Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015

Backstreet Moyes

Pedro 1/9 to join United and 5/1 to stay at Barca might be worth backing to ease the pain when he stays at Barca.

TheDoc

I don't know why people get so involved in the money aspect of things, when they clearly don't understand what value is, how money works etc.?

I'm long since giving a **** about money for transfers. Sure might comment on it every now and again, but it's garbage how people try compare this player and that player, based on prices and stuff.

If United signed Kane tomorrow for 40m I really wouldn't care. It's addressing a need in the first team, the changes in place this season financially mean all clubs have money to burn, so prices are going to be going up and up.

I'm starting to align more with that train of thought as to why fans care about transfer fees, as it's absolutely laughable how sometimes it gets linked to the quality of the player, when that is like a minor part of the whole ordeal.

jayo26

Coat22 wrote: »

I'm just going to leave for a few hours now - if the mob has turned to defending Nani & Anderson as good value and trying to suggest they had any influence on the club winning any silverware during their time at OT then its time to take a break

Anderson and nani stood up and took a penalty and scored in the champs league final against chelsea and andersons was in sudden death??? Now if you tell me that isnt leading to winning silverware your looking at things slightly different then most other fanst... Bear in mind that both were young footballers at the time....

pmasterson95

Ah back to the classic Nani debates. Gotta love the nostalgia.

adox

Nuts102 wrote: »

Pedro 1/9 to join United and 5/1 to stay at Barca might be worth backing to ease the pain when he stays at Barca.

I dont think there is any doubt now that he is leaving.
Remains to be seen if he ends up at Utd.

TheDoc

adox wrote: »

I dont think there is any doubt now that he is leaving.
Remains to be seen if he ends up at Utd.

I'm still fearing Bayern here

Way too quiet on their front. They've been looking at long term replacements for Ribery and Robben for a while now, Pedro would be an excellent replacement for Robben.

something doesn't add up here, they should be all over him.

Unless *finger to chin* Pep has been in contact, and said go to United, I'll see you soon

Mitch Connor

TheDoc wrote: »

I'm still fearing Bayern here

Way too quiet on their front. They've been looking at long term replacements for Ribery and Robben for a while now, Pedro would be an excellent replacement for Robben.

something doesn't add up here, they should be all over him.

Unless *finger to chin* Pep has been in contact, and said go to United, I'll see you soon

They did just sign Douglas, so maybe that is ok for them this season. Also, a very big chance Pep is not Bayern manager next season, so that might effect their thinking re. long term transfer targets.

bucketybuck

TheDoc wrote: »

I'm still fearing Bayern here

Way too quiet on their front. They've been looking at long term replacements for Ribery and Robben for a while now, Pedro would be an excellent replacement for Robben.

something doesn't add up here, they should be all over him.

Unless *finger to chin* Pep has been in contact, and said go to United, I'll see you soon

Huh? He is 28, are Bayern really going to wait for a year or see him as a long term Robben replacement?

IamtheWalrus

adox wrote: »

I dont think there is any doubt now that he is leaving.
Remains to be seen if he ends up at Utd.

Weren't Chelease the first club to show an interest? From the media anyway.

homerjay2005

TheDoc wrote: »

I don't know why people get so involved in the money aspect of things, when they clearly don't understand what value is, how money works etc.?

I'm long since giving a **** about money for transfers. Sure might comment on it every now and again, but it's garbage how people try compare this player and that player, based on prices and stuff.

If United signed Kane tomorrow for 40m I really wouldn't care. It's addressing a need in the first team, the changes in place this season financially mean all clubs have money to burn, so prices are going to be going up and up.

