Manchester United banter 5

10 Jul 2026 19:50:34
So Ederson deal now off. Falling like flies these midfielders. Anderson, Tonali, Fernandez, Tchouameni and Ederson.

10 Jul 2026 20:07:29
But surely you're happy that Ederson isn't signing UA!

10 Jul 2026 20:09:11
Some online are speculating that the Santos deal was done so quickly as they didn't want Chelsea to drive the price up if the negotiations were after the Ederson deal falling through.

Could be a load of BS, but does make some sense.



Wonder who the next name will be? I'd like Bruno G from Newcastle, but he seems destined for Arsenal.

Maybe Wharton or Scott? Or Stiller if they don't want prem experience.

10 Jul 2026 20:18:26
Joao Gomes' move to Atletico has fallen through, apparently.

10 Jul 2026 20:25:43
It's great that no one has a clue. ?

10 Jul 2026 21:12:27
I've decided I'm not going to get worked up over signings or lack of signing anymore. What will be, will be.

10 Jul 2026 21:14:17
Spare a thought for Ederson, to find out:

1. You have an underlying medical issue.
2. This will scupper a move to Man Utd.
3. It will also rule out a significant pay increase (he is a professional and this is his livelihood), which must be quite a blow.

Don't really see this as an opportunity to make rather snide and sarky comment, UA.

10 Jul 2026 22:14:58
Agreed, iwotb. I've seen some contradictory reports about the deal falling through, but if there are serious doubts then that's what the medical team are there for. I'd be disappointed if it does, as I thought he was a really astute bit of business.

10 Jul 2026 23:18:54
I'm disappointed, as I thought he would sit the EPL.
But, if there is doubt over long-term fitness, then you have to walk away.
The optimist in me is hoping we have somebody lined up, but we don't know that.
Tough on the player too, as someone said above.

10 Jul 2026 23:19:13
It's not worth it, Fallguy. That Fabrizio clown throws a 1000 darts at a board and hopes one hits the bullseye.

The click bait approach sucks a lot of people in. Chances are we were never in for half the players mentioned.



Far better to sit back and wait until they have a shirt on their back and it is announced by the club.

Makes for great yearly entertainment though!

11 Jul 2026 11:43:02
My bet is upon signing Santos (who maybe they didn't think they could get). We have pulled out of the Ederson deal as their profiles are similar, but I'm only guessing. Maybe there is a real issue with fitness, and that's a worry long term, which makes it a sensible option to walk away.



I'm sure they have plenty of options available, much like Santos. Maybe we don't find out until we are actually signing him.

As Andy Mitten has said, there are targets we know about and others we don't. I'm really enjoying the cloak and dagger stuff. Refreshing.

10 Jul 2026 09:40:45
Our new attitude towards signings builds on something positive for the future. Maybe it will go some way to reducing the united tax that gets slapped on every purchase. If we no longer pursue just individual targets with a blank cheque then teams will be less reluctant to place absurd price tags on the players we enquire about. The huge mark up on players we have pursued in the past is something I believe we have all moaned about. I guess the same can be said for wages. It gets thrown around that we shouldn't care about the finances, to an extent i agree. but there is also not a bottomless pool of coins to pull from.

Personally I find our dealings positive. Yeah I'd have liked a Rice or an Anderson, they are great players. But I disagree that buying them at the cost of improving say 3 other positions is the way to go. There are too many areas within our squad that are in need of attention.

Cas was a warrior and had a very good head on his shoulders, that knack for scoring when it was needed is irreplaceable. But he was lacking in other areas, Potentially bringing in other players with the pace and energy Cas didn't have will free up other players to play to their strengths and not just cover for his weakness.

What I always find fascinating is how much players sell for after only being bought a couple seasons before, the mark up on the like of Anderson is huge. Yet I bet the same people who say we should have bought him at any cost, wouldn't have touched him 2 years ago.

