Top Utd transfer targets?

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Josh King doing the rounds again.

Utd apparently still interested fee is now £15-20m.

Story seems to be that Ole would like to bring him in as cover but the recruitment team aren't convinced of his quality/value to the squad.

He is represented by Ole's agent and he wasn't great for Bournemouth last season so would be a strange signing unless he came in on a very low fee and wages.
 
jsp said:
Josh King doing the rounds again.

Utd apparently still interested fee is now £15-20m.

Story seems to be that Ole would like to bring him in as cover but the recruitment team aren't convinced of his quality/value to the squad.

He is represented by Ole's agent and he wasn't great for Bournemouth last season so would be a strange signing unless he came in on a very low fee and wages.
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I would be with the board on this one not What we need to take us next level
 
SIR-ALEX-FERGIE said:
I would be with the board on this one not What we need to take us next level
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Is he a better option than James, Lingard, Mata, Periera, Ighalo when it comes to playing in the front 3?

I’d say he’s probably a better option than all of them but he’d be a pretty underwhelming signing.
 
I have to say... Looking at this with a pretty neutral view it is quite amusing.

United fans really think that the team is OK as it is? Not only has it not closed the gap on the top 2 but it's fallen behind Chelsea and yet some fans can't see that! Some fans are convinced that this team is better placed going in to this year.

The defense has concerns. At CB and at LB. The attack really doesn't have enough overall quality either. Rashford and Martial are exceptionally talented but also very streaky. Greenwood is still young and all of the attacking players need to be looked after in terms of game time.

I love the optimism I really do! I love the positivity and I'm not being negative I'm just being realistic is all. The midfield is the only area of this team and squad to feel really good about. United need to add at least 2 more players to show any kind of progress next year. They simply aren't going to get that kind of business done though.

Its a poor show really that shows a real lack of ambition by the club.
 
Part of being a football fan is being a bit of an optimist as they say it's the hope that kills you.

Think we all know where the issues are which is depth in the forward options and the defence is not rock solid but we know next season isn't a title challenge it's about doing a bit better than last season.

Chelsea have made plenty of moves but they've still got an unproven manager no guarantee that with no pre season he can mould all those new boys into a proper team now I expect they'll be better than last season but I don't see them being 20 points better.

Right now cards on the table I'd say Utd could finish as high as 3rd and as low as 7th in the league next season but that could be said for all the top sides apart from Liverpool and City who should comfortably be ahead. That said I think that City side is starting to wobble they haven't plugged all the holes from last season like we thought they would.
 
RichH2016 said:
I love the optimism I really do! I love the positivity and I'm not being negative I'm just being realistic is all. The midfield is the only area of this team and squad to feel really good about. United need to add at least 2 more players to show any kind of progress next year. They simply aren't going to get that kind of business done though.
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I don’t think you’re neutral or realistic. I think you’ve had a downer on United and the Ole regime since the start.

Chelsea fans think they’ll struggle to bed in as many players and their defence is still a major issue. City and Liverpool haven’t improved at all and have probably both actually got weaker. Between them losing Silva and Wijnaldum. That Liverpool team have been very lucky with injuries take Mane, Salah, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho out of that side for months on end of a season and they’ll struggle like we did last year. We’ve got a cracking first 11. We lack the depth behind it. We’ll need to ride our luck with injuries and play weakened teams in the cups.

From your ‘realistic’ point of view where are you thinking we’ll finish this season?
 
The GK at Cheslea is still a problem too. They have great potential, whether they can bed in quickly is another matter.

No one else has really done anything in the market. I think we could give 2nd/3rd a go this year. But as I mentioned in another thread. It's up for grabs for anyone this year, so many games, so little time. And if a team gets a player with Covid, anything could happen
 
Liverpool and City will be ahead of us still, if Chelsea gel it'll be 4th for us. My hope is they don't gel and we can get quite a few points in front of them until they do click which surely will happen by xmas?

It'll be a shootout for 4th with Spurs and Leicester then. If that happens and we get 4th at best will that be looked at as progression from 3rd last year? Liverpool and City are already streets ahead and Chelsea spending a fortune isn't something we will reel back in quickly. We need at least 3 players
 
IDFD said:
From your ‘realistic’ point of view where are you thinking we’ll finish this season?
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If you want to think that I have an agenda against Ole and the club then go ahead. I don't. I want Ole to succeed. I've said he did a good job last year and his transfer business was really really good.

Where do I think they'll finish? Realistically based on the business so far? I think a fight for fourth is the most likely outcome this year. Still over 20 points behind the leaders.
 
I don't think you've got an agenda with him. I just don't think anyone that loved the club for so long can be truly neutral. You wanted Ole gone very early in to his career as manager. And I do think when judging him and the club those two things are in the back of your mind.
 
