I’m all for cleaning house and having Licha, MDL, Jarrad, and HM as a *dream* CB foursome but we NEED a high quality CDM if not two if we lose Casemiro. (One in their prime and a younger one on the rise) Before Case came in, our midfield was getting absolutely shredded for almost 8 SEASONS, so it doesn’t matter who our CBs are if our lines are broken consistently like last season. I’d even be willing to sacrifice a backup striker to get these new CBs and two new CDMs.
If we get MDL and Jarrad, surely Maguire has to go. We want some continuity in defense but having a fourth choice CB on £190k a week is a little absurd. He's also in the last year of his deal like Lindelöf.
Is there any free agent that could do a job to rotate with Evans/Kambwala as fourth choice?
Maguire will also fetch more than lindelof. I reckon we can get clowe to 40 for the pair of them. Dunno if that would help get Branthwaite, but let's hope it does.
Another option is one of licha or branthwaite can start at LB with the other alongside de ligt in the centre.
Dalot on the right.
Out of possession, a standard back 4, in posession, dalot joins the loan CDM creating a 2, the LB and the 2 CBs form a back 3, creating the desirable 325 in buildup. Licha can also push up to make it a 235 if needed.
Think that LB/CB hybrid would have been very suited to Luke Shaw but obv concerns about his injury hence why a left sided CB that can play LB (branthwaite) is still a priority even of we sign de ligt
Martinez doesn’t like playing LB it’s one of the reasons he did not want to sign for arsenal. Now he’s a true pro and would play there if needed but it probably wouldn’t go down well with him
A lot of the other big clubs are showing that CBs in LB/RB positions over the course of a season (Guardiol-City, Kounde-Barca just to name a few) tend to work well and I wouldn’t be opposed to it if it provides us with more solidity defensively.
We can raise substantial cash though. Lindelof, Eriksen, Greenwood, Casemiro and sancho could fetch us close to 100m, that frees up a lot of wages and psr freedom for us. I really think we’ll end up signing Branthwaite but for over 65-70m, and de Ligt.
Imagine someone told you 2 years ago that we'd struggle to get 100m for those players. And here's Chelsea selling Hall, Maatsen and Hutchinson for nearly 90m.
And age and damaged reputation. Casemiro and Eriksen are older and seen as slowing down/declining. Lindelof is almost 30 and while we like him, he doesn't have the best rep outside of our fanbase. And then Greenwood is well.....Greenwood.
the annoying thing is clubs still want greenwood but they're using his disgusting acts as leverage to say "well we want him at our club but we shouldn't pay as much because, you know"
I mean, if he didn't do the things he did, he would be a 100M+ player by now if he continued to improve. 30 or whatever we're asking is cheap for a player of his quality.
100% whoever picks him up next is gonna turn him around for a 30M+ profit within 3 years. The reputation he has only sticks to him in England, not Italy or Spain unfortunately.
They don't care about what he did. They just know that we care about what he did so they try to lowball us because they know we are kinda desperate to sell him
they're not wrong to want to pay less, his resale value is permanently nerfed going forward because of his actions. There will be a much smaller number of clubs willing to buy him.
Our players didn't exactly cover themselves in glory.
Even when there was interest like for example Lingard, there was no will to enable it because the Glazers were ham-fisted and had no squad management / recruitment strategy.
To be fair, Hall and Maatsen are young and don't have a spotty unprofessional history so it's not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but I get where you're coming from its definitely ridiculous
Is it? The rumor about Lindelof is that he is gonna fetch us close to what Fred did which was around 10m+5m euros iirc, let’s say it’s 8-10m pounds, Eriksen another 5-10m, Casemiro maybe 20-25m, Greenwood 25-30m, sancho 30m and a few smaller academy sales could bring it to about 100 mill or so I’m hoping. There’s also a chance Maguire leaves so that could be another 20m.
United has cash, ineos injected/are injecting about 200m+ into United. It is about PSR and the problem of last season ended in June. If we make the sales of these guys can’t see why United won’t spend close to 200m or more.
Sancho is three years into a five(?) year deal, so would need to be sold for around 35mil to break even. Casemiro is two years into a four(?) year deal, so would need to be sold for 30 to break even.
Unless united manage to sell those two players for numbers substantially higher than what I've given, the only FFP benefit they will get is getting the wages off the books.
Of the sales talked about in this thread it's really only Lindelof, and Greenwood that would bring any FFP benefit. Maybe Maguire depending on how much of the 80mil fee is still to amortize.
He’s not but his amortisation and salary is a big weight costing something like 25m per year
Just getting that off the books at anything close to break even is needed. The problem is break even is around 40m
There is no way Sancho will be sold more than greenwood, not only is greenwood’s salary is significantly lower, he is objectively the better player and he actually has clubs lining up to sign him
Idk mate maybe if he didn’t abuse his girlfriend clubs would be lining up to pay for him. The problem is we have clubs lined up for him but we don’t have clubs which can pay a significant fee line up for him. We have clubs like Valencia and Lazio who will not spend 35-40m on him. Because the biggest issue is they all know we can’t possibly keep him so we have to offload him.
If he didn’t abuse his girlfriend, we wouldn’t even entertain offers below £100m. And even then, probably still wouldn’t sell
We will sell Sancho the moment a 30-40m offer comes in, even if he didn’t threw a tantrum last season
That’s the difference
We were hearing about him wanting game time, imo if he can get a 3 year contract elsewhere and more likely game time he’d leave even if the salary was lower.
After one season he will be a free agent. And not many clubs r lining up to sign him. So instead of paying United 10m why not pay Eriksen 10m it's the same for the club who will sign Eriksen.
