Man Utd are paying some big money for some average Premier League players; Liverpool have shown you can do it different.
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Man City lost; that was good
Yes, the Club World Cup has mostly been crap and ignorable. But Man City Vs Al-Hilal nwas thrilling wasn’t it? More games like that and this competition will become watchable.
Dan, London
Man Utd transfers have gone all weird
The whole raft of transfer business at United currently is fairly weird. Last summer, and across the year, the focus was bringing in talented youth players who were at the cusp of breaking through, but who needed maybe a year before being thrown in to the first team squad and integrated. Inevitably, some have stepped up (or had to come in) earlier but the approach was solid and sensible. Exciting even!
As a result, we go into this next season with Obi, Yoro, Amass, Heaven and Collyer having got first-team minutes. A few others like Kone, and maybe Moorhouse and even Fletcher, look ready to push too.
But the point was that there was a plan to focus on a multi-year strategy to build things back up. Not trying to sign Mbappe, but sign the next Mbappe.
We finally got to the end of the hilariously bad season and the squad needs were clear: we needed a 10 who could actually link up with the striker, we probably need a new striker (although I stand by that not being vital this summer, we just need to supply them), and we needed someone to play RWB (handily resolved by adding a 10 and moving Amad out to the wing). Equally critically we needed to shift some players: four wingers, a left back who barely plays, a (supposed) right back, a DM who can’t play in the league and a CB who can’t defend.
Now we’ve entered this summer and are instead throwing relatively big sums and certainly big wages on players with one good season behind them, at 25 and 26 years old (and potentially at similar aged strikers), instead of the next generation. And if we DO get both, that leaves us with three LWB (Dorgu, Amass, Leon), three and a half RW/RWB (Amad, Mbeumo, Mazraoui and Dalot), 4 players for the 2 #10 roles (Cunha, Mount, Mainoo, Zirklee), 2 players for the #8 (Bruno, Collyer), 2 more for the #6 (Ugarte and Casemiro).
And that’s before you include many of those “kids who are pushing for first team”, some mentioned above. It’s just too many when we’ll basically have one game a week. So, how do they get playing time? What, Bruno is going to drop out for a game is he so Collyer can get minutes? Mount will probably be injured but if he’s not then how can we possibly give all the 10s enough game time?
Adding more players to the pit isn’t the answer here. The initial plan of investing in youth, bringing them through and clearing out the squad – ideally breaking the manager’s addiction to Portuguese full backs that can’t play the role in the process – is the way to go. Adding two more players “at their peak” who will either own that spot at the cost of game time for the younger ones – and surely only plastic fans will want to see Mbeumo over Amad – or be yet another overpaid albatross we can’t shoo off the boat, is just utterly utterly bonkers.
This was the year to trim things back. Seems like there are no lessons learned at United. Funny thing, though, is that by Christmas we’ll be in the market for some right-footed wingers again (maybe loaning them out is an accidental masterstroke after all).
Badwolf
MAILBOX: Is Bryan Mbeumo ‘worth’ £63m? Well he is to Brentford…
They don’t have to pay London pint pricesAll well and good for Manchester United to accept paying London pint prices for Premier League players, but the beauty of the global transfer market is that a club does not, in fact, have to shop at the expensive table.
Unfortunately immutable laws of physics mean if I’m in Mayfair and want a pint, I can’t get one sent over from Doncaster, so I have to pay Mayfair prices. If I’m signing footballers and don’t want to pay the Premier League premium, I could just purchase from other leagues. Like, say, Antony from the Eredivisie for over £80m, or Rasmus Hojlund from Serie A for £70m, or a thirty year-old Casemiro from La Liga for £60m.
Apropos of nothing, the last ten times Liverpool have had to pay London pint prices they’ve walked away with:
Kerkez for £40m
Mac Allister for £35m
Carvalho for £9m
Jota for £40m
Shaqiri for £13m
van Dijk for £75m
Oxlade-Chamberlain for £35m
Robertson for £8m
Mane for £35m
Wijnaldum for £25m
The more apt analogy would be paying prime marbled Wagyu prices for rotting meat.
