Nemanja77 wrote:

Morata is a brilliant player imo, but the question is whether he is among the best.

Is it worth paying more than 50-60mil for a bench player?

How would he perform in EPL if he played week in - week out?

Is he a better choice than Lukaku or Bellotti?

Would his arrival hinder the progress of Martial and Rashford?

I am not even sure whether we should buy a top class striker, or trust Martial and Rashford on that position and concentrate on buying some world class wingers like Bale and Douglas Costa. If we do the latter, then we should only buy someone as a third choice striker and not a world class star who would command a very high transfer cost and enormous wages.

I think he is better than Aubameyang, for example. Bellotti is an Italian player, and they don't use to fit in other leagues. I can't find more than two-three players who recently had a good career ut of Italia. Lukaku is a very good choice too, I rank him the same than Morata.

And I don't think Douglas Costa is a top class player right now.

I'd rather see Morata than Lukaku - and I'm a huge Lukaku fan.

Morata has shown he can adapt. He had success at Juventus and Real bought him back. In very limited time, he's shown greatness too.

He's got a lot of experience from the highest level, the only place he hasn't been is England.

I think he could be really good for how we want to play. He's more similar to Zlatan and our young strikers than Lukaku is, who imo is more of the classic #9 who are really good at scoring, not so much in the techincal build up play.

I don't know what to think about Morata. He has scored a lot of goals for teams that dominate their leagues. Can he do that in a more equal league where his team isn't dominating as much? Can he handle it?

I think a deal for him has a lot of risk involved. He is 24 already so you'd expect a finished article. Is he such a player? On the other hand we've seen top players leave Real because they're not 'galacticos' in the last 10 years that are really good. But as Real probably want a lot of money, then it's not that great a deal.

The third one I badly wanted us to sign years ago is Douglas Costa. Only now we are allegedly thinking about him, when he is about 4-5 years older and 4-5 times more expensive...

I'm unsure about his quality to be honest. He has nice attributes, but would he be a big improvement to us? He plays for a team that dominates the league and he should get a lot of chances to create/score goals as the team will get the ball to him in good positions often. But this season his stats weren't THAT impressive. He is certainly a good player, but at the age of 26 I think it wouldn't be a good deal. He'll start to decline in 4-5 years and we'd have to pay a huge amount to get him.

I should have been a football agent FFS, or at least a scout :)

I also remember you raving about Fabian Delph :)

Morata is a brilliant player imo, but the question is whether he is among the best.

Is he a better choice than Lukaku or Bellotti?

Would his arrival hinder the progress of Martial and Rashford?

Lukaku for me has questionmarks about him. He is big and strong and I don't really like the idea of him at United. I feel his weaknesses would force us to play a certain way and I don't like that. No idea about Bellotti tbh. From what I've heard he is also a targetman-type of a striker. I don't really like the idea of that.

As for the progress of Martial and Rashford... I think Rashford is already good enough to play every week and looking at how much he played then it seems Jose also feels he is ready to contribute every week. It doesn't depend on who we buy. He'll either play upfront or out wide as a starter anyway. Which do I prefer? I don't know.. Maybe he isn't consistent enough to play as a striker yet.

As for Martial - I think he isn't at the top level yet, but will need to improve just that little bit to be devastating. I would be unhappy if we got a 28yo 'finished product' striker/winger to take his minutes(like Perisic for example). But if it's someone who can play at United for 10 years, then it's just added competition and he just has to make sure he is better than that player. Just like I don't mind Martial being on the bench if his place is taken by Rashford.

I am not even sure whether we should buy a top class striker, or trust Martial and Rashford on that position and concentrate on buying some world class wingers like Bale and Douglas Costa. If we do the latter, then we should only buy someone as a third choice striker and not a world class star who would command a very high transfer cost and enormous wages.

A good article on this point: (http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/...ttack)

I don't particularly agree on Douglas Costa being world class here though. I think he is a good winger, but his end product seems disappointing to me if I look at his stats.

I agree that Morata is probably a better choice than Lukaku. I just feel that Lukaku wouldn't fit in at United - looking at how even Everton fans aren't happy with his first touch. His main strength IMO is counter attacks and how often do we get those? If we played mainly on counters, then that would work, but I don't want to see us do that :)

I also remember you raving about Fabian Delph :)

Not raving, but wanting us to sign him as a replacement for Cleverley and play him as a turnover player.

