21 Jul 2017 12:25:13
Greetings to all the editors and posters. Thanks in particular to Ed002 for incisive comments.
However, the time has come for a reality check.
1 - In order to compete successfully in the EPL and the CL, a large squad is needed. In 2017, 3 squad members were sold plus 1 returnee, the highest goalscorer was lost by injury (and non-renewal of his contract) and several squad members are still suffering long-term injuries. Yet, only 2 recruits have been obtained, plus 1 returnee. JM knows full well that the squad is much too small.
2 - JM is absolutely right to praise in public the efforts of EW and his team to bring in new players, but in truth it has been clear for at least 3 years that he and his team are not first rate at persuading other teams to sell and players to join. (Starting with a failure to buy Fallaini's services until deadline day) . The sooner Utd recruits a new negotiating team the better, in order to free EW to continue with his fantastic work in obtaining new sponsors. Players win matches, not money in the bank. Recruit scouts and negotiators from teams that have been successful - eg Monaco.
3 - It is illuminating and extremely disappointing that even though the Englan teams from U17 to U21 have been extremely successful this summer, there is not even a single Utd outfield player in any of them Not one. Regretably, that says a great deal about the efforts of the club in the last 5 years to harvest local talent. Of course, it isn't easy, but developing your own talent is really advantageous if you find it difficult recruit experienced players. More and better scouts are needed, plus a plan to offer young recruits playing experience in competitive games.
I look forward to hearing the views of others - and indeed their own solutions to how to obtain the best players and strongest squad.
Red Setter.


1.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 12:45:40
Well maybe the likes of tuanzebe, tfm, a Pereira, j Pereira will feature more this season.

Rashford would have been in the u21s but has skipped them for the full team.

Agree we need a couple of signings but if clubs are awkward what can we do.


2.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:01:59
Hi Mort
get better negotiators. I assume that Chelsea will succeed in recruiting Morata for a fee that RM rejected from Utd. City has been successful at bringing in more new faces than us.
Red Setter.


3.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:02:07
Wasn't one of LVG's goals to revamp the scouting system, which everyone has agreed has been in decline for years.

I think EW has been at the forefront of this with the recruitment of Bout as Head of Global Scouting along with Harrison and Tomlinson from Man City's Academy along with 100+ scouts across the world.

It maybe a few years before we start seeing the benefits but at least the problem is being addressed.


4.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:12:12
Woodward has done good in the last 2 summer windows. He got Jose 4 targets last summer and the window is still open for a while yet and we already have 2.

It's obvious he wants the players in eailer but if it takes time then fair do.


I would much rather be getting the players we want taking a while than panic buy for 2md and 3rd choices.


5.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:23:50
Agree Bolger. Too many blaming Woody when actually we've signed plenty of players in recent times and big names at that. If we pay too much, people complain. If we walk away from ridiculous demands, people complain. He can't win.


6.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:34:31
Ya and he could have sorted the fee for perisic in June and made it a lot easier as ed002 has said.


7.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 13:47:45
Woodward isn't the problem with getting the deals done. You have to set limits on what a target is worth. You can occasionally pay well over the odds for a player who is essential but if you do it too often people start taking the p**s. I would be more than happy if we did no more business this window even if all it achieves is letting other teams negotiators know we will walk from deals and you can't string us along thinking mug united always caves eventually. If it was a 24 year old giggs then fair enough pay em what they want but a 28year old perisic as good as he is a limit needs to be set and 48m is way too much.


8.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 14:15:12
Bolger,
last summer's transfer dealings were indeed much better than the two previous summers, but Ibrahimovitch owes more to JM than EW. We will probably never know the full cost of Pogba's move, but the lure of returning "home" was an incentive, o in reality it's the two others for which EW deserves praise.
regards other posts, Utd has a surfeit of great or promising goalkeepers, so perhaps one at least should be employed as a bargaining chip.
Yes, some good poaching of the unsung backroom guys has been made, but there's a long way to go.
Wasn't Lukaku 2nd choice?
The need for strengthening the squad was known since February, and emphasised in April. So there has been plenty of time to bring in players, aided by the attraction of qualification to the Champions League.
The transfer glass is not even half full this summer.