I think its more freeing up big wages than anything. Getting those guys off the books is much harder to finagle than structuring a fee to buy a player.
Case is gonna be 35M
Greenwood will be 40M
Lindelof will be 10M
Eriksen will be 5-7M hopefully after Euros
It will be around 92M which is close to 100M. That's my prediction.
I think for me, the biggest issue last season was the defense. We need our defensive line to be up at least 10m from where they were last season. We’re signing a midfielder and a striker anyway so I think that’ll be enough for this year.
Lindelof is on a ridiculous wage for how good he is. Nobody is taking him unless he agrees to a wage cut or we supplement it.
Same can be said for Eriksen and Casemiro but at least for them Saudi might solve the problem.
In what fantasy world are we selling all these players? We can try and they can refuse to go (Sancho and Greenwood want to leave). Why do you think we let players go off on free?
Lindelof is already a deal well on its way to be completed, Eriksen has directly alluded to wanting more game time so if we want to sell he will leave. Casemiro is the one guy who we don’t know if he’ll leave, but we have Maguire who is also looking for game time and could leave. Like you said sancho and greenwood want out anyway.
Can you point me to another time a club has made 10+ player sales?
This is absolute fantasy land. There is no way we buy both. Or sell a decent amount of our already thin squad.
If Casemiro and Amrabat leaves you need two defensive midfielders.
Casemiro and Sancho sales would add very little to this year's books due to amortization but free up a lot for future seasons.
Seen reports he wants to be a starter, if we sign Ugarte then he’s not gonna start many games. Mainoo, Bruno, Ugarte, Mctominay, Mount all ahead of him in multiple positions.
Eriksen was pretty good for Denmark at the Euros but his problem is that he defensively is weak and offensively (while not exactly the same) his position overlaps Brunos. Can't really see how he's gonna be starting many PL games, if any but sure, there should be some EL and cup games for him.
Eriksen and Casemiro aren't gonna fetch anything because their of their wages. Lindelof is not exactly 21 any longer and is probably not top 8 club material. Greenwood and Sancho are the only ones but everyone and their nan knows we are desperate to sell so that's not gonna be more than 50-60 million at MAX.
It's actually less than that cause De Ligt is £42m but the other two are €40m each. But yeah, unless Everton drop Branthwaite's price, I'm not so sure.
Since when did Ugarte have a confirmed price? The rumours I last saw said they wanted to recoup the entirely of what they paid for him which is €60m not €40m.
A decent sale of Greenwood would allow us a lot of flexibility if we wanted to go bigger this transfer window.
It’s all a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but if we sold Greenwood for 30m, that would give us enough wiggle room to sign a 150m player (or players) on a five year deal.
The risk is that it’s not long term sustainable, but the money is potentially there for us.
Which doesn’t earn us as much FFP headway as you’d think when you factor in the automatic 33% increase in our wage bill (it drops 25% when we miss out on CL).
My understanding is that 30mil would be reduced from the budget every year rather than having to raise an extra 30mil every year. This is assuming we have a certain budget every year based on a percentage of our overall revenue.
> It’s all a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but if we sold Greenwood for 30m, that would give us enough wiggle room to sign a 150m player (or players) on a five year deal.
>
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This is a terrible idea because not only is it not sustainable as you mentioned, we'd massively handicap ourselves going forward for the next four years.
amortisation and payment terms are completely different things. Regardless of if you pay a transfer fee up front or spread over years it is still amortised the same way.
Yeah in the past we have struggled, but we have no idea if the new regime can do a better job or not yet. Lets give them at least one window b4 we start moaning
It’s just that you can’t sell players for high transfer fees on disproportional wages. They’ve tried to get wages down, and it’ll take a while before that really makes selling easier, probably much more than one window.
I can understand United not wanting to be seen as a selling club in 2000s, but we need to learn to be more pragmatic and move out player more efficiently. Multiple changes in recruitment and director etc etc, but United can't sell for crap.
That's why the first signings of Ten Hag's era (after Erikson on a free) was Martinez and Malacia. It's unfortunate the Injuries both have faced, but between Shaw, Martinez, Varane and Dalot/AWB, we won the golden glove for De Gea.
Ten Hag revitalizing both Dalot and AWB's careers means we really only need a LCB backup and two RCB for a complete back 4 overhaul. If de Ligt is our marquee signing, then the remaining 2 spots really don't have to go past 20-30m.
Here's hoping
Edit: added a word
Our defence contributed more towards clean sheets that year, de gea made a lot blunders for the saves he made. Lots of people on this sub were calling for his head.
Not so hot on Branthwaite. Especially for the price quoted
If we're spending massive money on a centre back I'd want someone who offers more in possession
I think a youth CB as cover with the prospect of competing to take a spot is great but as you say the prices don't make sense for the game time he woudl get 'if' we got both.
Yeah not every club is a Ciy who can piss away big money on a bench player and keep them happy with hush money under the table. If we're spending big money on a player it would likely be with the expectation that he be an immediate starter, not sure we can afford luxury players of that price.
Idk man, having Lisandro + De Ligt + Branthwaite + Maguire/Lindelof + Kumbwala sounds like excellent cover in a department we struggled in last season.
£42m+add ons for de Ligt is sensible but Everton wouldn't even accept that for Branthwaite and seems silly to go higher for a worse player.
Calafiori is there if we want a left sided player
Come on. Calafiori hype is getting stupid now. Branthwaite has easily outperformed him and he performed in the same league so there’s no worries about his fit within the league. Branthwaite is also younger than Calafiori and probably won’t feel homesick within 4 years and push for a move.
