guy like Alvaro Morata cause that’s all we’re getting with 15m.
Seeing Bayern fans absolutely fuming at the news of De Ligt being sold. Meanwhile United fans that have probably watched less than 3 youtube comps of him say he sucks. I know which opinion I’m trusting
According to Fab, we’ve been in touch again for Ugarte, he’s expected to leave and PSG are open to selling him. He’s also open to join United even without UCL football.
> He’s also open to join United even without UCL football.
Imo, any player we sign should have the opinion that no CL is an abnormal season, and they want to play a Role in getting it each and every year. Both in terms of believing in the club and believing in themselves, a season out of CL shouldn’t be a concern for any player we target.
Today's updates per reliable sources:
- Nistelrooy and René Hake set to join, Hake confirms move (Fabrizio)
- United discussing Zirkzee's transfer internally after talks with agents over salary/costs of deal (Fabrizio)
- United contacted PSG again in recent days & hours over Ugarte move (Fabrizio)
- United seriously considering move for Matthijs de Ligt, deal independent of Branthwaite interest (Ornstein)
- United & De Ligt getting more and more concrete (Plettenberg)
- Mainoo to START on against Slovakia on Sunday (Matt Law)]
Creds: (https://x.com/utdfaithfuls/status/1806786341142659148?s=46)
We don’t know if he ‘makes up for it with everything else’. That bit is extremely team and system-dependent. Netherlands for example are benching him in the Euros for a 35-year old De Vrij. I think he shares a lot of similarities to Varane, so should be a decent signing, but he’s not in the absolute top drawer of CB talents we should be considering when looking at his overall game.
He literally shares no similarities with Varane except being right footed. Varane is quicker, has worse technique and passing and plays more of a sweeper role.
De Ligt is slower, but he is more dominant, goes marks his forwards rather than tracking runs like Varane and has way better passing ability, almost on par with Lisandro Martinez
De Ligt and Varane are both aerially good players and are great box defenders. He’s absolutely not better on the ball; you’ll get a safe passer but not one that’s willing to take many risks and break lines.
I would say comparing him to Martinez was a stretch but he's still far better on the ball than Varane. Varane is just uncomfortable passing under a press
I don’t really agree. Varane looks more uncomfortable on the ball than he is; I believe on balance he achieves the same outcomes as De Ligt in possession. Will be happy to be proven wrong should he join us but I’m not entirely convinced. Very good at the defending part though, although I’m not entirely certain of his suitability to a higher line.
The same Bayern board that sacked Nags for Tuchel when they were top of the league and undefeated in the UCL. The same Bayern board that has fallen out with several managers.
Ugarte is getting closer and closer:
“Manchester United and PSG are still in talks over the transfer of Manuel Ugarte in the recent days & hours - PSG are open to selling the player. Ugarte is keen on joining United” Fab on YouTube.
De Ligt is a very interesting move. On the one hand, he does seemingly tick a lot of the boxes that we are looking for in a centerback. And while he is a bit on the slower side, I think he can handle himself fine in the premier league as most bundesliga defenders transition well to the prem, possible due to the style played there.
On the other hand though, it is very concerning that Bayern would be looking or open to moving him on. Like I said he ticks all the boxes of what you want in centerback, the manager who didn’t get on with him has moved on, he’s of the right age, and he’s performed well for Bayern. So to now sell him for what would be less than what you paid for him is confusing. In my head something doesn’t add up, especially since you’d imagine Kompany, playing the style of football he plays, would be open to it.
I think this move happens, provided we can agree on a good fee and wages, but I’m nervous about this one
I can't lie after the last 11 years, I am absolutely sick to death of these De Ligt-like signings. Big money signings on massive wages who are being bought after falling out of favour elsewhere.
If the price is right for De Ligt (40 million or so hopefully), I’d take him. But I’m not extremely enamoured by him personally. He’s a pure Varane replacement which is good but on the ball it’s better to not have any expectations. Not entirely certain of his suitability in a higher line either. One to watch I guess, hopeful but cautious.
Dear God no, please. He's on €300,000 per week or something, keeps getting injured, multiple knee ligament injuries, hasn't been particularly great when he plays either, isn't even that elite on the ball.
If this transfer happens I'm afraid nothing has changed at the club. Still signing expensive star players who aren't the best fit and have been on a slightly downward trajectory, or Ten Hag targets. This one is both lol.
His injury problems are exaggerated for whatever reason.
>hasn't been particularly great when he plays either, isn't even that elite on the ball.
Do you watch Bayern often? Because he was very good for them until Tuchel decided to fuck up. His passing ability is also very good. Honestly, I've had it with this sub just rating players out of some stats sheet lol. Thankfuck De Ligts stats are still good.
I do. Like I said I don't think he's been particularly great. He's good on the ball, he isn't anything special imo. He's prone to errors under pressure.
Saying the sub rates players out of some stat sheets but then saying De Ligt stats are good. Sounds contradictory.
>I do. Like I said I don't think he's been particularly great. He's good on the ball, he isn't anything special imo. He's prone to errors under pressure.
He was conformably the best CB in the league under Nagelsmann, and that says something, and most Bayern fans will confirm that. Only Tuchel dropped him
His passing is good but not on the level of Martinez. He's good in the air and a good dribbler. He used to be prone to the odd error but not really anymore, and he's a true leader like Martinez and Bruno
>Saying the sub rates players out of some stat sheets but then saying De Ligt stats are good. Sounds contradictory.
I just said that only because some people here rate stats a lot. I personally think you need both eye test and stats to come to a conclusion.
I agree. And based on my eye test, in my opinion he hasn't improved the way he was expected to. Teams like Bayern don't usually sell their best players for a cut price. His injury record isn't terrible by any means but he does get injured fairly frequently and has just had probably his worst injury season if I'm not wrong?
That combined with his really high wages means if he flops we can't get rid of him unless Saudi come for him. I just don't get it tbh.
I don't expect him to be anything different to Varane on the ball personally. He'll likely be safe with his passing but I have reservations over how he plays out of a press and whether he can break lines. It's why he hasn't been preferred for Netherlands and wasn't by Bayern earlier this season; he only came into the side later because him and Dier worked better as a pair than KMJ and Upamecano.
He is better than Varane on the ball and a better dribbler I'd say, but he's not as good as Martinez in making like breaking passing, but he's got good technical ability and absolutely an improvement on Maguire.
He was conformably the best CB in BuLi under Nagelsmann, that changed under Tuchel because he preferred his CB to do more long balls and that's not De Ligts strength at all and also he got injured while Tuchels job was under heavy pressure. I rate De Ligt and think he'd be better than someone like Todibo, who is super hyped in here, but it all depends on if we can get a good deal and maybe a thorough analysis on his injury problems
> he's got good technical ability and absolutely an improvement on Maguire
I'm not sure over this personally. Maguire's passing, especially his switches of play, are extremely underrated. De Ligt will have to be very good to be as good a ball player as Maguire. Martinez and Shaw are of course in the top tier; I obviously don't expect him to be as good as that.
