United are reportedly considering Richarlison as a possible option. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...dered-manchester-united-part-summer-transfer/ Should be a fallback option at best, if at least 5 solutions ahead of him are out of reach. Very inconsistent, albeit still young. He wouldn't be a bad player to get but I worry about how much Everton will want, having paid 50mil for him.
The only thing that makes him somewhat attractive is his ability to score goals and he's Prem proven on some level. But as stated, I'd still easily take Sancho, Pepe, Neres, Lozano, Guedes and others ahead of him.
85/90m for Sancho or promote Greenwood. The kid is a baller with a football mind. With our recent move away from a 4-3-3, I can't justify more than that. Sancho is class, but Mason has the same, if not higher, of a ceiling.
Greenwood needs to be promoted, no matter what: would love to believe that we'll pony up for both a 9 and a RW but it would still be a surprise if it did happen. Therefore, that means there should be plenty of games and opportunities available to Greenwood, even if it's from the bench at first. I really hope we'll see him in one of or even in both games vs Huddersfield and Cardiff (in the matchday 18 at the very least). He's ready and in great form currently: no brainer as far as I'm concerned.
I'm starting to think the reason Greenwood has been left out is because Ole doesn't want to subject him to the internal shit show that's transpiring.
Our move away from 4-3-3 is based on personnel and a perceived need to overcompensate in defence/midfield. We should be signing players based on the 4-3-3 primarily. Sancho's the one player out there who is genuinely worth overspending for as far as Utd are concerned, if you could call it overspending as he's easily worth £100m over the course of any contract. Greenwood will still get plenty of minutes at both RW and 9, and there are minutes at LW to be had too.
I obviously don't disagree with you about plenty of minutes to be had, particularly at LW (my infamous prediction is that Greenwood will eventually force out Martial). But I don't know so much agree about the reasoning for our move away from a 4-4-2. I think initially it was based on a mix of needing to overcompensate/injury forced, but I also think Solksjaer saw something he liked in the partnerships up top. Rashford is too good of an all-around footballer to be a pure No. 9, and he's not quite clinical enough to be an out-and-out No. 9. That's why I suggested Pellegri to sign. Rashford + Pellegri as a partnership have all the qualities that could grow into something special - with both players having room to be stars in their category. Pellegri is a better finisher, but also has top class traditional No. 9 movement, hold up play, and finishing. Pellegri, while being no chump technically, will never have Rashford's crossover ability as a No. 10. Rashford, having all the gifts in the world, might never turn out to be a brilliant finisher capable of scoring 40 goals per season. But he's a 20/15 player all day long in a couple years. Pellegri can be a 30/10 player with Rashford alongside him. If we had someone to play the tip of a diamond, like say Mason Greenwood, who could press like Lingard and transition akin to Rashford, then we are well on the way to a formidable striking unit. Long term place Tchouameni/Rice/Garner as combo 6/8's behind those three, then we have the potential to be playing a brand of football that'd be comparable to a sectional/unit-based version of 'total football'. Overlap to a point of cohesion, but not redundancy.
It's personnel right now. We have no RW (with Greenwood not getting a look in), our midfield is too porous and our defence too fragile and technically poor. It's being done to give us an extra body at the back and in the middle more than with the forward line in mind - otherwise we would be playing with more bodies forward to support the front two. In a situation where Martial leaves, Rashford has to be the LW. Greenwood's future lies elsewhere on the pitch, either as a RWF or as a 9 / false 9. You can't use that two-footedness on the left where goalscoring LWs are ten a penny, it's a massive waste when our left hand side is creating space for our right. There's nothing wrong with a front two if we're playing a proper diamond and we're using it against the right opposition - but you need to play a high line and have creativity and interplay from one if not both of your shuttlers. Total football needs exceptional movement between the lines and game intelligence, not 3 holding mids, two of whom can play slightly more like 8s. We can't have our lead creator in the front 6 be Rashford, he's more about flair than genuine creativity.
It appears that United interest for Eriksen has been making the rounds. He's coming up on the final year of his contract and eventhough Spurs still hope he will sign a new contract, it seems he could be available for 60mil Pounds He surely would probably make for an excellent acquisition, especially if Pogba leaves. But all the same, in a choice between the 2, I'd probably be tempted to lean towards Bruno Fernandes. More of a risk, granted, but he's a prospect who gets more and more interesting the deeper you dig into him.
Has anyone watched Tielemans play much since he came to the PL? Looks like he has adapted quite well. Certainly worth a look, I would think.
Tielemans has taken to the Prem like a duck to water. He's been excellent for Leicester. He'd be a good player to get (and probably at a decent price to boot). And while there are other CMs who I probably would still prefer ahead of him at this time, he wouldn't be the worst pickup and wouldn't be mad at it in the least.
Thiago Almada, 18 yr old CM playing in Argentina. City and Barca in for him supposedly. And for the #ManCity & #Barcelona fans wondering what all the fuss surrounding Almada is, this was the kid's winner 🔥🔥🔥 [via @Velez] pic.twitter.com/cyPW4a6ZwS— GOLAZO (@golazoargentino) April 28, 2019
They want a 100 mil for Eriksen. I like him, but I don't think he should be first choice or bought for that much.
Under normal circumstances, Eriksen is a 100mil player, easy. But unless he signs a new contract, there's no way Spurs will ever that kind of money from anyone, not even us. Not when he's got one year left on his current contract. But it's Levy so it's expected he'll be playing hardball. Probably another reason to stay away from that deal: we don't have a summer to waste on back and forths with him. Alderweireld for instance is simple: there is a clause in place making him available for 25mil and that's it. No discussions or negotiations to be had with Levy, which changes things dramatically.
Evan N'Dicka is another young CB with big potential that we should be looking at on top of Badiashile. N'Dicka is left footed and so composed for his age (19).
This is the thread where we talk about all the players we won't get and cuss about the ones we got but never wanted?
United in pole position for Meunier? http://sportwitness.co.uk/mancheste...-player-club-needs-e30m-to-sanction-transfer/ We can only hope: that is one easy potential transfer hopefully that not even Woodward should mess up...
https://www.skysports.com/football/...an-city-says-lyon-president-jean-michel-aulas maybe we are at least targeting the right caliber and position(s) in terms of arrivals?
Essien 2.0 would be the perfect replacement to Herrera. Quality and complete midfielder and it's no surprise that other top clubs are interested in him as well. And the only way we'd have a legitimate shot at him (on top of convincing the player himself to join our club) would be to pay over the odds. That is the situation we find ourselves in unfortunately and that is just the reality we need to accept until we sort ourselves out.
Word that Raiola is pushing for de Ligt to come to United instead of Barca. On one hand, de Ligt is gonna be a monster for a decade. On the other hand, once Pogba leaves, we will be practically free of Raiola and that can only be good for the club.