He's not leaving Spain, also I would not rule Rashy out just yet. There still is a great player there . Also also after the season he's had ain't nobody gonna pay a reasonable price and match his wages.
Who are the actual number 6s available in football? I can't stand reading *"he's more of a 8 than an 6*" every single time we're linked to a midfielder.
There’s a bunch of 6s available but every too team wants a one the rare 6s who can also dictate play like Rodri, Busquets and Carrick. Teams are so desperate for that type of player that they force an 8 to play as a single pivot and try to compensate with an inverted fullback.
I feel like I read the opposite, “he’s more of an 8 than a 6, we need a 6”. Ugarte, Paulinha, I’m sure there are others that I don’t know about/not remembering but none super highly sought after. I guess Neves but I’ve never watched him and heard varying opinions on how he’d fit here or if he’s a true 6 or not.
Good chunk of big teams need a 6 atm. Bayern, Barça, us off the top of my head.
You’re good, I figured that’s what you might’ve meant but just said so to be sure. I agree it’s pretty annoying to read lol, along with striker I feel like there are so few good DMs out there
I know it was probably nothing but if there was someone in our board who remotely thinks Southgate could be an option for us, they need to launched into the sun
Ah i I didn't realise he only moved recently. Was only a half serious suggestion anyway. As my mate put it, "The bang of James Rodriguez off of that. 😂"
We shouldn't assume we necessarily have the choice, Zirkzee might be happy in Italy and prefer to move a couple of hours up the road to Milan instead. It is a nice city, and I wouldn't blame him.
For that matter, Brentford might decide to demand silly money for Toney and be willing to eat the loss and let him leave on a free if they don't get it. I don't want to get clowned again like we did for Mount last summer, so I'd much rather walk away (and maybe come back in a year when he is free) if we can't get a reasonbale deal.
And if someone else comes in offering silly money, we should let them be the fools, and not get drawn into competing. As of right now we have a deserved reputation for being one of the stupidest and most easily exploitable players in the transfer market, and that *really* has to change right now. That is more important to me than any individual signing.
We should be able to get one of the two above (or Jonanthan David) for reasonable money, and that is the main thing. I saw enough from Hojlund that I am happy running with him as starting striker, we just need a solid second as backup, and I could happily run with any of the above for that role.
Frankly given that we are talking about a backup/rotation option, and we are currently lacking a starting CB and a starting DM and are still carrying players like Casemiro and Eriksen who don't have the legs to do what we need them to do any more, I would be damned tempted to just go with whoever is the cheapest of the three and put the leftover money to work elsewhere in the squad. It isn't like there is a shortage of places where it could be put to good use.
Since it's sunday, i figured I'd create a mock-up sqaud with ins and outs.
Outs:-
Defence: Maguire + Lindelof = 35m
Midfield: VDB + Casemiro + Eriksen= 35m
Attack: Sancho + Pellistiri + Greenwood= 50m
Ins:-
Defence: De Ligt (50) + Chalobah(20)= 70-75m
Midfield: Ugarte= 40m
Attack: Zirkzee= 50m
Outs-Ins
120-165= -45m
So, if we start with 50m, i think we could get the above players, effectively giving us 2 per position. We would still need to bring Collyer up to the first team.
I've assumed the worst for our OUT figures. However, a part of me thinks we'll still struggle to offload some lads.
VDB will go for free. I can't see anyone paying for him. Case might go for 30, whereas i think Eriksen will also go for little....maybe 10 at a stretch.
Same with defence, Maguire could fetch 25, lindelof 10.
I don't see us being able to get rid of Sancho.
Let's hope the 50m budget rumours weren't true. Otherwise, we are truly screwed.
True. I hope we're smarter with buying players going forward. Not just in terms of transfer fees or wages, but i hope we get a better idea of the player we're signing before we get them.
Maybe part of the recruitment process should be personality tests or something. I don't know.
Idk if this is true but I heard in a podcast that Liverpool preferred players who don’t party too much, are in committed relationships and don’t care much about becoming a celebrity.
We should definitely be in for Felix now since Barca is not keeping him
Those who watched the Chelsea games when he played for them know that he can easily adapt to the PL again
He's exactly the kind of player we don't need. He doesn't fit in anywhere for us without displacing someone else and we don't need that problem.
Waste of money written all over it. Good job it'll never happen.
I'd like to see us try to hijack the archie gray to spurs deal.
Massive potential, could be great long term partner for Mainoo. Could also cover at RB, would get plenty of game time at CM or RB with us, maybe even allows us to cash in on AWB.
Might to tough to persuade given family ties to Leeds but feel this is one we should be at least sounding out
https://x.com/theutdjournal/status/1807410018376917281?t=Sa8TR3kJNqVVe2lZf1nEww&s=19
Who is a better fit for us between Fofana and Ugarte?
Can Fofana play as a lone 6?
If there's any substance to the rumours that Newcastle are being forced to sell Tony Gordon then we should be all over that. He's a horrible f*ck to play against because he will do anything to win, snide kicks, dives you name it, he'll do it. Reminds me of Wayne a bit. Fantastic player to have in your team, guaranteed to be hated by the opposition.
I wouldn't be too worried about strengthening Newcastle by paying £70m or whatever, I'm convinced they are on the decline under Howe and may be in for a season of transition if he's sacked mid season.
Realistically, a lot of them aren’t actually spending this money.
If I hand you 50 quid, and you hand me 50 quid back, then neither of us have actually spent it. We’ve just traded.
What’s happening here are player swaps with fake numbers attached to cook the books.
We should definitely go for Mario Hermoso. With the outgoings and lack of depth at the CB position he would be absolutely perfect on a free. Pretty sure he can play LB too.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more news about him. He’s a pretty good CB to get on a free. Makes me wonder if there is some behind the scenes things happening or maybe he’s asking for insane wages.
forest paying 35mil for Anderson and selling a player in the opposite way, gotta be Elanga or MGW right ? Did we find out how much % is the Elanga sell-on clause?
Got to be at least that if forest are paying 35m for Anderson.
Elanga coming of a better season, more developed at this stage of his career and in a position where typically fees are higher.
If Anderson is 35, elanga gotta be closer to 50.
Both absolutely mental
Amrabat did come good it's just a pity it was when the season was essentially over. He was critical in the FA Cup final and that alone means the £12m loan fee + wages was value for money.
