Since all of you people are writing so much in the "Matchday" thread, I thought of opening a separate thread for Summer transfers, just to divide your numerous posts :)

So, the end of the season is near and the transfer machine is warming up, some clubs and players are already making pre-contract arrangements , some are already making plans while others are waiting for the end of the season, in order to decide.

Concerning Manchester United, I think Mourinho will be eager to make an overhaul, as this is definitely not his team and I don't think he's happy with his current choice. He knows well
that he needs to buy and sell, in order to fight for the top four next season, let alone the title.

He had one whole season to evaluate players, but now it's time to act and clear the squad of those who are not good enough and buy players who will improve the team.

Qualifying for Champions League football will be crucial, as it will give us bargaining power and we will be able to attract best players. I don't even want to think how would our Summer market look like if we fail to win the EL final against Ajax.

Who would you like us to buy?

Who do you think we should sell?

Hey Nemanja :-)

I think players like Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney, Januzaj isn't at the club when the season begins :-)
I really hope De Gea is staying, but I think he will be the saga of this window :-)

Player in :

I hope we bring in a winger, talks about Gareth Bale is popping up again again, and will probably keep doing so for the rest of his career, I'm not sure if he wan't to come now, but a player like him would be a dream signing imo :-)

A def. midfielder to replace Carrick is a most imo, who it's should be im not sure :-) Eric Dier has popped up lately, he has been doing great in spurs and he is English :-)

Hello!

I agree about Rooney and Januzaj being out by the beginning of next season, while I am not sure about Young. José seems to like him and he is an all-around player who seems content to be around even if not often in the first XI.

Imo, apart from Rooney and Januzaj, there should be about 4-5 more players out.

I guess Romero will go, Ibrahimovic will not renew, maybe neither Carrick.

Then, I think we should sell Smalling. Despite his talent and physical attributes, his lack of self-confidence and lack of defensive intelligence is worrying, so we must move on and strengthen our defence.

Darmian might also be sold, while Jones and Rojo would remain as backup, when we bring a decent central defender who might be a long term solution as defensive pair for Bailly.
Maybe it is Lindelof, maybe someone else, but we definitely need one top class central defender who can bring the ball out and pass it, but not only back to the keeper :)

One of the crucial buys will have to be Carrick's replacement. This position is too defensive for Pogba, not completely suitable to Herrera, so I guess we will have to choose very well here. My choice would be Toni Kroos but I doubt Real would let him go.
Eric Dier (who is a different player to Kroos) might also be considered, but I don't think he will leave Spurs and they would ask for too much money, as they always do when we want to buy someone from their team.

I would also consider buying Renato Sanches from Bayern, as he is a great prospect, he is Portuguese and José also seems to appreciate him. This kid is very talented and has great energy, but he still needs to acquire the necessary experience and discipline. Anyway, if the price is right, I would not be against bringing him.

My long-term wish in midfield is Thiago Alcantara, but I guess he is staying in Bayern or if he moves it will be back to Barcelona, so better forget him.

Concerning attacking midfield, there are talks about United bringing James Rodriguez, which would be very good imo. He is a great talent, a player hard to find imo and he has a rare feeling for the ball and great vision. This guy has made 11 goals and 8 assists this season in 1475 minutes, which means he has goal or assist every 78mins, much better than any of our players. If the price is not too high, I'd like him to arrive.

I could agree about Bale being a dream transfer for us. At least until last season.
Now, I am not sure anymore, as he will be 28 years old by the start of next season, he is injured too often lately which is worrying and the price would probably be astronomical.
He snubbed us at least three times before, so should we accept him now in case Real Madrid decide to dispose of him? I am not so sure.
Of course, I'd like him to play for us, he is one of the best players around, but I am having my concerns and question marks in this case.

In the attacking department, first of all I would like Martial to play much more at striker position next season, ideally joined by Rashford. In this case, we would need to buy a proper winger or two, which might see Mata out of the door and Lingard playing a more peripheral role (he is not good enough for a starter anyway).

Anyway, with Zlatan and Rooney out, we will need one more striker at least, as Martial and Rashford cannot be the only strikers for a whole long season full of games.
The question is whether we should go for someone as a third option, some world class player like Griezmann who can play in different positions, or a classic bomber like Lukaku or Bellotti?

Oh yes, I didn't talk about left and right back, but let's leave it for another moment :)

There's been a lot of talk about "raiding" Monaco.

I'm not against that idea.

If we break the bank buying 4-5 of their best players, surely one or two at least are bound to make it.

Mbappe, Martial and Rashford wouldn't make me sad for the attack.

