Something I found a little puzzling was no move for Ryan Gravenberch.

He replaced FDJ in the Ajax team under ETH. So having not been able to get FDJ to United, you'd have thought a similar-ish alternative would have been Gravenberch, given ETH knew all about him, given that we seem to have a penchant for Eredivisie players with a link to ETH, and given that he was available if not last summer due to going to Bayern, then certainly this summer.

Good analysis.

I am still not sure why you didn't seem to be in for Gravenberch.

Kudus is a player we needed more than Antony, has a little bit of everything and is a constant goal threat. Shame Eth made the wrong choice.

As for:


"Manchester United have failed to create a chance for Rasmus Hojlund for the last 160 minutes of Premier League football:

8 mins vs. Sheffield United
73 mins vs. Manchester City
79 mins vs. Fulham"

https://twitter.com/StatmanDave/status/1720811771433283625

I brought this to the attention of a mad person who appears to believe we create "tons" and it's our forwards, more specifically Hojlund is guilty of wasting chances! An absolute ridiculous claim.

BK, fancy a job within Utd's recruitment team?! Just apply, you have zero competition!

comment by The Authority (U23102)
posted 6 minutes ago
Good analysis.

I am still not sure why you didn't seem to be in for Gravenberch.
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I think we did, he simply didn't fancy us!

The what-ifs would hurt your soul if you really think of it. What is sure is our scouting/recruitment team is obviously flawed. Paulinha would have been something everyone knew about and would have been an important addition though I think there was a fixation with De Jing distracting us. I remember saying at the time that signing a 29 year old midfielder from a team like Madrid is ominous. Many teams have it as policy to not get involved in such transfers at that age (City, Arsenal, Liverpool? Guess we got out one good year. How we sell him at the end of the year (along with Varane for similar reason) remains to be seen.

Every single one our recruitment team should be sacked immediately. Anyone connected to it should leave to be honest (which includes the manager for thinking Antony was the more important signing over Kudus and Gakpo who was cheaper, more versatile)

I've never seen Gravenberch play, but from what I gather he certainly would have looked a more natural fit for the role ETH seems to have planned for Mount, and would have cost less, too.

My hunch is that ETH felt he could forfeit having a midfield conductor operating deep (Eriksen), by having two ball playing CB's and a ball playing GK, allowing the person in Eriksen's position to station themselves higher and more aggressively up the pitch, aiding the high press and having another midfield runner joining the attack. That looked like what Mount was doing in preseason with Martinez pushing up into midfield more from the CB position.

If Mount & Gravenberch are similar in that respect then I do see the logic in going with the PL-proven option. But I'm also skeptical about the system in general due to the overall balance in midfield.

I know Mount got injured and defensive injuries have contributed, but ETH quickly abandoned all of that and has reverted to a more standardised 4-2-3-1.

Will be interesting to see how Gravenberch & Mount's seasons go for comparison.

comment by Vengeance of Kungfu Bao Bun (U23079)
posted 7 minutes ago
BK, fancy a job within Utd's recruitment team?! Just apply, you have zero competition!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm just as poorly qualified for the role to be fair!

comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 16 seconds ago
comment by Vengeance of Kungfu Bao Bun (U23079)
posted 7 minutes ago
BK, fancy a job within Utd's recruitment team?! Just apply, you have zero competition!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm just as poorly qualified for the role to be fair!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Perfect, you're hired!

Gilbert & The Authority - sorry I forget to reply by name but Gravenberch is an interesting pick for the reasons I mentioned.

What are your impressions of him so far?

We all know that if we'd signed those players, there would have been articles about why it hadn't worked for them, and why we didn't go for so-and-so instead

Paying £20m more for Mount rather than Maddison

comment by Vengeance of Kungfu Bao Bun (U23079)
posted 30 minutes ago
Kudus is a player we needed more than Antony, has a little bit of everything and is a constant goal threat. Shame Eth made the wrong choice.

As for:


"Manchester United have failed to create a chance for Rasmus Hojlund for the last 160 minutes of Premier League football:

8 mins vs. Sheffield United
73 mins vs. Manchester City
79 mins vs. Fulham"

https://twitter.com/StatmanDave/status/1720811771433283625

I brought this to the attention of a mad person who appears to believe we create "tons" and it's our forwards, more specifically Hojlund is guilty of wasting chances! An absolute ridiculous claim.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You know what's he's like when he's got an agenda to push. He'll say any old sh!te

comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 16 minutes ago
Gilbert & The Authority - sorry I forget to reply by name but Gravenberch is an interesting pick for the reasons I mentioned.