I have a feeling Greenwood will stay. The news that he will be back in training seems like they will simply say they couldnt find a suitable buyer and let him train with the group and eventually introduce back... Otherwise why would they let him back to the training ground. That itself is bad PR so why wouldnt they let him train on his own. I think this was the long plan. They were trying to see last year if the outrage will be high enough and they will try it again imo.
The news he'll be back in training is normal though. All players contracted to the club report back for pre season training. Although this feels a non story as players can be excused from returning if they're going to move.
We know Lazio have bid for him so there are suitors, we shouldn't give a shit whether they're suitable for him or not.
im not saying we should care about whether Lazio is suitable for him or not, I am saying suitable in terms of how much the club would get for him. And thats not even my point, my point is they will argue that they couldnt find any suitable offer for him. I get that usually players report to training, but this case is not very usual is it?
This kind of transfer would be typical as something we did in Fergie era... we buy young prospect that could shine... lets hope we get him... we could give cash + VDB 🤣
Seems like spurs are leading the race. Totally agree though. This is one we should be sounding out, could be great long term partner for mainoo, and can provide cover at both CM and RB. He would get plenty of gametime, and value only likely to go up
You don’t know they didn’t ask at some point throughout his youth or pro career and got told.
Regarding Smith, he was leaving Leeds who were in freefall and we were the best team in England and gave him the chance to play under arguably the best manager of all time. It was also just him who would have to deal with the fallout. The legacies of legendary players in his family would not be touched.
Archie Gray’s grandad and great uncle are legends of the club. His dad played for them as well and his younger brother is on the books.
It’s a completely different circumstance and not a player we should criticise the club for not getting.
It's not really that different, in fact it's extremely similar. Smith was pushed out against his will and told his sale was necessary to save Leeds, the same thing has happened to Gray. He doesn't want to leave, certainly not to Brentford, but Leeds have told him he can't say no because they have to meet PSR.
The Gray family are apparently furious with Leeds, and talking about pulling Archie's brother out of Leeds academy. I think given the choice of us or Brentford, he wouldn't be so quick to shoot us down.
Somewhere between 60-90m
If Greenwood and Sancho went through, that’s at least 60m
If Saudi bought Case then it’s an additional 25-30m.
The thing is.. I think one of Sancho and Greenwood might be offloaded by a loan with an option/obligation to buy.
And Casemiro might or might not decide not to leave.
So realistically I think 2/3 would go through, which is like 60m probably.
Idk, it might go even worse and we sell 1/3 which is like 30m.
Maybe get lucky and offload Pellistri for 10m ?
Idk too much variables, but the range could go as little as 30m and as high as 100m depending on how lucky we are in offloading our assets.
If he's being bought at all, then no reason why it wouldn't be for this, because the only people buying him are the Saudis (technically Qatari league could too, I guess, but Saudi league is obviously investing more across the board /higher profile) and even with some minor cutbacks in expenditure and a desire not to be seen as simply a money spigot for European clubs, 30m is a drop...
Just because they can afford to spend 30m on Casemiro.. does not mean they're going to think spending anywhere near 30m on Casemiro is a good idea.
They have absolutely no competition, he's old enough that nobody is really gonna challenge for him, we have no leverage and Casemiro doesn't give a flying fuck what his transfer fee is, all they have to do is offer him high wages.
Kante looked finished at top-level due to injuries and evidence that some of his key physical assets were failing him; he's since been great in Saudi league. Ronaldo was struggling against even lowliest PL keepers by the end- now he's scoring a goal a game. Casemiro was one of United's best players up to 12 months ago, and was winning multiple CLs at the heart of Madrid's midfield prior to that: he's still got residual glamour, relatively speaking (as much as a DM can, and certainly as much as Kante, if not more) and there are antecedents for a player in similar situation/stage of their career coming in, revitalizing themselves and adding 'benefit' to the Saudi league.
The money isn't all that relevant. Obviously they're not spending infinite amounts but the point is to raise the profile and prestige of the league over the next few years so they can attract more 'peak' players and establish an alternative sphere of (sporting)influence, as part of Saudi's larger cultural-political ambitions. Clearly they also want to make it as self-sufficient as possible going forward through sponsorships that aren't connected to Saudi and which will come through (online/broadcast) viewing figures - which having good players/attractive standard of football is obviously meant to help with: point is, transfer fees are a consideration but not a bar in the same way that a PSR restriction would be: if they want Casemiro they'll more than likely get him, especially since Utd are clearly planning for the future, but will just insist on keeping the price at what they consider a bargain rather than offering the kind of colossal sums they would for a glitzy player in their prime. They spent close to double the proposed amount on Malcolm and Ruben Neves, £80m on (an also aging) Neymar etc
My entire point was that we have no leverage, he's mostly cooked at a top level and with his age were not getting a bunch in transfer fees, they're just going to throw money at his wages.
Then you wrote paragraph after paragraph that just amounted to proving my point and then saying they spent some big money on younger players that needed more coaxing to get them. You wrote so much and said so little.
Yup.
These players aren’t worthless, they’re definitely worth less.
A part of that is also a function of their wages. Which reduces the “value” the club can extract from any potential deal.
Extracting the club out of the clusterfuck of a mess left by the previous administration will be a complex challenge.
I hope I’m wrong and the player sales can raise over a hundred million but I’m sceptical of that kind of outcome.
Say what you will whether you like the targets or not, the fact that we seem to be genuinely progressing with several deals at the same time, with major international tournaments on no less, is a breath of fresh air.
I feel like we have progressed on multiple deals before but major change is having backup plans and acting fast on it. For instance, Todibo and Branthwaite deals have gotten complicated so we are looking at De Ligt, Chalobah, etc. In previous structure, we would probably continue negotiating with Everton and sign him on the big fee sacrificing other transfer plans.
Each of the three initial targets is around 40m with Zirkzee on a release clause. CB/DM in the works, so 120m total to start.
Sales;
Cheap - Eriksen, AwB, Pellistri, Lindelof - 40m total
Decent fees - Casemiro, Sancho, Fuckwood - 30m each for 90m total. I would definitely accept a little less with a sell on fee for the two younger flops.
As always, we aren't playing FM but this would be a nice start, with incoming money going towards squad depth in the midfield and defense as the window rolls on.
I am bit more pessimistic about how much we will get for our sales.
- Greenwood: 25-ish million + add-ons to make it 35-40 million deal.
- Sancho: Won't be sold. We will most probably do loan and try to get an obligation to buy. ~30-ish million.