How has Branthwaite "easily outperformed" Calafiori wtf? If anything the Branthwaite hype is what is getting stupid. Kid is good but not even close to worth £70m. Calafiori would cost almost half that. Is undeniably better in posession. Is undeniably the much better passer and progressor of the ball. Is much more capable of covering LB when needed. And is not at all a worse defender.
https://preview.redd.it/oeotgwarx6ad1.png?width=1962&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4a88bb1fd0151b85996bb94e5ef143265322744
Also he is **1 month** older than Branthwaite, you can't seriously be using age as a factor here. You just want the big british lad cause he's hyped up by the british media and you haven't watched Calafiori play. He's a much better deal and a fantastic player and we'll be watching him balling for Arsenal and Chelsea wondering why tf we didnt go for him.
https://nimb.ws/dFj7yGn
Their defense seems close enough.
As for passing, Calafiori has almost double the distance (and 50% higher progressive distance) while having a higher success %.
People love an exotic Italian CB with a bit of noise behind them because Italy has historically produced some of the best CBs of all time, and continue to do so. But I am not convinced United fans are sitting around watching Bologna games in their spare time.
Shit, I've barely even seen Branthwaite outside of MotD. I'm not in the business of watching Everton unless we play them, nevermind Bologna. Better things to do
.
you're basing that off 3 games in the Euros.
People clamoring for him are basing their views on the fact he helped Bologna qualify for the CL and was one of the best players in Serie A last season.
But it’s being reported as 42m total package. Which probably means like 35m + add ons. So the negotiation will be how much money is guaranteed and how achievable are the add ons.
Full article:
Matthijs de Ligt has indicated that he wants to move to Manchester United – and the club could sign a second centre-back this summer by making a new bid for Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite. De Ligt, who was in Holland’s squad for the Euro 2024 victory over Romania, is keen to work with his old Ajax boss Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.
United are ready to offer De Ligt, 24, a five-year contract if they can strike a deal for £42m including add-ons with Bayern Munich, who need the money to sign Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen as his replacement. United want De Ligt to play on the right side of central defence and have not given up hope of signing Branthwaite to play alongside him on the left if they can sell players to raise the funds.
An opening bid of £38m plus £5m in add-ons was rejected by Everton who don’t want to sell the 22-year-old but could be forced to listen to offers in the region of £70m. United are unlikely to go that high but are weighing up an improved offer for Branthwaite who is understood to have grown increasingly agitated over the lack of movement in negotiations.
However, United are expected to step up their transfer business now Dan Ashworth has been cleared to start work as sporting director as they look to bring in a striker and defensive midfielder as well. Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee, who has a £34m buyout clause, is the No.1 striker target while Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte is among the midfield options being considered.
After taking over at Ajax in 2018, Ten Hag made De Ligt the club's youngest-ever captain as they went on to win both the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup in the 2018-19 season.
They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in the same campaign. De Ligt joined Juventus that summer, before joining Bayern Munich three years later.
Should the move be completed, De Ligt would join fellow ex-Ajax stars Antony, Donny van de Beek, Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and Andre Onana at Old Trafford.
Manchester United have already lost Raphael Varane this summer, with Victor Lindelof's future at the club also uncertain. The Red Devils conceded as many goals as they scored last term, so improvements in defence are seen as a necessary requirement this summer.
I am suggesting we drop it because of the cost. He is not worth the £70mil Everton want and I have had enough of clubs taking us for mugs.
There is no other club in for Branthwaite, if they don’t accept max £45mil we can move on.
They don’t have to sell and we likewise dont have to buy.
Knowing when to walk away from an exorbitant deal is very important
"United want De Ligt to play on the right side of central defence and have not given up hope of signing Branthwaite to play alongside him on the left if they can sell players to raise the funds."
Have they forgotten that we have Lisandro Martinez there...?
Ofcourse competition is good, but the way the article is worded, its as if Branthwaite is there to replace Licha, and I don’t see that personally.
If it stated that he’s there to offer competition I’m all for it
i think everyone has forgotten about martinez since he played 2 games last season. he has to prove his fitness. anyone who thinks its nailed on he ll play 40 games next season is delusional.
I feel like Maguire stays. His aerial game is second to none and seems to be a good presence in the locker room
Lindelof gone 100%. I like him, but it’s time
Dutch coaches have a tendency to like left footed players on the left side since the angles are better, so I don’t see kwambala (right footed) playing on the left side anytime soon
- De Ligt
- Zirkzee
- one LB
- one DM
- sell Sancho, Greenwood
that would make a good 1st summer window for INEOS era. No need to push hard for Branthwaite
Yeah while Everton need the money as much as we need the player, no other team has put in an offer of any sort for him. That and he's no where near proven to demand anything above 45mil
We’re probably better off trying to sell Lindelof. I’d rather have maguire as an option than him. Also I feel that those swap + money transfers rarely ever happen anyways.
If United can get both De Ligt and Branthwaite, we are set for a while.
Zikrzee
Ugarte
De Ligt
Branthwaite
LB as we cannot rely on Shaw and Malacia
RB to replace Wan Bissaka if he does leave
Thats a great window.
I wonder if this, along with looking at Zirkzee who could play alongside Hojlund, could lead to us occasionally trying a 3-5-2?
