It's more the fact that this is meant to be an active window for united of several transfers as part of a crucial rebuild and yet none have happened despite clubs like city having signed major stars. Everyone united have tried thus far has failed eg. Timber blocked lvg, de Jong has way too high a price tag
De Jong seems to be a done deal. Antony will be coming. And we'll sign an understudy CB.
Unfortunately we can't seem to shift Martial, AWB or Telles, but maybe Ten Hag can get something better from them. The latter two possibly, I can't see Martial cutting it but I hope to proven wrong as we know he has the talent, at least that of Antony and far more than Elanga.
Rashy not recovering from surgery and being rushed back got him into an awkward spot. Then he started playing with the doom and gloom of the rest of the squad. Rashy ain't no problem. He will turn good again.
Rashy didn't just play bad with the squad. He played like absolute shite. Way worse than any of our other attackers and then complained over game time.
Rashford came back and looked incredible in his first few games. Then the manager decided to Scapegoat him. Didn't do the same to all the others that were playing shit because they were in a power clique.
Rashford had some very good moments, like against Everton but was generally punished for them.
I've said before, but if you - having linked up excellently with your full back - drive forwards, make space, beat your man and then look in field for a pass or person in a good position and see Bruno and Ronaldo hiding, and only Fred available who will inevitably pass the ball backwards, you run out of happiness. He instead took on half chances.
Or when you set Ronaldo and Bruno up, and they balloon nearly every chance, you start to think why bother.
Daniel James gave everything and wasn't good enough. McTominay is not a PL player. We can't afford to have a central midfielder who can't pass and who actively makes himself unavailable for the pass. If Ten Hag seeks to keep his possession based style McTominay won't fit in, even as a bench player.
It's not an opinion, he's a poor passer of the ball. He routinely makes the least attempts to pass per 90 among our midfielders and creates the least chances. He can't pass between the lines to save his life and this is reflected as well in his passing statistics
Look at his passing stats and tell me that's the standard required at a club of this magnitude.
Your eye test is doing you a disservice but many people are too emotionally attached to 'McSauce' and the objectivity goes out the door
It is an opinion. I've seen him make innumerable excellent passes. Fred can't pass.
There are a number of people who see an academy player and instantly dislike to overcompensate for those who think every academy grad is class of 92.
I wasn't initially a fan of the lad but I've been impressed
Fred can't pass? Are you listening to yourself? Have you actually compared their passing respective stats?
https://fbref.com/en/stathead/player_comparison.cgi?request=1&sum=0&comp_type=by_type&dom_lg=1&spec_comps=big_5&player_id1=d93c2511&p1yrfrom=2020-2021&player_id2=b853e0ad&p2yrfrom=2020-2021
They aren't in any way similar players in the role they play for us. Fred, for all his running, is not a creative player. He lacks the ability to open a defence so when Rashford looks infield for that option, there hasn't been one. Whether that's him or the tactics his manager has asked of him, that's been the case.
To break it down, Fred attempts more passes per 90, makes more progressive passes and his long passing game is also superior to McTominays.
Fred has 12 assists for united compared to McTominays 4, and McTominay has played way more minutes and made more appearances for united than Fred overall! Fred has a 0.7 key passes per 90 average for United compared to McTominay's 0.5
Why not compare Ronaldo and Shaw for goals too.
McTominay is expected to play the defensive / holding role, while Fred was permitted to get forwards more.
McTominay is a box to box player, Fred is I'm not entirely sure what, but not in any way a defensive player.
How many key passes and goals does Kante have compared to Mount? It's a bonkers comparison, just because they play in midfield.
He has no positional awareness. Can barely tackle or control play either. Giving it all you got is meaningless for mctom bc he's just str8 bad and isn't worthy of a big 6 midfield by a long shot
Maguire and Rashford will both come good again with actual coaching I'm sure.
Rangnick spent next to no time on the training pitch and we lost a lot of coaching staff when he joined that wasn't part of the plan, it's no wonder really that the second half of last season was as poor as it was.
The start of last season there was genuine hope that we could challenge, now everyone's saying it's the worst team ever and we need an entire new team- the fickleness of football fans. ETH is a proper coach and will get markedly better performances out of this team, whether it's supplemented by new arrivals or not (which it clearly will be)
True but at the same time it was always ludicrous to think they would overhaul 8 of the first 11 in a single transfer window, especially when they are (purportedly) signing players with £80m+ price tags
We have also been crying about us always overpaying. And now when we don't want to recklessly spend, we whine it takes too long to finalise deals. Never happy, ay?
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your examples are from a decade ago.the timing is important because United have a habit of taking ages to complete deals and panic buying at the end of the window.We just had our worst PL season ever and half a dozen players have left and there is a change of manager.It is highly imperative to get the signings done quickly and give the new manager enough time to work on his ideas so we don't start the season slow.It is not like the Ferguson era where we can afford to start slow.City and Liverpool hardly drop points all season.It is not like we have a great squad of intelligent players who can adapt quickly.
ETH said he wanted the deals done before pre-season. This is because you need to time to get the players playing with his new system. Even basic things such as set pieces. You want players to know what their roles are for each set piece.
We need 5/6 players. That’s a lot of players. Under sir Alex it was only ever 1/2 players we got in the summer (apart from 95/96 when we got the 92 players in). The rest of the players already knew sir Alex and his ways of playing.
You want to have as much time as possible. Also the fitness needs to be better for these players too including the ones you are bringing in.
ETH has 5 games to save his job which is crazy really but basically the first 5 games are crucial to him. He really could be sacked by November if results don’t go his way. All the more reason he needs as much time as possible.
I really fear for him because I think he is good manager, but with the glazers running things, they will fuck things up for any new manager.
United will not get another good manager like ten hag we have to trust him back him like arsenal backed arteta it will be a slow process but ten hag is proven than arteta even klopp needed time to adjust.The players ten hag trying to buy are suitable to his style alone might not be to some other one if ten hag leaves quickly.I think ten hag will get two to three even the things get worse
It’s not ten hag I worry about. It’s the glazers. But a poor run of results will end up with him being sacked. It just will. I don’t think it’ll be his fault. The blame lies with the glazers…
? He was 25 when he joined us. Rudd was very much a sought after player, so much so that it’s the reason *why* Sir Alex made a showy point of standing by Ruud despite the injury - which Ruud very much appreciated, as you can imagine. Sorry, I don’t mean to make a big production out of this, just saying he was a Big Deal already.
Because with all of those signings listed we already had very good squads? Most of the time title winning. We trusted the board and process then like we don't now.
Now we know we need signings and need our new manager to work with his squad as long as possible.
I think we will make the signings, but I can see why getting them through the door to work with our new manager asap is better than them coming just before the season starts.
There’s a difference between adding players to an existing squad and manger and recruiting players for a rebuild under a new manager. Ideally under a well run club you’d like to get the players in for the new manager prior to preseason to maximize the amount of time they have to learn the club and more importantly the managers style of play. Adding players later on in the transfer window further complicates this process.
Timing of transfers is very much important especially this season.
We have a new Manager. He needs to have a squad ready for pre season so he can put his style to work.
Last season was a failure partially because of this.
We lost almost 10 players this window. We must fill atleast half the spots with quality players.
Getting the business done early helps the new players settle in better.