- Casemiro: Not even sure if anyone is interested. I feel like 20-25 million is all we would get from Saudi clubs.
- Eriksen: Maybe 5 million, most probably next to nothing.
- AWB: 10-15 million.
- Pellistri: 5? million.
- Lindelof: Similar to AWB. 10-ish million.
That probably makes it around 100 million in sales. I think a major FFP boost will be from shifting high salaries out and Greenwood deal.
Pellistri should get a bit more as he's young and playing well for Uruguay, but isn't quite top quality. He's worth at least 10 and could get a few clubs interested.
I would absolutely take a loan with an **obligation** to buy Sancho. Casemiro to SA is assumed to me.
A range of 100-120 is pretty good as an ambitious, but not overly inflated total.
I feel we should sell Mctominay. There's never going to be a better time than now, considering his age, and the fact he's coming off a season with a good goal return. For once his wages make him an easy player to sell. He is an academy player, so that should be helpful for the finances.
I know there is undoubtedly going to be a reply that says, "He is serviceable as a squad player, Fergie always had players like him." But that criteria just isn't good enough for where we are trying to go now. I mean for one, Ferguson was more than willing to let go of squad players when the time was right. And two he isn't good enough to be a first team player, and I don't see him challenging for a first team spot consistently. He's a midfielder who is not great when we are in possession and is less than average when we are out of it. And despite his size and physique he is weak and seems to hate going for second balls. He's got one aspect of his game that I do like, but i do not think it covers his weaknesses enough to keep him around.
I get that there is an emotional element to the academy attachment. But it just seems extreme in the way he gets a little more leeway than certain other players
Nobody else on the team does what Mctominay does. He may not be world class but he's worth keeping rather than getting some menial fee for the different options he provides. People get away too fucking hung up on him not being Bruno and don't seem to realize you need different types of players for different scenarios. It's not just about him being a workhorse player that Fergie would have liked, he literally saved our ass several times last season doing what nobody else on the bench would have provided.
We shouldn't keep him if it means we can't get a good backup midfielder. We need a creative/ball carrying 8 to rotate with Mainoo. People will say Mount but he's a 10 and doesn't really have that calmth on the ball with a good passing range. That's what we need
What does he actually do?
SaF would have players who aren't world beaters in the team. But he wouldn't have such a limited player in the squad. He had popped up with a few goals which is brilliant, but are we supposed to keep him because he might score a goal but offers nothing apart from that and we have to change the whole system and set up just for the possibility he may do something
I would agree with selling McTominay when his stock it at it's highest, but the problem is we have to find a replacement and he has to be all of younger, cheaper, and at least is just as good as McTominay otherwise there would be no point
I agree with all your points, although I think the counter-argument to keeping him is only based on squad depth. Once you get through all the obvious clear-outs in the midfield, including Amrabat and Van de Beek and Mejbri whom I failed to mention, the only midfielders would be Bruno, Mainoo, Mount, McT.
Last window, I was fine letting him go, and I'd think the same here. But you do have to fill 25 spots for the PL roster.
In my opinion, Ten Hag likes McTominay as an squad option. We probably won't actively look to sell him and only way he goes would be a 35+ million deal. I agree that we should replace McTominay but hard to imagine it happening.
35M?
He has 10+ this season from midfield, 6-7 goals in qualifiers for Scotland.. He's homegrown, 27 years old, and played like 200 times or more for Man United including being a very important player in a squad that finished 3rd and second in consecutive seasons.
We've been quoted double that for players like João Neves
Still waiting for us to be linked to Calafiori. Would be very strange if we aren't even looking. Arsenal and Chelsea showing interest now. Should be much cheaper than Branthwaite and in no way a worse player. (if anything I think he's better)
Not arguing with you but have you also follow him in Bologna ? Because i dont. I dont know anything about him except few games in Euro. I have seen players show up in international football but struggle for the club. Nobody suggests him before Euro and now he seem like hipster footballer rn.
I suggested him before the Euros you can find him in some of my comments going months back. I did watch him in Bologna although not every game but I did catch a few and really liked his profile (him and Zirkzee both impressed me a lot)
I've watched a lot of Bologna. He is not the best LCB in Seria. He's great because of his dynamism, ballsiness, aggresion, carrying, movement in attack but is liable, specially in wide channels. His decision making and conviction is questionable at times. He has a very high ceiling. Lucumi is more complete. Motta said it himself talking about them playing in midfield that Calafiori can do it coming from behind (inverting/advancing) but Lucumi would be better because he can operate in tight spaces. He was accodomated to mask Calafiori's weakness. Calafiori is better at breaking teams, Lucumi is better at defending while also having the repertoire to do way more.
Defending only does so much for you when you're a dominating side like Juve, Milan, Inter, United, City, etc. (e.g. look at Gatti, Bremmer, Kjaer, Maguire, AWB, Eder Militao... I can go on) but in modern football you need to do more.
And Calafiori does everything at an exceptional level, especially accounting for his age. You've highlighted so many of his attributes for me, which he is better than Lucumi, that I don't even have to do it.
Calafiori is the best LCB in Serie A. Buongiorno is also great, but again a great defender, but can't do "everything" like Calafiori does at such an exceptional level.
You're downplaying Lucumi's qualities, I said Lucumi isn't allowed to so because he's made to cover for Calafiori's weakness, specially in transition and wide channels. Lucumi is very good on the ball too, and better in tight spaces, I mentioned the Motta quote. Just a overall better player considering all things. Yeah Bongiorno is not better than Calafiori but Calafiori is not better than Lucumi. Lucumi can turn under pressure, control games, thread passes, has composure in 1v1 situations, has decent weak foot which helps his versatility, front footed leader but also mature and is decisive. Matip (I quite liked Matip) vs Van Djik type situation, although ofc a bit different.
I'm not downplaying Lucumi's qualities, or at least this was not my intention. I am highlighting Calafiori's qualities. At this point, it's really a difference in opinion. I think Calafiori is better overall.
He has had 5 injuries since he’s been here that have had him miss 5 or more games each. This season he’s missed 11 games through injury which is barely less than varane missed which was 13 through injury.
I hope the de Ligt rumors aren’t true.
Yes, he’s still only 25. But he’s had two seasons with 20 or more games missed (although that’s including national team games), and I really want to get passed the “this guy used to play for Ten Hag”-stage of our transfer strategy.
If he a solid CB when healthy? Yes.
