I have once again enjoyed this years Tour de France. Ineos were shit, properly shit.
Promising signs.
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Why are you trying to lessen your mental faculties by exposing your mind to the work of Mark Ogden?! That said, Iām not quite fond of jobs that certain Liverpool-related journalists tried to do on Man Unitedās signing of Yoro but at least they did it from the perspective of āReal Madrid and Liverpool didnāt want to pay so much for a kid with a year left on his contractā, rather than āReal Madrid and Liverpool didnāt want to pay so much because heās a bad player, look at these selected stats that make him look worse than every other centre back in Europe, Man United are a laughing stock, hahaā. Ogden does the complete inversion of the second perspective.
Certain French journalists that are unknown to me speculate that it was Mendes who drove this deal home and that it will be confirmed if/when Man United sign Ugarte, whoās also a client of his. Iām watching that potential transfer with keen interest, just to see whether Mendes is still up for dealing with Man United. He had a few notable clients playing there at the same time during Fergusonās era, if I remember correctly.
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I am not remotely saying he is a bad player. International youth football isnt THAT predictive, but I think you have to take very seriously the talent who gets fast tracked through the age groups at international level for a side with the talent that France routinely has like he was. I just laugh at the commitment to the narrative that INEOS has turned a page and that this signing was an example of that. The closest comparison is Sancho, a player on everyoneās radar, but who got priced out of a deal to other clubs he might have been interested in playing for due to how much Utd were willing to spend to get him.
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Sancho was also considered a ācanāt missā signing. Absolutely no one was predicting he would be a complete bust. Money aside Man Utd getting him was something of a coup.
That went well.
I donāt like the narrative around Yoro as a signing that changes a landscape or shows a change in the clubās philosophy etc. Theyāve been youth focused for a while, they just keep fucking the players up sooner or later and moving on to the next toy. I think its actually a little embarassing for a club like Man Utd to debase themselves so much that they let an 18 year old hold them to ransom for 2 weeks because he was holding out for an offer that never came from Madrid. As Roy Keane says āThis is Manchester Unitedā, the moment that kid hesitated they should have walked away. Theyāre such a shell of what they were that they let a child walk all over them.
Anyway Iām bored of hearing about all these generational talent coming in and about to take the PL by the throat. There is always a new wonderkid who suddenly pops up and every gets there knickers in a twist because Liverpool donāt sign them. Man Utd are full of them - Jaden Sancho, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martialā¦ then there is Chelsea with Mudryk who was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, Kai Havertz etc.
Frankly, if you have everyone in Europe look at you and you end up at Man Utd or Chelsea then I think its because other teams have identified an issue. Fears around the people and influences in Sanchoās inner circle were proven correct the moment he got back to Manchester. Bruno Fernandes had multiple big teams scout him in details for years and no one made a move - as they all correctly discovered heās an absolute cancer in the dressing room who quits when he doesnāt get his way. The list goes on.
Man Utd donāt do due diligence, they see the flavour of the month and they go after these players who donāt even really want to play for them because they think the media is a great scouting tool. In this case they knew Madrid were looking at Yoro so they decided to go big for him. Thatās not a new strategy for Man Utd. The concern I would have as a Man Utd fan is that Yoro, who was being scouted by Madrid likely before Man Utd even knew he existed, decided not to try anything to get him despite Yoro clearly signalling his desire to go there. What did Madrid find that they didnāt like?
Then you also add in that Lille were reportedly threatening to send him to the reserves for the full season if he didnāt leaveā¦ I know these may have been idle threats to make sure they get the money but lets take it on face value - Lille have a player who is supposedly with Ā£50m+ and a starting role at one of the beiggest clubs in the world but theyāre willing to take him out of their team altogether and play with other players who, surely, would be worse then him?
So you have an 18 year old with 30 games to his name who wants the highest wage ever paid to a teenaged defender, delayed his move for two weeks as he desperately tried to find a way to a different club, the club he thought were nailed on to get him didnāt try (it seems easy that he could just reject Man Utd and tell Lille itās Madrid or nothing, if Madrid gave him the word they wanted him) and his parent club, far from seeing him as an important first team player next season, told him they would send him to the reserves if he doesnāt leave? I thought this manās talent is supposed to be so great, so self-evidently generational that Lille couldnāt possibly get by having him the reserve team, right? If you have a world class talent they play. Especially when youāre Lille, right? What other generational talent have been allowed to rot in reserve teams whilst they wind down their contracts?
Iād be extremely wary of this signing if I was a Utd fan. From Man Utd getting made to wait by a kid, to that child publically trying to instigate a move to another club, that club not being arsed enough to try and sign him, demands for extortionate wages, his parent club being willing to drop him altogetherā¦ I think thereās something not right here and the goldfish bowl of the PL will probably expose it pretty quickly.
And I know it annoys @Nikola to point it out but his stats are crap. Its all taken with a pinch of salt and we can add the context of his age and experience but heās, on paper, a good passer of the ball who canāt defend to save his life.
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Quite the opposite, mate! Time and time again I ask of your opinion and analysis of certain players. The difference is that you in particular try to paint the whole picture, while journalists will skew the stats to fit their narrative and thatās what annoys me. Just take a quick look at social media and youāll notice that Man United-related press are making him an amalgam of VidiÄ and Ferdinand, while Liverpool- and Real Madrid-related press are posting thinly or not so thinly veiled digs at Man United.
Whatās not right about this transfer is probably the heavy involvement of his agent. Like I said, Iād very much like to see whether they bring in more of his clients this or the next summer.
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I agree with your assessment of Man Utd and Yoro. However, I guess Lille did not want a case of Yoro leaving on a free in a year. Hence their ādrasticā measure to ensure they got maximum value for their asset.
Taking a look closer to homeā¦assuming TAA doesnāt intend to sign a new deal and would be joining RM next summer for free, how might we resolve a similar issue? On one hand, while I am quite against treating players like commodities, I am also pissed off that RM and TAA are potentially short-changing us. The Owen and McManaman situations still hurt till this day.
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so they didnāt kiss and make up after allā¦
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Maybe they did kiss but failed to make up.
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Or did they kiss and put on make up?
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For Sancho being invited back into the fold see Danny Ward being given the chance to earn the starting spot.
Well it was a threesome with Greenwood and he abused them with his daddy dick. There is no cumming back from that. He finished.
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I have to think that wonāt be a great move for Sancho in terms of turning around the career mistake he made going to ManU
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If his career objective is to make money, the move to Man Utd was very lucrative and I would imagine PSG will be more of the same, with a better chance for trophies.
Years ago, when he was a fresh faced lad at Dortmund, I saw him play against Liverpool in a pre-season friendly in the States. He looked very good and I would have liked us to have signed the player around that time.
Since then he seems to have lost his way as a footballer, with only fits and starts of talent coming through here and there.
His bank balance has done well though.
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Ask him to agree a new contract that includes some kind of release clausr that can be activated at a certain time by European clubs?
or did they put on Kiss make up?
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Havenāt seen a chin like that since the days of Jimmy Hillā¦
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