Do we really need a new CB, if so who?

Players like Ashley Williams and Jose Fonte aren't going to do anything to improve us. They are better than Rojo and Jones, but we shouldn't buy CBs for the sake of buying them - we need genuine improvements on the ones who'll start.

I'm not sure why this has caused such spark anyway, it's being reported by Duncan Castles, who has been posting the same story for near on three weaks, and is still adamant players like Mata and Blind will be sold.
 
Struggle to understand why anyone would like to see the likes of Fonte, Williams etc bought to a position where they won't improve the first 11 (which at CB will be Smalling and Bailly) and where our backup includes some of the most exciting defensive talent we've had for years. Would really not like to see us sign slightly above average senior players who would take up space and chances that the likes of TFM and Tuanzebe should be given.
 
I don't think they are better than Jones. Better staying fit, for sure, but Jones is very capable if he can finally sort out his injury issues.
 
We definitely need another center back. Blind looks all pretty when passing the ball around, but he is nowhere to be found when we actually need to defend. Has happened time and time again. Ideally we need a leader at the back, someone who can organize the defense. Honestly would not mind Jose Fonte for a season or two until Bailly, Tuanzebe and Mensah develop.
 
Tbf, people might have thought signing Gary Cahill was an odd move too, yet Mou won the league with him.

If Mou decides to go with a player like Williams or Fonte then that's fine, he's really very good when it comes to setting up defences.
 
ghagua said:
We definitely need another center back. Blind looks all pretty when passing the ball around, but he is nowhere to be found when we actually need to defend. Has happened time and time again. Ideally we need a leader at the back, someone who can organize the defense. Honestly would not mind Jose Fonte for a season or two until Bailly, Tuanzebe and Mensah develop.
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Agreed.

I do take on board people's points that Smalling and Bailly will probably be first choice and we certainly need to get enough games for the latter because whilst he looks raw, he seems to have excellent potential. Similarly, I agree we've got a really good group of centre halves coming through.

My issue is beyond that. Blind and Smalling did well last season but they also had two central midfielders sat on their knee at times, so defensive were van Gaal's tactics. Without that I don't think we'd have looked as solid. When that didn't work, we end up with Newcastle, West Ham, Spurs or Arsenal away where no one back there was capable of grabbing the defense and organising it. I still think that is something Smalling lacks and Bailly is going to need him to step that up this season, while he is learning a new language and style of football.

I've given up guessing whether Jones is going to fulfil his potential. Hopefully he will, though I'm not holding my breath, but personally I feel it's very unlikely Jose will not sign an experienced centre back before the end of August. Might even be someone we only get a year or two out of and can provide us with the organisational and leadership skills that we currently lack back there, in my opinion.

Rojo will be the one sacrificed squad wise I feel.
 
Pretty much repeating what has been said in this thread, someone with a bit of experience and authority,to steady things up when it is needed. Bonucci would be the first choice probably, Juventus might hold United to ransom again though.
Someone of this type would help TFM, Bailly and even Smalling develop their game. Jones needs to step up big time to convince, I hope Blind stays as, at the least, a very useful squad player. Not sure about the likes of Fonte or Williams to be honest.
 
sullydnl said:
Tbf, people might have thought signing Gary Cahill was an odd move too, yet Mou won the league with him.

If Mou decides to go with a player like Williams or Fonte then that's fine, he's really very good when it comes to setting up defences.
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He did not sign Cahill.
 
Does anyone else suspect that if we do buy another, more experienced, centre back it may be Smalling that drops out rather than Bailly - either straightaway or at some point?

I'm not convinced that Mourinho rates him quite as much as most people on here do.
 
The fact that people think Ashley Williams would improve us shows that some think pointing and shouting makes a good defender.
 
Fonte is a better defender than Jones across the board, without even considering fitness. I think a Fonte-Smalling partnership could well prove to be the best in the league, looking at how crap our rivals are at centreback.

As much as I'd like to see Bailly and Smalling start together straight away, and click, I'd totally understand if Mou wants to protect Bailly a bit and add some more experience to the mix, in which case Fonte or Miranda would be the obvious candidates.

Smalling and Miranda first choice, with Bailly and Rojo understudies. Blind acting as cover for CB, Shaw and Carrick.
 
