With all the conditions previously mentioned, it makes the most sense. The only thing to add, those three locations aren’t any better than Manchester.
I won't don't it. And they won't mess about with the price like the Glazers did. We made the PL a sexy place to be and now we can't even get into the VIP section of a club we built. Life comes at you fast.
not expecting much this summer window. we're hampered by FFP amongst other things but there is still things we can do and be clever in the window. yea there's supposed to be new folks in place but they aren't as yet and even if they do arrive they've proven nothing so no reason to trust them. anyway i'd like to see: serious exploration of long forgotten markets - i.e. La Liga, Bundesliga, South America on SA - please look into Ecuador. they're having a golden generation period so try get a gem before someone else does and asks north of £50m+ (which we can't pay) look into the Belgian pro league - some gems have come out of there recently try loans WITHOUT obligations to buy this time avoid buys from big clubs even if they're good players unless they are on discount. everyone knows we're desperate and will fleece target buy out clauses for good players since we are rubbish at negotiation free transfers - there are a few good to very good players in that pool. rare but they are there i'll do my usual free transfer list shortly. maybe with bonus
Good point on Ecuador. We're late to the party. 5 is interesting. I get it, but we regularly get fleeced by "smaller clubs" as well, lmao. 7 is also a good point, but its usually older players who are free agents. I just saw a list, not gonna include our own free agents. Thiago Silva Tiago Alcantara Willian Ivan Perisic Eric Dier Joel Matip Seamus Coleman James Milner Mohammed El Neny Serge Aurier Idrissa Gueye Danny Welbeck Tosin Adarabioyo [sp?]. Felipe [forest CB] Nate Clyne Fabianski Ben Mee Bertrand Traore Michel Antonio Ryan Christie Will Huges Dele Ali Thats just England and theres only one player I'd look at [not sure if Id take him] and its Tosin. https://theathletic.com/5171165/2024/01/01/free-agents-transfers-contracts-expiring/
Modric, Kroos, Ramos, Koke, Giroud, Rabiot, Angel Di Maria (Forward) — Benfica Jamie Vardy (Forward) — Leicester City Piotr Zielinski (Midfielder) — Napoli Mario Hermoso (Defender) — Atletico Madrid Guido Rodriguez (Midfielder) — Real Betis Daichi Kamada (Midfielder) — Lazio Rafa Silva (Forward) — Benfica Gabriel Barbosa (Forward) — Flamengo Tiago Djalo (Defender) — Lille Alex Meret (Goalkeeper) — Napoli Leandro Barreiro (Midfielder) — Mainz Wilfred Ndidi (Midfielder) — Leicester City Pablo Fornals (Midfielder) — West Ham United Lloyd Kelly (Defender) — Bournemouth Kelechi Iheanacho (Forward) — Leicester City Che Adams (Forward) — Southampton Kenny Tete (Defender) — Fulham
damn sir. you went into overdrive. valid point about small club fleecing too. guess i was thinking big clubs are more unwilling to lose their best guys
Our FFP situation won’t get better until we get better at selling players and get better at discovering guys before they become “the guy”. It sounds silly, but we need to have more signings like Dan James. We spent a relatively small amount of money for a guy we thought had potential. He didn’t pan out to the level we thought, but he was young enough and showcased enough that we were able to move him quickly because we weren’t deeply invested and move him for a profit.
