Simple truth is that as he continued to maintain, he wanted / wants to stay at Barca. Our club and some fans were suckered into believing otherwise by Barca and his agent (who would have had a nice pay day if he moved). However the player (and his girlfriend) were pretty consistent to be fair.
Thats the whole point I made a while back in the window. Everyone was saying surely the club wouldn’t continue to pursue a guy that clearly doesn’t want to leave. Everyone said he was just posturing. But now I don’t understand why we aren’t calling a spade a spade. We got played, whether it be by Barca or FDJs camp. That’s just what it is.
I think his agent might have wanted the move too. I think there has to have been some encouragement from the player’s ‘camp’ even if it wasn’t from the player himself, which led us to think FDJ might be interested. I don’t think we were played because only Frenkie got what he wanted, and he didn’t need our involvement to make that happen. We were definitely fed some BS or false hope though, but the extent of BS around Barcelona this summer has been unprecedented. It’ll be a relief when they go under because they have no more furniture left to sell.
I'm not sure anyone really got played, it was just a stale mate. The truth is that I think both Barca and Man United really wanted the transfer to happen. Barca made it very clear they wanted him to leave, Manchester United made it very clear they wanted him, but Frenkie made it very clear he wanted to stay. Barca spent the summer making the situation as negative towards Frenkie as possible (saying they would play him as a CB, dropping him to the bench, trashing him in the media, etc.) in the hopes it would break his resolve. It didn't, and he decided to stick it out so no transfer happened. That's pretty much it. I don't think it was any disrespect towards Manchester United, we'll see if Frenkie ends up regretting it this season.
I think it was a mixed window. Mostly successful on incomings with some caveats on price / timing (ie our usual poor execution). Mostly a failure on outgoings. We have addressed a lot of areas which is good, though not always for the long term. We still have issues at RB, #9, GK which will needed addressing in future windows and could hamper us this season. Biggest positive as a fan is we should be better to watch - as with the signings we should be able to now better defend, hold midfield, progress the ball and offer more threat down the flanks. Any window that should finally break the McFred nightmare has to be seen as positive
I said similar many weeks ago. It seemed to me that if anybody wanted this move the most, it was Barcelona. Remember that there was a deal between the clubs that was struck. Player just didn’t want to leave. It’s just a shame that United stuck around waiting as long as they did but it is what it is.
Agreed with most of that. We will all forget the stupid amount of money spent if the team is successful. It will only become an issue or talking point in the media if if we finish top 4 and win a trophy of some sort. Otherwise it will be harped on forever. Not much is said now about Jack Grealish amounts because Man City are had a good Prem season last year. Oh yea, fcuk the Glazers.
I agree that’s probably how it went, but if that’s the case, I would still say we look foolish. Assuming the above hypothetical to be true, that means Barca were telling us that they wanted to sell and don’t worry we’re going to force him out and you guys are the only suitors. Meanwhile, FDJs camp was saying the same thing the entire time, we don’t want to leave Barca, we have a contract, we’re not leaving. So at best, we took Barca’s word that they would force him out and assumed we would be the most attractive option and put all our transfer business on hold believing this to be true. That doesn’t exactly paint us in a good light. I just don’t see why we would keep after FDJ unless we were getting some signals from his camp. When Timber informed us he didn’t want to come, we pivoted right away. I have to assume if FDJ told us the same we would’ve moved on.
Amen. None of their money - all the clubs. A few weeks ago and two defeats and their subsequent response of Arnautovich and Rabiot actually had main-stream media united in calling them out for a change. Window very nearly went in a completely different direction …
🚨 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄: Manchester United have signed Martin Dúbravka from Newcastle on a season-long loan for a £2m fee. The Red Devils will have an option to buy in 2023 for £6m. 📝 pic.twitter.com/nv5kX0FdaZ— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 1, 2022
poor for me. we were content to sit around doing nought until outside factors affected the urgency of any business. that, and the scattergun approach, missing many first targets and the continued retention of deadwood. honestly... some of these contracts need to be terminated and we eat whatever loss just to move on we may appear to have made the right signings but the process is still all wrong so fxck that. it's like idiots that got it right by accident. it will take multiple windows of streamlined approach and success to convince me otherwise
Also, see Depay as exhibit 2. Juve and Barcelona agreed, but the deal collapsed as they simply couldn't bridge the personal terms gap.
Mixed window. Never thought we would bring in 6 players in one window, so I guess its good we didnt end up with a typical Glazer window of like 3 players. And we look to have gotten some real talent in Malacia, Martinez, Antony, and Casemiro. So thats a positive. But we're still a mess and there's clearly no strategy. We have no scouting department at all. All the targets were known quantities or guys that ETH was familiar with. This needs a huge overhaul if we want to avoid these windows where we constantly overspend. We need to start discovering guys before they become the next big thing. Then theres the money. We got our targets but we overspent for Antony and Casemiro because of poor planning. And we know Glazers modus op which is support the manager the first window and pull funds the next. So expect this big summer to be taken out of next summers funds. Overall I'd say it was a 6/10 window. Wouldve been 7 if me moved on Ronnie and 8 if we replaced him.
The #9 position for sure could bite us / limit us. We lost Cav & Mason and havent replaced, so will be depending on inconsistent / injury prone Martial / Rashford and in Ronaldo have the most expensive bench-warmer in history who also doesnt suit EtH style.
All these are free agents and be signed ANYTIME ! [emoji599] Current free agents: [emoji1054] Marcelo [emoji633] Juan Mata [emoji1045] Jason Denayer [emoji2527] Ross Barkley [emoji632] Ben Arfa [emoji632] Dan-Axel Zagadou [emoji633] Nolito [emoji1054] Diego Costa [emoji629] Loris Karius [emoji2527] Daniel Sturridge [emoji634] Simone Zaza [emoji632] Eliaquim Mangala [emoji2527] Danny Drinkwater [emoji1026] Sofiane Feghouli [emoji2527] Aaron Lennon
We’re light at 9 and losing Ronaldo in a year so that forces our hand for next summer, maybe even January. And we need a first choice GK (Diogo Costa is €60m) and a Frenkie type CM. Anything else is secondary to those three profiles. I had RB high up but if Dalot keeps his form & availability up, and gets on well with Antony (the Portuguese factor will be massive there), then it’s just a question of how Laird does at QPR vs who is available next summer. Maybe we go back for Timber, but I would expect that to be as a CB - so maybe a Maguire/Lindelof sale would have to part-fund that. Work Zidane into the squad rotation by next summer and we can look to sell a McFred. Then, I would start looking at alternatives to Bruno.
Wouldn't be surprised to see a January move again for FDJ, especially if he finds his time on the pitch to be limited.
Antony and Frenkie situations are not the same. Antony had 3 years left on his deal that Ajax would be delighted to complete. He's 22 and very much was key to their attack going forward. Barca were motivated to sell, in fact they NEEDED to sell and he's not vital. Overpaying and then paying his owed wages would send a terrible message. The reason City doesn't get gashed the way we do is that when teams quote them a price too high, they just say ******** it and move on.