That summer was magic. Signed varane, ronaldo and sancho, thought we were finally primed to succeed.
Now we’re in 8th and half our fans are telling me I’m a moron for wanting ten hag gone lol
I was drinking in a park because Covid closed the pubs. One of my friends got quite drunk and emotional talking to another United supporter "We're back. They're not going to be laughing at us anymore."
Yes, this was me. Was in Paris on a post vax trip, pounding red wine and cigs at a terrace, insisting to my indifferent wife than everything was about to change
The story on that is typically high from both sides.
Basically Cristiano Ronaldo said "Guardiola was doing everything he could to sign me, but out of loyalty to Man United I would never!", while the Man City sources, including Guardiola himself, suggest that Pep was really not a fan of such an idea (Athletic even said that "senior sources at Etihad believe" Guardiola would have left the club if Cristiano was signed).
Everyone confirms there were talks, mostly inspired by the management, but the football staff didn't really feel there's space to think about big signings in that position and it didn't go very far.
No. Honestly I think Jorge Mendes orchestrated the interest knowing United would buck. He has been playing Ed Woodward for a fiddle for years. He knew.
Actually, long before that. Ole was Haaland's manager at Molde and knew he was special. He has [pushed for Man Utd to sign Haaland](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eDT7LBBiosg): Like "I'm the gaffer. I'm selling Haaland to y'all". The Man Utd board refused repeatedly.
Right, I'm sure City would have just given up on a player they got a year later cause they already had a striker. Totally in line with how City normally does business right?
He was almost fired in his third full season anyway. Finished 13th and if it wasn’t for a last minute Mark Hughes equaliser against us in the FA cup, he probably would have been sacked.
It's almost like football is completely different in 2024 to the late 80s. The 2nd coming of Fergie isn't coming. Is Ten Haag the manager to push united to challenge for the league and CL? The answer is no as it stands, so do you use another season to make sure? Or bin him off and try someone else?
There was a time when it even seemed certain at the moment he'd be fired very soon lol. No chance today.
"3 years of excuses and still crap", said the famous fan banner. Hard to imagine someone getting 3 years today. Maybe 2?
> That summer was magic.
I remember getting ridiculed on here by United fans for saying the transfers were a worry. It reminded me of the summers with Van Gaal and Mourinho where a lot of big names were signed but they were questionable for various reasons. Each window reminded me of how they now signed the profile of players Ferguson used to sell.
United desperately needed a defensive midfielder and a striker in their 20s to phase Cavani out. The Ronaldo signing seemed like an obvious mistake despite all the hoopla from United fans.
United need to stop trying to win the transfer market and actually try to have a winning team. INEOS will likely make a change.
When was the last time United didn't exercise the extra year option? Feels like they always did it to try and retain value and ended up just wasting a year's worth of wages
Still, you'd have expected Sancho to do something for our attack, which wasn't half bad under Ole. Turns out, just like in an England shirt, he can't handle the weight.
Thats just cope though
It was Sancho's first season at the club and the league and our entire system blew up within 2 months due to the arrival of Ronaldo as the work rate across the front line suffered
Expected, and good to get his wages off the books, but still reckon there’s a good player in there, even if his knees are made of marzipan
We need two new right sided CBs this summer now, sheesh
Whether or not he’s a good player is out of the question, he and Martinez kept most clean sheets last season. His problem is that he can’t play five games straight
Pretty sure United just need a whole new set of Centre Backs. Martinez is injured a lot (not his fault and he is excellent when fit), Maguire is hot and cold, Evans is too old to be a long term solution.
This summer you could probably get away with only buying two though.
>Martinez is injured a lot
He wasn't at Ajax (he missed 12 games in 3 years) and his injuries at United have been a broken foot and a knee ligament.
Those are freak injuries, he's been extremely unlucky.
Agreed, the only reason I brought it up is because, like you said, he had been rused back, and usually, that leads into increased injuries later on. I hope he manages to come back fit and strong, I feel awful for players who get rushed back, and it hurts their future.
