Replacement for Carrick

Replacement for Carrick

  • Tiemoué Bakayoko

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Eric Dier

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Fabinho

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Radja Nainggolan

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Blaise Matuidi

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Leon Goretzka

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kevin Strootman

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Ruben Neves

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Timothy Fosu-Mensah

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Total voters
    10

SuperRash

Moderator
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
9,170
Age
36
Clearly Carrick is coming to the end of his days and he needs replacing. He has been such a fine player that he will be hard to replace, so the simple question is who do you think would be his ideal replacement? And why? I've added a few names to the poll, as many as I can think of really, judging by who we have been linked with and who is attainable. TFM is in there as a wildcard pick.

Obviously players like Kroos and Verratti are options but I would say they are pretty unattainable. Feel free to press 'Other' if you have any other names that I've missed.
 
Gone for Niangollan as he's the only one I've seen play regularly and in the flesh very classy player but don't think we e got a chance of getting him, seems very happy at Roma. Not sure he's really in the Carrick mound very few players like him he's more like Herrera.

The guy who's name was on everyone's lips 12 months ago was William Carvalho from Sporting who also starred for Portugal at Euro 2016, looks the left Mourinho player. Seems to have dropped off a lot of people's radars rarely linked to big sides anymore, not sure why.

Out of the box suggestion would be N'Zonzi, PL experienced and has improved a lot at Sevilla.
 
As an almost like for like for Carrick I'd be looking at Hojbjerg at Southampton or even Javi Martinez from Bayern. Both have played that deep lying playmaking midfield role and both are defensively adept having been CB's too.

But having not seen much of Hojbjerg this year and Romeu seemingly ahead of him it is difficult to say if he'd be a PL player. Was a Bayern youngster before joining Southampton too.
 
I've liked what I've seen from Romeu but I know he's got a questionable injury record, think he's had a couple of bad knee injuries during his time at Chelsea.

Ndidi at Leicester attracted a lot of praise since his move and Gueye at Everton won a lot of praise early in the season. Gueye looks like an out and out ball winner but doesn't make much with the ball, plus you have to assume Mourinho will want a guy who's 6ft plus in there.

I don't think we will see a like for like replacement I think it'll be a more physical box to box guy like Khedira or Matic who he had at Madrid and Chelsea.
 
I think Jose will probably want someone like Matic but again I think he's pretty unatttainable. Like you say jsp, Nainggolan is a little different to Carrick but can play his role adeptly.

One guy who's always appealed as a player is Strootman, I don't watch as much Italian football as I used too but from reports he's doing okay and is injury free. I really think if he didn't have all his horrendous injuries he would be here already. I know Sir Alex was keen and reports of LVG also.

Did anyone actually ever rate William Carvalho? I know we were constantly linked but every time I saw him he looked average and cumbersome. I think he was linked with a £20m move to WBA a few weeks back, kind of shows his stock has fallen some what from his early days.
 
I thought I read a while ago Sanches was a bit unsettled at Bayern
 
Strootman was always a weird one to me as he had this huge reputation but I'd never seen him play hasn't he missed most of the last 4 years or so with some really bad knee injuries, there's no way Utd should be looking at him.

Carvalho was an odd one because he's another one of these Portugese guys with a buyout clause so it seemed obvious that after his breakthrough year at Sporting they wanted to sell him to the highest bidders but no one came in, he kind of dipped under the radar again but he was great at Euro 2016 and I don't know how he's done this season at Sporting. He looks like the kind of guy that Mourinho would want though if he was having a 3 man midfield but in a 2 man midfield not sure he would suit being that exposed.

Renato Sanches @Mr C has struggled to get games this season but with Xabi Alonso retiring I can't see him being allowed to leave, I think he's potentially another kid who took the jump to early he should have stayed at Benfica for 1 more year.
 
I am a soothsayer it appears, or whoever wrote this reads this forum:

Bayern Munich are open to selling Renato Sanches this summer and have already lined up his replacement, according to reports in Germany.
Kicker claims that if the German champions receive a €35 million (£29.5m) offer for the 19-year-old, which is the amount they have paid Benfica for the transfer so far, then he would be able to leave.
 
