I'm very happy with the way we have got our intended targets in swiftly, Jose identified the players he wanted and we have gone out and gotten them without any fuss. Reminds me of Jose's title winning season wherein he signed Fabregas, Costa & Luis Filipe very early doors and integrated them into the squad for the whole of pre-season.
I'm a big believer in not making too many changes, and Jose wanting 4 new players is ideal for us in my opinion. Too many ins and outs does more harm than good as a lot of football is psychological, and constant changes in the dressing room must have a negative impact as it would create a sense of instability.
Our signings looked spot on last summer, Darmian came on the back of a few solid seasons at Torino for a bargain 12.7 million, Depay had a barnstorming season at PSV and was arguably Europe's hottest young property, Schneiderlin had been a consistent performer for numerous seasons and deserved a big move, Schweinsteiger was on the way down but was cheap and would add experience and leadership and was worth the gamble, and lastly, the one who created the biggest doubt among our fanbase upon signing was Martial and we all know how that turned out.
This season, we have acquired a top playmaker and frequent goalscorer in Mkhitaryan, likely to fill the right wing slot but also capable of playing #10 or from the left. For a paltry 26.3m it was a no brainer and should add a different dimension to our attack. Zlatan on a free could be electric if he replicates his scoring feats at PSG, albeit in a weaker league, but he is still in tip top shape, has an ego that could help us gain the psychological edge, and is a top pro who could guide and nurture our young forwards in Rashford and Martial. I don't think he will be as prolific as he has been, I see him hitting around 15 goals but having a big impact in our overall play, and not being a hinderance to the development of Rashford who should still get plenty of game time next season. Bailly is a relative unknown as he is still very early in his career, but Jose seems to have a knack for creating a solid defence and this reassures me he can develop him into a fine centre half.
So all in all, so far so good in terms of incomings, and soon we should start to see a few players leave who won't feature in Jose's plans. My money is on Rojo (not good enough if we want to be challenging for the title), Schweinsteiger (provided he can be persuaded to leave as he will be on a high wage here) & Januzaj on a loan to Sunderland. I think he will keep most of the squad together and will give Mata a chance as a backup #10 to Rooney. Mata seems a key player in the dressing room and very popular with the players, I think Jose recognises this and if Mata is happy in this role, whilst still getting a fair few games, then I'd have no qualms keeping him.
Now, onto the elusive fourth signing Jose wants, which on the evidence of the Pogba signing would indicate he is after a top centre mid. There's been the whole argument of '100m for him is too much, lets use it to buy 3/4 players' which I strongly disagree with. We have plenty of 'good' players but very few standout ones, whatever you want to say about Pogba, he would easily be one of our best players if we did sign him. People speak about him if he is merely potential, he has played a massive part in securing Juve league titles, he is a lot more decorated than a lot of our current players and he is only 23. He is already a top top player with the scope to improve even further.
We have only spent 56.3 m on the 3 players so far, for me, we must pay what Juve and his agent want as Pogba is a real exciting talent who will improve our midfield drastically. If we only add him to what we have, our total spend on the four players will be below 200 million, and we will have four players who should contribute massively. No signings are guarantees, last seasons looked exciting on paper, but under Jose I feel he will get much more out of our players, and it is why I want to see him work with the players we've got who weren't playing to their potential under Van Gaal.
The likes of Schneiderlin, Herrera, Depay, Darmian are good players and should not be binned, giving players 1/2 seasons then writing them off and signing the next big flavour of the month is not a sustainable model. Adding real quality to what we already have is essential, Zlatan has the X factor and so does Pogba. Those two are better than what we have and are the types of signing we should be aiming for.
Our summer business so far...
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 24 seconds ago
"I'm very happy with the way we have got our intended targets in swiftly, "
Hmmmm..
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We've hardly sat on our bottoms doing nothing have we.
Someone like Pogba was always going to be a saga. Juve have no desire to sell and are rich themselves, I'm fairly relaxed about the situation.