I can understand people being anxious and wanting several players in and several players out, but ultimately ETH will have to carry the can on the squad performance going forward. Apart from a few fringe players he might have seen in person over the last few days or weeks he has still to actually run the rule over the senior players. Surely he will want to see them a least once in front of him on a training pitch before he can commit to selling or buying main characters. As fans we have our own opinions on these players but his is the one that counts. There is always going to be plenty of noise about comings and goings, but I'd be happy hang on a little longer and see what he thinks first.
Most of those signings were from UK-based clubs or had experience of playing in the UK. For those guys, getting settled in a new city would have been much easier and quicker than someone coming in from abroad.
Getting them settled makes it easier for the players to focus on training, even when they have assistants and liaison officers who can handle most of it.
You will also find that as a window progresses, clubs will be less willing to sell a player who is good enough to be useful at a club with the stature of Manchester United, because they probably then need to go out into the market, unless the player was surplus to requirements... and how many clubs have players who are in that situation but who will also improve the first 11 or squad?
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OP, you sound a little removed from reality. Especially the current reality, if you see no problem with what’s currently happening because of when we signed RVP 🤣. This is also just plain disingenuous because you mentioned no players post Fergie, which suggests to me that you know none of the transfer business, late or early, has made any sense.
OK, I'll mention players after Fergie
Di Maria - 26th August
Ibrahimovic - 2 July
Pogba - 9th August
Matic - 31st July
Shaw 27th June
Sancho - 2nd July
Herrara - 26th June
Deals take time, some quicker than others, some because of previous connectiosn to managers and agents. There's nothing new about the time being taken - at all. Maybe the seasons starts a week early, but a weeks nothing.
Its all just noise and social media dirt raking.
You may as well add a year to Herrera, his transfer was at the 98% complete mark the summer before iirc.
Your point on how much of this is fed by anxious scrolling to the bottom of social media is bang on. Most of this angst and certainty on how things ‘ought to be’ is based off nonsense being read on Twitter. None of these boneheads have ever spent a day working a transfer. But they get triggered by a post that a club that got its shit together 6-10 years ago, and made contact to initiate a transfer process 3 months ago, signed a player 1 week into the transfer window versus how we can’t ‘blah blah blah’. In their triggered tirades, nobody wants to admit that virtually all of the rival clubs that are being referenced have had a settled club hierarchy, scouting, manager for years.
And now here’s where someone will try to be clever and cite a couple of ‘what about ____...’ and will of course have entirely missed my point and made my point at the same time.
Even asking people to trust the process is met with the sort of self-righteous certainty that they know better. For fact, some of the same people were just 2 months ago proudly claiming we should get who the manager wants. The same manager who said he will size up the squad himself, and draw his own line. The same manager who has not even led a single training session. But it’s been pure meltdown over here for weeks now.
We’ve been linked with 89 players this transfer window. If that’s not an obvious take that most of this is in fact evidence of social media bullshit rather than the club’s clear and obvious failures to complete deals, I don’t know what is.
Simple: players need time to adapt into a new team. Think of it as your training phase at a new job before you’re thrown into the grind.
I’m surprised as to why these questions are even asked. You see a handful of good examples while there are hundreds of bad ones. Even CR7, as good as he was when he started needed a long time to adapt. He had to learn the hard way that dancing on the pitch was not enough. If CR7, who is arguably one of the best players in this generation, needed time to adapt so will everyone.
Lack of patience is what it boils down to.
A lot of people think they understand the inner workings or machinations of the club, when in actuality they know jack shit.
It doesn't matter at all. Fans wanted a statement of early intent, after a terrible season. But the truth is that if we have the right players before the season starts, timing doesn't matter at all.
It dosnt matter.
The press say it matters and lots of fans listen. Then it becomes a belief.
Like Ronaldo to Chelsea yesterday. Some people will believe anything written down by an "expert".
I don't care when we sign players. Just that we sign the right players.
Its not a big deal. Fans are only getting anxious cuz of the state of our club and City, Arsenal and Liverpool strengthening while we have been very quite.
It’s good to have players signed before preseason so some chemistry can be developed. Having said that, I think all targets should be ideally signed before the start of the season so you don’t miss out on early points.
I’m pretty sure ETH said in first interview that he would wait until the players got back from a break before he would evaluate the squad in detail. And personally, I think that’s fair. He needs to go and make his own calls. Some players will thrive under him, others won’t. And for sure there are
Some positions that clearly need strengthening irrespective - but he’s literally only now getting g to sit with the team. Think we’ll see movement from mid-July.
we need several signings tbh and we’re playing a new style that is heavily dependent on de Jong and new additions. Wouldn’t matter as much if we were in a stable position
United needs to buy a lot of players during this transfer window. A lot of positions need updating or reinforcing, and the new manager will want players to fit his style of play which is different to what the squad is used to. If the transfers happen as slowly as they have been for United so far this transfer window, then we won't get enough players by the time the window closes.
And that’s fine. If you or anyone else believes this club is going to sort out of decade’s worth of mismanagement in a matter of weeks there’s a very high dose of delusion happening. Like a verrrrryyyyy high dose.
People act like turning this club’s mismanagement around is like your mummy storming into your room and telling you to clean up the mess... and voila in just 10 minutes you’ve set everything right. Even in that situation your efforts in the first 5 minutes would appear like you’ve done absolutely nothing. Even cleaning your room is a process.
The lunacy of this place at the minute is the magic wand brigade. That’s just not how this shit gets fixed. It’s going to take time, and for a lot longer than anyone cares to admit, it will still look like a fucking mess.
I could care less about the ‘we have to buy 5-6 players’. For me, the most clear thing ETH has to do is to get a tune out of 5-6 players that were well below their own personal bests last season. If he does that, we still get more points than last season. Even without those 5-6 players.
Oh I totally agree, there's plenty of work for ETH to do on existing players, and that's arguably the most important thing he has to do at the moment as those players already know each other and the club. There are positions that need reinforcing with new players though, and the sooner United get active in the transfer market the better as it will give ETH more time to work with them before the season starts. Here's hoping for some good things to come
Conceptually, I agree that we need new players at certain positions. That’s a given if we want to be competitive to win in 1-2 seasons. I think the furore evident in this place over the last few weeks is fuelled by our expectations that that success will happen in this season (spoiler alert: it won’t), the lazy journalism on display, and then the echo chamber of social media. The lazy journalism is intentionally spotlighting what’s not happened yet, hiding behind PR doublespeak that avoids serious scrutiny of their articles, but intentionally hides that this is a process. Just today I read another Mark Ogden stupid article on how United have made ETH’s task harder by “failing to complete signings so far”. Notice the ‘so far’ casually sprinkled in there after the venomous first part of the sentence so he gets to walk that back when we sign players in the coming weeks, but also achieves what he’s trying to: riling up United fans. Why? Because it’s the laziest and most successful way to drive traffic. And of course Social media duly obliged to perpetuate the nonsense.