I am a soothsayer it appears, or whoever wrote this reads this forum:

Bayern Munich are open to selling Renato Sanches this summer and have already lined up his replacement, according to reports in Germany.
Kicker claims that if the German champions receive a €35 million (£29.5m) offer for the 19-year-old, which is the amount they have paid Benfica for the transfer so far, then he would be able to leave.

I used to wonder if we were being watched on our old forum as random player links that people shouted out suddenly became transfer talk in the paper... are we being watched?? :eek: haha

Renato Sanches reminds me of Anderson from his first year at Utd when it looked like we'd signed a real future star but to me I think Sanches made a bad career choice, Bayern had one of the best midfields in the world and he was always going to struggle for games especially if he had a slow start to life just like Gotze. I think he should've stayed at Benfica but agents always want to push these kids to move so they can cash in on them.

Again I don't see him as a like for like replacement for Carrick but he'd certainly give us more competition in midfield and he's probably more similar to Herrera, in your face physical player but also has a bit of class on the ball. You wonder mentally though what this year at Bayern has done to him has he relaxed and taken his eye off the ball or has he realised he wasn't as good as he thought and lost his confidence?
 
Seems that Morata is nailed on to be our striker target/signing and Perisic to be our winger target.

Centre defensive midfield/Carrick replacement is still up in the air - foreign reports suggest Fabinho but the MEN are insistent that he's not a target and that we are focusing on Dier or Matic.

I had suggested Dier long ago as a potential replacement, however I'm in two minds now because I'm not sure if he's good enough on the ball. Matic isn't really a holding player for me. Fabinho is the one I'd probably go with - he does drift forward but in terms of his passing qualities, positional awareness and tackling I think he'd be the best option.

It's very important we get it right though - Schneiderlin looked the right fit at the time but didn't work out. I think it's the most important position we strengthen this summer.
 
I still think Schniderlin could have been the right man. Settled in very quickly at Everton and their fans are full or praise for him.
 
I don't think he's good enough on the ball for United. His positional awareness was lacking at times too.

It's a very difficult position to fill really - of the top holding players over the past few years you can only think of a few - Carrick, Alonso, Busquets, Casemiro (?), Schweinsteiger, Modric (if you would regard him as a holding player). We were blessed with Carrick.
 
Just read that Simon Stone of the BBC reckons we have no interest in Fabinho either. Bit of a shame but seems it's between Matic and Dier then.
 
I still think Schniderlin could have been the right man. Settled in very quickly at Everton and their fans are full or praise for him.

I was surprised he didn't get more of a chance but I think he'd already thrown the towel in by the time Jose arrived that year under LVG had done him mentally his confidence had hit rock bottom and he needed a fresh start it was the same with Depay. He probably didn't get a fair chance but he also didn't take the chances he was given. Did he have a memorable game in a Utd shirt? I think Utd did the best thing and cut their losses on him he's probably good enough for Everton and their ambitions which are to challange for top 4 but Utd's ambition has to be to win leagues and challenge for European Cups and I just don't think Schniederlin was at that level.

Not sure if there's any truth to it but it feels to me like he wasn't really a Van Gaal signing if LVG had watched this guy a lot he'd have spotted that his passing wasn't great and given his playing style he wouldn't fit in.

At the time we were playing 4-3-3 under Jose and he didn't really fit in that system but now we've got for more of a 2 man midfield in theory he'd work quite well playing alongside either Pogba or Herrera.

It seem like the Carrick replacement might be Carrick at least for 1 more season.
 
There's two ways to replace him. Firstly you go out and sign someone who's game is all about passing and keeping the ball moving. Two qualities Carrick does so well. Obviously Toni Kroos will spring to everyone's mind. Another player I like is Weigl at Dortmund. His a Tuchel signing and now he's gone he faces a big season ahead of himself. His a fantastic passer and reads the game so well.

Secondly you don't replace Carrick like for like. You leave the passing side of the game to Pogba and you put someone with a real engine next to him. Someone willing to go box to box and run all game. His lost his way at inter but Kondogbia used to be such a handful at Monaco. Keita at RBL or Sanches at Bayern are similar type players. Players that win the tackle, press all up the field and make opponents life a nightmare. I think an energetic 4-3-3 would be the way forward for us when you consider Pogba and Ander are already capable of playing that system.
 