I'm starting to align more with that train of thought as to why fans care about transfer fees, as it's absolutely laughable how sometimes it gets linked to the quality of the player, when that is like a minor part of the whole ordeal.

over at the match on saturday, there was some talk that we have nowhere near as much money to spend this year as people think we have and i think there is merit in that.

given the fact that so far we have only spent about £20million so far this year after selling Di Maria and the others, im not so sure that we are as willing to part the cash this summer, as we were last year and that money spent, was part of our budget for this year as the need was desperate at that time.

depending on whether you believe the reports or not, we appear to be trying to haggle with Barcelona for Pedro and we wont pay the money that Valencia want for Otamendi. we will need to sign a keeper next year and that could cost us about £30m+.

we have wiped off about £40m off our wage bill this year alone, on top of another £15-30m last year (excluding the players in which of course Di maria and Falcao were a huge impact). i

i think people have got a bit carried away, we all probably have, with last years spending and think we have an endless pit of money but i dont think thats the case now.

we all expect and hope for a striker, winger and CB but would anybody be surprised if we only signed 1, max two and ended the summer with about £60 to £70m outlay?

its still alot of money, but its nowhere near what the club was giving the impression we would spend and definitely isnt anywhere near the expected levels of the fanbase, media and our rivals.

Cookie_Dough

Hi folks,

This is my 2nd post in the soccer forum (long time lurker but finally got the courage to request access )

I am hoping for a decent season, maybe to win a cup or at least have a good run. Hope we would be challenging for the title but judging by City's result Monday this may be hard as they seemed to hit the ground running. Before season started I was hoping 2nd/3rd.

I thought the most important thing from the Spurs game was the 3 points. Hopefully this will build confidence and help the team get into a winning run as the first few fixtures aren't too bad. Arsenal & Chelsea dropped points which is also good for us.

I'm hoping the play will improve and I'm confident it will as the players seem to have recognised they didn't play well (Mata in his blog, Rooney interview afterwards & Blind interview on MUTV afterwards)

Also good to note that City-v-Chelsea is this weekend so one of them will drop points. I know, obviously, it's early days but this may also give the players confidence especially if Chelsea drop more points.

I am confident of at least one more signing and hoping De Gea will stay (I admit I am basing this on absolutely nothing but hey, we can dream)

One ticket for the positivity train before it derails, please?
#ChooChoo

ElChe32

Welcome aboard cookie_dough, we're a friendly bunch for the most part.

bangkok

Anderson was a class player when he signed for us and played class too. think he was 19 when he dominated Gerrard at anfield, used to always run rings around fabregas when he was at Arsenal, won the golden boy award in 2008 (best young player in the world), he won 4 premier league titles, a champions league, Fifa world club cup, 2 league cups, 181 games for united, not bad for a player who was meant to be "sh1t"

Drumpot

Coat22 wrote: »

I'm not too sure Gill was all that great either. United have struggled for years on transfers, right back to the Ronaldinhio debacle in 2003 (Kenyon may have had something to do with this)

United have consistently paid over the odds for players for as long as I can remember - in the Gill era we had Bebe, Dong Whathisname, Bellion all iffy transfers, Anderson & Nani we were screwed on, Carrick at the time was a rip off, Jones at £17M, Berbatov for £31M, even Rio's fee remained a record for a defender for years.

Remember, the Chief exec doesn't decide who to buy, they negotiate the terms.

Gill wasn't CEO when Rio was bought. Ronaldo joined the club in his first season as CEO for 12mi as did heinze for under 7mil.

incidentally, I believe united made a profit on the sale of bellion and I'm not sure the cost of Djemba (net loss of 2.5mil) would concern most people. Some of the lesser players you mentioned aren't worth discussing because their cost was negligible.

You couldn't pick out many of our signings under Woodward and say he got a bargain.

Adamocovic

bucketybuck wrote: »

Huh? He is 28, are Bayern really going to wait for a year or see him as a long term Robben replacement?

I think he was joking referring to Pep coming to United after VG

Your Airbag

According to this Belgian newspaper De Standaard, Biglia has agreed personal terms with Us for 30-40 m €

http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20150811_01814796

bangkok

Coat22 wrote: »

I'm not too sure Gill was all that great either. United have struggled for years on transfers, right back to the Ronaldinhio debacle in 2003 (Kenyon may have had something to do with this)

United have consistently paid over the odds for players for as long as I can remember - in the Gill era we had Bebe, Dong Whathisname, Bellion all iffy transfers, Anderson & Nani we were screwed on, Carrick at the time was a rip off, Jones at £17M, Berbatov for £31M, even Rio's fee remained a record for a defender for years.