10 Jul 2026 10:13:07
I wonder, if you go back a couple of years, whether anyone even mentioned Anderson as someone we should buy. Newcastle sold him for £35m. Had we bought him then, what would have been the comments? And then, would he have got the opportunity to establish himself and grow with Casemiro in the team? So much of the success of transfers is timing. Kind of like relationships in general. If only you had met him/her 2 years later when you were in a much better position, or 2 years earlier before you were committed to the wrong person.



We've been buying too many players too early or too late, and getting skinned in the process. The new management team's approach may work out, or it may not, but let's hope we're now on track to start getting the timing and pricing right. If this window's successful, then the club is going to start making good profits again and maybe be in a position next summer to splash out on a true longer term signature signing.

10 Jul 2026 11:32:28
Newname

I have said we need to look at Scott and Kroupi. They seem to me the right direction to go in.

10 Jul 2026 11:44:24
Liverpool revenue $729m, Man Utd $692m.

Liverpool wage bill $428m, Man Utd $313m. With Liverpool's inflated figure maybe $50m by title-winning bonuses, and Utds minimised by lack of league position and Europe.

Casemiro, a top earner, just left the wage structure.

Why are fans still talking about saving wages and increasing profits? We need to build a team that can compete. Can we just focus on getting the right players, and maybe this amazing management team we all seem to be happy to have can manage the finances to accomplish that?

Wages should not now be a problem.

We are back in UCL, and the financial constraints are changing this year, which helps us.

Money should be fine, especially if we just buy the right players and stay successful. Whoever the club decide that is. Bad signings create the problem.

10 Jul 2026 11:46:37
I saw a rumour today that we are looking at Kone, although I would personally prefer Scott.

10 Jul 2026 11:47:27
I guess because we have such high debt and still owe so much in transfer fees.

10 Jul 2026 12:19:52
Dodgy. Liverpool have virtually no bank debt which means very low interest payments and in 2025/6 they will have slightly widened the income gap from your figures. According to Sportrac, the actual payrolls, net of amortization costs, were not wildly different. £176m at Liverpool, £163m at United. Our excessive interest payments are costing us the equivalent of Salah and VVD's wages combined.

Yes, United now have plenty of room from a UEFA FFP point of view, which allows 70% of revenues to be used for squad cost, which is why I don't believe this window is in any way done for us.

We have room to make a couple more significant purchases. So, let's wait until September 1st before making any snap judgments. Even then, we will need to give the new players a chance to settle in and prove themselves before we crucify them, the head coach, and the management team. It's imperative for the club to impose a successful structure first. There's more than a decade of financial and football mismanagement to unravel.

10 Jul 2026 17:05:18
Redman, both are good players. But you need to realise that if they don't do what you think they should, it does not mean they are wrong. We all have our favourites, and players we think will do well, but if we don't sign them, please resist the temptation to post on them regularly. We see so many posts from posters telling us 'I was right about this, that or the other', but very few posts on when we're wrong, and there is much more than those examples.



If a player signs elsewhere and does well, it's not even a solid indication that they would have done well with us.
I know your form, and if we don't sign Krupi and he does well elsewhere, you will remind everyone at every given opportunity. Regardless of whether the player would have wanted to come to us in the 1st place. ??

10 Jul 2026 18:42:19
TW

We pay a lot of money to decision makers in senior positions to get it right. They need to do that, and if we are sat in 2 years saying we messed up, then it needs to cost them their jobs. That simple.

10 Jul 2026 07:39:02
{Ed's Note - WhyAreYouSoGoodBrian has posted a new article entitled, Rangers Fans Embrace a Purposeful Summer

10 Jul 2026 02:45:30
Assuming Ederson and Santos go through, we will have acquired 2 midfielders whose wages combined will probably be about 1/3rd of Casemiro's. Neither of them is likely to be able to replace Cas's scoring ability but it's quite likely that both of them will be able to cover more ground faster from a defensive point of view. We'll have to wait and see whether they can elevate us. Will they end up being shrewd buys or will they turn out to be McFred? (Of course the Mc part of McFred is now someone many regret selling, even though he came in for endless criticism while at United).

I think we'll bring in one more midfielder over the next 7 weeks and we should have plenty room for at least 3 more decent acquisitions.