9.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 14:20:26
if it had not been for AM's transfer ban I am sure AG would have been here now too.

What would everyone then had made of our transfer window so far?

as it is, the ban was not overturned he did the honourable thing and stayed to help his club when he knew that they would not be able to replace him did he leave and so we moved onto our 2nd target for that position perisic.

now as mentioned above we may have sorted his deal earlier for a fair price but i guess that as he was 2nd option and inter needed the money we decided to test the waters and get him for less than inter wanted. it didn't work and here we are.

now they want top dollar for him and we are reluctant to pay what they are asking. for all we know they may now be stuck on a certain fee and not budging. there is NO negotiation as they will not budge and we not want to go any higher either. this will either drag on until one party gives in and meets the others demands or the deal won't happen.

personally if AG has given any indication that he would join in JAN I would wait.


10.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 14:40:42
Personally I think Madrid had no intention in selling to us and were just messing us around in some pettiness relating to faxgate. Inter also have been hard to negotiate with regards perisic and demanding martial. How would you negotiate around that.


11.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 14:55:24
The clear evidence that EW messed up was the inability to get the Peresic deal done early. As Ed002 pointed out many times, Peresic was available for a cut price IF the deal was done early so Inter could avoid financial sanctions. We didn't move fast enough, and Inter were able to sort it out via other strategies, meaning they were able to start playing hardball in negotiations with us. We know teams want to try and squeeze us for extra cash, so surely we should try to leverage a situation when we have an advantage. From a strategic perspective, Peresic surely should have been the first order of business and the failure to target him early lies with EW. Given the prices being quoted now, that error could cost us £20-30 million.


12.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 14:58:28
We have to remember that money is meaningless to the city and Chelsea who will spend what it takes to be successful.
Also I would imagine that those clubs are happier to pay all or at least most of any transfer fee up front which the selling club prefer.


13.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 17:02:50
Red setter if chelsea are going to get morata for less than we offered that isn't due to the quality of negotiators that's due to madrid not wanting to sell to us or wanting something else out of the deal i don't think he does a bad job and gets a bad press on here all things considered he is a business man whose talent lies in getting commercial deals and he is very good at it not in transfer dealings but let's be honest bar the van persie deal and maybe berbatov in the 10 years before him what top top players did we sign? Yet under woodward we have signed di maria falcao zlatan pogba mkhitaryan?


14.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 20:43:19
Yet city and Chelsea always get better deals done. Jesus didn't break the bank. Neither did Silva nor De bruyne. Chelsea got Costa for A decent price and bakoyoko too.
We seem to go on for months trying to sign players and then panic and pay over the odds.
Ew is not a good transfers negotiator. I think mourinho will tell you this.

{Ed004's Note - I don't get this arguement at all. At the times Silva and De Bruyne were big money signings and I'd near enough bet they were in the top 5 transfer fees for their respective windows. Chelsea and City are put on a pedestal and I'm not sure why. City have been trying to sign Mendy all window and have just signed Walker for an insane fee and I'm not even sure he would've been first choice at Spurs this summer. Chelsea currently are struggling to sign Sandro while paying a fortune for a sub striker who has only scored 40 league goals in his 8 professional seasons.
I really do think Ed Woodward gets a hard time on here. Only his first window could be classified as a failure}


15.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 21:15:31
All hail Ed004. Are you trying to demote Ed002 with one wise sayings?

{Ed004's Note - I will never claim to know as much as Ed2 when it comes to transfers or how clubs are run but Woodward seems to be an easy scapegoat on here for us fans at times. I'm sure if he was as imcompetent as us fans think he wouldn't still be at the club}


16.) 21 Jul 2017
21 Jul 2017 21:30:27
Yeah well most peep s live in the football manager ps/ xbox world, not reality.

And just for the record your opinions are as highly regarding as the infamous Ed002 as much as we love her.