10 Aug 2018 06:49:39
Interesting article on one f the red tops this morning, could be complete nonsense but worth sharing.

‘It is understood the United board have warned he must stop demanding over-priced older players to fill perceived gaps, and instead work with the outstanding young talent already on the club's books.
Chief executive Ed Woodward himself refused to even consider selling Paul Pogba or Anthony Martial this summer, despite Mourinho's high-profile disputes with the pair. United did try to get centre-back Alderweireld, and were involved in a dialogue with Tottenham right up until Thursday afternoon on deadline day. But they baulked at an unmoving asking price well in excess of £50m for a 29-year-old who would have no future resale value.
Woodward also believed Perisic, also 29, was an unsuitable short term fix at Inter's £60m valuation’.

Someone posted recently about our approach of not buying older players and it seems that might be where the problem lies. Personally, I completely agree. The occasional older player at a very good price perhaps but selling Martial and buying Perisic would have been ridiculous. We have had our plants pulled down so many times I’m glad we didn’t pay the ridiculous fees being demanded for ‘old’ players. I suspect this would have been the issue with Bale, his age and injuries would not have justified the fee being demanded.

If those conversations have taken place, it will be interesting to see if Jose knuckles down or throws his team out of the pram.

1.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 07:35:03
Whilst I agree that we shouldn’t always look for quick fixes, this is extremley worrying. When the manager isn’t in control of who comes in or who is targeted it should be a major concern. How many people on our board are proper football men who should make these decisions?
Do you think klopp and pep have been told they can’t sign half their targets? It’s worrying.

2.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 07:43:49
Worrying in the short term but perversely I’m quite proud of the board for insisting on buying only younger talent to develop as its essential to plan for the future rather than a quick fix now that you might get with older players.

Look at all elite clubs who have seen they have ageing teams and are now bringing youthful talent in: RM, Barca, Bayern, City, Liverpool etc: we are already playing catch up with them but hopefully our aggressive recruitment pokicy at youth level with bear fruit soon.

We do have the team to challenge this year but we must also be building teams for future success as well: otherwise all the old men would frazzle out when Jose goes leaving nothing behind.

3.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 07:53:07
AJH, I completely agree with your post. I read something similar, wherein, the author spoke about how the board saw Mou's demand for older players as short terms fixes, and not better than what was available to him. Personally, I feel only Toby would have been a good addition to the squad, but I also feel that Lindelof, who has been completely written off, deserves a proper run of games, before making him a part of the bench. Similarly, as bad as Smalling or Jones are, they are semi-decent backup players to have.

The problem however, starts when Mou starts using one of Smalling or Jones to partner Bailly, that I feel should not happen, as clearly, Lindelof is miles ahead of both of them combined (personal opinion) .

The only other position that I feel should have been looked at was leftback. Sandro was there for the taking (at least, according to the Eds he was) and I don't know why United did not pursuit that, even one Philipe Max (spelling) was on our list of potential LB's, wonder why he wasn't looked at. The problem of us having no width will remain a problem, but that problem can be rectified at the training level and it is upto the manager and the coaches to solve that.

Sanchez, Martial, Rashford all can play on the left, and all three can be equally efficient on the right as well, heck, Sanchez started his Barcelona career as a RW, and I don't see why one of Martial or Rashford cannot be the taught to deliver a ball in the box.

Buying players just for the sake of buying is a problem that been plaguing United for a while now, obviously, this started post the SAF era and has continued till now. Maybe the board is right in not spending the dough as per the whims of the manager and maybe they are right in trying to judge the manager based on his performance on the field, rather than in the transfer market.

That said, I know it might be a difficult season, we might have to face 4 really anxious months (up to Christmas) and maybe Mou won't be here and maybe we'll be in turmoil, but I'll still support this club.

We play Leicester tonight at Old Trafford and while we all might have seen a lot of football thanks to the WC, there is nothing like a late night kick-off at OT, let's get behind the boys who wear the jersey, even though many of us might or might not want to get behind the manager.

4.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 07:58:58
Excellent article by Daniel Taylor in today’s Guardian that explains it all.

5.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 09:03:37
I said this about Jose years ago on this very site. Jose buys quick fixes for immediate success, then he leaves the club needing a complete rebuild and full of over aged players on long overpriced contracts. Mourinho (and this is not a dig) is very much a man who cares about his own personal success. He will of course want Inter, RM, Chelsea, MU etc to do well under his tenure, but doesn't care too much about them when he is no longer at the club. Chelsea possibly an exception whilst Conte isn't there, but he will care very little for Manchester United when he leaves. Mourinho wants quick fixes for instant success and would leave this club in turmoil 2-3 years down the line.

Certain fractions within the United hierarchy want young, special players and will pay top money for players in this bracket with a good age on their side. IE Pogba, Martial, Bailly, Lindelof, Lukaku etc. Jose wants quick term success so he can swan off to his next project with more personal honours. My personal thoughts is of course back the manager within reason. Which I think is what's actually happening right now.

However with Perisic I think that was a mess up by Ed Woodward with them able to get him at less than half that £60 valuation in June 2017. That was a mess up, but he is not anything near worth £60m at 30. So I agree with the board to block that Jose target. Would you pay £60m for Toby when he could be bought in January for less, the summer for much less? Ed002 has said the club will not overpay for players, much like Chelsea right now. It's just not smart. But if a young, talented player who wants to join the club comes along, then the board will pay up.

United at the moment with Jose's attitude, mind games, war with the board/ players and his very unattractive and negative tactics on the field. Would you want to join Manchester United right now?

6.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 09:08:38
I think we need the odd older head in various positions, I’d have paid the money to get Alderweireld for that experience. Is all well and good saying buy young and promote youth but you can bet your life fans will be moaning when we are 7th cz we have no experience on our ranks, then Jose will get the blame as per when actually Jose has identified that we need a leader at the back, for all the will in the word Axel and TFM are not leaders. Jose knows where needs fixing and he’s not been backed this window, has spent money previously but clearly Work still to be done so back him all the way or sack him just don’t leave him with 3/ 4 of a squad and then judge him for not closing a 20pt gap. 2nd is the best we can prob hope for again. Buying experiences older heads, start winning then blood youth as Fergie regime did by all means but not now, too much pressure on them by fans and the fake news peddling media.

{Ed0333's Note - I really don’t understand why you didn’t push the boat out for Toby either mate? Jose doesn’t care about resale value etc so Toby was the obvious short term fix who would add real quality. Easily better than the other players you were seriously linked with, McGuire, Boatang, Varane. £55 miilon for Toby for probably 3 good seasons probably not great value for money but then again your the richest club in the world you can afford it.

7.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 09:26:15
WRD/ 333 - MU already have older players IE Matic. And when we are talking about younger players, we are not talking about Dalot. More like Lukaku, Pogba etc. These players have experience.

Toby would be a good addition, but not at that crazy price at his age and injury record. Bear in mind if we buy him this time next year he is 60% cheaper. And I guess it didn't help Everton and Wolves not buying Rojo and Smalling respectively.

8.) 10 Aug 2018
10 Aug 2018 09:45:53
I’m sceptical about that story considering Ed002 told us that the club made both Pogba and Martial available. The issue was that nobody would meet the club’s valuation for these players. I would suggest that this is part of a positive spin campaign to deflect blame for a poor transfer window onto Jose, who isn’t responsible for negotiating deals.