Plus I expect us to sell Vitek, maybe get a sell on fee from Greenwood, and hopefully get Rashford off the books. Whether we can find a home for Zirkzee remains to be seen.

It's an interesting time to follow United. Clearly the new management team are not into acquiring aging galacticos, players who are only at United for the money, or overpriced speculative long shots. They did a good job last summer so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. In the end football is a team game where success relies on the team being greater than the sum of its parts. b.

10 Jul 2026 09:47:57
Both Ederson and Santos look like they could be shrewd buys, giving us squad depth with good upside. Both have been well scouted by the club/Vivell over the past couple of years, so these are not knee-jerk, reactionary buys, which should give us positivity that they can be successful.

At some point early, the so-called ITK's suggested we would be looking at bringing in 3 midfielders, a £30m/£50m and £80m.... Whether this is true, or will bear out, we have to a degree hit the first 2 prices.

So if we get the £80m by the end we would have massively improved this part of the team.

As you say, outgoings will be key. Rashford, hopefully, will bring a good value in, Greenwood, with the sell on, and Vitek (if we sell, please add buy back/future sell on %), should bring in £10m.

We are doing things differently. To a degree, this is all happening behind the scenes until deals are closed. This is what we have been calling out for, so have to let it play out now.

10 Jul 2026 16:05:26
Ederson is not signed yet. It seems delays from medical are impacting.

09 Jul 2026 22:59:56
It's over. We're getting relegated next season.

09 Jul 2026 20:24:39
The wide-ranging disappointment around Andrey Santos signing stems from the fact it follows Ederson. Those two simply must be 3rd and 4th choice. But if either has been bought to be 1st choice alongside Mainoo, we're in trouble. Rice and Guimaraes. Anderson and Rodri. Caicedo and Enzo. Gravenberch and Szobozslai. Kamara and Tielemans.

Tonali and Fernandes. All levels above. I'm even taking Kamada and Wharton and Scott and Adams as potentially stronger midfield pairings than anything we can field with two of Mainoo, Ederson and Santos. What a bizarre (and pretty embarrassing) window so far for us. It needed one of Tchouameni, Guimaraes, Tonali or Fernandes in the door.

{Ed001's Note - Kamada is a free agent. And I would very much disagree with your assessment of Santos.}

09 Jul 2026 20:55:36
Why must they be 3rd and 4th choice, Downsie? The negativity around these two is incredible.

Why is Fernandes levels above? Because he's gotten relegated two years running.

09 Jul 2026 21:18:30
Where did Newcastle finish last year, or Chelsea, or Palace, or Bournemouth, or Liverpool, or Villa? I'll wait.

09 Jul 2026 21:33:22
Fernandes is not as good as either of them, imo. But we'll have to wait and see who plays where, and how they play individually and collectively.
I know it's hard to believe, but over the last 16 games, we outscored all of the above except for City; we got more points than them all.


Lots of new coaches all over the league, and big changes all over the place. It will be very competitive.

09 Jul 2026 22:50:38
Angelred, Fernandes is levels above both because Tottenham spent £85M on him. That's really the only reasoning I have seen from all the posters criticising this whole transfer situation. No creditable footballing reasoning, just he cost more.

10 Jul 2026 00:15:42
Sounds like Santos was 1st choice. Apparently, talks have been ongoing since February with his camp and Chelsea.

10 Jul 2026 00:17:00
Thoughts on santos Ed? Highly appreciated.

{Ed001's Note - I like him so much that last summer I was calling for Liverpool to sign him. He is a very good midfielder, absolutely outstanding in Ligue 1 that season. It took him a while to establish himself at Chelsea, but he still showed some excellent signs. I think he is a very good signing for now, with the potential to be an outstanding signing in the future.}

10 Jul 2026 05:51:21
Danny, Santos may have been. The truth is, none of us here have a clue about who was 1st choice, who wasn't, etc.

But what we are seeing is that, regardless of where these players are/were in the pecking order, it's clear the club have identified targets and have moved on them, even when missing out on others.

