Transfer: Summer Transfer news and rumors part 2

[The Abusement Park]

Some United news coming from BBC radio courtesy of Stone and Ornstein.

United’s priority is Koulibaly. Though he will be expensive, if he isn’t acquired a younger CB will be.

Sancho was set on United until they fell out of the CL. Now it’s down to 50/50 and isn’t sure on a move yet.
No other PL teams are interested in buying him st the moment and United is the only team Sancho would leave too.
Fee would be 100+

Move for a midfielder is contingent on pogba leaving.

Wan Bissaka is high on their radar but City is also interested.

Joao Felix is on their radar

Harry MacGuire is also of high interest but worried about the cost to acquire him

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He should run that by his owner.

 

[Live in the Now]

I'm a little surprised I haven't heard anything about City buying another LB. They do have Zinchenko and Mendy, but Mendy has been proven to be always injured with two bad knees and Zinchenko is...just okay.

 

[koyvoo]

Joao Felix would be an great pickup for United, aside from maybe having too hefty a price tag right now, but for a team in a win now mode, I think Bruno Fernandes would be a much better option if looking at young Portuguese players from the Portuguese league.

 

[Savant]

Fake twitter account.

Even better

 

[hatterson]

I'm a little surprised I haven't heard anything about City buying another LB. They do have Zinchenko and Mendy, but Mendy has been proven to be always injured with two bad knees and Zinchenko is...just okay.

I think they still believe in Zinchenko. I haven’t seen anything from him that makes me believe he would ever be anything more than a rotational player for them though.

Most teams wouldn’t think of buying someone since if Mendy is healthy he’s got potential to be world class, but this is City. Having excess depth at a position is something that’s never bothered them before. They’ve spent like 200 million on backup players in the last couple years alone.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

 

[Live in the Now]

Yeah I don't believe that last line. Versatile forward costs a massive amount more than 13 million. They have it from the amount of sales they can make. Not particularly worried.

If Milner has a year remaining on his deal they only need a forward and the aforementioned LB. They have some good returnings from loan and don't have to sell all of them.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Joao Felix would be an great pickup for United, aside from maybe having too hefty a price tag right now, but for a team in a win now mode, I think Bruno Fernandes would be a much better option if looking at young Portuguese players from the Portuguese league.

What's the latest on Felix? Last I heard a number of teams were interested in him including Juve.

 

[koyvoo]

What's the latest on Felix? Last I heard a number of teams were interested in him including Juve.

Yes he’s one of the young darlings of the transfer market right now and he’s earned plaudits with his play scoring 19 goals in 42 appearances for Benfica across all competitions as a 19 year old but I feel he still needs some development in a smaller team/league yet before making the jump. I could see him struggling to get many first team appearances on some of the teams he’s being linked to.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Yes he’s one of the young darlings of the transfer market right now and he’s earned plaudits with his play scoring 19 goals in 42 appearances for Benfica across all competitions as a 19 year old but I feel he still needs some development in a smaller team/league yet before making the jump. I could see him struggling to get many first team appearances on some of the teams he’s being linked to.

How many more years do you think he'll need before he's ready for the big show?

 

[koyvoo]

How many more years do you think he'll need before he's ready for the big show?

Well, I’m looking at it in terms of what would be better for his long term development as opposed to the benefits of a big club themselves snagging him. He’s definitely an asset worth investing in for some of the bigger clubs, but really, how many 19-20 year olds play consistent first team minutes for the 10-15 biggest clubs in the world?

Many times a players development is stunted in the situation he could find himself in as opposed to playing a big role on a lesser team at this age.

He’s on the cusp for sure, but I’d like to see at least one more year of similar influence that he had this year with Benfica before going.

