16 Sep 2020 06:58:14
I posted a couple of weeks ago about our lack of transfer activity and nothing has changed. The only team that has properly strengthened is Chelsea, perhaps everyone else is struggling to justify the fees in these strange times.

My worry is we signed a player for a position that was not the biggest issue, and the RW and CB issues remain unresolved. There may of course be a huge amount of work going on in the background but having listened to LVG’s version of transfer business, and looking at our track record, I’m not holding my breath.

Sometimes you need decisive leadership and just need to get stuff done. If Roma have made a sensible bid for Smalling, why are we haggling with them? Does nobody want Rojo, surely Pereira would attract some interest? We seem to be drifting, too many players on the books, and unable to strengthen the key positions.

We have improved on the pitch but as has been said we looked knackered, and the quality on the bench is a significant drop off in some positions.

Perhaps thee is a master plan, but right now, I can’t see it.


1.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 07:40:51
I too don't see any plan Tony.

I thought the club would learn from last summer window, where we sold Lukaku on deadline without replacing. Haggling over Maguire till the last week of the window.

As Ed mentioned, Bullying other clubs to accept lower fee doesn't work.

Ideally we should have finished our recruitment by now and strengthened the positions the manager wants before the first game.


2.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 08:40:41
season starts Saturday, as one poster said yesterday we will burn out by December, ole will most likely be sacked and we can start the 7th re build.


3.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 09:14:29
Of course there is a plan!
Step 1 - identify a player your team obviously needs
Step 2 - ask for a price and say you will pay half that
Step 3 - dilly-dally with pointless conversations with other players / agents and display 0 negotiation skill / ability to get things done
Step 4 - realise there is only 1 week left in the longest summer window ever
Step 5 - try and dodge valid pressure / criticism from media, fans and manager when the other teams have made all necessary signings for the most condensed season in history
Step 6 - PANIC
Step 7 - pay the asking club what they asked for, possibly more and make out that that was your plan all along
Step 8 - pat yourself on the back for a job well done.


4.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 09:22:13
AJH the whole nobody is spending so we can't spend is a myth being propagated by Woodward's pr people, outside of chelsea. Aston villa, wolves, leeds, man city, everton and Tottenham have outspent us, we have spent nearly the same amount as Newcastle,0 one of the few clubs who can claim to have ownership as bad as ours.


5.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 10:56:24
It seems that the vast majority of our transfer funds have been earmarked for the Sancho deal - which is fine provided they end up getting the deal over the line.

My only concern is that we’re potentially reaching a point in the window where even an offer that matches Dortmund’s valuation might not be enough. At that point the whole window has been wasted and all for the sake of getting a discount that Dortmund have very clearly stated will not be given.

Even if we do somehow end up getting the lad for a few million below what they’re asking, I really do have to question whether it will have been worth the risk of ending the window without a RW or the disruption to the start of our season that the speculation has caused.


6.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 10:59:29
Moyes, I get that but £100M for a player is a different league. It's not an excuse, our transfer dealings are amateurish, look at LVG's recent comments about the players he wanted, none of whom he got.


7.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 11:03:16
Ed002 has told us time and time again what we are like. Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on here.


8.) 16 Sep 2020
16 Sep 2020 11:25:16
AJH - I know everyone will have their own opinions on which positions are a priority and why, and that's fine. However, even though you see a versatile CAM/ CM as not being the biggest issue, the club made it one of their two top priorities from the start, and there is very good reason for that.

Our defence does need strengthening, with a CB and a LB, but we need to move on some of our current players first, and if you look at the stats, our defence didn't actually do too badly, despite Dave's best attempts to make them look bad ;)

A proper young holding midfielder as understudy to Matic would be great, but again we need to move players on first as we have too many midfielders already, and I'd be suprised if we got a second holding midfielder before Pogba leaves.

A striker would be nice, but with Martial doing so well last season, and with Greenwood, Rashford and Ighalo as backup, we don't really need anyone at the moment.

Why a CAM/ CM though? Look at the end of last season. Bruno was knackered, but still ended up playing most of the time because we simply didn't have anyone to cover for him. Pogba could perhaps be used there, but he's much better playing deep, and moving him forward would just leave us lacking any creativity in CM again. Without Bruno, or when he didn't play as well, we struggled to create anything, and we dropped points directly as a result. If we'd had someone like Donny to give Bruno a rest or come on for him later in games etc, we would have had 3rd wrapped up a lot sooner. There's a strong arguement to be made that no other single position would have gained Utd more points.