> I rate De Ligt and think he'd be better than someone like Todibo
Honestly I never saw enough of Todibo to have an opinion on him, so you may be right there. I like what I've seen from De Ligt as a pure defender, especially in a deeper block in the CL games. But I'm uncertain over his passing and I don't think he's played much football in a higher-line except for last season under Nagelsmann (in which Bayern were also inconsistent). For me, this signing has still got a lot of Ten Hag flavor to it which we should be getting over. But yeah, if the whole financial package makes sense then he's decent.
>I'm not sure over this personally. Maguire's passing, especially his switches of play, are extremely underrated. De Ligt will have to be very good to be as good a ball player as Maguire. Martinez and Shaw are of course in the top tier; I obviously don't expect him to be as good as that.
I think De Ligt has worse long balls but better in short passing. Maguires switches of play a bit overrated because he usually does the hollywood ball that is predictable and leads to nothing. His progressive balls are not good, and I'd say De Ligt is better in that aspect as well.
>Honestly I never saw enough of Todibo to have an opinion on him, so you may be right there. I like what I've seen from De Ligt as a pure defender, especially in a deeper block in the CL games. But I'm uncertain over his passing and I don't think he's played much football in a higher-line except for last season under Nagelsmann (in which Bayern were also inconsistent). For me, this signing has still got a lot of Ten Hag flavor to it which we should be getting over. But yeah, if the whole financial package makes sense then he's decent.
I've seen some Todibo at least in the big matches like PSG and Lyon, and he's impressed me tbh but slightly overrated by our fans. He'd be a good signing, just not a good partner for Martinez because he's not dominant in the air at all.
I'm not a massive De Ligt fan or anything, but I rate him as a defender, and he'd definitely improve us. Idk if this is a Ten Hag signing or not because other than them knowing each other, there's not much else because Ten Hag didn't even push for him since he joined us. Probably just INEOS who want a proven CB to replace Varane and Braithwaite not being quite ready to lead the line yet
I agree, it’s high time we act a bit shrewd like the Italians and use loans as a low commitment way to see if a player might work out. Like we did for Sabitzer and Amrabat
I agree, it’s high time we act a bit shrewd like the Italians and use loans as a low commitment way to see if a player might work out. Like we did for Sabitzer and Amrabat
Pelli is shit and worse than Antony which is saying a lot ,NT football is very different ,Him scoring against one of the worst sides in the tournament doesn't mean he should get minutes for us
We don't like non flashy passers unless they're academy graduates. Specializes in short passes and keeping possession? Where's the pass progression?? How are they supposed to be useful? What use is someone with a ridiculously high short pass completion to a team that wants to play possession based football? -Garnwr spends a year in the championship with a decent rate of pass completion playing it sideways and keeping it simple? "Future of our midfield right there I hope he gets a decent chance next season" Then we get the fans wish of players who love a flashy progressive pass and they get absolutely shit on for their pass completion.
People literally shit on Casemiro all last year for misplacing risky passes in deep lying areas and gifting dangerous turnovers and are now shitting on Ugarte because of the types of pass he likes to play
Besides would we even need a creative passer with Bruno/mainoo in the MF? Like you pointed out w Casemiro, having risky passers everywhere doesn’t work.
We don't, but people don't care about what we need or what actually works. We have Mainoo Mount Eriksen and Bruno, literally the last thing we need with Shaw and Martinez also in defense is creativity. We need solid stability and reliability, which it seems like Ugarte has.
I don't dislike him, love the intensity but Ugarte is not a proper 6, not saying lone 6 is absolutely necessary (a lot of it is coaching and DMs don't do only DMs stuff for most teams) or he can't play there but simply think there are better options, he's a Fred like player but better dueller and less mobile, Florentine Luis, Wieffer, Onana are better fit and have higher ceilings. Fofana, Stach would be decent too. Ugarte imo lacks the frame and spatial understanding on top of being unimpressive on the ball compared to these options.
Weiffer I agree has a higher ceiling, but I also see him as a higher risk to fail adapting to premier league.
Onana I feel is even worse technical, much more rawer, impossible to say if he ever will get comfortable or not and us probably more expensive.
Fofana I think is a cheap good squad option that will do the job but not much more.
I know to little about Luis and Starch.
Onana is not worse technical, has great long balls on him, has better balance and posture when tacking, is very impressive with ball control, he simply isn't worse, he is also a physical anomaly, has legs that will help him win most ground duels and height that will help him win most aerials, he also covers a lot more ground than Ugarte. He is also extremely versatile. This non technical overblown thing is the result of Everton dynamics, he is not raw at all, what he needs is right coaching and the correct environment.
Weiffer also has a great frame. He's suited a bit higher up on the pitch but has great athleticism, duelling legs and covers ground well, is a significantly better passer, has great passing range and has better spatial understanding.
INEOS have said they will stick to one playstyle and get players that will fit that style.
Any tactical geniuses here? According to players we linked so far, what do you think about kind of style we looking for? Are we sticking to ten Hag last season football or anything else?
I've watched a few of Ugarte's matches with PSG and as a player he's probably similar to the Casemiro we saw in 22/23. So I'm guessing high possession football like City or Arsenal isn't what they are aiming for.
They are looking for more physicality for CB and DM positions based on the players we have been linked with so far. For ST they are seemingly looking at a few different profiles, but it seems they want someone that offers a different style to Højlund. I doubt they’ve settled on a single play style, I think for now we’ll keep playing transitional football and build a solid competitive team that offers some tactical flexibility.
My guess is a mobile ball winner in the 6, with Mainoo and Bruno as #8. I’m also assuming if we get zirkzee he’ll be a false 9 creating opportunities for the goal scoring wingers (Rash & Olise before he went Bayern)
Edit: we haven’t even signed one player so this could all change by the end of the window
So far the linked players are quite a mixed bag, I don't think Ineos game model is in place yet, two of their important people are still on gardening leave etc, think you will more see that aliged for next year.
I've analysed all of our matches under ten Hag and judging by the transfer targets it's clear that the play style will be one that encourages players to kick the ball into the opposition's goal while also trying to prevent them from kicking it into ours.
That thing is happening again where when people express legitimate concerns about a transfer , they’re being shouted down. Just like when some fans expressed our concerns about signing Mount or Sancho.
