Manchester United banter 4

24 Jan 2026 15:55:57


Shappy has written an article entitled, Manchester United's Next Manager: Why This Rebuild Needs Time

24 Jan 2026 19:59:32
It’s a cycle we’ve seen before: we preach "patience for the rebuild, " but the reality is United doesn't have the luxury of a slow burn. As our drop out of the Deloitte Football Money League top five shows, failing to deliver immediate results has real financial consequences that eventually hamper our ability to compete at all.

​While "rooting out" players is necessary, we shouldn't always default to the five-year-plan excuse. I’d settle for a coach who can actually improve the players already in the building through elite coaching, rather than another manager waiting for the "perfect" squad that may never arrive.

24 Jan 2026 20:35:57
Time is a luxury in reality 7 good players gets us up there. We could buy 5 top players in the summer but they all have to hit the ground running that's the hard part.

24 Jan 2026 21:45:44
This rebuild takes time said nobody in the last 13 years.

Record is broken.

24 Jan 2026 22:06:35
I'd like Tuchel for two reasons.
1. He will identify the mentally weak players and get rid of them, he will not suffer fools and will demand high standards
2. I have a bet on him being the next manager.

23 Jan 2026 16:49:25
Hey guys. Any info about the plans for the new stadium? What's the expectations to start?

23 Jan 2026 17:08:52
I think its Friday week about 11am?.

{Ed025's Note - its when SJR gets the government to pay for it, the minge bag wont put his hand in his pocket..

23 Jan 2026 18:44:31
Oh are we meant to be building it? That'll keep costs down. Everyone bring a brick each game.

23 Jan 2026 19:24:00
Ineos not doing well either. A lot of debt, falling sales etc.

Rich people never put their hands in their pockets. at least not to pay. Everything nowadays happens behind the corporate veil, if only to avoid personal liability for debts in the event that it all goes badly.

24 Jan 2026 06:10:02
They had originally planned to open for the 30-31 season, but it’s a big project with significant hurdles in the way, and as with all construction will get delayed at some point.

Spurs took 4 years and didn’t have the added issue of the railway line, so I would expect maybe 32-33 or 33-34 at the earliest.

24 Jan 2026 09:39:45
Is that 20 or 21 Grim?

24 Jan 2026 10:44:11
It’ll be made from Lego.

24 Jan 2026 13:17:38
They won't pay for REAL lego Eric. It'll be multi coloured stacking blocks of Amazon.

24 Jan 2026 16:18:41
Lego. but from the middle at Lidl.

24 Jan 2026 18:02:07
Will it still be called Old Trafford? Roker Park, Ayrsome Park, Maine Rd, Upton Park, Highbury etc etc. all now in the history books.
No sentiment with this lot!

24 Jan 2026 20:32:10
It's the UK. We don't do building stuff on time or on budget.

23 Jan 2026 07:39:04
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 22 - Quick Round Up

22 Jan 2026 23:24:31
Let's hope they replace like for like.

They said he’s done,
They said he’s sloooow…
But he’s OUR CASE-MIRO,
AND HE RUNS THE SHOW!

24 Jan 2026 11:25:21
Casemiro when you ignore the money has been a great signing for us. He's a leader on and off the pitch, a role model, has great experience and has been a quality player for us. He's come up clutch with key goals and he seems to have really embraced the club and taken us to heart.

He leaves big shoes to fill. I also think that with his departure confirmed, along with what seems to be the certain.

24 Jan 2026 12:29:48
The dog nudged me and I hit send early ?

I was saying with it almost certain that Ugarte will leave this summer as well, then that really just leaves Mainoo as a special-ist midfielder (Bruno and Mount can play there in a pinch but need an all action defensive midfielder alongside them) .

That for me means that we probably need to sign 3 midfielders this summer ideally, unless there is a youth player who is ready to play 15-20 games next season.

In an ideal world we'd sign a physical/defensive box to box player, then a player who is more of a holding/sitting whose an expansive passer, and then an all rounder type player.

An all rounder like Elliot Anderson would be great as he could literally play alongside anyone and that midfield works well. While if as expected Wolves go down then a player like João Gomes as that physical and aggressive box to box player would be great. As for a someone who is more of a holding player with great passing range, we could possibly look at someone like Ruben Neves who will be available on a free in the summer I believe. EPL proven, adds some experience and leadership, his wages would be high though. Other possible options could be Fabian Ruiz, Hayden Hackney, Lamine Camara or Lucien Agoumé as that more sitting passer.

22 Jan 2026 19:15:39
Unfortunatley l think they will not buy or loan players in until the summer. More plyers out especially on big wages, Cas, Rash, Sancho, Harry, Urgarte, Zirkzee, Onana, Bayndir Shaw maybe a few more. Can see a few you lads being promoted and 3 to 4 new faces.

