What do we still need? Aka The never ending story

FW - Christopher Nkunku
CM - Jude Bellingham
CDM - Aurélien Tchouaméni
RB - Achraf Hakimi
CB - Lisandro Martinez
 
jesperjaap said:
Great shouts, ironically th ebiggest name Tchouameni, not seen much of, but seen a fair bit of the other two, especially Giouri who have liekd since youth football.

I cant beleive we arent linked with at least one of the former two or both, see Giouri gettign small links wth other clubs. Funny enough I started a thread for him on here....not a single reply, which is telling. And both of them are amongst I expect are far cheaper than a lot of the options being mentioned. Caqueret reminds me a bit in terms of intelligence and movement into areas of Lampard and Giouri reminds me of a young Benzema without the aerial presence.......the French league is full of excelletn potential signings for me and bar Sulemana BEFORE he moved to Rennes Ive not seen us linedk with any of them, onyl one was Camavinga last summer and the general idea I got was people thought he was too young and in a weak league etc. Ligue 1 should be where we are lookign in my opinion, bar centr back and a second choice keeper I think there are brilliant options for evry problem postition we have at the moment

Be interested so see how Caqueret does against West Ham in the Europa league.
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It is ridiculous the amount of players that would improve us and we're never linked with them. They end up going to Leicester or Southampton first.

Caqueret actually reminds me of a young Modric. Great technique and can run out of trouble very easily. Exactly what we need in midfield.
 
Olecurls99 said:
It is ridiculous the amount of players that would improve us and we're never linked with them. They end up going to Leicester or Southampton first.

Caqueret actually reminds me of a young Modric. Great technique and can run out of trouble very easily. Exactly what we need in midfield.
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Yes on another thread someone mentioned when was the last time we signed an unpolished gem, not including these youth players recently.
 


Be prepared for a lot of players who don't deserve contracts, to be given new contracts because it's cheaper
 
L1nk said:


Be prepared for a lot of players who don't deserve contracts, to be given new contracts because it's cheaper
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This makes no sense. The new manager will decide who is key and we don't even know who that is - so who is he even talking about?
 
R'hllor said:
Contract extension for everyone, lets pump that wage bill to the moon just so they can play shit no effort football and fight for 6th place, not to mention their CL adventures.
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doesn’t that quote literally say the opposite? As in we aren’t extending anyone until we appoint the new boss?

Im all for selling underperforming players but we obviously won’t sell everyone so at some point they will need extending.

bruno needs a new deal this summer or you sell him. That has to be resolved either way.
 
It is pretty obvious that we will keep a fair few of those who most fans want to get rid. Not only is it cheaper it also helps us keep a bigger squad. In an ideal world we wouldve had like 10-11 outgoing players,.

Not only do we lack the mindset like City or Liverpool to get rid of players at the right time and sign quality players or promote academy players, we've also lacked managers ( specially Ole ) who rotate the squad to make use of all or most players.
 
I can name 10 players, 6, 4 and even 2 which will instantly improve the side and bring the much required balance to it.

So, I will mention only two... Raphinha or Antony and Rice or Touchemani.

Bring any of these two and United will instantly gain much needed balance and potency.
 
If we were a serious club it would be 5 in and 8-10 out. Never going to happen under this bean counting board.

The new manager should be sorted by now to allow our so called director of football to make moves for transfer targets instead of allowing other teams to get head starts. Maybe it is the case but I doubt it.

CF
CM
DM
RW
RB

that’s the 5 for me. 4 in would be the bare minimum.

Havent watched Caqueret but from the video above he looks talented and supposedly for a good price. Another poster mentioned similarities with Modric and I can see it.

For defensive mid, someone consistent with high passing accuracy. Tchouameni would be perfect but rumours that Real Madrid are interested now.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
With Greenwood Martial and Rashford falling to pieces any wide attackers who look like they could explode into something special in the next few years?

How about Damsgaard? Would he be expensive ? Seems to have really quick feet. End product isn't great but the club he's at doesn't help. Looks a more physically mature player than the likes of Diallo, Pelistri etc. Maybe too raw for United. Anyone else other than the usual names we hear of (Rapinha, Diaby, Antony etc) who has something special?
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Do we want playes who could explode into something special as signings though? Isnt that what we did with Amad and Pellestri?

