12 Jul 2025 13:24:58
Would anyone else be highly tempted to publically pull out of the Mbuemo deal and move Bruno to the R10 position, using the £60m put aside on/ towards Baleba or Wharton?
Additionally, I just don't understand the love-in of Ollie Watkins. Poor finisher, missed loads of chances for every one that he actually takes, pace is his only attribute and that'll start to decrease in a year or so and likely to be ridiculously expensive. Makes zero sense to me why we'd even be interested.
12 Jul 2025 13:42:59
Why can’t we have Mbuemo and one of Baleba or Wharton. I’d take a points deduction to get some decent players in.
12 Jul 2025 13:45:56
Watkins at £60 million would be a waste of money. Villa have money problems and will need to sell.
My main concern would be that Watkins would only be a short-term solution.
I'd rather pay that extra and get Mbueumo instead. We are due to get £6-£8 million from the Elanga sell on clause.
12 Jul 2025 14:07:44
I love Baleba and Wharton, and feel it’s been a very long time (since Fergie era no less) since we had a great midfielder. But I also think the creative attacking players are particularly scarce at Utd and we should continue with Mbeumo until it concludes either way. Sadly it does seem to be holding everything up and we only seem to be capable of doing one thing at a time.
12 Jul 2025 14:20:30
No, simply because, as good as Bruno is, he slows the game down when out wide and lacks the incisive instincts to dovetail with a RWB like Amad. Worse still, if Amad has any injury/ fitness concerns this season, then the RWB would likely be Dalot - just imagine how badly he and Bruno would be run ragged by pacy, dynamic wide players.
I understand we need a proper defensive midfielder with legs and real quality on the ball, but we are probably more in need of a R10 who possesses the attributes required for the role and wouldn't press the subsequent need to shoehorn other players into positions they aren't really suited to. Dorgu would suit that role better than Bruno.
As for Watkins, I share the same concerns. I do think Mateta would be the more sensible option.
12 Jul 2025 14:32:54
Blackpool red, to your point, other teams can get creative to sign players and avoid sanctions yet we can’t. Suppose it depends on how ambitious you are.
12 Jul 2025 15:22:53
That might work if Palace or Brighton were prepared to accept 60m for either Wharton or Baleba. Yet both have said they want over 100m for their player.
Even if we got them down a bit on that price it'd still be more than we have to spend on Mbeumo.
As for Watkins, he does miss a few good chances, but then he also bags a lot of them as well. Over the past 5 years he pretty much has a 1 goal every 2 games in the EPL. While he also tends to do a really good job linking and creating chances for others. No striker has more assists than Watkins over the past 5 years in the EPL.
Given our lack of goals last season getting a striker who'll likely get at least 16 league goals, and probably double digits in assists next season would represent a massive improvement on our current squad.
We'd need to get that price down a bit from 60m, maybe something more like 45m plus 10m in performance based add-on's, so we only pay the extra 10m if he has been a success.
The only real downside to him is his age which means he has no resale value. Yet to be honest that shouldn't always be a deal breaker for our club.
Literally any other even remotely possible option is likely to be both more expensive AND a bigger risk.
12 Jul 2025 15:46:44
Tbf Shappy the OP did say save the money towards either, not instead of.
12 Jul 2025 16:47:37
No Downsie. I'd actually be quite happy if Utd only signed Cunha and Mbeumo this window.
12 Jul 2025 18:36:16
I would take Watkins in a heartbeat, how can anyone moan about chances he misses when we have Zirkee and Rasmus…. And so what about age we need some experience in this team
I am not sure where people are getting the Dalot don’t play in this team, he will be one of the first on the team sheet for RA, no way Amad gets in that position before him.
12 Jul 2025 19:29:11
I think amad will be the preferred rwb .
12 Jul 2025 22:17:55
German
Imo, the only way Dalot plays ahead of Amad is if Amass or Leon is selected ahead of Dorgu on the left.
Amorim likes one WB to be more defensive and the other more of an attacking threat and, imo, the only way Dorgu doesn't start the season as first-choice LWB is if Dalot's picked ahead of him, so Amad should 100% be picked for RWB.
Additionally, Amad is the better counter-presser which is a massive tick for a WB in an Amorim system.
Furthermore, if Mbeumo does arrive then there'll be the need to match his style of play with a more bombastic WB than Dalot, one who can dovetail with him in attacking phases. Amad has better ability on the ball, better dribbling and agility, better passing, and is far more of a goal threat than Dalot.
Barring injury, I fully expect Amad to start vs Arsenal.
