09 Feb 2024 08:38:00
I get a sense we will buy a Jonathan David or the Bologna guy type as a second striker. Shappy will be happy but personaly don't rate David that high and he has a poor first touch and pl league is the worst league for a striker if your first touch is sloppy.

They both tick the box age wise and cost wise and if they don't work out you can move them on without taking a bath.

These type of strikers will have no impact to Hoiland's development.

The rumours on Toney for me are just rumours and can't see us spending that kind of money and will create an issue with Hoilands development assuming he would want to be the main man.

He will end up at arsenal or chelsea depending on if they can move on some players/ strikers.

I realize we are a long way from the summer window and things can change but suspect we will invest in players who fit a certain age and price range and maybe some we have hardly heard of.

1.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 10:47:33
Will be interesting to see if we still go for players in the ten Hag mould - ie Dutch or players from clubs he's worked at - or whether as suggested a lot of that side of things will be taken away from him (or at least challenged) . Brobbey has come up quite a lot. Don't know much about him but doesn't seem to be setting the world alight. I'd like to see us move for Sesko but I wonder if they'll avoid a younger/ raw player as that's what we already have, and go for experience.
Being a Posh fan I'd love to see Toney go to the next stage but I don't see it being Utd. Probably Chelsea for me, they're crying out for a prolific striker so see it being him / Osimhen.

2.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 12:50:50
No idea you were a Posh for Spenno. Bought a season ticket here when we moved years ago. Have been ever since. In a sudden slump at the moment. Need to pick up.

3.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 16:21:23
Toney with 12 months left on his contract would be a shrewd signing.

Hojlund has done well but not well enough that we can confidently say he's the undisputed number 1 striker at the club, he needs both some competition and also someone to share the burden of scoring goals.

4.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 17:10:00
Not a fan of toney myself. Slow and not the best technically. Obviously has good attributes but we don't play in a style that would make the most of his attributes imo.
No point signing a player for what will be a big fee and then ask him to play differently and expect the same results he was getting elsewhere.
Don't think he will be coming to united. I don't think united have shown any interest.

5.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 17:33:35
Agreed on the slow part but he is good technically and can hold the ball up which ten haag likes in a striker.

With 12 months on his contract will the fee be that steep?

{Ed002's Note - if he holds the all up it counts as hand ball.}

6.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 18:20:14
I’m not particularly on or off the ETH wagon at the moment, although I do admit to be leaning towards him going, but he cannot be fairly judged if he is not allowed to choose the players he wants moving forward. This is perhaps my one concern of the new ownership.

Yes I am very very old school but telling him the players he is getting is like giving a mechanic imperial wrenches for metric bolts. Yes he can make it work but it’s never going to be perfect and he will always have an excuse.

Let him choose his players and he can stand or fall by his own decisions. Admittedly the danger is that should he get sacked then the incoming manager gets the chaff and round we go again.

7.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 19:43:38
If he goes for former players then someone like Haller makes sense to me. I agree with others on Toney. He's got an eye for goal but isn't great technically nor is he very quick. He'd be a big risk for a lot of money that we need to spend wisely.

8.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 20:22:03
I think he is very weak technically and very limited. Very good in the air a good finisher and a real threat at set pieces. I just don't think he is what the club or manager is looking for. I could well be wrong.

9.) 09 Feb 2024
09 Feb 2024 22:29:44
Toney would just be another Lukaku.

10.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 07:59:37
Keefy, what you have explained is exactly what our policy has been.

Managers requesting players, resulting in a mish-mash squad with zero identity. Who would’ve thought that one day Harry Maguire would be paired with Raphael Varane? Or that Casemiro and McTominay would be a midfield pairing?

The style, identity and culture must be set from higher up. We should then bring in the manager and players who suit the identity of the club. This scattergun approach has got us precisely nowhere.

11.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 09:18:19
No such a thing anywhere in top clubs where someone brings in players without the managers blessing and agreement. Its a myth and you guys are reading way too much into this stuff being printed. Its more about the process, guidelines of how we recruit. eth or the next guy will have a big say in who comes.

Its more about how we end up spending 85 mill on Antony and 70 mill on cas around deadline week and how we got there. Its always seemed like a Helter Skelter approach at united with no discipline. They will be setting up structures and people in specific roles to guard against mistakes of the past. The guy who was part of negotiating these transfers is already gone. Can't recall his name.

There are many people involved in a transfer and not just about the manager. Watched David Gill's interview and clear it goes all the way up to the CEO and they seem to be the ones with other people involved who negotiate these things.

12.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 09:27:27
Not well enough that he's the no1 striker at the club? Over who else? Martial? Rashford? As it stands he is the no1 striker at the club, however he shouldn't have to shoulder that responsibility this early. We need an older head for him to rotate with and perhaps learn from. But not an over the hill 30+ aged striker. Someone in their prime but likely nearing the end of it.

13.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 12:48:06
The rest of us mortals aren't reading more into anything than anyone else Ahmad. No-one knows anything but it's fun to speculate and play along. When congratulated on continuing to unearth gems like Barco, Estupiñán, Buonanotte, Enciso et al De Zerbi himself has said he has no input into the names and the scouts are trusted to fill the gaps identified by himself and the DOF. At larger clubs like Real again the players are presented to the manager (often when they don't need or even like the player) . So there are numerous ways to bring in players, no-one knows how little or how much the manager is involved. To the uninitiated like all of us it would seem to make sense that the manager has a final say, but he certainly doesn't need to be doing the donkey work and be involved at every stage.

14.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 13:36:39
The striker position is a weird one this summer. We need a striker who has the quality to contribute to the team when needed, but not someone who would take Højlund's place in the team on a long term basis.