Gill was class, led United through some of the most successful periods of the clubs history

Carrick was a class signing, 10 years + of service to the club

Rio was one of the best defenders ever to play in England, 12 years of service to United and a bargain imo

FutureGuy

Cookie_Dough wrote: »

Hi folks,

This is my 2nd post in the soccer forum (long time lurker but finally got the courage to request access )

I am hoping for a decent season, maybe to win a cup or at least have a good run. Hope we would be challenging for the title but judging by City's result Monday this may be hard as they seemed to hit the ground running. Before season started I was hoping 2nd/3rd.

I thought the most important thing from the Spurs game was the 3 points. Hopefully this will build confidence and help the team get into a winning run as the first few fixtures aren't too bad. Arsenal & Chelsea dropped points which is also good for us.

I'm hoping the play will improve and I'm confident it will as the players seem to have recognised they didn't play well (Mata in his blog, Rooney interview afterwards & Blind interview on MUTV afterwards)

Also good to note that City-v-Chelsea is this weekend so one of them will drop points. I know, obviously, it's early days but this may also give the players confidence especially if Chelsea drop more points.

I am confident of at least one more signing and hoping De Gea will stay (I admit I am basing this on absolutely nothing but hey, we can dream)

One ticket for the positivity train before it derails, please?
#ChooChoo

I like the cut of your jib.

Adamocovic

bangkok wrote: »

Gill was class, led United through some of the most successful periods of the clubs history

Carrick was a class signing, 10 years + of service to the club

Rio was one of the best defenders ever to play in England, 12 years of service to United and a bargain imo

While I loved him and think Rio was great I wouldn't classify it as a bargain for the time, wasn't he the most expensive British player in history and most expensive defender in history too at the time? :pac:

Brilliant player and worth the money we spent but I don't know if I would classify it as a bargain ha

Your Airbag

RobertKK

I think Pep will not go to Man City, he has managed clubs that have a certain prestige about them, no offense to City, but United would make sense after managing Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In the footsteps of Van Gaal, whose only other teams to manage at club level were from his own country.

RobertKK

Your Airbag wrote: »

It makes me think United are using their money to train birds to re-enact that Alfred Hitchcock film, at the Club Brugge game...

jayo26

homerjay2005 wrote: »

over at the match on saturday, there was some talk that we have nowhere near as much money to spend this year as people think we have and i think there is merit in that.

given the fact that so far we have only spent about £20million so far this year after selling Di Maria and the others, im not so sure that we are as willing to part the cash this summer, as we were last year and that money spent, was part of our budget for this year as the need was desperate at that time.

depending on whether you believe the reports or not, we appear to be trying to haggle with Barcelona for Pedro and we wont pay the money that Valencia want for Otamendi. we will need to sign a keeper next year and that could cost us about £30m+.

we have wiped off about £40m off our wage bill this year alone, on top of another £15-30m last year (excluding the players in which of course Di maria and Falcao were a huge impact). i

i think people have got a bit carried away, we all probably have, with last years spending and think we have an endless pit of money but i dont think thats the case now.

we all expect and hope for a striker, winger and CB but would anybody be surprised if we only signed 1, max two and ended the summer with about £60 to £70m outlay?

its still alot of money, but its nowhere near what the club was giving the impression we would spend and definitely isnt anywhere near the expected levels of the fanbase, media and our rivals.

I dont see how we can not have money with al lthe new deals done and whats not also when ed was given his usual brief to shareholders he said there was significant amount of money to invest again this year on a par with last year.

United arent hagling with barca oveprice for pedro i believe it is like i said it last week when i was over in barca we did the tour of stadium ect and i was chatting to the tour guide dude about pedro he believed that no deal would be done until eiter pedro said he wanted to leave or united offered barca significantly more money then his release clause..