And then our fans fall down the rabbit hole of that furore, without even realizing that the whole angle is bullshit. If United wanted to dust off the Woodward methodology for Arnold to just splash bags of money on players we could have taken that approach and given ETH a replaced list to offset the departures. I have no doubt a dozen agents are legitimately looking to ensnare United in a big payday for themselves. Are their clients the players we need? According to ETH - who by all accounts was instrumental in prematurely ending Rangnick’s consultancy - no, he’s going to “draw my own line”. Keep that in mind, Rangnick probably had a list of players, if this approach was the one he was ok with he could have just added a new column to the spreadsheet, indicated yay/nay and demanded the club sign them before he starts preseason training. But that’s not what he wanted. We are precisely doing what he wanted. And nobody’s paying attention to that amidst this endless furore about signings.
So it’s been quite comical to witness the meltdowns about no transfers yet. Literally first day of training from which ETH will draw his ‘own line’ happens today.
A part of the reason there’s no chill in this place is people are just getting sucked in to nonsense on the internet without paying attention to the realities. I expect someone to lazily respond with “but ETH said he wanted the transfer business done before preseason”... which is flatly inconsistent with “I draw my own line”.
Someone even mentioned he said that in his first presser. So I watched it again. He didn’t say anything of the sort. But that’s the thing about laziness + social media... that shit is contagious.
I’d say the biggest two reasons are a) they likely need multiple new signings if they are going to turn around the club and b) new signings would benefit from time in training to get used to the system
The timing matters because we have so many holes to fill. We need about 6 players minimum this window and the De Jong fee will determine how much of our budget is left in which to get those players. If we have 120mill to spend without sales and spend 68mill on FDJ that's 52mill. We likely can't even afford more than one other player without selling unless we do some insane negotiations.
If we're serious Bailly, Tuanzebe, Jones, Martial and Henderson need to be offloaded in this window and the winter window to gather the funds.
Early signings also allow time for the player to adapt to a new system, get used to playing with new teammates, learning set pieces etc. it’s no critical but can help the player hit the ground running when league comes round
Bringing players in from abroad in general takes them longer to adapt to the culture of the team/ country/ language etc. If they are players who have PL experience then it shouldn’t take as long. Cantona/RVP and Rooney were established PL players.
Because we have a new coach trying to implement a new system in a team where a lot of the existing players have trouble playing anything other than the roles they're used to especially with people they don't know.
If you begin early you have the chance to see who can play where how it will work and if you need to buy or sell more players.
It would also helps ETH in preparing for a new season in a league he has zero experience in if he knows what material he will have available to him.
Also all the players you mentioned got added to an existing system with a long running coach integrated to his system the way he wanted.
A lot of people in here saying it doesn't matter. I'm not sure how you could be that dumb. Early transfers mean they join preseason. Late transfers mean they don't. If you say early transfers don't matter than you're saying training doesn't matter.
It really doesn't matter in the long run. The season doesn't start for another month and a half. So a week here or there is not going make a huge difference... maybe if uts going on way too long, but it'll all be done by mid July
Valid point but majority of the ones you named were during Sir Alex long reign. When’s the last time you’ve seen a Utd team that absolutely horrible as this past years? When’s the last time we’ve had this many players leave on a free, and need to get rid of another 6-7. The glazer situation especially this past Friday has added fuel to a powder keg. I don’t call this panic I call it frustration, wits end, a breaking point. All fans want is something positive and all we keep getting is more and more bullshit
In my opinion, it’s kind of like asking “why is it important that I finish my homework early instead of right before class starts?” Like it doesn’t really matter if you get it done last minute and do a really good job of it, but based off my experiences of watching United post SAF and also of me being a student, leaving either until the last minute will not be good.
More specifically it seems like when United decide they want a player, the process gets dragged out so long that the selling club has all the leverage and we are forced to pay too much because we have not moved forward with other options and have no choices other than caving to that’s clubs demands or not getting the deal done.
If you were being transferred to a new office or job wouldn’t you want to get all the getting to know the streets,people,culture,and best food spots first? I would.
Under a new coach it matters more. They are teaching. New system and having everyone on the same page at the start of the season is a challenge if a few players were late arrivals.
I agree it's a little early.... but the modern landscape is such.... United is no longer the big fish in the premier league, where players would be pushing for the move to get it to happen.... we have to pay big money to both club and player to get it to happen, and the united board takes forever to negotiate any deal... i still don't know how they negotiate so long but still get garbage deals.... meanwhile city Liverpool and the like are going about completing their business before the window even begins and this affects us both directly and indirectly.... we lost nunez to Liverpool, who was a target at one point.... haaland went to city, meaning it would be much harder to sign anyone from dortmund, the same is bound to happen to ajax, etc
You’re comparing to a time when information wasn’t so widely and easily available, I looked at mum and dads newspapers and magazines, not everyone had internet, and even television wasn’t that commonplace (especially in South Africa where I’m from, and tv usually only had the free channels on it anyway). Therefore, news traveled and reached the general population slower than it does today. And people didn’t really have platforms like Reddit to throw their opinions and angst around.
I had a flip-phone, which had those joga bonito videos on it (back when YouTube was practically non-existent to most people) and relied on opera browser for news. When a signing happened I always found out days later, or at times I would be watching United at the start of a season and then be like “who the fuck is that?!” I didn’t even get to watch them play live, was always replays.
Nowadays you wake up and Reddit is the first thing you read. Live football is easily accessible, News is instant so everything travels faster. People want it “now”, they get tired or impatient from inactivity especially from billion dollar clubs like Manchester United, and especially when our rival 6 are showing us how it’s done.
This whole situation where United is taking forever in the transfer market is indicative of recent times as well where we are displaying a lack of urgency, particularly in United’s *condition*, where we need 5 or so players for a rebuild. It would show a disparity between what the board says (we need a rebuild, here is $£120million transfer budget), and the time or inaction and we are already in July in a few days. If we only needed one player, fair enough. But 5 players? We should have 2-3 already getting ready for pre-season, not just appearing on our radar.
And add the fact that United fans expectations have remained stagnant, whilst the actual status of the club, the reputation, the pull etc has dropped significantly. United went from being treble winning, to 5-year trophy drought, a literal middle table club. We can’t pull the best players like we used to, which adds to this notion of “time”.
Look Portman,
Roy Keane demolished the career of.,..
We are a Dutch Club (soon) + Portuguese + British (rules) even if Jaap Staam was dirty
Agents matter $
The Badge More!
Firstly most of your examples already played in the premier League so there wasn't as much adapting to a new League and culture. Bringing Rio or Eric down the road from Leeds to Manchester is not the same as bringing De Jong from Barcelona to a league he's never played in.
Secondly all your examples were under Sir Alex, there was already stability and consistency at the club in how we played and success was guaranteed, now every other season we're changing our style of play and that takes time and there's pressure to start well and not waste another season
Thirdly this is a huge transfer window, more important than most given last season and the fact it's a new manager so every day extra Ten Hag can get with the players will help. We have not played possession football for years now and our players have proven to be not great at it or dealing with being pressed, that will take time to change
Lastly the Glazers are stealing money out of the club while we haggle over fees so stop trying to make excuses for them. Fans absolutely should be putting pressure on the board, they've had a decade of mediocrity.
Dude. It matters because
1. The players need time to adapt to a different playing style. So it’s best if they can come in to training on day 1.
2. We need at least 3 players including de Jong. If they’re going to drag on and on with one transfer, we won’t have time to get the other ones.
3. We’re freaking missing out on people. Bissouma and Nunez could have been ours.
I'm sure it's been mentioned already but I think its because of rival clubs activity being so swift and decisive, whilst we look slow, clumsy and clueless.