Will be interesting to see next season if Liverpool can sustain that 100 point pace City did it two seasons in a row then had a dip last season will Liverpool suffer the same fate after their 2 seasons. That squad has gone hard for 2 seasons now so I wonder if next season we might see a much closer table where 1 team doesn't run away at the front never to be caught.

I don't think they'll suffer like City did last season but think we might see the top 2 come a bit closer to the rest of the pack this year.
 
RichH2016 said:
I have to say... Looking at this with a pretty neutral view it is quite amusing.

United fans really think that the team is OK as it is? Not only has it not closed the gap on the top 2 but it's fallen behind Chelsea and yet some fans can't see that! Some fans are convinced that this team is better placed going in to this year.

The defense has concerns. At CB and at LB. The attack really doesn't have enough overall quality either. Rashford and Martial are exceptionally talented but also very streaky. Greenwood is still young and all of the attacking players need to be looked after in terms of game time.

I love the optimism I really do! I love the positivity and I'm not being negative I'm just being realistic is all. The midfield is the only area of this team and squad to feel really good about. United need to add at least 2 more players to show any kind of progress next year. They simply aren't going to get that kind of business done though.

Its a poor show really that shows a real lack of ambition by the club.
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Van De Beek is an upgrade on our midfield options, and having Bruno for a full season is also an upgrade on the first half of last season. If Pogba stays injury-free, then that's 3 new options we didn't have.

That said, I think we were lucky to get 3rd. We still need players. Josh King is better than not signing anyone. Signing players that improve our starting XI is the right policy - but at this point we just need capable bodies. It's last call and the lights have come on, time to make our move!

I think we are really close to having a competitive squad. Fergie could probably turn this bunch into champions. I don't think Liverpool will sustain their pace and they will not repeat as champions. Liverpool very easily could finish higher than us, though, and City too.

I have not seen people saying the team is OK as it is, unless you mean "OK" in the "poor, OK, good, great" spectrum. The team isn't in poor shape, but it's not all that good either. We have some great players, they might sync up this season and become a great team, but I think we are really thin in cover, off the bench options, and squad players. If we want to close the gap from last season, we need at minimum one new starter, or two new first team players.
 
Honestly, no one knows what’s going to happen next season - we could well win the title, if we add another one or two and we keep our first 11 fit then who knows. I don’t expect it to happen but stranger things have happened.

It took Liverpool 5 years to win the title since Klopp was appointed. Things take time, we have been rotten to the core for years since Fergie retired. I am seeing those shoots of revival since Ole came in. Sure we need to strengthen but I don’t buy into the negativity. One part of being a fan is being positive and seeing the good parts of the club. It’s been hard to be positive over the last few years so hell yeah I’m going to revel in a bit of positivity now!
 
Sancho and I think there’s a chance we hijack Thiago deal as Liverpool want to wait until January, would certainly improve us
 
Our forwards and ostensible forwards (Martial, Rashford, Greenwood) were all very good last season, up at the top end of the charts. Sancho scores but is his value as a provider of chances? I think we need a goal scoring midfielder more than an assist provider because our forwards are already performing at near maximum. Martial is not going from scoring 20 goals to 30 just because Sancho is in the team (or is that the hope?) Do Sancho-watchers think he will provide the goals himself necessary to close the gap on Liverpool? We need a top right sided midfielder, so I’m in favor of signing Sancho, but I don’t see him as making the difference between third and champions.

Our first team can hold onto 3rd place. With injuries, and it's a dogfight for 3rd. If Bruno continues his form, we close the gap on City. As always, it's how long we can keep our first team fit and injury-free. The drop in quality from Bruno to Fred is massive.

In terms of anticipation - I haven't been this eager to see United play in years, I am brimming with optimism and positivity. Can't wait to see Bruno and VanDeBeek together, Greenwood is poised to prove he's world class, and if Marial has finally found his groove we are in great shape.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
I have not seen people saying the team is OK as it is, unless you mean "OK" in the "poor, OK, good, great" spectrum. The team isn't in poor shape, but it's not all that good either. We have some great players, they might sync up this season and become a great team, but I think we are really thin in cover, off the bench options, and squad players. If we want to close the gap from last season, we need at minimum one new starter, or two new first team players.
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Spot on here. I'm not trying to say this team is poor. The first team is pretty damn good actually. But it lacks depth and alternatives. It lacks players who can change a game or can really improve the first team.