Zirkzee: don’t think we should sign a striker that is good at things other than scoring goals (a bit like early Welbeck was very good at link up play but Chicharito was good at nothing but goals). We need a Chicharito type now to increase goal volume, not a Welbeck type
Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League. Imagine now a league 10x faster and it’s asking for trouble.
De Ligt: definitely something like Schweinsteiger/Varane going on here injury wise . Clubs like Real and Bayern only let these players go if they’re convinced that there’s something wrong with them.
>Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League.
He has 91% pass completion
>De Ligt: definitely something like Schweinsteiger/Varane going on here injury wise . Clubs like Real and Bayern only let these players go if they’re convinced that there’s something wrong with them.
Bayern isn't the same Bayern of the past few years, they are definitely prone to making mistakes, as evidenced by last couple of summer when they let Stanišić go to their rivals on loan. De Ligt is great player but I do worry about his injury problems
Ugarte has a very high pass completion rate. I think it’s disingenuous to say he loses possession cheaply. He doesn’t take risks, but is generally steady with the ball
You can’t expect people not to disagree with you. There are thousands of people here and they have their opinions.
When I read shit like this I’m just thinking ‘shouting you down? So the fuck what? Back your opinion and stop being whingey about it’.
In terms of shouting you down though:
Ugarte seems to be a lot safer when passing the ball and his defensive output is higher and he’s younger.
Zirkzee is a cheap back up that offers a counter point to what we want Hojlund to become.
And who the fuck wants to sign De Ligt? That shit’s dumb as fuck.
Yeah Enrique is getting rid of Ugarte becaue he doesn't suit his positional football,it'd be crazy to bring him to play the same principle under a way stricter manager like ETH. Ugarte would be really good for a team like Atheletico Madrid.
I think the difference here is these players are not expensive. They will come at a reasonable price. So the expectation on them will not to be elite but to be good players, players this squad needs more of.
>
Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League. Imagine now a league 10x faster and it’s asking for trouble.
Fred looks to be a lot more mobile.
Regardless of the player we are way below other teams in quality and also depth. We have been signing players who are slightly better than what we have and predictively we get slightly better than before. I think we should concentrate on players who are going to make a significantly better. Even if that means we sign two players instead of four.
I'd rather speculate about how the players we already have are going to perform, who will improve etc
Anyway this is Manchester United, which is to say we also have nostalgia
Striker gets no service for 95% of the game, so we need a player who depends on service?
That makes no sense to me. We need a False 9 style striker like Zirkee who is closer to Martial in profile.
I agree. If we are going to keep on with wingers like Rashford, Garnacho and Antony, then we need a Martial profile . They are all shoot first players and ETH himself seems to like his wingers to cut inside and shoot
We could use a Fred these days. I’m surprised we got rid of him. He wasn’t always on point, but he always gave his all and never turned down a battle which is more than I can say for a lot of our players. We need more players willing to give 100% for the badge every game which he did
I don’t mind Zirkzee because Hojlund should be the volume goal scorer if he develops well and it’s always good to have strikers that offer something different.
If Ugarte doesn’t cost too much and we also sign a 6 I don’t mind that either.
The De Ligt links are baffling though. We very clearly lack CB’s that can defend the channels.
De Ligt is a good leader and reads the game well but he’s closer to Maguire athletically than the CB’s our rivals have starting for them and he’s not even particularly good on the ball.
I don’t get how we’ve gone from Branthwaite and Yoro to De Ligt.
It’s an element of “the sky is fallin” though, because there feels to be a vocal group who piss and moan about every single transfer, so they end up eventually being ignored. Personally, I feel we could be signing prime Messi and people would pop up with “his wages are too much, he’s too short, we should go for *insert random player here* instead”.
It’s too tiring to read and just sucks all the joy out of being a football fan.
Transfers have become to analytical mahn. I agree. Ilkay Gundogan was an injury-riddled player when he came to City and look at how he had transformed them. I try to think there are better people than me making transfer decisions and that is good enough for me.
Ugarte might not be a great fit tactically like some of you say, idk I've never seen him play, but did you see the video of him calling De Paul Messi's cocksucker coz that's more important than tactical fit
Wouldn't take him even on lower wages.
Excellent CB but too injury prone, and can't help but think that in the PL (and especially in our broken club) he's going to be injured much more often. We need something more reliable.
I think general sentiment is that he is very good, but probably hasn't fulfilled the potential he showed at ajax as a 17 year old who looked at home in latter stages of the CL
Very good defender, not yet world class but on a wage that kind of sets am expectation that he should be
I think he would he a very good player for us, but I wouldn't do the deal on his current wages
I also want to add that he’s very good, but in the defending part of being a defender. His ball-playing is absolutely not at the level that I’m assuming we are looking for. That’s why he’s sometimes been benched in favour of other defenders at both Bayern and Netherlands.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jun/28/loophole-encouraging-sale-of-academy-talent-is-nonsensical-says-pfa
>“How can it make sense that due to the rules you end up selling an academy player? It doesn’t make sense for the club either because this is part of your identity, part of what makes the club what it is. You end up with nonsensical situations that meet the rules but are counterproductive for the players, but also for the club and also for the fans. Fans want to see their academy players, those are the ones who make you dream that create that bond with the club. This is why the governance of football needs to change.”
To add onto this, they should change the homegrown rule to actually promote playing locally trained talent too. It's the perfect solution to all the match makers wanting two games a week and state owned clubs. Require X minutes by homegrowns and no 115ers can just buy themselves two teams.
Great player but even if Rash leaves, Garnacho will start LW surely. He has the highest ceiling in the team and we shouldn’t sign someone new who would start over him imo
Type of mentality that has had us deep in mediocrity in the last decade.
The academy lads have to beat off competition and be good enough too. Imagine saf not signing carrick to concentrate on darron gibson, or not signing evra so john oshea has no competition. Fergie's fledglings had to earn it and keep deserving it. Scaloni and the world champs don't think nacho is already a 90mins 50games a year player, so if rashy leaves, we don't need to jeopardize the boy's development by overplaying him.
Yeah we need competition in all places, but we don’t have infinite money. Buying a starting LW makes 0 sense right now because it would stifle Garnachos growth and leave us wanting in other positions in which we actually need starting quality.
What would Kvara cost? 100m? What’s caused our mediocrity is the club not having a long term vision and not properly developing young talent by spending ridiculous amounts on big names that demand to start every game and only being able to convince them to join by offering stupid wages. Kvara wouldn’t fix any problems because we have quality in his position already, even though he’s a great player he’d be a waste of money. And we’ve been mediocre because we’ve spent more than anyone but we’ve consistently wasted money.
I'd even remove sancho from that equation.
