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Transfer rumours - summer 2021 edition

Good players, but it's unbalanced (at this point)

- VDB couldn't get a look in last season
- Sancho's acquisition will tinkle off Greenwood as that right side was the place he was getting a look in

Verane would be a good acquisition, but why would he leave Madrid for United?

And if they want to win big trophies, the first buy of the summer should have been a better manager.
Their squad lacking balance is a fair criticism.

Signing a very good player for a position and role where they've been short of natural options is them trying to fix some of that.

Problems with them then having too many players for other positions and roles were caused by those earlier signings really.

It's a bit like us signing a very good central defender and people saying we would then have too many central defenders. I mean sure, but the problem is that they aren't good enough. Just like United didn't have a good enough right sided forward.
 
Their squad lacking balance is a fair criticism.

Signing a very good player for a position and role where they've been short of natural options is them trying to fix some of that.

Problems with them then having too many players for other positions and roles were caused by those earlier signings really.

It's a bit like us signing a very good central defender and people saying we would then have too many central defenders. I mean sure, but the problem is that they aren't good enough. Just like United didn't have a good enough right sided forward.

Fair, but to your point, if we have deadwood, they have a fudging forest mate

Mata, Matic, Fred, McTominay, James, Diallo, Pogba, VDB, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani .. fudging hell (and the back line is equally as bloated)

I get the point about not having a right sided attacker and the imbalance, my point was while I agree re balance, don't know if the balance needed to be addressed via another attacking player (just like I'm not completely sold that Spurs should play Son, Kane +another wide attacker), perhaps a right sided midfielder who could manage possession and/or add some creativity (not just attacking at pace)? no idea what their strategy is ..

If it was me managing them, I would have sold Mata, Martial, Matic, Pogba, Fred, not bought Sancho, but gone for Kane, buy a top level DM, build the midfield around New DM, VDB, Fernandes and a front line of Kane +Rashford/Greenwood. Sell some of the backline dross as well (including da Gea) and buy a quality CB for alongside Maguire (maybe it is Varane), go all out for Conte or another top level manager and you have a side that would take on City/Chelsea. Instead as good as Sancho is, I don't think it's enough.
 
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Fair, but to your point, if we have deadwood, they have a fudging forest mate

Mata, Matic, Fred, McTominay, James, Diallo, Pogba, VDB, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani .. fudging hell (and the back line is equally as bloated)

I get the point about not having a right sided attacker and the imbalance, my point was while I agree re balance, don't know if the balance needed to be addressed via another attacking player (just like I'm not completely sold that Spurs should play Son, Kane +another wide attacker), perhaps a right sided midfielder who could manage possession and/or add some creativity (not just attacking at pace)? no idea what their strategy is ..

If it was me managing them, I would have sold Mata, Martial, Matic, Pogba, Fred, not bought Sancho, but gone for Kane, buy a top level DM, build the midfield around New DM, VDB, Fernandes and a front line of Kane +Rashford/Greenwood. Sell some of the backline dross as well (including da Gea) and buy a quality CB for alongside Maguire (maybe it is Varane), go all out for Conte or another top level manager and you have a side that would take on City/Chelsea. Instead as good as Sancho is, I don't think it's enough.

I agree that they're bloated, part of the benefits of having the kind of money they have is that they can afford to buy before selling and probably even keep our loan out some of that forest if need be.

I think your strategy would be a sound one, but I also think getting Sancho in fixes a problem for them, improves their strongest 11 and makes their best team more balanced.
 
Sell Kane, and do a short term deal for both Ronaldo and Messi.

we’d still need a defender or two though :)
 
A quick look at his Wikipedia makes interesting reading…

Legal issues
In January 2018, it was announced that Semedo would stand trial for an altercation in a bar in Valencia the previous November, when the player allegedly brandished a pistol and made threats while he was nursing an injury. He was arrested again for a separate incident on 20 February, this time for allegedly tying up and assaulting a man in his home alongside two others, then going to the victim's house to burgle it. For the latter incident, he was charged with attempted murder and placed in preventive detention.

On 13 July 2018, Semedo was released from prison after paying bail of €30,000. Facing a maximum 151⁄2-year sentence, he confessed two years later to kidnap, robbery, wounding and illegal firearm possession; he was fined €46,000 and banned from entering Spain for the next eight years.

Yeah, but come on now. He's hardly a Gattuso.

Kidnapping and robbing is one thing, but if he has also said that maybe gays shouldn't get married in a church then we'll know he's a wrong 'un.
 
Fair, but to your point, if we have deadwood, they have a fudging forest mate

Mata, Matic, Fred, McTominay, James, Diallo, Pogba, VDB, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani .. fudging hell (and the back line is equally as bloated)

I get the point about not having a right sided attacker and the imbalance, my point was while I agree re balance, don't know if the balance needed to be addressed via another attacking player (just like I'm not completely sold that Spurs should play Son, Kane +another wide attacker), perhaps a right sided midfielder who could manage possession and/or add some creativity (not just attacking at pace)? no idea what their strategy is ..

