We've seen numerous reports that United, though not actively looking to sell them, would consider bids for Mainoo and Garnacho if the price were right. I'm minded to read these as genuine, because they come from reputable journalists with access to the FC.
The logic is clear enough: Ineos inherited a situation where we are in a PSR hole. Big fees for home-grown (pure profit) players are the obvious way of climbing out of the hole.
But at the same time: fuсk that sh]t. Generally, I've cautiously welcomed Ineos, at least in relation to Glazer family management, on the basis that they believe in 1) placing sporting aspirations at the centre of the organisation's remit and 2) believe in bringing in genuine specialists to run sporting operations. That's obviously a very low bar set by the previous regime, and I don't think anyone can argue they haven't cleared it.
Beyond that, we are entitled to feel aggrieved by the way Ratcliffe's deeply unsentimental approach to business has been applied to United. Maybe staff cuts were necessary, but they could have been handled in a less arbitrary way without killing staff morale. Maybe ticket price rises were inevitable as part of the various measures to make the business more sustainable, but it was handled in a way that flatly refuted Omar Berrada's introductory letter to the fans, acknowledging them as a key part of Manchester United and promising a more consultative relationship. Then there were little things such as travel to the cup final and the Christmas party being withdrawn - sure, not business crucial expenditure, but also investments in the sense of community around the organisation and nonentities on the balance sheet. Maybe people would buy into the hard nosed ruthlessness if it weren't accompanied by farcical and very expensive missteps such as hiring Ashworth and rehiring ETH before sacking them shortly afterwards.
All of this comes down to the point that it's very hard to put a monetary value on the soul of a football club, but that value is real. Fergie was without doubt a ruthless man, but he also understood the importance of spending club resources and his own valuable time on actions, gestures, perks, tokens of generosity that created a sense of togetherness, of family around the organisation. For all the drift and complacency of the Glazer years (and probably more because they were too detached to think about killing it rather than because they thought to nurture it) I don't think that culture died after 2013.
It's at grave risk now. If willingness to sell Mainoo is emblematic of how the leadership looks at the club going forward, a lot of us will increasingly wonder what the point is. We won't defect. We probably won't renounce the club. But many of us will feel deepening indifference. Ultimately, that will impact the metrics Ineos care about: revenue, engagement. It will also detract from the club's soft power, which will make it harder to attract great coaches and players (and academy prospects) who have lots of options.
Under the Woodward regime we suffered from having too many underqualified ex-players feeding into decision making. Today I wonder whether we could do with one or two such voices in the board room.
Mainoo and Garnacho for sale
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 10 minutes ago
The flip side is that people do often attach too much sentiment to academy players, rate them higher because they came through this route.
Its often a useful exercise to ask, would i want the club to buy this player is he were, for example, doing OK at West Ham. If McT was a WHU player i do not think any Utd fan would have been promoting that he should be a 30-40m transfer target. But there was much debate about whether you should keep or sell and his United provenance was a key part of the thinking. Something that Fred for example did not benefit from and few had an issue with him being sold.
From the outside, I do not look at Amorim and think him the sort of manager who is going to be told that academy graduate A B and C are being sold and agreeing with it if they are and can make a great impact on the first XI, in the same way that Chelsea tried to impose this on Poch.
There will be choices to make and i wouldnt expect INEOS to be dictators in this. More it is a choice between realities, with the difference being the speed that change can be effected given the financial constraints.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a good comparison regarding Mainoo and his wage ‘demands’. Look at Lenny Yoro - signed for 60m probably on much higher wages than Mainoo but a very similar profile of player other than not being academy.
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 10 minutes ago
The flip side is that people do often attach too much sentiment to academy players, rate them higher because they came through this route.
Its often a useful exercise to ask, would i want the club to buy this player is he were, for example, doing OK at West Ham. If McT was a WHU player i do not think any Utd fan would have been promoting that he should be a 30-40m transfer target. But there was much debate about whether you should keep or sell and his United provenance was a key part of the thinking. Something that Fred for example did not benefit from and few had an issue with him being sold.
From the outside, I do not look at Amorim and think him the sort of manager who is going to be told that academy graduate A B and C are being sold and agreeing with it if they are and can make a great impact on the first XI, in the same way that Chelsea tried to impose this on Poch.
There will be choices to make and i wouldnt expect INEOS to be dictators in this. More it is a choice between realities, with the difference being the speed that change can be effected given the financial constraints.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a good comparison regarding Mainoo and his wage ‘demands’. Look at Lenny Yoro - signed for 60m probably on much higher wages than Mainoo but a very similar profile of player other than not being academy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
115k per week I belive he is on?
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Elvis (U7425)
posted 40 minutes ago
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 10 minutes ago
The flip side is that people do often attach too much sentiment to academy players, rate them higher because they came through this route.
Its often a useful exercise to ask, would i want the club to buy this player is he were, for example, doing OK at West Ham. If McT was a WHU player i do not think any Utd fan would have been promoting that he should be a 30-40m transfer target. But there was much debate about whether you should keep or sell and his United provenance was a key part of the thinking. Something that Fred for example did not benefit from and few had an issue with him being sold.
From the outside, I do not look at Amorim and think him the sort of manager who is going to be told that academy graduate A B and C are being sold and agreeing with it if they are and can make a great impact on the first XI, in the same way that Chelsea tried to impose this on Poch.
There will be choices to make and i wouldnt expect INEOS to be dictators in this. More it is a choice between realities, with the difference being the speed that change can be effected given the financial constraints.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a good comparison regarding Mainoo and his wage ‘demands’. Look at Lenny Yoro - signed for 60m probably on much higher wages than Mainoo but a very similar profile of player other than not being academy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
115k per week I belive he is on?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lenny? Sounds about right for both players.