Pedro wouldnt come out and say he wanted leave because he loves barca and barca wouldnt negotiate with united because they didnt want to be seen as the ones to want him gone.

What happened last night looks like pedro has said he wants to go and barca have said ok you can go for your release clause.

Trond

Adamocovic wrote: »

While I loved him and think Rio was great I wouldn't classify it as a bargain for the time, wasn't he the most expensive British player in history and most expensive defender in history too at the time? :pac:

Brilliant player and worth the money we spent but I don't know if I would classify it as a bargain ha

Ive never seen it written officially but I heard a few times that we ended up only paying 24-25 million for Rio.

We supposedly paid them a sum up front instead of a bigger sum over the next 2/3 years as per the original transfer. This was when Leeds were near bankruptcy. (the first time!)

bangkok

Trond wrote: »

Ive never seen it written officially but I heard a few times that we ended up only paying 24-25 million for Rio.

We supposedly paid them a sum up front instead of a bigger sum over the next 2/3 years as per the original transfer. This was when Leeds were near bankruptcy. (the first time!)

yes was just about to post it, we were paying the transfer in instalments which would be the norm, but leeds were in serious financial trouble and we told them we would pay a £4m fee up front if the fee was reduced to £27m which leeds had no choice but to accept. Leeds also broke the transfer record to sign him and he was the best defender at the 2002 world cup. He was a fantastic defender and if he was around now aged 22 or 23 would easily command a transfer fee of £45-50m

Adamocovic

Trond wrote: »

Ive never seen it written officially but I heard a few times that we ended up only paying 24-25 million for Rio.

We supposedly paid them a sum up front instead of a bigger sum over the next 2/3 years as per the original transfer. This was when Leeds were near bankruptcy. (the first time!)

Hard to know, all that was said was it was around £30 rather than over, I reckon high 20s. Wasn't he already a british record signing when he joined Leeds for less than £20million, just two years before us? And then Thuram took over most expensive at like £20-21 million so regardless of what the exact fee was it is safe to say it was a British transfer record and msot expensive defender at the time.

Well worth it though, was a brilliant signing for us, absolute club legend.

paulbok

I think for a few of the bigger purchaes back then, (Rio & Rooney) that we bought out the agreed potential add-on's for a flat fee.

Giggsy11

Adamocovic wrote: »

While I loved him and think Rio was great I wouldn't classify it as a bargain for the time, wasn't he the most expensive British player in history and most expensive defender in history too at the time? :pac:

Brilliant player and worth the money we spent but I don't know if I would classify it as a bargain ha

Not a bargain when we signed him but how it panned out it was a bargain. Just like Roy Keane, we broke British transfer record to sign him but in the long run it ended up nothing fee.

Mitch Connor

Mundo Deportivo saying United have been €25+€5 for Pedro, City €30+2 and Chelsea are also interested.

Would be typical United to piss about and lose out to someone else.

JamboMac

RobertKK wrote: »

I think Pep will not go to Man City, he has managed clubs that have a certain prestige about them, no offense to City, but United would make sense after managing Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In the footsteps of Van Gaal, whose only other teams to manage at club level were from his own country.

Supposedly its arsenal he'd prefer out of all the English clubs.

Adamocovic

JamboMac wrote: »

Supposedly its arsenal he'd prefer out of all the English clubs.

Wheres that coming from?

Mitch Connor

RobertKK wrote: »

I think Pep will not go to Man City, he has managed clubs that have a certain prestige about them, no offense to City, but United would make sense after managing Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In the footsteps of Van Gaal, whose only other teams to manage at club level were from his own country.

Right now City are far better set to provide a platform for him to continue his stellar trophy record.

If the LVG method ever clicks properly at United it would be an easier playing transition for him though, as it was at Barca and Bayern.

pmasterson95

The deal for Alan Smith was negotiated down aswell I believe. I always have a soft spot for him. His excellent volley against Norwich & his midfield performance against Chelsea. And his comeback goal in the demolition of Roma. Provided great moments!

