Inter reject Chelsea's £85m Lukaku bid

Alexis Sanchez turned down City. Barca wanted Pogba but couldn’t compete with us on the fee.

comment by Jadon The King Sancho (U10026)
posted 9 minutes ago
Alexis Sanchez turned down City. Barca wanted Pogba but couldn’t compete with us on the fee.
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You were also winning trophies and/or finishing 2nd in the league around this time as well let's not forget.

I did say back in the Pogba signing days that money is our superpower. Whereas Barca and Real are doing their best to trip up over themselves our steady income is a safety net from falling too far, no matter the manager etc. We are Manchester United so it’s not like we’re a rich Southampton of course - we’re just bridging a gap in appeal that the likes of City and Chelsea have gained by spending to keep up and our name does help.

comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 11 minutes ago
Are we really talking about players like Fred being amongst the elite in football? Or are we talking about players who turned down the top clubs to join United? If it's the latter, then yes, it be correct.
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It is easy to look with hindsight and say they aren't elite players. Fred, Lukaku, Di Maria and even Pogba I would say haven't lived up to their billing. But that doesn't change the fact that they were all big money signings and all wanted by other big clubs at the time. Whether or not they turned out to be good signings is irrelevant.

comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Jadon The King Sancho (U10026)
posted 9 minutes ago
Alexis Sanchez turned down City. Barca wanted Pogba but couldn’t compete with us on the fee.
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You were also winning trophies and/or finishing 2nd in the league around this time as well let's not forget.
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We've just finished 2nd in the league and signed a top winger and CB.

He’ll say anything.

comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Jadon The King Sancho (U10026)
posted 9 minutes ago
Alexis Sanchez turned down City. Barca wanted Pogba but couldn’t compete with us on the fee.
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You were also winning trophies and/or finishing 2nd in the league around this time as well let's not forget.
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Are you seriously arguing that our performance and trajectory around 2017-18 put us qualitatively on a higher level than we're on now? Was it the glorious Europa League run (where we didn't play any decent teams and still only got there by the skin of our teeth) that put us at the top of the tree, or was it the immortal League Cup triumph?

You're really having to contort your arguments at this point.

comment by Elvis: King of Cult (U7425)
posted 44 minutes ago
comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 11 minutes ago
Are we really talking about players like Fred being amongst the elite in football? Or are we talking about players who turned down the top clubs to join United? If it's the latter, then yes, it be correct.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It is easy to look with hindsight and say they aren't elite players. Fred, Lukaku, Di Maria and even Pogba I would say haven't lived up to their billing. But that doesn't change the fact that they were all big money signings and all wanted by other big clubs at the time. Whether or not they turned out to be good signings is irrelevant.
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I was talking about the time of signing them, not the events that followed after the signings.

It's all theoretical anyway, it's difficult to conclude how and why players move to certain clubs over others. It was all just a matter of opinion.

comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
comment by Elvis: King of Cult (U7425)
posted 44 minutes ago
comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 11 minutes ago
Are we really talking about players like Fred being amongst the elite in football? Or are we talking about players who turned down the top clubs to join United? If it's the latter, then yes, it be correct.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It is easy to look with hindsight and say they aren't elite players. Fred, Lukaku, Di Maria and even Pogba I would say haven't lived up to their billing. But that doesn't change the fact that they were all big money signings and all wanted by other big clubs at the time. Whether or not they turned out to be good signings is irrelevant.
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I was talking about the time of signing them, not the events that followed after the signings.
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I don't really see why that changes anything. Whether Fred is or isn't an elite level player, he still turned down Pep and Man City to join United.

comment by Elvis: King of Cult (U7425)
posted 3 hours, 19 minutes ago
comment by JustYourAverageFan (U21016)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by Jadon The King Sancho (U10026)
posted 4 minutes ago
Whenever we sign someone with a bit of a reputation people seem to go out of their way to make excuses for how we’ve managed to sign them. It’s weird, we’re the biggest club in the country. Of course we can sign top players.
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You might be arguably the biggest, which is admittedly a factor into many players' decisions, but you are not the best, which is exactly why I am saying you're not the club everyone wants to go to anymore.

I still feel like players would prefer to go to City, Liverpool, Bayern, PSG, Juve, Barca or Real over Man United at the moment, unless there was further incentives from United to join them.
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That is such a sweeping statement though. Every player has their own motivations, which could be a mixture of some/all the below:

Who they supported as a kid
Money
Climate
City life & culture
Existing relationships with players/manager
Chances of trophies
Challenge of rejuvenating a fallen giant
Desire to prove previous club wrong (a possible motivation for Sancho or Tevez for example)
To be closer to family
Better chance of getting into the first team (including chance to get into national team)
Size of home stadium/fans
History of club

I just find that idea that we aren't the best team in England at the moment so can't sign the best players to be a weak argument. Kane for example I think would lean towards City because he is nearly 28 and wants to win some trophies. Haaland on the other hand might feel that United are a more attractive prospect due to Sancho, Ole, crowds etc etc. And he of course has time on his side and might have the confidence the he can come in and put as back at the top of the tree. He might relish that challenge.
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Iv said this many times before.