Alex, LFC
READ: Ndidi to Man Utd next? 10 recent sub-£10m transfers who turned out to be absolute bargains
Just stop buying duds, Man Utd
I disagree with the Professor Yeboah’s assessment that Man United can stop the cycle of being overcharged for players. The only thing that United have to offer players is money, either through football or sponsorship and the while platforming thing. Any player worth their salt (old word for salary!), when offered a similar position for the same money at City, Arsenal or Liverpool is not choosing United.
Scattergun purchasing young players with no business sense, football sense or PSR comeuppance is Chelsea’s USP.
Selling clubs know United have money, no matter how hard Sir Jim Tax-free tries to gaslight the world and United need the players more than they need the cash in the bank. If United could walk away from Mbeumo, they’d be able to buy him for less. However their manager, football vision and basic ability to earn 3 points is literally unachievable with the players that they have.
Their only way to break this is stop buying duds. How much did the following players cost: VVD, Alison, Rice, Rodri, De Bruyne, Haaland? No one cares how much the successful signings costs. How do you stop buying duds? Data analysis. Long term planning. Individual genius. United have pitched their long term planning on a system that Amorim got to work in Portugal but has been utterly incompetent at deploying in the UK. He will be gone by Christmas. Except knowing United, he will be gone the week after they spend 200m on 352 specific players in January.
Data analysis is becoming a crowded field with opportunities to find differentiation reducing. But even then, if United phoned up who the f*** where FC and asked for their number 6 for their first team, it’s still going to cost them because it’s United.
Possibly a series of feeder clubs like the City Group to hide that the big club is after them. Big Jim Subsidies could extend his stellar record of spoiling sports clubs on a global scale.
TLDR: no good football player is overpriced. United have loads of money so cough up and stop buying duds.
Alex, South London
Offering to fix Man Utd
It is so embarrassing for a big team like Manchester United to be so poor and incompetent in the transfer market.
Two seasons ago l have indicated directly to the club how disappointed I am in the way the are recruiting players. My knowledge is based on watching and following football however l believe l can do better in terms of identifying the right players.
Firstly with the current situation l think United must keep in mind that it will cost them to buy players because other clubs and agents will take advantage of their situation.They have to pay more for just above average players.These are consequences of not playing Champions League football.
Secondly there’s no way Man United will sell players at good prices because of the poor performance of the team therefore it doesn’t easily convince anyone these players are good enough.
For now the club must just bite the bullet and get Mbeumo and quickly get another good striker. Let;s build from there.
They will do well in the coming season and qualify for Champions League and this will further open doors for the club to sell players at respectable prices.
Going forward look for players that are hungry to play for the club and the badge. Not players who just want to come and play Champions League football at whose expense? We need players who say ‘sign me l will carry the team into the Champions League football ‘. We need to earn our respect back and start competing with the likes of Madrid, Barcelona, Munich and PSG.
I’m also offering myself l bet l can work better with the scouts and identify the correct players. How on earth did the club allow Ten hag to sign those two strikers who look like they never kicked football in their life. It’s amazing!!!
Fortune Mncube
PSR leaving Villa in a bind
Villa fan here.
Do I like the financial engineering of last summer and now this? No, I don’t.
Do I think it’s the right thing to do at this current stage. Yes I do.
This deadline of 30th of June was leaving us wide open to players having to be sold at a discount. There has been plenty of articles in mainstream papers and tabloids linking key players with departures at knockdown prices. It has bought us time.
A perfect world would allow us to build on the squad and add class year on year but we have taken our medicine and sold Dougie Luiz (below value at the time), Diaby and Duran for substantial fees over the last 12 months and have continued and will continue to have to trade players.
Additionally, I continually hear our wages to turnover ratio of being in the 90s – that was due to our accounting year being 13 months. It will be around 85% with 2 substantial salaries off the books (Rashford and Asensio) and another potential in the man child goalkeeper. It is coming down.
If no club was allowed to speculate to accumulate, we might as well leave the Sky (and F365) 6 at it year after year.
The Premier League has let this all happen and finger of blame should be pointed directly at them.
Paul
Money talks
Surely Rahul has just reaffirmed that Arsenal have a greater profile than Chelsea. Players only choose Chelsea when they are offered higher salaries to offset the reduced prestige.
Duncan
…”no player has ever chosen Arsenal if there was an interest from Chelsea too.”
Geez, I couldn’t po$$ibly under$tand why? Certainly not for anything other than pure footballing rea$ons, $urely!?
Matt Wright, Gunner in Aus