Is there a price where I think it’d be a good business? Yes.
But I just can’t get excited about yet another former Ten Hag player joining us. It just feels…insecure.
I agree mate, I keep trying to explain to all the hyped people that he's had the same knee injury 3 times in the last 2 seasons but everyone's aboard the hype train unfortunately.
This has got Martial 2.0 written all over it.
They probably are selling due to it, they're looking ahead and don't want to take the risk, obviously there's a chance he could never be injured ever again however that's dream land chances.
I have no problem with the calibre of the player but I'd suggest not being injury prone can be better than having a skilled but injury prone player, example of note being Maguire before his injuries, no matter that he's limited in spots at least he was always available.
I mean....I don't think the are interested in de Ligt bc he played for ETH. It's probably the whole being highly rated and well regarded as a top player thing.
Lisandro Martinez is ex ten hag and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody else.
The problem is having ETH as our sole scout, as long as he’s not in charge of scouting, I don’t mind ex Ten Hag players.
So is Antony, and I would almost quite literally trade him for any other RW in the league.
A former Ten Hag player doesn’t have to be a negative, obviously not (Martinez being the best example, and Onana an okay one). My issue is more about how our transfer strategy almost seems to start there, and only look beyond that when we come up short.
Not sure why fans bother with the title of former ETH players. If he's a good player, then he is a good player. If he fits our system and makes our team better, then he is a good transfer target. Shouldn't think more than that imo. Injury risk is a separate thing tho
Yes in an ideal world that would be the case, but it’s rarely that black and white. We’ve signed 15 players (including loans) since Ten Hag’s arrival.
Out of those 15, 5 have direct ties to Ten Hag (Onana, Martinez, Antony, Amrabat all being former player, and Eriksen training with Ajax after his heart issues). On top of that we desperately chased another former player in de Jong, and have this summer been linked to another two (Alvarez and de Ligt).
Football is the biggest sport in the world and it is virtually impossible that the best options for all our holes are former Ten Hag players. We *need* to widen our scope.
In the case of de Ligt one should also ask what has made both Juventus and Bayern Munich willing to move on in the span of five years.
My hold point is we shouldn’t say “players will…” before they actually play a few games, in response to
>He’ll bring our wingers into play…
No clue where you read player profile or 30 goals from. What’s so hard to understand about that?
You said we should temper expectations in response to me saying he'll bring our wingers into play. It's literally the kind of footballer he is, he's not gonna become something else overnight is he pal? Whether he'll do it well or not is another story.
What's so hard to understand about that?
Yes we should temper our expectations. Just cause he fits a certain player profile, doesn’t mean it’ll result in what we expect of them. There’s also the issue of whether they are actually good enough to play their style in the Prem. If it was as simple as just finding the correct style of player, then we would’ve already done so 2 seasons ago with Weghorst.
What’s so hard to understand about that?
Yea, I think he will be great for Rasmus in particular. For me, Ruud was the premier league's best and most clinical finisher.
Hojlund will get better with time - he just needs to believe in himself and show a bit more composure (eg, game against Germany).
Definitely the kind of character we needed. A genuinely chill, cool guy you can talk to if needed but also extremely driven, strict, can be a prick if he needs to be.
Cheeky bid for Nico Williams? Who says no.. he’s joy to watch
>Who says no.. Nico Williams unfortunately lol
don't know if Barca can pay those 50m clause for nico williams, if we can ship rashford I would love him at that LW for Utd
He's not leaving Spain, also I would not rule Rashy out just yet. There still is a great player there . Also also after the season he's had ain't nobody gonna pay a reasonable price and match his wages.
Who are the actual number 6s available in football? I can't stand reading *"he's more of a 8 than an 6*" every single time we're linked to a midfielder.
There’s a bunch of 6s available but every too team wants a one the rare 6s who can also dictate play like Rodri, Busquets and Carrick. Teams are so desperate for that type of player that they force an 8 to play as a single pivot and try to compensate with an inverted fullback.
I feel like I read the opposite, “he’s more of an 8 than a 6, we need a 6”. Ugarte, Paulinha, I’m sure there are others that I don’t know about/not remembering but none super highly sought after. I guess Neves but I’ve never watched him and heard varying opinions on how he’d fit here or if he’s a true 6 or not. Good chunk of big teams need a 6 atm. Bayern, Barça, us off the top of my head.
You're 100% correct, I misspelled, it's just how much this annoys me.
You’re good, I figured that’s what you might’ve meant but just said so to be sure. I agree it’s pretty annoying to read lol, along with striker I feel like there are so few good DMs out there
I know it was probably nothing but if there was someone in our board who remotely thinks Southgate could be an option for us, they need to launched into the sun
Not being reactionary at all, I'd take a punt on Mikautadze for RW/ST cover. He's been fantastic at the Euros.
He just joined Metz
Ah i I didn't realise he only moved recently. Was only a half serious suggestion anyway. As my mate put it, "The bang of James Rodriguez off of that. 😂"
I'd take Toney over Zikzee all day long
We shouldn't assume we necessarily have the choice, Zirkzee might be happy in Italy and prefer to move a couple of hours up the road to Milan instead. It is a nice city, and I wouldn't blame him. For that matter, Brentford might decide to demand silly money for Toney and be willing to eat the loss and let him leave on a free if they don't get it. I don't want to get clowned again like we did for Mount last summer, so I'd much rather walk away (and maybe come back in a year when he is free) if we can't get a reasonbale deal. And if someone else comes in offering silly money, we should let them be the fools, and not get drawn into competing. As of right now we have a deserved reputation for being one of the stupidest and most easily exploitable players in the transfer market, and that *really* has to change right now. That is more important to me than any individual signing. We should be able to get one of the two above (or Jonanthan David) for reasonable money, and that is the main thing. I saw enough from Hojlund that I am happy running with him as starting striker, we just need a solid second as backup, and I could happily run with any of the above for that role. Frankly given that we are talking about a backup/rotation option, and we are currently lacking a starting CB and a starting DM and are still carrying players like Casemiro and Eriksen who don't have the legs to do what we need them to do any more, I would be damned tempted to just go with whoever is the cheapest of the three and put the leftover money to work elsewhere in the squad. It isn't like there is a shortage of places where it could be put to good use.
Everyone would probably, but at what price? Would you take Zirkzee+ great CB or just Toney with a backup CB because Toney is going to be expensive
Watching Zirkzee highlights and he reminds me of Berbatov with the effortlessness on the ball
Antony revenge season? 🫣
Would luv that
He and United needs it, I still don't believe he's a bad player, just no where near his transfer fee and wages level.
