Manchester United Teamtalk/Transfer/Gossip 23/24 - [New Thread Available]

Though I read something to that effect yesterday, that he would be leaving.

Pogba is a highly profitable asset. Similarly to Ronaldo, he has his own fan club who'll follow him wherever he goes, so he brings eyes to the club and sells merch.

It has nothing to do with football. If it did, he'd have been gone 3 years ago. He's the most overrated player I have ever seen in my life. He doesn't even get in our best XI. Bruno and Rashford sh*t all over him in terms of productivity. Hell Rashford was crippled last season and his numbers still put Pogba to shame.

As I said before, Manchester United is a brand.

The Glazers have found the perfect formula. A star studded squad of flashy social media personalities and posers that will generate lots of attention and increase in share price, consistent top 4 finishes and a puppet as manager who will shield them from any criticism and always be the centre of attention when results are poor.

They've hit the fukcing jackpot

There's no way in hell that Caen in Ligue 2 would have demanded £50m instead of the £5m they got from Leicester.

There is a United tax, but it isn't fukcing 900%

Leicester did pay £17m for Ndidi so hardly peanuts. We got Amad for roughly the same and he looks a gem.

There's a reason why Leicester signed those players for cheap, and not Man United.

It's not because of United tax. It's because they didn't want to sign players from Ligue 2. There are too many unknowns with those players. Top clubs would prefer to pay £20m on a player who has proven it at PL level at a mid-table to Europa League level club first. Rather than paying £5m on an unknown and them being crap. It's a wasted transfer. The top clubs are happier to see a player develop that bit extra first, gaining more playing time at a higher level. Kante would never go from Ligue 2 straight into Man United's first team and play 37 league games in his first season like he did with Leicester. He would have played 10 games and maybe would not have developed into the player he currently is because he would have been sitting on the bench all season. Donny Van de Beek had a lot of CL experience, played in a higher league and he still only managed to start 4 league games for Man United. He needed a move to Leicester or Everton etc and then make the step up to PL level before proving himself at PL level before then moving to Man United. Not moving directly and completely stalling his career. He turned out to be more like a Klaasen type signing, not a Eriksen type signing. It happens when signing from lower leagues. For every Suarez, there is a Kezman. Top clubs want to mitigate this risk.

Even just looking at only Leicester signings in CM, they signed Soumare this summer. A highly rated DM who won Ligue 1 last season. United could have signed him for the same price Leicester did - his release clause. Could have offered more wages if they wanted to, even still without breaking the bank. Why didn't they? It wasn't a large fee. Less than £20m. They chose not to. They would rather see how he fares out in the PL first, because of his limited experience both domestically and continentally, and they pay £40m.

Liverpool were linked with VVD a bit when he left Celtic but they watched him move to Southampton instead in 2015 (for £15m) and see how he fared outside SPL before choosing to sign him. They were happy with they saw, so made a move in summer 2017 for ~£50m. Obviously the public pursuit scuppered that summer move as Southampton dug their heels in but the point stands. Southampton are also the club who brought Sadio Mane into the league for ~£15m. Do you not think that a lot of top clubs were watching him and would have preferred to sign him? Of course they did, but he was playing in Austria. They wanted to see how he fared out in the tougher league first. Paying ~£35m for a Sadio Mane who has has scored double digit scores 2 seasons in a row in the PL is easier than paying ~£15m for a player coming from the Austrian league.

I'm sure Liverpool wanted to sign Daka this summer too, but there are 2 directions that could have gone down; 1) Daka plays regular games for Leicester, adapts to the league & develops. Liverpool pay Leicester £40m for him in 2 years time after he has scored 25 league goals for Leicester. He goes on to be a top player at Liverpool scoring 15 every year like Firmino for example. or option 2) pay £20m to Salzburg this summer and can't get into the team with a regular run of games as he is not good enough yet. He scores 3 goals in 2 seasons before a £5m sale to Europe. They will happily pay the extra money for a better guarantee of return.

We don't know if they'll run the club well or not. It took Man City's owners a few years to figure it out. They splashed the cash on guys like Jo and Robinho at first. And they'll still have to abide by FFP.

We still have the finance to compete with anyone. Say what you will about Woodward's running of the football side of the club, we've been able to keep up with the PSGs and Man Citys because of his running of the commercial aspect and securing sponsorship deals.

I only see the Newcastle takeover as a positive because it means the Saudis won't be buying us.

Depends on who they sell to. United are a cash cow and will be likely bought by a Glazee/Kronke type and run as a business the way it currently is than a PSG/City model imo.

I take it you’re not a fan of Ronaldo either?

We've been able to keep up/get these deals because of our profile as a successful club/brand.

I don't doubt Woodward's ability on the commercial side but he's no messiah for being able to keep up with the oil clubs.

The real challenge will be to keep up in 5-10 years if top 4 is a win.

I think this Newcastle takeover could be of benefit to United in the long term, its bad for the glazers because it could ultimately mean they will be out of the top 4 and thus be forced to sell. United don't need a sugar daddy owner . We just need an owner who doesn't take out from the club. Remember the Glazers have never spent 1 cent of their own money on the club. What's been spent is the cubs own money which they have allowed to be released