06 Nov 2023 09:53:12
Ed002, I'm reading Liverpool are favourites to sign Andre from Fluminense next Summer. He seems exactly what Utd need. Is their any interest from Utd?

{Ed002's Note - No.}

1.) 06 Nov 2023
06 Nov 2023 10:11:46
Thanks Ed.

2.) 06 Nov 2023
06 Nov 2023 17:51:39
From what I've read/ heard and the little I've seen he looks and sounds like the kind of smart signing we should be making. However, because we don't have a savvy and well connected DoF and we are so poorly run we will likely overlook players like Andre despite scouting him extensively no doubt, he'll then move to another club in Europe have a good 6 months to a year and we'll then sign him for ten times what his European club paid for him just 12 months earlier.

Rangnick reportedly suggested and even lined up potential deals for Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Juilan Alvarez. Three players who are now proving their quality in the EPL. We could have had three all of them for less than what we paid for Donny van de Beek.

We need a top class DoF to come in as we will need to make several signings like this if we are going to be able to quickly rebuild the squad into a coherent group of players with the quality and skillsets to play a progressive style of play. When we need to make 15-18 singings they can't all be 50m+ players, it'll cost too much and take too long to recruit them.

3.) 06 Nov 2023
06 Nov 2023 20:01:50
Agreed Shappy. It's not as though Andre has been hiding away tho. He's played for Brazil already, he's a regular for one of Brazils biggest clubs and apparently was the stand out player when they won the Copa Libertadores last night. I think there was even an article in the Guardian about him.

I understand Utd is poorly run and the DoF is obviously an idiot but you would have thought Utd would at least have an interest being as he plays in the position Utd have not filled satisfactory since Carrick.

4.) 06 Nov 2023
06 Nov 2023 21:35:06
We had one with Rangnick. I always thought that’s what we brought him in, then randomly let him go.

5.) 06 Nov 2023
06 Nov 2023 21:51:26
MancMan, I know he's not one of those secret unknown players playing on another continent. In some respects he's the kind of player a top European side could take a calculated risk on. He's got a few years under his belt, has played regularly for a title winning side, has represented his country (no mean feat for the Brazilian national team) . He's ready for a step up, but wouldn't cost as much as a similar player in Europe. He plays a similar role/ position to Moises Caicedo. Andre though has played more games, and helped his side win something. Yet he'll be available for 50-70% LESS than Caicedo went to Chelsea for, and would command much lower wages. If he moves to Europe and has one good season his value will more than double.

There are some very good players around that the club could and should have picked up and could have done for a fraction of what we have spent on "big name" players who have gone on to flop.

A player we were linked with last summer was Orkun Kökçü who was playing (and captaining) a Feyenoord side that won the Eredivisie last season. He was excellent, showing grit and fight, but with excellent technique and real intelligence on and off the ball.

Several United fans rolled their eyes and derided the idea of signing a player most hadn't heard of. Some even said he was only being considered because he was playing in the Netherlands and we have a Dutch manager.

He went to Benfica for around 21m with a further potential 4m in add-ons. Touted as the replacement for Enzo Fernandez after his 100m+ move to Chelsea. We all know just how good Benfica's scouting tends to be. They have made a name for themselves for smart signings who they later go on to sell for massive fees. So it should come as no surprise that Kökçü is ripping it up in Portugal, more than filling the Enzo Fernandez size hole in their midfield.

He is an example of another player we could have signed for 20-30m last summer instead of spending 60m on Mason Mount. He is a similar player but has more experience of playing deeper in midfield and is probably better when playing deep than Mount.

I'm not saying Mount is a bad player, and I actually think he'll prove to be a good signing for the club. I just think there were far more savvy signings available out there.

We have been linked with making a 60-100m bid for Ivan Toney in January in some rags, a player who again I think would be a good player for us. Or a 120m for Osimhen is another player linked to the club as we look to shift Martial and add some competition and depth to Hojlund up front. But should we signing players whose fees are massively inflated. When we could look to someone like Santiago Gimenez again playing for Feyenoord with a reported fee of between 35-40m being touted. He has 18 goals from 16 games for Feyenoord across league, cup and European games this season.

Yet whenever we get linked to such players many United fans complain that they aren't the "standard" of player we should be signing. All they ever want is super star signings, big names for big fees to use to gloat at opposition fans.

That might be the hardest thing for any new footballing structure to deal with when making changes. How do you make the necessary changes when you know there will be a big backlash from a vocal section of the clubs support.

We need to be savvy if we are going to rebuild this squad in under 5 years, because that's how long it will take at least if we insist that every signing has to be a 60m+ super star or at least well known player.

6.) 07 Nov 2023
07 Nov 2023 15:58:40
Because there must be at least one midfielder left in the world that Liverpool haven't bid for or been linked with.
Utd don't have a great history with South American players. There are a few for sure, Tevez is probably my favourite ever alongside King Eric, but there have been so many flops in there too.

7.) 08 Nov 2023
07 Nov 2023 23:18:57
Did France used to be in South America spenno? ;)

8.) 08 Nov 2023
08 Nov 2023 09:12:21
Sure Spenno but there are many South American players who have been amazing in the Premier league. Just because Utd had a bad run with players from there doesn't mean it always has to be so.

9.) 08 Nov 2023
08 Nov 2023 12:28:03
You can’t put Tevez in the same sentence as Cantona surely?!

10.) 08 Nov 2023
08 Nov 2023 13:05:41
You just did 2toms.