Lol@the new Haaland after a good performance against a shit Roma B team on an artificial pitch.
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I don't realistically expect much to get done in any January window, but unless we replace some of the wasters that can't be relied upon, then the second half of the season is gonna be brutal in terms of overworking the players and presumably accumulating injuries.
Metz are 18th atm.... Can we pay them a sweetener and bring Sarr in now? .......That'd be a start.
Out - Jan:
Doherty
Dele
Winks
+Berg & Gio if they can help fund incoming players.
Desperately need some HG players if we're gonna ship Del & Winks out though.
Out - Summer:
Clarke
Davies and/or Sessengon
Giollini (renew Hugo's deal and get HG #2)
+ Whomever is still here from the above list.
+ Reluctantly Lucas (based on age/resale value)
+ at least one of Dier/Sanchez/Rodon.
Metz are 18th atm.... Can we pay them a sweetener and bring Sarr in now? .......That'd be a start.
Out - Jan:
Doherty
Dele
Winks
+Berg & Gio if they can help fund incoming players.
Desperately need some HG players if we're gonna ship Del & Winks out though.
Out - Summer:
Clarke
Davies and/or Sessengon
Giollini (renew Hugo's deal and get HG #2)
+ Whomever is still here from the above list.
+ Reluctantly Lucas (based on age/resale value)
+ at least one of Dier/Sanchez/Rodon.
Gone are the days where you can just rinse the smaller clubs of their HG starlets without a fight or a much inflated fee...... It's a problem for sure.
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We should be looking at the championship. So many top PL / Eng players have come via that route albeit via a few loans.
What’s happened to Alfie Devine? Looked a far better player than Winks…. As a club, we should publish a strategy that mandates the inclusion of say x U23’s and perhaps y HG in every PL squad and use it as a lever to attract talent. Have 15 stars and then the rest of the bench is supplemented. Give them games in the Thursday farce and simply don’t allow the squad to be strangled by first team rejects like Winks, Docherty, Sanchez. Force them out on the basis they won’t be involved due to aforementioned Youth strategy.
Sure... Some here have a real issue with that, but I certainly don't.
Even then, with players like Eze, Eduard (not English but similar issue) or whoever is that players of that level of potential want to be ensured of a starting role when they make that leap up a league and can get it at a club like Palace and then use them as a potential stepping stone to a big deal with United, Chavs or City.
Sessengon was the right move but for the wrong player... I hope that won't deter us....
Elsewhere look at the rumoured pricetag attached to Aarons.... 30-40m crazy money for a player that's already struggled in the EPL (also see Sessengon for just shy of 30m and my original point about cost).
We've also seen us buy Clarke & Rodon (the latter who'm I think we ought to have got more out of so far).... It's not an exact science; but I hope it's not outside the realms of Parratici's playbook as we move forward.
He's only just turned 17...... Sure he can have the odd run in the ECL, but he's doing fine playing at the level he is and right now and (as per the HG issue) he's still too young to apply to the HG-quota anyway.
If we're gonna proceed on the basis that the ECL is the norm for us or that the EL is something we have no intention of winning then yeh we could operate on that basis (plus the moment we have the fortune to break into the CL once again that all goes out of the window for the best part).... If not, then I'd still concur to us having some form of strategy that allows us to progress youth players, but this still does not help our HG quota until they hit 19/20 y/o.
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I partially get why you'd say that, but are we really gonna pay him 130kpw and Utd 30m for him to ride our bench? He's 28 too, which means we'd pretty much be stuck with him until his deal expired cos no lesser team would take him in on those terms either in a couple of years (no such team wanted to take him on those terms now - hense he's still at Utd - let alone when he's past 30!).
EDIT: That said he's out of contract in the summer so the fee isn't so much a factor now. However Ole wants him to sign a new deal.
First XI:
Hugo
Emerson / Romero / Dier / Reg
Skipp / PEH
Ndombele
Lucas / Kane / Son
.........Who you dropping for him?
Lingard is a better player than Lucas. He got 9 goals last season which is more than twice as many as Lucas got in the last two seasons combined, and he gets about as many assists too. And he only even started playing in January. He's also still very good off the ball, hard working, English etc .. easily worth a squad place more than Lucas is.
