Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 26.09.24

He'll need to accept a reduction in his payoff from Utd or then take the risk of maybe sitting in the stands for an indefinite period. Amorin has him in the stands for a few weeks nothing, nothing there to make you think he'll fold under the pressure of having to include him. If Rashford wants to go to continue to play football at any level he'll be taking a cut, of that I'd be certain

Plus Rashford hasn't ever struck me as a money grabber. He hasn't strung us out over contracts etc has he? We stupidly gave him way too much but it wasn't like he was a mercenary.

Re Europa league, do we get seeded in last 16 round and if so then match will be on Thurs 13th March as 2nd leg will be at home with seeding?
looking to get flights while still v cheap

Thanks

We’re down into nitty gritty we don’t have the detail on.
There is clearly a very large financial hole to be plugged here (Villa paying only a portion of his already no CL wages whilst also getting him for FREE confirm this fact). The exact size is unknown, but it is significant.

United will have to plug that hole (possibly with some small concessions from rashford following negotiation), so the headline £40m fee is nonsense. For PSR purposes etc, United will not net anything close to £40m for Rashford even if Villa exercise the option.

If he has a world beating 6 months and Barca come in for him then it’s a different ball game. Both in that they will pay him a higher wage and I could see Rashford being more open to foregoing money to get it done. Thats the upside scenario.

United’s negotiating tool of:

‘we’ll stick you in the stands unless you give us back some money that we owe you’

is just as powerful in reverse

‘Give me what I’m contractually owed or I’ll sit in the stands until 2028 costing you £17m a year and stifling any rebuild for Amorim until 2028’.

This is a well trodden path.
Alexis Sanchez, Ozil, Aubamyeng….the whole ‘threaten to not play them and they’ll happily leave €10s of millions on the table to get regular football’ is fan nonsense. The players get their pound of flesh always.

Villa have already agreed to cover 75-90% of his wages. So why would we start the conversation of now needing to cover 50%?

The lower the gap that needs to be bridged the higher the chances of covering it are.

I can see united needing to pay substantially but I just don't agree theyll pay 25million.

10million I could see.

Because this wage is on the basis of a 0 transfer fee overhead. Rough numbers.

Let’s say he’s earning £350k They’re paying him £250k (I’d say this is optimistic) with United covering the rest.

Annualised cost to Villa - £13m (250k*52)

On a permanent transfer with fee of £40m, 5 year deal.

Pay him £150k wage

Annualised cost = £8m (fee amortisation) + £7.8m wages = £15.8m.

Drop his salary 40% and he still costs you more on a permanent deal than this free loan does. This interaction between fee amortisation and player wages is how all players are evaluated.

Exact same reason Haaland is on crazy money. Because he has a tiny transfer free amortisation. If Dortmund got £200m for him, his wage would be far lower.

Is Mainoo playing CF? Has to be right?

Our 2 starting strikers have been **** this season, trying something different up front maybe. I'll see how the match turns out before I start getting too upset about the starting lineup.

100%. I completely understand the financial restraint. But it’s such a shame they couldn’t get Amorim even a short term option at striker to get us to summer.

He’ll spend next 6 months trying all sorts of players to plug that gaping hole in the team. Don’t think he can be properly judged until he has a proper functioning 9.

Look at how Arsenal transformed as soon as they replaced Aubameyang.

I'm actually not unhappy at him trying something different. Hojlund has been too poor recently and Zirkzee isn't convincing either. Palace won't have prepared for this lineup. I've no idea who'll be playing as the false 9 though - Fernandes is the only one I've seen in that position before.

I think the option for £40m might be a little low, if Rashford goes on one of his streaks there would be clubs interested at a higher price than that.

But I can see why they have done the deal, best to take the deal on the table and have him gone.

Its hard to argue with dropping Hojlund and Zirkzee, neither of them have made a case to be starting. At some point he needed to try something else, can't keep picking players based solely on them supposedly being strikers.

I seriously don't understand how there isn't a single striker option out there on loan anywhere. Even Weghorst would add something to that position right now, is there really nobody better than Weghorst gettable?

I can't see where the goals are going to come from without Hojlund or Zirkzee starting... Their combined PL goals of 5 this season will surely be missed.

2 guys not performing, 2 guys not starting... Don't see the issue myself. Hopefully it's a sign that we'll see less long balls up to the striker and a bit more passing and movement.

A strong enough message to the Board as well.