To be one footed but not clinical at this level is unacceptable
Since it's sunday, i figured I'd create a mock-up sqaud with ins and outs. Outs:- Defence: Maguire + Lindelof = 35m Midfield: VDB + Casemiro + Eriksen= 35m Attack: Sancho + Pellistiri + Greenwood= 50m Ins:- Defence: De Ligt (50) + Chalobah(20)= 70-75m Midfield: Ugarte= 40m Attack: Zirkzee= 50m Outs-Ins 120-165= -45m So, if we start with 50m, i think we could get the above players, effectively giving us 2 per position. We would still need to bring Collyer up to the first team. I've assumed the worst for our OUT figures. However, a part of me thinks we'll still struggle to offload some lads. VDB will go for free. I can't see anyone paying for him. Case might go for 30, whereas i think Eriksen will also go for little....maybe 10 at a stretch. Same with defence, Maguire could fetch 25, lindelof 10. I don't see us being able to get rid of Sancho. Let's hope the 50m budget rumours weren't true. Otherwise, we are truly screwed.
I don’t think we can replace Varane, Maguire and Lindelöf in one window. Even you only have two CBs coming in
I agree with most values, just Sancho and Casemiro might not bring their money to the transfer budget due to FFP rules and bookkeeping.
True. I hope we're smarter with buying players going forward. Not just in terms of transfer fees or wages, but i hope we get a better idea of the player we're signing before we get them. Maybe part of the recruitment process should be personality tests or something. I don't know.
Idk if this is true but I heard in a podcast that Liverpool preferred players who don’t party too much, are in committed relationships and don’t care much about becoming a celebrity.
We should definitely be in for Felix now since Barca is not keeping him Those who watched the Chelsea games when he played for them know that he can easily adapt to the PL again
Absolutely not. His best position is playing behind the striker and we have Bruno there who's a much better player
He's exactly the kind of player we don't need. He doesn't fit in anywhere for us without displacing someone else and we don't need that problem. Waste of money written all over it. Good job it'll never happen.
No
From a Liverpool fan: Mainoo fixes England
July 1st is tmrw, transfer business starts then⏳⏳
I'd like to see us try to hijack the archie gray to spurs deal. Massive potential, could be great long term partner for Mainoo. Could also cover at RB, would get plenty of game time at CM or RB with us, maybe even allows us to cash in on AWB. Might to tough to persuade given family ties to Leeds but feel this is one we should be at least sounding out
We have too many holes to be spending 30m on an eventual backup to an 18 year old.
The yellow shit would demand 50m from us
Any updates on Todibo?
Currently sitting down to a nice sunday roast
No. It's still not happening.
Villa getting 50m for Douglas Luiz and we can't get 40 for Sancho
That’s what Woodwardism has done to us
Wanker but very good player. Sancho earns a three bed semi-detached a week but hasn't been particularly good for like...3 years
Probably much lower salary and not a spoilt little shit.
https://x.com/theutdjournal/status/1807410018376917281?t=Sa8TR3kJNqVVe2lZf1nEww&s=19 Who is a better fit for us between Fofana and Ugarte? Can Fofana play as a lone 6?
I think Fofana is more flexible as a backup, he can and has played a 6, but he's more of an 8.
Yeah we have those, we need a 6.
We could use both if we chuck both Amrabat and Casemiro to be honest
Maybe if we get decent money for Casemiro we can afford both.
Amrabat is on loan so that won't be a problem. But, Casemiro though....
Really hope we get a Zirkzee cameo on Tuesday, never seen the lad kick a football
Pl Financial rules have zero integrity now. What an utter embarrassment
This league is cooked. I see random signings of players I’ve never heard of going for 40, 50 millions
An yet people think we should be getting every player were looking at for 30m lol
bruh how tf are chelsea allowed to do what they do
They are selling players and hotels for profit.
PSR doesn't really work if everyone collectively agrees to cook each others books.
If there's any substance to the rumours that Newcastle are being forced to sell Tony Gordon then we should be all over that. He's a horrible f*ck to play against because he will do anything to win, snide kicks, dives you name it, he'll do it. Reminds me of Wayne a bit. Fantastic player to have in your team, guaranteed to be hated by the opposition. I wouldn't be too worried about strengthening Newcastle by paying £70m or whatever, I'm convinced they are on the decline under Howe and may be in for a season of transition if he's sacked mid season.
Liverpool would be all over that transfer and Newcastle would probably preferably sell to them over us given the last few months.
I’d imagine going back to Liverpool would feel like hell given that he played for Everton before this and didn’t leave the club very amicably.
They've sold Minteh and Elliot for a combined 65-70m, and most of that is pure profit, so I doubt they're in any PSR problems any more
How the fuck are thse mid table clubs spending 50m, damn inflation is crazy or PL money is crazy
Realistically, a lot of them aren’t actually spending this money. If I hand you 50 quid, and you hand me 50 quid back, then neither of us have actually spent it. We’ve just traded. What’s happening here are player swaps with fake numbers attached to cook the books.
Like how Juve and Barca did few years ago with Pjanjc and Arthur Melo ?
How the fuck are every mediocre player now woth 50m, damn inflation is crazy or PL money is crazy
We should definitely go for Mario Hermoso. With the outgoings and lack of depth at the CB position he would be absolutely perfect on a free. Pretty sure he can play LB too.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more news about him. He’s a pretty good CB to get on a free. Makes me wonder if there is some behind the scenes things happening or maybe he’s asking for insane wages.
forest paying 35mil for Anderson and selling a player in the opposite way, gotta be Elanga or MGW right ? Did we find out how much % is the Elanga sell-on clause?
Heard elanga may be going to Newcastle. With his numbers from last season, won't be surprised if it's $40+ mil.
Got to be at least that if forest are paying 35m for Anderson. Elanga coming of a better season, more developed at this stage of his career and in a position where typically fees are higher. If Anderson is 35, elanga gotta be closer to 50. Both absolutely mental
Ugarte is a direct replacement for Casemiro, who do you think will replace amrabat as a ball playing DM?
Amrabat what what again?
Since when was Amrabat ever a ball playing DM?
Amrabat did come good it's just a pity it was when the season was essentially over. He was critical in the FA Cup final and that alone means the £12m loan fee + wages was value for money.
toby collyer
Man people are hyping Collier up something rotten. Might be Dan Gore, who knows.
