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.

He's somehow been an under the radar talent since forever. He got part of his youth schooling in Sporting where he afaik also played mainly in the central defense.

As defensive midfielder, I'd love him at United as the defensive workhorse providing more offensive freedom for Pogba and the others. I'd even be alright with him getting games as a central defender.

For me he is a good player, but that's it. Schneiderlin is also a good player. I don't think there is too much of a quality difference between them for example. Dier is just playing as a part of an excellent team right now that works really well defensively. For comparison - at Southampton Schneiderlin and Wanyama played under Pochettino and both did really well. We opted to buy Schneiderlin at the time. And Spurs then bought Wanyama and I'd say they're both about on the same level. All three are on a similar level really IMO. Dier can just play multiple positions.

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.

Would he be better than Fellaini and improve our squad? Yes. Would he be the type of player we need? I don't think so. Ideally I'd want someone who can dictate the play, not a water carrier. I'm willing to see us buy someone who is excellent defensively, but I'd prefer a playmaker instead. We've struggled to push our opponents back in recent seasons - if we do create some chances in the last 15 minutes it's usually just one attack, then some midfield battle, then another attack, more midfield battle etc. The thing that made Fergie time great was that we attacked so that when they managed to clear the ball, then 10 seconds later we were creating danger again. That's what teams feared. For that we need someone in a deeper position to be great on the ball, that's usually the DM. He has time on the ball, he has to choose the right pass to start an attack. I'm not sure Dier is good enough to do that. Against France a midfield of him and Ox vs 10 men weren't able to do anything really in the second half. The midfielders should take control of the game and make France suffer. But they didn't. For me this showed how... average the English midfielders are. The key player for Tottenham is Eriksen, not Dier.

The other thing is that Tottenham don't want to sell and his price would be extraordinary. We'd overpay hugely and because of this I think United shouldn't even consider him as an option. If we buy from a rival, then the player has to be magnificent. The only players from the top six in PL that I wouldn't mind getting are.. Gabriel Jesus, Coutinho(just to piss off Liverpool, but he's also good), maybe Alli, Sane and Sterling maybe as well. Others are either quite old(but would still cost an arm and a leg) or just not worth paying 20-30m extra because we're rivals.

I agree with everything but....Sterling???

C'mon, the guy is running around like a headless chicken :)

His decision making is one of the worst I've ever seen.

With his pace and agility he could be a very dangerous player, but he just doesn't have the brains to become one, so he will always remain a player who shines occasionally and nothing more.

About Dier I already said before that imo he is very good but not the solution for us.

I think Fabinho is a much better and more complete as a player, offers more quality and versatility. Not exactly a Carrick type of player, but there aren't any in the market nowadays, so we need to adapt in the best possible way.

I think that Sterling is still quite young and therefore might improve his decision making still. I think he is one of those players who can get to that 'not quite Ronaldo or Messi, but about as good as Robben' level if he continues to improve. He wouldn't be my first choice(from the few matches I've seen Jesus is better if we look at City), but he would be among the players I that if available, I wouldn't mind signing. It won't happen obviously tho.

chuksi wrote:

I think that Sterling is still quite young and therefore might improve his decision making still. I think he is one of those players who can get to that 'not quite Ronaldo or Messi, but about as good as Robben' level if he continues to improve. He wouldn't be my first choice(from the few matches I've seen Jesus is better if we look at City), but he would be among the players I that if available, I wouldn't mind signing. It won't happen obviously tho.

I wouldn't even swap Lingard for Sterling :)


I know a guy who is a City fan (since many years, not one of the new ones since the Sheikhs came) and he gets sick just by mentioning Sterling and considers him one of their worst players, along with Navas, Clichy, before them Demichelis etc.
Of course, his opinion doesn't mean anything.....just mentioning what one of their long-term their fans think of Sterling (and I don't think he's the only one).

I read this morning that Juventus have agreed a price of about £35mil with Bayern, for Douglas Costa.

