Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
If we do not hit our goal we will be forced to close the site.

Current status: https://keepboardsalive.com/

Annual subs are best for most impact. If you are still undecided on going Ad Free - you can also donate using the Paypal Donate option. All contribution helps. Thank you.

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

19659669689709711032

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56,015 ✭✭✭✭Headshot


    RB Leipzig's Slovenia striker Benjamin Sesko, 22, is playing Newcastle and Manchester United off against each other in a game of transfer poker. (Bild - in German)

    What is with utd and long drawn out transfers



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 379 ✭✭Seattle


    Something is going on with the Sesko deal anyway and you'd probably have to be in the room to know exactly what. I suspect, as usual, it's a standoff over money.

    Newcastle are almost certainly willing to offer him a better deal because of their desperation and the number of targets they've missed out on this Summer. If everything was equal, he probably does have a preference for us because at the end of the day we're a far bigger club and you're far more likely to develop a high level personal brand with us, which is always a major appeal for players. I suspect him and his agent are trying to leverage as big a contract offer as possible from us and we're hesitant about getting pulled into a war with Newcastle over his personal terms. I reckon we are negotiating hard with his intermediaries and won't make a formal bid until there's an agreement in place.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,947 ✭✭✭✭DrPhilG


    Yeah it's nothing really new. Lots of places now reporting that he's open to either club. If so I'd be pretty wary.

    Shyte or get off the pot. If he's undecided then presumably he's waiting to see who'll offer the bigger contract and if that's the case, forget it.

    I've no issue with a player wanting to be compensated fairly (relative to others) but if he's going to play us off against each other to see who'll make him richer then he seems to be failing the much lauded new criteria for signing for us.

    • Must be of good character
    • Must want US, not just our money

    All 3 signings so far seem to have clearly ticked those boxes.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,111 ✭✭✭mobydopy




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,655 ✭✭✭Cotts72


    I really don't understand how United are playing this deal? That's 2 bids from Newcastle now...don't think we'd have gone public with our interest to ultimately sit aside and watch



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,297 ✭✭✭✭FourFourRED


    Wait it out and match the bid that’s accepted from Newcastle? What use would it have been if we had made the same offer that Newcastle had rejected?

    The decision ultimately lies with the player. If this Newcastle bid is accepted and Sesko prefers United, he will wait. Sesko could be remaining open in the eventuality that United somehow don’t or can’t make a bid, so he can then choose Newcastle now. As opposed to saying no to Newcastle now and then United not being able to agree with Leipzig and he’s no without an option to move.

    Whatever is actually going on, I believe United know what they’re doing. I don’t think there is a real risk of this deal getting done overnight without United being aware and getting caught sleeping.

    There’s no reason to panic about it. If he chooses them, fine. United will spend the money they have elsewhere and hopefully get it right.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,069 ✭✭✭✭billyhead


    Madness. That amount for Sesko. He's not even world class. I would walk away now then getting into a bidding war. I can see why the likes of Arsenal and Bayern aren't interested in him. If he really wants to join United, we should pay no more than 70 million euro.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,181 ✭✭✭scottser


    Part of me wouldn't mind us making NU pay 100m for Sesko and then we walk away and buy a CM.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,947 ✭✭✭✭DrPhilG


    Assuming that either Sesko arrives, or we move to an alternative, who are we even linked to in midfield?

    Douglas Luiz seems close to signing for Forest from Juve.

    Javi Guerra talk has gone quiet and he may well sign a new contract, which may well have been the point of the media speculation in the first place.

    Hjulmand & Ederson have been linked for months without any apparent substance to the rumours. Lopez of Barcelona is the most recent gossip.

    There must be something simmering behind the scenes because the Palhinha loan that Spurs did seemed like a no brainer.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 56,015 ✭✭✭✭Headshot


    What kind of CM do we need?

    Defensive one or a box to box one?



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,401 ✭✭✭✭StringerBell


    All round athleticism will be nice, but ultimately needs to be mobile, defensive but front foot defensive midfielder rather than back foot which is how I would see Ugarte.

    Whoever it is will need to do a lot of running if the plan is to play Bruno as part of the 2 in a lot of the games.

    "People say ‘go with the flow’ but do you know what goes with the flow? Dead fish."



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,716 ✭✭✭✭y0ssar1an22


    too expensive for me. that sort of fee would require at least 20 PL goals. i'd expect him to get 12-15.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,837 ✭✭✭johnnyryan89


    Take that money and put it towards a CM and GK instead.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,947 ✭✭✭✭DrPhilG


    Botafogo signing Neto from Bournemouth, to replace John Victor who seems bound for West Ham.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,260 ✭✭✭Notmything


    I'm probably naively thinking United know Sesko wants them so they're confident that if Leipzig accept a Newcastle bid they can match it and let Sesko decide, after that it's personal terms. But it's United so who knows.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,181 ✭✭✭scottser


    A decent ball carrier, willing runner, clever with a pass, good in a tackle. Fernandez at Southampton or Scott at Bournemouth maybe? Chelsea have a **** ton of midfielders like Essogu who won't get game time - we could easily do a Garnacho swap lian thing for him. If we have a bunch of cash to spend you could just get Wharton and play Bruno behind Cunha and Mbuemo and watch the goals fly in.

    Either way, we're getting into silly money territory with Sesko now and a bidding war with NU is not what we need. We should walk away now that their bid is 90m.