22 Jan 2026 22:05:13
Shaw will not leave.

23 Jan 2026 01:00:48
Wouldn't be surprised to see Harry offered another year. He's a couple of years younger than VVD and when fit has performed well. We'll have a bit more money to spend if we make it into Europe but, if not, we will have to concentrate our spending in midfield. About frigging time. A top CB's going to cost in the region of £25-£30m a year in pay and amortization. Harry will cost us maybe only £6-8m. Likewise Luke Shaw who has been a solid asset this year. Replacing him with a top LB will double the annual cost. and could you guarantee the new player would be any better? With Sancho out of contract it only save us the amortization since Villa are paying his salary this year.

Cas leaving will save us £30m in pay and amortization. Hopefully we can sell Onana, Ugarte, and Zirkzee. There's no guarantee we'll be able to sell Rashford. Barcelona have pay cap issues. It may end up being another loan, but at least we won't have any cost. If Hojlund meets the performance requirements in his loan agreement, which looks likely, we should get rid of his amortization cost and make a £15m transfer profit.

23 Jan 2026 02:19:18
Shame.

23 Jan 2026 09:01:55
I think the players to leave will be as follows

Expiring contracts
Casemiro
Sancho- thank god
Malacia
Maguire

Players to be sold
Rashford
Zirkzee
Hojlund- obligation should be triggered.

Ugarte- if midfield replacments are sucesfull but he could stay due to the amount of work required.

Bayindir
Onana - neither of keepers mentioned are good enough

I know it sounds greedy but if we are to qualify for Europe mext season and have ambition to go further in all comps we realisticlaly need at least 4 starting level players for the midfield 2 spots.

So Mainoo and 3 new additions.

Hopefully 2 out of Anderson, Baleba and Wharton. And one more that can compete for a starting spot. Maybe the prospect we signed will be rotation.

Also feel we need a LW as well as a top CB and a back up keeper to get the squad something close to competitive.

23 Jan 2026 09:41:32
Think them players leaving are a solid call Karl although I can see Maguire getting another year which I wouldn't be against we have the keeper from Bristol coming back from loan who I think is good enough to be number 2.
Baleba looks like he might be out first buy depending on money seeing as what was said in the summer.

23 Jan 2026 10:09:51
If our Cb's can stay fit i would be happy if the summer focus was midfield like it was for attack this summer.

I wouldn't be against a Maguire extension for a rotation and leadership qualities.

I know its dreamland/football manager but my perfect summer would be.

Midfield- Wharton and either of Baleba or Anderson.

LW- Yan Diomande (think this guy is going to be very special)

CB- Schlotterbeck/ Bastoni.

23 Jan 2026 10:18:39
Can see why Casemiro is leaving but hurts seeing him go before a few of the absolute crap here to be honest. wouldn't have opposed to a one year rolling deal for him.

23 Jan 2026 11:05:30
I am hopeful that we will see another tranch of players leaving this summer and we go again with our recruitment. It looks like we will be in a far better position PSR related, actual cash to do deals who knows!

Hopefully we will see the sales of Rashford, Zirkzee, Hojlund and Ugarte. End of contracts for Casimero (was hoping we would extend for 1 year), Sancho (finally! ), Malacia. I expect Maguire to get a years extension on reduced wages and if we retain him, Martinez, Yoro, De Ligt and Heaven this gives us enough cover for the 2 centre back roles and a range of youth and experiece. If need be we can look at this area the following year with midfield the key focus of spend.

Mainoo I would expect to kick on now and settle more into a midfield that suits him and hopefully ups his game. Then we can look at a couple of quality additions (Baleba/Wharton/Anderson) to compliment/split game time across what will hopefully be a fuller calender next year with cups/europe.

23 Jan 2026 11:21:58
You can’t discount Rashford coming back to play LW if his Barcelona moves didn’t happen depending on who our new coach is.

He’d also be useful as a striker rotation. Would save millions in the transfer market

I see no issues giving Harry M an extension on reduced terms. Great experience for a squad player to guide Yoro and Heaven.

The initial investment has to be at least 2 midfielders to replace Cas and Ugarte.

23 Jan 2026 11:23:36
Casemiro Maguire and Bruno are 3 of the top 5 of our highest earners still on the books so it makes sense why we would want to move them on this summer.

23 Jan 2026 12:36:27
Think Fernandes will stay on now, will need some experience and leadership with Casemiro leaving now. Would like to see the club look at the RB position although I guess Mazraoui could take the role for the season.

23 Jan 2026 13:27:33
I think your can discount rashford. He has scored in 3 la liga games this season. Don't want or need him back.
Rasmus has scored in 3 seria a games. Pair of bluffers.

