01 Jul 2026 20:57:54
I understand that we are clearly determined not to spend stupid money on players this summer. However, Anderson is joining City, Tonali is joining Spurs, Fernandes is joining Spurs, Tchouameni is probably staying at Madrid, and Guimaraes will probably join Arsenal at some point.
We are only just in July, and that is 5 targets that won't be happening. Now, obviously there is a budget this summer, and there are several positions that require work, but our midfield has been the most obvious priority for months now. You can't tell me that fixing the midfield can wait because the right players aren't available at the right price, and equally you can't tell me that other positions can't wait another year.
If we had to wait until next summer to sign a left winger, or left back, or right back, or back up centre forward or whatever, because it cost too much to fix the midfield this summer, that will hurt us much less than if we don't fix the midfield properly this summer.
Obviously there are other players available, but those 5 are probably the best 5 available this summer and we haven't coughed up the cash to get 1 done. That's not good enough for me, and it doesn't exactly show ambition.
There was a time when United wanted a player, they paid whatever they needed to pay, and every other club in the country would fight over the second best option. Maybe Anderson was simply too expensive, but in the current market, Tonali at £100m, Fernandes at £85m, Tchouameni at £80m is arguably pretty reasonable compared to spending maybe £60m on Baleba or £50m on Stiller, who are simply not the same standard.
Don't get me wrong, they are both still good players, and there are several others that have been linked in recent months, but how are we supposed to close the gap on City, if they are signing Anderson, and we can only sign players in that next bracket down?
01 Jul 2026 22:28:47
Who said Tonali, Guimaeres were targets?
Let me name some midfielders that we could still target, and would improve us:
Scott, Sadiki, Wharton, Baleba, Nmecha, Stiller, Manu Kone, Bouaddi, Tchoumeni.
We need one more, ideally two.
01 Jul 2026 22:55:35
Perhaps they were targets, perhaps they weren't. They have certainly been linked with United in recent months. Either way, they are among the best available, and even if we didn't make an offer, we've missed out.
Simply put, we are Man United and we should be targeting the best. Anderson, Tonali, Guimaraes, Fernandes are among the best available. Sadiki, Wharton, Baleba, Kone, Bouaddi are not among the best available. They are second rate.
We need two more this summer without question. We can't start a new season in which we could be playing 50-60 games with only Mainoo, Ederson, and one other. That would be catastrophic.
Perhaps if we can get Alex Scott and Tchouameni, I will consider it a decent window. Stiller and Nmecha are both decent midfielders too, but they are still not among the best available.
I find it all the more frustrating that Tonali and Fernandes are both joining Spurs, who won't even be playing Champions League next season, rather than a genuinely elite club. Perhaps for Fernandes, who is only 22, that's not really a concern, but Tonali is 26, entering his peak years, and you have to wonder whether these guys would've picked United over Spurs if we had offered enough money to get the deal done.
01 Jul 2026 22:57:14
There's only 5 CMS in world football.
01 Jul 2026 23:22:25
Villa have shown under Emery, you can put a top midfield together on free transfers with Kamara and Tielemans. So, it is true there are plenty of players out there we could sign, no denying that.
However, losing Casemiro's experience and quality, I think fans were expecting a marquee signing like Anderson, Tonali, or Tchouameni, and to see 2/3 join Premier League rivals is going to lead to some worry amongst the fanbase.
02 Jul 2026 00:02:00
There is no denying we have missed out on our top 2 targets imo.
When it became clear that we were not the priority for either player, then we didn't bid.
Some will argue pay more and then the player will prioritise United. But we've seen that backfire spectacularly several times.
I'm not one bit concerned, and I've no doubt we will make quality signings.
02 Jul 2026 00:33:07
Will Villa win the league in the next two years?
02 Jul 2026 07:30:46
Will Spurs?
02 Jul 2026 09:00:39
Tw
Interesting question. Given who Spurs are buying, and with De Zerbi as manager, there is an argument they are more likely to win the league before us with present playing staff and management. It can change.
02 Jul 2026 09:11:29
Red Man, I rate De Zerbi and technically think he is brilliant. Spurs are definitely giving him the tools that he wants, and if it all works, I can see them definitely back up challenging for top 6.
More likely to win the league before us... Need for the window to complete before that is answered, to see what both teams have.