If it was me managing them, I would have sold Mata, Martial, Matic, Pogba, Fred, not bought Sancho, but gone for Kane, buy a top level DM, build the midfield around New DM, VDB, Fernandes and a front line of Kane +Rashford/Greenwood. Sell some of the backline dross as well (including da Gea) and buy a quality CB for alongside Maguire (maybe it is Varane), go all out for Conte or another top level manager and you have a side that would take on City/Chelsea. Instead as good as Sancho is, I don't think it's enough.
Seems that Man Utd are happy to buy before they sell. That's one of the reasons that they are always likely to be more successful than us.

Mata, Matic, Fred, McTominay, James, Diallo, Pogba, VDB, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani

That's 14 players for 6 positions in the team. Only two too many. There is also an element of succession planning there with Matic, Mata and Cavani all being at the end of their careers.... Just think how wonderful it would be to support a club who bring in long term replacements for players before those players have actually left the club eh?

I would imagine that Man Utd also don't think at just Sancho is enough.... They will probably sign more players to try to strengthen further. We shouldn't assume this will be the end of their business.

The facts of the matter are that Man Utd are about to add one of the most highly rated attacking midfield players in Europe, this will make their team stronger and allow them to start playing Greenwood through the middle so that he can be ready to take over from Cavani as first choice the following season. This is a great signing for Man Utd with them paying a pretty reasonable fee for a young, English player who is that good.
 
Seems that Man Utd are happy to buy before they sell. That's one of the reasons that they are always likely to be more successful than us.

They are the richest club in the world mate, they have the highest "genuine" revenue in world football, that is why they are more likely to be more successful than ANYONE.

The fact is, their record in the last decade (post SAF) is fudging appalling based on their income/squad quality.

The money covers over the cracks but in reality they are currently one of the worst run clubs in the PL (brick manage choice, lack of success in post SAF era, tons of deadwood, stadium falling apart with no plan to address, as much of a PR fudge up as us) , but do buy good players (Sometimes without a real plan, strategy)
 
Fair, but to your point, if we have deadwood, they have a fudging forest mate

Mata, Matic, Fred, McTominay, James, Diallo, Pogba, VDB, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani .. fudging hell (and the back line is equally as bloated)

I get the point about not having a right sided attacker and the imbalance, my point was while I agree re balance, don't know if the balance needed to be addressed via another attacking player (just like I'm not completely sold that Spurs should play Son, Kane +another wide attacker), perhaps a right sided midfielder who could manage possession and/or add some creativity (not just attacking at pace)? no idea what their strategy is ..

If it was me managing them, I would have sold Mata, Martial, Matic, Pogba, Fred, not bought Sancho, but gone for Kane, buy a top level DM, build the midfield around New DM, VDB, Fernandes and a front line of Kane +Rashford/Greenwood. Sell some of the backline dross as well (including da Gea) and buy a quality CB for alongside Maguire (maybe it is Varane), go all out for Conte or another top level manager and you have a side that would take on City/Chelsea. Instead as good as Sancho is, I don't think it's enough.

They needed a right sided attacker more than any other position so going for that first makes sense. You address your weaknesses first and you make the overall starting 11 and squad stronger.

There is also nothing stopping them from now selling some of the players you suggest. They aren't mutually exclusive transfer strategies.

As others have mentioned they have bought a player they need early and now can make any other additions they might need knowing the problem number 1 has been "solved."
 
They are the richest club in the world mate, they have the highest "genuine" revenue in world football, that is why they are more likely to be more successful than ANYONE.

The fact is, their record in the last decade (post SAF) is fudging appalling based on their income/squad quality.

The money covers over the cracks but in reality they are currently one of the worst run clubs in the PL (brick manage choice, lack of success in post SAF era, tons of deadwood, stadium falling apart with no plan to address, as much of a PR fudge up as us) , but do buy good players (Sometimes without a real plan, strategy)
I don't see how anyone other than somebody with a very distorted view of things could look at Man Utd signing Sancho and try to turn it into a negative. This signing will improve their first team. They were the second best team in the division last season and have improved one out of eleven starting places in their team.

Man Utd have no more deadwood than just about any other club in the league (including us).

Their stadium is shabby compared to ours of course. Ours is brand new and theirs isn't. Ours has cost us about £1.2billion of gross debt to build. They still have one of the best 5 stadiums in England however and also the one with the highest capacity of all clubs. I've been to Old Trafford several times in recent seasons (including a couple of corporates) and the stadium is still (more than) fit for purpose. I think they will be second only to Spurs in the UK for stadium revenue, proving that they are fine in this regard.
 
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I don't see how anyone other than somebody with a very distorted view of things could look at Man Utd signing Sancho and try to turn it into a negative. This signing will improve their first team. They were the second best team in the division last season and have improved one out of eleven starting places in their team.

Man Utd have no more deadwood than just about any other club in the league (including us).