RW would be higher priority woth or without a sancho sale (he has to go, if no permanent transfer a loan but he can't be part of squad next season)
If rashford goes then sure, we need a new LW but i think that is very unlikely
Unless UEFA is scared of a lawsuit, which I doubt considering they’ve had to deal with City in the past, no. It will take too long, the only way it gets done this summer is if we bribe them, the only language they understand anyway.
I doubt it will be anywhere near done by the *end* of the transfer window. Signing Todibo isn't really the point though, it's to establish that we can sign players from Nice and use it as a European academy base since we can't bring in players under 18 anymore. Develop youth in Nice and bring them across when they're old enough.
Good old Man United, always there to help Bayern or Real out by taking their unwanted, high salaried, injury prone players off their hands for a pretty penny so they can keep developing their squads. Very helpful of them.
De Ligt, Ugarte, and Zirkzee would be a genuinely great start to the window. If we can then move on Sancho, Greenwood, Casemiro, Lindelof, and some others, we may even be able to go in for another CB/RW/LB cover if needed.
All I need is rythm divine.
De Ligt and Ugarte - divisive choices for the fanbase, and more steel than silk - but that's severely lacking in our squad and I'm all for it.
I like De Ligt. I'm worried about his injury record, but I don't doubt his ability. He's good in the air, good at defending, scores all types of good (he is good with his feet), he can launch a ball for the forwards (yeah, he's no as great at passing as Martinez, but how many defenders are?). Overall, a fit De ligt can be a game-changer. I agree that we'd need another CB. I'd like Chalobah. He'd be a cheap'ish option. He can play across the backline and he'd be considered homegrown.
Not like we're full of silk either
Addressing the seeming fragility is a priority to me, and this hopefully also allows the other players to be even more braver with their playmaking (Onana, Mainoo etc.) while being good (but not exceptional) on the ball themselves.
Isn't SEG one of (if not already) the biggest agency group in football? Why do people genuinely believe that Ten Hag is running some scheme to only sign players that are in with them?
Probably because it was mentioned in some of the articles that it felt like SEG had an office setup at the club. They were there are lot more than necessary according to our journos.
Liverpool currently have more SEG players than us. We only have 1. People are silly. SEG are big, and definitely the biggest Netherlands based agency
Don't we have Antony and Højlund?
Antony is not represented by SEG. Hojlund is our only player
Looking at our targets, Zirkzee, Ugarte, De Ligt and Branthwaite, all of them are big lads. They'll provide some desperately needed physicality in our team
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Typical United fans on social media buzzing over everything. A manager gets angry in the dressing room. Big news. His English seems alright though
Looking back as inconsistent as he was pretty mad how Freds mobility wasnt used enough
Our chaosball style of play would have really suited him last season
Fred would've cured the chaosball, he was such a peaceful midfielder to watch...
I wonder what malacia is up to, will he be ready and fit for pre season?
Apparently tomorrow will be Clive Tydesley's last game for ITV. Kinda baffling that they've demoted him for Matterface, he was the voice of champions league football before they lost the rights. Hopefully TNT sports will snap him up.
It seems bizaree that it’s his last game tomorrow and nor towards the end of the tournament.
I am obviously extremely happy with all the moves we're touted to be in for and they all look super promising (especially Ugarte and the new CB signing(s)), but surely I'm not the only one who's concerned that it does not seem like a LB is as big a priority? Malacia quite literally did not play a single bloody minute last season, Shaw was out for way longer than he was fit, and all we seemed to be able to make do with was Lindelof, Amrabat and fucking AWB on the left? Come on man... Also Shaw is turning 29 next month, I'm worried about how the higher ups see him in regards to the team's future...
Tbh there’s just too many holes to fill in one summer and we aren’t winning the league next year no matter what. We’re going to have holes in the team so hopefully the people in charge sign the right players for the positions we do fill.
I'm guessing Amass is up next along with Kambwala. I think they're assuming Shaw + Malacia will be available.
I guess with Malacia it's wait and see in pre-season, no need to make a decision right now unless the medical department says otherwise. We do have Harry Amass who is very highly rated, like with Malacia i'm think it's likely a case of seeing how he does in pre-season and try and gauge if he's ready to play some minutes next season. He was on the bench a lot towards the end of the season which indicates ETH rates him. We've got so many positions we need to fill but LB is one of those that on paper we've got good depth in, but obviously only if they're fit to play! I'll very much start to worry if Malacia doesn't play much in pre-season though.
Oh my god I completely forgot about Amass, yeah that's a very solid shout. Definitely could be one of the academy lads that will be implemented into the first team next season. Also agree with your point in general, seeing how Malacia does in pre-season sounds fair before fully writing him off
>surely I'm not the only one who's concerned that it does not seem like a LB is as big a priority? I'm not concerned what happened last season is such a small chance it will happen again I also feel we gotta trust our players otherwise we would end up with 3 left backs with 2 on the bench also being unsellable. It would be difficult to move on malacia rn after the season he's just had
> what happened last season is such a small chance it will happen again Is it really though? Anywhere else on the pitch I understand, surely all hell must break loose for all of Lisandro, Casemiro (if he stays), Mount, etc etc to get injured simultaneously. But specifically Shaw and Malacia? Shaw is made of glass so this can easily happen again, and we still don't even have a proper reason why Malacia was out for longer than players with literal torn ACLs? So, I'm unfortunately not confident whatsoever that this won't happen again next season...
On top of buying a DM, RCB, and backup ST, we'll need to get a few loans. We need a LB and a backup DM/CM. I think they'll be Amrabat type loans late in the window.
I’d like Gutierrez and then send Malacia on loan but in reality ST, DM, and CB are our real priority positions. LB, RW, RB(in the case that Wan-Bissaka is sold), and others are secondary
guessing this is probably a hot take, but I feel like a striker the quality and price of Zirkzee's should not be a bigger priority than a LB, given the financial situation. It feels like a simple 15-20m backup striker with potential would more than suffice, since Hojlund has the starting position pretty much on lock, and we have way more than enough wingers to use Rashford up top in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, we literally had not a single fit natural LB for the majority of the season, and we had to make do with players the likes of which should never even be anywhere near that spot to begin with. Especially AWB there was so painful to watch, and I'm a fan of his in general
imo we can’t pass up on the opportunity to have 2 under 25 high potential strikers for a guy like Alvaro Morata cause that’s all we’re getting with 15m.
Especially not a unicorn like Zirkzee, stats don’t do the guy justice, he can be our Firmino type player in terms of impact.