Already plety of wingers making names for themselves that are young Antony, Sulemana, Doku and someone never seems to get mentioned Anthony Gordon I think is the one bright spark still at Everton who is already a good player, as he isnt flashy or rapid, not being mentioned but the work rate and decision making reminds me a bit of a young Beckham....no not comparign the delivery but still
 
L1nk said:


Be prepared for a lot of players who don't deserve contracts, to be given new contracts because it's cheaper
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Yes, sadly I think may well be a few...at least surely not the older players again like the last couple of seasons back.

David de Gea, Tom Heaton, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Nemanja Matic, Fred, Marcus Rashford, Cristiano Ronaldo all run out in 2023.

Bar DeGea, Shaw and Fred none fo the others should even be considered for new contracs in my opinion. I fully expect Dalot to get one which is madness in my opinion as he is no better than our youngsters. I also think it would be madness to give on to Rashford considering his performances, but its itsnt jsut about that nowadays, personally hope there is truth he wants out as in my opinion he is the most sellable asset we have
 
Ghostrider318 said:
It is pretty obvious that we will keep a fair few of those who most fans want to get rid. Not only is it cheaper it also helps us keep a bigger squad. In an ideal world we wouldve had like 10-11 outgoing players,.

Not only do we lack the mindset like City or Liverpool to get rid of players at the right time and sign quality players or promote academy players, we've also lacked managers ( specially Ole ) who rotate the squad to make use of all or most players.
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Agree wth you first sentence, but totalls disagree with the second. IF we were to get rid of 11 players......we still have a squad of 25 efore we even sign anyone, we actually absolutely should be getting rid of that number, 4/5 more even in my opinion and 5/6 in, we still have 25man squad
 
Because of possible costs selling certain players with only a year left on there contracts, a few I would keep just to run down there contracts.

For me keeping wise......

GK) DeGea, Heaton

CB) Lindelof, Jones, Varane,

LB) Shaw

RB) Laird

CM) Fred, Fernandes, Garner, Hannibal, McTominay, Shoetire

Wingers) Sancho, Amad, Pellestri, Elanga

ST) Ronaldo

Thats an 18man squad bare in certain areas and others where still may well be worth loands.

NOt saying we should sell every single one of the other players, but for me there is good reasons to and every other player should be considered individually to be moved on, some of them I still think are decent too and wouldnt sell personally. But thats how poor our 36 man squad actually is
 
jesperjaap said:
Because of possible costs selling certain players with only a year left on there contracts, a few I would keep just to run down there contracts.

For me keeping wise......

GK) DeGea, Heaton

CB) Lindelof, Jones, Varane,

LB) Shaw

RB) Laird

CM) Fred, Fernandes, Garner, Hannibal, McTominay, Shoetire

Wingers) Sancho, Amad, Pellestri, Elanga

ST) Ronaldo

Thats an 18man squad bare in certain areas and others where still may well be worth loands.

NOt saying we should sell every single one of the other players, but for me there is good reasons to and every other player should be considered individually to be moved on, some of them I still think are decent too and wouldnt sell personally. But thats how poor our 36 man squad actually is
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Many of them wouldn’t be counted as they are young enough. You have a pool of 18 players many of who are untested at this level. Let’s be realistic for a minute we won’t get rid of that amount in one window
 
golden_blunder said:
Many of them wouldn’t be counted as they are young enough. You have a pool of 18 players many of who are untested at this level. Let’s be realistic for a minute we won’t get rid of that amount in one window
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Disagree, look at the first team squad on the clubs website, there are only 5/6 on there that are young and have barely played for us, its nowhere near 18.

As for beign realistic, maybe not, but lets not rule it out. We probably have five players leaving on a free transfer due to cotnracts ending, we havethe Greenwood situation to be resolved, there are 5/6 players we see reports/rumours of wanting to leave. Thats 11 players and there are at least 5 more we should definately sell not among them in my opinion.