23 Jan 2026 13:28:26
I think all 3 will go. Maguire most likely of the 3 to stay i think.

23 Jan 2026 19:30:24
Rashford has scored 8 total and has contributed around 10 assists. Apparently Barcelona would like to keep him but they have financial issues.

Hojlund has 6 in serie A, plus a couple of cup goals.

23 Jan 2026 21:36:18
As i said new name rasmus has scored in 3 league games as has Rashford.
It's not me need but they are not the solution to our problems.

24 Jan 2026 20:56:50
Bruno is in 10 is the best there is. Keep him next 2/3 years for me. Rarely injured. Our best player since Fergie left without a date. Without him where would we be? He’s on big wages for a reason and so be it.

Casemiro gone, HM worth keeping another year. Weird the hate Bruno gets. Who is going to hit the ground running to replace his goals and assists?

22 Jan 2026 17:22:06
Looks like casimero will leave this summer. He will be fondly remembered in a few years time
Always tries his best.
A a free agent he is in full control of his future he deserves that at this stage of a great career.

22 Jan 2026 18:03:09
Fully agreed Ken. I'd expect him to go back to Brazil. That league is really growing again. He always gives his all. A great example to everyone around him, and a massive reason that our culture has improved so much in a short time.

22 Jan 2026 18:11:10
Huge fan of Cas. He’s done a good job for us.

22 Jan 2026 18:24:05
What a player!

22 Jan 2026 19:48:58
Still our best midfielder even now…. model professional and won it all…. Not many have half the career of him, Carragher’s assassination of him was a disgrace.

You don’t win what he as for being average player…. I think possibly MLS beckons.

22 Jan 2026 23:28:35
He is one of those players who will probably only be fully appreciated bmanyy once he has departed. One of the few players who has taken Utd to heart. Scored important goals which we will miss.

23 Jan 2026 00:33:22
He’s proven a lot of people wrong (myself included) this season. Will be missed. Just wish we’d signed him five years earlier.

23 Jan 2026 00:53:18
Nice to get out top earner off the books though, no one can argue that wasn't a dumb transfer. His footballing aside, especially this year when he was basically written off by most, including me. He came back well this year, nothing will ever justify those wages though.

23 Jan 2026 02:23:30
What a player. Shame we got him so late in his career. Underrated passer. Having watched Keane and Scholes growing up I have lot of tolerance for a center mid who's a bit reckless in the tackle. Only real complaint has been that he is slowing down and can't play at his top level for full game. Still better than many when blowing out if his arse though.

Happy his is seeing out his contract and can leave with a proper send off. Well deserved.

23 Jan 2026 05:35:02
You get top earners of your books and replace them with nearly men, yeah great move, in all walks of life you would like to pay less, but of course pay less get 2nd or even 3rd rate people…. If you want the best you have to pay for it, what else is the draw in these times to go to United if your not paying salaries that match or better, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, look at what you end up with
It’s fairytales if you think the best won’t go elsewhere that are paying the salaries required ain’t we seen enough of these 2nd 3rd rate signings, Onana, Ugarte, Dorgu, Rasmus, Sesko, Antony, the list goes on to virtually every signing made in recent time, it’s no coincidence the top earners are the best players
Mbuemo being our only decent signing, I would even question Cunha from being great, no one was banging his door down, like I said he is a good player but not great player and he don’t take you back to the top.
Fact of life you got to pay the money if you want the best…end of.

23 Jan 2026 10:58:43
I think the problem people have with the wages Cas is on is that he isn’t at his best, he can’t play 2 games a week and has no pace. Fortunately he’s made up for that with his positional awareness and effort, but he can be replaced by a much younger model that can run.

Dorgu is 21 years old and already starting to show a lot of quality with a run of games. Sesko is 22 and looks like he has something about him. Writing off signings at such a young age is crazy.

People stopped saying end of at the end of sentences in about 2010, but I think for all our sakes we wish it was. I’m sure it won’t be though.

24 Jan 2026 10:06:32
That's the point Je Suis, he isn't the best, he was great, but not when we signed him. We also paid him 375k pw, that's outrageous for a player discarded by real Madrid.
As I said, he came back this season when others didn't and that was amazing, but if you think his salary alone hasn't been hindering us, then you are blinkered.


It is good to get him gone, and now we can finally get our salary structure in order, Sancho is going, Rashford hopefully.

22 Jan 2026 16:22:28
The disallowed goal against Burnley that was chalked off was apparently not a clear and obvious error by the referee, thus, as annoying as it may be, even if it had been reviewed it most likely would not have been overturned.