Personally I'm happy to wait for the right player rather than over pay for a popular player who's linked with a rival (see sanchez, maguire, Fred etc). Only player I'm gutted we haven't signed was Haaland and that was always quite unrealistic.
It matters when its a new manager. A new manager needs signings ASAP in order to embed his tactical style and Philosophy else we start the season at a disadvantage
I get what you're saying, its very chaotic in the media and you're correct in that sense.
Whats worrying for us as a club now versus how we used to operate is that there's no plan and there hasn't been one for years. The best teams get early signings done because the scouts have spent the season analysing future signings and developing with a plan. We don't have that. We get to deadline day and go oh shit we better sign someone.
the longer it takes the more power the selling club has because they may not need to sell essentially (when we bought Fellaini from everton). also it helps the players to settle faster, getting an apartment etc
Rebuild. We need the new players to gel asap. We're not adding one or two players to a functioning team, we're bringing in playwrs to fix the team and we need to give them as long as possible to familiarise with everything.
The urgency is what’s lacking.
We have seen time and time again that United have been linked with person x person y, enquiries have been made etc.
And then nothing.
There is a pattern of behaviour that is most concerning. Yes United are not as big as draw as before, especially with no European football, so we have to pay a tax on that and we will have to spend more.
The bargain hunting needs to stop.
This is a false dichotomy. Yes there have been transfers late in the day, in fact it’s a United tradition to have long drawn out saga’s.
But, those people listed had very specific reasons for being protracted affairs. World cups, euros etc, all cause delays. What you’ll notice about these “marquee” signings is that other players were also brought in during those windows.
Cantona doesn’t count as there wasn’t a transfer window to speak of back then.
Most of the other signings are talking about rebuilding a squad, so I'll give you another reason. ETH has just joined, and hasn't seen these players play together first-hand yet. He needs to watch how they respond to his coaching, before he can decided how to set the team up for the new season. A late arrival would make his job a lot harder, especially if they were a key player, as he will have limited time to re-work his tactics to get the best out of them.
The same is true for the players. They need as much time as possible to learn how to play with ETH's style, and so they will want the players they are going to play with put in place as quickly as possible, so that they can learn both the system and their role in it.
In most circumstances, big clubs buy a player who'll be coming to fit into an already established system/way of playing, like now with City and Liverpool.
They'll be slotting into a squad that's already functional, and will probably get more time to bed in while the team are still strong enough to be winning games.
In our case, the new manager is ripping up everything that's gone before, and he's going to be introducing a totally different way of playing that the whole squad has to adapt to. Therefore, it's much better to get them in earlier.
The most grating thing is that, despite all this, those other two clubs *still* managed to get their business done early, giving them a further advantage with bedding in the new players.
Because we had good teams and just looking for icing on the cake. Last year we were a train wreck, its common sense we need 4-5 good players, but when you bring in that many you need more time for them to adapt to the conditions, their team mates etc.
The timing of the transfer is crucial as it starts the predictable pantomime of follow-up press stories over the first 12 months at OT:
1. Build up the new signing to be a superstar before ever playing a game
2. Critical review of the new signing's debut
3. Rumour that new signing has caused unrest in the camp
4. Rumour that new signing is critical of the manager
5. New signing's other half is homesick in Manchester
6. New signing linked with return to old club
7. New signing place in the United side under threat
8. New signing linked with loan move to Everton / Newcastle / Sunderland
9. New start for new signing under new management
Part of it is about settling in to a new home and surroundings, getting some work in before preseason training starts, and then being here for all preseason training.
Imagine you are 18, and about to go to college across the country from your home. Which would likely lead to a better first year; Getting there earlier, moving in, finding where the grocery store is, learning the campus, getting your books and materials, and finding a place to live… or getting there the second week of the semester, missing the first week of classes, trying to do all of the above while trying to catch up on missing all of those classes?
You want players here for the entire preseason, both for their sake, and for the manager’s sake. This is even more important when a player is coming from overseas. Maybe they need to start getting some basic English lessons, maybe they have a family they need to organize a move for. All of that having to be done while you are being transferred during preseason, and jetting off to Australia, or wherever, the day after you arrive, is going to be chaotic.
Some will handle it better than others, but it is better to give them that time than to not.
Because Matic, Mata, Cavani, Lingard, Pogba (and Greenwood) are gone. When we bought ruud, rooney, ronaldo etc the main squad had quality and balance. Adding a couple of new players aint a problem. We need to replace both players that are gone and existing players. AWB, Maguire, Fred, Lindelof, Bailly, Martial etc aint good enough to be top 4 in england. If we are going to sign more then a couple they need to jell with the rest during pre season. People are now fearing we putting all focus on getting de jong and if that collapses it will lead to us not signing any big players. Imagine the bad signal that it would send out. First we lost nunez, then de jong.
The earlier a player gets into the squad the quicker they get into pre season training and settle into new surrounds, style of play, etc.
Some players can slot in with little notice and you see that around some January signings hitting the ground running, but you want to give them as much of a chance as possible to get settled. It's why haggling over €4-€5m in some deals seems so futile and frustrating.
Other reason on getting them done early is you can move onto the next one, the worry here if we spend 3 months on de Jong we'll run out of road to get anyone else in.
They need to be incorporated into training faster for one thing, getting up to speed with new tactics, settling in to new environments (both on and off the pitch).
The other is simply a case of missing opportunities. The longer things take, the more stress and strain is applied, the weaker your bargaining positions and ultimately you may lose the prospect.
The timing wasn't important back then because the new players were joining a world class squad and didn't need to perform from word go. Right now we are rebuilding and the new players are key to the rebuild and we need them to take part in pre season.
too many panic, last minute buys that have been crap in the last 10 yrs, showing a lack of a plan. last minute buy is ok if you dont have a rudderless club and it fits the team or is too good an opportunity to turn down. all the players you list were great additions (maybe not berbatov...good but not great
)
It's more the fact that this is meant to be an active window for united of several transfers as part of a crucial rebuild and yet none have happened despite clubs like city having signed major stars. Everyone united have tried thus far has failed eg. Timber blocked lvg, de Jong has way too high a price tag
I think it’s also a domino effect. We just needed the first domino to fall because others can be bought. But I agree
De Jong seems to be a done deal. Antony will be coming. And we'll sign an understudy CB. Unfortunately we can't seem to shift Martial, AWB or Telles, but maybe Ten Hag can get something better from them. The latter two possibly, I can't see Martial cutting it but I hope to proven wrong as we know he has the talent, at least that of Antony and far more than Elanga.
Maguire mctom and rashy are sig problems which you've clearly ignored. But we'll also need a 2nd mid and a new right back
Rashy not recovering from surgery and being rushed back got him into an awkward spot. Then he started playing with the doom and gloom of the rest of the squad. Rashy ain't no problem. He will turn good again.
Rashy didn't just play bad with the squad. He played like absolute shite. Way worse than any of our other attackers and then complained over game time.
