De Jong

Should have a list of targets, be negotiating with them simultaneously and if a particular club/player are dragging their feet then just move on, surely? FDJ obviously a good player but still a risk no matter which way you look at it, especially if his hearts not in it. Is it worth dragging this on much longer?

comment by -bloodred- (U1222)
posted 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 hours, 11 minutes ago
comment by -bloodred- (U1222)
posted 20 minutes ago
I think we will eventually get De Jong but for a lot of money,
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This is the thing. If history's anything to go by we'll end up paying something close to what Barca wanted all along. We'll just have wasted about 2 months getting there.
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Tbf we’ve done a few transfers recently where we’ve managed to bring the selling club down quite a bit recently. Sancho, Ronaldo and Varane. I believe we did with Telles as well.
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I think we held the aces in each of those negotiations though, mainly because the player was actually very keen on leaving his current team and joining us.

Indications are De Jong isn't that bothered about staying at Barca, and I'm not sure Barca's financial situation is as dire as it was a few months ago - may be wrong on that one.

Of course you'd hope those at the club have done their homework on the above - if we manage to drive the price down significantly then fair enough. It feels like this summer of all summers though, it's ultimately going to cost us more to drag this one out.
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Barca really do have to get rid of players because of the salary cap there. They've signed Kessie and Christiansen on frees, yet they cannot register them until they reduce their salaries significantly. It's a ridiculous way of working.

They also have quite a lot of debt that will need repaying pretty sharpish (about £250m according to Swiss Ramble).

Plus they want Raphina, Lewa and Bernardo Silva if the papers are to be believed.

😀

I think we should just move on. Sometimes best to especially if the player is costing this much and needs a lot of convincing. Have we not learnt from the Di Maria deal?

This will also be a sign that the club has learnt from past mistakes a d won't always pay the price the selling Clun wants when they bump up the price for United.

According to people ITK, the only thing that needs agreeing is the fee, which will come down to who blinks first. Barca need rid in order to do business, whilst United want to pay as little as possible.

Itl happen, just might take a few weeks.

comment by TBag (U11806)
posted 2 hours, 42 minutes ago
Should have a list of targets, be negotiating with them simultaneously and if a particular club/player are dragging their feet then just move on, surely? FDJ obviously a good player but still a risk no matter which way you look at it, especially if his hearts not in it. Is it worth dragging this on much longer?
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Hard to know whether we are doing that. There’s so many rumours about United, and the club did make a point of trying to avoid leaks and playing everything out so publicly, so it’s really hard to know how the new structure is operating.

Regarding dragging things on, if we get the player for the price we want it probably is. He won’t be available to play for a while yet anyway, so the obsession with getting players done straight away so they can play in a pre season they are unavailable for, doesn’t matter so much with said player.

I think if it's dragging because of the selling club, it's probably worth the wait. If it's dragging because the player is dragging his heels while he waits for something better to come along, that's probably when you need to move on.

Yeah but there’s no indication that it is the latter and that it is Barca playing silly buggers.

Im sure United, like all Prem clubs will be well aware of who is available, and on what sort of terms, thanks to the agents

Its just a case then of the clubs pursuing players in order of preference, availability, willingness to move and the cost.

For example. We want FDJ and by all accounts, personal terms wont be an issue, so we negotiate on the fee until either we get him, or decide we cant get him for what we want to pay.

If we reached that point then we may well move on to plan B, say Neves for example, is available for £Xm that wed be OK paying, but would just have to neegotiate on the wages he wants.

Another reason for delaying summer transfers can be so the buying club doesnt have to start to pay the players salary whilst there is no football been played. If United do buy De Jong I am sure we will be paying him a stupid wage each week. Especially just after the Directors have all had their well deserved divvies paid this year. It all adds up.