It is notable that he was left off the Portugal U20 World Cup squad because he will be on the big team for this summers nations league final after making a few appearances already.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Although not impossible... I would be really surprised if it is the case. I mean they are offloading (Sturridge, Ings, Moreno, Clyne, Markovic, Mignolet, possibly Lallana and Lovren not to mention some of the kids : Wilson, Kent, Camacho and possibly Grujic) so many players this summer and they already lack quality depth players to compete with City and the owners already mentioned that will do all in their power to get better. I mean Klopp is a genious and could make another Robertson type signing by getting a cheap player and devoping him into a world class player. That being said last year they also spent big and got rewarded with their best season in years. In sum I have little doubt that Liverpool will spend on the right targets.

 

[Havre]

I don't see Liverpool making huge changes and I can't see them paying people 200k to sit on the bench. City can do that, but Liverpool can't. Also think Klopp doesn't want to rock the boat too much. They got a group that works - you want to fine tune it a bit, but not more than that. Mbappe is just stupid. So when everyone are fit Mane, Salah or Firminio is to sit on the bench? Not even teams like City, Barcelona and RM got that kind of luxury. LB is the obvious one. Robertson down and they will never win the league unless they got a better backup. Also a question of how long Robertson can go on like this. He plays a lot and when he plays he covers a lot of ground.

Liverpool gambled over the two last summers with some big signings. Credit to them. They seem to more or less all have worked out - or at least no huge failures aka Sanchez etc.

In other news Pochettino is now talking about the need to rebuild. Will be interesting to see what that means. Personally I don't see the need, but if Eriksen and Alderweireld are leaving then naturally you would see some fairly significant changes.

 

[Evilo]

@Evilo

Yeah don't get your hopes up.

 

[koyvoo]

No space for Coutinho, an end to Suarez rift? - What would Griezmann's signing mean for Barcelona's forwards?

 

[Chimaera]

There's enough matches to go around. If they bought an attacker (striker or winger), they'll have enough matches attempting to go on all fronts.

 

[Blender]

Griezmann should be a great buy for anyone. Hell of a player.

 

[Jussi]

I'm a little surprised I haven't heard anything about City buying another LB. They do have Zinchenko and Mendy, but Mendy has been proven to be always injured with two bad knees and Zinchenko is...just okay.

Well there is that transfer ban...

 

[Chimaera]

I know he won't, and I'm sure the club isn't in for him, but I will say Griezmann to Liverpool would be interesting.

There was an article a bit ago in joe.co.uk or whatever about Liverpool's transfer changes and how when they got to the CL finals last year, agents were flooding them with offers and players. I can only imagine now how many will be looking to move, with a second final and the run they had in the League.

I will say that some, like Brandt supposedly, will probably avoid it, because they don't want to try and get in an 11 that they might not play in, but there will be plenty of players who see themselves in Liverpool.

 

[Gecklund]

United linked to the likes of Koulibaly, AWB, Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Pepe and selling Alexis. It highly worries me that none of these are reported as close to getting done and all are just “enquiring” or “checking” and not making official bids.

 

[Chimaera]

That's how it's going to go for a lot of the in demand players.

Journos need to sell newspapers. Agents need to get their players out there. Clubs need to drive up the market.

United might be linked with a ton of those players, but unless they completely overpay, I think some are going to be resistant to what they have to say. I think it fairly likely that there's a lot of "well, United made a bid" to drive up the price for some players.

 

[Havre]

Yeah. You don´t get deals done early unless 1) you overpay and/or 2) the player is desperate to join a specific team.

Obviously there are still a lot of players desperate to join Utd, but not high profile ones.

All selling teams are hoping for a bidding war. So why accept bids already now? More the exception than the norm.

 

[hatterson]

Koulibaly is an elite defender, but he's also turning 28 this summer and United IMO are, minimum, 2 years from truly competing for a title (and it could easily be longer than that).

I don't think it makes sense to drop that kind of cash on a defender who will be starting to age out by the time we're (hopefully) making the transition to a title threat.

 

[Chimaera]

I mean, it makes sense if you're Ed Woodward and you're worried about selling commercial deals and ticket packages to tourists or on the Summer tour.