There's rumours now that there has been a little break through with Sancho so perhaps that'll do the trick. VDB, Sancho and a defender would do this team very nicely.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
Our forwards and ostensible forwards (Martial, Rashford, Greenwood) were all very good last season, up at the top end of the charts. Sancho scores but is his value as a provider of chances? I think we need a goal scoring midfielder more than an assist provider because our forwards are already performing at near maximum. Martial is not going from scoring 20 goals to 30 just because Sancho is in the team (or is that the hope?) Do Sancho-watchers think he will provide the goals himself necessary to close the gap on Liverpool? We need a top right sided midfielder, so I’m in favor of signing Sancho, but I don’t see him as making the difference between third and champions.

Our first team can hold onto 3rd place. With injuries, and it's a dogfight for 3rd. If Bruno continues his form, we close the gap on City. As always, it's how long we can keep our first team fit and injury-free. The drop in quality from Bruno to Fred is massive.

In terms of anticipation - I haven't been this eager to see United play in years, I am brimming with optimism and positivity. Can't wait to see Bruno and VanDeBeek together, Greenwood is poised to prove he's world class, and if Marial has finally found his groove we are in great shape.
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Fernandes will get 20 next season and Pogba will get in double figures next season. Martial should get a lot closer to 30. Look at our goal stats from the half way point of last season. Things really are on the up. Remember we’d scored something like 16 goals after 14 games last season and a thread was started about do you miss goals.

We HAVE massively improved since the start of last season. The stats between the half way point and the end of the season show that.

I made a drunk bet last night. Fiver a goal. Each way Martial is of 20. So say he gets 15 I’m £25 down. Gets 25 im £25 up.
 
I think top scorer last term was Vardy with 23 goals. Martial had 20. Rashford had 17. That's already really good, more than a goal every other game (when factoring absences). Bruno should be right up there near 20, especially if he's on penalty duty. Greenwood functioned as a right sided player and netted 10, in basically half a season. I'd think all of Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, and Bruno will be at or very near 20 league goals. It's the next set, Pogba, Matic, McTominay, Fred, that haven't added goals to their game. Maybe VanDeBeek will be that late-arriving Scholesian player we need. I think Greenwood could probably get near 20 staying on the right. If Sancho comes in and gives us the same output (near 20), we haven't really improved in that area. If Sancho comes in, Greenwood would see his minutes reduced, coming on for any of our other front 3 (Martial, Rashford, Sancho). We would have to hope that Sancho's arrival would equal Greenwood's output PLUS providing more for the other 3. I think Sancho coming in and scoring 20 would be quite a feat, but maybe it'll happen.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
If Sancho comes in and gives us the same output (near 20), we haven't really improved in that area. If Sancho comes in, Greenwood would see his minutes reduced, coming on for any of our other front 3 (Martial, Rashford, Sancho). We would have to hope that Sancho's arrival would equal Greenwood's output PLUS providing more for the other 3. I think Sancho coming in and scor
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Sancho would bring more than Greenwood. For a start he's a natural RW and he's also a better player right now.
 
RichH2016 said:
Sancho would bring more than Greenwood. For a start he's a natural RW and he's also a better player right now.
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Is he better, though? He's a better right winger than Greenwood, but if Greenwood's scoring from there, who cares? Greenwood's return is pretty remarkable for the limited minutes he had. Greenwood is proven in this league whereas Sancho is still a question mark. Cf: Memphis, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan.
 
SuperRash said:
Honestly, no one knows what’s going to happen next season - we could well win the title, if we add another one or two and we keep our first 11 fit then who knows. I don’t expect it to happen but stranger things have happened.

It took Liverpool 5 years to win the title since Klopp was appointed. Things take time, we have been rotten to the core for years since Fergie retired. I am seeing those shoots of revival since Ole came in. Sure we need to strengthen but I don’t buy into the negativity. One part of being a fan is being positive and seeing the good parts of the club. It’s been hard to be positive over the last few years so hell yeah I’m going to revel in a bit of positivity now!
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Yep, thats it. Ole is clearly is leading us out of the mess created by others before him and deserves full support from the fan base. This is not the time to be a doom and gloom monger.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
Is he better, though? He's a better right winger than Greenwood, but if Greenwood's scoring from there, who cares? Greenwood's return is pretty remarkable for the limited minutes he had. Greenwood is proven in this league whereas Sancho is still a question mark. Cf: Memphis, Kagawa, Mkhitaryan.
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Yes he's better. And he'd free Greenwood up to play more through the middle.
 
RichH2016 said:
Yes he's better. And he'd free Greenwood up to play more through the middle.
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Sancho might be a better player but is he a better goal-scorer?

The question is: would moving Greenwood off the right (where he scored 10 goals last time in a reduced role) and moving him into the center (where Martial plays) in order to accommodate Sancho on the right result in an overall gain in number of goals scored?