Bernardo Silva for the offensive midfielder/winger roles seems nice too.

There's been much talk about another midfielder and a defender or two too and imo if they can make it to a CL semi final, it can't be all down to pure luck. Also most of them are maybe 22.

Monaco have got some very fine players.

From defence to attack, there are Mendy, Fabinho, Bakayoko, Lemar, Silva, Mbappe.

I would consider some of them, but the prices will surely be very high and there is always a question whether they can confirm their value in another league, especially in EPL.

From all of them Mbappe of course is the most interesting prospect, but if the price is 100mil or more, then I'd think twice, as it is way too much for 18yr old player. The sum that we paid for Martial was already very high, let alone the requested price for Mbappe which is about double. Said that, I don't think he is that better than Martial.

Anyway, only the thought of attack consisted of Martial, Rashford and Mbappe is very exciting.

From the rest, I think that we could really consider Fabinho (both for the middle and maybe for RB) and maybe Bakayoko who would add strength and quality to our midfield.

Lemar is a very intelligent player, but I'm not sure whether we need such a player. Same goes for Bernardo Silva who reminds a lot of Juan Mata.

Mendy is an excellent LB, but it depends on price and also on Luke Shaw's situation with Mourinho. If Shaw manages to avoid further injuries and if he does a good pre-season, I hope he will find his place among the starters. Otherwise, if it really breaks up between him and Mourinho, we will have to start searching for another solution at LB and Mendy might be one of those.

Therefore, looking at Monaco side, my choice would go in order of 1. Mbappe 2. Fabinho 3. Bakayoko

For me the transfers are simple:

Get Mbappe.

Get someone to replace Carrick. The best player under 25 player available. Whatever cost.

Re-sign Carrick and Zlatan.

Go on summer holidays.

The Carrick replacement is tough, because I can't see anyone out there who would be both adept defensively and who would control games. So few in the world can and even fewer from a deep midfield position. The key attribute for that player would be his passing ability and the second important thing would be his defensive ability.

Basically if we could get a 21yo Scholes/Pirlo/Carrick/Alonso it would be just about perfect. But are there such playmakers out there?

Verratti and Thiago are perhaps the best playmakers out there and perhaps both available at the right price, but both would IMO play in Herreras position and I love Herrera. And he isn't as good as a DM, because his main skill isn't passing, but being energetic, defending on the front foot, making runs etc. As a DM he couldn't run, he couldn't defend proactively anywhere near as much and.. what's left of his strengths then? :)

Kroos perhaps could be good? Is he good enough defensively?


As for departures - Rooney. That's about it. I don't really mind if Fellaini stays or goes. But if he goes, then we must replace him as well. But I'd concentrate on getting just 2 totally brilliant players rather than a bigger number of fine players.

I think then we'd have a damn fine squad.

I think we don't need anyone in the AM area. Lemar/Silva would otherwise be very good. But with Miki, Mata, Rashford, Martial and Lingard competing for max 3 positions but likely 2 positions if we play 4-3-3ish, then I don't see a reason to buy a new AM. That's the reason I don't understand James Rodriguez rumours either.

I'm not convinced by Bakayoko. He is strong, but in CL against Juve he was the main reason for both goals that Juve scored in the first leg. For one of the goals he managed to lose his man twice during one attack and the other he just made a mistake. Maybe it's just one bad match from him, but looking at how many goals they concede the midfield must surely not be solid enough, otherwise they wouldn't concede that many.

I don't know too much about Fabinho to be honest, but for the same reason I have my reservations - Monaco has a rather weak defense. He might look nice and dribble well, but if he leaves his defense exposed, then I'm not sure he can cut it as a DM, where we need a new player. As a replacement for Fellaini either of them would be great. But for Carrick - not sure.

From all of them Mbappe of course is the most interesting prospect, but if the price is 100mil or more, then I'd think twice, as it is way too much for 18yr old player. The sum that we paid for Martial was already very high, let alone the requested price for Mbappe which is about double. Said that, I don't think he is that better than Martial.

(http://statsbomb.com/2017/05/valuing-kylian-mba...)

A nice article about how to value him. 100m is fine for him IMO. He is probably a once in a generation prospect. He is worth 100m exactly because he is 18 and doing things that nobody else can. In 5 years he'll be 23 and probably already have like 200 goals for some team. This season he has 14 goals and 8 assists in Ligue 1 in 1321 minutes. That's a rate that perhaps Messi and Ronaldo only have. And he is 18 so he'll likely improve in the coming years. Besides that 6 goals in CL(1 vs Juve, 2 vs Dortmund, 3 vs City, not 6 vs some obscure teams from Belarus and Cyprus) and 5 goals in 6 games in the French cups(I don't know about the assists there, don't have info about that). Monaco are an attacking team and that might help his numbers, but Ronaldo at that age got just 4 goals and 4 assists in a season. Just for comparison.. For me the amount of assists seems impressive as well.

