Man Utd

[Kuro]

Imagine you are appointed Man Utd manager in the summer.  I had a look at their squad and ideally there's only ten players I would want to keep.  But realistically any rebuild will have to be done in stages, so.give us a list of say six or seven players you would sign to turn them round in the summer.

Personally I think they need a whole new.back five and a couple of midfielders. Also some players you would move on.  Let's put an imaginary budget of £300 million, perhaps £350 million if you can bring a decent amount in in transfer fees too.

For me, the first things I would do are sell Pogba, and sign Umtiti (£45 million) and Wan-Bissaka (£25 million).  I would also sell de Gea and promote Romero to first choice, saving a bit of money to be spent elsewhere.

[Kuro]

Perhaps de Ligt  (£85 million) if he was attainable and Jovic (£65 million) with Lukaku heading out the exit door.   Not sure those two would choose Man Utd though.

[Kuro]

Koulibaly (£75 million) as alternative to de Ligt.

[WullieBroonIsGod]

8 hours ago, Kuro said:

Perhaps de Ligt  (£85 million) if he was attainable and Jovic (£65 million) with Lukaku heading out the exit door.   Not sure those two would choose Man Utd though.

That's exactly it.  A name that sold itself for a generation.  Man Utd express interest - where do I sign?  Almost guaranteed success and a haul of medals.  

Now?  The real elite that they could previously court now look elsewhere.  The rebuild at united is at a delicate phase, if they get this wrong they could see themselves like a Liverpool of 10 years ago.

[Rab B Nesbit]

Ole’s at the wheel ... . 

[harry94]

The whole drastic rebuild thing isn't realistic. If they really want to move on, they really need five or six players who are a cut above; Pep inherited Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne, Kompany, Fernandinho who are all top class players and even then, they still required hundreds of millions to be spent. I suspect that they'll just keep the cycle going and replace mediocre players with more mediocre players but then ditch the ones that at least had some reliability.

And it's another season that they are going into the window with no director of football or technical person in transfers at the club, someone might come in soon but you'd imagine that the window is pretty much a write off without the underlying work and a manager who isn't really experienced.

[The Minertaur]

Who would you keep from below?  De Gea, Pogba, Lukaku and Rashford on their day are excellent Premier League players.  The rest?  *insert Alan Partridge shrug GIF*

No.   Position Player 1 GK David de Gea 2 DF Victor Lindelöf 3 DF Eric Bailly 4 DF Phil Jones 6 MF Paul Pogba 7 FW Alexis Sánchez 8 MF Juan Mata 9 FW Romelu Lukaku 10 FW Marcus Rashford 11 FW Anthony Martial 12 DF Chris Smalling 13 GK Lee Grant 14 MF Jesse Lingard

No.   Position Player 15 MF Andreas Pereira 16 DF Marcos Rojo 17 MF Fred 18 DF Ashley Young 20 DF Diogo Dalot 21 MF Ander Herrera 22 GK Sergio Romero 23 DF Luke Shaw 25 DF Antonio Valencia (captain) 31 MF Nemanja Matić 36 DF Matteo Darmian 39 MF Scott McTominay

[7-2]

Until the t-shirt salesman goes back to what he's good at then United will always have one hand tied behind their back football wise. 

[TheScarf]

Get rid, immediately, of Martial, Young, Smalling, Shaw, Rojo, Jones, Lukaku, Sanchez and Fred.  None of these players are remotely good enough for Man United.

Matic and Mata are on the fence for me at the moment.  As for who to sign?  I'd start looking at the likes of Harry Kane (an established 30 goal a season Barclays striker), Benjamin Pavard (and mold him into a centre back) and Josh Kimmich (an already established centre back),

As for the midfield? I don't even know where to start.  There's almost zero creativity in there if Pogba doesn't fancy it on the day.

[Ira Gaines]

You'd obviously keep McTominay as well. He's young and will improve and is already showing himself to potentially be a tremendous DM in the future. If a manager can figure out what to do with Mata, he'd be useful as well.

[nsr]

Antonio "oh, is he still there?" Valencia.

[TheScarf]

McTominay definitely looks like he could have a big say at United in the next few years.  I think they're molding him into the next Dar Fletcher.

[7-2]

1 minute ago, nsr said:

Antonio "oh, is he still there?" Valencia.

It's been known for a while he's off in the summer.

It speaks volumes that it's quicker to list those that should stay rather than go. 

[Rab B Nesbit]

19 minutes ago, 7-2 said:

 

[YHallSaint]

Get rid, immediately, of Martial, Young, Smalling, Shaw, Rojo, Jones, Lukaku, Sanchez and Fred.  None of these players are remotely good enough for Man United.
Matic and Mata are on the fence for me at the moment.  As for who to sign?  I'd start looking at the likes of Harry Kane (an established 30 goal a season Barclays striker), Benjamin Pavard (and mold him into a centre back) and Josh Kimmich (an already established centre back),
As for the midfield? I don't even know where to start.  There's almost zero creativity in there if Pogba doesn't fancy it on the day.

Pavard has signed for Bayern

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, YHallSaint said:

Pavard has signed for Bayern

 

Ah well.  Probably inevitable really as he's already in Germany.

[craigkillie]

Build the team around Lee Grant IMO.

[Bishop Briggs]

2 hours ago, Principal Flutie said:

You'd obviously keep McTominay as well. He's young and will improve and is already showing himself to potentially be a tremendous DM in the future. If a manager can figure out what to do with Mata, he'd be useful as well.

Mata, like Herrera, is out of contract in June. United have just given Mata a final offer of a year's extension plus a club option of another year. 

Herrera has rejected Woodward's offers and is rumoured to be going to PSG. Mata could have a better option too.

[senorsoupe]

Man Utd have already spunked close to a billion on players, many of whom have flopped,  since Sir Alex retired, what's a few hundred million more?

Actually wouldn't be surprised if Pogba and De Gea both engineer moves away, De Gea has clearly been phoning it in the last few games while Pogba will surely demand a move if they don't get top 4 this year.

  As someome who got into football at the time when everyone here was on the Man Utd bandwagon I am finding their current ineptitude highly amusing

[7-2]

24 minutes ago, senorsoupe said:

Man Utd have already spunked close to a billion on players, many of whom have flopped,  since Sir Alex retired, what's a few hundred million more?

Actually wouldn't be surprised if Pogba and De Gea both engineer moves away, De Gea has clearly been phoning it in the last few games while Pogba will surely demand a move if they don't get top 4 this year.

  As someome who got into football at the time when everyone here was on the Man Utd bandwagon I am finding their current ineptitude highly amusing

You do a regular Liverpool podcast don't you?