Im not saying it will happen, but I feel it should happen, this huge squad needs a ig cull and this summer is the best chance we have of doing it. I do think we will probably see 7-9 leave this summer for sure though
 
jesperjaap said:
Im not saying it will happen, but I feel it should happen, this huge squad needs a ig cull and this summer is the best chance we have of doing it. I do think we will probably see 7-9 leave this summer for sure though
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This./

We’ve had basically all season knowing this squad has issues & that many players are leaving. I get it’s not the done thing but honestly it feels like we’re building in excuses for impending inactivity.
 
The Irish Connection said:
If we were a serious club it would be 5 in and 8-10 out. Never going to happen under this bean counting board.

The new manager should be sorted by now to allow our so called director of football to make moves for transfer targets instead of allowing other teams to get head starts. Maybe it is the case but I doubt it.

CF
CM
DM
RW
RB

that’s the 5 for me. 4 in would be the bare minimum.

Havent watched Caqueret but from the video above he looks talented and supposedly for a good price. Another poster mentioned similarities with Modric and I can see it.

For defensive mid, someone consistent with high passing accuracy. Tchouameni would be perfect but rumours that Real Madrid are interested now.
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Tough to argue with this. As much as it kills me because we so badly need a real #8 to run the midfield, I'd put that one 5th since Fred or Van De Beek (or Garner?) might be able to have a decent season as a #8 though not actually running games.

The only other one I could see is Dalot having a breakout season and playing 45 games at RB but that's a tough one.

Cristiano can probably play 35 games up top for one last year if we do add quality at the other 4 spots, but now that Greenwood is gone and Rashford struggling I don't see who else would play up top, unless the new manager made Bruno a false 9 to get him on the pitch if he rates him but doesn't think he can do it from out wide and doesn't rate him as part of a midfield trio.

I'd probably add CB to your list since Varane being healthy all the time seems unlikely, though I guess one season of Lindelof in a high possession team might work. I sort of think our best case scenario for a CB pairing next year is if we go 3 at the back with Shaw-Varane-Lindelof playing since I think that could work nicely the way Ten Hag uses his defence apart from maybe Varane in possession.

So yeah, we need probably a minimum of 4 signings and 2 young player/struggling figures with talent (Martial and Rashford probably make striker the likeliest spot here, though a Maguire rejuvenation is at least theoretically possible, as is Van De Beek coming good under Ten Hag if he comes) to be a new player under a new manager with new tactics that suit him.
 
CB - Araujo/Kilman
DM - Tchouameni/Kamara
CM - Neves/Kelvin-Philips
RW - Raphinha/Antony
ST - Nkunku/Darwin Nunez

Hopefully our squad options look something like this next season:

Gk - De Gea, Heaton, Grant
CB - Varane, Araujo, Lindelof, Maguire, Mengi
Full backs - Shaw, Telles, AWB, Laird
Midfielders - Tchouameni, Neves, McT, Fred, Garner
Attacking Mid - Bruno, Mejbri
Forwards - Ronaldo, Nkunku, Sancho, Raphinha, Elanga, Rashford

there are obviously some players who we should still replace (Maguire, AWB, Shaw, Rashy) but that can wait for the following few transfer windows instead of this upcoming one.
 
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Freak said:
CB - Araujo/Kilman
DM - Tchouameni/Kamara
CM - Neves/Kelvin-Philips
RW - Raphinha/Antony
ST - Nkunku/Darwin Nunez

Hopefully our squad options look something like this next season:

Gk - De Gea, Heaton, Grant
CB - Varane, Araujo, Lindelof, Maguire, Mengi
Full backs - Shaw, Telles, AWB, Laird
Midfielders - Tchouameni, Neves, McT, Fred, Garner
Attacking Mid - Bruno, Mejbri
Forwards - Ronaldo, Nkunku, Sancho, Raphinha, Elanga, Rashford

there are obviously some players who we should still replace (Maguire, AWB, Shaw, Rashy) but that can wait for the following few transfer windows instead of this upcoming one.
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Grant is being let go. Think we might sign Sam Johnstone.
Raphina looks Barca bound
 
We need a clue. We don’t have a clue, and frankly, have not had a clue since the landscape and culture in English football changed. We’ve had no clear idea or sustainable winning formula ever since English football stopped being what it traditionally was. For some of those years, we still remained successful, due to Sir Alex being a great leader and all, but even under him in the latter years - us being overtaken was an inevitably unless we evolved because football has changed and Manchester United have not changed with it. We’ve had a glass ceiling as a result for many years, and now even in our good years, we are not good enough to win anything and in our less good years we struggle to make the CL.

