Mathguy64 said:

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Pickford. Middle East sportswashing money. May as well take on Richarlison and do the full heel turn.

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do we think this is an actual person by the way? or a deep fake? has there been an actual sighting of him anywhere since all of this started?

Dre_00 said:

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Sounds like De Gea may indeed be gone soon. He was officially left off of the club's retained list and the two sides are still quite far apart in regards to a new contract.

Pickford, Diogo Costa, and Onana are all being linked as replacements but none of them will come cheaply. Onana obviously has the link with ETH from Ajax so seems like the most likely in my mind. But paying 50-70 million for a goalie is surely going to put a massive dent in any budget for a forward (or two) and midfielder (or two).

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Well if you get Pickford, you're guaranteed to stay up since he will be all world in May

Glazers going out in the most dumpster fire way possible if we end up with Pickford

Ugh if we get Pickford, we might as well get Richarlison and Anthony Gordon while we are at it so we can be relegation battle Everton 2.0.

Actual person? Yes.
Actual decision-maker? No, almost certainly not. We will see him once every few years like the guy who supposedly owns City. Which admittedly is more often than any of the Glazers except Joel and Avram (unless you ar a Bucs fan I guess)

I don't know. I've seen lime 3 pictures of him and his face looks photoshopped on the 2 pictures that aren't that one.

I wouldn't read too much into it either way, if it's a photoshop it is a pretty good one. But even if real, I doubt he would have met with anyone after the game or anything like that. And the only reason I used UtdPlug was because the original post to twitter was a random account in a foreign language, and I wanted one in English because I think we are mostly English speakers here.

At the time I thought Maguire would be leaving, and KMJ would take his spot. Now it's not clear either will happen. So there you go. (To be even more honest, I thought if we took KMJ, Lindelof might want a transfer because he'd be likely fourth choice then, but then I'm not sure Timber would be that excited about moving either).

Looks like Kim will sign a 5 year deal with Bayern.

Anyone wish these "United may make bid for Pickford" articles… would stop? I don't understand why anyone would think this would be a good idea other than he is English and doesn't count against the allotment of foreign players. Beyond that, just activate the extension for de Gea. Yeah, it's expensive wages, but less expensive than buying Pickford.

I do wish he would go to Tottenham because then they would have Richarlison and Pickford. Which would be wonderful and hilarious.

Edit: and if we could send them Pickford's BFF Harry Maguire, well that would just be delightful.

There seems to be more smoke with Onana which makes more sense. Onana won't be cheap but Pickford likely won't be any cheaper.

The new #mufc away shirt seen in an American store. [@Footy_Headlines] pic.twitter.com/myfrRksF54

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) June 21, 2023

I thought Team Viewer was getting out?

I would get out if I were them because that thing is hideous. Surely adidas and the club are not that stupid.

Wait. Nevermind.

reminds me of an 80s Umbro jersey. it could look pretty good if it didn't have the adidas 3 stripes on the shoulder. also, it does not feel like a Man United jersey.

I scanned that and it says "Avram and Joel blow donkeys"

I scanned it and my cash register rang up $7,000,000,000

Some transfer nonsense to pass the time will wait for the Glazers to tell us in September that they've decided to keep the club...

De Gea still hasn't signed a new contract. If they don't agree to a reduced wage and United doesn't trigger the extra year option, he'll technically be free to sign with whomever he wants. One would think that this would be sorted one way or another within the next 9 days but this is United we're talking about. Onana does indeed seem to be the favorite if De Gea moves on but that's extra outlay that I'm assuming wasn't being planned for in March.

United bid 45+5 for Mount. Chelsea now wants 60+5. Maybe if the Saudis keep taking Chelsea's unwanted players off their hands, they'll be inclined to lower their asking price even more.

West Ham would be interested in Maguire and/or McTominay in a deal for Rice. Seems extremely unlikely but I would jump at something like Maguire, McTominay and 40 million for Rice.

According to French journalists, ETH will speak with Axel Disasi. Price tag of 40 million EUR seems very reasonable for a 25 year old CB who is working his way into the France national team picture.

I thought Rice to Arsenal was all but done?

Yea we have no shot at Rice. He will be an Arsenal player.

Yeah, that's why I said it seemed extremely unlikely. But I'd be happy even if United only indirectly benefit by West Ham spending some of their winnings on Maguire and/or McTominay. Say 40 for Maguire, 20 for McTominay...add that to the 120 United supposedly have to spend this window. Let's say spend 55 on Mount and 35 on Disasi. That leaves 90 to get a forward and possibly a GK (and ideally some help on the wing and another midfielder but you're not getting all of that for 90).

Furlock Bones said:

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Yea we have no shot at Rice. He will be an Arsenal City player.

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FIFY

Didn't see that coming…though I probably should have.

You know if City sign Rice and want to give us Kalvin Philips, I'd be fine with that. I'm not too proud to take their unwanted players for free.

So basically unlimited sovereign petrodollars wins again.

And the selling teams know it. They have no reason to take an early reasonable bid when they can squeeze another barrel or two out of someone else who doesn't care.

Middle Eastern blood money is just completely f'ing up the market. It's annoying as hell.

Of course, if we get our hands on some of those sweet, sweet petro dollars I might change my tune.