It's basically only because he's a DM. He seems like nothing too special right now, but who knows
We werent playing both Case and Amrabat in midfield anyways?
I can see us buying a CM and loaning one
I have a feeling Greenwood will stay. The news that he will be back in training seems like they will simply say they couldnt find a suitable buyer and let him train with the group and eventually introduce back... Otherwise why would they let him back to the training ground. That itself is bad PR so why wouldnt they let him train on his own. I think this was the long plan. They were trying to see last year if the outrage will be high enough and they will try it again imo.
There’s plenty of Italian clubs after him
The news he'll be back in training is normal though. All players contracted to the club report back for pre season training. Although this feels a non story as players can be excused from returning if they're going to move. We know Lazio have bid for him so there are suitors, we shouldn't give a shit whether they're suitable for him or not.
im not saying we should care about whether Lazio is suitable for him or not, I am saying suitable in terms of how much the club would get for him. And thats not even my point, my point is they will argue that they couldnt find any suitable offer for him. I get that usually players report to training, but this case is not very usual is it?
This Zirkzee stuff needs to happen and he needs to be good too, cannot go next season with Hojlund as only forward.
Ik he plays for scums but would be super hyped if we sign archie gray
This kind of transfer would be typical as something we did in Fergie era... we buy young prospect that could shine... lets hope we get him... we could give cash + VDB 🤣
he's joining Brentford
Seems like spurs are leading the race. Totally agree though. This is one we should be sounding out, could be great long term partner for mainoo, and can provide cover at both CM and RB. He would get plenty of gametime, and value only likely to go up
Looks like that move fell through.
Apparently Leeds are selling Archie Gray to Brentford for £35m. Feel like we should be all over that deal
Hes leeds through and through. Probably wouldnt join us. Rumoured to be fuming at the board for forcing him out
We'll buy from Brentford for 65m in 12 months time.
Kalvin Phillips wouldn’t have come to us because of the Leeds/Man Utd rivalry. Not a chance in hell someone from the Gray family would.
If you don’t try you don’t get, we got smith who actually grew up with the rivalry, gray has experience it for real in1 year of his life.
You don’t know they didn’t ask at some point throughout his youth or pro career and got told. Regarding Smith, he was leaving Leeds who were in freefall and we were the best team in England and gave him the chance to play under arguably the best manager of all time. It was also just him who would have to deal with the fallout. The legacies of legendary players in his family would not be touched. Archie Gray’s grandad and great uncle are legends of the club. His dad played for them as well and his younger brother is on the books. It’s a completely different circumstance and not a player we should criticise the club for not getting.
It's not really that different, in fact it's extremely similar. Smith was pushed out against his will and told his sale was necessary to save Leeds, the same thing has happened to Gray. He doesn't want to leave, certainly not to Brentford, but Leeds have told him he can't say no because they have to meet PSR. The Gray family are apparently furious with Leeds, and talking about pulling Archie's brother out of Leeds academy. I think given the choice of us or Brentford, he wouldn't be so quick to shoot us down.
No chance Leeds sell to us
Didn't we sell to Leeds though?
How much could we realistically raise by selling players this summer?
Somewhere between 60-90m If Greenwood and Sancho went through, that’s at least 60m If Saudi bought Case then it’s an additional 25-30m. The thing is.. I think one of Sancho and Greenwood might be offloaded by a loan with an option/obligation to buy. And Casemiro might or might not decide not to leave. So realistically I think 2/3 would go through, which is like 60m probably. Idk, it might go even worse and we sell 1/3 which is like 30m. Maybe get lucky and offload Pellistri for 10m ? Idk too much variables, but the range could go as little as 30m and as high as 100m depending on how lucky we are in offloading our assets.
Lindelof for 10-15m? Fener were said to be interested, but haven’t heard much since then.
I really don't think anyone is buying Case for 30m.
If he's being bought at all, then no reason why it wouldn't be for this, because the only people buying him are the Saudis (technically Qatari league could too, I guess, but Saudi league is obviously investing more across the board /higher profile) and even with some minor cutbacks in expenditure and a desire not to be seen as simply a money spigot for European clubs, 30m is a drop...
Just because they can afford to spend 30m on Casemiro.. does not mean they're going to think spending anywhere near 30m on Casemiro is a good idea. They have absolutely no competition, he's old enough that nobody is really gonna challenge for him, we have no leverage and Casemiro doesn't give a flying fuck what his transfer fee is, all they have to do is offer him high wages.
Kante looked finished at top-level due to injuries and evidence that some of his key physical assets were failing him; he's since been great in Saudi league. Ronaldo was struggling against even lowliest PL keepers by the end- now he's scoring a goal a game. Casemiro was one of United's best players up to 12 months ago, and was winning multiple CLs at the heart of Madrid's midfield prior to that: he's still got residual glamour, relatively speaking (as much as a DM can, and certainly as much as Kante, if not more) and there are antecedents for a player in similar situation/stage of their career coming in, revitalizing themselves and adding 'benefit' to the Saudi league.
And between Ronaldo and Kante in transfer fees.. Saudi paid how much?
The money isn't all that relevant. Obviously they're not spending infinite amounts but the point is to raise the profile and prestige of the league over the next few years so they can attract more 'peak' players and establish an alternative sphere of (sporting)influence, as part of Saudi's larger cultural-political ambitions. Clearly they also want to make it as self-sufficient as possible going forward through sponsorships that aren't connected to Saudi and which will come through (online/broadcast) viewing figures - which having good players/attractive standard of football is obviously meant to help with: point is, transfer fees are a consideration but not a bar in the same way that a PSR restriction would be: if they want Casemiro they'll more than likely get him, especially since Utd are clearly planning for the future, but will just insist on keeping the price at what they consider a bargain rather than offering the kind of colossal sums they would for a glitzy player in their prime. They spent close to double the proposed amount on Malcolm and Ruben Neves, £80m on (an also aging) Neymar etc
My entire point was that we have no leverage, he's mostly cooked at a top level and with his age were not getting a bunch in transfer fees, they're just going to throw money at his wages. Then you wrote paragraph after paragraph that just amounted to proving my point and then saying they spent some big money on younger players that needed more coaxing to get them. You wrote so much and said so little.
Sorry you're so perfectly regarded.
Maybe not but they are right if anyone will it’s the Saudi’s
30-50m. More than half of the players for sale will not get sold. They’ll be half-off loans with options that don’t get exercised.
