Steve Hitchen

[Finney Is Back]

I remember the links being from the summer we signed GLC/Ndombele

Yes, correct. It was summer 2019 that Spurs were in for Fernandes. We agreed terms with the player but didn't meet Sporting's transfer fee demands.... Or more pertinently Sporting would not agree to what was described by them as a 'difficult' deal structure.

We then switched interest to Lo Celso and signed him (on what was I suppose something of a 'difficult' deal structure).

Man Utd then signed Fernandes in January 2020.

 

[Bishop]

We were in for him and lots of people will explain how/why the club fudged up but reality is once United threw their hat in, it was over

Revisionism. No, we could have signed Bruno the window before United. He has spoken on it since, he wanted to join us, but we couldn't agree a fee that Sporting were willing to sell him for.

I think Poch could have done something with GLC, I think there is a player there, nobody would have saved Ndombele

Ndombele started well under Poch, arguably our best player until that first injury after which our form dropped significantly and but the time he was back Poch had been sacked.

I don't know that I think signing both Ndombele and Lo Celso was the wisest course of action in the same window but our midfield had gotten incredibly stale as has been mentioned so we had to do something and I think Poch's plan was to play the diamond with Ndombele and Lo Celso on either side. Something that we just never got to see in action.

 

[Raziel]

Revisionism. No, we could have signed Bruno the window before United. He has spoken on it since, he wanted to join us, but we couldn't agree a fee that Sporting were willing to sell him for.

Ndombele started well under Poch, arguably our best player until that first injury after which our form dropped significantly and but the time he was back Poch had been sacked.

I don't know that I think signing both Ndombele and Lo Celso was the wisest course of action in the same window but our midfield had gotten incredibly stale as has been mentioned so we had to do something and I think Poch's plan was to play the diamond with Ndombele and Lo Celso on either side. Something that we just never got to see in action.

No chance mate, the guy had new club bounce, history has proven he just doesn't have the application to be a professional footballer at any level

 

[Bishop]

No chance mate, the guy had new club bounce, history has proven he just doesn't have the application to be a professional footballer at any level

Maybe, we'll never know. I have some faith Poch had a plan for him but yeah we'll never know.

 

[Bullet]

For me, signing Sissoko was just plain stupidity. We had visibility to what he was because he was 26/27 at the time. Such a limited footballer who was never going to suit our system.

Very different for Sanchez who was only 20/21 and played at centre half. He wasn't a non ball player either at Ajax. In fact, he had no choice but to step straight into our first team with Vertonghen, in autumn 2017 because Toby got injured. He played 31 of the league games that season and nobody was complaining. Well Toby was, because he had to wait to get back into the team.

However, for whatever reason his touch and passing just couldn't be nurtured to the level we needed it. I would say his reading of the game and positional sense never plateau'd to where we needed it either. I can still see why our club saw some raw ingredients in a 19/20 year old playing for Ajax though. Centre halves grow immensely from 21 to 24 and you never really see their true potential until later. Davinson also did pretty well each time he got a run in the side. That never happened, and I think his head went eventually. He couldn't find consistency, just like before he left when he got boo'd one match and was MotM the very next.

IIRC Mourinho highlighted how poor Davinson Sanchez was on the ball, before we signed him. I think Mourinho was boss for Utd or Cheatski in a key European game vs Ajax and said something like "we knew how to beat Ajax, just press them until they give the ball to Sanchez, and he can do nothing with it"

 

[Bedfordspurs]

IIRC Mourinho highlighted how poor Davinson Sanchez was on the ball, before we signed him. I think Mourinho was boss for Utd or Cheatski in a key European game vs Ajax and said something like "we knew how to beat Ajax, just press them until they give the ball to Sanchez, and he can do nothing with it"

He said that when playing against us as United manager
It was after we had signed him