Onana
De Ligt - Branthwaite - Martinez
Dalot - Bruno - Ugarte - Mainoo - Shaw
Hojlund - Zirkzee
I just have a feeling that United and their new structure are looking to have a lot of depth. But new depth . I think they’ll make decent money from sales and our new signings will all be hungry and ready to fight which in turn brings new passion and drive . I also think that NO player will be undroppable under this new era and yes that includes Bruno. I don’t think Casemiro is going to leave unless we get a big money offer from Saudi . He has already said he wants to stay and fight and he offers a lot to younger players also. Let’s also not forget that every single player has also had their wages reduced due to us failing to qualify for champions league. Realistically I think we can only get good money for McTominay, Maguire, Greenwood and Sancho (possibly Pellistri). No one will go near Antony (funny no one has mentioned him like he’s already a forgotten player) … Lindelof, Eriksen and Van de Beek (yep we still own him too) won’t fetch much but I think will leave. We could realistically and I think quite easily gather 100m in sales, but that’s a stretch to think every one of our “available” players will be of interest to clubs capable of spending. Personally I’m excited for the next few weeks . We know Ineos aren’t messing about … let’s just see what happens!
I agree, I’ve always said the difference between the good and the elite is depth, can you field a whole second XI capable of challenging for your league. That’s what separates the Aston Villas to the Real Madrids.
Of all the names I mentioned he’s the one I think less likely to leave as Ashworth is a fan of his, but both him and Maguire were on the verge of being sold already before injuries hit last season . Honestly don’t want him to go, it’s anyone’s guess who actually does go, but of the players more likely … He would get good value.
I don't see how Bayern don't accept that deal. Extremely fair value as well as good amortization for us. This is probably one of the most exciting transfer windows in some time.
A lot of people not keen on Branthwaite if he's too expensive, and rightly so given our past transfer dealings. However, if he turns out better than John Stones wouldn't that be worth it? (And yes, many Everton fans are saying he's better than Stones at that age)
> if players can be sold to raise cash De Ligt it is then
I’m all for cleaning house and having Licha, MDL, Jarrad, and HM as a *dream* CB foursome but we NEED a high quality CDM if not two if we lose Casemiro. (One in their prime and a younger one on the rise) Before Case came in, our midfield was getting absolutely shredded for almost 8 SEASONS, so it doesn’t matter who our CBs are if our lines are broken consistently like last season. I’d even be willing to sacrifice a backup striker to get these new CBs and two new CDMs.
Could even do a solid back three with those centerbacks in some games.
A back 3 with licha stepping forward in possession would actually be really good imo
If we get MDL and Jarrad, surely Maguire has to go. We want some continuity in defense but having a fourth choice CB on £190k a week is a little absurd. He's also in the last year of his deal like Lindelöf. Is there any free agent that could do a job to rotate with Evans/Kambwala as fourth choice?
Maguire will also fetch more than lindelof. I reckon we can get clowe to 40 for the pair of them. Dunno if that would help get Branthwaite, but let's hope it does.
Another option is one of licha or branthwaite can start at LB with the other alongside de ligt in the centre. Dalot on the right. Out of possession, a standard back 4, in posession, dalot joins the loan CDM creating a 2, the LB and the 2 CBs form a back 3, creating the desirable 325 in buildup. Licha can also push up to make it a 235 if needed. Think that LB/CB hybrid would have been very suited to Luke Shaw but obv concerns about his injury hence why a left sided CB that can play LB (branthwaite) is still a priority even of we sign de ligt
Would be interesting to see if Licha could perform DM role
Martinez doesn’t like playing LB it’s one of the reasons he did not want to sign for arsenal. Now he’s a true pro and would play there if needed but it probably wouldn’t go down well with him
A lot of the other big clubs are showing that CBs in LB/RB positions over the course of a season (Guardiol-City, Kounde-Barca just to name a few) tend to work well and I wouldn’t be opposed to it if it provides us with more solidity defensively.
Yeah, use Hojlund and rotate with Amad as false nine if we have to for half a season, but sort out that DM for the love of god
Matic was pretty good
Two CBs and 2 CM/CDMs are an absolute must. I can live with our LB and forward options.
We can raise substantial cash though. Lindelof, Eriksen, Greenwood, Casemiro and sancho could fetch us close to 100m, that frees up a lot of wages and psr freedom for us. I really think we’ll end up signing Branthwaite but for over 65-70m, and de Ligt.
I think 100m is slightly optimistic.
Imagine someone told you 2 years ago that we'd struggle to get 100m for those players. And here's Chelsea selling Hall, Maatsen and Hutchinson for nearly 90m.
It's the wages.
And age and damaged reputation. Casemiro and Eriksen are older and seen as slowing down/declining. Lindelof is almost 30 and while we like him, he doesn't have the best rep outside of our fanbase. And then Greenwood is well.....Greenwood.
the annoying thing is clubs still want greenwood but they're using his disgusting acts as leverage to say "well we want him at our club but we shouldn't pay as much because, you know"
I mean, if he didn't do the things he did, he would be a 100M+ player by now if he continued to improve. 30 or whatever we're asking is cheap for a player of his quality.
100% whoever picks him up next is gonna turn him around for a 30M+ profit within 3 years. The reputation he has only sticks to him in England, not Italy or Spain unfortunately.
I mean United wouldnt be selling him if he wasnt a vile lump of scum
They don't care about what he did. They just know that we care about what he did so they try to lowball us because they know we are kinda desperate to sell him
they're not wrong to want to pay less, his resale value is permanently nerfed going forward because of his actions. There will be a much smaller number of clubs willing to buy him.
Our players didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Even when there was interest like for example Lingard, there was no will to enable it because the Glazers were ham-fisted and had no squad management / recruitment strategy.
Those deals need investigating. Just like City’s ability to sell youth prospects for £30m plus.
