It's true, all of it.
Paul Pogba | Undergoing Medical | Helping out the Laundry Ladies
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
It's true, all of it.
Tbf while Suarez was unlucky to miss Copa with his injury now Bale have a successful (to say the least, freaking semi-final for Wales!) international tournament to add to the CL win. Plus Euros will always get more coverage and influence over the voters.
If Wales somehow wins it I can see Bale winning Ballon D'Or.
I would give it to Messi anyway though. I don't think Suarez deserves Ballon D'Or despite his great stats
Why do you say that?
Bale would need to be unstoppable in the next 2 games and be on fire when the season starts to have a chance at Balon Dor.
To be fair I think that even becoming a tournament top scorer will be enough. He is seen as the Wales star player and the catalyst for their success, even if Ramsey had a more impressive tournament so far (at least in my opinion). So if Wales somehow wins it (a big if though), especially after a few months, his importance to this win will be exaggerated, because he is their poster boy.
Agree with the start of the season point, it would be very important for his chances.
So by that logic, Spanish are going to win the euros ...... ohhh wait
Pleased some in here are seeing this as a ridiculous signing, he isn't as good as he is being made out and certainly not for the price been qouted.
Do we have a scout team...at all? They never seem to come up with any decent options for years
Do we have a scout team...at all? They never seem to come up with any decent options for years
Not sure how you managed to deduce that.
The champions league is the most competitive and biggest tournament in club football, of course every player wants to play in it. You'd want to if you were a pro
By not understanding your post.
Hate to see all these fantastic fantasy line ups with Rooney still being shoehorned in.
Not every year. All I am saying is that one year of fewer matches after an extremely hard offseason might not sound that bad to some players. From a competition standpoint there is less pressure on us and basically gives us a year to fine tune things and along the way win some hardware.
Yeah, because DDG and Martial were completely unknown gems. SirScholes has a point. Leicester just proved how far you can still get with little money if you scout well and find the right players for the right roles. We're just chasing prestige signings.
Pogba is a great player but you can hardly call it a sensible piece of business at the quoted price.
Pogba is a great player but you can hardly call it a sensible piece of business at the quoted price.
last season every top team under performed.
Except we're not Leicester. We are one of the biggest and richest clubs in not only Football but in sport. Given the fact that we are a prestigious club and have money to spend, it certainly does make sense from a "business" point to sign top players. Why? Well for starters they are much more likely to flourish and perform than a risk, they will bring in a vast amount of money from sponsorships and shirt sales, they will give the rest of the squad a boost and will attract a bigger network of support from other countries etc.
I never understood all this pointless discussion about how much the club spends on a player. If the club is happy to pay it, then the money involved obviously isn't an issue, so why should it be for the fans? With Pogba we are not attempting to sign him for his current ability, we are signing him for his potential, marketability and future sell-on fee. It's a risk but so is every signing in world football.
Will Leceister still be held up as a an example if they fall back into the middle of the pack
The scouting system that brought Pogba in the first time is no longer here unfortunetly so we have to make do with whatever is in place now. Whether the price quoted is worth it or not shouldn't be an issue for us considering our buying power, for me the most important thing is that Pogba has spent 3 years in and around Old Trafford and Carrington so shouldn't have a problem dealing with the weight of the club or our expectations.
We're not Leicester, we always have and will go for the best players.
It makes good business sense when you consider how much revenue a big signing like him will bring in off the field. The biggest clubs need big signings like this every once in a while
Oh you!!
The only reason Leceister is the example is because it's such a rare occurrence. That's why there are so few examples.
Cmon Iceland
If you're questioning our recruitment methods then you can say the same of Real, Barcelona, City, Cheleea, PSG, Arsenal, Bayern, basically every top club.
It's a fact of football life that these top clubs will shop at the top end regardless. They are content for the likes of Leicester to do the donkey work and take the initial risks. Leicester, say, sign them for peanuts (£8-10m), integrate them into the PL, they prove themselves and then we come sniffing in the £30m region.
I think it's healthy because it's spreading the wealth around. Large amounts of the commercial revenue the likes of United generate - and what the likes of a Leicester just can't do - will then keep these clubs competitive. It's also great for the football pyramid when a Leicester, in turn, shop at somewhere like Fleetwood and unearth a Vardy.
It's a fact of football life that these top clubs will shop at the top end regardless. They are content for the likes of Leicester to do the donkey work and take the initial risks. Leicester, say, sign them for peanuts (£8-10m), integrate them into the PL, they prove themselves and then we come sniffing in the £30m region.
I think it's healthy because it's spreading the wealth around. Large amounts of the commercial revenue the likes of United generate - and what the likes of a Leicester just can't do - will then keep these clubs competitive. It's also great for the football pyramid when a Leicester, in turn, shop at somewhere like Fleetwood and unearth a Vardy.
How many times are a team like Leicester going to win the league? There's a reason, they are the exception to the rule. And as great as they played, they won the league because other teams were useless. However when you buy a big name player, then it attracts attention. It's nothing to do with prestige. Everyone knows Paul isn't the finished article and no one is bigger then the club, but he can be a tremendous player for United for many years - should we get him. We also stand a better chance - retaining ....big players if we show the ambition and WIN...