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by Elvis (U7425)
posted 40 minutes ago
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 10 minutes ago
The flip side is that people do often attach too much sentiment to academy players, rate them higher because they came through this route.
Its often a useful exercise to ask, would i want the club to buy this player is he were, for example, doing OK at West Ham. If McT was a WHU player i do not think any Utd fan would have been promoting that he should be a 30-40m transfer target. But there was much debate about whether you should keep or sell and his United provenance was a key part of the thinking. Something that Fred for example did not benefit from and few had an issue with him being sold.
From the outside, I do not look at Amorim and think him the sort of manager who is going to be told that academy graduate A B and C are being sold and agreeing with it if they are and can make a great impact on the first XI, in the same way that Chelsea tried to impose this on Poch.
There will be choices to make and i wouldnt expect INEOS to be dictators in this. More it is a choice between realities, with the difference being the speed that change can be effected given the financial constraints.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a good comparison regarding Mainoo and his wage ‘demands’. Look at Lenny Yoro - signed for 60m probably on much higher wages than Mainoo but a very similar profile of player other than not being academy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
115k per week I belive he is on?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lenny? Sounds about right for both players.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
way too much for a 19 year old with limited experience and no international caps.
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 34 minutes ago
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by Elvis (U7425)
posted 40 minutes ago
comment by Sat Nav (U18243)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 10 minutes ago
The flip side is that people do often attach too much sentiment to academy players, rate them higher because they came through this route.
Its often a useful exercise to ask, would i want the club to buy this player is he were, for example, doing OK at West Ham. If McT was a WHU player i do not think any Utd fan would have been promoting that he should be a 30-40m transfer target. But there was much debate about whether you should keep or sell and his United provenance was a key part of the thinking. Something that Fred for example did not benefit from and few had an issue with him being sold.
From the outside, I do not look at Amorim and think him the sort of manager who is going to be told that academy graduate A B and C are being sold and agreeing with it if they are and can make a great impact on the first XI, in the same way that Chelsea tried to impose this on Poch.
There will be choices to make and i wouldnt expect INEOS to be dictators in this. More it is a choice between realities, with the difference being the speed that change can be effected given the financial constraints.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I heard a good comparison regarding Mainoo and his wage ‘demands’. Look at Lenny Yoro - signed for 60m probably on much higher wages than Mainoo but a very similar profile of player other than not being academy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
115k per week I belive he is on?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lenny? Sounds about right for both players.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
way too much for a 19 year old with limited experience and no international caps.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And it may well be too little in two years’ time. I’m not worried about Yoro, he looks quality.
posted on 9/1/25
well in 2 years time is when you give him reward for development.
At that fee and wage it's a deal that has to work because it will be hard to back away from it. Sort of thing that has put you in the current financial position.
posted on 9/1/25
way too much for a 19 year old with limited experience and no international caps
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you apply this kind of blanket criterion to decide how much you'll invest in young talent, for sure you'll avoid overpaying. But there's also a risk you miss out of major talents. Manchester United aren't currently in a situation where we are at the front of the queue to attract the best young players who have many suitors. Leny Yoro was assumed to be heading for Real Madrid. It was clearly going to take some serious financial commitment both to pay Lille a fee that other big clubs might not and to persuade the player to head north instead of south west. As SatNav says, we'll wait and see how this turns out. But I have no problem in principle with our front room team being bold in targeting young talents who have a strong possibility of becoming one of the best in the world in a few years. It's the only way we close the gap on teams with far superior players, because there's no way we can buy half of squad of world class players in their prime.
posted on 9/1/25
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 7 minutes ago
way too much for a 19 year old with limited experience and no international caps
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you apply this kind of blanket criterion to decide how much you'll invest in young talent, for sure you'll avoid overpaying. But there's also a risk you miss out of major talents. Manchester United aren't currently in a situation where we are at the front of the queue to attract the best young players who have many suitors. Leny Yoro was assumed to be heading for Real Madrid. It was clearly going to take some serious financial commitment both to pay Lille a fee that other big clubs might not and to persuade the player to head north instead of south west. As SatNav says, we'll wait and see how this turns out. But I have no problem in principle with our front room team being bold in targeting young talents who have a strong possibility of becoming one of the best in the world in a few years. It's the only way we close the gap on teams with far superior players, because there's no way we can buy half of squad of world class players in their prime.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think over paying with some signings, to get the deal done, is ok. You just seem to do it almost across the board.
In the last few years Liverpool have picked up Gravenberch, Gakpo, MacAllister, Diaz, Jota. None costing more than 40m. Compare that to Mount Casemiro Antony Rasmus Sancho. All £50-80m. None of your deals would seem as bad and would be easy to walk away from if you had not spent so much in the first place. But to pay massive fees for the established players and then to also pay massive fees for the young potential seems a bit desperate.
And i don't agree that to close the gap half a squad of world class players is needed, as the Liverpool example demonstrates.
posted on 9/1/25
I suspect Yoro not going to Madrid was just more than huge financial incentives from us, probably realised he’d not play much at all there.
posted on 9/1/25
Devonshire, it's not news to us that we've horrendously overpaid over the years. But we have an entirely new sporting and recruitment leadership team now. They've had one window in charge, in which they bought Yoro + three players who might be argued to be below full market value due to selling clubs wanting to go in a different direction. We can judge the success and wisdom of these transfers in due course. Makes no sense to do so based on the historic record of Glazer appointed figures who aren't on the scene anymore.