C'mon, you must admit he was better than Cleverley :)

Moreover, I wasn't the only one who thought well about Delph. Some months after I wrote about him, he even got to play for England.

Anyway, in that moment when we had so much deficit in the middle, even Delph was OK.

Thanks for the article. I haven't read it yet, but I'll do it as soon as I find some time.

All in all, my idea is to trust Martial and Rashford as strikers and focus on buying some world class players on the wings, instead of spending 80-100mil on a top name striker.

For example, we have been linked with Lacazette, who would cost at least £50mil. Now, I am thinking, is he that better than Martial??? He might be more experienced, but I wouldn't be so sure that he is better, especially as Martial has more space/time for progress.

However, with Rooney and Zlatan probably out, we will need one more player as a backup striker, since Martial and Rashford cannot play the whole season by themselves. Fergie usually had 4 strikers, but he played different tactics as well, often with two upfront, at least until his last years as a manager.

If Mourinho plans to play Martial and Rashford as strikers (which I strongly doubt, especially for Martial), then it might be wise to buy a striker who will accept to share his minutes in the first team, therefore not a world class star, but still someone good enough to play a part of the games and score some goals during the season. Chicharito comes to mind, but I don't know whether he would come back only to play a bit part role.

Apart from the striker position, I hope that next season there will be some space for players like Pereira, Harrop, Mitchell, Tuanzebe, Fosu-Mensah, etc.

For example, we have been linked with Lacazette, who would cost at least £50mil. Now, I am thinking, is he that better than Martial??? He might be more experienced, but I wouldn't be so sure that he is better, especially as Martial has more space/time for progress.

For me Lacazette, Morata, Lukaku, Kane seem all like good youngish strikers. But they're just that. Good and young. Are they exceptional? I'm not so sure. The one who stands out is Mbappe. That's the level we should aim for. I don't know enough about Lacazette and Morata to be sure that they're not exceptional, but I guess we'd have a lot of noise about them being special if they were that great.

That's the problem for me with signing someone like Mata as well - he is good but he isn't exceptional. It shows ambition if you buy someone like him. Just like it was with Fellaini as well. He is a good player by regular standards, but he is not one of the greats. All our transfers should be viewed so that the player we sign either is or could be exceptional in some way. It doesn't have to be that they all have exceptional skills, but some might have exceptional work ethic(like Park), some might understand the game well in many positions(like P Nev or even O'Shea) or someone might have more of a moral boost to the team(I think Zlatan this season was like that, it felt that the young players looked up to him a lot, Cantona was obviously another).

If we're happy to sign someone who you can clearly see isn't special, then we're going to end up as just another good team.

Signing attacking players is tough. But for me the strategy has to be clear - either buy players in the 22-26(but more 22-25) age range who are already at the top or younger than 22 who have the potential to be at the top level. Buying older players comes into question only in exceptional cases(Zlatan being one of those).

For me with those young strikers there are questions - is Lukaku good in a top team? Playing for Everton is different to playing for United. I have some doubts.
Is Lacazette going to do as well at a higher level? He is supposed to be a readymade player already. Someone like Martial or Mbappe has more time to adjust.
Morata looks like the best option for me, because he has shown he can do it in two leagues and for dominating teams, so that means he isn't a counter-attack striker like Lukaku is IMO.
Kane is very good, but he won't leave Spurs.

As for wingers - I think there are very few wide players I'd be really excited about. The 'good' level of Mata, Miki, Martial and Lingard is the level to beat. That isn't so easy. Memphis in Ligue 1 tore teams apart but couldn't get regular games at United. For me there is a short list of wide players I'd really like to see at United:
Neymar, Ousmane Dembele, Bale, Ronaldo, Messi, perhaps Lemar, perhaps Lucas Moura(still 24!), perhaps Mahrez, perhaps Pulisic. But others are probably not going to improve us enough to be worth the inevitable 30m+. That's the level we should be aiming for. Hazard and Sanchez would improve us as well but I feel the price will be too high and they're not worth it because of that. Liverpool(Coutinho) and City(Sane, Sterling, Jesus) have young wide players who would improve us as well, but that's out of the question IMO.