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨

Manchester United have offered £80 million + Harry Maguire for West Ham midfielder Declan Rice.

West Ham are reportedly holding out for the £80 million only! pic.twitter.com/l5mY1flB2E

— Pie Sports Booze 🔞 PARODY (@piesportsbooze) June 22, 2023

According to Mr. Romano, United want the Mount deal to be completed by end of next week or they will walk away. That doesn't sound very United-like. Or it just means that United will overpay to ensure that it does get done by end of next week. 3rd (and maybe final?) offer coming "very soon".

Feels like an awful lot for a player in the final year of his contract. I wonder if Ratcliffe calculated the "Glazer Premium" that is inevitably baked into any United transfer dealing for the next decade when he modeled out his operating costs for owning United.

🚨 Manchester United are set to submit third official bid in excess of £55m for Mason Mount. #MUFC

Sources feel this is going to be the final proposal after two bids rejected in the recent weeks.

Man Utd want quick resolution — also, 100% agreed personal terms.

More to follow. pic.twitter.com/DghgGwcI7F

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 23, 2023

Walk away. Run away. Tell Chelsea and oh by the way he's free next year so good luck. And now it's $30MM

See what Leeds wants for Adams.

Confusing to pay so much this year unless there is a reason to believe he would likely not sign here otherwise.

Look I've been a relative Mount fan, but this is too much imo. Mount likely won't go to Saudi. I don't think there will be a huge queue of Premier League teams looking to snatch Mount up for 58+7M. I hope they go for a more 6/8ish type player now and hope you can get Mount to agree to a pre-contract deal on the winter or something.

Seriously, who do they think is going to show up that's dumber with money than us? Liverpool I don't think will go anywhere close to 65; at that point they should have just figured out how to get Bellingham for a little more. I don't think City would be looking with Kovacic coming in already. Arsenal I could see a couple months ago, but unless everything falls through I don't see it now. Spurs? If you are looking to resurrect your career, I'm not sure that's a great idea for the player. Possibly Newcastle? They've been spending, but they haven't been overspending really. And when you set the price at 65M, you limit your pool of foreign bidders basically to Bayern, PSG, Barca, Real Madrid and maybe a handful of others if they really want him.

It's like Chelsea thinks Chelsea is going to come get him. Maybe that's the plan, sell to themselves? This is longer than I meant it to be, but if you are Chelsea, you try to get the price higher, United says "No, that was the final offer" well… what then? Say "Oh, our bad, can we still get that 55M?" I don't understand their plan, basically.

A lot can happen in a year. If United don't make top 4 in 23/24, Mount is signing on a free at the end of the season. And honestly, they are just as likely to make 4 top next season as not...even if they drastically improve the team this summer.

But this and nearly every United transfer in the last 15 years just reeks of short termism winning over long term planning. It only makes sense to throw overpay for a player if you think they are far and away better than all the other alternatives or you legitimately think they are the final missing piece that drastically improves your team into legitimate title contenders. Mount isn't either of those things.

I trust ETH's talent assessment but there have to be similar viable options that you don't overpay for. Even if they actually cost more, it's better to pay more for someone in absolute terms than it is to pay more in relative terms (i.e. I'd rather pay 80 million for a player who is reasonably valued at 80 million than 65 million for a player who shouldn't fetch more than 40 million due to being in the last year of their contract.) Just tell Chelsea you're not interested at those prices but if they want to be reasonable about their demands in the future, you're willing to listen...and then go fill one of the other 6 holes your roster has. Time and filling other needs are United's best weapon in this situation.

If they can do the latter (big if...but even just 1 or 2 deals would be hugely helpful), then the worst case scenario is that you fill some needs, don't sign Mount (or even another option to Mount), Chelsea get nothing for him and lose him on a free. Chelsea (and others) know you're willing to walk away even if the player is interested if you're being extorted. Maybe you don't ever get Mount but you've created a better starting point for every future negotiation. It's a small short term sacrifice for a much larger long term gain.

Best case scenario is that Chelsea begin to realize in August that Mount hasn't changed his stance and that they are about to lose an asset who isn't an integral part of their team for nothing when they could have gotten 55 million for him. And the bean counters will come back and say "OK fine, you can have him for 55." In that scenario you've drastically improved the short term (now you have leverage...could even say "sorry, we can't afford 55 now because we've spent it elsewhere...you have to take only 45 now") and the long term.

It's not hard and these supposed geniuses with billions of dollars have no idea how to set conditions to negotiate from a position of strength or plan for the long term. It's so infuriating.

Apparently Onana's agent met with United last week and Inter want 50 mil EUR (so about 43 million GBP) + add-ons.

I could make a very strong argument that, at that price, United should just use their Mount money to get that deal down and save 20 million GBP. It sucks but they are likely going to have significant holes in their roster come August 31st because the Glazers are dragging their heels and aren't going to outlay more than 120 million. And I would argue that upgrading from De Gea to Onana would improve the team at least as much as adding Mount would. So spend less money and improve the team by a similar amount? Yes please.

Did I just do magic?

Big club energy is go get Caicedo, annoy Chelsea, and then either this summer or next get Mount anyways https://t.co/iQdpvQvpyv

— Aaron Moniz (@amonizfootball) June 24, 2023