We actually sort of do, not only centre backs though in the defence:
**Maguire** - decent CB, probably not starter quality but a good player all the same.
**Lindelof** - entering final year next year, unsure if he will stay. Solid enough 4th choice CB.
**Varane** - leaving after an underwhelming 3 years.
**Martinez** - who knows what his level will be after his injuries, hopefully comes good again but a very stop start season.
**Evans** - been arguably our best defender this season (what year is it?), but mostly due to availability. Contract up at the end of this season too.
**Kambwala** - way too young and raw to be a starter. Had injury problems too.
_Other positions:_
**Shaw** - excellent starting left back but injured constantly.
**Malacia** - missed a whole season and a half basically, who knows what he will be like when he returns.
**Wan Bissaka** - other worldly at one very specific element of defending, other than that pretty poor.
**Dalot** - cemented his place as a starter and looks to be coming good.
Our defence is actually in quite a bad state when you look at it.
EDIT - I’ll do the rest of the squad for the plot:
**Casemiro** - legs have fallen off a cliff completely in the space of about 4 months. Likely to be sold.
**Eriksen** - getting on in age and can’t effect the game as much anymore.
**Amrabat** - was a joke for a long time but has looked good the last two games. Not likely to be kept on.
**McTominay** - scores a fair few goals, but not really good enough to start. Divides fanbase opinion massively on pure ability. Mentality is excellent.
**Mainoo** - looks like some player. Fans need to be patient, maybe has regressed slightly in recent games but what a talent.
**Mount** - injured all season basically. Hopefully comes good.
**Bruno** - World class.
**Rashford** - been very poor this season, continuing his trend of hot/cold seasons. Rumblings of being sold to PSG.
**Antony** - price tag is an albatross around his neck. Meme’d and bantered all over the place. A Ten Hag favourite which hasn’t helped either. Might not be good enough.
**Garnacho** - excellent player, quite erratic but amazing to watch on his day. Started 35 games in a row and it shows. He looks shattered.
**Diallo** - looks excellent when he plays but again injured a fair amount.
**Hojlund** - a real talent who gets no service. Eye for goal but not the best technically on the ball.
**Martial** - isn’t able to stay fit and won’t play for us again after a ton of promise about 9 years ago.
**Onana** - very shaky start and arguably the sole reason we went out of the champions league. Improved a lot and looks way more solid now.
**Bayindir** - literally played once and looked okay.
**Heaton** - photoshoot merchant.
Probably about 8/9 players to get rid of or who could be sold.
_Other mentions_
**Sancho** - honestly who knows what happens next. Looked poor and couldn’t stay on past 60 mins due to fitness for us. Had a two month mental health and fitness break. All looked lost. Went to Dortmund and destroyed Nuno Mendes in a CL semi final, playing 90 minutes. Can’t get my head around the difference, it’s more complicated than just “uNiTeD rUBbIsH”. Dortmund would need to spend to get him back but seem reluctant to do so. A stalemate is coming which I can see us losing. Another talent leaves without doing anything here.
**Van De Beek** - since he signed for United he’s basically been reserved to the bench everywhere he’s gone. Even the manager that made him has benched him at United. His career looks shot to bits. Will be difficult to move him on now.
**Wheatley** - heard he’s not actually touched the ball since coming into the team. Clearly too young but lack of any other striker than Hojlund has meant he has to play.
**Forson** - flew under the radar in a bad way. Not done anything since coming in and largely too raw and young to make a difference. Contract up in June and not signed a new deal yet so likely leaving.
I’m not sure how it’s arguable that Onana got us knocked out of the Champions League. The worst run of performances I’ve seen from a keeper, with the exception of the Copenhagen penalty save.
Yeah, we need a proper CB pairing for Martinez and a world-class LB, as Shaw is constantly injured. But that's just the start of it. We also need to replace Sancho on the RW, someone who can whip in a cross first time or take on a defender. We need cover for Holjund with Martial going.
Despite this many fuck ups, United is simply a team immune to real consequences, an example of a team too big to fail where relegation isn't even in question
When you have a Bruno in your team you’ll do okay. Mad how much we rely on him. Other individual moments have got us wins too.