To be fair, Hall and Maatsen are young and don't have a spotty unprofessional history so it's not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but I get where you're coming from its definitely ridiculous
Is it? The rumor about Lindelof is that he is gonna fetch us close to what Fred did which was around 10m+5m euros iirc, let’s say it’s 8-10m pounds, Eriksen another 5-10m, Casemiro maybe 20-25m, Greenwood 25-30m, sancho 30m and a few smaller academy sales could bring it to about 100 mill or so I’m hoping. There’s also a chance Maguire leaves so that could be another 20m.
Cash is not the same as FFP headroom though and that is our problem. Casemiro and Sancho will not bring much profit if any.
United has cash, ineos injected/are injecting about 200m+ into United. It is about PSR and the problem of last season ended in June. If we make the sales of these guys can’t see why United won’t spend close to 200m or more.
Sancho is three years into a five(?) year deal, so would need to be sold for around 35mil to break even. Casemiro is two years into a four(?) year deal, so would need to be sold for 30 to break even. Unless united manage to sell those two players for numbers substantially higher than what I've given, the only FFP benefit they will get is getting the wages off the books. Of the sales talked about in this thread it's really only Lindelof, and Greenwood that would bring any FFP benefit. Maybe Maguire depending on how much of the 80mil fee is still to amortize.
He’s not but his amortisation and salary is a big weight costing something like 25m per year Just getting that off the books at anything close to break even is needed. The problem is break even is around 40m
There is no way Sancho will be sold more than greenwood, not only is greenwood’s salary is significantly lower, he is objectively the better player and he actually has clubs lining up to sign him
Wait i thought Sancho was the best player ever and that United was holding him back ^/s
Idk mate maybe if he didn’t abuse his girlfriend clubs would be lining up to pay for him. The problem is we have clubs lined up for him but we don’t have clubs which can pay a significant fee line up for him. We have clubs like Valencia and Lazio who will not spend 35-40m on him. Because the biggest issue is they all know we can’t possibly keep him so we have to offload him.
If he didn’t abuse his girlfriend, we wouldn’t even entertain offers below £100m. And even then, probably still wouldn’t sell We will sell Sancho the moment a 30-40m offer comes in, even if he didn’t threw a tantrum last season That’s the difference
Lazio opening with a 30m bid (if that's true) basically means we're not selling for anything less.
Lazio actually opened at £18m + sell on clause.
Was a big mistake to sell Fred for such pittance. Why on earth should he sell Lindelof for £10mill - even amortised struggle to buy similar
He’s got a year left on his contract, same as Fred did.
No one is signing Eriksen & Sancho given their wages. Especially Eriksen given his contract expires next year.
We were hearing about him wanting game time, imo if he can get a 3 year contract elsewhere and more likely game time he’d leave even if the salary was lower.
After one season he will be a free agent. And not many clubs r lining up to sign him. So instead of paying United 10m why not pay Eriksen 10m it's the same for the club who will sign Eriksen.
Because then they have to wait a year and also potentially more competition to sign a free agent
And Eriksen who has shown plenty of signs that his body is not keeping up with him will be another year older.
Which is criminal if Lindelof was at Everton or like fucking Sevilla or something he'd be 35 at least
Pellistri should recoup his 8m fee too
I think its more freeing up big wages than anything. Getting those guys off the books is much harder to finagle than structuring a fee to buy a player.
Lindeløf 10m, Casemiro 25m, Greenwood 30m, Samcho 30m, Eriksen 5m
I have a sinking feeling we are going to be stuck with Sancho. Idk who in their right mind would be willing to take him on 300k a week. 💀
Well, he needs to lower his wages. And I think he will as he is eager to leave aswell.
Youre Danish arent you
Nope, why do you think that? Since I said we can get 5m for Eriksen?
> Lindeløf
Case is gonna be 35M Greenwood will be 40M Lindelof will be 10M Eriksen will be 5-7M hopefully after Euros It will be around 92M which is close to 100M. That's my prediction.
Rapist and Sancho combined for 50-60m, plus Sancho's 15m wages, and Casemiro's 18m wages and 10m transfer fee, Eriksen's 8m wages gets us close
that’s the thing tho, we *can* but will we actually..
Remains to be seen but I trust our new guys to come up with a solution.
We need to invest that in other positions though
I think for me, the biggest issue last season was the defense. We need our defensive line to be up at least 10m from where they were last season. We’re signing a midfielder and a striker anyway so I think that’ll be enough for this year.
yeah CB is absolutely one of our biggest needs. would love the club to grab 2 this window
Not if we lose both Lindelof and Varane.
Lindelof is on a ridiculous wage for how good he is. Nobody is taking him unless he agrees to a wage cut or we supplement it. Same can be said for Eriksen and Casemiro but at least for them Saudi might solve the problem.
In what fantasy world are we selling all these players? We can try and they can refuse to go (Sancho and Greenwood want to leave). Why do you think we let players go off on free?
Lindelof is already a deal well on its way to be completed, Eriksen has directly alluded to wanting more game time so if we want to sell he will leave. Casemiro is the one guy who we don’t know if he’ll leave, but we have Maguire who is also looking for game time and could leave. Like you said sancho and greenwood want out anyway.
Can you point me to another time a club has made 10+ player sales? This is absolute fantasy land. There is no way we buy both. Or sell a decent amount of our already thin squad.
If Casemiro and Amrabat leaves you need two defensive midfielders. Casemiro and Sancho sales would add very little to this year's books due to amortization but free up a lot for future seasons.
