29 Jun 2026 10:36:29
The most recent reports are all saying the same things, the club won't over pay for players and will not pay big wages, this is to be admired in one sense, they are trying to stable the finances etc. However the market dictates the prices and with City paying £120 for Anderdon, I can't see the others mentioned going for less than £80.

Baleba, Warton, Scott etc will all be over priced now, but wages might be lower. Can see us eventually buying Baleba and maybe Scott. Would love the lad from Madrid or Dotmund but can't see the club paying the money, hopefully I'm wrong.

1.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 12:54:56
They need to do something, with Cas gone and Ugarte out for a year, our midfield consists of Mainoo, with Ederson to probably arrive at some point.

2.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 12:49:39
The.market dictates in one way which is the supply and demand, but the reality is that so does budget and transfer policy.

We thought the plus £100m was disgusting for the best player at the positjon we wanted so its extremely doubtful we or anyone else for thst matter is going to o eroay just be ause of one deal. Especially when there are now only 2 clubs, us and Tottenham actively looking for a midfielder of that level.Arsenal don't need them unless they sell zubimendi or Odegaard and they mde clear their target is Guimares, which isn't happening ny time soon. So you have 4 players, Tonali, Fernandes, Scott and Baleba. That's just the prem. Then add in Nemchq (never happening dortmund typically delulu in their valuations and no chance of anyone going near that price, and RM, with Tchoumaeni being hands down the most likely united purchase of he's 70 or 80m€.

These teams aren't in ny where hear a strong a position as the hype nd tabloids suggest. There not enough buyers to drive the demand and whoever has the greatest need to sell will cave to the buyers pricing or they will keep their inflated asset. Patience is required nd is clearly the plan here. If there was any desire intention or acceptance to pay these stupid prices the deal would already be done. So its crystal clear thst none of the buying clubs intend to do anything like the deals they're being alleged to be happy to do. Tottenham for example.ple went for tonali over fernandes and despite the hype whipped up by Jorge mended and West ham, clearly they want him as 1st prize, going back even with the same £60m guaranteed and £15m in addition ons. Let thay settle in mind. If that's how they value a proven player, how likely do you think k it is they're then going to be paying more than that for their at best se and choice if even al tall the leve of interest claimed. From some more reliable sources is the word thst its west ham briefing on this alleged interest with the player following orders of pretending to be committed equally to a spurs deal if he wants his dream move to united. Its all total BS. Ignore the drivel and the fake news and just wait it out. We will pay what we will.pay, we already proven in last windows we walk away if overpriced as we did with semenyo and we will maintain that approach. We aren't ready to pay a king rnsome for one player we have over half a squad to purchase so we need to be mindful or quality and of quantity. Better to get 5 players for 250m than 2 and still fall short as team overall.

3.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 13:15:39
I am having one of those Mondays where reading this gave me a headache for some reason :( Sorry C.O., more me than u.

4.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 13:44:24
It is not math, Captain Obvious. 5 average players do not equal 2 great ones. Look at Man Utd's behaviour in the market during our most successful period. Breaking transfer records, high wages. You have to pay to get the best. They stated they want to win the league in the next 2 years. Not looking very likely, even with one of the weakest leagues in recent memory.



We finished strong last season. But our squad is worse than threadbare, it is totally inadequate. We have one senior center midfielder right now for the start of the season. Long way to go, but right now Project 2028 is looking like Project 2035.

5.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 14:44:38
Sorry, mbd. My bad, didn't have autocorrect on and it looked like I had a stroke whilst typing.

Dodgy, I see your point, but in respect of positions needing refreshing, budget (which, sorry, it's the math element, like it or not, due to FFP) and also it's really not about buying the best as you say. That came way later once we started to dominate, and despite that we had the Class of 92. You're rewriting history. United had the 5th lowest spend in 92-93 when we finally cracked the prem. Even Sheffield Weds outspent us.