22 Jan 2026 15:20:00
The wolves pair of MFs Gomes and Andre are quite good and I think either will be a great addition to our team. I think Gomes has an edge over Andre from the few games I have watched.
Anyone here have more details on them and if they will be suited to our team? Being relegation bound, I won't be surprised if these players move on.

22 Jan 2026 14:10:01
Cole Palmer as Bruno’s long term replacement?

I know it’s just click bait but that would be incredible. Although the biggest concern would be replacing someone who is nearly ever injured with someone quite prone.

That’s the kind of name we should be looking at when the time comes to look for a replacement for Bruno.

22 Jan 2026 14:51:44
Wharton, Mainoo and Palmer would be a decent midfield.

{Ed025's Note - wouldn,t it just Grim..

22 Jan 2026 15:23:15
But is it just click bait 2toms? Any Ed know something?
Maybe its just me but i always believed there is something between Palmer and us, from the day he went to Chelsea. I sawed this transfer as a stepping stone for Palmer to maybe come to us. That said i am not so sure he is what we want, or what we need.

22 Jan 2026 17:04:18
United fan isn’t he Heaven, so would seem possible, but he would’ve very very expensive.

22 Jan 2026 17:05:58
Anyone would take Palmer, but I am not sure he used Chelsea as a stepping stone too us! That’s wishful thinking and United blinkers.

22 Jan 2026 17:15:21
Palmer is under contract until 2033. Even if he wanted a move, United would need to pay a world record fee to get him. Until the club is winning trophies again, and playing in the champions league, transfers like this are beyond us. We can see this year that the club needs to sell before buying, and I don’t think the club will get anything like what was offered for Bruno last summer again.

Obviously he’d be a great signing, but we’re not in position to do things like this.

22 Jan 2026 17:39:28
I think Palmer is too inconsistent to even be considered as someone to lace Bruno boots let alone fill them!
English + Chelsea+long contract means you would pay more for him than any of the other options I mentioned in a previous post.


Paz, musiala, Guler, four are all waaaay better than palmer.
He is PL proven though, but as I said, too inconsistent, but maybe that is due to the Chelsea model of having 5000 players.

22 Jan 2026 18:30:20
Je Suis that's just what i thought . Ofcourse maybe i am wrong . But its not a wishful thinking because i am not so sure i want him with the injuries he has.

22 Jan 2026 19:54:25
He is probably better than anyone mentioned above on his day, but for a young player injured far too much which is a worry at this stage of his career, When Pep ships you out there is a problem, same as when Real Madrid ship you out, you know it’s not long term, it’s not so bad when players at end of career but Palmers age is a concern, if we are dreaming like signing Palmer I would have Foden.

22 Jan 2026 22:01:01
Maybe it is happening after all.

22 Jan 2026 22:07:57
Palmer is a very good player, he and his family are big United fans. Rumours are he wants to come back to Manchester but can’t see the lot in charge ponying up the fee. They were looking at Semenyo but suspect we would need to pay more for Palmer.

Lots of rumours about Wharton doing the rounds today.

23 Jan 2026 05:41:01
Wharton another good player, as he got what it takes to step into a big arena, it’s another big gamble, as looks like our signings will now be, where the percentage rate of them turning into great players is low, it’s one thing looking good at Crystal Palace to doing under the spotlight every week with huge pressure every day
We signed lots of those that are not managing it lately and the huge problem we have is we are so poor they have to come in and get chucked straight in the team, that’s tough if you not got the right mentality.

22 Jan 2026 09:23:27
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 22 - Quick Round Up

22 Jan 2026 15:35:49
Finally, thanks as always Ed001. I said the same thing more or less. I believe we were good but seemed better than we was because City was rubbish and not a Guardiola team. No good press, no intensity, no tactical fouls and not manipulating opponents to create space. Against Bodo they were the same, they are very easy to play against them.

{Ed001's Note - they played like a Pep team, just unfortunately it was a Pep Lijnders rather than Pep Guardiola one. Sorry it was so late. The sites get so crazy at times that I barely get time to do anything than to edit!}

22 Jan 2026 17:17:51
I feel like Pep needs to be sacked for his own health. He looks burnt out. Should have stepped down at the same time Klopp did, there’s only so long that a manager can work under that level of pressure, and Pep is well and truly passed that point.

22 Jan 2026 18:24:14
Thanks Ed.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome mate, I hope it was worth the wait.}

22 Jan 2026 18:32:27
No problem Ed001, we can wait. I wish Lijnders take over from Guardiola!

{Ed001's Note - so do I!}

22 Jan 2026 20:51:29
It was, genuinely not being an arse licker but I find your analysis to be top, better than what you seen on sky etc.

{Ed001's Note - now I am blushing! I look like the card Rodri got this week....}