United have triggered the option on Matic's contract (and are in discussion over a new one). https://www.skysports.com/football/...er-united-trigger-one-year-option-in-contract
woodward at it again... as long as this doesn't end up blocking a new midfield purchase and/or he's sold this summer then whatever... the idiot has free reign so something was bound to happen
https://www.skysports.com/football/...around-by-earning-ole-gunnar-solskjaers-trust We can only hope that his recent resurgeance, which started shortly before the stop of the season, will last at least for another year (especially if there are no plans to bring in a new DCM this summer). Keeping him as fresh as possible, by having him splitting the 6 duties with Fred and particularly McTominay whenever possible, hopefully will be enough to delay the need for a DCM for another year.
Matic is the only true DCM we have currently on the squad. The problem with him, especially over the past year or so, is that his form was simply nowhere near good enough. 2 factors that have contributed to his resurgence though imo: first, having Bruno as a teammate has helped him (the same way it has others on the team also). Plus, he looks fresher than he has in quite some time. Not as slow or heavy legged as he was. No summer tournament, being benched and clearly working on his fitness have been very beneficial to him and we're seeing the results. Question now is how long can he keep this up (he will be 32 soon after all) and that's why despite his form, I would still like it if we could bring in a DCM this coming window. If we don't, then fingers crossed he can hold for another season. Will say this about McTominay though: even if naturally, he is a b2b CM, I believe that because he's highly adaptable, it would not be a surprise if he were to become a quality 6, given time to learn about how to play the position.
McT is very coachable and as such can be a solid option at 6 in a year or two. I still want us to buy a Stud 6 to be our first choice 6. I of course want my fellow Ghanian, Thomas Partey. The way, Matic has rolled back the years makes me wonder if we had the time to clear out our defender dead weight of Jones, Rojo, and even Smalling, could Matic be an option there?
Nemanja Matic has signed a new contract until 2023 with Manchester United. [di marzio] #MUFC— MUFC Scoop (@MUFCScoop) July 5, 2020 https://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/manchester-united-matic-signs-contract-extension-through-2023
If this prove to be legit, 3 more years is a long way down the road. Looks like we're repeating the Mata mistake all over again. He's played well for the last 5-6mos or so but at 32 soon, lord only knows how much longer he will be effective. At most, he should be on a rolling one year contract where the club has the option whether they want to re-up him for the following season. I do not believe it to be the case, but I just hope that signing Matic long term means we won't be in the market for a DCM by next summer at the latest. Should be getting one this summer ideally, but I'm willing to live with what we've got for one more season. Garner and Levitt are coming thru but there is no telling as to when they'll be ready. As far now and the short term future, there are still questions as to whether Fred or McTominay can really become everyday DCMs for us when Matic. If the answer is no by next summer, we better go after one next summer...
I can only assume there's a pay/play provision. We can't keep making that mistake. Need to get a damn DoF and stop with these actions. We are trying not to lose money on players we've paid salaries to, but we are throwing good money after bad. Way cheaper to cut our losses and spend money on prospects who we can get a return on if we need to sell them later on. Sigh.
3 years isn't a stop gap contract though... this is bad. at least we know where Gomes wages went lol. talk about a turnaround
I'm fine with this now, tbh. I would have preferred if it was 2 year but if we're planning to be a more dominant side then a lot of Matic's weaknesses are mitigated. In many ways this is a clear sign of what our plan is - given the financial situation it is cheaper and wiser to keep Matic and leave a clear throughway to bring academy players through if they look ready, than to sign a new DM (this summer). If Matic hadn't just had the 3 months before lockdown and the games since the restart then there's no chance he'd be staying, even with the current financial situation. But if we're looking to spend huge money on Sancho plus another creative player, maybe a CB as well, AND we're not getting any money for Pogba... And this has ******** all to do with Angel
Matic on why he committed his long term future to United. https://www.manutd.com/en/news/deta...c-reacts-to-signing-new-contract-with-man-utd Curious as to how much he'll be earning: no mention of it anywhere from what I've seen.
some itks are saying it is a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd year. Which isn't bad. He's 31 and playing DM and we don't expect him to a) play 50 90s a season or b) cover every blade of grass on the pitch. Maybe Ole and the coaching staff see something in Scott and think that in 2 years or so he will be ready to take over or they (probably more accurately) assess that we need to cover mulitple positions and if we tread water at midfield we are buying time for Garner and Mejbri. If indeed we need to buy at CB and at RW then not spending at CM is probably ok. Truth be told, Pogba/Matic/Fred/Scott is the best depth we've had for the double pivot in ages.
Is important with the age and experience of our squad to still have a few wise heads around as players too. For example Matic has won 2 EPL titles, outside of which we only have DDG & Jones who have won a major league I think. Our class of 92 players are forever saying how much they learned from the experienced pros.
Pogba: "Nemanja [Matić] is the mentor of the team. He gives us our balance, he pushes me to get forward and he directs me sometimes - he'll say 'go for it', or 'stay there'. He's been great." #mulive [mu]— utdreport (@utdreport) July 13, 2020 Pogba: "He's [Matić] always giving me advice and as a midfielder he has experience and he's won things but he always wants more. He trains hard and is always professional and that's what we need in the team, we need someone like that." #mulive [mu]— utdreport (@utdreport) July 13, 2020
United have to compete next term - Matic https://www.skysports.com/football/...rivals-to-dominate-premier-league-next-season