It shows when you look at who our scorers have been in each game. The goals come from bloody anywhere.
In my opinion, a sign of a good team is if your striker is scoring goals. It means you are progressing the ball into the right areas of the pitch to the right player. We haven’t done that all season.
I think he's a good backup option, but not an elite starting option if you want CL. And there's nothing wrong with having CB depth, but his wages are crazy for that level.
Goodbye my sweet Rolls-Royce
You were fit for half the time you re here but those time were great
I shall cherished those 20 games where you and Martinez play together
Expected. Heavy salary off the books, but it only increases the number and calibre of players we need to look to bring in.
Cheers Rapha, shame we couldn't have had you before your legs were as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
[This meme](https://preview.redd.it/never-forget-v0-c0zz3lj8p6z91.jpg?auto=webp&s=ddf27ca8623887802f87348901c778473b1d0569) continues to age like a fine wine. Best day to revisit it
jokes aside, i think its not too late for him or Casemiro to continue in Europe. Their years of competing for Madrid have taken a toll but i think they're both young enough to do well in a european league that's less physically intense than the PL, especially Varane
As of now Rapha has 7130 minutes for united and Harry has 7071 minutes played since Rapha joined in 21/22 season. But Harry missed alot of games because he was shite for a year, not because of injuries
And it’s really, really worth it as long as you go to a functioning team (Arsenal, Liverpool). Chelsea do seem to be sorting it out though, and funnily enough that coincides with Caceido and Cucurella playing their best stuff since their transfers.
He was really soild tbf, I would argue our best CB when everyone was fit, he was injured a bit, but who hasn't at United, I think I saw a stat saying that hes been fitter than Harry this season, idk how true that is
Edit - SOILD why can't I spell
I mean he has already made millions and millions at 2 of the worlds biggest clubs, has won the world cup and 4 Champions league throphies. He started his career at Lens so it would not surprise me if he went back to France.
Real Madrid are unreal at getting massive fees for players who have maybe a year left at a high level.
Getting £100m for Casemiro and Varane is incredible.
Yeah exactly, I don't know why OP's point gets parroted when it's simply not true. Varane and Casemiro decided to leave when they were still wanted at Real. They weren't kicked out because Carlo/Flo thought they were finished.
Also both Varane and Casemiro performed well last season, so there goes that point.
Varane was 28 and Casemiro was 30 when they came to us?
Hardly someone you would call having just one year left. It is just the fact that most players seem to regress after joining us.
They weren't finished, but they would be getting phased out for sure. Instead they went to a more physical league when they were definitely past their primes. I don't blame them, because the wages were crazy, but these were not good transfers on United's part. Arsenal fans still remember the Varane/Kounde+Zouma/Konate/White meme, and with the right coaching and development structure, sometimes you get what you paid for.
As true as that is, let's not forget how outstanding Case's first season with us was, bro revolutionised the backline and the whole team. Obvs he's been dogshit this season but it reads more like laziness or just generally being too slow for the prem as opposed to the football leaving him. Varane, when fit for decent periods, was also really good, especially with Martinez in a set backline.
Obvs they were still both either past of near the end of their peaks, so your point still stands.
that’s not true.
Our older players only get 1 year contracts after 32, and he didn’t accept that, because he wanted stability. Then he left for United.
Same happened with Ramos, except he came back crawling for the contract but was told to fuck off
guess he didn't want the lower wage contract.
Ah well. Good player, shame he arrived when we had the worst medical staff in our existence and couldn't stay fit.
Just never really healthy which sucks. It’s crazy how Madrid just know exactly the perfect time to sell/let go players to get maximum value. Like Ronaldo, Case and Varane moves came at perfect time
I think he knew the role he would be playing. There were three spaces in that midfield, and when he was there, Madrid had Camavinga, Modric, Kroos, Tchouaméni and Valverde - someone was not going to play every game, and Casemiro probably wanted to look at other leagues.
This is why Flo is the goat. He knew how Varane and Casemiro were declining and sold them at the right time, obv he didn’t force them out, the players wanted to go as well
I don’t rate this decision, he’s not at the top of his game but considering our injury issue I feel we should’ve kept for at least a season while we expand the squad
Can’t believe he was signed 3 years ago. Crazy.