I guess you believe he sits on the bench - let's see who's right.
13 Jul 2025 00:10:36
My concern with Amad as a wing back is that physically he is not that big or strong and it's not natural for him to defend. No idea how good his positional sense is either and all defenders should know to work as a unit A good winger could run rings round him.
13 Jul 2025 01:07:51
I’ve been saying this for a while tumble amad is our strongest rwb he has the engine and is just as effective there.
Personally I think Watkins at the right price is a no brainer given the current market for strikers, there is no one other than oshimen and gyokores who are both going elsewhere
In the past 3 seasons other than haaland and salah he has the most goals and assists in the league.
13 Jul 2025 05:28:16
No I did not say Amad starts on the bench, but he don’t start as RWB either, no chance, he will get roasted against Arsenal at RWB in fact will get roasted against most at RWB.
I like Amad a lot, but he is not capable against top teams to play there, far too weak and not great defensively, pressing teams will just target him.
100% Dalot starts in front of Amad without doubt.
Dorgu is not exactly great either, but am hoping he better in 2nd season.
{Ed077's Note - He doesn't have to start all the 38 games as RWB ?
13 Jul 2025 06:30:25
True he does not have to start all, I would suggest he won’t make 10 starts as RWB
I personally would prefer a settled back line, we already got enough poor players in it and poor GK…. so to keep changing it about to suit who we are playing that week, could spell more trouble.
Much as I like Amad and the tenacity and professionalism he shows (if only others could give what he does) I just don’t see him as number 1 choice for RWB at all….
13 Jul 2025 10:10:24
I expect he will start more games that over the season than dalot who imo is a very poor player in the final 1/ 3 and not a very good defender at all.
13 Jul 2025 11:04:28
German
We'll see who plays where.
Put simply, if we get Mbeumo, Amad will rarely start as a 10.
As for Dalot, I cannot get my head around why you think the slight defensive superiority of Dalot makes him such a better choice than the absurdly superior attacker in a 3-4-3 system.
The point of the system reference is that the 3-4-3 is a generally quite attacking formation implemented to make attacking overloads quicker and easier. Amorim, throughout his managerial career, has had a liking for converted wingers at WB, and there is absolutely nothing in Dalot's locker that should change that. Dalot looks awful at WB, and he'd make the 10s, whoever they may be, look badly exposed, just as he did at WB on both flanks last season.
Amad for me, all day.
13 Jul 2025 14:37:05
Every manager at the club including RA as always picked Dalot first choice at RB when fit, I really don’t see that changing, certainly not with Amad in that position, RA learnt a lot about the EPL last season and what he got away with in Portugal won’t wash here, so don’t expect more of the same, it will have tweaks that’s for sure.
I agree going forward Amad is much much better, but against superior sides which there are quite a few atm he will just be pushed back and back and roasted and our CBs have no pace whatsoever, the one that’s got a bit of pace got no experience and then we have a dodgy keeper, so expect lots of tweaks from previous RA sides.
13 Jul 2025 19:01:48
Every manager able to select a RB has made Dalot first choice, correct, but we're talking about RWB, and Dalot is a terrible RWB.
If Amorim used a RB then there'd be no debate, but he doesn't and Dalot isn't a RWB.
Dalot was used at RWB, as was Mazraoui, last season because we had to use Amad as a 10 - that, imo, is the only reason Dalot was the preferred RWB - rather a needs must reality.
You say tweaks are needed, I'd say making Amad first-choice RWB should be one of the first. As a defender playing RWB, positionally, Dalot is easily worse than Amad, and that causes the RCB all manner of problems as displayed by the amount of times Dalot was caught out of position while playing in a position that doesn't work for him.
Basically, you're expecting a chippy to master joinery without timespent development - it just doesn't work.
We do have, mostly, slow CBs, but your reference to GK is utterly moot in terms of the impact on just RWB - Onana's style and incompetence makes the whole team nervous and reticent.
We can all agree to disagree, but when you follow this opinion of yours with that tripe about Mainoo above, I do wonder just where your head's at.
13 Jul 2025 22:18:01
Amad's a lot stronger than people seem to think. Remember a few times last season where I thought he was going to come off second best in a 50/ 50, and came away with the ball.
14 Jul 2025 06:14:38
I agree 99 he is strong and a little battler, but defensive duties against top sides is not going to be there.
Martinez is strong and also a battler but another example of that’s not going to make you great at your job.
Amad gets in this current team any day of the week probably any position too apart from GK and that’s debatable given level of ours, but that don’t mean anything or he be good at it… for me RWB is just not going to be suited to him.