So as top 4 looks unlikely and top 5 seems almost as unlikely what sort of players will we attract. Who have others in similar positions signed in recent years. Players who stand out and have made a difference? Suarez - Obvious one here. Players of this quality rarely go to teams outside the top 4. Suarez had a tonne of baggage though which helped. Who else? Modric? The concern is how we return to the top 4 at the first attempt. The Vidals and Kroos' of the world will be much harder to get with no Europe so are going to look elsewhere for players. Players of a lesser quality over the coming years hoping they pay off. Liverpool and spurs are the best examples of what can happens. What can united learn from these two clubs? Even city, although a poor example due to the manner it was acheived, showed one way how to get top 4. Spend spend spend.... On average players on huge wages. It cost city a billion from a lower starting point, they paid insane money for players worth a fraction of the price. So with our name and standing in world football will inited still attract the caliber of player needed? Will united be the exception rather than the rule and get straight back in the mix for the title next season or are we in for a few years of this?
I don't think it will affect us that much in terms of pulling power, as 90% of players are more interested in money than CL football. You never see a player moving to a CL club and taking a pay cut. They claim they want to move to the bigger club for the CL football, as it doesn't sound do bad, but in reality they want to go there for more money. Aslong as we can still pay the top wages then quality players will come. Though being out of the CL for atleast one season will put a dent in our finances
I reckon it only really becomes a problem when you spend more than one season out of the CL. As for Suarez, it was a great bit of business. There are some really good young players out there.. and Chelsea are buying them all and loaning them out.
Considering the level of recent success Kroos has had in the champions league, and may yet again this season, is it inconceivable that he might take on the challenge of being part of a United renaissance? It's one season (hopefully!) out of the competition. Not the end of the world, for a player with ambition. Just a different type of challenge.
Thats why I was asking for examples. Which players have joined a non champions league club ahead of one on the competition? The reality is, most examples are pretty average players
Yaya Toure to City? Which proves your point about chucking money at them. That Brazilian Robinho, also to City, who they thought was brilliant but was actually ****e. Then again, he thought he was signing for United the thick ****. Fitted in nicely there.
Yaya ia a good shout but didnt he become the highest paid in the premier league when he joined city? Theres a few examples but they are the exception and usually come with mental wages Could have all been avoided. Thats the worst bit.
Agreed. City showed that with money anything is possible. The most important factors are the willingness of the owners to pay well over the odds for quality players. And to pay them inflated wages. I am afraid lots of you have been over optimistic in your assessment of our strength. I said the squad was absolute **** and we needed much more than the £150m being banded around as the amount set aside by the greedy Gs. It will get worse before it gets better and I am not f**king joking..
You have to take risks as we have had to for ages now You might throw more cash at it than what we have I dont know but you better hope if you dont, you have a ****ing top notch scouting network and be able to get deals done before money doesnt matter clubs come in
Doubt we'll be out of Europe tbh. City should win the LC and the FAC will almost certainly be one of the top four / five. Reckon we should get Europa League if nothing else. City got Yaya, Silva, and Tevez without CL football, and we've just signed Mata without the guarantee of any European football next year. Like Sisu says, top players will move to top clubs even if they're having a bit of a blip - Hazard and Oscar weren't turned off by Chelsea finishing 6th, and Ozil went to Arsenal despite the eight years with no trophies. The problem comes when you fail to quality for the CL for more than one season, or fail to win anything for a while. Then you get players like Torres and RVP forcing moves elsewhere. This summer we should be able to pick up the quality of players we always have, but if we miss out on the CL next year then it becomes harder to attract players, and keep the ones we have.
I think you'll probably be alright, you'll still attract big players because of your recent successes. Top players will still want to join United because of the clubs status. The trouble will come if you spend a couple of years out of it.
Like Mata at Chelsea this season, Sturridge wasn't getting played in the big games at either City or Chelsea You can get good players from TOP4 clubs, if they aren't getting much gametime TBF.
You've answered your own question. When I said around Xmas/New year when we were still in real (rather than dreaming) contention for 4th, this squad needed at least £300m, many (including you I think) scoffed at this saying we only needed some "tweaking" with a few top players and United only needed less than half that amount. It all depends on the f**king greedy Gs and what their vision/objectives are. If they want to get and keep United at the top of the tree, then they have to spend and spend big. They will have to accept some unreal transfer fees and wages for the top players (factoring at least 20-30% premium). Look at Rooney. Good as he is, do you think he would have the gall to ask for 300K when Ferguson was dominating the premiership? The obvious answer is NO because fergie would have let him go. He knows that United is now in a weak postion and he is needed and cannot easily be sold without giving the wrong global message and affecting United's already battered reputation. As for players coming to United even when they are out of CL, of course they will come. Like any sportsmen they will go to the highest bidder. Even for a top player, it is a short career. Would you want to go into Arsenal City or Chelsea to earn 5 million a year and play in the CL OR go to United and earn 10-12 million without CL but with some prospect of getting it in the future? For me getting the CL will be (and should have been) a given with or without Moyes. Without excusing him, this season, what could go wrong have gone wrong for him. He lost points against teams in the dying minutes of games (fergie in reverse !) WBA, Cardiff, Fulham, Everton and others, through sloppiness and defensive mistakes. These lost points would have kept him and United in a CL place. That is why I said when he bought Mata I said it will get worse before it gets better. But in a normal season, United should have enough to get to 4th. The problem will be wrestling the title from either the Chavs or City.
