15 Jan 2014 16:51:45
Before I start I will just say that I know many of you will say "there is no room in football for sentiment", or words to that effect. But it would seem that many of you want us to throw money around like confetti, to just pay WHATEVER it takes to sign players. I agree we need to sign some top class players, and that will require paying big transfer fees and big wages, and to be fair United have always been prepared to pay the big wages. But do we want to rebuild the team with players who are here purely for the money? I certainly don't. This is where the "sentimental" bit comes in. The football world has gone crazy in recent seasons with the likes of Chelsea, City, PSG etc. I know we will have to spend big money, but this idea of spending whatever it takes is madness. The City's, Chelsea's on PSG are destroying the basic fibres of the game. If football carries on the way it is we will end up with only a relative few professional clubs left.
Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, a club of history and tradition. Clubs like United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barca, Madrid, Juventus, Bayern, the Milan clubs etc etc are the glamour clubs of world football. And it is a privilege for any player to play for teams like that. Yes, pay the money, but players should WANT to play for United. Not come here just for the money. If we build our team with players like that, we will never build for the future, because players like that, once signed, will just be looking for their next big move away.
Its not just a matter of signing players, we need to sign players that are right for the club. At the moment, every time another team is linked with a player, we seem to get an influx of posts on here asking "why aren't we interested in him", or "we should sign him ". The truth is, only David Moyes and the club know who our transfer targets are. Every transfer window we are linked with half the players in Europe, and most of it is down to lazy journalism and guess work. I know a lot of people don't like Moyes and think he is out of his depth. Time will tell if that is right or wrong, but the fact is he is the manager of Manchester United. He will, and I'm sure already has, identify the players he wants to bring in. let's hope the club and the owners support him in the transfer market, and we can bring in top players who WANT to play for United.

1.) 15 Jan 2014
Good post mate but you have David Moyes now. More likely you will try and buy a championship player. I don't miss them days.

2.) 15 Jan 2014
For players it's a job, barce, Madrid Munich have just as much if not more pull than us . Players want to get paid and win trophies.
If you want to buy players who only want to play for United your not going to have much of a team.
Players will sign for United if the money is right

{Ed004's Note - @Micky Blue Eyes - were did Martinez sign McCarthy from this summer? And the Barcelona kid who only made 2 appearances for them. Was basically signed from Spanish second division}

3.) 15 Jan 2014
Personally I think any player that signs for United are signing for the "right" reasons.

Most probably when SAF was manager players would sign just to work with the man now I feel any player signing would be signing for the chance to pull on the shirt of one of the most prestigious clubs in world football and reap the benefits of everything that goes with that (everything took care of by the club, best medical care, training facilities etc etc.)

Of course they will be getting paid very well and that will of course be a big pull but definitely not the sole reason if its just money they are after well any player knows they can get the silly money from the sugar daddies.

4.) 15 Jan 2014
Nice post - but I'd argue that large transfer fees are dictated by the selling club and large wages a given for top top players these days.

It's all well and good saying that players should want to come to OT for the tradition - but teams like Liverpool, RM, Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus, Milan, etc all have rich histories. I would not expect any player to chose us over one of those teams if we were offering 20k/week less - no matter how much he wanted to play for the club.

It annoys me that players who push for high wages are labeled mercenaries. At the end of the day playing football is their job. Who here wouldn't jump ship if another company offered you a 50-100% pay rise to do exactly the same job?

5.) 15 Jan 2014
Quite right.

Bear in mind however that Moyes has been brought in because, as Ferguson often advised, the Glazers cannot or do not want to compete in the transfer market with the clubs with apparently unlimited funds. Clearly United's owners and Board, including Ferguson, believe Moyes can find value and bring out the best from players who will not be overpriced.

In my opinion the Glazers are running the club with the principle aim of making money, not winning trophies, even though there is a likely correlation between the former and the latter.

6.) 15 Jan 2014
Ed004

Its DM moyes team and players that RM is winning with. Give him 3 or 4 years and he will turn them into Wigan, nice to look at always on the cusp of falling off the ridge:)

7.) 15 Jan 2014
Redseven. I agree 100% with you. We tried to buy yaya toure and nasri and they chose city. Hazard chose chelsea over us. They surely did nt think city and chelsea were bigger more romantic clubs than mufc. No they went because they were offered more$$$$$.we might attract british players because of our name but most foreign players are only interested in the pay package.

8.) 15 Jan 2014
For me its their agents who are causing problems! i'm a 20 year old superstar chelsea offer 100k a week munich offer 50k a week he says go with chelsea because they will also pay the 4m agents fee. See its easy to say to someone gullible enough to believe it that more wages equals happiness especially when u earn twice as much fee for that transfer. I honestly believe Pogbas agent scuppered us signing him long term because we wouldn't give him a cut. jus my opinion though

9.) 15 Jan 2014
We all want the class of 2014 to come through the academy and start taking the world by storm next season. Perfect scenario sadly with a team performing as ours has so far this year, and the end of last, it would take a manager with stones of iron to give them a start. If our team were defeating all before them it would be very easy to slowly introduce young players.

To quote you "let's hope the club and the owners support him in the transfer market" I wish and hope this too. All the evidence however points diametrically opposite . With an aging team, we have spent roughly 20m per year over the last 6 years similar figures to Aston Villa and Southampton. Man City 570m over the same period Chelsea 370m.
Everyone knows spending on this scale is unsustainable long term for us.

Where I strongly disagree, with whoever is handling our transfers, is if the player does not meet our evaluation we walk away. Especially when the sums involved are quite small in the bigger picture. We lose a minimum of 30m by not making CL, which 80 % of us on here i.e. our own fans don't think will happen.
My contention is to spend the 30m to make the deals happen now. We are strengthening our team, which has to happen anyway.

If we sign nobody this window I'd advocate a much slower rebuild with more players with potential and the odd top signing. Even that would not be affordable on 20m a year. Matuidi we may sign he is free in the summer but even for a deep lying playmaker 1 assist in 89 games one has to ask what play is he making.

10.) 15 Jan 2014
It seems to me that you see yourselves on a par with Eveton now ed. Enjoy it tho, because we will surpass you if you carry on stuttering in the transfer market.