Is Fonte good? I am not too sure. But I do know that, he led his not so glamourous country to champion in EURO 2016, participated in every match in the final, stopping the likes of Bales, Pogba, Griezmann, ect. And JM will know him even better since they are from the same country.
 
It could be a Laurent Blanc kind of signing during SAF time. A stop-gap option to bring in more experience and leadership.
 
How about Benedikt Howedes? German WC winner, 28 years old, captain for his club, main position a centre back but is also a defense all-rounder?
 
CS@SG said:
How about Benedikt Howedes? German WC winner, 28 years old, captain for his club, main position a centre back but is also a defense all-rounder?
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Do not want. I find him to be average.
 
sincher said:
I don't think they are better than Jones. Better staying fit, for sure, but Jones is very capable if he can finally sort out his injury issues.
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I agree. Jones, in spite of his terrible fitness record, is still a better defender than some of the names bandied about in here. Ashley Williams? Jesus...

That said, I like the idea of bringing in a solid, older defender to compliment Smalling, Jones and Bailly. I'd bin Rojo.
 
Everton apparently have bid 9m for Fonte. I think he is better then Williams. And is a very good stop gap if waiting for someone like Laporte.
 
Fonte for 9-10mil would be a perfectly good addition to the squad. Hes a solid defender with good leadership qualities, knows the league very well. He also had a very good Euros. I don't know why people seem to think he's shite? Hes been performing to a high standard for a while in the league now and adding him to our ranks will only improve what we have at the back. Jones and Rojo are likely not gonna be around too much longer unless some form of miracle happens for them. I'd happily have Fonte at the back.
 
Anyone know if Ezeqiel Garay is actually any good? Does he play for the Argentinian national team or has he lost his place?
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Does anyone else suspect that if we do buy another, more experienced, centre back it may be Smalling that drops out rather than Bailly - either straightaway or at some point?

I'm not convinced that Mourinho rates him quite as much as most people on here do.
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I like this.

Smalling improved hugely last season and was actually one of our better players, but have some of us been blinded by the big improvement? Is he actually 'all that' even with the improvement in his game?

He definitely still has a shocking pass in him every other game, plus the odd absolute horror show moment every now and then like the og in the FA Cup Semi Final.

Too early to say about Bailly, I'm not sure yet whether I think he looks good or whether I'm still in the wanting him to be good phase that always comes with each new signing.

We'll soon find out!
 
KanieKaned said:
Fonte for 9-10mil would be a perfectly good addition to the squad. Hes a solid defender with good leadership qualities, knows the league very well. He also had a very good Euros. I don't know why people seem to think he's shite? Hes been performing to a high standard for a while in the league now and adding him to our ranks will only improve what we have at the back. Jones and Rojo are likely not gonna be around too much longer unless some form of miracle happens for them. I'd happily have Fonte at the back.
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Because he plays at a small club, he gets written off easily, people on here don't really seem to watch much football, if you look at the Mahrez thread for example at the begining of the season there were countless posts saying "Not United quality" or similar yet the mood of the thread changed rapidly when it dawned on some of them as the hype started to grow that... actually, he was rather good.

Anyway nobody is making the point in saying Fonte or similar would be a massive, top quality improvement to our starting 11, rather he would be an absolute top quality stand in, a million times better than Rojo and a million fitter than Jones.
 
I would rather go for Van Dijk than Fonte, Garay, Howedes or Miranda.
 
BennyBlanco said:
Because he plays at a small club, he gets written off easily, people on here don't really seem to watch much football, if you look at the Mahrez thread for example at the begining of the season there were countless posts saying "Not United quality" or similar yet the mood of the thread changed rapidly when it dawned on some of them as the hype started to grow that... actually, he was rather good.

Anyway nobody is making the point in saying Fonte or similar would be a massive, top quality improvement to our starting 11, rather he would be an absolute top quality stand in, a million times better than Rojo and a million fitter than Jones.
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It's just quite surprising when you look at it that so many people don't rate him. He may not be a big name player but he's a good defender and that's all that matters in the end. He'd certainly improve our backline and the squad depth. I'd personally like to see it happen.
 
KanieKaned said:
It's just quite surprising when you look at it that so many people don't rate him. He may not be a big name player but he's a good defender and that's all that matters in the end. He'd certainly improve our backline and the squad depth. I'd personally like to see it happen.
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We could do worse for a back up cb.