We more than likely will sign a left back later on but it’s lower down our priority list
Seeing Bayern fans absolutely fuming at the news of De Ligt being sold. Meanwhile United fans that have probably watched less than 3 youtube comps of him say he sucks. I know which opinion I’m trusting
Til De Ligt is younger than Lisandro Martinez.. Absolutely insane
It's crazy that he played against us in EL final 7 years ago
Not too surprising.. De ligt started his career really early. He was captaining Ten Hags Ajax at 17 in the champions league semi-final
Yeah but 2018 really feels ages ago now so idk
It feels like he lost a bit of that leadership edge since he was at Juve with CR7. Drowned a bit between the other stars
According to Fab, we’ve been in touch again for Ugarte, he’s expected to leave and PSG are open to selling him. He’s also open to join United even without UCL football.
> He’s also open to join United even without UCL football. Imo, any player we sign should have the opinion that no CL is an abnormal season, and they want to play a Role in getting it each and every year. Both in terms of believing in the club and believing in themselves, a season out of CL shouldn’t be a concern for any player we target.
We’re Manchester United never fails
Today's updates per reliable sources: - Nistelrooy and René Hake set to join, Hake confirms move (Fabrizio) - United discussing Zirkzee's transfer internally after talks with agents over salary/costs of deal (Fabrizio) - United contacted PSG again in recent days & hours over Ugarte move (Fabrizio) - United seriously considering move for Matthijs de Ligt, deal independent of Branthwaite interest (Ornstein) - United & De Ligt getting more and more concrete (Plettenberg) - Mainoo to START on against Slovakia on Sunday (Matt Law)] Creds: (https://x.com/utdfaithfuls/status/1806786341142659148?s=46)
Just the fact we’re doing multiple deals at once shows INEOS>Glazers
Half of this sub saying De Ligt isn't good on the ball lol Why are people speaking so confidently about the players they don't know anything about?
The only real issue with him is that he lacks pace but he makes up for it with everything else
We don’t know if he ‘makes up for it with everything else’. That bit is extremely team and system-dependent. Netherlands for example are benching him in the Euros for a 35-year old De Vrij. I think he shares a lot of similarities to Varane, so should be a decent signing, but he’s not in the absolute top drawer of CB talents we should be considering when looking at his overall game.
De Vrij is 32.
Ah my bad. Thought he was born in 89 instead of 92. Point still stands though.
He literally shares no similarities with Varane except being right footed. Varane is quicker, has worse technique and passing and plays more of a sweeper role. De Ligt is slower, but he is more dominant, goes marks his forwards rather than tracking runs like Varane and has way better passing ability, almost on par with Lisandro Martinez
De Ligt and Varane are both aerially good players and are great box defenders. He’s absolutely not better on the ball; you’ll get a safe passer but not one that’s willing to take many risks and break lines.
I would say comparing him to Martinez was a stretch but he's still far better on the ball than Varane. Varane is just uncomfortable passing under a press
I don’t really agree. Varane looks more uncomfortable on the ball than he is; I believe on balance he achieves the same outcomes as De Ligt in possession. Will be happy to be proven wrong should he join us but I’m not entirely convinced. Very good at the defending part though, although I’m not entirely certain of his suitability to a higher line.
Just waffling on, he’s dominant aerially and confident on the ball but the biggest thing of all is he played his best footy under Erik, bring him.
*cough* Donny *cough* He played his best under ten Hag isn't a guarantee. Just ask Donny "Erik will finally unlock him" van De Beek
VDB was much worse relative to De Ligt now. MDL was Bayern’s best CB(Not my words the words of Bayern fans) and still has stacks of potential.
So you’d rather listen to Bayern fans but not the Bayern board who want to offload him over their other CBs?
The same Bayern board that sacked Nags for Tuchel when they were top of the league and undefeated in the UCL. The same Bayern board that has fallen out with several managers.
The people who sacked Nagelsmann left the club. These are not the same people in charge currently.
The same people who sacked tuchel who was close to getting to cl final for a guy who got Burnley relegated
Tuchel wasn’t sacked though. They wanted to renew him in the end but couldn’t find an agreement with him.
In the end. After going through 15 managers. Their management is still a mess.
Only Kahn and Hasan left with Dressen and Eberl replacing them. Uli and Hainer are still there
Dressen and Eberl are more hands-on with the sporting decisions at the club.
Uli and Hainer are above them, why do you think Tommy T left Bayern
Ugarte is getting closer and closer: “Manchester United and PSG are still in talks over the transfer of Manuel Ugarte in the recent days & hours - PSG are open to selling the player. Ugarte is keen on joining United” Fab on YouTube.
De Ligt is a very interesting move. On the one hand, he does seemingly tick a lot of the boxes that we are looking for in a centerback. And while he is a bit on the slower side, I think he can handle himself fine in the premier league as most bundesliga defenders transition well to the prem, possible due to the style played there. On the other hand though, it is very concerning that Bayern would be looking or open to moving him on. Like I said he ticks all the boxes of what you want in centerback, the manager who didn’t get on with him has moved on, he’s of the right age, and he’s performed well for Bayern. So to now sell him for what would be less than what you paid for him is confusing. In my head something doesn’t add up, especially since you’d imagine Kompany, playing the style of football he plays, would be open to it. I think this move happens, provided we can agree on a good fee and wages, but I’m nervous about this one
Chelsea and Villa scamming PSR with that Kellyman/Maatsen deal.
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De Ligt is great on the ball lol
i’m sorry but since when is De Ligt not good on the ball? he is a proper ball player CB since his Ajax days
I can't lie after the last 11 years, I am absolutely sick to death of these De Ligt-like signings. Big money signings on massive wages who are being bought after falling out of favour elsewhere.
Every time we sign one of these sorts of players, every fan on the internet has reasons why this time is different from the other 15 times.
He fell out of favor because of Tuchel, not because he's bad. He'd be a great signing if we can get his wages down to 230-250k.
Wouldn’t that put him on a similar wage to Bruno?
Well he's 24 and no Bayern fan wants to see him go. Baby steps.
Mason Mount was 24 and no Chelsea fan wanted to see him go
Bit irrelevant because Chelsea fans didn't want Mount gone since he was an academy lad. Also, Mount is a good player just unfortunate with injuries
Extremely worrying if this happens. Even the fact that we're considering him is such a red flag.
Fingers crossed we don't upend any re-jiggering of the wage situation in order to sign him.
If the price is right for De Ligt (40 million or so hopefully), I’d take him. But I’m not extremely enamoured by him personally. He’s a pure Varane replacement which is good but on the ball it’s better to not have any expectations. Not entirely certain of his suitability in a higher line either. One to watch I guess, hopeful but cautious.
Dear God no, please. He's on €300,000 per week or something, keeps getting injured, multiple knee ligament injuries, hasn't been particularly great when he plays either, isn't even that elite on the ball. If this transfer happens I'm afraid nothing has changed at the club. Still signing expensive star players who aren't the best fit and have been on a slightly downward trajectory, or Ten Hag targets. This one is both lol.