+ think about how awesomely good we'd be on the counter with Martial, Rashford and Mbappe running and a midfield or Pogba and Herrera supporting them. + hopefully a great passer as a DM as well.

While I might agree with most of what you indicated, I simply cannot understand this:

Re-sign Carrick and Zlatan.

Why in the world would you do that???

Zlatan - he is 36, has a cruciate ligament injury and we don't even know when he will be back to training, let alone being operative again for a top level football. On top of that, he is earning an astronomical wage of about 300k per week, so it would be complete madness to re-sign him. Apart from that, we must move on from such short-term solutions and start creating a top team, both for immediate success and for the future. We don't really NEED such transitory solutions. Even Zlatan himself knows that well and he has rejected the offer that he had on the table before his injury. I am very sorry to see such a champion injured in the twilight of his career, but United must move on, simple as that. We should do as much as possible to help him recover and we are surely giving him all necessary help, but I don't think we should consider him for our next season's team. I wouldn't consider him for next season even if he wasn't injured, let alone now.

Carrick - enough with his contract extensions for God's sake! Any team with top 4 ambitions must simply move on from such ideas.
United still sticking to Carrick in midfield reminds me of Linus sticking to his security blanket...

There must be better solutions out there and it is time for United to find them.

If we want to play attacking, which I kind of doubt with Mourinho at the helm, Verratti would be THE best buy as the defensive Carrick-replacement. Even if he's more offensively minded.

His force IS his vision, creativity and passing, more so than running, strength and tackling.

But to have a Pirlo/Xavi/Carrick/Scholes/Whatever-passer-type there, our central defenders and backs needs to play higher to support if they're not a Makelele/Kante/Vieira type that's mostly defensive but can also pass.

If we want the first, Verratti is imo the best we can get.

Silva and Mbappe from Monaco are also two of my favourite prospects for our offense. For defense, I don't watch enough football to really know what's hot, but looking at our stats (losses and goals against) I don't think we're in a too bad spot.

An attacking 6 with these wouldn't make me cry;

(D)MC: Carrick / Verratti / Blind / Fellaini
MC: Herrera / Pogba / Fellaini / Rooney / ...
AML: Martial / Rashford / Lingard / Silva
AMR: Mata / Mikhi / Silva
AMC: Mikhi / Silva / Rooney / Pogba
ST: Ibra / Rashford / Martial / Mbappe

With some players appearing multiple places, I think it seems like decent enough quality and with enough different player types to play any style of football. Also I've listed positions as I see them play, not in a specific formation. The defensive oriented midfielders could play side by side the the normal MC's, but have a defensive role or the AMC and MC could play alongside the the DMC behind. I don't want to dabble in formations, just in player types.

I see Rooney as the ideal AMC if we ever want to play a counter attack kind of style. Have Fellaini, Blind or Herrera as two of the three MC's and Rooney as AMC with Martial, Rashford and Mbappe on the wings. Rooney is excellent at passing the ball, the two more defensive ones are hard workers and the three youngsters have pace and hunger.

With that group, we could (imo) do everything. Mata, Mikhi, Silva and Ibra if we want to really play it around. Stuff like that. :)

With Zlatan - just keep the salary such that it depends on him playing. If he comes back, then great, if not, then we're not losing much.

Surely he won't find someone paying him 300k per week elsewhere when he is injured and I doubt we would either. I think he'll have to agree to a lower salary as well as a smaller role in the team. Unless he can continue scoring at the same rate, in which case I'd be happy :).

I also think he could be really useful for us as an attacking midfielder. He'd be a luxury player who doesn't defend much, but his vision, strength, passing ability and all that comes with it is just so good that he would have an impact.

I think it's very likely that he'll come back and continue to play at the same level. I mean if he comes in at 35 and breaks all the strength records at the club, then he is surely still really strong and that injury probably won't affect him in that sense. He won't be quick, but he wasn't quick this season either but still scored and assisted at a good rate.

But of course this means he'd have to be fine with playing a smaller role.

If he stays he wouldn't be an automatic starter. Unless the others can't hack it of course.

For me the should be like someone like Larsson was at United on loan. An ageing star who is great at what he does. Zlatan seems smart enough to know how he can still be effective at an old age and play a role. He seems like a leader and a team player and as a role model for the young players. He's done it all and surely has a lot to share with the kids.