    Post edited by scottser on


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,963 ✭✭✭54and56


    There's nothing stopping Leipzig reverting to Newcastle to say United have matched your previous offer, before we give Sesko permission to speak with yourselves & United would you like to improve your offer to a value United won't match in which case we'll only give Sesko permission to speak with you?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,845 ✭✭✭AidoEirE


    We need to be walking away from this deal if that's the amount. We could of got oshimen cheaper and covered a year of his wages id say for that price. You'd be getting guaranteed goals. Sesko is a huge risk ala hojlund.

    If that's the price, stick with Hojlund & Zirkzee or play Mebumo & Cuhna more forward with Bruno behind and spend the funds on a midfielder that will plug our obvious gap.

    Edit to add: Adam Wharton would be a very good signing imo.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 34,992 ✭✭✭✭The_Kew_Tour


    Walk away now.

    Concentrate on a GK and CM.

    EVENFLOW



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,030 ✭✭✭kowloonkev


    Very clever from United imo to make the player decide first before making a bid to the club. Newcastle are in a bidding war with themselves. All the player has to do is say he wants to join Newcastle and it would put them in a strong position. Don't know why Newcastle keep increasing their offer to Leipzig when it's the player's decision that matters.

    I really like what we are doing here. If Sesko is playing some game, clearly we are not. If he wanted to go to Newcastle it'd be done already. Newcastle are making a show of themselves. So good to see for once it's not us making a show of ourselves.

    Simon Harris is monitoring the situation...



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 922 ✭✭✭jayo44


    Yeah I kinda agree with above post. We ain't in no bidding war with Newcastle it looks as basically united won't go for a player that hasn't committed himself to them so they have not put in any bid.They want the player to decide on the project and not the money. I don't think there's any faffing about on United's part they have spoke to the agent by the sounds of if and got an idea of what contract he wants and said yeah we will take you but decide you want to come to us?

    It's unconventional by all means because the entire nature of transfer is that the buying and selling clubs are meant to agree a deal first before they talk to player.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 895 ✭✭✭Avatar in the Post


    Is this to be United’s purchasing strategy going forward?

    I don’t see how United get Sesko if NUFC are offering more than United, they simply won’t sell to United. I also think United (or any club) are a bit up themselves thinking that a player will ultimately turn down personal deals if significantly higher. He may want United, but I think we’ll agree, not at any price. I think this is strange from United or maybe they’d like Sesko, but concentrating on other signings.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,201 ✭✭✭Jofspring


    After watching the match Vs Everton, midfield definitely looked like more of an issue than CF. Cunha, Mbuemo, Amad, Zirkzee, Fernandez and even Mount/Hojlund all look like they are going to chip in with goals but again Everton walked through our midfield a few times and when broken on we looked all over the place.

    If we are weak in the middle it weakens the back and the front 3. Sort midfielder and I think we should do very well this season.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,719 ✭✭✭✭pjohnson


    Another link in this merry-go-round is Viktor Johansson from Stoke. Before West Ham switched to Victor they had been set to move for Johansson. I wonder how much he'd cost to replace Bayindir?

    Been one of the best keepers in the Championship since he arrived at Rotherham and is becoming Swedens #1 and is only 26.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,947 ✭✭✭✭DrPhilG


    "Giving the player permission to speak to the club" hasn't been a thing for many years. In the vast majority of cases personal terms are agreed long before the club even gets an approach.

    Tapping up is a thing of the past.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,947 ✭✭✭✭DrPhilG


    Again that's just not how things work anymore.

    If the player decides on United, Leipzig can accept all the bids they want. The player just won't go. I'm sure there were other clubs who would have met the price for Mbeumo before us but there was no point because the player had made it crystal clear that he wasn't interested.

    The problem here is that the player isn't making his feelings clear. He's flirting with both clubs which makes me uncomfortable about him.

    Leipzig are happy to let Newcastle throw figures around because they'll use that figure as the template for United if indeed Sekso does decide on us. Same way Brentford took the rumour of a £70m bid from spurs for. Mbeumo and tried to set that as the price for United.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 404 ✭✭GolfPar


    Watching the match vs Everton the obvious thing was that Ugarte was poor on the ball. Mainoo was more or less anonymous though apart from a couple of touches in the final third. He seems to have a reluctance to get stuck in. He seemed to be quite standoffish when it came to tackling. All well and good being able to thread a ball through but if you're going to be a central midfielder there is so much more dirty work that has to be done. If we could combine Casemiro's brain, Mainoo's passing and Ugarte's aggression into one player we might be getting somewhere. Otherwise, we will still be overrun by the more physical teams next season.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 922 ✭✭✭jayo44


    Honestly who knows? I'm probably totally wrong, maybe the press are not even accurate all we have to go on is what media say it's never official.

    If my theory was anywhere near accurate it would limit the amount of deals done so I donno.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,203 ✭✭✭paulbok


    As many here have said, it's now time to walk away from Sesko, gone too expensive for what he (currently) offers. Same with Watkins, Looking too expensive for his ceiling and age profile.

    Is there any CF available on loan to tide us over for this season? Invest the available funds into midfield and if enough a GK this summer, and see what top strikers will be available next year.

    I'm surprised there haven't been any links this summer to Diogo Costa, has he agreed to join City?



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 379 ✭✭Seattle


    Surely they knew this was going to be a complicated deal given Arsenal walked away a few weeks ago. They also knew that Newcastle, with lots of money and a lot of desperation, were actively pursuing him.

    It doesn't seem to me that the transfer fee is a major issue. The bids that Newcastle have submitted and the noises from Leipzig are within the parameters of what a deal was expected to look like from the outset.

    Not much of what has happened so far isn't anything we didn't already know or couldn't have easily anticipated.



Advertisement