News: We're Muppets, and we have a problem: Summer Transfer rumors

He'll fit right in.

 

Lol

 

Would anyone want to trade De Gea for a player on PSG's roster? Marquinhos? Paredes?

 

That's alright, who needs him anyway? Defensive help is apparently on the way ahead of next season...

OGS not sure if Phil Jones will play for @ManUtd this season: "Working really hard. I know all about knee injuries. How long is a piece of rope? Give him every chance to get back this season. If not hopefully for the start of next."

— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) March 2, 2021

 

At the end of the day, I don't see how any defense can survive Cristiano, Cavani, and Bruno. United can play a back five for all I care and trade Pogba to Juventus if that's what it takes. That front three will pop anyone's ego--sure as hell put a pin to City's streak of 21 wins--and it would be as good as any attacking trio United ever had.

No one can convince me otherwise that United wouldn't have beaten Chelsea or Crystal Palace by at least a goal with Cristiano on the pitch. Not a chance in hell those games ended in draws if Cristiano had something to say about it.

 

Man United 'missed out on Haaland after costly timezone mix-up' (msn.com)

The source of the report needs to be taken into consideration but if we missed out on Haaland back in 2018 because Woodward did not know what time it was in Norway...
This is easily far worse than what happened when we missed out on him again when he went from Salzburg to Dortmund. Even by Woodward's standards, this has to be one of his biggest cockups (provided it's true).
Could have got him for a paltry 3mil back then too or thereabouts... Smh.

 

Thank God.

Manchester United n'a pas contacté André Silva pour un transfert cet été. [@cfbayern] #MUFC pic.twitter.com/tv2LZwPjeo

— Manchester United (@MUnitedFR) March 5, 2021

United have not been in contact with Andre Silva over a summer transfer (according to Christian Falk).
He's having a decent season with Frankfurt thus far (22 goals in all comps) but I need to see more to be convinced he'd be a good enough buy for us. He's never struck me as anything remotely special...

 

Sources expect only one marquee signing to arrive at #mufc this summer, two at a push, with the rest dependent on players being sold #mulive [@lauriewhitwell]

— utdreport (@utdreport) March 5, 2021

Was always likely to be the case for this summer (especially in this Covid economy).
Assets that we have that can generate some cash: Dalot, AP, Lingard and one of the keepers (still believe that Hendo is the more likely/easier to move at this point). Would love to add Jones to that list, provided he gets fit by summer (even for a nominal fee to a mid to lower Prem club) and perhaps Mata.
Pogs, if he decides to leave, is obviously another who could bring some legit cash. From a practical point of view, I'd also be ready to cash in on Martial, particularly if we were to bring Sancho this summer.
That is really the time though where I wish we had a competent DoF or someone similar on board, since I don't trust the likes of Woodward and co to think creatively with the objective of really improving the team in a effective manner.
It's possible but it requires quite a moves to be made rather swiftly and Woodward, Judge and Arnold are not the ones to do it from what we've seen of them unfortunately (the Euros won't help either from that perspective).

 

Rumor du jour.

#mufc are the latest club to show interest in Leeds' Raphinha. In the last week, United have made a concrete enquiry to hear the details and values for a possible negotiation #mulive [uol]

— utdreport (@utdreport) March 6, 2021

United are said to be one of a few clubs interested in him. A viable alternative to Sancho is we can't get him. Been impressed by what he's shown at Leeds this season.
They'd stand to make a nice profit on him, having paid just 17mil Ps for him last October. I'd offer DJ in the deal personally, if it could help getting it done. Wouldn't be a straight swap obviously but having shown an interest in him previously, it would be worth the try.
Sidenote, Bruno and him are said to be very close from their shared time at Sporting...

 

Leeds paid 17 million for Raphina. Based on his play this year and the United tax, what would we have to pay? 40-50 mil? I'd rather have him at that price than Sancho at somewhere near $100 mil, especially given the progress of Diallo and the recent resurgence of James. You'd hope we'd be able to maximize his talent more than anyone, given his relationship with Bruno.

Take the rest of that Sancho money and spend it on a centerback and a striker.