IMO it's good to have someone like that around. If he is happy at United and not being the main man, I'd like to see the club try to keep him for another 3-4 years.


As for Carrick - he is still very good IMO. He played a smaller part this season, but hasn't been a liability. His passing from deep is very good and so many times it started good attacks. Others just aren't going to be able to provide that quality from deep. He would be a squad player who is reliable and can give a breather for our first teamers. He has enough quality that against average teams he will control the game and help us unlock defenses. He also seems like a hard worker who probably sets a good example in training.

I think that if we are to make changes in midfield, then it's replacing Fellaini instead of Carrick. I do think we need one more player there. Unless Jose wants to start using Tuanzebe/Fosu-Mensah there regularly. We just have Pogba and Herrera as first team midfielders and then Carrick and Fellaini as backups right now. I think one more wouldn't be too bad unless Jose really trusts your young players and isn't afraid to use them in semi-serious games as well as just the meaningless ones.

But if we find someone to properly replace Carrick, then I'm fine with letting him go as well. I just don't see anyone and it wouldn't hurt to have him around as backup while the scouts try to find a top notch replacement for him.

And in attack I just think we need to replace Rooney. Put Zlatan in the Rooney role of backup striker and Mbappe to be the main man. Or well.. Mbappe/Rashford/Martial and others playing in attack and rotating like they want.

I don't buy the 'Verratti is a good DM' hype. Every time I see him he runs forward with the ball and vacates his position and someone has to cover. That's his strength, but also the reason why I'd play him where Herrera plays. IMO they're similar players in terms of style.

I don't think we should try to get a 'defending first, attacking second' type of a DM. That's a bit like giving up on trying to get the best option. Pogba is good in attack, but he doesn't set the tempo. He is physically amazing and technically awesome and has vision for a through ball. But IMO doesn't have the vision of how to play the balls to his fellow midfielders into positions where they can create. That's what Scholes(in his later years) and Carrick did for us so well. They got the ball into the attackers in good positions. They don't go for glory and hollywood passes themselves, but create the platform for others to shine. That's why I don't rate Gerrard as highly. He could pass and tackle and do everything, but he went for the glory pass instead of trying a bit simpler but more effective passes to the strikers feet for example. Obviously he played for a shit team so maybe the others weren't good enough and he had to play those hollywood balls, but... :)

I see Rooney as the ideal AMC if we ever want to play a counter attack kind of style. Have Fellaini, Blind or Herrera as two of the three MC's and Rooney as AMC with Martial, Rashford and Mbappe on the wings. Rooney is excellent at passing the ball, the two more defensive ones are hard workers and the three youngsters have pace and hunger.

Nah. Nowadays he just isn't. He has declined badly in the last few years IMO. If this is because of Van Gaal killing his inner passion, then next season is his last chance to prove that he deserves to stay longer. But right now I feel that he just isn't contributing much. He is slow, he doesn't defend very well, he doesn't control midfield. He can't take on his man. He isn't physically imposing. He's just an average striker.

Also if you have Fellaini, Blind or Herrera as two of the CMs and Rooney as the AMC, where's Pogba? :) If you have Herrera and Pogba as the CMs, then we're defensively suspect, because they don't well as a unit. They need someone behind them. Someone who'd understand his role defensively and who would hopefully be a good passer. I would actually like Blind to be tried there, but it doesn't feel like it's going to happen under Jose.

If anyone can coach offensive minded players to play defense, it's Mourinho.

I'm not saying Verratti is a good DM in the sense that he's a good tackler or stays put, but his early years and in the Italian NT's he's afaik primarily played in a similar role to Pirlo. A deep lying, free playmaking role and he's excelled.

If Pogba and Herrera are too stupid to fall back every now and again, it's their fault, not Verratti, just because he might be the one starting furthest back in the line up.

Blind did really well as a DMC that defends and distributes evenly. He's not really fast enough to run with the strikers and he's not really good enough to go to the box in attack, but he's good at distributing, has good enough vision and a good touch on the ball, while also being an above average defender. Him as the anchor/DMC/whatever-you-want-to-call-it-DM with two more offensive minded players would be great imo. I honestly think he can be far greater than Carrick ever was at that position.

Pogba and Herrera needs to defend too and so long as you keep pulling the "Veratti is a good DM"-hype card, we have nothing left to discuss. Never said he had to be a DM, which to me is a Makelele/Vieira/Kante kind of player, but a (D)MC. Just a playmaker lying slightly deeper than Herrera-Pogba would.