This makes it even more difficult for me to understand our pursue of Ivan Perisic, who is 2 years older and will cost more than Costa, who (imho) is also a better player.

Not saying Perisic is not good, he is definitely a good player, but when I compare all the details I somehow feel Juve is making a better deal.

Let's see what happens, maybe I'm wrong, hope I am...

What do you guys think of the latest story of a possible CR7 return to United???

First of all, the whole story seems more as a distraction from unpaid taxes issue (if that one is even true, which I don't believe).

Anyway, even though bringing Ronaldo would make us stronger, even though he probably still has at least 2-3 good seasons in his legs, I don't think we should overpay, in case this transfer really happens. CR7 would make us a lot of money as he is great for club's marketing and appeal, but if he really wants to leave Real, then we should play hardball.

If we pay more than 100mil euro, we will fund their purchase of Mbappe, who will be their star for the next 10 years or so. At the same time, we would free them from a player who already (allegedly) wants to leave and from his enormous wages. Not really a good piece of business.

For me anything over 60-70m is too much for Ronaldo. Yes, he is great, but he is 32. He is likely to age well because he seems to be the model professional. We should know that even great players like Scholes and Giggs age and they became a burden on the rest of the team, making them just good players, not great. I think Ronaldo will play at a good level until he is 40(if he doesn't get bad injuries) and that means 60-70m is justified.

But I'd rather see Mbappe, who is going to be great for 10 years for sure and likely to get even better rather than slowly regress like Ronaldo. I mean - Ronaldo can age well like Zlatan, but it's not certain. And even Zlatan last season didn't score as many as he did in the previous seasons.

The thing with buying Ronaldo is that we'd be taking a huge risk. He can be great for the next 10 years, but he can get an injury and at that age he might not come back to that level. There is also little to no upside - at best he will age like Zlatan/Giggs/Scholes, but sure he won't be 50% better than them or smth.

I don't think we'd be funding their chase of Mbappe. Instead we'd be freeing up a place in their starting line-up for him, which possibly has a bigger impact on him going there or not.

All in all I think that getting Ronaldo can only work if the price is right and I like that United haven't shown great interest so far. If it does happen, then it has to happen like his exit from United - he drives the process and the clubs will eventually agree a fair deal. When Perez tries to bluff 150m for Ronaldo or smth, then it's just sad and funny to see :).

One good thing is that Ronaldo's agent is not called Mino Raiola :)

chuksi wrote:

For me anything over 60-70m is too much for Ronaldo. Yes, he is great, but he is 32. He is likely to age well because he seems to be the model professional. We should know that even great players like Scholes and Giggs age and they became a burden on the rest of the team, making them just good players, not great. I think Ronaldo will play at a good level until he is 40(if he doesn't get bad injuries) and that means 60-70m is justified.

But I'd rather see Mbappe, who is going to be great for 10 years for sure and likely to get even better rather than slowly regress like Ronaldo. I mean - Ronaldo can age well like Zlatan, but it's not certain. And even Zlatan last season didn't score as many as he did in the previous seasons.

The thing with buying Ronaldo is that we'd be taking a huge risk. He can be great for the next 10 years, but he can get an injury and at that age he might not come back to that level. There is also little to no upside - at best he will age like Zlatan/Giggs/Scholes, but sure he won't be 50% better than them or smth.

I don't think we'd be funding their chase of Mbappe. Instead we'd be freeing up a place in their starting line-up for him, which possibly has a bigger impact on him going there or not.

All in all I think that getting Ronaldo can only work if the price is right and I like that United haven't shown great interest so far. If it does happen, then it has to happen like his exit from United - he drives the process and the clubs will eventually agree a fair deal. When Perez tries to bluff 150m for Ronaldo or smth, then it's just sad and funny to see :).

I think ronaldo has 2-3 more seasons, never more than that.

In the last two years he has played really under his best level. Oh yes, he will get two Golden Ball but last year he didn't score in important matches (City in Semifinals, ATM in Final). He didn't played well for Portugal, being 3rd in their group and just because of the UEFA new rules they got into final rounds. And then even didn't apper in the final, or in the Europe Super Cup. Pepe deserved the Golden Ball more than him, but this is just marketing.