Same the year before, we were 5th, and the year before 4th, nowhere near buying the best every year. Your whole back line and Schmeichel were tactical buys at pittance monies. We were losing out to Liverpool, Arsenal, Blackburn, and even Tottenham, who were all smashing record sums for the 3 years before. So your view that that's how we got back to the top table is incorrect. I remember those times, and we absolutely were not competing at the top table for spending back then at all.

6.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 15:06:11
If the club really wants to compete for the top prizes they're going to have to spend £250 -£300m this summer. That would add about £100-£120m in squad cost per year. Just by losing Cas and Sancho we've eliminated nearly half of that. The club should generate a profit in the coming year. Add to that amortization, which is a non-cash expense, and they should be comfortably able to pay back about £200m in transfer debt without negatively affecting the cash position. Any player sales will also improve cash.

By refinancing the debt, they've left themselves even more room to spend, and if they're really serious about winning things, they absolutely need to do so.

Quite rightly, they shouldn't overpay, but with the recent transfers of Wirtz, Anderson, Isak etc. and the increase in revenues enjoyed by the major teams, the bar is where it is for the right players. The World Cup is clearly going to slow things down, but I'll be very disappointed if the club tries to cheapskate its way through the summer and fails to acquire any of the players we clearly need. With PSR gone, they clearly have both the legal and financial room to move. The downside risk of not regularly making it into Europe is too great.

7.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 15:07:03
No such thing as FFP. That's all changed from now on.

8.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 15:09:32
Co, you're right. I think Fergie was only the highest spender in 4 of his 20 odd years.
Outspent by loads of clubs, consistently.
Lots of, in fact most, big-money signings have flopped at OT.

9.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 16:30:26
I agree, Ken. Couldn't remember the name of it, new acronym, same bollicks though.

I should say to Redcon, I know it's common knowledge we need one more midfielder, we also need to get abc to it being common knowledge that the idiots Woodward and Murtough took the ankle grabbing straps with them when they departed and we are now firmly in the sensible club arena again.

As Ken says, and I'd forgotten this additional point, and it's one very well made, whenever we have actually bought big (admittedly post Fergie mostly but also during his reign, Taibi, Veron, Poborsky, Kleberson, Hargreaves, Kagawa) they've bombed. You have to build a winning team first and foremost, and then you add the cherries on top. Even then, it doesn't always pan out. Lammens is an example of excellent data driven recruitment, but those successes are hard to replicate every time.

But it proves you can buy quality without breaking the bank. Pogba, Di Maria, Lukaku, Sancho, all disastrous buys and huge underperformances. Expensive doesn't mean an improvement. Just ask Liverpool, who blapped £450m on a totally shambolic window of doom. There's a well worn saying in business that some of the best deals are the ones you walk away from, and I agree with that sentiment. I don't doubt we need to buy and we should expect a net spend of at least £250m also, but I'm not an advocate of being held over a barrel. We walked away from Baleba and Wharton last year, that was certainly smart given the drops in their value so it's not a perfect science and everything is arguable and based on opinion and perception also.

10.) 29 Jun 2026
29 Jun 2026 18:56:11
It's not the same same thing at all, Co, it's very, very different.

11.) 30 Jun 2026
30 Jun 2026 02:30:18
Cantona, Keane, Cole, York, Ferdinand, Stam, van Nistlerooy, Carrick.

Many of our players were home grown, and we unearthed a few gems along the way. But the vast majority of top players we had, who played in and around our home grown core of youth, were high-cost transfers that we paid a pretty sum for, and they also earned pretty high wages. Of course some don't work out, but that is football transfers.

I agree that maybe our journey back to the top was first accomplished with cheaper players, but I'm just not sure you could do that again anymore, when the lower EPL teams have the money and exposure they do today.



We absolutely need to fill out the squad with some cheaper options - if Ederson works out, he is one of those. But I just feel we need a midfield talisman to play next to Mainoo to replace Casemiro. I'm hoping the club go get the player that is the right fit (whoever that is) without the bankers saying it is too much.