In FM terms I would make Herrera and Pogba box-to-box players and Verratti a Deep Lying Playmaker. He can defend. He has a rather free role and his role is focused on the offensive distribution on the ball. The team relies on the b2b players to do the defending, as much as the DLP.

Manchester City signed Bernardo Silva.

4/5 Monaco dudes left.

Lamba wrote:

Manchester City signed Bernardo Silva.

4/5 Monaco dudes left.

An excellent player, but I wasn't happy when I heard that we wanted him, as we don't need this type of player. He would be better as a number 10, as he's not quick enough for a winger. We already got Mata who is a similar player and we already got other 2-3 players for a number 10 role, so Bernardo Silva would be a rather luxury buy for us. We need other types of players in other positions. I am not so sure that even City needed him that much, as they already have David Silva, De Bruyne, Sane, Sterling etc.

We need players who can control games.
We need players who are hungry for success.
We need players who can take on the United soul.

He's played pretty much all over the offence (apart from striker afaik) and he's been doing excellent. No, he's not a Ryan Giggs type winger but he's excellent at challenging and crossing from the wing or cutting inside and do a pass.

I don't care if he fits some arbitraty box. Good, young players should always be wanted.

He is, after all, 4-5-6 years younger than our other offensive players, so he could be rotational with the rest of the squad, learn the United way (if Mourinho learns it at some point) and develop into a regular in the long run with Rashford, Martial, etc.

Also I really hope that we get Mbappe and if we do, it'd be excellent to have a "support" player he knows already.

That's OK, but is it worth paying around 50mil pounds for a player who is not really a necessity?

Moreover, apart from Mata, Lingard, Martial, Mkhitaryan, we also have young players like Harrop and Andreas Pereira, so I'd say we are pretty full there.

If, however, we want to buy a winger, I'd prefer someone with pace like Lucas Moura or maybe Douglas Costa.

Even Mahrez might be a good buy, in case his price came to some normal levels after a pretty average season. He has shown that he can be a top winger in EPL, but last season he has played without motivation. A move to a big club with top players around might make him a very dangerous weapon in attack.

We are also linked with Bale, who would be a perfect player for Man Utd, but my doubts would be his age (28 in the Summer) and also some worrying injuries last season.

I'd put him ahead of Mata and Lingard.

Lingard is only a player at United 'cause he's from the academy. Mata I've always liked, but he seems more like an above average player than a really good one. Also Mourinho sold him once before, it could happen again.

I'm rooting for the youngsters from the Academy, but if we have to play Young or Lingard more than 10 matches per season, I'd have bought Silva without thinking twice.

Imo, we should do the "FM-approach" and stop buying players who are already in their prime. Especially when looking at our current squad. I see plenty of players at 28-36 years old who are either at a point in their career where they're going downhill, or at a point where they've seemed more energetic, hungry and well just plain good.

I'd like to see more chances on young players like Depay and like Nani and Ronaldo before him. It might cost us, but it just might be really great too.

I wouldn't gamble on any Leicester player, apart from Schmeicel and Kanté (who also joined a rival instead of us).

Looking at Ajax and Monaco, I'm sure there's a piece or five we could pick up relatively cheap and develop.

Looking at our current squad, outside of Ibra there's no wow-factor at all and we weren't really better in the final against Ajax, which is a disgrace. So there's plenty of areas to improve, if nothing else then to send a message to the resident sleepers.

Well. Carrick's testomonial for sure is not gonna be his last game with the reds. He just signed contract extension for one more year.

Knowing Mourinho Zlatan is gonna get such as well so as Rooney in few years when his contract ends. :D

I think it's complicated with Zlatan. There are a few questions to be asked - is he happy to be a squad player instead of a sure starter? Because I'm not sure he will come back to the same level right away. And even if he comes, the team will be playing in a way that isn't centered around him as he will be missing for the first half of the season so it might not be that great for him.

And secondly - is he happy with a salary that is likely to depend on him being fit? Because I can't see the club taking a risk with having to pay him some 5m when he can only play a few games.

I do hope Zlatan wants to continue at a top club and play a role at United, helping the younger players develop and to be a part of our success. This is probably his last chance of winning CL - he won't get into another club that aspires to win CL IMO.

As for Rooney - I'm pretty sure he is leaving this summer. He's been a squad player for the last year and I see no reason why he might become better next season. I can't see him playing ahead of Rashford, Martial or Zlatan as a striker and Mata/Miki/Pogba are ahead of him as a number 10 surely.

Oh - and I'm glad Carrick got his extension. He is a good squad player who will be effective against smaller sides and can do a job against anyone if/when we have injuries or need to rotate.