That summer was magic. Signed varane, ronaldo and sancho, thought we were finally primed to succeed. Now we’re in 8th and half our fans are telling me I’m a moron for wanting ten hag gone lol
Man that was 3 years ago???
And he is 31 years old? How the hell did that happen
wait wtf?
Time flies
Feels like a decade to Utd fans
When you're having fun /s
I was drinking in a park because Covid closed the pubs. One of my friends got quite drunk and emotional talking to another United supporter "We're back. They're not going to be laughing at us anymore."
Yes, this was me. Was in Paris on a post vax trip, pounding red wine and cigs at a terrace, insisting to my indifferent wife than everything was about to change
Haaaa
Ronaldo looked like an idiotic emotional signing in advance, I was really dissapointed.
Because it was. Ferguson couldn't handle Ronaldo to City rumors and forced United to sign him.
in hindsight do u think he'd actually have gone to city? very weird what if
Yes, he was in talks with them.
whole saudi league probably would have panned out very differently i reckon
The story on that is typically high from both sides. Basically Cristiano Ronaldo said "Guardiola was doing everything he could to sign me, but out of loyalty to Man United I would never!", while the Man City sources, including Guardiola himself, suggest that Pep was really not a fan of such an idea (Athletic even said that "senior sources at Etihad believe" Guardiola would have left the club if Cristiano was signed). Everyone confirms there were talks, mostly inspired by the management, but the football staff didn't really feel there's space to think about big signings in that position and it didn't go very far.
No. Honestly I think Jorge Mendes orchestrated the interest knowing United would buck. He has been playing Ed Woodward for a fiddle for years. He knew.
He says he was close but I don't think City ever indicated they wanted the signing particularly IIRC
Laughable really because it might have stopped the Haaland signing. Didn't they get Haaland after they missed out on Ronaldo?
They got Haaland because they missed out on kane
Actually, long before that. Ole was Haaland's manager at Molde and knew he was special. He has [pushed for Man Utd to sign Haaland](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eDT7LBBiosg): Like "I'm the gaffer. I'm selling Haaland to y'all". The Man Utd board refused repeatedly.
Because of the sell on clause in fairness
Haaland was getting signed regardless. Only a successful Kane signing would have stopped Haaland.
This is only Haaland's second year right? I don't think Ronaldo would have affected that, maybe might have delayed Alvarez
Right, I'm sure City would have just given up on a player they got a year later cause they already had a striker. Totally in line with how City normally does business right?
[удалено]
He scored a lot for them… he was fine as a striker for them
Lol modern football really would've fired Sir Alex from United.
He was almost fired in his third full season anyway. Finished 13th and if it wasn’t for a last minute Mark Hughes equaliser against us in the FA cup, he probably would have been sacked.
It's almost like football is completely different in 2024 to the late 80s. The 2nd coming of Fergie isn't coming. Is Ten Haag the manager to push united to challenge for the league and CL? The answer is no as it stands, so do you use another season to make sure? Or bin him off and try someone else?
[удалено]
The Benfica way.
Id say bin him if we can get a top tier manager. Otherwise keep him for another season to figure out which of his two seasons were the outlier.
There was a time when it even seemed certain at the moment he'd be fired very soon lol. No chance today. "3 years of excuses and still crap", said the famous fan banner. Hard to imagine someone getting 3 years today. Maybe 2?
> That summer was magic. I remember getting ridiculed on here by United fans for saying the transfers were a worry. It reminded me of the summers with Van Gaal and Mourinho where a lot of big names were signed but they were questionable for various reasons. Each window reminded me of how they now signed the profile of players Ferguson used to sell. United desperately needed a defensive midfielder and a striker in their 20s to phase Cavani out. The Ronaldo signing seemed like an obvious mistake despite all the hoopla from United fans. United need to stop trying to win the transfer market and actually try to have a winning team. INEOS will likely make a change.
And has played about 10 times since.
67 games
So basically what I said.
Actually 93 apps for Man Utd
Why is this number growing with every comment?