That speaks volumes to me. They know who they are going after and why, rather than missing out on a target, not knowing who to sign next, and then overpaying for the wrong player, which was our modus operandi for years.



We don't know how well these players are going to perform, but it's clear that they have been identified as players who are upgrades and that will help our situation.

I hark back to last year's window and how well they did then. They clearly know what they are doing. 5/5 signings is no fluke.

In fact, I can't remember a time when we made so many successful signings in one window.

10 Jul 2026 12:59:24
Downsie, you are welcome to follow any of those other clubs with the players you mentioned, wouldn't want you being brought down by our poor signings.

09 Jul 2026 18:53:43
July 9th

Ederson
Santos
Darlow

All look like being wrapped up quickly. People still underwhelmed and disappointed or are we finally seeing a competent recruitment team moving through their targets.

I am really enjoying it and I think there are going to be 5/6 new faces this window. Faces that are going to make a much greater difference in squad depth and quality.

I understand that people are annoyed but this is not the Ed Woodward era everyone. This is a very different United set up.

09 Jul 2026 19:41:27
Think Darlow is a very clever bit of business. Decent keeper and excellent backup. Bayindir and Onana being gone can only be a good thing. Both disasters!

09 Jul 2026 19:20:48
It's great business. Hopefully we can get in another CM, at least one fullback and a striker. A lot of work was needed last summer and this, and we're on track to have a massively improved squad by the start of next season.

When I compare to where we were at the end of ETHs reign and how long I thought it would take to undo the years of damage from Ed Woodward, I'm thrilled with it

09 Jul 2026 20:13:14
I am sure Jose Mourinho is s***ting his pants at the prospect of having to face Manchester United under the lights at the Bernabeu in the Champions League, and seeing the midfield two of Mainoo and Santos/Ederson. My God, that is so terrifying to face for the likes of Bellingham, Tchouameni and Valverde. Why go that far? Even Maresca, with Rodri and Anderson, or Arteta, with Rice, Odegaard and possible Bruno G, are all fuming that United are now recruiting based on data. They are now buying players with potential rather than proven pedigree.

Someone gave a list of our costly signings who failed.

How about the ones that succeeded? Van Persie, Berbatov, Bruno, Rio. Yes, not all will succeed, very similar to "potential" players, but that shouldn't mean that you don't buy those at all. Is there a list of players we bought who had potential and did not succeed?

I am sure nobody is actually discounting our new signings as bad players. They may turn out to be good in a few years' time, or they may not, but it's certainly underwhelming. It's like the parents promised that we are in the market for a Porsche but are only shopping in the market for rickshaws.

09 Jul 2026 20:57:55
DonRed, it's like night and day, isn't it?

09 Jul 2026 20:57:23
"I am sure nobody is actually discounting our new signings as bad players. They may turn out to be good in a few years' time, or they may not, but it's certainly underwhelming." You literally are discounting them ?

UA one thing is for sure, you have absolutely no clue about the player signed or who is or isn't s******g their pants.

09 Jul 2026 23:34:01
I'm optimistic so far. 2 good midfielders at sensible prices, one a very promising young player, and a decent backup keeper on a free.

I'm hoping that means there's enough money left in the bank that we can afford to spend a bit bigger on one or two of the remaining signings.

Whether that's a really strong lb, or maybe go big on a cheeky bid for Bouaddi, or something else entirely.

I'm not 100% convinced yet, but it's a good start and I'm cautiously optimistic. After last summer, the team handling transfers have earned some trust imo.

10 Jul 2026 01:02:20
I'm sure Liverpool fans were disappointed when they signed 5th choice Salah and Chelsea fans disappointed when they signed barely featured Palmer for £45m and yet look how that turned out.

10 Jul 2026 05:52:08
Fuser, good points.

Shock horror that clubs know more than the average fan about football players.

10 Jul 2026 11:21:57
Angel, you mean shock horror we all know less than Ken!

10 Jul 2026 10:14:55
No experts on here angel glad to see your recognising that fact now.
No subject matter experts just opinion based on zero expertise. All useless and irrelevant. Great to share opinions but why people feel they know more than the real experts baffles me.