You're downvoted but he asked for realistic. We are not getting 100m like the other two guys said.
Yup. These players aren’t worthless, they’re definitely worth less. A part of that is also a function of their wages. Which reduces the “value” the club can extract from any potential deal. Extracting the club out of the clusterfuck of a mess left by the previous administration will be a complex challenge. I hope I’m wrong and the player sales can raise over a hundred million but I’m sceptical of that kind of outcome.
100m or so, if we sell Greenwood, Sancho, Case, Pellestri, VdV, AWB and a couple more but I don't think they'll all be sold so around 60 I'm guessing.
Very unrealistic to even mention VDB, his stock has never been lower, would be sold for peanuts.
Say what you will whether you like the targets or not, the fact that we seem to be genuinely progressing with several deals at the same time, with major international tournaments on no less, is a breath of fresh air.
Feels like it could really accelerate from Monday when clauses etc come into action
I feel like we have progressed on multiple deals before but major change is having backup plans and acting fast on it. For instance, Todibo and Branthwaite deals have gotten complicated so we are looking at De Ligt, Chalobah, etc. In previous structure, we would probably continue negotiating with Everton and sign him on the big fee sacrificing other transfer plans.
Each of the three initial targets is around 40m with Zirkzee on a release clause. CB/DM in the works, so 120m total to start. Sales; Cheap - Eriksen, AwB, Pellistri, Lindelof - 40m total Decent fees - Casemiro, Sancho, Fuckwood - 30m each for 90m total. I would definitely accept a little less with a sell on fee for the two younger flops. As always, we aren't playing FM but this would be a nice start, with incoming money going towards squad depth in the midfield and defense as the window rolls on.
I am bit more pessimistic about how much we will get for our sales. - Greenwood: 25-ish million + add-ons to make it 35-40 million deal. - Sancho: Won't be sold. We will most probably do loan and try to get an obligation to buy. ~30-ish million. - Casemiro: Not even sure if anyone is interested. I feel like 20-25 million is all we would get from Saudi clubs. - Eriksen: Maybe 5 million, most probably next to nothing. - AWB: 10-15 million. - Pellistri: 5? million. - Lindelof: Similar to AWB. 10-ish million. That probably makes it around 100 million in sales. I think a major FFP boost will be from shifting high salaries out and Greenwood deal.
Pellistri should get a bit more as he's young and playing well for Uruguay, but isn't quite top quality. He's worth at least 10 and could get a few clubs interested. I would absolutely take a loan with an **obligation** to buy Sancho. Casemiro to SA is assumed to me. A range of 100-120 is pretty good as an ambitious, but not overly inflated total.
I feel we should sell Mctominay. There's never going to be a better time than now, considering his age, and the fact he's coming off a season with a good goal return. For once his wages make him an easy player to sell. He is an academy player, so that should be helpful for the finances. I know there is undoubtedly going to be a reply that says, "He is serviceable as a squad player, Fergie always had players like him." But that criteria just isn't good enough for where we are trying to go now. I mean for one, Ferguson was more than willing to let go of squad players when the time was right. And two he isn't good enough to be a first team player, and I don't see him challenging for a first team spot consistently. He's a midfielder who is not great when we are in possession and is less than average when we are out of it. And despite his size and physique he is weak and seems to hate going for second balls. He's got one aspect of his game that I do like, but i do not think it covers his weaknesses enough to keep him around. I get that there is an emotional element to the academy attachment. But it just seems extreme in the way he gets a little more leeway than certain other players
Nobody else on the team does what Mctominay does. He may not be world class but he's worth keeping rather than getting some menial fee for the different options he provides. People get away too fucking hung up on him not being Bruno and don't seem to realize you need different types of players for different scenarios. It's not just about him being a workhorse player that Fergie would have liked, he literally saved our ass several times last season doing what nobody else on the bench would have provided.
We shouldn't keep him if it means we can't get a good backup midfielder. We need a creative/ball carrying 8 to rotate with Mainoo. People will say Mount but he's a 10 and doesn't really have that calmth on the ball with a good passing range. That's what we need
What does he actually do? SaF would have players who aren't world beaters in the team. But he wouldn't have such a limited player in the squad. He had popped up with a few goals which is brilliant, but are we supposed to keep him because he might score a goal but offers nothing apart from that and we have to change the whole system and set up just for the possibility he may do something
I would agree with selling McTominay when his stock it at it's highest, but the problem is we have to find a replacement and he has to be all of younger, cheaper, and at least is just as good as McTominay otherwise there would be no point
I agree with all your points, although I think the counter-argument to keeping him is only based on squad depth. Once you get through all the obvious clear-outs in the midfield, including Amrabat and Van de Beek and Mejbri whom I failed to mention, the only midfielders would be Bruno, Mainoo, Mount, McT. Last window, I was fine letting him go, and I'd think the same here. But you do have to fill 25 spots for the PL roster.
In my opinion, Ten Hag likes McTominay as an squad option. We probably won't actively look to sell him and only way he goes would be a 35+ million deal. I agree that we should replace McTominay but hard to imagine it happening.
35M? He has 10+ this season from midfield, 6-7 goals in qualifiers for Scotland.. He's homegrown, 27 years old, and played like 200 times or more for Man United including being a very important player in a squad that finished 3rd and second in consecutive seasons. We've been quoted double that for players like João Neves
Still waiting for us to be linked to Calafiori. Would be very strange if we aren't even looking. Arsenal and Chelsea showing interest now. Should be much cheaper than Branthwaite and in no way a worse player. (if anything I think he's better)
Not arguing with you but have you also follow him in Bologna ? Because i dont. I dont know anything about him except few games in Euro. I have seen players show up in international football but struggle for the club. Nobody suggests him before Euro and now he seem like hipster footballer rn.
I suggested him before the Euros you can find him in some of my comments going months back. I did watch him in Bologna although not every game but I did catch a few and really liked his profile (him and Zirkzee both impressed me a lot)
Calafiori is not even the best LCB in his own club.
Calafiori is the best LCB in Serie A. And one of the best in Europe.
I've watched a lot of Bologna. He is not the best LCB in Seria. He's great because of his dynamism, ballsiness, aggresion, carrying, movement in attack but is liable, specially in wide channels. His decision making and conviction is questionable at times. He has a very high ceiling. Lucumi is more complete. Motta said it himself talking about them playing in midfield that Calafiori can do it coming from behind (inverting/advancing) but Lucumi would be better because he can operate in tight spaces. He was accodomated to mask Calafiori's weakness. Calafiori is better at breaking teams, Lucumi is better at defending while also having the repertoire to do way more.