If you go down the Leicester city route and lose, why should De Gea and the like believe we want to be the best we can be? You can buy big and it fail and the players accept that. None of us could have known how Falcao would have been - but these things happen. We tried and it didn't work. We try again.
How many times are a team like Leicester going to win the league? There's a reason, they are the exception to the rule. And as great as they played, they won the league because other teams were useless. However when you buy a big name player, then it attracts attention. It's nothing to do with prestige. Everyone knows Paul isn't the finished article and no one is bigger then the club, but he can be a tremendous player for United for many years - should we get him. We also stand a better chance - retaining ....big players if we show the ambition and WIN...
If you go down the Leicester city route and lose, why should De Gea and the like believe we want to be the best we can be? You can buy big and it fail and the players accept that. None of us could have known how Falcao would have been - but these things happen. We tried and it didn't work. We try again.
I think the point he is trying to make is that they found a great player. Irrespective of them winning the league or not, people would have talked about the great signigs in Mahrez and kante. And that is something we lack.
When you know that teams take 10-15m extra from you on most players, you need to further strengthen your scouting network because 1. you know that the player you are overpaying for is guaranteed success ; 2. you get more options, i.e. players who can do the job just as well for lesser amounts of money
It's very difficult for United to be seen as the same financially though as Leicester. They benefit from being seen as a friendly club, we're seen basically as a predator.
I'd agree with that, but that is mainly because we are after players who have already been rated. Leicester and the likes go for players who haven't been rated and that's what benefits them. The whole point of scouting is finding players who haven't been rated. Giving a glowing review in scout report on players like Pogba, Neymar, etc. isn't scouting!
Martial was a great bit of scouting to be fair, when you consider the investment in him. 99% of footy fans had never heard of the lad.
It really ruins it, doesn't it?
We'd still pay more. So what you want is bargain basement? You got to be careful with that thinking. You go down that line of thought and suddenly, clubs start making attractive offers for your players. The is nothing wrong in a statement signing. We're also signed a really good player on a free transfer. I don't think there's much of an issue. We DID used to be that club you describe. We've had plenty of bargains and some players ended up fantastic. Nothings changed really. However, of late our punts haven't really worked out as well. Bebe, Obertan, Kleberson, Diouf etc etc.
I just think not every buy can be a bargain. Some will but sometimes you have be brave else you'll be bullied.
I'll be frank. I never get the hype around Pogba. He's good, produces some moments. But the thing is he has on off games. He hasn't had that 10/10 performance (at least in the games I have seen), that players of this price tag have produced.
And I'm not saying lets go for only bargains, especially with our side not being that good.
Pogba IMO is worth 60-65m (especially with KDB valued at 60m last year), and we end up paying a premium of 10-15m, so 80m is fine IMO. But I'd much rather try and tempt an established marquee by spending more. We may be unsuccessful, but it's worth a try.
It's a horrible down to earth with a bump moment, yeah.
Pogba has all the qualities to be the best midfielder. There is too much hype because of his agent and because he colored his hair ....The way I see if - should we buy him - and he lives up to his potential - then we'll not only make our money back but also the money we should have got off Juventus. It don't always work out - but he's 23 years old. I know what your saying but nearly every player divides opinion. If you look at Ibrahimovics early thread - people were all over the place and he was a similar age at the time. Again though, one of the key reasons to get Pogba is to stop the next Bale wanting to to go to them lot. These players inspire the next generation and great players want to play with great players. He isn't the finished article but we can demand more - if we get him.
Leicester are wanting to pay 30m, maybe even a bit more on Troy Deeney. We are getting Mhki for a similar price.
Have we just got a bargain?
Leicester didn't have loads of money, so had to take chances on a few cheap unheard ofs. Win the league and with the new sponsorship money coming in, all of a sudden they are looking at bigger players.
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Pogba would be a great signing for us, and as I've said before, the money could be recouped, give or take in 4 years if he wanted to leave anyway, so I don't really see an issue, unless he flops big time.
Would he improve us? Yes
Would he get us top four this season. He'd help push towards it
Would that stop the Adidas deal getting slashed by 30%? Yes (If we did get top 4 obviously) Saving us 22.75m a year
That alone would cover the cost of his transfer.
I know we could get top 4 without him, and by buying other players, but he's still a very good option, who is already very good and has bags of potential.
Who else should we go for instead?
Have we just got a bargain?
Leicester didn't have loads of money, so had to take chances on a few cheap unheard ofs. Win the league and with the new sponsorship money coming in, all of a sudden they are looking at bigger players.
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Pogba would be a great signing for us, and as I've said before, the money could be recouped, give or take in 4 years if he wanted to leave anyway, so I don't really see an issue, unless he flops big time.
Would he improve us? Yes
Would he get us top four this season. He'd help push towards it
Would that stop the Adidas deal getting slashed by 30%? Yes (If we did get top 4 obviously) Saving us 22.75m a year
That alone would cover the cost of his transfer.
I know we could get top 4 without him, and by buying other players, but he's still a very good option, who is already very good and has bags of potential.
Who else should we go for instead?
If only United had a scouting team to sign someone like Pogba before he became a household name.
The signing makes a lot of sense. His athleticism and creativity would make a significant improvement to the United midfield. But after losing him for peanuts and having to pay a small fortune to get him back I would rather stick to my original expectation that United won't try to re-sign him and hoping he ends up being crap.