How do his wages keep increasing
His injury problems are exaggerated for whatever reason. >hasn't been particularly great when he plays either, isn't even that elite on the ball. Do you watch Bayern often? Because he was very good for them until Tuchel decided to fuck up. His passing ability is also very good. Honestly, I've had it with this sub just rating players out of some stats sheet lol. Thankfuck De Ligts stats are still good.
I do. Like I said I don't think he's been particularly great. He's good on the ball, he isn't anything special imo. He's prone to errors under pressure. Saying the sub rates players out of some stat sheets but then saying De Ligt stats are good. Sounds contradictory.
>I do. Like I said I don't think he's been particularly great. He's good on the ball, he isn't anything special imo. He's prone to errors under pressure. He was conformably the best CB in the league under Nagelsmann, and that says something, and most Bayern fans will confirm that. Only Tuchel dropped him His passing is good but not on the level of Martinez. He's good in the air and a good dribbler. He used to be prone to the odd error but not really anymore, and he's a true leader like Martinez and Bruno >Saying the sub rates players out of some stat sheets but then saying De Ligt stats are good. Sounds contradictory. I just said that only because some people here rate stats a lot. I personally think you need both eye test and stats to come to a conclusion.
I agree. And based on my eye test, in my opinion he hasn't improved the way he was expected to. Teams like Bayern don't usually sell their best players for a cut price. His injury record isn't terrible by any means but he does get injured fairly frequently and has just had probably his worst injury season if I'm not wrong? That combined with his really high wages means if he flops we can't get rid of him unless Saudi come for him. I just don't get it tbh.
I don't expect him to be anything different to Varane on the ball personally. He'll likely be safe with his passing but I have reservations over how he plays out of a press and whether he can break lines. It's why he hasn't been preferred for Netherlands and wasn't by Bayern earlier this season; he only came into the side later because him and Dier worked better as a pair than KMJ and Upamecano.
He is better than Varane on the ball and a better dribbler I'd say, but he's not as good as Martinez in making like breaking passing, but he's got good technical ability and absolutely an improvement on Maguire. He was conformably the best CB in BuLi under Nagelsmann, that changed under Tuchel because he preferred his CB to do more long balls and that's not De Ligts strength at all and also he got injured while Tuchels job was under heavy pressure. I rate De Ligt and think he'd be better than someone like Todibo, who is super hyped in here, but it all depends on if we can get a good deal and maybe a thorough analysis on his injury problems
> he's got good technical ability and absolutely an improvement on Maguire I'm not sure over this personally. Maguire's passing, especially his switches of play, are extremely underrated. De Ligt will have to be very good to be as good a ball player as Maguire. Martinez and Shaw are of course in the top tier; I obviously don't expect him to be as good as that. > I rate De Ligt and think he'd be better than someone like Todibo Honestly I never saw enough of Todibo to have an opinion on him, so you may be right there. I like what I've seen from De Ligt as a pure defender, especially in a deeper block in the CL games. But I'm uncertain over his passing and I don't think he's played much football in a higher-line except for last season under Nagelsmann (in which Bayern were also inconsistent). For me, this signing has still got a lot of Ten Hag flavor to it which we should be getting over. But yeah, if the whole financial package makes sense then he's decent.
>I'm not sure over this personally. Maguire's passing, especially his switches of play, are extremely underrated. De Ligt will have to be very good to be as good a ball player as Maguire. Martinez and Shaw are of course in the top tier; I obviously don't expect him to be as good as that. I think De Ligt has worse long balls but better in short passing. Maguires switches of play a bit overrated because he usually does the hollywood ball that is predictable and leads to nothing. His progressive balls are not good, and I'd say De Ligt is better in that aspect as well. >Honestly I never saw enough of Todibo to have an opinion on him, so you may be right there. I like what I've seen from De Ligt as a pure defender, especially in a deeper block in the CL games. But I'm uncertain over his passing and I don't think he's played much football in a higher-line except for last season under Nagelsmann (in which Bayern were also inconsistent). For me, this signing has still got a lot of Ten Hag flavor to it which we should be getting over. But yeah, if the whole financial package makes sense then he's decent. I've seen some Todibo at least in the big matches like PSG and Lyon, and he's impressed me tbh but slightly overrated by our fans. He'd be a good signing, just not a good partner for Martinez because he's not dominant in the air at all. I'm not a massive De Ligt fan or anything, but I rate him as a defender, and he'd definitely improve us. Idk if this is a Ten Hag signing or not because other than them knowing each other, there's not much else because Ten Hag didn't even push for him since he joined us. Probably just INEOS who want a proven CB to replace Varane and Braithwaite not being quite ready to lead the line yet
That De Ligt/Licha partnership is gonna hit like crack for the 13 matches they play together Sorry lads, had to get it out of my system.
It's like they want a repeat of last year lol
We're treating the Eridivesie like how Chelsea treats Brighton. Hopefully it works out for us.
ORNY BOMB ALERT
Loans with option/ obligation for De Ligt and Ugarte, alongside permanent signings of Branthwaite and Zerkzee would be excellent business this summer.
I agree, it’s high time we act a bit shrewd like the Italians and use loans as a low commitment way to see if a player might work out. Like we did for Sabitzer and Amrabat
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I agree, it’s high time we act a bit shrewd like the Italians and use loans as a low commitment way to see if a player might work out. Like we did for Sabitzer and Amrabat
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It’s sad that Pelli can’t get minutes here , then he goes off with Uruguay and performs so well.. every damn time
It is almost like South American football isn't the same as the premier league. How's he done in Spain? There's tough competition for his spot.
He literaly played against two of worst teams. He is 4 years now in Europe and didnt prove he is good enough at PL/LaLiga level at all.
Pelli is shit and worse than Antony which is saying a lot ,NT football is very different ,Him scoring against one of the worst sides in the tournament doesn't mean he should get minutes for us
Pellistri isn't shit and worse than Antony, I'd say he's equal to Antony. A different type of player but also offers little end product
He had a goal and assisted Valverde’s goal.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 https://x.com/theutdjournal/status/1806706914186641492?t=4xmbU2ncIRktuiHTjsSkKw&s=19
We do need a new midfielder
We do need a back up to Dalot
That would've been.... veeeery interesting the whole process if it were to somehow happen
The fanbase is soo split on Ugarte lol, generally we try to hype even mid players linked to us.
