I’m glad ETH is staying on. He’s not elite but might give them brief hope with a small cup.
Ratcliffe is a real rat. Putting all those people out of work? Nice one Jimbo. It won’t change anything to do with the prospects of the team.
£200M for those players? Halve it and it might be close. Unless, of course, the Saudis save them. There are a couple names there that might attract a Saudi fee way over the odds. That’s the only way they will get close.
On the quality it is £100M for the whole list. And the wages are still problematic for normal football teams, not the Saudis.
Harry Maguire is sat with his Chad Valley calculator trying to work out what percentage of the overall sale value is him, but the calculator doesn’t do 1000ths, and it isn’t even turned on anyway, the thick cunt.
Hilariously the Sky Sports Transfer Talk podcast said that Chelsea feels like a club that signs players based on who their coach wants, whereas Man Utd have a proper recruitment staff in place
In an interesting move Utd have hired RVN as part of the coaching staff. I thought he was doing well in management so thought it an odd move for him, but then looked and saw that while he was manager at PSV, he left at the end of the 22-23 season due to player revolt over his coaching methods
Is he any good? I know Koeman is shit, but it’s not a great signal that the Dutch waffled cycling among Depay, Malen, Berjwin, Weghorts all tournament trying to find options that werent shit all the while largely overlooking this player who isnt really a kid anymore (sneaky old at 23)
When he came through at Feyenoord and Bayern Munich he was thought of as one of the biggest talents in the world. I know his signing will now be used as proof Man Utd are scouting better now but he’s been a big name for a while. Fact is he never met his potential at Bayern, did alright at Anderlecht, spent a year as a back up at Bologna and this season got 12 goals in 37 starts which is fine for a non-primary goalscorer - I imagine he’d be thought of a support and focal point for their other forwards.
There have been a few signings recently where I’ve got the feeling that clubs/scouts/coaches have decided on a players quality years before they move for the player.
Morgan Rogers, who was a big name at 15/16 but stunk it out everywhere before a good 6 months at Middlesbrough and Villa immediately signed him.
Another Villa one, Iling-Junior. Thought of as a huge coup when Juventus took him from Chelsea at 17. He turns 21 soon, has barely kicked a ball in professional football but he was considered a £10m+ asset for a deal for Villa to sell their best player.
Nathan Collins, was really hyped when he came through, was absolutely terrible at Wolves yet Brentford still signed him for nearly £30m.
There’s more but those three jumped into my brain. It all reminds me of something I was told about College Football. By the time a player finishes their Junior year, the NFL teams know everything about them already. They can return for their Senior year and be crap cough Caleb Williams cough it doesn’t matter. The teams made their judgement years and years ago, they knew whobthey wanted and how they actually play doesn’t matter. That’s what these signings remind me of.