Until we get a clue, no player or players will change anything. We can go into summer windows with all these lists and buy who we want. All of these players will be worse players at United than they would have been if they had gone to a team that has a clue. It is high time we became one. The indications are that we may finally be ready to start the process about 10-15 years at least after all of our rivals.
 
Craig Ward said:
No, I mean why would a club wanting to improve go after someone who scored between 20-30 goals a season WITHOUT fail.

Baffling logic
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While ignoring the midfield, rw, rb and cb are also issues.

No, no. Blow it all on a player who we still won't be able to provide service to.

Yes, sounds like the Manchester United thing to do.

Your logic is truly the most superior.
 
CB - Bremer or Araujo (35m)
DM - Tchouameni (55m) or Palhinha (35m) or Kamara (free)
CM - Eriksen (free)
RW - Antony or Raphinha (45m)

Laird to be promoted at RB and keep Martial as back-up ST as there doesn’t seem to be any affordable, realistic options right now. Maybe someone like Osimhen if we saved elsewhere (eg we were to get Kamara over Tchou).
 
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DM - Paulinha
CM - Haidara
RW - Antony
ST - Darwin Nunez
RB - Tariq Lamptey
CB - Araujo

Sell - Matic, Perreira, Bailly, AWB, Martial, DVB

Leaving/releasing - Pogba, Lingard, Mata, Jones, Cavani, Ronaldo(if he wants to go)
 
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Rozay said:
We need a clue. We don’t have a clue, and frankly, have not had a clue since the landscape and culture in English football changed. We’ve had no clear idea or sustainable winning formula ever since English football stopped being what it traditionally was. For some of those years, we still remained successful, due to Sir Alex being a great leader and all, but even under him in the latter years - us being overtaken was an inevitably unless we evolved because football has changed and Manchester United have not changed with it. We’ve had a glass ceiling as a result for many years, and now even in our good years, we are not good enough to win anything and in our less good years we struggle to make the CL.

Until we get a clue, no player or players will change anything. We can go into summer windows with all these lists and buy who we want. All of these players will be worse players at United than they would have been if they had gone to a team that has a clue. It is high time we became one. The indications are that we may finally be ready to start the process about 10-15 years at least after all of our rivals.
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Completely agree with the first paragraph. The football landscpae changeed and evolved, we seemed to evolve and improve the commercial side, Van Gaals commetn about us being a commercial club rather than a football club is hard to read, as it is happening, has done since the Glazers arrived.

As you rightly point out, the side Ferguson handed over to a new manager actually wasnt very good, best players were ageing and a lot of average ones around it. His final title winning side wasnt really playing very good football. We were saved by the magic season Van Persie period which was his final one amonsgst 2./3 years, but more than that as you mention, it was Fergusons great leadership and man management skills that saw us over the line that final season.

And that is what we need for me from a manager at this club now. We need a leader and a great man manager, doesnt have to be in the Fergie mould. Klopp for example is a totally different personality....but his man magement is often so overlooked. All this talk about great coaches as the next manager like Ten Hag, that isnt the answer....the problem is, I dont see the right manager available that has the leadership and man management side at the moment.

We also need a proper structure and that is more than just a manager. Until we get those two things right, we cant be a title challenging team. Beneath all that though for me.....the players, we have a huge squad and the top stars are either mentally not right, wrong attitude or simply actually not that good. We have a number of good squad players but if they are regularly starting and teh top players are underperforming, what chance do we have? We do need a clear out and we do need new signings and quality young hungry signings that fit the mould of what we need in each position.....feck philosphies, tactics, false nines, onverted wingers....all part of the modern game but thats way down the list for me of what this club needs over the next couple fo seasons
 
I don't know why people keep saying we need a center back. I just don't see it. No manager is going to bench all of Varane, Lindelof and Maguire next season and they are all going to be here next season. Think focus should be more on the midfield and attacking areas. If we are going to do anything in defence, then the full back areas should take priority, especially RB.
 
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