26 Dec 2022 22:46:29
Hi Ed, with United missing on Gakpo (though maybe he’s not really a 9) any idea if there’s anyone viable they will look to in January now?

{Ed002's Note - There are other options that I have explained before.}

1.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 08:45:14
A signing in January is going to be tricky for a number of reasons.

Firstly clubs don't want to lose their best players halfway through a season. If they do let them leave it's normally for a premium.

Secondly, our club is for sale, and the current owners probably overspent in the summer in an attempt to enable the club to challenge on the pitch under a new manager. Our accounts say we have less than 25m in our accounts currently to use for operating costs (that doesn't even cover 1 months wage bill) . Any signings in January will require us to acquire finance from another source, likely another loan or increasing current loans. Neither are particularly attractive to potential buyers of the club as they will likely become responsible for repaying that loan.

Finally the best options for what we NEED realistically aren't available in January and we will probably need to wait until the summer.

It might be a case of Garnacho playing a more prominent role on the left with fingers crossed that Sancho can rediscover his best form when he returns, while hoping that EtH can help Rashford develop more as a centre forward. It might sound like wing and a prayer stuff, but given the sale situation it might be where we are at for now.

Other than that it will need to be either a very cheap option (probably below 10m or so) such as Marcus Thuram, or maybe some kind of loan deal with a buy option rather than an obligation to buy for a player like João Felix maybe if Atletico would agree to such a deal.

The idea that the club would agree to spend 37m with up to another 13m in potential add-ons when the coffers have run dry and the club is up for sale always seemed unlikely.

2.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 09:34:58
Shappy - Felix now one way or the other, or Depay for half a season and Osimhen in summer?

3.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 09:42:22
Nailed it shappy. The owners want rid and will want to take every penny they can get. Can’t see us doing anything other than loans and even that’s a stretch.

4.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 09:47:37
Shappy

Accounts showing a bank balance are only a snapshot of one day, we don’t know what money came in the next day, so I wouldn’t get hung up over that. The club is known to have revolving loan facilities as well.

This could be the show of faith Garnacho was looking for

I would be guessing but purchases in January may well be difficult unless the sale of the club is further on than we know and purchases can be agreed. I doubt we are that far on, so having squeezed out every last drop of money our present owners will quite possibly not be in a position where they want to spend anything. The carrot dangling is top four, would the club be even slightly more attractive if we had CL football next year? Possibly but not enough to splurge I suspect.

5.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 09:53:43
While we have £25million in cash reserves, the quarterly statement from September says we have access to an undrawn £200million as part of our revolving facilties, which I assume is part of long-term loan agreement we have in place already.

6.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 10:14:41
We must now absolutely go and get Felix signed by January 1st.

£8m loan with first option to purchase in the summer for such a player seems like a no brainer to me.

If we go into the rest of the season with just Martial, Rashford, Antony, Sancho, Garnacho and Elanga to choose from, we can kiss our top four hopes goodbye. With Felix, we might just make it.

7.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 10:40:15
The club can easily enough get more money for transfers, the real question though is why would they?

What do they gain from potentially loading more debt on the club? It's not like they will be the owners who benefit from a top four finish and the riches that come from UCL qualification. The rumours are they want the sale of the club tied up in the first quarter of next year. So by the end of March. If that is the case then the new owners will be buying the club without UCL football for next season already secured.

So for those people clinging on to the idea that a top four finish will make the club more valuable. In turn forcing the Glazers to spend money in January to receive more when the sale goes through. This is just fanciful and whether the club finish 2nd, 5th or 8th will have little impact on its value.

So there really is little to be gained for the owners to go to the trouble of acquiring finances, then spend time chasing players over the next 6 weeks to reinforce the squad in January.

If we make a January signing I'd expect it will be on the cheap and more of a short term fix rather than a long term solution. We have already had the manager coming out saying it's important to sign the right player. I expect he'll keep saying that right up until the window closes. At which point he'll say the right player wasn't available in January.

8.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 12:23:46
Shappy

Make up your mind, in one post you say we have less than 25m in our accounts currently to use for operating costs and to borrow would not be attractive and the coffers have run dry. Next you say the club can easily get more money for transfers.