 

40mil Ps sounds about right for Raphina. And while I definitely believe he'd be a great fallback option if Sancho was not in the cards for us, a difference of 30mil or so (in the event Dortmund were ready to accept 70-75mil Ps) would not be enough to make me forget about Sancho either.
Sancho is still a generational talent, who is younger than Raphina (meaning his ceiling is that much higher). Sancho is just on an island on his own so far as RW/RWF options as far as I;m concerned.. Understand that we have quite a few needs at the moment but 30mil wouldn't even be enough to get us just one of a CB, holding mid or striker, in all likelihood.
There are other ways to bridge that money gap, such as selling off players or trying to work in swap deals somehow. That is why we ideally should have a competent, top of the line DoF in place right now. Not sure what the club's kitty will be like for this summer, but there are pretty simple and creative ways people who know what they are doing can seriously stretch out our resources for this coming summer.
But it does involve making a few deals happen and we know that is not how Woodward and Judge work and they tend to drag negotiations out in a futile attempt to save money. Cash that ironically they end paying anyway...
On the subject of dropping interest in Sancho, would probably do so if Dortmund are not budging on their 100mil Ps asking price. But it's really not that unreasonable to believe that Sancho's price will drop this summer, especially if he pushes for a move in any way (which he really didn't do last summer).

 

If we are going to sign a RW that's not Sancho then for me, it has to be Buendia.

I'd spend all the money on a DM and I'd leave CB alone for another year. Maguire is good enough, he just needs a partner. Between Eric, Victor and Axel we have a good partner for him but it is up to Axel and Eric to stay fit. I think if we get an elite 6, a lot of the problems we have right now with our CB pairings go away.

 

Guess I’ll just go fvck myself. No thoughts on this?

 

It doesn't matter, his wages are the problem.

An exchange isn't relevant. The only way he goes to another team is if he agrees to a buyout, the only way that happens is if we can ship him for a reasonable fee say 30M and give him half or most of it in a lump sum. It would suck to not get any real value for him, but we'd get his wages off the books.

 

Guess I will go ******** my self then. I figured psg would be willing to pay a higher level of wages for him than any other team. So there might be transfer value left in it. Figured we might be able to address a need in a swap or partial swap if that were the case.

 

Edinson Cavani wants to return to South America this summer, with his first choice being Boca Juniors. He will have to lower his salary considerably #mulive [@ManuOlivari]

— utdreport (@utdreport) March 8, 2021

"That's it... he's decided" - Manchester United striker's entourage expect summer exit - Sport Witness

Don't know how credible those sources are but the story appears to have traction in Argentina. If it's true, I'd be a bit surprised tbh, especially for him to take a paycut when he still has the opportunity to earn a pretty big salary next season with United.
Saw a little while back that the situation with his IG post and the ensuing suspension, never sat well with Cav, despite him being cooperative and gracious (outwardly at least) about the whole thing. It does make one wonder though...
More to the point however, if he were to leave this summer, pretty fair to say that getting a reliable striker automatically climbs up pretty significantly in our priorities list. After all, Cav is pretty much the reason why we didn't have to really worry about the CF spot until 2022. Little doubt at this juncture that going into next season with Martial and Mase as our CF options would still be a pretty massive gamble.

 

Never gonna happen hypothetical...would you rather have Haaland or Sancho this summer if we were able to get one? And why?

 

Of the guys they would be willing to lose? Eh, maybe Marquinhos or Verratti but thats about it. Peredes is ok.

 

'Cav has no intention to go to Argentina this summer and is close to extending his contract with United'

Edinson Cavani n'a aucune intention d'aller en Argentine cet été et est sur le point de prolonger avec Manchester United. [@TyCSports] #MUFC pic.twitter.com/0YrTI7MPF9

— Manchester United (@MUnitedFR) March 8, 2021

That would actually be a relief... We really should stick to the presumed plan and go for a striker in 2022. Too many needs that need to be tended to before a 9 anyway imo.

 

That's why I qualified by saying I'd rather have Raphina at 40-50 than Sancho at 100. Yes, if the price comes down on Sancho (as it should), pounce. If not, the 60 million is too much of a delta given other needs.

And we should be selling players regardless.

 

Your post specifically mentioned $100mil, which comes up to around 70-72mil Ps. That difference, as stated, would not be anywhere near enough to pass him over.
100mil Ps, yes I agree it would be pretty reasonable to look for another solution...

As far as selling players, that really goes without saying but again the issue here remains: do you actually trust Woodward and Co to being able to make all those deals (both incoming and outgoing), particularly in a summer that will be shortened by the Euros?
Would love to believe we'll be pretty much done offloading our deadwood permanently but that seems pretty unlikely, given how the club does its business in transfer related matters.

 

Yes, we were on different numbers. I was thinking dollars on both ends (Raphina and Sancho). Perhaps Raphina won't cost 40-50 mil dollars.

And I definitely don't trust Woodward to many any of these deals. I've always supported a Director of Football (with VDS as my top choice). That said, I'd be happy if we just got rid of some of our deadweight even below their true value. Perhaps we'd be able to make some up by squeezing a little more out of West Ham for Lingard...