Martial and Greenwood would be sharing the pie marked "Center Forward". Instead of both of them starting and playing the bulk of the match, one would start and the other would sub.

Sancho taking the RW slot would mean nearly zero minutes on the RW for Greenwood. If Sancho is not providing goals scored as his main attribute but is instead providing assists, the number of assists he provides would have to be greater than the goals scored by Greenwood and Martial under previous conditions.
 
I have no doubt that bringing in Sancho improves the number of goals we score as a team. His assist levels and his ability to drag defenders away makes it an almost given.

I also think Greenwood still gets many minutes. Sancho plays left and right. Rashford Left and Centre. Martial Left and Centre. Greenwood any of the 3. Minutes are a plenty for all 4.
 
I think maybe a few people don’t realise that Sancho is fairly deadly in front of goal. He’s a very good finisher not just an assist provider.

He’s ahead of Rashford in terms of ability in front of goal. I think Rashford snatches at chances quite often and is one of those players that is almost better when he doesn’t have time to think when inside the box. Which is strange considering how good a penalty taker he is.
 
Greenwood for me last season in the premier league looked like a player who burnt out in the last 30 minutes he's still a kid he's got to build up his body and physical levels to match the standards of opponents which will take him another season or two to achieve if he stays injury free.

If we can get Sancho that's 4 really good attacking options for the front 3 positions which is what I think we will need to really push on and it gives us options to rotate obviously if one player hits a hot streak and is in form he'll stay in the team but if someone has a dip or a knock we don't always have to risk them. This killed us last season I'm convinced Rashford got injured after the restart but as always he played on through the pain but you can see when he's playing with pain because he doesn't risk taking hits from defenders.

We're back down to 3 subs so keeping players fit will be harder for the teams in European competitions like us as you can't get ahead and sub half the team like we did at times.
 
I must admit I would be pretty excited if we got Sancho not often we get such an in demand player maybe not at the moment for financial reasons but usually with players like this , De Ligt , Bellingham , Mbappe.....players like this the next up and coming star we usually don’t get and Sancho definitely falls into that bracket .
 
RichH2016 said:
So are you suggesting they don't need to add a RW? Or in fact an attacking player at all?
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I do think we need a RW, but if we have someone already operating there and scoring ~ 19 goals**, whoever we sign needs to provide more or it's not worth it.

However we've been using Greenwood, he scored 10 in the league. He looks lethal in front of goal. I just question if Sancho's arrival is worth stunting Greenwood's progress. It was said "plenty of minutes for all 4" but whoever Greenwood switches with will see reduced minutes and/or reduced goals.

We are talking about spending an amount that could get us 2 or maybe 3 additional players for a thin squad. I don't care what the amount spent is, only that in one scenario we get 1 player and the other 3.

People who are big Sancho fans say he's a generational talent, but I haven't seen it yet. If he comes in to our side and scores 10 and provides 9 assists, I'd say that's a pretty good return - but Greenwood is already providing 19 goals**.

The players who provided 20 or more goals + assists are Mahrez, Kane, Son, Sterling, Martial, Jimenez, Rashford, Ings, Mane, Aubameyang, Vardy, Salah, and DeBruyne. Is Sancho better than them? I honestly don't know.

**Greenwood got 10 goals in 1,426 minutes. Or, a goal every 143 minutes. A full season consists of 38 matches x 90 minutes = 3,420 minutes. Greenwood starts every game and plays 70 minutes. 38 x 70 = 2,660 minutes. 2,660 / 142 = 19 goals.
 
I was surprised to see Mahrez on that list. But from what I can work out no one has 3 players. And three teams had 2 players and we were one of them.
 
Cosmic Slop said:
People who are big Sancho fans say he's a generational talent, but I haven't seen it yet. If he comes in to our side and scores 10 and provides 9 assists, I'd say that's a pretty good return - but Greenwood is already providing 19 goals**.
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He scored 17 and assisted 17 for Bayern last year. He's one of the top RW in the world that's why United should sign him.
 
Personally I think it's a no brainer. If we can sign him we should. There are plenty of minutes to go around for the front 3. There is no guarantee that Greenwood, at his age, will be able to contribute the same this season especially for a full season. You don't want to burn him out. And if any of the front 3 got along term injuries then we are looking at bringing the likes of dan james in.
 
boothstownred said:
Personally I think it's a no brainer. If we can sign him we should. There are plenty of minutes to go around for the front 3. There is no guarantee that Greenwood, at his age, will be able to contribute the same this season especially for a full season. You don't want to burn him out. And if any of the front 3 got along term injuries then we are looking at bringing the likes of dan james in.
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Absolutely. If United want to compete at the top level again then they need to sign the best players. Sancho is one of the best players in the world.
 
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