I think the main quality that Mourinho will want to replace is his defensive quality Carrick gives. He is very good at protecting his centre back he reads the game well and hardly ever gets caught out of position. He wins his headers in front of the defence, he wins second balls, he intercepts passes and very few players ever dribble past him in midfield. The fact he can take a ball under pressure off the defence and play inch perfect passes with both feet is just a massive bonus.

Finding guys who can do all that is near impossible the only 2 I can think of in recent years who had the whole package were De Rossi, Xabi Alonso & Busquets everyone else either had one or the other. Now Carrick maybe wasn't as good as those 3 but he wasn't far behind them.

I think the modern version of this player is much more athletic in terms of the ground they cover but they maybe aren't technically as good as Carrick I think the best one in the league is Fernandino at City he has the mix of defensive skill and technical ability.

I think right now what Utd need to add is more quality competition for Pogba/Herrera as the 2 in midfield right now our first change option for those 2 is Fellaini and when he plays in there we have to change a lot we need to find a player who can compete with Herrera for that spot alongside Pogba in the 2.
 
I would hate it if we bought Dier, I just don't see why he's rated so highly. He looks like a defender that is filling in the midfield. He's not fantastic on the ball and if we offered £50m Levy would snap our hands off. Then he could go out and get a player of the Fabinho ilk for £30m. I pray that we are not in for Matic or Dier, a part of me may die inside if we do.
 
I think the Dier thing was just a lot of people getting really excited about a young(ish) English player and the only reason he's playing centre mid for England is because the old guard have all retired. The like of Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Barry etc who dominated those spots for almost a decade are gone now and Wilshere & Henderson are always injured and very little else has really come through.

If he was that good then Victor Wanyama wouldn't have taken his spot at Spurs. Wanyama is a good not great player but he's 100% replaced Dier to the point where Dier is now a backup centre back again which is why he's suggesting he might want to move.

I can see the qualities that Mourinho sees in him but for £40m surely we'd be better off a) testing Blind in that role, b) giving Fosu-Mensah a chance in his actual position or c) looking elsewhere. For me the stand out one in the premier league who I think could do that job would be Romeu at Southampton and he'd probably be 1/2 the price but like Schniederlin before him there's that risk of will he be able to handle the added pressure of Utd. Also, we're kind of looking for a specialist guy who will come in to reinforce the midfield in big games where he wants to be more defensive which is maybe 20-25% of the games in a season most of the time he'd be on the bench.

The only logic I can see is if Utd are getting wary of the homegrown quotas with players like Rooney, Carrick, Young, Smalling & Jones all likely to leave the club over the next 12 months Utd may need to buy some players who can fill those quotas in the squad.
 
I think the Dier thing was just a lot of people getting really excited about a young(ish) English player and the only reason he's playing centre mid for England is because the old guard have all retired. The like of Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Barry etc who dominated those spots for almost a decade are gone now and Wilshere & Henderson are always injured and very little else has really come through.

If he was that good then Victor Wanyama wouldn't have taken his spot at Spurs. Wanyama is a good not great player but he's 100% replaced Dier to the point where Dier is now a backup centre back again which is why he's suggesting he might want to move.

Exactly that JSP! Dier isn't good enough to fill Carricks boots. If your not good enough to start where you want at Spurs it's not going to happen at Old Trafford. It has to be down to English quota if we made a move for him and even then it would be expensive back up. His not going to displace Pog, Ander, Lindelof or Bailly so where's he gonna fit.

Every time I watch England I don't know what he brings to the table. Besides a free kick and a right angle pass I can't see the hype in him.
 
Exactly that JSP! Dier isn't good enough to fill Carricks boots. If your not good enough to start where you want at Spurs it's not going to happen at Old Trafford. It has to be down to English quota if we made a move for him and even then it would be expensive back up. His not going to displace Pog, Ander, Lindelof or Bailly so where's he gonna fit.

Every time I watch England I don't know what he brings to the table. Besides a free kick and a right angle pass I can't see the hype in him.

Yeah I wonder the same when I watch England. He is a solid enough player but not one worth £50m and is going to suddenly transform our midfield. To be honest I rate players like Wanyama and Dembele much higher. He is a bits and pieces player who can do a job in a couple of positions but to be honest we have players like Blind, TFM etc that can do just as good of a job.
 

Login or Register

Forgot your password?
or Log in using
Don't have an account? Register now
Back
Top