12 Nov 2018 14:00:33
I don't get this current idea that Jose should be allowed to keep signing experienced players without question or second thought.

When the club signs a player they sign them on a 4-5 year contract. Jose only has a contract until 2020. So any signings we make will likely be here longer than him. So the club needs to be sure that the players they sign will be of value beyond Jose's time at the club.

Of course Jose only cares about himself and therefore, that the players are of use to him. He doesn't help progress or develop young players as they will reach a point where they will be at their best after Jose has gone.

I'll use a an example. In Jose's second summer the club was looking for a new defensive midfielder. If you believe the press it came down to two names, Nemanja Matic and Eric Dier.

Now when we signed Matic many proclaimed him to be the better player. During his first season many thought we had signed the better of the two.

However, who would still say the same now? What about next season or the season after that?

Do you feel the club will be able to move Matic on in the next year or two or will the club be stuck with a player past his best on high wages. That player and his high wages may in fact limit the club on bringing in other players.

As was alluded to during the summer, when it was suggested the club needed to move players on to free up wages and space in the squad before they could seriously invest.

So would Dier or Matic have been the better signing in hindsight?

That is all the club is doing when putting the blocks on signing players for the here and now and not ones with a future.

Also saying the manager who has spent the second highest amount in the history of world football at one club has been denied money is rather disingenuous.


1.) 12 Nov 2018
12 Nov 2018 15:19:25
That is a very good argument for having a director of football, to make sure that transfers are in accordance with a longer term philosophy. Right now that role presumably falls to Ed Woodward whose record thus far - over the course of 3 managers - is hardly stellar.

The real questions one has to ask is why are we finding it so difficult to locate and appoint someone, and is there any link between that failure and the inferior quality of so many of our signings for a period that goes back into the later Ferguson years?


2.) 12 Nov 2018
12 Nov 2018 17:49:51
The fact that we didn't sign alderweireld or Willian tells me that day is over.


3.) 13 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 03:59:18
Does Woodward get any credit for not sanctioning the sales of martial or Shaw because they have long term potential.


4.) 13 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 06:13:05
Counter argument Shappy. Robin van Persie.


5.) 13 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 10:33:54
Shan for every RVP we have a matic, and given mourinho's signing success we aren't going to see an RVP sort of a signing from him.


6.) 13 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 11:24:20
Shan, their are always anomalies. I'll give you two lists of players, you can decide which you would prefer.

RvP, VDS, Zlatan, Matic, Sanchez, Mkhitaryan, Blanc and Larson.

Or

Ronaldo, Rooney, Shaw, Martial, Nani, Ferdinand, Evra and Anderson.

Hits and misses in both lists, yet most would prefer we signed the second list. Younger players who we can build up, rather than older players who have a limited number of years service left at the highest level.


7.) 13 Nov 2018
13 Nov 2018 12:56:42
I agree Shappy, I would prefer the second list. But that is totally down to the person at the helm isn’t it? I would go for the second list but then I would also ensure that I have the right person who shares the same mentality. When we got Jose, we all knew what we were getting into. HE should have never been here if we wanted to go down the old United way. But when he was signed, we should simply do what he wanted and make sure that we got it right next time. My point is, if Jose was not to be backed in the summer, he should have been let go and someone else given the charge. We can argue that the two old signings in RvP and Zlatan have been success at the club, Premier League and Europa.

You can also argue, that for a Ronaldo and a Rooney, we had old heads in Keane, Scholes and Giggs who could channelize the youth in the right direction.