That bit is starting to worry me a little, i hope he also knows/appreciates players from elsewhere because in truth Dutch teams/players hardly set the world alight these days.
Ajax have done well in Europe recently. Let's see what he does with these players incorporated into a better squad.
To be fair, our recruitment of players has been so poor since Ferguson retired that the jury must be out on every player we recruit. Either they didn’t fit in or weren’t consistently good or didn’t improve or even went backwards during their period at the club. I’ve said umpteen times. We’ve turned gold into lead. So it is going to be with our summer recruits whether it’s Dejong, Eriksen (if he does come) Malacia or Antony or anyone else. Judgement withheld. since we’ve got TenHaag as manager, and clearly he wants to play the Ajax way which has been successful for him and is even bringing key players able to play that system. Fingers crossed that at last we’ve got a competitive team. No over ambitious target here. my pertinent question is: How good was last season’s Ajax under TenHaag and if that Ajax was playing in the premiership last season where IYO would it have finished?
I don't know is the honest answer. They wouldn't have been challenging for the title but I don't see why they wouldn't have been competing for 3rd or 4th. Very capable of that given the competition. BUT as I said to Diego, it won't be Ajax. Instead imagine those Ajax players playing in a squad with Bruno, Sancho, Ronaldo, and some of those Ajax players' impact on our players like Rashford and Elanga and any U23's coming through.
Every chance we will sign de Jong tomorrow, it being the end of the sporting financial year in Spain, the date on which the La Liga salary cap for each team is decided. Barca would be able to spend proportionately more on player salaries if their finances are improved by a cash injection from us.
I think the direct comparison of where Ajax would finish in the EPL is invalid. At least as a way to judge how well Ten Hag might perform. We’re not bringing in Ajax, but rather we are bringing in the philosophy and the methods of creating a winning team. If the method is sound and adaptive to the EPL, then we wouldn’t be talking about Ajax in twelve months.
Interesting that up to 24 hrs ago several reports of DeJong saying that he still wants to stay at Barcelona. Although we now have reports that he’s been persuaded to move. The fee is as some of us suspected the full amount requested by Barcelona in the first instance. All the posturing and negotiations by Utd amounted to nothing. In the end Barcelona realised that Utd were more desperate to get the player than they were of selling him.
I thought the whole drama is supposed to be done by today due to Barcelona needing to wrap their books before the end of June?
How the hell can a club agree a fee with a selling club and yet not wrap up the deal in matter of days? It was a sure banker to be announced by Thursday! Mind numbing execution!! I know others are going to go on about “patience” blah blah… But why is this mode of doing business particularly unique to United?
Did you actually read any of the reports? every one ended with "the words there is still a considerable amount to be done on the deal" Maybe they have to work out the timing of the payments, maybe the fact de Jong doesn't want to leave Barca is a big problem (contracts work both ways and both parties have to agree to part company) This type of thing is far from unique to United.
You’re right, Diego! We have been executing deals flawlessly for years! I’ve highlighted your point above. If a player doesn’t want to join, why are we still having this conversation almost two months after the initial contact? If the player’s desire to not come is what’s holding up the deal, we should have moved on weeks ago. This is why I don’t it has anything to do with the player’s desire or lack of. I think it’s down to poor execution.
Point me to any post where i have said that and i will buy you a pint. If you read posts on here you will know most long for the days of Gill where players just arrived out of the blue me included. When it comes to de Jong, ETH want's him and Barca are desperate for the money, the deal will happen. The stories have given no indication what the "considerable amount" left to do entailed but if the fee is agreed it can only be payment method/period or player agreement holding it up.
I actually have very little doubt that we won’t get the players. My commentary is around the full mechanics of how we execute deals which I think we can all agree that is indeed clunky at best. For de Jong’s deal; I really do hope that the player wants to come to Manchester United. And that by now, he has found reasons why this will be a good move for him. If he is reluctant, that bothers me! And I would prefer that we bring in players that are excited to want to come here than those that reluctant to play for the club regardless of how good they are. Nonetheless, the fkin deal is becoming a summer transfer “who did it?!” soap opera. We need it over already!
That's not the same as doesn't want to play for United though is it? It happens, some players don't want to leave. Beckham didn't want to leave United, neither did Stam for that matter, or RVN. (for the benefit of Cytrax, that is Ruud van Nistelrooy) Sometimes the club sells, and the player goes on to have a career elsewhere. I'm not sure what part of Ten Hag wanting de Jong at the fulcrum of his team we're not getting here.
In none of those instances though, was the player not wanting to leave the stumbling block to getting the deal done.
As a matter of fact, in each of those cases, a deal was done with the buying club within a week. Barca are even hesitant in this scenario. I wish we could just go for a player in the form of James Maddison. Got Premier League experience, and a solid clutch player. Only gotcha is that he’s similar to Bruno but I think he’s better than Bruno.
Fk it! At this point, I’d rather we just pay Manchester United £100m to get James Garner! That should be an easy deal.