well benni covered the free transfer list more or less. as a reminder Grimaldo was one my list last year who was a free (shot down) as i thought we needed an actual good LB. i wanted to do a 1-year left list as well. every summer there is at least one dumb comment about the list - bear in mind beggars can't be choosers and realise how far United has fallen. this is not to meant to trigger title challenge this is just to stabilise. also understand there is a decent chance none of these want to join us anyway, they're just interesting names or potentially interesting names. here goes the +1 list: GKs: Unai Simón (26) - yea there is Onana but i expect Heaton to leave Lunin (25) DEFs: Dumfries (28) - been banging on this drum for a while Tah (28) - likely he will stay with Leverkusen? but you never know Walker-Peters (27) - we need good fullbacks Lamptey (23) - we need good fullbacks Geertruida (23) Davies (23) Mendy (28) - the Madrid guy Tyrick Mitchell (24) MIDs: Kimmich (29) Anguissa (28) Cherki (20) Angel Gomes (23) Fofana (25) - the Monaco guy Merino (27) FORs: David (24) En-Nesyri (26) OTHERs: Giménez (23) - cooler than the title winning season so possibly cheaper Guirassy (28) - rumoured buy out clause of €20m Toney (28) Chiesa (26) Tel (19) - talented and looking for more game time Zirkzee (22) - talented. 2 years left on contract Gyökeres (25) - gonna cost but still a big fan. maybe if we can manage one big buy like Højlund Son (31) - would have loved this 4 years earlier (ideal) Sané (28) ====== Taremi (31) - good domestic goal scoring record last few years expect this one. not great but we need bodies and will be free. probably worst case?
Obvs the fee is a big issue, however we need some sanity on the wages we will be paying people too. We will not attract the right people if they will only take xx% over what they can earn elsewhere. For example Toney (28) is currently on £36k and is reportedly asking for £250k which is £10k more than captain Bruno and more than twice what Licha is on. If we pay anything even close to that we are crazy and have learnt nothing.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/27376935/ivan-toney-wages-fernandes-man-utd-transfer/amp/ Crappy source I know, but the numbers look similar to sources like spotrac and is in an easy to read image rather than a web link. https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/
The guys I'd look at on that list. Merino is a question mark because of his age, and his he a better 6 or better 8? Mendy has injury issues. Davies is going to Madrid. Sane always seems like he's available. Love his game, but why cant he stay put and actually push on? I'd still take him if it was free or cheap.
it's all good. certainly better than everyone's favourite Ashur who tried to debate wages based on a fans sports blog slightly confused by this, so would look at Giménez but no thanks? expecting another Giménez?? it's Santi @ Feyenoord just to confirm. do you have another realistically available forward in mind? think Merino is more 8(?) i don't see Sociedad too often. not a team i am interested in watching. also 27 isn't a bad age?
8. target clubs under financial pressure as best as we can. at least try. example: if Wolves still have financial woes pressure them like hell for Cunha. they already had to give up Neves. i'll probably be "negative" for this again but regardless of what we choose to do we're already behind. we should already be reaching out to agents/clubs for potential targets if not already agreeing terms and deals. it honestly feels like we're treating the supposed new targets for the boardroom like any other player transfer - it's a saga and shit is dragging on and no progress is being made. be decisive. pay up and get the damn moves done
So, i was on the fence about Gimenez. Im not sure how much he'd cost, but I'd rather someone else without even knowing the price tag. The forwards being thrown around are Zirkzee, Sesko [allegedly has a release clause of less than 45mil GBP] and
Interesting vid, suggests EtH based on a few things in particular recent buys and players we are being linked with (plus how youth teams playing) is looking to a variation of 3-4-3 next season. Not sure if true and if (as seems likely) EtH doesnt make it to manage next season we will never know.
Interesting article from James Ducker that surprisingly for The Telegraph does not appear to be behind the usual pay wall. Aludes to some of the above. Apparently (as posted in the match day thread) EtH has been told by Jason Wilcox from this game on to have the team focus more on possession - so they can judge which players will be able to fit with the new 'game model' (potentially bad news for the turnover machines Antony, McTominay in the rare times he touches the ball, Rashford, this season Casemiro and even Bruno at times). The 'game model' will be a key criteria in judging incomming players in terms of fit. So would be interesting to know the detail of what this will be wrt formation etc. (ie need for a pivot, need for a #10, wing-backs or fullbacks, type of CB etc.). How Jason Wilcox’s ‘game model’ aims to find Man Utd’s identity and end era of zombie squads https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ed-game-model-jason-wilcox-identity-transfer/