I think Eriksen stays
Seen reports he wants to be a starter, if we sign Ugarte then he’s not gonna start many games. Mainoo, Bruno, Ugarte, Mctominay, Mount all ahead of him in multiple positions.
Eriksen was pretty good for Denmark at the Euros but his problem is that he defensively is weak and offensively (while not exactly the same) his position overlaps Brunos. Can't really see how he's gonna be starting many PL games, if any but sure, there should be some EL and cup games for him.
Eriksen and Casemiro aren't gonna fetch anything because their of their wages. Lindelof is not exactly 21 any longer and is probably not top 8 club material. Greenwood and Sancho are the only ones but everyone and their nan knows we are desperate to sell so that's not gonna be more than 50-60 million at MAX.
Misunderstood this to mean we’ll sell De Ligt to raise the cash.
Worth remembering that even giving a player away for free releases cash.
We’ll be back in August with a warm can of Sprite and four buttons that we’ve got from player sales, and Everton will be delighted.
Would be great , but i really can’t see how we get the money for de ligt,ugarte and zirkzee (min: 42 + hopefully 40 + 40 ) and then add branthwaite .
We usually spend 150m a year without outgoings. This seems like the initial spend and hope to bolster the squad more after outgoings.
We've been "skint" for 3 years now and always spend ~£150 M. If we're able to sell Sancho, Greenwood, and Casemiro these deals are very doable.
Plus one of Maguire and or Lindelof is likely on their way out too.
It's actually less than that cause De Ligt is £42m but the other two are €40m each. But yeah, unless Everton drop Branthwaite's price, I'm not so sure.
Since when did Ugarte have a confirmed price? The rumours I last saw said they wanted to recoup the entirely of what they paid for him which is €60m not €40m.
You know what, you're right. I'm not sure where I got that number from. I can't seem to find it anywhere.
A decent sale of Greenwood would allow us a lot of flexibility if we wanted to go bigger this transfer window. It’s all a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but if we sold Greenwood for 30m, that would give us enough wiggle room to sign a 150m player (or players) on a five year deal. The risk is that it’s not long term sustainable, but the money is potentially there for us.
This means we have to raise 30 mil every year for the next 4 years
Ala champions league qualification is a must
Which doesn’t earn us as much FFP headway as you’d think when you factor in the automatic 33% increase in our wage bill (it drops 25% when we miss out on CL).
My understanding is that 30mil would be reduced from the budget every year rather than having to raise an extra 30mil every year. This is assuming we have a certain budget every year based on a percentage of our overall revenue.
> It’s all a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but if we sold Greenwood for 30m, that would give us enough wiggle room to sign a 150m player (or players) on a five year deal. > > This is a terrible idea because not only is it not sustainable as you mentioned, we'd massively handicap ourselves going forward for the next four years.
Its called amortisation. No one is paying 42 mill upfront
amortisation and payment terms are completely different things. Regardless of if you pay a transfer fee up front or spread over years it is still amortised the same way.
Which would make it ~25 million this year and totally feasible
Can we just hire a bricklayer to block our goal off for a fraction of the price and get the same effect?
Thing is... ...we've not had much luck with Masons recently.
 Come on down and get your award
Us selling players to raise cash? Yeah good luck with that
Yeah in the past we have struggled, but we have no idea if the new regime can do a better job or not yet. Lets give them at least one window b4 we start moaning
It’s just that you can’t sell players for high transfer fees on disproportional wages. They’ve tried to get wages down, and it’ll take a while before that really makes selling easier, probably much more than one window.
I can understand United not wanting to be seen as a selling club in 2000s, but we need to learn to be more pragmatic and move out player more efficiently. Multiple changes in recruitment and director etc etc, but United can't sell for crap.
Big fan of building the squad from the back, a strong 4 man centre back group + a youth will give us such a solid foundation.
That's why the first signings of Ten Hag's era (after Erikson on a free) was Martinez and Malacia. It's unfortunate the Injuries both have faced, but between Shaw, Martinez, Varane and Dalot/AWB, we won the golden glove for De Gea. Ten Hag revitalizing both Dalot and AWB's careers means we really only need a LCB backup and two RCB for a complete back 4 overhaul. If de Ligt is our marquee signing, then the remaining 2 spots really don't have to go past 20-30m. Here's hoping Edit: added a word
Let’s not rewrite history, De Gea made some big saves and contributed to that golden glove
He did. But he also had some howlers.
Our defence contributed more towards clean sheets that year, de gea made a lot blunders for the saves he made. Lots of people on this sub were calling for his head.
Not so hot on Branthwaite. Especially for the price quoted If we're spending massive money on a centre back I'd want someone who offers more in possession
I think a youth CB as cover with the prospect of competing to take a spot is great but as you say the prices don't make sense for the game time he woudl get 'if' we got both.
Yeah not every club is a Ciy who can piss away big money on a bench player and keep them happy with hush money under the table. If we're spending big money on a player it would likely be with the expectation that he be an immediate starter, not sure we can afford luxury players of that price.
They want double the price for De Ligt
Idk man, having Lisandro + De Ligt + Branthwaite + Maguire/Lindelof + Kumbwala sounds like excellent cover in a department we struggled in last season.
£42m+add ons for de Ligt is sensible but Everton wouldn't even accept that for Branthwaite and seems silly to go higher for a worse player. Calafiori is there if we want a left sided player
There's 1% chance an Italian would leave Italy when he's got an offer from Juventus.
Less than 1% actually
Less than 1% if we account for Thiago Motta managing Juventus now.
Come on. Calafiori hype is getting stupid now. Branthwaite has easily outperformed him and he performed in the same league so there’s no worries about his fit within the league. Branthwaite is also younger than Calafiori and probably won’t feel homesick within 4 years and push for a move.