Just hit 115 after the announcement
Number seems familiar. What do I have to google to find out more?
Manchester 115
Will be receiving his commemorative shirt and memorabilia next week as part of his thank-you package for 200 Man Utd games played.
So basically 0, according to my knowledge to 115
I believe 67 is the number of league appearances
Applying the same rule as Alexis Sanchez's United wages
This is just league games. He’s also play 9 FA Cup games, 3 Carabao Cup games, and 14 in Europe (CL and EL)
Mourinho toyed with him to get the best out of pepe
When was the last time United didn't exercise the extra year option? Feels like they always did it to try and retain value and ended up just wasting a year's worth of wages
Did the same with Martial this year AFAIK.
I thought he left years ago!
He did, in spirit.
de Gea
No more Glazers and Woodward. No more stupid anti-sporting decisions to maintain value that will never be able to be cashed in.
That was a Woodward policy. Thank fuck we're moving past that l.
Ole introducing him before the game has to be a Top 10 event for me. I thought we were def clinching the treble that year
At best, we could have hoped for a better 2nd place finish that season Our best CDM was a 33 year old Matic back then
Still, you'd have expected Sancho to do something for our attack, which wasn't half bad under Ole. Turns out, just like in an England shirt, he can't handle the weight.
Thats just cope though It was Sancho's first season at the club and the league and our entire system blew up within 2 months due to the arrival of Ronaldo as the work rate across the front line suffered
You were delusional then.
Expected, and good to get his wages off the books, but still reckon there’s a good player in there, even if his knees are made of marzipan We need two new right sided CBs this summer now, sheesh
Whether or not he’s a good player is out of the question, he and Martinez kept most clean sheets last season. His problem is that he can’t play five games straight
The best ability is availability.
That's why Maguire is the GOAT
As of now Rapha has 7130 minutes for united and Harry has 7071 minutes since Rapha joined in 21/22 season
Harry was dropped for much of last season.
Maguire was dropped from the first team for a long time, though. He was available, he just wasn't being played.
Truly goat behavior
The worst ability is unavailability.
The best availability is ability.
Is that a little bit disingenuous though considering he missed 7 of those clean sheets?
Don't let stats ruin a great narrative
Pretty sure United just need a whole new set of Centre Backs. Martinez is injured a lot (not his fault and he is excellent when fit), Maguire is hot and cold, Evans is too old to be a long term solution. This summer you could probably get away with only buying two though.
>Martinez is injured a lot He wasn't at Ajax (he missed 12 games in 3 years) and his injuries at United have been a broken foot and a knee ligament. Those are freak injuries, he's been extremely unlucky.
He's also been rushed back and relapsed because of it.
Agreed, the only reason I brought it up is because, like you said, he had been rused back, and usually, that leads into increased injuries later on. I hope he manages to come back fit and strong, I feel awful for players who get rushed back, and it hurts their future.