Their stadium is shabby compared to ours of course. Ours is brand new and theirs isn't. They still have one of the best 5 stadiums in England however and also the one with the highest capacity of all clubs. I've been to Old Trafford several times in recent seasons (including a couple of corporates) and the stadium is still (more than) fit for purpose. I think they will be second only to Spurs in the UK for stadium revenue, proving that they are fine in this regard.
If United have tons of deadwood I don't know what he thinks we have. [emoji1787]
 
I don't see how anyone other than somebody with a very distorted view of things could look at Man Utd signing Sancho and try to turn it into a negative. This signing will improve their first team. They were the second best team in the division last season and have improved one out of eleven starting places in their team.

Man Utd have no more deadwood than just about any other club in the league (including us).

Their stadium is shabby compared to ours of course. Ours is brand new and theirs isn't. They still have one of the best 5 stadiums in England however and also the one with the highest capacity of all clubs. I've been to Old Trafford several times in recent seasons (including a couple of corporates) and the stadium is still (more than) fit for purpose. I think they will be second only to Spurs in the UK for stadium revenue, proving that they are fine in this regard.

Mate, clearly your view is distorted to "everyone is doing a better job than us"

- I never said Sancho was a bad purchase, I said I'm not sure it was a role I would prioritize, several people have disagreed, and fair enough.

On the topic of Manchester's stadium, it's a fudging disaster, the roof leaks to the point where there are seats that they cannot sell, they have no screens, it's desperately outdated and plans were made a decade ago to upgrade that they simply abandoned at this point. They literally are articles, media coverage on the problem, see video below as example


You have a binary view sometimes mate, Untied makes money, their stadium makes money = they do everything well, Spurs doesn't win trophies = they do everything bad ..

United's potential is what it was under SAF -> ability to dominate the domestic landscape and be a real threat in Europe, that is not where they are today and that's purely down to mismanagement.
 
If United have tons of deadwood I don't know what he thinks we have. [emoji1787]

We have lots of deadwood, not that many that cost £50-£70M+ and stupid wages however.

Selling deadwood that could get you real money and save big wages (Pogba, Fred, da Gea) vs. deadwood that can't (Winks, Sissoko, Dier), one is something that can make a huge difference, the other is just getting off the books.
 
We have lots of deadwood, not that many that cost £50-£70M+ and stupid wages however.

Selling deadwood that could get you real money and save big wages (Pogba, Fred, da Gea) vs. deadwood that can't (Winks, Sissoko, Dier), one is something that can make a huge difference, the other is just getting off the books.
Either way deadwood is hard to get rid of because relative to where you are positioned they are too expensive (wages/transfer fee) for the club's that would be interested in their services.
 
We have lots of deadwood, not that many that cost £50-£70M+ and stupid wages however.

Selling deadwood that could get you real money and save big wages (Pogba, Fred, da Gea) vs. deadwood that can't (Winks, Sissoko, Dier), one is something that can make a huge difference, the other is just getting off the books.
Man Utd's 'deadwood' of Pogba, Fred and De Gea would probably all be starting players for us. Take a good look at that statement Raziel.... You are comparing Pogba, Fred and De Gea to Winks Sissoko and Dier and claiming that it is Man Utd who have the problem?!? :D
 
Mate, clearly your view is distorted to "everyone is doing a better job than us"

- I never said Sancho was a bad purchase, I said I'm not sure it was a role I would prioritize, several people have disagreed, and fair enough.

On the topic of Manchester's stadium, it's a fudging disaster, the roof leaks to the point where there are seats that they cannot sell, they have no screens, it's desperately outdated and plans were made a decade ago to upgrade that they simply abandoned at this point. They literally are articles, media coverage on the problem, see video below as example


You have a binary view sometimes mate, Untied makes money, their stadium makes money = they do everything well, Spurs doesn't win trophies = they do everything bad ..

United's potential is what it was under SAF -> ability to dominate the domestic landscape and be a real threat in Europe, that is not where they are today and that's purely down to mismanagement.
I don't think that everyone is doing a better job than us at all. I think our trajectory was excellent starting from Jol replacing Santini right up to when the owners failing to back Pochettino that summer when it was clear that the stadium was going seriously over budget. In the last 3 years though I think we have lacked a plan from the top. I am pleased that Levy seems to have tried to address the problem by bringing in a DoF to operate the football side of things. Hopefully our trajectory can now go upwards again instead of downwards as it has for the last 3 years.

Man Utd's stadium isn't a disaster, it just isn't as good as ours. Then again no stadium's are. Old Trafford is still in the best 4 or 5 stadiums in England. Their stadium revenue is also the second highest in the UK after our own. We have spent £!.2 billion and loaded ourselves with gross debt that is between 3 and 4 times our turnover to get to a place where our stadium revenue is a bit higher than theirs.

The previous plans to further upgrade Old Trafford make absolutely no sense from a financial perspective, that is why they have been shelved. The South Stand at Old Trafford is boxed in due to the railway behind and the cost/benefit of their previous plans do not stack up. Carrying out those plans would be a mere vanity project. I expect Man Utd will simply fix the leaky roof and be happy to retain the second highest stadium revenue in the country. How many times have you been to Old Trafford in the last (say) 5 years by the way?
 
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