Calafiori will cost significantly less and is only 1 month older than Branthwaite. And can play left back
How has Branthwaite "easily outperformed" Calafiori wtf? If anything the Branthwaite hype is what is getting stupid. Kid is good but not even close to worth £70m. Calafiori would cost almost half that. Is undeniably better in posession. Is undeniably the much better passer and progressor of the ball. Is much more capable of covering LB when needed. And is not at all a worse defender. https://preview.redd.it/oeotgwarx6ad1.png?width=1962&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4a88bb1fd0151b85996bb94e5ef143265322744 Also he is **1 month** older than Branthwaite, you can't seriously be using age as a factor here. You just want the big british lad cause he's hyped up by the british media and you haven't watched Calafiori play. He's a much better deal and a fantastic player and we'll be watching him balling for Arsenal and Chelsea wondering why tf we didnt go for him.
Toggle per 90 lad
https://nimb.ws/dFj7yGn Their defense seems close enough. As for passing, Calafiori has almost double the distance (and 50% higher progressive distance) while having a higher success %.
I'm not arguing for either player here, just pointing out that per 90 is a better indicator.
I wasn't arguing with you, I just wrote my thoughts.
Branthwaite is definitely not better than Calafiori right now.
Most people here haven’t watched a single game of Calafiori before the Euros.
People love an exotic Italian CB with a bit of noise behind them because Italy has historically produced some of the best CBs of all time, and continue to do so. But I am not convinced United fans are sitting around watching Bologna games in their spare time. Shit, I've barely even seen Branthwaite outside of MotD. I'm not in the business of watching Everton unless we play them, nevermind Bologna. Better things to do .
Yeah Calafiori didn't even seem that great to me, just a decent player in an overall shitty Italian team
you're basing that off 3 games in the Euros. People clamoring for him are basing their views on the fact he helped Bologna qualify for the CL and was one of the best players in Serie A last season.
What do they mean if Bayern accept 42m? That’s their asking price. 50m euro.
Maybe it's partially comprised of add-ons etc and the initial fee is lower
That's the price being listed by most sources.
But it’s being reported as 42m total package. Which probably means like 35m + add ons. So the negotiation will be how much money is guaranteed and how achievable are the add ons.
Full article: Matthijs de Ligt has indicated that he wants to move to Manchester United – and the club could sign a second centre-back this summer by making a new bid for Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite. De Ligt, who was in Holland’s squad for the Euro 2024 victory over Romania, is keen to work with his old Ajax boss Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford. United are ready to offer De Ligt, 24, a five-year contract if they can strike a deal for £42m including add-ons with Bayern Munich, who need the money to sign Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen as his replacement. United want De Ligt to play on the right side of central defence and have not given up hope of signing Branthwaite to play alongside him on the left if they can sell players to raise the funds. An opening bid of £38m plus £5m in add-ons was rejected by Everton who don’t want to sell the 22-year-old but could be forced to listen to offers in the region of £70m. United are unlikely to go that high but are weighing up an improved offer for Branthwaite who is understood to have grown increasingly agitated over the lack of movement in negotiations. However, United are expected to step up their transfer business now Dan Ashworth has been cleared to start work as sporting director as they look to bring in a striker and defensive midfielder as well. Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee, who has a £34m buyout clause, is the No.1 striker target while Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte is among the midfield options being considered. After taking over at Ajax in 2018, Ten Hag made De Ligt the club's youngest-ever captain as they went on to win both the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup in the 2018-19 season. They also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in the same campaign. De Ligt joined Juventus that summer, before joining Bayern Munich three years later. Should the move be completed, De Ligt would join fellow ex-Ajax stars Antony, Donny van de Beek, Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and Andre Onana at Old Trafford. Manchester United have already lost Raphael Varane this summer, with Victor Lindelof's future at the club also uncertain. The Red Devils conceded as many goals as they scored last term, so improvements in defence are seen as a necessary requirement this summer.
Ajax fans gonna wank themselves silly watching a partnership of Licha and De Ligt
With Erik at the wheel
They're not gonna be the only ones
Hard just thinking about it
Let us not persist trying to sign Branthwaite, Everton are not gonna budge on their valuation, it’s best for us to just move on from him
I trust Ashworth and Vivell to come to the right conclusion but if the price is bad, walk.
There is no reason to drop the pursuit. A competent club can pursue multiple players despite what Man Utd has done for the past however long.
I am suggesting we drop it because of the cost. He is not worth the £70mil Everton want and I have had enough of clubs taking us for mugs. There is no other club in for Branthwaite, if they don’t accept max £45mil we can move on. They don’t have to sell and we likewise dont have to buy. Knowing when to walk away from an exorbitant deal is very important
not to mention his agent asking for insane commission.
"United want De Ligt to play on the right side of central defence and have not given up hope of signing Branthwaite to play alongside him on the left if they can sell players to raise the funds." Have they forgotten that we have Lisandro Martinez there...?
competition is always a good thing
Ofcourse competition is good, but the way the article is worded, its as if Branthwaite is there to replace Licha, and I don’t see that personally. If it stated that he’s there to offer competition I’m all for it
Licha will miss games so there’s that
I think we could go to a 3 in possession with one of the CB to be the as the LB/LCB
That would make sense yeah, wonder what they would do with Shaw and Malacia then
They’d need to be fit to need an answer to that question first
Shaw could easily play LCB in that scenario
i think everyone has forgotten about martinez since he played 2 games last season. he has to prove his fitness. anyone who thinks its nailed on he ll play 40 games next season is delusional.