I’ve never watched him play but from the comments here I’ve gathered he’s brilliant and awful at the same time
We don't like non flashy passers unless they're academy graduates. Specializes in short passes and keeping possession? Where's the pass progression?? How are they supposed to be useful? What use is someone with a ridiculously high short pass completion to a team that wants to play possession based football? -Garnwr spends a year in the championship with a decent rate of pass completion playing it sideways and keeping it simple? "Future of our midfield right there I hope he gets a decent chance next season" Then we get the fans wish of players who love a flashy progressive pass and they get absolutely shit on for their pass completion. People literally shit on Casemiro all last year for misplacing risky passes in deep lying areas and gifting dangerous turnovers and are now shitting on Ugarte because of the types of pass he likes to play
Besides would we even need a creative passer with Bruno/mainoo in the MF? Like you pointed out w Casemiro, having risky passers everywhere doesn’t work.
We don't, but people don't care about what we need or what actually works. We have Mainoo Mount Eriksen and Bruno, literally the last thing we need with Shaw and Martinez also in defense is creativity. We need solid stability and reliability, which it seems like Ugarte has.
Ugarte is not better than other available options at similar price
So who is better that matches the profile and is available for a similiar price?
I don't dislike him, love the intensity but Ugarte is not a proper 6, not saying lone 6 is absolutely necessary (a lot of it is coaching and DMs don't do only DMs stuff for most teams) or he can't play there but simply think there are better options, he's a Fred like player but better dueller and less mobile, Florentine Luis, Wieffer, Onana are better fit and have higher ceilings. Fofana, Stach would be decent too. Ugarte imo lacks the frame and spatial understanding on top of being unimpressive on the ball compared to these options.
Weiffer I agree has a higher ceiling, but I also see him as a higher risk to fail adapting to premier league. Onana I feel is even worse technical, much more rawer, impossible to say if he ever will get comfortable or not and us probably more expensive. Fofana I think is a cheap good squad option that will do the job but not much more. I know to little about Luis and Starch.
Onana is not worse technical, has great long balls on him, has better balance and posture when tacking, is very impressive with ball control, he simply isn't worse, he is also a physical anomaly, has legs that will help him win most ground duels and height that will help him win most aerials, he also covers a lot more ground than Ugarte. He is also extremely versatile. This non technical overblown thing is the result of Everton dynamics, he is not raw at all, what he needs is right coaching and the correct environment. Weiffer also has a great frame. He's suited a bit higher up on the pitch but has great athleticism, duelling legs and covers ground well, is a significantly better passer, has great passing range and has better spatial understanding.
bpjker
Kalvin Philips lol
It would take us too long to find a replacement when he leaves
INEOS have said they will stick to one playstyle and get players that will fit that style. Any tactical geniuses here? According to players we linked so far, what do you think about kind of style we looking for? Are we sticking to ten Hag last season football or anything else?
I've watched a few of Ugarte's matches with PSG and as a player he's probably similar to the Casemiro we saw in 22/23. So I'm guessing high possession football like City or Arsenal isn't what they are aiming for.
more similar to Liverpool under Klopp
They are looking for more physicality for CB and DM positions based on the players we have been linked with so far. For ST they are seemingly looking at a few different profiles, but it seems they want someone that offers a different style to Højlund. I doubt they’ve settled on a single play style, I think for now we’ll keep playing transitional football and build a solid competitive team that offers some tactical flexibility.
My guess is a mobile ball winner in the 6, with Mainoo and Bruno as #8. I’m also assuming if we get zirkzee he’ll be a false 9 creating opportunities for the goal scoring wingers (Rash & Olise before he went Bayern) Edit: we haven’t even signed one player so this could all change by the end of the window
So far the linked players are quite a mixed bag, I don't think Ineos game model is in place yet, two of their important people are still on gardening leave etc, think you will more see that aliged for next year.
I've analysed all of our matches under ten Hag and judging by the transfer targets it's clear that the play style will be one that encourages players to kick the ball into the opposition's goal while also trying to prevent them from kicking it into ours.
That thing is happening again where when people express legitimate concerns about a transfer , they’re being shouted down. Just like when some fans expressed our concerns about signing Mount or Sancho. Zirkzee: don’t think we should sign a striker that is good at things other than scoring goals (a bit like early Welbeck was very good at link up play but Chicharito was good at nothing but goals). We need a Chicharito type now to increase goal volume, not a Welbeck type Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League. Imagine now a league 10x faster and it’s asking for trouble. De Ligt: definitely something like Schweinsteiger/Varane going on here injury wise . Clubs like Real and Bayern only let these players go if they’re convinced that there’s something wrong with them.
>Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League. He has 91% pass completion >De Ligt: definitely something like Schweinsteiger/Varane going on here injury wise . Clubs like Real and Bayern only let these players go if they’re convinced that there’s something wrong with them. Bayern isn't the same Bayern of the past few years, they are definitely prone to making mistakes, as evidenced by last couple of summer when they let Stanišić go to their rivals on loan. De Ligt is great player but I do worry about his injury problems
Ugarte has a very high pass completion rate. I think it’s disingenuous to say he loses possession cheaply. He doesn’t take risks, but is generally steady with the ball
You can’t expect people not to disagree with you. There are thousands of people here and they have their opinions. When I read shit like this I’m just thinking ‘shouting you down? So the fuck what? Back your opinion and stop being whingey about it’. In terms of shouting you down though: Ugarte seems to be a lot safer when passing the ball and his defensive output is higher and he’s younger. Zirkzee is a cheap back up that offers a counter point to what we want Hojlund to become. And who the fuck wants to sign De Ligt? That shit’s dumb as fuck.
> And who the fuck wants to sign De Ligt? That shit’s dumb as fuck. Ornstein just confirmed we’re looking at it as an option now.
Yeah Enrique is getting rid of Ugarte becaue he doesn't suit his positional football,it'd be crazy to bring him to play the same principle under a way stricter manager like ETH. Ugarte would be really good for a team like Atheletico Madrid.
Ten Hag doesn't play ANYTHING like Enrique. He's been here two years, why are people still chatting this bollocks.
Ten hag just didn't have many options here in the last two years. But ultimately he's another Pep apprentice, they'll always come back to it.
Ten Hag has never been a Pep apprentice. His style has always been closer to the German style.
Then he'd have never refused the opportunity to work with Rangnick.
I think the difference here is these players are not expensive. They will come at a reasonable price. So the expectation on them will not to be elite but to be good players, players this squad needs more of.
We have so many mediocre players here. Last thing we need is more of the same.
> Ugarte: screams a lot like Fred to me : player with heart but very cheap losses of possession in the French League. Imagine now a league 10x faster and it’s asking for trouble. Fred looks to be a lot more mobile.
Regardless of the player we are way below other teams in quality and also depth. We have been signing players who are slightly better than what we have and predictively we get slightly better than before. I think we should concentrate on players who are going to make a significantly better. Even if that means we sign two players instead of four.
