News: The rebuild goes on... - The summer 2020 transfer thread

I don't quite understand our fixation with Grealish. He's a good player, but he's a wrung below what we should be targeting. If he was this player but 19-21, I could see it but he's going to cost Ziyech money which is fine, but he's not half the player Ziyech is, even if he's prem proven.

 

People need to realize that Bruno was bought as a Pogba replacement.

 

I like Grealish myself. More than Maddison, especially given hes a more attainable target.

Hes got that fiery, competitive edge to him, like Bruno. You dont ever see him pouting on the field either.

A summer of Grealish, Sancho, a backup 9 and backup 6 would be decent I think. Mostly attainable, except for perhaps Sancho.

 

Should we try one of our youth midfielders as backup 6?

 

I'd be happy if we got the following,

Sancho-RW
Grealish-AM
Partey/Ndidi-DM
Ben Yedder -ST

 

My biggest worry with the summer transfer window is our negotiation and execution capability and financial logistics.

It seemed last summer there were some unrealistic expectations on valuations of outgoing and incoming players. Resulting in a low net spend giving us a thin squad and little cover in key areas.

Hard not to imagine Woody and Judge basing their current summer plans on incompetent/unrealistic expectations of income from Pogba and maybe even Sanchez, DDG, Smalling etc. sales to part-finance some equally unrealistic purchase prices for Sancho, Grealish etc.

You would hope they would be learning from past mistakes, but there has been little evidence they have been.

 

Bruno has been here for five minutes, he came from a small league. can't really compare him to most players in our squad. Still, I've seen him waiving around, demonstrably upset after not getting the ball. But I guess people like that.

 

disagree there. i think grealish is exactly what united needs: a true ball carrier from midfield, always showing for the ball. i feel strongly about him becoming a star once he starts playing with actual footballers. maddison is the one i would stay away from, bit of a passenger at times.

 

If Pogba is leaving, buying another AM makes sense unless Gomes is ready to step up.

 

If Gomes was ready to step up, he would have been knocking on the door harder this year. Just my take.

His talent is obvious. I had such high hopes back in August and really thought he'd surprised this campaign.

But, something just isn't clicking for him here in the seniors I think.

I'm sort of lost hope now for both him and Chong.

 

Where does Grealish fit in that XI?

 

Grealish doesn't do enough in terms of creation or scoring and he's the very definition of a tweener. He's not a winger, not a 10, not an 8. Useful player, but the kind of price he'd go for, we could land a better player who is younger and use the rest for a player that makes our team better.

Put this way, if Bruno is our 10, Rashford our winger and Martial our 9, is Grealish really an improvement for us on the right?

 

I'm working under the assumption Pogba is gone.

In that case, I see him as an option with McT, new backup 6, Fred, Bruno, Grealish as our main midfield grouping. Then, the kids after that.

Then up top, a grouping of Martial, Rash, hopefully Sancho, James, Ighalo/a new backup 9, Mata and Greenwood.

I think Lingard and Perreira might be gone.

 

the fact that we've been heavily linked with grealish and maddison makes me think ole wants to play a 3-man midfield - none of these guys can play in a double pivot.

 

Barcelona and Manchester United have put offers to Timo Werner, but the RB Leipzig striker is waiting on an approach from Liverpool.

(Source: The Athletic) pic.twitter.com/Tp8rN2sSVS

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) February 27, 2020

 

I still don’t think we get Sancho unless he’s dead set on returning to England. But if there’s a chance, Woody and them should be doing the work now and try to get shit done before the summer window opens so all that’s left to do when the window opens is sign the contract. If he blows up even more at the Euros then it’s over.

 

Couple of questions for everyone that I've been thinking about...

1. Is anyone worried about Martial being our starting 9 going forward? I'm a huge fan of his talent but I just dont think he is best as a lone 9. He doesnt make enough of the right runs in the box. So many times we have the ball wide his hanging out at the top of the box and not making #9 type of runs.

2. Hypothetically say Pogba leaves and we bring in Grealish and Sancho as the only major starting pieces this summer. How much does that improve us and can a midfield 3 of Bruno, Grealish, and McT/Fred work?

 

Are those questions independent of each other?

If we have a more engaged 9 I am fine with that midfield.

 

Yeah, two separate thoughts.

The Martial thing I’ve been kicking around for a while. I think he has tons of talent he’s just not built to lead the line in a lone 9 setup unless the front 3 are really fluid. And maybe that is the case if we get Sancho.

The Grealish and Sancho thing is based on obvious leaks being reported lately.