Transfer Rumours Let's ignore the big ****ing elephant and blame the latest manager, again. Are we nearly there yet?

Any chance of a striker? Just a thought like.

You know, that position we needed all last season.

 

That’s because it’s always better to buy and sell the ones that you have and never given a chance for nothing.

Why did we buy Malacia for instance when we had Williams? Only to find that Malacia is probably a tiny upgrade.

 

Mejbri is apparently attaching interest from Dortmund for £15m.

Then in two years we’d be back in for him at £90m.

His contributions at No. 10 in Birmingham has been immense. He dribbles, great with dead ball, and highly intelligent with how he distributes the ball. I remember how excited I was when we first got him from Monaco. It will be ridiculous to not give him a chance at the club.

 

Always looked the part in the few games i have seen him, bit clumsy in the tackle but he's young and probably feels he has to go in heavy to prove he won't be pushed about.

 

This is just getting fcking ridiculous if he's sold or loaned out again.



We had Weghorst doing fck all ffs

 

and long may it continue

 

That's not very nice Solid.

The kid's a baller btw.

Granted he's been playing in the Championship but whenever I've read Sunderland fans speaking about him, they sing his praises.

 

I saw him once last season at Swansea, he didn't have great game that day tbh.

Could have had a bad day of course, he was decent for them rest of the season.

Some players I thought were 100% prospects haven't come good mind. Axel Tuanzebe for one just left.

I'm not sure what's happened to Ethan Laird either, last seen at QPR.

 

There's a lot I like about Ten Hag so I don't want to knock him, but I thought he was going to come in and part of his skillset was going to be to develop our young talent not sell them off.

 

Agree about Laird, he should be coming back and competing with Dalot at the very least.

Btw let's not forget we sold James Garner last summer as well.

It's bullshit.

 

There is an element to it I support.

I think it's worth cutting right back on the squad size, then reassessing.

The likes of Chong, Mejbri, Iqbal have been around for years and so had to go, it's clear they were never getting in the 1st team.

Sad about Tuanzebe, not sure what happened there. He looked a genuine prospect, must have got lost being loaned out all the time.

The likes of Mourinho and Ole should have had him in the 1st team squad and made a player out of him.

 

Manchester United set to move on other targets after 3rd bid for Mount turned down.

 

Good.

They should've taken the deal but Boehly's a nobhead and he's trying it on. Genuinely hope we move on.

 

Great article in MEN which I read.

It's a fine line Manchester United are trying to tread at the moment, and one that is partly of their own making. They're finding it's harder to shred a reputation in the transfer market than it is to gain one.

For too long they have been considered a soft touch when it comes to deals and they've undoubtedly contributed to that perception in recent years. Club chiefs talk of a 'United tax' when it comes to transfers and there is an element of that, but there's also a feeling that clubs believe they can be fleeced.

As one of the most famous clubs in the world, United sells. They get linked with hundreds of players every summer, the majority of them when there is smoke but no fire. Agents will use their name to flush out interest elsewhere in their client or earn a deal at their existing club.

There is also a feeling that as a commercial behemoth, the price can be upped when United come calling. They asked about a young striker last summer for whom there were bids of £15million in. When it was United on the other end of the line, they were told the price was £28million.

This is what the club has to deal with in every transfer window. False rumours, the use of their name for no other reason than it's one of the most famous names in the world, and selling clubs driving a hard bargain purely because of who they are.

But there is more to it than that as well. It's four years since United agreed to pay a world-record fee for a defender of £80million for Harry Maguire. Not only was that price astronomical, but they paid almost all of it in one instalment to Leicester City.

So it's easy to see why Chelsea have felt emboldened enough to reject three bids for Mason Mount and still be confident United will pay the £65million they want for the 24-year-old.

United raised their third bid to £50million, with a further £5million in add-ons, only for Chelsea to turn it down and insist on £65million, a reduction in just £5million on their initial asking price. They even laid out the terms they would find acceptable via a favourable leak or two, settling for £58million and £7million in add-ons.

But United have, for now, had enough. They have resolved not to bid again while Chelsea's valuation remains unmoved and have moved to other targets, primarily Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.

There is frustration at Old Trafford at Chelsea's approach to negotiations. They dealt quickly with Manchester City to complete an initial £25million deal for Mateo Kovacic, who also had just a year left on his contract. A year ago the roles were reversed, when Chelsea signed Raheem Sterling, who was in the same contractual situation, for £47.5million.

But for Mount, it is a different story. Or for United, it is a different story. It would be interesting to see if Chelsea would have dealt by now if they were dealing with a different club.

Supporters will be frustrated at the failure to agree a deal, but then the transfer market is considered a game in itself these days. Plenty will demand United just give Chelsea whatever they want, but that is clearly not a sustainable strategy, as the club are finding out now.

If United were to cave in and go to £65million for Mount, not only does it reduce their budget for a striker, but it will embolden the club of whichever player they target to try and rinse them again. You can't keep being a soft touch in the transfer market and expect to drive a hard deal.

Maybe it's belatedly, but on the evidence of their negotiations to sign Mount, United are realising they have to change. Throughout their attempts to sign a player who wants to come to Old Trafford they have warned there is a limit to how high they will go.

That limit has been reached. Now it's on Chelsea to come back to the table, or United to stand firm and move on to other targets.

The only thing I disagree with is the bit in bold. I'm not frustrated at all. I was open minded to Mount coming in, but never considered him a must have. Not like we're signing De Jong here. Fck the chavs and move on. I'd be happy if we took the offer off the table and went all in for someone else.

 

But Treble, would you have been frustrated if you really wanted the player? I wouldn’t be! Fk all owners like Levy that try to play games. Move on and leave then to find other buyers.

There’s always the talk of Maguire, but I still find it ridiculous that we paid £80m for Antony. That was a deal worth no more than £50m if we compare it to similar players. Especially since we already had Sancho in the same position.

As well as becoming astute in the transfer market, we also need to do better job of integrating talents that we already have into the squad. It is clear that simply throwing money around has got us nowhere in the last decade. We will also start to see the impact of the high costs of the loans that support these transfers with interest rates that do not appear to be receding anytime soon. Perhaps it is time to become more resourceful and forceful in implementing a sustainable strategy for the club.

 

Personally, I would have preferred that we found a decent striker and then, and only then, went after other players. In any event, I don't see our midfield as a pressing issue, attack yes, a decent defender yes, so why aren't the club filling those obvious gaps first.

 

I think we need all 3 positions but I've said similar we need striker (or two) first and foremost.

The other problem with this Mount saga is the knock on effect it'll have when we're trying to negotiate with other clubs for a striker.

 

De Gea is getting married just down the road from me at the weekend. I might gatecrash and see what's happening on the GK front.

 

Is he marrying your daughter? lol

 

On his wages - I wish............