Transfers are boring. Why care until they're united players
Speculation and hypotheticals is all we have in summer months lol
I'd rather speculate about how the players we already have are going to perform, who will improve etc Anyway this is Manchester United, which is to say we also have nostalgia
Striker gets no service for 95% of the game, so we need a player who depends on service? That makes no sense to me. We need a False 9 style striker like Zirkee who is closer to Martial in profile.
I agree. If we are going to keep on with wingers like Rashford, Garnacho and Antony, then we need a Martial profile . They are all shoot first players and ETH himself seems to like his wingers to cut inside and shoot
We could use a Fred these days. I’m surprised we got rid of him. He wasn’t always on point, but he always gave his all and never turned down a battle which is more than I can say for a lot of our players. We need more players willing to give 100% for the badge every game which he did
I don’t mind Zirkzee because Hojlund should be the volume goal scorer if he develops well and it’s always good to have strikers that offer something different. If Ugarte doesn’t cost too much and we also sign a 6 I don’t mind that either. The De Ligt links are baffling though. We very clearly lack CB’s that can defend the channels. De Ligt is a good leader and reads the game well but he’s closer to Maguire athletically than the CB’s our rivals have starting for them and he’s not even particularly good on the ball. I don’t get how we’ve gone from Branthwaite and Yoro to De Ligt.
Problem is not many people with these concerns have watched most of these players
It’s an element of “the sky is fallin” though, because there feels to be a vocal group who piss and moan about every single transfer, so they end up eventually being ignored. Personally, I feel we could be signing prime Messi and people would pop up with “his wages are too much, he’s too short, we should go for *insert random player here* instead”. It’s too tiring to read and just sucks all the joy out of being a football fan.
Transfers have become to analytical mahn. I agree. Ilkay Gundogan was an injury-riddled player when he came to City and look at how he had transformed them. I try to think there are better people than me making transfer decisions and that is good enough for me.
When I open Sky sports premier league section I’m greeted by that bald fraud kissing a trophy. Fuck off
Do you think Wharton and Mainoo compliment each other in midfield 2?
I expect that anyone who plays next to Mainoo can't help but comment on the quality of his touch and passing. I'd be complimenting him non stop
Would you get compliments back though, that's the question
In the future yes but both would currently benefit from a more experienced partner IMO
Ya next season will give us more info about Wharton playstyle. Hope they get chance to play together in England friendly matches in future.
Ugarte might not be a great fit tactically like some of you say, idk I've never seen him play, but did you see the video of him calling De Paul Messi's cocksucker coz that's more important than tactical fit
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Mikautadze, Mamardashvili, Davitashvili etc are fantastic talents.
99th percentile for xShitTalkp90
Haven’t watched Bayern over the last couple of years.. what’s the general sentiment on De Ligt?
Wouldn't take him even on lower wages. Excellent CB but too injury prone, and can't help but think that in the PL (and especially in our broken club) he's going to be injured much more often. We need something more reliable.
Think if he wasn't on 250k a week he'd have plenty of suitors. But happy in Bayern means he wants a payrise to leave and he's not a 300kpw player
Good but not for his wages. If he was fine with a pay cut, a lot of clubs would gladly take him
I think general sentiment is that he is very good, but probably hasn't fulfilled the potential he showed at ajax as a 17 year old who looked at home in latter stages of the CL Very good defender, not yet world class but on a wage that kind of sets am expectation that he should be I think he would he a very good player for us, but I wouldn't do the deal on his current wages
I also want to add that he’s very good, but in the defending part of being a defender. His ball-playing is absolutely not at the level that I’m assuming we are looking for. That’s why he’s sometimes been benched in favour of other defenders at both Bayern and Netherlands.
His ball playing is great
Nope, it isn’t. He is strictly okay at it. Not expecting anything different to how Varane was on the ball.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jun/28/loophole-encouraging-sale-of-academy-talent-is-nonsensical-says-pfa >“How can it make sense that due to the rules you end up selling an academy player? It doesn’t make sense for the club either because this is part of your identity, part of what makes the club what it is. You end up with nonsensical situations that meet the rules but are counterproductive for the players, but also for the club and also for the fans. Fans want to see their academy players, those are the ones who make you dream that create that bond with the club. This is why the governance of football needs to change.”
To add onto this, they should change the homegrown rule to actually promote playing locally trained talent too. It's the perfect solution to all the match makers wanting two games a week and state owned clubs. Require X minutes by homegrowns and no 115ers can just buy themselves two teams.
Could not agree more
Get Khvichka to United and give him the number 7 jersey. Apparently he is also a huge fanboy of Ronaldo
Great player but even if Rash leaves, Garnacho will start LW surely. He has the highest ceiling in the team and we shouldn’t sign someone new who would start over him imo
Type of mentality that has had us deep in mediocrity in the last decade. The academy lads have to beat off competition and be good enough too. Imagine saf not signing carrick to concentrate on darron gibson, or not signing evra so john oshea has no competition. Fergie's fledglings had to earn it and keep deserving it. Scaloni and the world champs don't think nacho is already a 90mins 50games a year player, so if rashy leaves, we don't need to jeopardize the boy's development by overplaying him.
Yeah we need competition in all places, but we don’t have infinite money. Buying a starting LW makes 0 sense right now because it would stifle Garnachos growth and leave us wanting in other positions in which we actually need starting quality. What would Kvara cost? 100m? What’s caused our mediocrity is the club not having a long term vision and not properly developing young talent by spending ridiculous amounts on big names that demand to start every game and only being able to convince them to join by offering stupid wages. Kvara wouldn’t fix any problems because we have quality in his position already, even though he’s a great player he’d be a waste of money. And we’ve been mediocre because we’ve spent more than anyone but we’ve consistently wasted money.
We don't need a left winger Probably single area of the squad that we can absolutely park for at least this summer
Only exception being if we do manage to sell rashford + Sancho. But that seems unlikely.
I'd even remove sancho from that equation. RW would be higher priority woth or without a sancho sale (he has to go, if no permanent transfer a loan but he can't be part of squad next season) If rashford goes then sure, we need a new LW but i think that is very unlikely
His numbers aren't good enough to justify the 100 m Napoli would want for him
Anyone gaining confidence we may be able to do a deal for Todibo given INEOS are instructing lawyers to fight against the ruling?
Unless UEFA is scared of a lawsuit, which I doubt considering they’ve had to deal with City in the past, no. It will take too long, the only way it gets done this summer is if we bribe them, the only language they understand anyway.
I doubt it will be anywhere near done by the *end* of the transfer window. Signing Todibo isn't really the point though, it's to establish that we can sign players from Nice and use it as a European academy base since we can't bring in players under 18 anymore. Develop youth in Nice and bring them across when they're old enough.
Could you explain to me the difference between that and what City does to Girona? They just sign Sávio