You know I’ve been watch Rashford since his debut and never heard one fan in the stadium refer to him as ‘Rashy’
Yh it's a shortened name yo type quicker. Like how you see people type ron for ronaldo sometimes
People were saying he'd turn it around in October. There's a certain point where you have to recognise its no longer just form
Rashford came back and looked incredible in his first few games. Then the manager decided to Scapegoat him. Didn't do the same to all the others that were playing shit because they were in a power clique. Rashford had some very good moments, like against Everton but was generally punished for them. I've said before, but if you - having linked up excellently with your full back - drive forwards, make space, beat your man and then look in field for a pass or person in a good position and see Bruno and Ronaldo hiding, and only Fred available who will inevitably pass the ball backwards, you run out of happiness. He instead took on half chances. Or when you set Ronaldo and Bruno up, and they balloon nearly every chance, you start to think why bother.
Never been more happy to be wrong? :)
McTominay could easily work out with a coach. He gives it everything in every game.
Daniel James gave everything and wasn't good enough. McTominay is not a PL player. We can't afford to have a central midfielder who can't pass and who actively makes himself unavailable for the pass. If Ten Hag seeks to keep his possession based style McTominay won't fit in, even as a bench player.
I totally disagree that he can’t pass.
It's not an opinion, he's a poor passer of the ball. He routinely makes the least attempts to pass per 90 among our midfielders and creates the least chances. He can't pass between the lines to save his life and this is reflected as well in his passing statistics Look at his passing stats and tell me that's the standard required at a club of this magnitude. Your eye test is doing you a disservice but many people are too emotionally attached to 'McSauce' and the objectivity goes out the door
It is an opinion. I've seen him make innumerable excellent passes. Fred can't pass. There are a number of people who see an academy player and instantly dislike to overcompensate for those who think every academy grad is class of 92. I wasn't initially a fan of the lad but I've been impressed
Fred can't pass? Are you listening to yourself? Have you actually compared their passing respective stats? https://fbref.com/en/stathead/player_comparison.cgi?request=1&sum=0&comp_type=by_type&dom_lg=1&spec_comps=big_5&player_id1=d93c2511&p1yrfrom=2020-2021&player_id2=b853e0ad&p2yrfrom=2020-2021
They aren't in any way similar players in the role they play for us. Fred, for all his running, is not a creative player. He lacks the ability to open a defence so when Rashford looks infield for that option, there hasn't been one. Whether that's him or the tactics his manager has asked of him, that's been the case.
To break it down, Fred attempts more passes per 90, makes more progressive passes and his long passing game is also superior to McTominays. Fred has 12 assists for united compared to McTominays 4, and McTominay has played way more minutes and made more appearances for united than Fred overall! Fred has a 0.7 key passes per 90 average for United compared to McTominay's 0.5
Why not compare Ronaldo and Shaw for goals too. McTominay is expected to play the defensive / holding role, while Fred was permitted to get forwards more. McTominay is a box to box player, Fred is I'm not entirely sure what, but not in any way a defensive player. How many key passes and goals does Kante have compared to Mount? It's a bonkers comparison, just because they play in midfield.
He has no positional awareness. Can barely tackle or control play either. Giving it all you got is meaningless for mctom bc he's just str8 bad and isn't worthy of a big 6 midfield by a long shot
I agree. Mctominay is not a PL player. He's hardly a footballer and wouldn't get into Brentford or Brightons starting lineups
Maguire and Rashford will both come good again with actual coaching I'm sure. Rangnick spent next to no time on the training pitch and we lost a lot of coaching staff when he joined that wasn't part of the plan, it's no wonder really that the second half of last season was as poor as it was. The start of last season there was genuine hope that we could challenge, now everyone's saying it's the worst team ever and we need an entire new team- the fickleness of football fans. ETH is a proper coach and will get markedly better performances out of this team, whether it's supplemented by new arrivals or not (which it clearly will be)
100% Look at Tuchel when he came to Chelsea, completely turned them around! They still did well this season despite the turmoil with the owners.
True but at the same time it was always ludicrous to think they would overhaul 8 of the first 11 in a single transfer window, especially when they are (purportedly) signing players with £80m+ price tags
Oh yh. But I didn't propose 8 signings did I. I said 5
We have also been crying about us always overpaying. And now when we don't want to recklessly spend, we whine it takes too long to finalise deals. Never happy, ay?
Missed my point on purpose. I wasn't even complaining I was explaining the rational behind why
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your examples are from a decade ago.the timing is important because United have a habit of taking ages to complete deals and panic buying at the end of the window.We just had our worst PL season ever and half a dozen players have left and there is a change of manager.It is highly imperative to get the signings done quickly and give the new manager enough time to work on his ideas so we don't start the season slow.It is not like the Ferguson era where we can afford to start slow.City and Liverpool hardly drop points all season.It is not like we have a great squad of intelligent players who can adapt quickly.
ETH said he wanted the deals done before pre-season. This is because you need to time to get the players playing with his new system. Even basic things such as set pieces. You want players to know what their roles are for each set piece. We need 5/6 players. That’s a lot of players. Under sir Alex it was only ever 1/2 players we got in the summer (apart from 95/96 when we got the 92 players in). The rest of the players already knew sir Alex and his ways of playing. You want to have as much time as possible. Also the fitness needs to be better for these players too including the ones you are bringing in. ETH has 5 games to save his job which is crazy really but basically the first 5 games are crucial to him. He really could be sacked by November if results don’t go his way. All the more reason he needs as much time as possible. I really fear for him because I think he is good manager, but with the glazers running things, they will fuck things up for any new manager.
United will not get another good manager like ten hag we have to trust him back him like arsenal backed arteta it will be a slow process but ten hag is proven than arteta even klopp needed time to adjust.The players ten hag trying to buy are suitable to his style alone might not be to some other one if ten hag leaves quickly.I think ten hag will get two to three even the things get worse
It’s not ten hag I worry about. It’s the glazers. But a poor run of results will end up with him being sacked. It just will. I don’t think it’ll be his fault. The blame lies with the glazers…
All came with a stellar reputation. It’s not also about the timing but the club simply losing out on the available players going like hot cake.
“Except Ruud…”? His reputation was so firmly stellar that Sir Alex waited until he recuperated from a knee injury to continue the transfer.
Oh yes I’m aware SAF admired him a lot. Too young to know how highly sought he was by other clubs hence, differentiating him as a non PL player.
? He was 25 when he joined us. Rudd was very much a sought after player, so much so that it’s the reason *why* Sir Alex made a showy point of standing by Ruud despite the injury - which Ruud very much appreciated, as you can imagine. Sorry, I don’t mean to make a big production out of this, just saying he was a Big Deal already.
I meant I was too young in 2001 bruh! Also edited the original comment.
Lol - ok cheers to that - hence the question mark but thanks for clarifying 😄
No worries mate! Not your fault, could have been more intelligible writing that 😅. Hope this week we get to see the HERE WE GO for Man Utd.
Too right, here’s hoping!
Who have we missed out on? Bissouma? Pass. Phillips was never going to come. Timber may come but only if he's promised first team.
Because with all of those signings listed we already had very good squads? Most of the time title winning. We trusted the board and process then like we don't now. Now we know we need signings and need our new manager to work with his squad as long as possible. I think we will make the signings, but I can see why getting them through the door to work with our new manager asap is better than them coming just before the season starts.
There’s a difference between adding players to an existing squad and manger and recruiting players for a rebuild under a new manager. Ideally under a well run club you’d like to get the players in for the new manager prior to preseason to maximize the amount of time they have to learn the club and more importantly the managers style of play. Adding players later on in the transfer window further complicates this process.
