Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 12.02.26

That’s certainly one possibility, as unlikely as it is to be true.

I still don't know why Baleba is considered to be better than the other options. Brightons scouts liked him a few years ago isn't a strong enough reason.

Its a young player who had a relatively good season, then apparently got his head turned and dropped performance to the point where he only completed 90 minutes in 3 PL games all season. For a midtable club. Thats a red flag.

A bad second season isn't necessarily reason to write off a young player, but whats the key thing or the data that should make us want to put pur faith in him?

Liam Delap has had a bad 2nd season and nobody would touch him with a barge pole now, why is Baleba different?

I think he'll go for around £60M. No way do you get him for around £40M that some were saying. Though watch Man City make a surprise entrance and take both Anderson and Fernandes for their midfield.

Seems to be a negative enough assessment of Ederson out there-have many people seen him play 5+ games?…..there is little point in looking at rose-tinted highlight reels of any prospective signing imo.Those reels may show a player doing something that they have never replicated since.

Am sceptical of the interest in Baleba…..bound to to be similarly aged midfielders in likes of France or Spain who have had 2 or 3 reasonably decent Seasons back to back,wouldn’t be paying the ‘Utd PL Tax’ for them either which adds 10m+ to any fee between likes of Utd and Wolves last year for Cunha.

They are different players in relation to what they give a team as well.

Gordon has less quality on the ball, he's less likely to put the ball in the top corner from 30/40 yards out.
But he'll work like a dog, he'll chase, he'll close down and he has enough quality to still be useful / good.
He will allow other players to be better.

Rashford will jog at a gentle pace, pretend to close down but let the ball move past him if there is any serious effort needed to win it back.
Get him on the ball often enough and he will produce something, he'll hit a shot that connects just right etc.. far more likely to score a goal that is something out of nothing.

It's talent vs application.
It pains me to say it but Barca are 100% right to go the route of Gordon with the other players they have in the squad.

No team has ever been truly successful by putting together a team of stars with no connective tissue between them.

For every Zidane you need a Makelele. Every Messi needs a pedro. Every Beckham needs a Neville. Every Pirlo needs a Guttuso and so on.
Great teams are full of players who allow the star players to play better.

Rashford is neither good enough to be the star player at a club like Barca nor is he going to work hard enough to make the star players better. So what's the point in having him there?

That's a bit strong, no? I haven't heard anything else than he's gotten his head down and applied himself as best he can, he's just limited is all. Barca fans seem split on him but Flick seems to rate him, as does Tuchel. He mightn't be terribly well disposed to United, but that's not to say he was toxic at Barca or Villa.

Talk about being unable to read the first 12 words of a post

They are but I can see them stringing him along and then coming in around transfer deadline day with a cheap offer or loan deal with an obligation to buy. Can someone just convince Rashford to **** off to Saudi Arabia this summer.

It's not that you 'don't have much to back it up', you don't have anything to back it up. Just because he became desperately unhappy at United does not mean he carried that toxicity to Barca. There aren't even rumours of him being unhappy there or them being unhappy with his attitude, it's pure speculation on your part.

It does not point to them believing Rashford is 'toxic to the core' though.

Speculate away, but suggesting someone is seen as 'toxic to the core' is a big accusation to make without anything to back it up imho.

Not reports like that at all from Barca this season but you speculate away. It wouldn't be anything to do with his crazy wages I'm sure, much easier to call him toxic and be done with it 👍