Højlund I think has the talent to become a top top striker, but needs to play regularly to develop into that player.

Which means we are really looking for a striker just outside that top class bracket while being prepared to play a back up/ rotation role.

Joshua Zirkzee has been mentioned in the press and he does tick many boxes, although I'm not sure he'd be happy with a back up role. He had that at Bayern and left to play more regularly. I can't imagine he'd be happy to play back up to a player 18 months his junior.

It might be that we look for someone with a slightly different profile to Højlund, someone who can enable the team to play in a different way, or even play alongside Højlund.

Lois Openda has had a real breakout role at Leipzig this season and could be an interesting option. He can play as a lone striker, out wide or as part of a strike partnership. However, he'd probably cost north of 60m. Which would make him an expensive option.

Jonathan David if available for a reasonable fee could be a good option. He can play right across the front three and has played a fair few games at RW which could be a two birds in one stone sort of signing. Someone who can provide back up for both Højlund and Garnacho. But I wouldn't pay more than 40m for him.

There are some other options on the continent such as Moffi, Brobbey and Gimenez. But all would be a bigger gamble due to not having any EPL experience. Or we could go for a slightly more expensive EPL proven player like Matheus Cunha, Dominic Solanke or João Pedro. All would be great back up options, but they would be more expensive than some of the other options from the continent. João Pedro could be the one available for a little less than the other two, as Brighton have Evan Ferguson and selling the Brazilian instead might be a preferred option for them this summer.

{Ed001's Note - Brighton just paid a club record fee for Joao Pedro, why would they sell him cheap?}

15.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 13:37:11
spenno

Real does not buy duds. They buy the cream and any manger should be able to work with them and get a tune out of them.

Has Brighton won anything but being a feeder club and certain clubs being crazy enough to pay silly fees for players and a bit like ajax and antony laughing to the bank for what they got for certain players.

with all his accolades de Zerbi has won 4 of his last 17 games. He would not survive at united if that was a case. a lot of players at Brighton are not good enough to play for united but good enough for what they are trying to do.

16.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 15:02:29
The identity should 100% be set from above Wazza. No argument there.

BUT

I still firmly believe that many people up there are not football people and are like rabbits in headlights or fascinated by glitz. The results is the club ends up with square pegs for round holes. Now if the manager chose them then it’s on his head, especially if he is given time.

The problem is that we sack managers after a limited time and therefore have no continuity. That is what results in the wrong players by United standards.

You 100% cannot employ someone and give them the wrong tools to do a job. Any employer who does that deserves to fail.

17.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 17:47:53
Keefy

We have given the managers too much say in the players bought, were we really correct supporting ETH in spending £85m on Antony or £47m on Onana.

A DOF should be setting our strategy and we as a club should be buying players in conjunction with the strategy and a coach to maximise the way of playing. The problem is we see the manager as all powerful, the same power as SAF when it has not been earned. We need a better decision process so we don’t lurch from one system to the next and judging the manager on his ability to coach. It means we are not stuck with a manager for a minimum period, they are a coach judged on their ability.

18.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 18:28:49
Ahmad, you miss my point with Brighton. I'm not suggesting they're world beaters or that de Zerbi is the next Guardiola. But their scouting cannot be faulted - it's probably the best in the league in my view. Most cheap players even you haven't heard of, and they know they are a feeder club. They know they will lose the players a season or two later, their challenge is to replace them, not retain them.

19.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 18:38:28
Ed001, I'm not saying they would sell him on the cheap, just that he would potentially be cheaper than the likes of Cunha or Solanke as Wolves and Bournemouth don't have any other great options in their squads to replace them in the starting line up. Whereas Brighton could sell Pedro and replace him with Ferguson not needing to spend a single penny.

Brighton bought him for 30m, they might prefer to take a 45m deal for him then sell Ferguson who will likely see his value increase more over the next couple of years. Due to his injuries this season Ferguson would likely see his value drop a little from last summer when he was on the back of a breakout 6 months in the team.

{Ed001's Note - if that was the case, why would they even bother buying him? They already had Ferguson.}

20.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 20:43:56
Spenno ?

Brighton is a great example. Just because they haven’t won anything does not mean they haven’t been successful. They’ve gone from promotion to Europe in a very short space of time, playing some great football, even becoming some people’s “second team” last season.

I’m sure their fans will say they’ve been very successful recently, and the current run is hardly surprising considering it’s the first time the club has had to manage European football.

Hats off to them and the model they successfully implemented.

21.) 10 Feb 2024
10 Feb 2024 22:13:59
We aren’t getting Cunha or Dominic Wanke on the cheap, that is for sure. And I don’t see an abundance of available world class strikers on the continent either. I’d go for a rough young South American in the mould of Alvarez as second striker to Rasmus. Wouldn’t be paying funny money for Osimhen or David, I think they are average strikers who’s reputation is inflated due to a lack of options on the market.

22.) 11 Feb 2024
11 Feb 2024 06:42:59
we will spend the bulk of our transfer money on cb's and midfielders in my opinion. A can't see us spending a massive amount on as second striker so some of the names being associated with us is just talk.

then we still have to sort out the right wing so a lot to do and will be a busy summer.

23.) 11 Feb 2024
11 Feb 2024 15:37:43
Mmmmm. I agree to an extent Red Man. But I still maintain you are hampering a manager by not giving him the tools he needs. He should have some influence on the purchases and not be given what he does not want.

The ultimate solution is to hire a manager than can work with those tools and fits the plan and philosophy

There in lies the current problem.

It’s going to be a fun ride!