Coat22

jayo26 wrote: »

Anderson and nani stood up and took a penalty and scored in the champs league final against chelsea and andersons was in sudden death??? Now if you tell me that isnt leading to winning silverware your looking at things slightly different then most other fanst... Bear in mind that both were young footballers at the time....

by that Logic Keane didn't help win the CL in 99 as he wasn't involved in the final? The scored a couple of penalties - hardly a huge contribution to a season.

Cookie_Dough

Just saw a tweet from Andy Mitten saying Ramos has agreed contact extension with Real (can't embed tweets).

Was this already confirmed? would this make the theory that De Gea could stay more realistic? *crosses fingers*

Mitch Connor

Coat22 wrote: »

by that Logic Keane didn't help win the CL in 99 as he wasn't involved in the final? The scored a couple of penalties - hardly a huge contribution to a season.

Whatever about Anderson, to suggest Nani had no influence on the trophies we won while he was at the club is just utterly laughable.

Also, both were good deals at the time for two bright stars of world football. ou can argue over how they turned out, but to suggest they were poor deals at the time is insane. Can't think how anyone could have looked at the two players at the time and think... Nah, lets not.

Adamocovic

pmasterson95 wrote: »

The deal for Alan Smith was negotiated down aswell I believe. I always have a soft spot for him. His excellent volley against Norwich & his midfield performance against Chelsea. And his comeback goal in the demolition of Roma. Provided great moments!

I was a huge fan of Alan Smith, his injury at Anfield might not have ended his career but I think it ultimately led to him being dropping off too far behind to get back into the team. I could be wrong and building it up more but it was an awful injury and after he didn't start many games.

Drumpot

Coat22 wrote: »

by that Logic Keane didn't help win the CL in 99 as he wasn't involved in the final? The scored a couple of penalties - hardly a huge contribution to a season.

Considering Keane single handedly dragged united to the final when they were two down to Juve, I wouldn't say that's an accurate comparison. Many believe Keanes contribution during that tournament was the main reason United were in the final to compete in the first place. You could also argue that United were missing Keane's tenacity when they game was going away from them agains Bayern. We got two goals in the closing minutes of the game after Bayern had switched off (and taken off Matheus etc).

That said, I don't think that "value" being discussed is as straightforward as some are making it out. In terms of return we did fine with Nani IMO. Anderson actually looked like being an amazing signing at one stage (we all remember him owning a powerful Liverpool midfield) but he fell by the wayside. Younger players like them (in their teens) are always going to be bigger risks. You pay for potential that may or may not pay off so its only in hindsight can you say it was a success or failure.

Giggsy11

https://twitter.com/VCF_Nordic/status/631431441272938496

https://twitter.com/VCF_Nordic/status/631433822677114880

https://twitter.com/NachoCotino/status/631435011795873792

Adamocovic

Giggsy11 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/VCF_Nordic/status/631431441272938496

https://twitter.com/VCF_Nordic/status/631433822677114880

https://twitter.com/NachoCotino/status/631435011795873792

I doubt Nacho would lie to us

#choochoo?

Coat22

Drumpot wrote: »

Considering Keane single handedly dragged united to the final when they were two down to Juve, I wouldn't say that's an accurate comparison. Many believe Keanes contribution during that tournament was the main reason United were in the final to compete in the first place. You could also argue that United were missing Keane's tenacity when they game was going away from them agains Bayern. We got two goals in the closing minutes of the game after Bayern had switched off (and taken off Matheus etc).

....eh that was my point

RobertKK

Real Madrid decided to pay Ramos what United were offering, to put an end to that possible transfer saga. I do think he was interested in the move for financial reasons, but now that it sees RM have matched it, the reason to move is gone. Whichever outcome was to happen, it would have been win/win for him, someone was going to show him the money.

As Giggsy has posted above, the rumours are increasing around Otamendi to United, with Garay on his way to Valencia. Hope it happens this time...

De Gea likely to stay in my opinion, unless a deal for someother Real Madrid player was to materialise.