10 Jul 2026 14:46:10
Ken, I've been on here for years, if you read my posts and you're only realising that I've always said how there are no experts here and we are all just full of opinions, then I don't know what to say. ?

The problem I have is some on here think that they know a lot more than others, and that when they are challenged, they seem to think that it's alright to get into name calling and refuse to see that they are on a massive high horse.

? ? No names, lol.

10 Jul 2026 20:53:07
UA difference with the players you mention is that they were coming into an already decent team, where we only needed 1 or 2 players each summer.

09 Jul 2026 12:25:48
You lot have pulled our pants down with the Santos transfer. Had we not been a shambles last year, he would’ve been in the Brazil squad. He was never given a consistent run of games and I believe you’ll have your Casemiro replacement sorted.

50m is an absolute steal in the current market. I’d bet he has more of an impact than Fernandes at Spurs, who were fleeced by West Ham for 85m. I guess we owed you one after Mason.

09 Jul 2026 13:17:55
To be fair, Melbourne, you paid us back by taking Garnacho off our hands. I'm personally not convinced by Santos, but every Chelsea fan is saying the same as you, so one can hope.

09 Jul 2026 13:31:58
Unsurprisingly I had completely forgotten about Garnacho! Look forward to Mainoo joining next year, and we can call it all square. ?

09 Jul 2026 14:11:27
Loving these posts. It's nice to see some cross site banter as well.

09 Jul 2026 21:07:35
It's nice to see a Melbourne City-only supporter on this site. ?

09 Jul 2026 21:26:56
That didn't come out right. ?? What I meant was it's nice to see Melbourne City's only supporter on this site.

09 Jul 2026 22:06:29
My godfather was actually one of the initial investors/owners of Melbourne Victory, Keefy. I only got to a game once, and can't say I set too many alarms for the A League, though.

09 Jul 2026 22:53:41
Was a Heart fan until City bought in. A League is in turmoil, mate.

09 Jul 2026 11:07:16
Jesus, whatever complaints we have as United fans, what must Newcastle fans be thinking? Gordon, Tonali and now Guimaraes all being sold. Wow.

09 Jul 2026 12:43:00
You really don't read the posts do you? ?‍♂️

09 Jul 2026 12:49:58
I was waiting for that. ???

09 Jul 2026 12:26:37
they'veclearly learnt their lesson from last summers window too well!

Instead of pretending to be a big club that holds onto their players and dragging things out like they did with Isak, they seem to have accepted their place and let all their star players go easily (Gordon, Tonali and Bruno G).

Cant help but think the Saudi regime have got bored or given up with this "project".

Goes to show that these middle eastern/oligarchic football ownerships are not all slam dunks considering how many wanted Qatar to take over from the Glazers instead of Sir Jim.

09 Jul 2026 15:24:12
Newcastle will make a ton of profit from these sales. They also made a profit in 2024/5, but only through the gimmick of selling stadium leasehold improvements to a sister company. Their revenues were 1/2 of United's. They simply cannot afford to compete with the Big 6.

As far as the Saudis are concerned, they paid £300m for the club, and it's now apparently worth £1bn, so I'm not crying for them.



Meanwhile MUFC will probably make some profit in the 2025/6 year just ended, and more next year when revenues should rise closer to £800m. If we're going to reduce the debt, we have to make profits. We are being dragged back by interest payments, which are the equivalent of a £120m player on £400k a week.

I'm expecting us to sign another midfielder.

09 Jul 2026 16:46:26
My cousins are Newcastle fans, and they are completely split on whether this is disastrous or the opportunity to re-set from last season.

They will have a lot of profit from these sales, even more so if Hall leaves as well. There is still plenty of time in the window, and I am sure they will be looking at players on the continent as well as the Premier League for players who will see them as a good step up.



I like Howe and think they will be okay next year. They will struggle to get into Europe, but I would expect them to be competitive at that next level.

09 Jul 2026 10:45:22
New Madrid deal for Tchoumeni… What a shock!

09 Jul 2026 18:37:04
No one in their prime leaves Madrid for United... Why would they?