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Kilburn Towers (U13341)
posted 11 minutes ago
If we've got £100m to spend, I'd rather we used it to buy:
- Another right back. Neither Darmian nor Valencia are top notch.
- Another Centreback - Jones is always crocked, Rojo is Rojo and we can't be sure Bailly is going to hit the ground running. That leaves us still with just Mike as a strong CB.
- A midfielder who can replace Carrick though I think a combo of Schnederlin and TFM might end up being the answer.
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Agreed - the 100-120m could certainly be used better than splashing it on one player.
posted on 27/7/16
Jose obviously doesn't wanna flood the side with too many new players.
posted on 27/7/16
Very good article
Agreed with everything up until the Pogba comments.
Although I'd rather not see us spend £100m+ on three or four players, I would rather we spent less than £100m on one or two top, top players, some of whom are, in my humble opinion, better and safer players to spend the money on (see my article below to save me regurgitating it all on here).
We could better strengthen the midfield with a cheaper Kroos or with Matuidi and Verratti, for example.
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Marlo Stanfield. (U7553)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 24 seconds ago
"I'm very happy with the way we have got our intended targets in swiftly, "
Hmmmm..
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We've hardly sat on our bottoms doing nothing have we.
Someone like Pogba was always going to be a saga. Juve have no desire to sell and are rich themselves, I'm fairly relaxed about the situation.
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Well I agree with that. Problem is, there's not really any other players who play Pogba's role at all, never mind in his age bracket or level of ability
posted on 27/7/16
Rather buy another CB, like St Juste, comfortable on the ball to compliment Smalling. Jones is a liability.
And then a CM to replace Carrick. Parejo is the best available option, IMO.
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Kilburn Towers (U13341)
posted 41 minutes ago
If we've got £100m to spend, I'd rather we used it to buy:
- Another right back. Neither Darmian nor Valencia are top notch.
- Another Centreback - Jones is always crocked, Rojo is Rojo and we can't be sure Bailly is going to hit the ground running. That leaves us still with just Mike as a strong CB.
- A midfielder who can replace Carrick though I think a combo of Schnederlin and TFM might end up being the answer.
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Blind is a strong CB. He had an excellent season last season.
A quartet of Smalling, Bailly, Blind and one more ball-playing centreback (which could have been Jones if he wasn't a permacrock) would be an excellent group to select from.
posted on 27/7/16
Blind and Smalling were good last year but lets not forget that they were put in a system that gave them less troubles individually than they might have had ,say,they played for a more inspiring,attacking team.
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Genius_AppleCart_Space_Dude_Featuring_Zorak (U19099)
posted 4 minutes ago
Blind and Smalling were good last year but lets not forget that they were put in a system that gave them less troubles individually than they might have had ,say,they played for a more inspiring,attacking team.
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There's an argument that says by virtue of the way we played the last two seasons, Blind might become an even more valuable player at CB under Jose: we may see less of an aerial threat, and greater value in a player who reads the game well and is better in recovery mode with the ball on the floor.
posted on 27/7/16
comment by Kilburn Towers (U13341)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
If we've got £100m to spend, I'd rather we used it to buy:
- Another right back. Neither Darmian nor Valencia are top notch.
- Another Centreback - Jones is always crocked, Rojo is Rojo and we can't be sure Bailly is going to hit the ground running. That leaves us still with just Mike as a strong CB.
- A midfielder who can replace Carrick though I think a combo of Schnederlin and TFM might end up being the answer.
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We don't have £100m to spend - we have a lot more than that.
Also, if we are talking about "replacing" players then that is the "supplementary" transfer market which will involve selling players to fund or part fund replacements.
Jose has made it clear that his four primary signings are not related to the supplementary market of replacing players who leave the club.
I.e. he made it clear that nobody has to leave to fund his main four. And he made it equally clear that there may even be more signings after the main four, depending on who leaves.