06 Aug 2020 09:53:04
I am sure Utd have their transfer targets but looking at how City and Chelsea have already made signings with no doubt more to follow I cannot but help feeling that once again we are being shown up as too cumbersome in out dealings. When you see City pay such comparatively small money for the Valencia winger who is so highly rated and for Ake then it just highlights again how poor Utd are in the transfer market.

1.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 10:16:59
Ake is a solid but unspectacular signing for City. Is 41m for someone who isn't a guaranteed starter great business? I'd argue that Laporte and Walker are the only starters in City's defence. With a CB and LB place up for grabs. I suspect Ake might end up at LB. As his preferred left hand side CB place is Laporte's starting position.

While the deal for Torres looks a great deal, highly talented young player. Yet part of the reason they got him relatively cheaply is that he had one year left on his deal and really wanted to go to Barcelona or Real Madrid. Valencia would prefer him no to go to a domestic rival and if they pushed he could have just stayed and left next year on a free.

It's what we'll run club's do, if you have a player with one year left who wants to leave you sell them for what you can rather than expect a huge fee. That way you don't lose your best players for nothing.

{Ed001's Note - Ake's preferred position is midfield. He has publicly stated so a number of times. Though I do agree, he will most likely end up covering left-back with City, as well as coming in to give Laporte a rest.}

2.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 10:49:42
Yes Shappy. But ultimately two decent signings and not at stupid money. Like Chelsea have bought well so far.

3.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 10:53:11
We seem to have a habit of dealing with one transfer at a time? Which is all well and good in theory, but we also seem to have a habit of taking an absolute age to wrap things up.

4.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 11:49:08
Good player but Mings would be a better signing for Utd. 😁😁.

5.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 12:49:36
Salford, they have spent 66m and not improved their first 11.

A first 11 that is losing David Silva this summer and still looks short a genuine top class LB and defensive partner for Laporte.

If City had signed Havertz to replace Silva, Koulibaly and Chilwell. Then I'd be impressed.

But those players have valuations of 90m, 80m and 70m respectively by their club's. And signing those sort of top end players takes time.

Instead they have signed a back up CB/ LB/ CDM player from a relegated club that needs to shift a few players.

And a back up Winger who had a year left on his contract and his club was desperate to sell him to a side outside of their own country.

It gives them more depth but doesn't solve the "weaknesses" in their first 11.

The only other side to have made significant signings is Chelsea, one of which was signed in January, while the other had a clause that made signing him much more straight forward.

I don't see us as lagging behind quite yet in terms of transfers. Just like judging the team before the end of the season doesn't make much sense, judging our performance in the transfer window less than a week after it opens won't yield conclusive results.

The big transfer we are trying to get over the line is Sancho, a very complicated deal which will take time. While the other primary target is Grealish, which might have been easier had Villa got relegated. But the only way to get that deal done quickly is to agree to Villa's 80m valuation. Which for what will be a squad player is excessive in the extreme.

{Ed047's Note - until you see them play you literally have no idea whether they’ll improve city.

6.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 12:53:20
Imagine being a billion pound company and you only work on one transfer at a time? Absolutely pathetic.

Of course they could easily work on multiple transfers but then we wouldn't valiantly run out of time every window. Gives the fans with Fred the Red posters on their wall an excuse that we're actually trying.

I wouldn't mind, we end up paying every penny the selling club wants. This is just posturing and our club loves being on the back pages. Same reason every time Woodword comes under scrutiny the news the next day is a shortlist of D. O. F candidates we have no intent in bringing to the club.

Neil Ashton was the best signing Woodward made.

7.) 06 Aug 2020
06 Aug 2020 13:23:10
Mumbles. Perhaps if they were locked in constant negotiation I could understand, but I imagine it’s a lot of back and forth necessitating no more than an hour of EWs time per day. It seems a bizarre strategy unless the Sancho signing impacts the budget for the other positions we are targeting.

Also, the first team squad are heading over to Germany later this week and so whether players are brought in now or in two weeks time doesn’t really matter providing they’re here in time for preseason. Of course, if our track record is anything to go by, they probably won’t be, but I suppose one could argue that bringing in players now could negatively affect some of the fringe players who might end up having a part to play in our Europa League run-in.