News: Woody’s Roundup - The Summer 2019 Transfer Thread

He fired him about a year ago. Rojo and Pogba are the only ones in the squad left with Raiola.

 

Pogba is the only Raiola client United has under contract. As far as the talk about Raiola pushing de Ligt to come to United, I don't doubt it for one moment, as they've shown willing to pay crazy agent fees.
But at the end of the day, Raiola works for de Ligt and not the other way around. We may have an (outside) shot at him, with the right offer, but he ultimately will go where he wants to go and not where Raiola wants him to.

 

Raiola works for De Ligt? Lol.

Raiola works for himself. He doesn't care about these players. He treats them as commodities. He doesnt give a shit about their careers, he just wants to move them as often as possible to get agent fees. Theres a reason why most of his clients are young, naive guys that dont realize what hes doing. As players get older they wise up and drop him.

Oh and Romero is a Riaola client as well if I'm not mistaken.

 

Yeah, Romero, not Rojo. That's my bad.

 

Correct about Romero being a Raiola client as well. My meaning in terms of Raiola working for de Ligt is that, when it's all said and done, the player, not Raiola is the one who decides where he goes, what team he plays for. And not the other way around.
As stated, I don't doubt for one moment that being as greedy and slimy as he is, Raiola's main interest in regards to his clients is the amount of money he can make from them (hence why he probably favors them moving from club to club).
But just as it's been discussed before and how some alluded that Pogba is a puppet of Raiola's of sorts, there is no way that de Ligt is a puppet to Raiola either. Maybe being much younger, it's possible that Raiola may have a bigger influence on him, but I still don't believe that de Ligt will go to a club he does not really want to because it's Raiola's choice.
The decision and final say so is most definitely in de Ligts's hands.

 

So "Pogba is the only Raiola client United has under contract." was a mistake?

 

Wan-Bissaka on the rumors about his future.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...issaka-crystal-palace-liverpool-a8896366.html

 

We need Meunier for now .. Let the kid play and improve, maybe in couple of seasons if he is still available and Dalot hasnt progressed.

 

Would prefer AWB he’s already at s very high level, why go and get Meunier and then dip into the market again in a few years when AWB will sort us out for a decade or more.

 

We do not know what we have yet in Dalot, who is still very young and provided he can improve on the defensive side of his game, he still can be our RB for years to come down the line. Way too early to write him off at this junction.
Meunier is the perfect transitional option until the day comes hopefully that Dalot will prove himself ready. He's 27 and thus very much in his prime: we can count on 3 very good years at his best, at minimum.
Perfect player for Dalot to sponge and learn from as much as he can. Meunier coming into the last year of his contract with PSG, could be a steal as well, as he'd cost around 20-25mil Pounds at the most. It's a no brainer as far I'm concerned.

 

Billed as a rant by Scholes on Pogs, Scholes has had his overly negative moments recently about the club, but in this case it doesn't come across as a rant to me. For example, points out that Pogs kept it simpler at Juve but then was surrounded by quality. Whereas that is clearly not the case with us, so he tends to overdo it.

Scholes and Hoddle do raise some interesting general points however, in particular that we need to figure out a system before we go trying to buy players. For example we have tried the front-three thing and it has issues. We have also tried the striker pair in a 4-d-2 but that then lacks width. Glen argues a back 3 facilitates a pair of strikers as you have free wing-backs and get to keep a midfield 3.

Not sure where people stand on us sticking with 4-3-3? For example, if we are going to keep trying that we have to prioritise a leftie RWF with pace.

 

Alternate between split forwards and a 433.

Midfield requires same numbers and style. Just need a versatile forward with high work rate

 

We need to be able to swap between all of 4-3-3, 4-D-2 and a back 3 variant of one or the other. But we should prioritise in that order.

 

Ole and United looking at Lyon's Dembele?

http://sportwitness.co.uk/solskjaer...ed-sign-lyon-star-working-via-intermediaries/

Timo Werner would still be my preferred choice for a new 9 but I've liked Dembele since his Celtic days. Obviously he needed to move on from the SPL to confirm he's legit and he's done with Lyon.
He definitely would be a good fit to the football Ole is trying to implement as well, whether we play 2 upfront or in a front 3, with him as the focal point at CF..

 

Interesting how some reports are suggesting that Real may turn to Donny van de Beek if Pogba is off the table for them.
I had been thinking that van de Beek should definitely be in the list of potential Pogba replacements for us if he ends up in Madrid.

 

What happened to all the talk about SMS? Now no one is mentioning him.

 

He's just not having a good season at all, following what was a disappointing WC. He's only got 5 goals and 4 assists this season in all comps when he clocked 14/6 last season. He could be worth taking a shot on, but certainly never worth paying anywhere close to 100mil.
Van de Beek is currently at 16 and 11, following last season where he recorded 13/6, showing he's no fluke. And he's still just 22 also. With rumors that City may be in for Fernandes, van de Beek should be a prime target as a Pogs replacement.

 

Considering Ole's style, not a good fit.

 

One season wonder. So far he's just a flavor of the month type of guy.

 

Nah he's a good player for sure. Just not a 100mil player.

 

Agreed. What I mean is that papers were saying every big team was in for him off of one good season and theres a reason nobody jumped. He's decent but so far he hasn't repeated the levels he showed in his best season.

 

Has Lazio's system changed at all this season? Any new players? Perhaps he has different responsibilities.

Keep in mind Ciro Immobile had 41 goals last season. 41 goals. I imagine SMS contributed a few of those assists. Immobile has 18 goals this season.

 

Not to switch topics, but Immobile is a weird guy to rate. He looks excellent when playing in the Serie A but everywhere else he's gone he's been garbage. Something about his style just meshes well with that league.