I don't think he's worth the fees of £9m-£11m that are getting mentioned, he'll be 33 by the time the Jan window opens and we'll be talking about his replacement already.

He's an OK defender but you can still see the years he spent in the lower leagues in his technical ability. We should really be looking for defenders that bring more ability with the ball as well as defensively.

I don't think I'd seen his name mentioned on here as a player people would want to sign but now the press have linked us there seems to be a few coming around to the idea. It's very early to be second guessing Mourinho (if he does want him) but I've seen lots of Fonte over the years as I'm sure we all have and he never struck me as someone good enough for where we want to be, and a tabloid transfer rumour isn't going to outweigh my own opinion.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
We could do worse for a back up cb.

I don't think he's worth the fees of £9m-£11m that are getting mentioned, he'll be 33 by the time the Jan window opens and we'll be talking about his replacement already.

He's an OK defender but you can still see the years he spent in the lower leagues in his technical ability. We should really be looking for defenders that bring more ability with the ball as well as defensively.

I don't think I'd seen his name mentioned on here as a player people would want to sign but now the press have linked us there seems to be a few coming around to the idea. It's very early to be second guessing Mourinho (if he does want him) but I've seen lots of Fonte over the years as I'm sure we all have and he never struck me as someone good enough for where we want to be, and a tabloid transfer rumour isn't going to outweigh my own opinion.
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In fairness that's a great post on the whole idea of a possible transfer. However I wouldn't have classed Vidic as the most technically gifted footballer although he was far superior in the defensive side of things. I myself have always thoughts he was a good defender and not one of your A typical shiny players to choose from. The partnership he had with Lovren a couple of seasons ago was fantastic and I think pairing him with the right partner again if he was to play on a regular basis would be quite invaluable until such a time as we can get ourselves a Marquinhos etc. He'd be a perfectly adequate stop gap player to bolster the ranks and maybe pass on some knowledge in terms of leading from the back for the likes of Smalling and Bailly.
 
I don't like much Fonte, same about Howedes.

I would take Garay and Miranda. They are around Smalling's level while being more experienced. Both would be stopgaps, and having one of them in addition to Smalling, Bailly and Blind would give us enough depth for the next season. Then see what top CB becomes available in addition to hoping that one of the youngsters and Bailly develop into a top CB.
 
After listening to Mourinho's interview to the Portuguese tv station, I'm positive there's another center-back coming. One that he described, obviously, as being an ‘experienced’ one, a ‘stability player’ and, not so obviously, perhaps, already adapted to the Premier League.

It seems that the club just waiting for the fourth signing of a ‘very good midfielder’, ‘not a promise’ and ‘before the start of the championship’ to then go after the rest. The four fundamental signings—‘better to buy few but Man Utd kind of players’—the ‘primordial objective’ is apparently not a limit, just something that had to be done early.
 
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SwansonsTache said:
Anyone know if Ezeqiel Garay is actually any good? Does he play for the Argentinian national team or has he lost his place?
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No I don't think he's great. Yes, he plays for national team but so does Rojo.

I'd like to see us go for Kostas Manolas, if we were to buy another defender. Good on the ball, rapid and a tough lad too.
 
Fonte would be a good option considering experience and price. But I still prefer someone like Koulibaly, Mustafi or Manolas.
 
I heard Bailly wont be available for a few months due to international duty, so the need for a backup CB could very much be the case
 
Yeah, we do. If we want to be sure.

What we have could be enough. But it's by no means certain. We have a group of central defenders with huge question marks over their heads. Injuries * on top of - reasonable - doubts as to how good they actually are.

* I mean likelihood of.
 
dutchred said:
We have Axel Tuanzebe.. anyone who saw the game against a strong Leicester undsr 23 knows he is ready. Buying somone would limit his chances here
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My post was only "So far Ivory Coast haven't qualified for the ACON 2017" and not "So far Ivory Coast haven't qualified for the ACON 2017 but it's better to buy another CB for that case" :)
 
Oneunited26 said:
I heard Bailly wont be available for a few months due to international duty, so the need for a backup CB could very much be the case
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A few months? No. If Ivory Coast qualify for the AFCON he will be gone for a month. I mean we could do with another one to replace Jones and/or Rojo but I doubt we'll sign a CB, it's not exactly needed. Anyway if it gives Tuanzebe a chance then I'm all for it.
 
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