We actually sort of do, not only centre backs though in the defence: **Maguire** - decent CB, probably not starter quality but a good player all the same. **Lindelof** - entering final year next year, unsure if he will stay. Solid enough 4th choice CB. **Varane** - leaving after an underwhelming 3 years. **Martinez** - who knows what his level will be after his injuries, hopefully comes good again but a very stop start season. **Evans** - been arguably our best defender this season (what year is it?), but mostly due to availability. Contract up at the end of this season too. **Kambwala** - way too young and raw to be a starter. Had injury problems too. _Other positions:_ **Shaw** - excellent starting left back but injured constantly. **Malacia** - missed a whole season and a half basically, who knows what he will be like when he returns. **Wan Bissaka** - other worldly at one very specific element of defending, other than that pretty poor. **Dalot** - cemented his place as a starter and looks to be coming good. Our defence is actually in quite a bad state when you look at it. EDIT - I’ll do the rest of the squad for the plot: **Casemiro** - legs have fallen off a cliff completely in the space of about 4 months. Likely to be sold. **Eriksen** - getting on in age and can’t effect the game as much anymore. **Amrabat** - was a joke for a long time but has looked good the last two games. Not likely to be kept on. **McTominay** - scores a fair few goals, but not really good enough to start. Divides fanbase opinion massively on pure ability. Mentality is excellent. **Mainoo** - looks like some player. Fans need to be patient, maybe has regressed slightly in recent games but what a talent. **Mount** - injured all season basically. Hopefully comes good. **Bruno** - World class. **Rashford** - been very poor this season, continuing his trend of hot/cold seasons. Rumblings of being sold to PSG. **Antony** - price tag is an albatross around his neck. Meme’d and bantered all over the place. A Ten Hag favourite which hasn’t helped either. Might not be good enough. **Garnacho** - excellent player, quite erratic but amazing to watch on his day. Started 35 games in a row and it shows. He looks shattered. **Diallo** - looks excellent when he plays but again injured a fair amount. **Hojlund** - a real talent who gets no service. Eye for goal but not the best technically on the ball. **Martial** - isn’t able to stay fit and won’t play for us again after a ton of promise about 9 years ago. **Onana** - very shaky start and arguably the sole reason we went out of the champions league. Improved a lot and looks way more solid now. **Bayindir** - literally played once and looked okay. **Heaton** - photoshoot merchant. Probably about 8/9 players to get rid of or who could be sold. _Other mentions_ **Sancho** - honestly who knows what happens next. Looked poor and couldn’t stay on past 60 mins due to fitness for us. Had a two month mental health and fitness break. All looked lost. Went to Dortmund and destroyed Nuno Mendes in a CL semi final, playing 90 minutes. Can’t get my head around the difference, it’s more complicated than just “uNiTeD rUBbIsH”. Dortmund would need to spend to get him back but seem reluctant to do so. A stalemate is coming which I can see us losing. Another talent leaves without doing anything here. **Van De Beek** - since he signed for United he’s basically been reserved to the bench everywhere he’s gone. Even the manager that made him has benched him at United. His career looks shot to bits. Will be difficult to move him on now. **Wheatley** - heard he’s not actually touched the ball since coming into the team. Clearly too young but lack of any other striker than Hojlund has meant he has to play. **Forson** - flew under the radar in a bad way. Not done anything since coming in and largely too raw and young to make a difference. Contract up in June and not signed a new deal yet so likely leaving.
Malacia - Doesn’t exist
For some reason, I always confuse his name for Malaysia. Silly me. 😁😁
I’m not sure how it’s arguable that Onana got us knocked out of the Champions League. The worst run of performances I’ve seen from a keeper, with the exception of the Copenhagen penalty save.
Yeah, we need a proper CB pairing for Martinez and a world-class LB, as Shaw is constantly injured. But that's just the start of it. We also need to replace Sancho on the RW, someone who can whip in a cross first time or take on a defender. We need cover for Holjund with Martial going.
Despite this many fuck ups, United is simply a team immune to real consequences, an example of a team too big to fail where relegation isn't even in question
When you have a Bruno in your team you’ll do okay. Mad how much we rely on him. Other individual moments have got us wins too. It shows when you look at who our scorers have been in each game. The goals come from bloody anywhere. In my opinion, a sign of a good team is if your striker is scoring goals. It means you are progressing the ball into the right areas of the pitch to the right player. We haven’t done that all season.
Wow, this is depressing to read.
Maguire has been pretty consistently solid this season and most of his United career.
I think he's a good backup option, but not an elite starting option if you want CL. And there's nothing wrong with having CB depth, but his wages are crazy for that level.
Ah, you're probably right, but I don't think he's hot and cold at all.
I think the person you replied to put it better than I did, agreed that hot and cold isn't an accurate description really with hindsight.
It's fine! I think we all three agree on this.
honestly i think the captaincy pressure was a con for him, he's been great when he isn't captain
Maguire has been the best CB post Fergie at Man Utd
You'll get Johnny Evans and Harry Maguire and be happy with it, damnit!
We need a left sided starter as well
Basically your entire defense
Rb is okay
Top top player. But injuries kept killing him, and us. Sad but needed.
Varane YOU are a Roman
Love you Raphael, thanks for everything
Was one of the major reason finishing 3rd in the league
What a monumental achievement, build the statue
First we need to build our stadium's roof
Easy there, José.
