11 Sep 2026 10:13:18
Rumours about United putting in a bid in January for Adrien Truffert from Bournemouth for 60 million. David Ornstein is the source. Looks a perfect fit for us, good defender and also good going forward. Looks like he cross a ball as well and a perfect age 24.
11 Sep 2026 12:16:56
Whatever your thoughts on Luke Shaw are, he's already picked up an injury and has had a sketchy injury past. A left back is needed.
11 Sep 2026 12:48:13
It's a shame it wasn't done in the summer window...
11 Sep 2026 16:21:15
It's generally accepted that, after that horrific double fracture he suffered v PSV in the Champions League, Shaw almost lost his leg due to blood clots, and the injury has affected the muscles in his leg ever since. It's pretty amazing that he came back to the level where he became a regular LB for England, where he performed well. Last season he was one of our top performers. It shows an incredible sense of purpose and desire, and I, for one, have no doubt that there's no way he's skiving off, lazy, or lacking the desire to play. He must be very frustrated. In my opinion, the abuse he gets on this site because of his injuries is utterly unjustified.
Last weekend we began to see some of his attacking prowess when playing behind an out and out LW, performing at a high level, as was Rashford. Does he make mistakes? Of course. All LBs/players do. He got blamed for the 1st goal v Everton, but in reality the opportunity was caused by a weak clearance from the centre of the defence, direct to an Everton player, which left Shaw tucked in towards the centre.
He almost made it out in time, the angle was narrowed, but in the end Lammens was beaten by a perfect shot. Plenty of excellent players at United have been failing. Why? It's because it's a team game. If someone makes an error in build up, marking, or passing, it often leads to exposing a team mate, who then gets blamed. Shaw has been badly let down by the general management and standard of team play, both on and off the field.
That said, it should be obvious to the club by now that, however well he performs, given his age and propensity for injury, we need a quality back up, someone who can take his place immediately and in the future. I doubt Amass will ever be good enough. The fact that we didn't buy anyone over the summer is verging on criminal. It's not like the club isn't aware of his propensity for injury and the causes of it.
11 Sep 2026 21:46:06
Let's hope Dorgu learns to defend then.
12 Sep 2026 07:52:29
Good post, Newname.
12 Sep 2026 11:46:10
Very happy if we get Truffert. Hall has potential, but I'd rate Truffert much higher. Others disagree, but Antonee Robinson would be the other player I think we should look at.
13 Sep 2026 12:02:39
Leif Davis looks better every time I see him. Not a bad alternative.
13 Sep 2026 10:11:59
Truffert has always been my personal preferred choice. I like Hall, and he has huge potential, but for me Truffert ticks more boxes of what we need right now. He's more experienced (we have a lack of that throughout the side), he's currently better at defending, and he plays more as an overlapping fullback rather than a inverting fullback. Given the options we have on the left wing and the strength we now have in midfield I feel we need our left back to offer attacking width more than providing midfield solidity.
We also have two right backs in Dalot and Mazraoui who are better at inverting rather than overlapping, and you don't want both full backs inverting as it will make us too narrow.
I doubt we'll be able to get Truffert in January, Bournemouth were adamant that they weren't going to sell any of their key players in the final weeks of the transfer window, and they have no need to sell in January unless we made a silly offer (which we won't under this management thankfully). However, trying to get the deal done in January, even if unsuccessful, should hopefully help us get everything in place to get a deal done early next summer.
If we are going to continue this process of sorting different key parts of the team out in successive summers (attack last summer, midfield this summer), with defence the focus next summer. Then in my opinion it's more important next summer that we get deals done for key defenders early, as defence more than any other part of the team is about how they play as a unit rather than as individuals. So getting those players in early so they can be part of the entire pre-season and start to build that on pitch unity will be important to how successful we are in the first half of next season.
We will need a first choice LB, a first choice top level CB, and a first choice RB, as well as possibly/probably a second CB who can offer experience as a rotation option given that we will lose both Martinez and Maguire at CB and Shaw at LB all of whom are out of contract. I can see us moving on one of Dalot or Mazraoui (more likely Mazraoui).
Meaning our options before we sign anyone will likely be: Dalot, MdL, Yoro, Heaven, Amass, and Dorgu.
Ideally if we can get Truffert that solves LB, personally I'd like to see us signing Michael Kayode from Brentford for RB, then we will need a peak top level CB, ideally a left sided/footed player, and then a second "older" (over 30) CB who can bring some experience and support to the younger lads such as Yoro and Heaven, but whose happy to be a rotation option.
13 Sep 2026 14:14:41
Kayode is a good shout. Murillo, for me, at CB would be the number one target.