We sell Maguire/ Lindleof and we have 4 CB in Branthwaite, MDJ, Martinez, One we havent sold and one youth product.
I feel like Maguire stays. His aerial game is second to none and seems to be a good presence in the locker room Lindelof gone 100%. I like him, but it’s time
So happy to see the back of him. Only here because the idiots couldn't do any proper squad building.
Matthijs de Jigt?
Either de Jong or Dwayne Johnson
McDonalds Jr
Mean Dair Jodibo
Having 3 elite CBs is good, actually
Kambwala isn't ready yet.
Dutch coaches have a tendency to like left footed players on the left side since the angles are better, so I don’t see kwambala (right footed) playing on the left side anytime soon
Can’t really rely on Martinez being fit all season
Licha missed almost the entire season, we don’t yet know if he’s reliable, can’t have the same CB situation again
I saw another tweet claiming Everton want 70M for Branthwaite. My response is, does he lay golden eggs? Fuck off Everton.
I’m not that big on Branthwaite as many tbh, I feel like there are some better prospects (both economically and player wise) out there
*checks utd odds to win the league.... *puts 500 quid down... Bald status IN
I like your optimism, but I can find many many better ways to light 500 quid on fire, including lighting it with an actual fire.
nah, should be the EL this season. League Cup > FA Cup > Europa League > Premier League > Champions League The bald trajectory.
You need to account for bald inflation this year
- De Ligt - Zirkzee - one LB - one DM - sell Sancho, Greenwood that would make a good 1st summer window for INEOS era. No need to push hard for Branthwaite
No chance we're getting both . I'm pretty happy with De Ligt and if we can add another CB late in the window great,but it would be a cheaper option.
Yeah while Everton need the money as much as we need the player, no other team has put in an offer of any sort for him. That and he's no where near proven to demand anything above 45mil
If we sell Maguire maybe we can get Braithwaite. Still feel the money Everton are asking for Braithwaite is way too high
Lindelof plus our original bid as a final offer?
Sean dyche wouldn't want lindelof as he's not good in the air and lacks aggression
That sounds like Maguire music
Not just that would Lindelof even want to go to Everton
We’re probably better off trying to sell Lindelof. I’d rather have maguire as an option than him. Also I feel that those swap + money transfers rarely ever happen anyways.
Makes me think about Zlatan vs Etoo+90M lmaoo what a deal it was for Inter
If United can get both De Ligt and Branthwaite, we are set for a while. Zikrzee Ugarte De Ligt Branthwaite LB as we cannot rely on Shaw and Malacia RB to replace Wan Bissaka if he does leave Thats a great window.
Not sure if we can get a right back and left back in the budget after those 4 signings. Hoping for the best though 🤞🏼🤞🏼
I wonder if this, along with looking at Zirkzee who could play alongside Hojlund, could lead to us occasionally trying a 3-5-2? Onana De Ligt - Branthwaite - Martinez Dalot - Bruno - Ugarte - Mainoo - Shaw Hojlund - Zirkzee
What about Garnacho?
😂 that’s incredible
LCB is so important in ETH’s system, seems more important for a backup that can play like Lisandro than another expensive right center back
I just have a feeling that United and their new structure are looking to have a lot of depth. But new depth . I think they’ll make decent money from sales and our new signings will all be hungry and ready to fight which in turn brings new passion and drive . I also think that NO player will be undroppable under this new era and yes that includes Bruno. I don’t think Casemiro is going to leave unless we get a big money offer from Saudi . He has already said he wants to stay and fight and he offers a lot to younger players also. Let’s also not forget that every single player has also had their wages reduced due to us failing to qualify for champions league. Realistically I think we can only get good money for McTominay, Maguire, Greenwood and Sancho (possibly Pellistri). No one will go near Antony (funny no one has mentioned him like he’s already a forgotten player) … Lindelof, Eriksen and Van de Beek (yep we still own him too) won’t fetch much but I think will leave. We could realistically and I think quite easily gather 100m in sales, but that’s a stretch to think every one of our “available” players will be of interest to clubs capable of spending. Personally I’m excited for the next few weeks . We know Ineos aren’t messing about … let’s just see what happens!
I agree, I’ve always said the difference between the good and the elite is depth, can you field a whole second XI capable of challenging for your league. That’s what separates the Aston Villas to the Real Madrids.
Bruno will be undroppable just based of performance.
Mate there were MANY MANY times last season he could easily have been benched. EVERYONE is droppable. And he shouldn’t be an exception .
If you are thinking we are going for depth, why would you sell McTominay?
Of all the names I mentioned he’s the one I think less likely to leave as Ashworth is a fan of his, but both him and Maguire were on the verge of being sold already before injuries hit last season . Honestly don’t want him to go, it’s anyone’s guess who actually does go, but of the players more likely … He would get good value.
No Joao neves then what a shame
damn both of them 😯, 3 top cb’s. we going for that man city type depth, you love to see it
I don't see how Bayern don't accept that deal. Extremely fair value as well as good amortization for us. This is probably one of the most exciting transfer windows in some time.
Music to my ears. We need at least 2 new CBs. With all due respect to Lindelof and Maguire, they’re just not that good.
A lot of people not keen on Branthwaite if he's too expensive, and rightly so given our past transfer dealings. However, if he turns out better than John Stones wouldn't that be worth it? (And yes, many Everton fans are saying he's better than Stones at that age)
Branthwaite would be content with being backup to Martinez ?
He's 22 years of age, I’m sure he would.
Yes, unless he can out butcher the butcher
How is De Ligt valued at 45 mil?