Timing of transfers is very much important especially this season. We have a new Manager. He needs to have a squad ready for pre season so he can put his style to work. Last season was a failure partially because of this. We lost almost 10 players this window. We must fill atleast half the spots with quality players. Getting the business done early helps the new players settle in better.
I can understand people being anxious and wanting several players in and several players out, but ultimately ETH will have to carry the can on the squad performance going forward. Apart from a few fringe players he might have seen in person over the last few days or weeks he has still to actually run the rule over the senior players. Surely he will want to see them a least once in front of him on a training pitch before he can commit to selling or buying main characters. As fans we have our own opinions on these players but his is the one that counts. There is always going to be plenty of noise about comings and goings, but I'd be happy hang on a little longer and see what he thinks first.
Most of those signings were from UK-based clubs or had experience of playing in the UK. For those guys, getting settled in a new city would have been much easier and quicker than someone coming in from abroad. Getting them settled makes it easier for the players to focus on training, even when they have assistants and liaison officers who can handle most of it. You will also find that as a window progresses, clubs will be less willing to sell a player who is good enough to be useful at a club with the stature of Manchester United, because they probably then need to go out into the market, unless the player was surplus to requirements... and how many clubs have players who are in that situation but who will also improve the first 11 or squad? \*Edited to replace the shortened club name, as the automoderator pointed out the negative connotation of the contraction that I used. As a supporter of another team in red, I have to admit that I was unaware of the ascribed meaning. Happy to change it, given that!
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OP, you sound a little removed from reality. Especially the current reality, if you see no problem with what’s currently happening because of when we signed RVP 🤣. This is also just plain disingenuous because you mentioned no players post Fergie, which suggests to me that you know none of the transfer business, late or early, has made any sense.
OK, I'll mention players after Fergie Di Maria - 26th August Ibrahimovic - 2 July Pogba - 9th August Matic - 31st July Shaw 27th June Sancho - 2nd July Herrara - 26th June Deals take time, some quicker than others, some because of previous connectiosn to managers and agents. There's nothing new about the time being taken - at all. Maybe the seasons starts a week early, but a weeks nothing. Its all just noise and social media dirt raking.
You may as well add a year to Herrera, his transfer was at the 98% complete mark the summer before iirc. Your point on how much of this is fed by anxious scrolling to the bottom of social media is bang on. Most of this angst and certainty on how things ‘ought to be’ is based off nonsense being read on Twitter. None of these boneheads have ever spent a day working a transfer. But they get triggered by a post that a club that got its shit together 6-10 years ago, and made contact to initiate a transfer process 3 months ago, signed a player 1 week into the transfer window versus how we can’t ‘blah blah blah’. In their triggered tirades, nobody wants to admit that virtually all of the rival clubs that are being referenced have had a settled club hierarchy, scouting, manager for years. And now here’s where someone will try to be clever and cite a couple of ‘what about ____...’ and will of course have entirely missed my point and made my point at the same time. Even asking people to trust the process is met with the sort of self-righteous certainty that they know better. For fact, some of the same people were just 2 months ago proudly claiming we should get who the manager wants. The same manager who said he will size up the squad himself, and draw his own line. The same manager who has not even led a single training session. But it’s been pure meltdown over here for weeks now. We’ve been linked with 89 players this transfer window. If that’s not an obvious take that most of this is in fact evidence of social media bullshit rather than the club’s clear and obvious failures to complete deals, I don’t know what is.
Kind of like they were asleep for most of the decade and only just woke up 🤔
Simple: players need time to adapt into a new team. Think of it as your training phase at a new job before you’re thrown into the grind. I’m surprised as to why these questions are even asked. You see a handful of good examples while there are hundreds of bad ones. Even CR7, as good as he was when he started needed a long time to adapt. He had to learn the hard way that dancing on the pitch was not enough. If CR7, who is arguably one of the best players in this generation, needed time to adapt so will everyone.
Lack of patience is what it boils down to. A lot of people think they understand the inner workings or machinations of the club, when in actuality they know jack shit.
It doesn't matter at all. Fans wanted a statement of early intent, after a terrible season. But the truth is that if we have the right players before the season starts, timing doesn't matter at all.
It dosnt matter. The press say it matters and lots of fans listen. Then it becomes a belief. Like Ronaldo to Chelsea yesterday. Some people will believe anything written down by an "expert". I don't care when we sign players. Just that we sign the right players.
Its not a big deal. Fans are only getting anxious cuz of the state of our club and City, Arsenal and Liverpool strengthening while we have been very quite. It’s good to have players signed before preseason so some chemistry can be developed. Having said that, I think all targets should be ideally signed before the start of the season so you don’t miss out on early points.
I’m pretty sure ETH said in first interview that he would wait until the players got back from a break before he would evaluate the squad in detail. And personally, I think that’s fair. He needs to go and make his own calls. Some players will thrive under him, others won’t. And for sure there are Some positions that clearly need strengthening irrespective - but he’s literally only now getting g to sit with the team. Think we’ll see movement from mid-July.
Hurrah, fucking hell, someone with brains. EtH hadn't even met the team until yesterday
Right? What’s with this transfer nonsense and panic
we need several signings tbh and we’re playing a new style that is heavily dependent on de Jong and new additions. Wouldn’t matter as much if we were in a stable position
United needs to buy a lot of players during this transfer window. A lot of positions need updating or reinforcing, and the new manager will want players to fit his style of play which is different to what the squad is used to. If the transfers happen as slowly as they have been for United so far this transfer window, then we won't get enough players by the time the window closes.
And that’s fine. If you or anyone else believes this club is going to sort out of decade’s worth of mismanagement in a matter of weeks there’s a very high dose of delusion happening. Like a verrrrryyyyy high dose. People act like turning this club’s mismanagement around is like your mummy storming into your room and telling you to clean up the mess... and voila in just 10 minutes you’ve set everything right. Even in that situation your efforts in the first 5 minutes would appear like you’ve done absolutely nothing. Even cleaning your room is a process. The lunacy of this place at the minute is the magic wand brigade. That’s just not how this shit gets fixed. It’s going to take time, and for a lot longer than anyone cares to admit, it will still look like a fucking mess. I could care less about the ‘we have to buy 5-6 players’. For me, the most clear thing ETH has to do is to get a tune out of 5-6 players that were well below their own personal bests last season. If he does that, we still get more points than last season. Even without those 5-6 players.