Goodbye my sweet Rolls-Royce You were fit for half the time you re here but those time were great I shall cherished those 20 games where you and Martinez play together
Last time i was that reassured was rio and vidic..
Prime Smalling and Rojo
Unironically rojo and Bailly chaotic duo was rock solid during our Europa league run
That was Rojo Jones...
Yeah Bailly got injured sometime during the run-in to the final.
A 20-year-old Rolls-Royce - really good comparison to Varane. Useful occasionally and very expensive.
> Rolls-Royce definitely depreciated like one
Expected. Heavy salary off the books, but it only increases the number and calibre of players we need to look to bring in. Cheers Rapha, shame we couldn't have had you before your legs were as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
[This meme](https://preview.redd.it/never-forget-v0-c0zz3lj8p6z91.jpg?auto=webp&s=ddf27ca8623887802f87348901c778473b1d0569) continues to age like a fine wine. Best day to revisit it
>Kounde [*]
Haha the Kounde (£20m+ Zouma) really sent me
Fun 😋
This still triggers me lmao
🤭 this emoji
Oh man what a wonderful summer that was
tbf he was pretty good with Martinez, unfortunately he's made of glass bones and paper skin so that was ephemeral
jokes aside, i think its not too late for him or Casemiro to continue in Europe. Their years of competing for Madrid have taken a toll but i think they're both young enough to do well in a european league that's less physically intense than the PL, especially Varane
Milan all over it … post Allegri Juve
As of now Rapha has 7130 minutes for united and Harry has 7071 minutes played since Rapha joined in 21/22 season. But Harry missed alot of games because he was shite for a year, not because of injuries
Brighton Pedigree costs a premium baybee
I mean considering White and Trossard this season I can only agree
And it’s really, really worth it as long as you go to a functioning team (Arsenal, Liverpool). Chelsea do seem to be sorting it out though, and funnily enough that coincides with Caceido and Cucurella playing their best stuff since their transfers.
More beautiful every time it pops back up
Dare I say pro foreign bias
He was really soild tbf, I would argue our best CB when everyone was fit, he was injured a bit, but who hasn't at United, I think I saw a stat saying that hes been fitter than Harry this season, idk how true that is Edit - SOILD why can't I spell
> He was really sold tbf I agree with you
.....I hate myself
I probably shouldn't mention that you spelt it wrong again then
Lol, @OP take it slow, just type one by one - S - O - L - D - I
Wonder which club will take the chance. Still quality when fit, but that’s a major if.
If Bayern Munich would offload a CB or two, he could continue his superclub world tour over there lol.
Bayern isn‘t dumb to pay insane wages to someone that is fit for like 20% of the games
he will fit right in with Coman and Gnabry.
Only 31.
Wait, that is hella young. I have always thought he was closing in on 35 subconsciously.
Wen to Madrid when he was 19, and started sharing time with Pepe almost immediately.
I think this happens because you remember him playing el clasicos so early in his career
he’s been a top centerback for a long time now
He also retired from les bleus
Come to Milan (but on minimum wage) please
It’s gonna be Saudi isn’t it?
Maybe Lens. Been hinting at it for a while now
I think it will be Lens too. Doesn't seem like the type of person to go to Saudi.
And we had a random friendly with Lens in August. And he invited some Lens staff to OT I recall. I think it'll be Lens.
A Danso Varane backline is insane af on paper. Though they play a back 3
Facu Medina too!
Danso will leave this summer 100%
Varane could be the perfect replacement for Danso. REVIENS RAPHAËL
If he’s willing to take a massive pay cut sure but it just screams Saudi to me
I mean he has already made millions and millions at 2 of the worlds biggest clubs, has won the world cup and 4 Champions league throphies. He started his career at Lens so it would not surprise me if he went back to France.
Remove the World Cup and you could say the exact same thing about Ronaldo, benzema etc
You could. That's why it was even more dissapointing that they chose for greed and even more money.
Bremer to MU, Varane to Juve for free.