What are your impressions of him so far?
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Tbh, I've not really seen him, but he seems to be getting good reviews so far (don't they always when they join Liverpool, irrespective of whether they do well?)

Remember reading something on him when he was still at Ajax, was really positive about him, he wasn't quite a like for like replacement for FDJ, but similar-ish and could carry the ball through midfield.

Which is why I thought we might have gone for him. There were rumours in the summer, long before he went to Liverpool.

Guimaraes was available in January 2022 and obviously incredible value for money. Caicedo when he went to Brighton because our lot decided the deal looked a bit complicated.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
Guimaraes was available in January 2022 and obviously incredible value for money. Caicedo when he went to Brighton because our lot decided the deal looked a bit complicated.
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I'll permit extending the search criteria to shortly before ETH's appointment for Bruno G! In which case we could also add Trippier at £12m to the pot that same January, who would have been a huge upgrade from a ball progression and attacking output perspective over the existing options (as well as being a very reliable defender also).

We were obviously in a state of limbo with Rangnick at the helm. Though I think your examples are quite instructive; if we'd had proper footballing/recruitment people upstairs with a clear direction and strategy, we could have pulled the trigger on deals for such players as long as they fit the profile of player we wanted for the type of footballing ideals the club was working towards. We wouldn't have needed a permanent manager in place to agree to those players.

So we've undoubtedly missed out on players during periods of managerial uncertainly due to a lack of footballing & squad building direction above whoever is the manager. As I recall, Rangnick himself literally named two or three strikers we should have been in for, one of which was Julien Alvarez.

Micky Van der wen - Dutch CB that Rio is drooling over and Spurs picked up for £35m - ETH you would imagine had at least heard of him.

comment by Jalisco Red - Losing My Reguilón (U4195)
posted 35 minutes ago
We all know that if we'd signed those players, there would have been articles about why it hadn't worked for them, and why we didn't go for so-and-so instead
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe, but doubts were raised specifically about Antony & Casemiro at the time. Casemiro's age, style (part of a deeper sitting, more compact unit) and fee/wages were questioned by many before he'd kicked a ball for us.

Antony's fee was widely regarded as insane despite his promise shown at Ajax (not forgetting he was widely reported to have been available for nearly half the price earlier in the window).

Point being that the fees we've paid have both hindered additional squad building and ultimately been a stick to beat players and the club with if things don't work out. Some of those other players would have at least been signed for more reasonable fees, shielding them and the club from criticism.

Just breaks my heart reading this, great analysis.

I managed to be at Craven Cottage today, mate of mine works for Fulham was sitting their end, I was super jealous our fans were fantastic. Sang the whole game. Managed to go there and stood for around 5 mins, most around me said Bin Antony. This guy is no better than Obertan

comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club over there (U18109)
posted 29 minutes ago
Paying £20m more for Mount rather than Maddison
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Maddison is a player I really like, but positionally he'd have been a Bruno replacement. Mount hasn't been signed for that role (I'm not arguing Mount is or was the right guy either).

If we were in the market for a #10 or looking to replace Bruno, I'd have snapped your arm of for Maddison though.

comment by Striketeam7 - There used to be a football club over there (U18109)
posted 3 minutes ago
Micky Van der wen - Dutch CB that Rio is drooling over and Spurs picked up for £35m - ETH you would imagine had at least heard of him.


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I very almost mentioned him. The only reason I didn't is because I think he's left footed and therefore would have been signed as the LCB. However, that is one position we have actually recruited well for in Martinez.

If I'm wrong about that and MVDW is right footed then yes, he'd have been fantastic, as would a couple of others for the RCB position but due to previous bad business, we didn't have the funds to address the position properly.

None of this takes into account our penchant for ruining footballer’s careers.

Fellaini is available

Doku was available for half the price you paid for Antony.

I blame the Glazers.

comment by Fred's Shooting Coach (U18999)
posted 30 minutes ago
Fellaini is available
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Nice try, he's retiring!