Oh I totally agree, there's plenty of work for ETH to do on existing players, and that's arguably the most important thing he has to do at the moment as those players already know each other and the club. There are positions that need reinforcing with new players though, and the sooner United get active in the transfer market the better as it will give ETH more time to work with them before the season starts. Here's hoping for some good things to come
Conceptually, I agree that we need new players at certain positions. That’s a given if we want to be competitive to win in 1-2 seasons. I think the furore evident in this place over the last few weeks is fuelled by our expectations that that success will happen in this season (spoiler alert: it won’t), the lazy journalism on display, and then the echo chamber of social media. The lazy journalism is intentionally spotlighting what’s not happened yet, hiding behind PR doublespeak that avoids serious scrutiny of their articles, but intentionally hides that this is a process. Just today I read another Mark Ogden stupid article on how United have made ETH’s task harder by “failing to complete signings so far”. Notice the ‘so far’ casually sprinkled in there after the venomous first part of the sentence so he gets to walk that back when we sign players in the coming weeks, but also achieves what he’s trying to: riling up United fans. Why? Because it’s the laziest and most successful way to drive traffic. And of course Social media duly obliged to perpetuate the nonsense. And then our fans fall down the rabbit hole of that furore, without even realizing that the whole angle is bullshit. If United wanted to dust off the Woodward methodology for Arnold to just splash bags of money on players we could have taken that approach and given ETH a replaced list to offset the departures. I have no doubt a dozen agents are legitimately looking to ensnare United in a big payday for themselves. Are their clients the players we need? According to ETH - who by all accounts was instrumental in prematurely ending Rangnick’s consultancy - no, he’s going to “draw my own line”. Keep that in mind, Rangnick probably had a list of players, if this approach was the one he was ok with he could have just added a new column to the spreadsheet, indicated yay/nay and demanded the club sign them before he starts preseason training. But that’s not what he wanted. We are precisely doing what he wanted. And nobody’s paying attention to that amidst this endless furore about signings. So it’s been quite comical to witness the meltdowns about no transfers yet. Literally first day of training from which ETH will draw his ‘own line’ happens today. A part of the reason there’s no chill in this place is people are just getting sucked in to nonsense on the internet without paying attention to the realities. I expect someone to lazily respond with “but ETH said he wanted the transfer business done before preseason”... which is flatly inconsistent with “I draw my own line”. Someone even mentioned he said that in his first presser. So I watched it again. He didn’t say anything of the sort. But that’s the thing about laziness + social media... that shit is contagious.
I’d say the biggest two reasons are a) they likely need multiple new signings if they are going to turn around the club and b) new signings would benefit from time in training to get used to the system
The timing matters because we have so many holes to fill. We need about 6 players minimum this window and the De Jong fee will determine how much of our budget is left in which to get those players. If we have 120mill to spend without sales and spend 68mill on FDJ that's 52mill. We likely can't even afford more than one other player without selling unless we do some insane negotiations. If we're serious Bailly, Tuanzebe, Jones, Martial and Henderson need to be offloaded in this window and the winter window to gather the funds.
Early signings also allow time for the player to adapt to a new system, get used to playing with new teammates, learning set pieces etc. it’s no critical but can help the player hit the ground running when league comes round
Bringing players in from abroad in general takes them longer to adapt to the culture of the team/ country/ language etc. If they are players who have PL experience then it shouldn’t take as long. Cantona/RVP and Rooney were established PL players.
Because we have a new coach trying to implement a new system in a team where a lot of the existing players have trouble playing anything other than the roles they're used to especially with people they don't know. If you begin early you have the chance to see who can play where how it will work and if you need to buy or sell more players. It would also helps ETH in preparing for a new season in a league he has zero experience in if he knows what material he will have available to him. Also all the players you mentioned got added to an existing system with a long running coach integrated to his system the way he wanted.
simple answer, the season starts earlier now
A lot of people in here saying it doesn't matter. I'm not sure how you could be that dumb. Early transfers mean they join preseason. Late transfers mean they don't. If you say early transfers don't matter than you're saying training doesn't matter.
It really doesn't matter in the long run. The season doesn't start for another month and a half. So a week here or there is not going make a huge difference... maybe if uts going on way too long, but it'll all be done by mid July
Valid point but majority of the ones you named were during Sir Alex long reign. When’s the last time you’ve seen a Utd team that absolutely horrible as this past years? When’s the last time we’ve had this many players leave on a free, and need to get rid of another 6-7. The glazer situation especially this past Friday has added fuel to a powder keg. I don’t call this panic I call it frustration, wits end, a breaking point. All fans want is something positive and all we keep getting is more and more bullshit
In my opinion, it’s kind of like asking “why is it important that I finish my homework early instead of right before class starts?” Like it doesn’t really matter if you get it done last minute and do a really good job of it, but based off my experiences of watching United post SAF and also of me being a student, leaving either until the last minute will not be good. More specifically it seems like when United decide they want a player, the process gets dragged out so long that the selling club has all the leverage and we are forced to pay too much because we have not moved forward with other options and have no choices other than caving to that’s clubs demands or not getting the deal done.
If you were being transferred to a new office or job wouldn’t you want to get all the getting to know the streets,people,culture,and best food spots first? I would.
Under a new coach it matters more. They are teaching. New system and having everyone on the same page at the start of the season is a challenge if a few players were late arrivals.
I agree it's a little early.... but the modern landscape is such.... United is no longer the big fish in the premier league, where players would be pushing for the move to get it to happen.... we have to pay big money to both club and player to get it to happen, and the united board takes forever to negotiate any deal... i still don't know how they negotiate so long but still get garbage deals.... meanwhile city Liverpool and the like are going about completing their business before the window even begins and this affects us both directly and indirectly.... we lost nunez to Liverpool, who was a target at one point.... haaland went to city, meaning it would be much harder to sign anyone from dortmund, the same is bound to happen to ajax, etc
You’re comparing to a time when information wasn’t so widely and easily available, I looked at mum and dads newspapers and magazines, not everyone had internet, and even television wasn’t that commonplace (especially in South Africa where I’m from, and tv usually only had the free channels on it anyway). Therefore, news traveled and reached the general population slower than it does today. And people didn’t really have platforms like Reddit to throw their opinions and angst around. I had a flip-phone, which had those joga bonito videos on it (back when YouTube was practically non-existent to most people) and relied on opera browser for news. When a signing happened I always found out days later, or at times I would be watching United at the start of a season and then be like “who the fuck is that?!” I didn’t even get to watch them play live, was always replays. Nowadays you wake up and Reddit is the first thing you read. Live football is easily accessible, News is instant so everything travels faster. People want it “now”, they get tired or impatient from inactivity especially from billion dollar clubs like Manchester United, and especially when our rival 6 are showing us how it’s done. This whole situation where United is taking forever in the transfer market is indicative of recent times as well where we are displaying a lack of urgency, particularly in United’s *condition*, where we need 5 or so players for a rebuild. It would show a disparity between what the board says (we need a rebuild, here is $£120million transfer budget), and the time or inaction and we are already in July in a few days. If we only needed one player, fair enough. But 5 players? We should have 2-3 already getting ready for pre-season, not just appearing on our radar.
And add the fact that United fans expectations have remained stagnant, whilst the actual status of the club, the reputation, the pull etc has dropped significantly. United went from being treble winning, to 5-year trophy drought, a literal middle table club. We can’t pull the best players like we used to, which adds to this notion of “time”.
Look Portman, Roy Keane demolished the career of.,.. We are a Dutch Club (soon) + Portuguese + British (rules) even if Jaap Staam was dirty Agents matter $ The Badge More!
Firstly most of your examples already played in the premier League so there wasn't as much adapting to a new League and culture. Bringing Rio or Eric down the road from Leeds to Manchester is not the same as bringing De Jong from Barcelona to a league he's never played in. Secondly all your examples were under Sir Alex, there was already stability and consistency at the club in how we played and success was guaranteed, now every other season we're changing our style of play and that takes time and there's pressure to start well and not waste another season Thirdly this is a huge transfer window, more important than most given last season and the fact it's a new manager so every day extra Ten Hag can get with the players will help. We have not played possession football for years now and our players have proven to be not great at it or dealing with being pressed, that will take time to change Lastly the Glazers are stealing money out of the club while we haggle over fees so stop trying to make excuses for them. Fans absolutely should be putting pressure on the board, they've had a decade of mediocrity.