And in this year... well, he scored goals in champions, half about illegal goals because of off side or fouling the rival. In the league it has been his worst season and the League where less has played in the past 7 years (and the first league for Real Madrid, just in case). And again he will win the Golden Ball for sure, while I think Isco, Modric, Hazard, Buffon, Dybala, Messi or Neymar had better seasons than him.

Maybe in marketing would be a good deal, but to pay 100m for him... better buy Mbappe.

Anyway, if he finally quit from Real Madrid, he would fit better in Ligue 1, which is slowly, than in a fast-paced Premier League.

Oh yes, he will get two Golden Ball

Hmm, two golden balls....this must be an obscene looking trophy!

(http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Fo....aspx)

I don't like this and in the same time I wonder why didn't any Premier League club try to take Harrop.

I might have been "tricked" by his game against Palace at the end of the season, but he really seemed like an excellent young player, so I am quite surprised we let him go and, as I said, by the fact that his new club is not a bigger one.

I also thought we could have offered him a new contract and send him on loan to a EPL club. We probably did offer him a contract, but I guess he wanted to go somewhere and play in the first team. Best luck to him and I hope at least that we have some kind of agreement to buy him back.

On a positive note, the story about United signing Fabinho is on again, so I'm hopeful it will come true.

He's 21 and hasn't even been out on loan so far. This seems to suggest that he isn't THAT talented. He took his goal well against Palace, but didn't really excite me too much. He might be a good player, but at United that doesn't really mean too much. Considering that he would have to outplay Rashford, Martial(who are both younger than him!) or other players of that quality or if he plays in midfield, then compete with Pogba, Herrera and someone like Fabinho...

If other clubs haven't seen him as an exciting loan option so far and he hasn't featured at United, then there isn't a very high chance of him making it.

We should also consider that this was just one game at home against a team that had nothing to play for.

I think we didn't offer him a contract because of his age. Players should either make it or move on by that age. Even a late bloomer like Darren Fletcher made his debut when he was 19.

On a positive note, the story about United signing Fabinho is on again, so I'm hopeful it will come true.

Also read that Renato Sanches might be available and we might be looking at him. It begs some questions if Bayern are willing to let him go and he isn't exactly a DM, but.. I would be happy about that transfer.

I think we didn't offer him a contract because of his age. Players should either make it or move on by that age.

The player said that United did offer him a contract, but he chose to join Preston instead, as he was promised first team football there. I can understand that to some point, as he is 21 and needs to make a breakthrough. He cannot do that at United. What I don't know is whether there was a possibility to sign another contract with United and go somewhere on loan. Maybe if he waited a bit longer he could have got a better opportunity. I also read last week that some French clubs were interested in him. Well, anyway, I wish him all the best.

Also read that Renato Sanches might be available and we might be looking at him. It begs some questions if Bayern are willing to let him go and he isn't exactly a DM, but.. I would be happy about that transfer.

Yeah, when Bayern wants to sell a player there is always a doubt. Maybe Sanches has some issues with his behaviour or working habits? When it comes to talent, he seems really good, so I don't think that is his problem. I simply don't know why didn't he get to play more at Bayern, but Ancelotti probably has his reasons. Said that, I would definitely like us to buy him and I think Mourinho might be more successful than Ancelotti in making Renato Sanches progress into a world class player. If the price is about 30mil euro as reported by the media, it's worth trying.

I like the latest story that United are considering activating the release clause of £10-12mil for Marten De Roon of M'boro.

I liked this player, he's maybe the only one I'd took from Boro and Mourinho also had some very nice words after we played against them.

If he accepts to be a part of the rotation and if he doesn't pretend to be a starter week in week out, I'd be more than happy to get him.

The season will be long and we will need depth in every part of the team.

Of course, we will also need to sell several players, but that's another story.

I'm hearing Rooney has signed a two year contract with Everton.