Maximus Alexander

I thought that one was over at least. I was hoping the Sneijder Vidal Pedro deal would drag on for the rest of the window and we would only have one saga to contend with. :pac:

Giggsy11

RobertKK wrote: »

Real Madrid decided to pay Ramos what United were offering, to put an end to that possible transfer saga. I do think he was interested in the move for financial reasons, but now that it sees RM have matched it, the reason to move is gone. Whichever outcome was to happen, it would have been win/win for him, someone was going to show him the money.

As Giggsy has posted above, the rumours are increasing around Otamendi to United, with Garay on his way to Valencia. Hope it happens this time...

De Gea likely to stay in my opinion, unless a deal for someother Real Madrid player was to materialise.

Yeah with Ramos close to signing new deal with Madrid maybe we are back to our back up Otamendi. Also many rumors about Garay signing for Valencia as Otamendi's replacement.

Still I'm not 100% sure we will sign him. We have signed Otamendi and Pedro 10 times already going by the rumors

pmasterson95

Adamocovic wrote: »

I was a huge fan of Alan Smith, his injury at Anfield might not have ended his career but I think it ultimately led to him being dropping off too far behind to get back into the team. I could be wrong and building it up more but it was an awful injury and after he didn't start many games.

It definitely shook him badly. His body recovered but he didn't seem to have the same attitude.

Coat22

bangkok wrote: »

Gill was class, led United through some of the most successful periods of the clubs history

Carrick was a class signing, 10 years + of service to the club

Rio was one of the best defenders ever to play in England, 12 years of service to United and a bargain imo

Your missing my point mate - the whole discussion started on whether Ed was all that great at transfers, my point was Gill (and Kenyon before him who bought Rio) weren't much better at getting value.

Rio turned out to be well worth it but at the time (and the fact that it remained a record for so long supports this) it was a huge fee.

Carrick also - nobody would have agreed at the time he came that Levy didn't screw united on the price, Ferguson said as much. It turned out to be good value but again United were stretched on the price.

I'm not trying to justify who was worth it and who wasn't - just saying that when we've bought certain players over the years the selling club has always extracted huge fees which seems to be a particularly United thing (until City came along anyway)

Drumpot

Coat22 wrote: »

Your missing my point mate - the whole discussion started on whether Ed was all that great at transfers, my point was Gill (and Kenyon before him who bought Rio) weren't much better at getting value.

Rio turned out to be well worth it but at the time (and the fact that it remained a record for so long supports this) it was a huge fee.

Carrick also - nobody would have agreed at the time he came that Levy didn't screw united on the price, Ferguson said as much. It turned out to be good value but again United were stretched on the price.

I'm not trying to justify who was worth it and who wasn't - just saying that when we've bought certain players over the years the selling club has always extracted huge fees which seems to be a particularly United thing (until City came along anyway)

Rio wasn't bought by Gill.

Time will tell, but there are few people able to point to any of the players Woodward has signed thus far and stated they were good value.

You could also argue that Woodward has it easier in that its only since Gill left, that United has actually starting to properly compete financially (on barca/madrid/City/Chelsea level) for players. Between 2005 and 2009 United had a zero net cost of transfers (including Ronaldo sale money). That's ridiculous for the amount of success achieved.

RayCun

Drumpot wrote: »

Time will tell, but there are few people able to point to any of the players Woodward has signed thus far and stated they were good value.

Darmian
Too soon to tell on Rojo, Blind, Memphis, Schneiderlin

Robson99

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Yeah with Ramos close to signing new deal with Madrid maybe we are back to our back up Otamendi. Also many rumors about Garay signing for Valencia as Otamendi's replacement.

Still I'm not 100% sure we will sign him. We have signed Otamendi and Pedro 10 times already going by the rumors

Would Garay be a better signing for us than Otamendi?

Giggsy11

Robson99 wrote: »

Would Garay be a better signing for us than Otamendi?

I have hardly watched Garay play except in World cup, so no idea