But would that upgrade be worth 30 mill? Probably not, but if he was available for cheap we should be all over it. Lingard is a tidy little player and a good squad option.
Whoever isn't performing to the necessary standard! Ndombele has a dip, Lucas moves into the middle. Lucas form dips, Lingard on the right. Kane has a sulk, Son goes into the middle. Genuine options to rotate ... plus decent players available in midweek games.
.......But how many of those goals and assists came from out wide?
One assist & no goals from out wide at WH last season.
5 goals all comps in 38 games out wide since 18/19 season for United.
Pretty sure Lucas trumps the above numbers... And works hard... And gets paid less.... And cost less to buy.
Based on the above it's only his HG status that represents an 'upgrade'.
Which comes back to my original point...... 130kpw + fee for a bench option to we'll probably want to bin off in another year or two (and would likely struggle to)?
He's an expensive proposition in those terms.
So yeh, essentially as I said, a bench rider for the best part.
Let's carry on with our wafer thin squad then ... this attitude is exactly why we will always be second best.
Airfixx
How many games did he actually play out wide for West Ham last season? Seems unfair to list his productivity from that role if the vast, vast majority of his games came centrally. If we played Lucas as a 10 do you think he'd score 9 in the league in 16 matches?He's been poor for United, but misused. On recent form when both get regular games, Lingard gets significantly better numbers. I'm not gonna judge Lingard on other seasons where he's barely got off the bench. To my mind there's a reason Lingard gets England call ups and Lucas doesn't get a sniff, and currently we have better wide options than Brazil have.
But yeah again .. it would depend on whether he'd want 130k p/w and the fee. I do think he'd get starts for us to be perfectly honest, right now I'd have him in the lineup ahead of Lucas. My preference would be to sign a major upgrade in that position though, rather than another slight one.
Or just seek a better solution.
Look at it this way.....
If I gave you 20m and 130kpw and said I need a player for the next 3 years (or more); preferably one that addresses a specific position and or is HG you think we shouldn't be able to come up with a better solution?
No it isn't.... This is an internet forum; we have the capacity to discuss such things without them having any impact on our current fortunes.
We need quality in so many positions, it’s scary. We need two technical midfielders, a striker and another attacking player. That‘s if we want to be sure of a place in the top 6. To reach top 4 level we‘ll need another CB as well.
As always we’ve left ourselves too much to do. We are probably not going to sign anyone in January.
As always we’ve left ourselves too much to do. We are probably not going to sign anyone in January.
What is the better solution then?
For that money you could (A) take a punt on a player from an overseas league or (B) get a proven premier league player in his prime only available at that price because of his contract situation.
I am for option B.
I'm analysing him based on his time in the position you proposed he played for us......?
This is entirely logical.
Has he?
Injury plus personal issues saw him marginalised for a long spell.
Personally, I've not said he's been good or bad for United.... FWIW Jose used to get a decent tune out of him before JLs struggles took hold.
Again... I've judged him based on the games he's played a certain position vs a player that plays the same role for us; not how many games he hasn't played for United.
These are all criteria put brought to the fore by your original comments.... i.e. position and/or his time at WH.
His hot spell for WH last year..... Having previously lost his place in the squad having been in the wilderness for the above (understandable) reasons. Prior to this he was understudying to Dele.
You'd have to remind me who plays RW for Brazil (I've paid virtually no attention to them since the last WC).... Neymar's not a bad option for LW though.
Presumably he will; otherwise - as portrayed by the reports at in the summer - he'd be a WH player right now.
So would mine.... Lingard isn't that though; it's easily argued he's not an upgrade on Lucas at RW at all (see data already provided).
Depends what box we're trying to tick....
Let's not forget either; 130kpw x 3 years is 20m..... By spending less on wages you have more to spend on trf fee.
- If it's a matter of HG then a young developing player makes more sense.
- If it's just to improve the squad then lets pinpoint what position and work from there.
Either way..... If you'd have given me a choice of Lingard or Ings in the summer It'd have been Ings; hands down.