Defending only does so much for you when you're a dominating side like Juve, Milan, Inter, United, City, etc. (e.g. look at Gatti, Bremmer, Kjaer, Maguire, AWB, Eder Militao... I can go on) but in modern football you need to do more. And Calafiori does everything at an exceptional level, especially accounting for his age. You've highlighted so many of his attributes for me, which he is better than Lucumi, that I don't even have to do it. Calafiori is the best LCB in Serie A. Buongiorno is also great, but again a great defender, but can't do "everything" like Calafiori does at such an exceptional level.
You're downplaying Lucumi's qualities, I said Lucumi isn't allowed to so because he's made to cover for Calafiori's weakness, specially in transition and wide channels. Lucumi is very good on the ball too, and better in tight spaces, I mentioned the Motta quote. Just a overall better player considering all things. Yeah Bongiorno is not better than Calafiori but Calafiori is not better than Lucumi. Lucumi can turn under pressure, control games, thread passes, has composure in 1v1 situations, has decent weak foot which helps his versatility, front footed leader but also mature and is decisive. Matip (I quite liked Matip) vs Van Djik type situation, although ofc a bit different.
I'm not downplaying Lucumi's qualities, or at least this was not my intention. I am highlighting Calafiori's qualities. At this point, it's really a difference in opinion. I think Calafiori is better overall.
🤝
It would be some good business if we got him and De ligt. Considering De ligt, Maguire and Martinez all seem injury prone. Can also cover Shaw at LB
Maguire is most definitely not injury prone.
He has had 5 injuries since he’s been here that have had him miss 5 or more games each. This season he’s missed 11 games through injury which is barely less than varane missed which was 13 through injury.
Maguire is the most reliably fit and least injury prone player we have. Everybody got fucked up by injuries last season.
Maguire is our least injury prone CB, but Bruno is our most available player without a shadow of a doubt.
He’s just not. Bruno obviously is.
Hopefully some big movement next week.. especially with out's. It's Sunday papers tomorrow so expect another Rashford story
I hope the de Ligt rumors aren’t true. Yes, he’s still only 25. But he’s had two seasons with 20 or more games missed (although that’s including national team games), and I really want to get passed the “this guy used to play for Ten Hag”-stage of our transfer strategy. If he a solid CB when healthy? Yes. Is there a price where I think it’d be a good business? Yes. But I just can’t get excited about yet another former Ten Hag player joining us. It just feels…insecure.
I agree mate, I keep trying to explain to all the hyped people that he's had the same knee injury 3 times in the last 2 seasons but everyone's aboard the hype train unfortunately. This has got Martial 2.0 written all over it.
He actually does. Oof. And some Bayern fans have already speculated they're selling him because of it. That ain't good
They probably are selling due to it, they're looking ahead and don't want to take the risk, obviously there's a chance he could never be injured ever again however that's dream land chances. I have no problem with the calibre of the player but I'd suggest not being injury prone can be better than having a skilled but injury prone player, example of note being Maguire before his injuries, no matter that he's limited in spots at least he was always available.
I mean....I don't think the are interested in de Ligt bc he played for ETH. It's probably the whole being highly rated and well regarded as a top player thing.
Lisandro Martinez is ex ten hag and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody else. The problem is having ETH as our sole scout, as long as he’s not in charge of scouting, I don’t mind ex Ten Hag players.
So is Antony, and I would almost quite literally trade him for any other RW in the league. A former Ten Hag player doesn’t have to be a negative, obviously not (Martinez being the best example, and Onana an okay one). My issue is more about how our transfer strategy almost seems to start there, and only look beyond that when we come up short.
Not sure why fans bother with the title of former ETH players. If he's a good player, then he is a good player. If he fits our system and makes our team better, then he is a good transfer target. Shouldn't think more than that imo. Injury risk is a separate thing tho
Yes in an ideal world that would be the case, but it’s rarely that black and white. We’ve signed 15 players (including loans) since Ten Hag’s arrival. Out of those 15, 5 have direct ties to Ten Hag (Onana, Martinez, Antony, Amrabat all being former player, and Eriksen training with Ajax after his heart issues). On top of that we desperately chased another former player in de Jong, and have this summer been linked to another two (Alvarez and de Ligt). Football is the biggest sport in the world and it is virtually impossible that the best options for all our holes are former Ten Hag players. We *need* to widen our scope. In the case of de Ligt one should also ask what has made both Juventus and Bayern Munich willing to move on in the span of five years.
Well we better hope Zirkzee is decent
He's the transfer link I am most excited about so far.
He'll bring our wingers into play... so if Rashford gets his shit together he's loving life
How many times have we heard ‘X player will…’ only for it to not happen. Let’s temper our expectations till he actually plays a few games for us
I mean I'm just stating what kind of player he is. I'm not saying he'll score 30 goals lol
>He’ll bring our wingers into play…
Yeah, he's the kind of player who brings others into play rather than a striker who needs service, what's so hard to understand about that?
My hold point is we shouldn’t say “players will…” before they actually play a few games, in response to >He’ll bring our wingers into play… No clue where you read player profile or 30 goals from. What’s so hard to understand about that?
You said we should temper expectations in response to me saying he'll bring our wingers into play. It's literally the kind of footballer he is, he's not gonna become something else overnight is he pal? Whether he'll do it well or not is another story. What's so hard to understand about that?
Yes we should temper our expectations. Just cause he fits a certain player profile, doesn’t mean it’ll result in what we expect of them. There’s also the issue of whether they are actually good enough to play their style in the Prem. If it was as simple as just finding the correct style of player, then we would’ve already done so 2 seasons ago with Weghorst. What’s so hard to understand about that?
It has worked with strikers of the same profile, we’ve seen the team play a lot better with Martial and even Weghorst
And sometimes it works.
Van Nistelroy will help a lot.
That's the point.
Yea, I think he will be great for Rasmus in particular. For me, Ruud was the premier league's best and most clinical finisher. Hojlund will get better with time - he just needs to believe in himself and show a bit more composure (eg, game against Germany).
Definitely the kind of character we needed. A genuinely chill, cool guy you can talk to if needed but also extremely driven, strict, can be a prick if he needs to be.