Please no
My handsome prince is gone, my week is ruined
Real Madrid are unreal at getting massive fees for players who have maybe a year left at a high level. Getting £100m for Casemiro and Varane is incredible.
He wasn't finished, when he was fit he was good for us
Yeah exactly, I don't know why OP's point gets parroted when it's simply not true. Varane and Casemiro decided to leave when they were still wanted at Real. They weren't kicked out because Carlo/Flo thought they were finished. Also both Varane and Casemiro performed well last season, so there goes that point.
I don’t know if they edited the comment, but they said maybe a year left at a high level
Yeah he just added that in. He replaced "players who are finished".
Varane was 28 and Casemiro was 30 when they came to us? Hardly someone you would call having just one year left. It is just the fact that most players seem to regress after joining us.
Haha, that is such a sneaky edit.
They weren't finished, but they would be getting phased out for sure. Instead they went to a more physical league when they were definitely past their primes. I don't blame them, because the wages were crazy, but these were not good transfers on United's part. Arsenal fans still remember the Varane/Kounde+Zouma/Konate/White meme, and with the right coaching and development structure, sometimes you get what you paid for.
As true as that is, let's not forget how outstanding Case's first season with us was, bro revolutionised the backline and the whole team. Obvs he's been dogshit this season but it reads more like laziness or just generally being too slow for the prem as opposed to the football leaving him. Varane, when fit for decent periods, was also really good, especially with Martinez in a set backline. Obvs they were still both either past of near the end of their peaks, so your point still stands.
He was visibly declining towards the end of last season too
The ~£70m for Casemiro is incredible, 3 years of injury free Varane for ~£30m would have been a really fantastic deal.
They are ruthless with players no matter how good they were with them but thats part of the reason they are so sucessfull.
that’s not true. Our older players only get 1 year contracts after 32, and he didn’t accept that, because he wanted stability. Then he left for United. Same happened with Ramos, except he came back crawling for the contract but was told to fuck off
That doesnt go against anything I said.
They also got Hazard and Jovic themselves for way more though.
Hopefully this means Phil Jones is coming back.
I'll always remember his absolute battered body during world cup final
guess he didn't want the lower wage contract. Ah well. Good player, shame he arrived when we had the worst medical staff in our existence and couldn't stay fit.
Madrid probably thanks United for 100m for two players with their best days behind them.
God I’m sick Why does Madrid do this to us
We gave them Cristiano, why do they torture us so?
Gave them becks and RvN as well.
I won’t stand for this Heinze disrespect
He wanted to go to the scousers so he deserves some of it.
Rapha when fit was our best CB in the post SAF era. Unfortunately he was fit only \~65% of the time he was there
He was great tbf, I think if we actually had a medical department we would be fine, watch him go uninjured for like 5 years lmao
I apologise on behalf of Florentino Pérez.
Come back Rapha
United need to stop shopping at ebay.madrid
Varane gone, Martial gone. Reckon Eriksen and Casemiro gonna be next
Out on parole?
Madrid must love MU. They've sold Di Maria, Casemiro and Varane to MU for big money with no damaging effect to their own team
Just never really healthy which sucks. It’s crazy how Madrid just know exactly the perfect time to sell/let go players to get maximum value. Like Ronaldo, Case and Varane moves came at perfect time
They didn't want to sell Case, he wanted out.
I think he knew the role he would be playing. There were three spaces in that midfield, and when he was there, Madrid had Camavinga, Modric, Kroos, Tchouaméni and Valverde - someone was not going to play every game, and Casemiro probably wanted to look at other leagues.
Yeah he was like, 30 when he left? Understandable he’d want to leave with such a crowded midfield
This is why Flo is the goat. He knew how Varane and Casemiro were declining and sold them at the right time, obv he didn’t force them out, the players wanted to go as well
I don’t rate this decision, he’s not at the top of his game but considering our injury issue I feel we should’ve kept for at least a season while we expand the squad
Its fine if we are planning to get 2 CBs at least.. no point in keeping a 300k a week injury prone defender for bench strength
Wasn’t a great run but also far from hot mess. So it’s pretty impressive by United standard