As a backup striker someone like Chicharito would be perfect I agree. If he is happy not to play every week.


I just hope we don't sign Diego Costa. He seems available now as he just said today that Conte doesn't want him at Chelsea. Although it would be funny to see a strike-duo of Fellaini-Costa. Throwing elbows at their opponents. The officials couldn't keep up :).

duo of Fellaini-Costa.

You have just invented my new worst nightmare :)

£31m deal agreed for Lindelof

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40236474

I like the transfer. Didn't realise he was still only 22. The right age and I like the fact that last season he collected only 2 yellow cards - that makes it feel like he reads the game excellently. Looking from a few highlights he seems like he is good on the ball as well, which is great.

Hopefully him and Bailly can be our next great centre back pairing for years to come. A good CB partnership has shown to be one of the keys to having a top quality team throughout the years.

I think Lindelof might be a great transfer, as he seems as a perfect partner for Bailly.

Calm and good on the ball, reads the game well, yet he is physically strong. An improved version of Daley Blind :)

All of that at the age of 22 and for a reasonable price.

I'd like us to do more business with Benfica, as they have a fantastic RB Semedo, who is also wanted by Barcelona.

However, I don't think we will move for him, as we have Valencia who was one of our best players next season and he seems to still have a good season or two in his legs, so changing him now would be a strange move.

Among current rumours, the one which I find the most exciting is Fabinho, as I think he would be a great buy. He would be someone to replace Carrick and give more freedom to Pogba and Herrera, but he is also excellent on RB.

I've only seen Fabinho in a few games, but it worries me somewhat how average Monaco were defensively and surely the midfield plays a part in that. I wouldn't be unhappy about him coming, but I do hope that Jose has done his homework there so that he'd fit in. I'd hate it if we had an unbalanced midfield after spending a lot of money on someone like him and struggle as a result.

I also don't like the idea of buying him, because Monaco aren't going to sell their whole team and if we buy another of their players, then it's likely that they won't want to sell Mbappe.

I think our best chance of getting Mbappe is this season. For two reasons - next season Benzema is 30 and Real will be more serious about replacing him. If Mbappe doesn't have a horrible season, they'll go all in and pay a crazy amount with which we might not be able to compete. Secondly if we don't buy him, we'll buy someone else that's good and don't really have a need for a new striker next summer.

It does feel like he isn't coming to United this summer and I'm slightly disappointed about that, because it feels like we should try to get guys like him. I guess we'll see who we're getting.

I'd like us to do more business with Benfica, as they have a fantastic RB Semedo, who is also wanted by Barcelona.

I think Valencia will be our right back for more than a few years. His physique seems to be so good that I think he might be going strong for another 3-4 years if not more.

When we replace him I think we should look for someone like Rafael and not someone like Darmian. I mean the profile of the player, not the style. I think Rafael when he came had the talent to become one of the very best RBs while Darmian.. well he was never going to be the new Lahm or Cafu. I don't know enough about Semedo to comment on him tbh. If he is talented enough to perhaps be the best RB of his generation, then I don't mind Valencia getting some competition. But if not, then I don't see the point.

I've read that Real Madrid might offer about 130mil euro to Monaco for Mbappe, but they are also willing to let him stay at Monaco on loan for next season.

This will give the player assurance of playing time, which is one of his main concerns, as he wants to play at the World Cup at all costs. Of course, to do so, he must be a starter for his club, which at Real Madrid might not always be guaranteed.

Maybe Real Madrid wants to stick to Benzema, Ronaldo and Bale for one more season and give Mbappe more time to grow, but at the same time it might be a risky move, if this story is true in the first place. I guess we'll see soon.

Anyway, I think that our chances to sign Mbappe are currently less than 20%.

Yeah, I agree that it's unlikely we're getting Mbappe.

I think that for Real it's not reasonable to pay 130m and then not want to use the player themselves. That just makes no sense. If he is worth 130m for them, then surely he is a galactico that should start every game, no? It makes more sense for them to just get a 'first buy option' at a fixed price next season if they want that.

From our point of view I think that it's now or never. Because this season Real seem to be happy not to add to their squad much(what's that all about?) and Mbappe is going to one of the very top clubs. That means United, Real, Barca or.. well perhaps that's it? I think Arsenal without CL are less likely to get him.

