‘Man Utd tax’ means Reds are doomed whatever they do in transfer market
Manchester United are damned whatever they do in the transfer market; that’s just the way. And mid-table clubs now have all the power.
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Man Utd transfer hoo-ha is a load of nonsense
Lots of hand-wringing in the latest inbox over United’s moves in the transfer market this summer so far. Wagyu/rotting meat, bonkers decisions etc.
Last time I checked, the sum total of our spend so far has been to pay the release clause to buy Cunha – a move that seems widely accepted to be one that strengthens the team and squad. We’ve also released Eriksen and Lindelof, hard to question those decisions.
Now the Mbeumo pursuit seems to be coming to a head, and he’ll cost about £8-10m more than United’s opening bid for him. Seems standard considering United tax is at play. He’s 25, so you can expect a minimum of 7 years at his current (very good) level or thereabouts. Fits the manager’s system, seems to genuinely WANT to join the club. Tick, tick, tick.
What part of this is horrible business exactly? If Liverpool or Newcastle were signing him for £5 million or so less, would fans be graduating their reaction to suggest they were only getting their pants pulled down to 90% of the level United are? Would they f***. He’d be lauded as a smart addition, and very few would bat an eyelid at the price.
The Kerkez transfer is a good example of the opposite at play – one decent season at a smaller club, cost a decent fee for a full-back, but assumed to be a coup because Liverpool have a recent history of good transfer business. Zero minutes on the pitch so far, but that doesn’t matter. That’s the sort of unquestioning acceptance that Liverpool’s transfer crew have earned over a series of windows, even with Nunez thrown in there as a giant blemish.
The point I’m trying to make here is that no matter what United do, the knives are out and there will be detractors chiming in both from within and without. That’s where we’re at.
Sign proven Premier League forward talent? “They’re not young enough, you’re abandoning the youth policy we want to see”.
Target players who previously excelled under the manager? “Too risky, he could be gone by Christmas and that league is shit anyway”.
Sign a top class player on top class wages? “They only went there for the money, same mistakes being repeated”.
There’s no way for United to win – their past ineptitude colours every take on their current activity.
So what to do as a United fan for the next 6-7 weeks? Just tune it all out and wait for actual football to return. Try to ignore the usual bollox as we get linked with every player under the sun by witless hacks with no sources. Accept that some players we wish had been shipped out will still be around, but know that each bad apple we do manage to toss overboard helps to stabilise the ship.
And in my own case, distance myself from fellow United fans who now continually proclaim everything to be sh*t in the vain hope that rival fans won’t slag them off when things do go wrong. If you can’t allow yourself a shred of optimism heading into a new season, what’s the point?
Keith Reilly
…I completely agree but it’s always been like that because it’s Manchester United.
Every time we go for a player it’s like oh it’s Manchester United and the price goes way up . Good example is Brentford to me Bryan Mbeumo not in a million years is he worth £63 Million he had one good season last year that’s it.
I’m not being disrespectful to any of the other teams in the Premier League but soon as United go for a player the price goes way up and the silly thing is we pay it but I’m afraid it will always be like that 😫😭😭
Paul Cave
Premier League transfer power with selling club
While we’re deep into transfer rumour season I just wanted to follow on from something Dave, Manchester said about why Bryan Mbeumo will cost Manchester United so much money.
He correctly identifies the Premier League premium (without explicitly calling it that) but doesn’t mention the two most important factors, which are both linked.
The main one of these is that it is the selling club, not the buying club, who hold the balance of power in this equation. Brentford do not necessarily need to sell one of their best players at all, never mind to a club he could help finish above them, so they can push the price higher.
The other factor is that if Brentford decide to sell Mbeumo, he will need to be replaced and that replacement will not be cheap.
For starters, any potential replacement will be their club’s best player (or very close to), and so they will need to pay a lot to persuade that club to sell, a situation actually exacerbated by the sort of fee they will have extracted from a club the size of Manchester United.
In other words, if I were at Manchester United and had my heart set on signing Mbeumo, I’d be using whatever back channels I could to establish who Brentford’s likely target would be to replace him, and start greasing the wheels there, because it would make buying Mbeumo cheaper and easier.
Ed Quoththeraven
Laughing at Man City
Well that didn’t last long, did it?
After everyone predictably started jerking off Pep again after one convincing win and saying “THEY’RE BACK!” while claiming Pep was revolutionising football again by playing…defenders as defenders and midfielders as midfielders. They lost.
They didn’t just have any old defeat either. This was a p***-poor Al-Hilal team missing their captain and top scorer.
City aren’t back, they’re a work in progress and likely will be for a year or so, maybe longer given they went to play in the CWC. But I don’t even think this is that poor of a reflection on City anyway because with the exception of Pep’s Barca who I think won it at first attempt almost everyone fails this tournament first time round.
Liverpool, United, Real Madrid have all failed at first attempt and won it the second time round. Despite what people think about the quality of the teams it’s not actually easy to win at all. These aren’t pushover teams who can be bullied by Premier League football or even silky Spanish football. I’ve seen these teams get very physical and fast and just the other day we saw Madrid get made to look like training cones by an impressive Al-Ahli passing game.
It’s not easy. Just ask pretty much every team that tries to win it.
Lee
League table LOLs
Dom, isn’t it obvious why the league table is up with no games played. It’s the only way Arsenal can win it (Alphabetical order)
There must be a lot of Arsenal fans out there hoping Accrington Stanley never makes it to the Premier League!
Neil, LFC, USA
This? Last? Next?
Hi Mailboxers (and Ed, can’t forget about Ed), a question that may keep us all busy for a day or two: When and where are we exactly, and when does it change?
I am talking about the season, and the Premier League one in particular. Are we in the current one (as in, there isn’t technically one right now), the last one, or the next one? The day after the season ends, are we still in that one, especially if there are still matches to be played by PL teams in other competitions, or is it straight away into “last season” because that ended yesterday?
Does the new season begin with the day after, the release of the fixture list (that inevitably changes), the Shield match, the opening day of the season, or that the transfer window is now open? Are we now in a state of purgatory because there is no season?
I feel that this important quandary can only be discussed, and, hopefully, ultimately answered by you lovely lot.
Mike D