9.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 12:49:30
Red Man, Shappy is explaining that they can have more money but it wouldn't make sense from a business point of view.

I. e they cannot make more transfers without getting another loan and adding more debt. Therefore making less from any potential sale.

10.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 13:07:16
Liverpool are also up for sale yet they found a few coins to spend.

11.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 13:27:30
Obi

I made a similar point, but didn’t argue both ways. In principle I don’t disagree too much with Shappy, we don’t know where the sale is up to. If there was a preferred buyer or buyers or investor and there was already dialogue, maybe there would be agreement to buy what we need to get top four. A new buyer would want Top four for next season. Very difficult to know. If Gakpo was ETH first choice and they could not buy or even offer, it would be frustrating to ETH but not surprising. Maybe the investor wants us to aim higher, maybe they already have contact and let’s hope whoever comes in has a better plan than the outgoing idiots. It is a pain we will have to go through until we get these Glazer leeches out of the club.

12.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 13:54:23
I agree with Shappy, but it is not the fact that the club only had £25m at the end of the p/ e 30th September that is key. The company had £578m in long term debt. £450m in long term and current payables trade payables (basically transfer fees), excluding potential performance related additional fees, and it had used up 1/ 2 of it's credit line. Man Utd is a debt vehicle and over the last few years the situation has worsened substantially. Liverpool are in a much healthier position.

I would not expect any significant transfers in January, and if they cannot sell the club and we do not get into the top 4 then I can see trouble ahead. In the meantime we can only hope that Rashford, Martial, Antony, Sancho and Garnacho step up to the plate. We bo longer have the distraction of Ronaldo, which to my mind is a start.

13.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 14:29:50
Shawthing

Liverpools owners have developed the ground and haven’t taken dividends, haven’t run the club into the ground, they are in a different position and seem to have respect for the club.

If we don’t make Top four then I could see an argument from a buyer the asset has less value, so there may well be an argument for supporting a purchase. Difficult situation.

14.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 16:07:11
Exactly Red Man. In addition to the debt United have a potential cost exceeding £1bn to refurbish OT and Carrington. So any new owner is taking on a £2bn liability from the get go. This is why I feel the Glazers will be hard pressed to achieve a sale value of £3bn if the buyer assumes the debt. I believe they own 69% of the outstanding shares. So, they should pull in around £2bn before taxes, split between 6 of them.

15.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 16:23:52
Red Man, maybe I haven't been clear but I'm not arguing both sides of the fence.

First post I said that the pot is empty and that we would probably need to access some form of borrowing facility to gain funds to bring players in during January.


However I argued that there is literally no reason for the Glazers to do so.

The second post I said that funds would be fairly easy to get hold of if needed/ wanted by accessing those borrowing facilities. Yet again I said that there is little to no reason that I can fathom for WHY the current owners would want to incur more debt on an asset they are currently trying to sell.

The argument has been the same each time. We have no/ very little available funds to use in the transfer market. However, we could access funds via borrowing or offsetting payment of transfer fees etc. Yet I see absolutely no reason why the current owners would want to do that.

To give an analogy, if you are selling your house and it needs redecorating, but you have no money to pay to redecorate, so would need to take out a loan or use a credit facility to pay for the work. However, in this specific case redecorating your house will NOT increase the value of the asset.

Why would you do it?

That's the situation with the Glazers currently. They could access borrowing to enable the club to make signings in January. But it would be more work and it wouldn't increase the value of the club.

And to bring it back to the analogy, much like the house that has been newly redecorated before you bought it, there is a good chance it won't be done to your taste. Maybe you end up ripping out that brand new kitchen because it's not what you want.

16.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 19:16:54
I’m hoping the emergence of Garnacho meant that they never went in for Gakpo as we are well stocked for forwards who play down the left. But this is the current Utd set up, so that line of sensible thinking does not apply.

Depay is surely nailed on now for a loan or small fee?

17.) 27 Dec 2022
27 Dec 2022 19:38:06
Expect to see Phil Jones holding up the no.9 shirt next week.