its almost as if the owners know they are hated by the fans so they do transfers hoping to be popular somehow rather than fix problems. CR7 for example i know no one turns down Ronaldo but they have glaring deficiencies but the board just could not let him go and fix up ‘if we dont have him the fans will hate us so we must get him regardless’
Sancho was pursued for years yet again not a player they desperately needed but is a ‘big name’ we hope this is enough to shut up the fans. It just seems the transfers are more about appeasing the fanbase than to sort the team out and it will never work.
I lowkey think Solskjaer thought Fred and McTominay would do the trick. Look how the pundits fall for the ‘2nd place’ finish even if it’s with a pitiful 74 points. He probably got duped too.
They did turn down Ronaldo though. Ronaldo was offered to Utd multiple times the last couple of years but they couldn’t justify the move considering their needs in other areas.
What made them finally pull the trigger was the news of Ronaldo going to City, which made his former teammates and most importantly Fergie to push Utd to block that move and getting him instead.
Still to be decided if this was what Jorge Mendes wanted all along. Ronaldo got a better salary out of it too.
I guess the weird thing is that Ronaldo or not, Man Utd didn’t look to be actively chasing a midfielder. They were linked with Rice, Bissouma and Neves but I don’t think they ever got serious with that. Weird club.
His work at United was underrated. Disjointed squad and needed a lot more to it but he won a trophy, did a lot of positive work with young talent and developed tactical systems for players work in.
The football was dire but I feel like he wasn’t supported with coherent squad building
I agree about the work in general although reportedly he had a lot of control over transfers and made some terrible decisions - Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, etc.
Even so, they would have been better off if they had just let LVG stay a few more years, really put in a style of play, and develop Rashford and Martial.
You can say that about a lot of transfers tbh. Arsenal fans were ecstatic about signing Pepe.
LVG’s record was seriously poor in the market at United - not just the two I mentioned, but also Rojo, Blind, Memphis, Di Maria (great player but dumb to sign someone who didnt want to be there), Darmian, Falcao. Guy spent like 350m and his best purchases were probably Shaw, Herrera, and Martial.
Ahahah yep was a believer in him, was so consistent before that move even against the big teams.
Wasn’t the best move for him and perhaps he could have done better if he signed here instead, seemed after the United move he just lost his drive and motivation to a degree.
Goes to show not everyone is a sure thing even if they look very good in the PL.
Schneiderlin was a quality DLP, he wasn’t a perfect anchor like say Partey but honestly how many Partey’s are there in world football. I was also a big advocate for signing him and still have no shame about it, he’s very similar to say someone like Soucek, a player who doesn’t get a lot of plaudits or attention but really helps stabilize a midfield.
Schneiderlin was very good at the fundamentals, much more so than Coquelin, I still maintain it would have been a useful move for us, going to United and eating shit isn’t really an indication of anything these days, it’s more just par for the course.
Cabaye is another French CM I loathed us missing out on. And of course Kante. The big problem for us was the fact we were scared to fucking move for anyone.
I think my thing with Schelneiderlin was I convinced myself he was a “Wenger DM”. This was useful as it meant him being a mediocre van Gaal and Everton midfielder didn’t disprove his inherent Wengerness.
I doubt he’d have been a hit here but maybe he would’ve been less of a miss.
That pissed me off a great deal during the latter half of his tenure.
What was so frustrating is that Wenger knew the profile of player that could boss this league having coached that kind of player for God knows how long but no instead of signing that profile with not only the physical tools but also the excellent technical ability he was happy to let the likes of Coquelin suit up for us.
It was self sabotage pure and simple and cost us dearly during those years, he had a proven blueprint and then did almost a complete 180 from it, mind boggling.
I really liked the idea of signing Schneiderlin a lot when he was at Southampton but I think its too kind to give him a complete pass on what happened at United and afterward.
LVG played a possession-based style, appreciated technical quality, gave him tons of chances, and he ended up showing his limitations when put into a side that demanded more responsibility from him on the ball. Both LVG and then especially Mourinho ended up preferring a 35 year old Carrick to him. Its not like Mourinho was just looking for a tougher tackler. Scheiderlin got benched precisely because he never made the transition from energetic all action midfielder to a DLP.
Bruno is a top player but his high-risk style really might not fit well with Ten Hag’s possession-based football. He’s got a contract until 2025 with an option until 2026 so there is no pressure at all to give him a new deal. And he’s on relatively low wages so if you decided to move him you could get a great fee. Yet rather than letting the new manager work with him then decide, you tie him down to a new five year deal that runs until he is 32 and which basically forces the new manager to build the team around him.
Fernandes is an incredibly chaotic player, he turns the ball over so much and as you mentioned his style is high risk and quite sloppy. Giving him a new deal when you haven’t even hired a new coach is 100% United’s MO.
Some coaches won’t be too enthralled with coaching such a player even if he has leadership qualities and can produce moments of brilliance, he may become a headache later on.