Secondary question for Spurs is whether De Zerbi becomes combustible and it blows up before they get success..... Like I say, I rate him highly, but it was the one worry I had when we were potentially discussing him coming in.
02 Jul 2026 09:15:29
We have no idea if any of them were targets or not. One would hope that the club already identified its targets and is working on them. What is no doubt is Bruno G, Tonali, or Anderson would have enhanced our midfield immensely, not so sure about others.
My main concern is the criteria of us wanting just young, cheaper potential purchases. That really concerns me. SJR's attitude to it always concerns me from day one it was done.
I said all along that be careful what you wish for, but of course everyone likes to bang on about the Glazers.
It appears now, because we have been stung a few times with high prices and salary, we are now judging everything on that, which is ridiculous.
Let's hope we got our targets sewn up and we know what we are doing, but don't put your house on it...
02 Jul 2026 10:15:19
Mbeumo nor Cunha fall into the category of young and cheap.
Sesko, yes, like Yoro, but we paid top money for them.
They will pay the right money for the right player.
I'm not going to judge and assess until the window is over.
We have not bought cheap alternatives for any position so far under SJR.
02 Jul 2026 12:01:42
Every year its groundhog day, like the amateur anglers who always want to spread remorse over the one that got away.
These players didn't get away, well Anderson, foolishly in my opinion, chose city without waiting for the results of their lawsuits. Who knows what that might bring in the next few weeks or months.
Despite us massively overpaying for poor quality in the years up to ineos coming in, there's still demand to do the same, irrespective of proven past being a waste of money and also other clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal Chelsea and City wasting megamoney on failures.
It was common knowledge we would sign a minimum of 2 midfielders. Since then we are linked with every single player out there.the only reason Anderson amd Fernandes were up forst for debate and consideration was the selling clubs actively seeking buyers.
This happens every year. Last year we didn't get semenyo or gyokeres and apparently amorim wanted martinez and not lammens. So, I would argue we know what we are doing and we are actually following through on our promise not to allow agents or selling clubs dictate to us beyond what we believe the market is worth.
Couple that with a big investment in data driven decision making and I would say that we clearly have data that tells us we aren't making poor decisions based on emotion, we are making comparative decisions based on abilities aligned to the player profile we are looking for.
That data equally I cludes attitude, character, personality and mindset. It seems clear that the biggest driver to us was not actually price it was that neither player made it crystal clear that they
Wanted us and only us. Remember the farce with Brentford when we believed mbuemo was a 50 to 60m player compared to what we eventually paid and same for sesko? Yet we went higher because of the total commitment of the player that extended to their agreement on wage structures.
Im totally confident we will get the players we want. The WC made it harder to do early deals simply because perhaps its a huge risk to buy a player who's still competing. Imagine buying your dream Ferrari just before it races in your local track event and then watching it go up in flames. Being insured is no consolation is it?
We are always going to be impatient, opinionated and have differing views but my view is that ypu should judge a window at the very end not at the beginning just because there's three or four deals been done. I mean literally three or four deals and people are catastrophising like its the end of our season before it even begins.
02 Jul 2026 13:48:57
If we end up with Scott and Kroupi from Bournemouth, it would be good.
Capt Obvious,
3 of the top midfielders have gone to our opponents; they didn't have a problem with the World Cup timing.
02 Jul 2026 17:32:02
AngelRed, obviously there are still some very good players available. I have actually made it clear that I recognise that fact. However, Anderson and Tonali are almost certainly better than any that are currently available, along with Bruno Guimaraes, and Fernandes is arguably as good as any other target we might still have, but probably has a higher ceiling.
There is still scope for us to sign some very good midfielders this summer and start next season with a very good squad and genuine depth in midfield. For example, if we signed Scott and Tchouameni, or even Scott and Baleba, along with Ederson, I would consider that a moderately successful window for the midfield.
But, we could've simply paid the market rate for the top available options and started next season with an even better midfield.
Put it this way, would you rather we spent £160-180 million and signed Scott, Baleba, and Ederson, with Scott and Baleba potentially not joining until late in the window, or would you rather we spent £230-240 million and signed Tonali, Fernandes, and Ederson, and they could all join the squad as soon as training starts after the World Cup?
I know which I would prefer.
02 Jul 2026 22:25:08
Can't think why Fernandes and Tonali didn't have a problem with the World Cup being on.