But the way things are now both Real and Barca have formidable forward lines. But next season Ronaldo is 33, Benzema is 30 and Suarez is 31. All of them probably are either at their peak or have just peaked. And we don't have a forward right now but unless next season is a disaster(in which case there is more doubt for Mbappe I guess), we'll get a striker this summer who will do very well for us. Now it looks like that's going to be Morata. So that maybe it doesn't make sense for us to spend that heavily on a forward. We might be more inclined to strengthen at RB, right wing?, perhaps add depth rather than outright quality(why fix something that isn't broken?).

It just seems that he might prefer Spain to England next summer, especially if he has another great season.

With us playing time would be more or less guaranteed. It just seems like Jose isn't a fan of him. Which is a shame.

Looking at France - England tonight and cooperation between Pogba and Mbappe, if there is even a slight possibility of signing him, Mourinho should save 70mil euro planned for Morata, add another 70mil and go all out for Mbappe :)

What a team it would be with Martial, Mbappe and Rashford/Mikhi in attack.

Mbappe is an energetic bomb, always on the shoulders of defenders, so with someone like Pogba he would be even more dangerous than what we saw at Monaco.

And what to say about Pogba's performance. Every penny of those 89mil pounds look well spent. Looking at how are the prices going wild, maybe those 89mil will really look like a good price (not to say cheap) after all :)

For me in addition to being on the shoulder, Mbappe also seems to have the vision to play players in. He created the Dembele goal and gave another few great passes to his mates(also had 8 assists in about 1500 minutes in the French League last season, something that possibly goes unnoticed).

He is the gem of the next generation IMO. I just don't understand why we aren't trying everything to get him. At his age already he seems unplayable. A complete player who seems to have everything.

And as we're probably looking for a right winger improvement as well, then Dembele. What a player as well! And also just 20..

Got to say that France have a really awesome NT right now. Just don't understand the role of Giroud there :)

As for Pogba's performance - I think you've got to mention that England didn't have a proper midfielder on the pitch so he should dominate that midfield. Ox is a winger/AM and Dier is a CB and a converted midfielder and somewhat overhyped. No wonder they didn't manage to control the game at all even against 10 men. Looking at it - do England have midfielders right now? It's funny to say it, but Henderson seems to be the best of them... The others are number 10s or just wide players who are listed as midfielder in the current squad and the recent squads. And then Jake Livermore. Compare that to Pogba, Kante, Rabiot, Matuidi, Tolisso + those who didn't get into the team like Cabaye, Bakayoko, Kondogbia, Schneiderlin.

It's weird how big the difference in quality is.

That said Pogba obviously did well, he played out his own level, created chances and was just brilliant on the ball. I'm sure next season he'll be great in PL. The last third of the season he looked better defensively already, which is the slight worry with him. The rest is at his worst very good.

For me in addition to being on the shoulder, Mbappe also seems to have the vision to play players in. He created the Dembele goal and gave another few great passes to his mates(also had 8 assists in about 1500 minutes in the French League last season, something that possibly goes unnoticed).

Yeah, he had some nice passes as well.

I liked the one in the first half after about 15mins, when he set up Dembele nicely from the left wing, with a great through ball.

He is the gem of the next generation IMO. I just don't understand why we aren't trying everything to get him.

Maybe we are.

Hope I'm wrong, but I just think he wants to go to Madrid unfortunately, or maybe Barcelona.

However, I still have some hopes that Pogba might convince him to come to United. Just sweet dreams :)

But, when he looks at how Martial is having hard time to get minutes with Mourinho (despite a high price paid for him), maybe a young player like Mbappe will have his doubts and rather choose to go elsewhere. I gave the example of Martial as he also came from Monaco, also as a very young player and a great talent. Not as hyped as Mbappe, but still he was deemed as one of the greatest talents of his age.

And as we're probably looking for a right winger improvement as well, then Dembele. What a player as well! And also just 20..

Dembele is great, I wanted us to sign him even before Borussia Dortmund got him. Now they want 85mil euro, which might be too much. Dunno whether he is worth that kind of money. I'd settle ONLY for Mbappe :) and keep Rashford or Mikhi on the right, Martial left and they could all swap positions during games, thus making the opponent's defences crazy. It would be really an exciting attacking line, with Pogba giving his brilliant passes from behind.