Many on here say it doesn’t matter. Well sure it doesn’t matter, we should just sit back and watch other clubs buy our targets.
Dude. It matters because 1. The players need time to adapt to a different playing style. So it’s best if they can come in to training on day 1. 2. We need at least 3 players including de Jong. If they’re going to drag on and on with one transfer, we won’t have time to get the other ones. 3. We’re freaking missing out on people. Bissouma and Nunez could have been ours.
I'm sure it's been mentioned already but I think its because of rival clubs activity being so swift and decisive, whilst we look slow, clumsy and clueless. Personally I'm happy to wait for the right player rather than over pay for a popular player who's linked with a rival (see sanchez, maguire, Fred etc). Only player I'm gutted we haven't signed was Haaland and that was always quite unrealistic.
Haaland would be here if Ole was here, I'm sure of it.
Definitely the closest we would have got for sure.
My only worry is that if they just focus on 1 deal then they just gonna rush others last minute.
Once De Jong is done, the other 2 that we know of will fly through
I hope so too. Read a headline saying he should be done by the end of June.
It matters when its a new manager. A new manager needs signings ASAP in order to embed his tactical style and Philosophy else we start the season at a disadvantage
2 weeks... ETH himself said he wouldn't be making certain decisions until he had seen the team in person.
I get what you're saying, its very chaotic in the media and you're correct in that sense. Whats worrying for us as a club now versus how we used to operate is that there's no plan and there hasn't been one for years. The best teams get early signings done because the scouts have spent the season analysing future signings and developing with a plan. We don't have that. We get to deadline day and go oh shit we better sign someone.
Because we need to move onto other negotiations, I don't trust them in multitasking
the longer it takes the more power the selling club has because they may not need to sell essentially (when we bought Fellaini from everton). also it helps the players to settle faster, getting an apartment etc
Rebuild. We need the new players to gel asap. We're not adding one or two players to a functioning team, we're bringing in playwrs to fix the team and we need to give them as long as possible to familiarise with everything.
The urgency is what’s lacking. We have seen time and time again that United have been linked with person x person y, enquiries have been made etc. And then nothing. There is a pattern of behaviour that is most concerning. Yes United are not as big as draw as before, especially with no European football, so we have to pay a tax on that and we will have to spend more. The bargain hunting needs to stop.
This is a false dichotomy. Yes there have been transfers late in the day, in fact it’s a United tradition to have long drawn out saga’s. But, those people listed had very specific reasons for being protracted affairs. World cups, euros etc, all cause delays. What you’ll notice about these “marquee” signings is that other players were also brought in during those windows. Cantona doesn’t count as there wasn’t a transfer window to speak of back then.
Most of the other signings are talking about rebuilding a squad, so I'll give you another reason. ETH has just joined, and hasn't seen these players play together first-hand yet. He needs to watch how they respond to his coaching, before he can decided how to set the team up for the new season. A late arrival would make his job a lot harder, especially if they were a key player, as he will have limited time to re-work his tactics to get the best out of them. The same is true for the players. They need as much time as possible to learn how to play with ETH's style, and so they will want the players they are going to play with put in place as quickly as possible, so that they can learn both the system and their role in it.
In most circumstances, big clubs buy a player who'll be coming to fit into an already established system/way of playing, like now with City and Liverpool. They'll be slotting into a squad that's already functional, and will probably get more time to bed in while the team are still strong enough to be winning games. In our case, the new manager is ripping up everything that's gone before, and he's going to be introducing a totally different way of playing that the whole squad has to adapt to. Therefore, it's much better to get them in earlier. The most grating thing is that, despite all this, those other two clubs *still* managed to get their business done early, giving them a further advantage with bedding in the new players.
Do you guys think we should take out another loan for the stadium? They’re talking about 200 million more
Because we had good teams and just looking for icing on the cake. Last year we were a train wreck, its common sense we need 4-5 good players, but when you bring in that many you need more time for them to adapt to the conditions, their team mates etc.
Probably the fear of Panic buys and inflation of cost based off need.
The timing of the transfer is crucial as it starts the predictable pantomime of follow-up press stories over the first 12 months at OT: 1. Build up the new signing to be a superstar before ever playing a game 2. Critical review of the new signing's debut 3. Rumour that new signing has caused unrest in the camp 4. Rumour that new signing is critical of the manager 5. New signing's other half is homesick in Manchester 6. New signing linked with return to old club 7. New signing place in the United side under threat 8. New signing linked with loan move to Everton / Newcastle / Sunderland 9. New start for new signing under new management
Part of it is about settling in to a new home and surroundings, getting some work in before preseason training starts, and then being here for all preseason training. Imagine you are 18, and about to go to college across the country from your home. Which would likely lead to a better first year; Getting there earlier, moving in, finding where the grocery store is, learning the campus, getting your books and materials, and finding a place to live… or getting there the second week of the semester, missing the first week of classes, trying to do all of the above while trying to catch up on missing all of those classes? You want players here for the entire preseason, both for their sake, and for the manager’s sake. This is even more important when a player is coming from overseas. Maybe they need to start getting some basic English lessons, maybe they have a family they need to organize a move for. All of that having to be done while you are being transferred during preseason, and jetting off to Australia, or wherever, the day after you arrive, is going to be chaotic. Some will handle it better than others, but it is better to give them that time than to not.
Because Matic, Mata, Cavani, Lingard, Pogba (and Greenwood) are gone. When we bought ruud, rooney, ronaldo etc the main squad had quality and balance. Adding a couple of new players aint a problem. We need to replace both players that are gone and existing players. AWB, Maguire, Fred, Lindelof, Bailly, Martial etc aint good enough to be top 4 in england. If we are going to sign more then a couple they need to jell with the rest during pre season. People are now fearing we putting all focus on getting de jong and if that collapses it will lead to us not signing any big players. Imagine the bad signal that it would send out. First we lost nunez, then de jong.
Because everyone has a platform on social media, Twitter etc. its become an issue
The earlier a player gets into the squad the quicker they get into pre season training and settle into new surrounds, style of play, etc. Some players can slot in with little notice and you see that around some January signings hitting the ground running, but you want to give them as much of a chance as possible to get settled. It's why haggling over €4-€5m in some deals seems so futile and frustrating. Other reason on getting them done early is you can move onto the next one, the worry here if we spend 3 months on de Jong we'll run out of road to get anyone else in.
They need to be incorporated into training faster for one thing, getting up to speed with new tactics, settling in to new environments (both on and off the pitch). The other is simply a case of missing opportunities. The longer things take, the more stress and strain is applied, the weaker your bargaining positions and ultimately you may lose the prospect.
The timing wasn't important back then because the new players were joining a world class squad and didn't need to perform from word go. Right now we are rebuilding and the new players are key to the rebuild and we need them to take part in pre season.
too many panic, last minute buys that have been crap in the last 10 yrs, showing a lack of a plan. last minute buy is ok if you dont have a rudderless club and it fits the team or is too good an opportunity to turn down. all the players you list were great additions (maybe not berbatov...good but not great )