Got to say that France have a really awesome NT right now. Just don't understand the role of Giroud there :)

Yeah...Giroud....seriously!? With all great players at Deschamps disposal...
OK, Giroud is the one who has an excellent feeling for goals, but I wouldn't keep him as a starter, with all the talent France has got upfront.

Concerning Pogba, he was unplayable yesterday. Dier couldn't do anything against him. I am afraid of those rumours that Mourinho wants to sign Dier, hope those are not true. The latest story is that he doesn't want Fabinho and prefers Dier or Matic instead. Just crazy, if true.

But, when he looks at how Martial is having hard time to get minutes with Mourinho (despite a high price paid for him), maybe a young player like Mbappe will have his doubts and rather choose to go elsewhere. I gave the example of Martial as he also came from Monaco, also as a very young player and a great talent. Not as hyped as Mbappe, but still he was deemed as one of the greatest talents of his age.

Yet Martial started about half the games this season, which means he still got to play a lot. The problem with him was his end product. He looked good in patches, but at times he slowed down the tempo in the wrong moments etc. He has the talent, but there are moments when you question whether he makes the right decision and when you have Zlatan as a sure starter and a choice between Martial and Rashford, then it's tough for Martial..

I can't see that happening with Mbappe - from the looks of it he is very direct and understand the game almost too well for his age. Looking at his stats it seems like end product is already around the levels of Messi/Ronaldo. Which is crazy and probably has some luck involved and he won't score all chances next season, but his overall game is just.. great.

Dembele is great, I wanted us to sign him even before Borussia Dortmund got him. Now they want 85mil euro, which might be too much. Dunno whether he is worth that kind of money. I'd settle ONLY for Mbappe :) and keep Rashford or Mikhi on the right, Martial left and they could all swap positions during games, thus making the opponent's defences crazy. It would be really an exciting attacking line, with Pogba giving his brilliant passes from behind.

Me too. I think that 85m isn't a bad price for Dembele to be honest. If you read the article about the valuation of Mbappe, then more or less the same applies for Dembele. With him the risk is smaller, because he has now had two very productive seasons in different leagues. And he is still 20 and going to improve. The thing is that it's almost sure that he'll be great for the next 10 years. If we sell him on at some point, we get most of the money back. If not, then over 10 seasons the transfer fee is 8,5m per season of top quality football. Compare to Perisic at 35m at the age of 28 and if you assume that he will start to drop off at 30 as well, the Perisic costs about 17,5m per season. In this sense Dembele at 85m is about 2 times cheaper than Perisic. I love it that Jose so far has bought Pogba, Bailly and Lindelöf, because they're all young players and the prices are quite low if you think of it like an accountant(and that's what really matters).

IMO this summer is the summer to make a statement of intent. Getting those two would make us favorites to the PL title IMO and in contention for CL as well. (The only worry then is the Carrick-sized hole in midfield....)

Concerning Pogba, he was unplayable yesterday. Dier couldn't do anything against him. I am afraid of those rumours that Mourinho wants to sign Dier, hope those are not true. The latest story is that he doesn't want Fabinho and prefers Dier or Matic instead. Just crazy, if true.

Yeah. Dier is somewhat overhyped - English player and all that. I think that everyone will suffer against Pogba, but in general I think Dier is perhaps only suited to play really well for a team like Pochettino's team. His defensive game is good when in a solid team, but individually.. he isn't spectacular. Kante on the other hand... Still can't believe he went only for 30m last summer. Matic is not a good idea IMO - too old and not THAT good. Verratti seems available. Of the options out there he might be one of the better ones. Although I'm not a huge fan of him.

Didn't see the game but have to say I'm impressed with Dier as a defensive midfielder, especially since he is only 23 years of age. He reads the game very well, excellent positioning, has a very good passing range, is good in the air and in duels. He played a lot as a centre back this season when the Spurs had problems with Alderwereild and Vertonghen and got exposed at times, but in midfield he is among the best in the league IMO. Don't think he will leave spurs but I'm sure he will be an excellent addition to United, he's exactly the player United needs.