Ugarte might not have helped us get a goal, but I think Casemiro and Mctominay ran away from the area where the go ahead goal came from. I'd have to watch it again to be sure…. But I don't really want to, so I probably won't.

Napoli ponied up the 30m EUR that United were asking for (or "in the region" of 30m) so transfer has been agreed. Contract hasn't been agreed to but looks like this is happening.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5722032/2024/08/25/scott-mctominay-napoli-man-utd-transfer/?source=twitteruk&utm_campaign=twitterfc&utm_medium=social

Gianluca Di Marzio (Sky) reporting that Chelsea want to bring Sancho to London and send Sterling and Chillwell in the other direction. Juventus also interested but salary is going to be a problem.

God no. I don't think I could handle the approximately 300 articles and opinions this would generate.

Sterling and Chilwell? Any more of their 45 players they need to throw in?

Tell Boehly we will swap Sancho for Palmer straight up.

That's a horrible deal. Chelsea has to throw in an extra 20m to make that happen.

No mention of the fee but I'll guess less than 10m GBP. Either way won't impact this season's finances but still good to get something for him instead of him leaving on a free. Read elsewhere that United are likely to offload 3 (McTominay, Hannibal, and Sancho) and add only 1 (Ugarte) before Friday. That would leave some positions extremely light again especially, stop me if you've heard this before...the midfield.

🚨🟣 Burnley have reached verbal agreement to sign Hannibal Mejbri from Manchester United.

Medical tests taking place today as club to club deal done on loan with mandatory buy clause.

Almost there. ⏳🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/ol7pGXpXMP

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 26, 2024

Meijbri going on permanent deal rather than loan with buy option now. Apparently he's at his medical.

🚨🟣 Hannibal Mejbri completes medical today at Burnley and joins on permanent deal instead of loan with obligation to buy.

Man United requested change as funds will be received earlier and deal will also include a sell-on clause.

Here we go! 🇹🇳 pic.twitter.com/Hk4XH2DMC6

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 26, 2024

Well that will help with PSR this season then which is good. But unless a name comes out of nowhere in the next four days, that midfield still looks thin and we absolutely can't lose Eriksen now.

Most midfield squads are 6 plus sometimes 1 young player (probably Collyer). Assuming Ugarte happens and McTominay leaves:

Bruno
Mount
Mainoo
Eriksen
Ugarte
Casemiro
Collyer

I don't think Eriksen leaves. In an ideal world we'd get someone younger, but I don't think we have depth or money for that. I think Eriksen leaves for free after this year. Plus, it's not like you can effectively use Mctominay for a Mainoo sub (although it's not been for lack of trying). Not exactly fair that we have to lean on Mainoo as much as we do, but… we do.

Ugarte on his way to Manchester for a medical. If his arrival is contingent on McTominay leaving then they must be pretty confident that McTominay will agree to contract terms with Napoli.

ETA: 5 minutes later comes the post of McTominay heading to Naples for a medical.

glad we are getting Ugarte over the line.


edit: word is that deals will not go through today. McT is still in Manchester and not enough time to complete Ugarte medical.

50m EUR + 10m in add-ons for Ugarte. Not a lot less than PSG's initial asking price.

I get a daily transfer related newsletter that is quite reliable. No idea who their source was but they mentioned 9m GBP for Hannibal. In selling Greenwood, McTominay, Hannibal and Kambwala, United generated about 80m EUR in "pure profit" (assuming McT is finalized of course). Looks like they'll hit about 100m EUR in player sales in this window alone. That is...by far...the most they've made in player sales in the last 10 years. Maybe since the Glazers took ownership (not sure...I didn't feel like going that far back on Transfermarkt).

If we assume that McTominay, Hannibal, and Sancho leave (Ornstein says Sancho leaving is "likely"), and Ugarte is finalized, the first team squad/depth chart looks something like this if everyone is healthy and available.

GK
Onana
Bayindir
Heaton

RB
Dalot
Mazraoui

RCB
De Light
Yoro
Maguire
Evans

LCB
Martinez
Lindelof

LB
Shaw
Malacia
Amass

CM
Ugarte
Casemiro
Collyer

CM
Mainoo
Eriksen
Gore

AM
Fernandes
Mount


RW
Amad
Antony


LW
Rashford
Garnacho


ST
Hojlund
Zirkzee
Wheatley

It's improved by a good amount since last season. I'd rather have Yoro and De Ligt than Varane and Kambwala. I'd rather have Mazraoui than AWB. I'd rather have Ugarte than McTominay (different players but Ugarte fits a greater need). I'd rather have Zirkzee than Martial.

But it is still very worrying that Mainoo is the only true CM we have (Eriksen has never really been one even if he played the role well for about 4-5 months in the 22/23 season and Mount still hasn't really played there yet). Four wingers is bare minimum requirement but you're already behind the 8 ball when Antony is one of them and the problem becomes exponentially worse if another is woefully out of form (Rashford). And neither striker is proven. Hopefully one makes a leap but only time will tell. So there are still at least 3 positions that need improving and I haven't even included LB in that group.

Long story short. I think the squad is better. I think the first two games have seen them play better. I'd say the most likely scenario for this season is that they will play a fair bit better than last season but still only manage 6th or 7th which likely won't be enough for EtH to keep his job. Top 4 becomes plausible if 2 of the 3 areas above get solved through improved performances from people already on the squad and we stay relatively free of injuries.

Sancho to Juve on loan w/ obligation to buy looking more and more likely per r/RedDevils

Not that it matters, but I'm really hoping Juve wins out. I don't think we need to trade our young problem winger on high wages for Chelsea's old (for purposes of this conversation, anyway) problem winger on high wages.

I'm wondering what kind of fee United will get in terms of a fee if he goes to Juve. They value him at 40m GBP but something tells me they'll get something significantly less than that...maybe around 30m EUR.

If it is a relatively low fee, it further confirms that he and ETH never really buried the hatchet. I could argue that even a half motivated Sancho is a more important asset than say 30m EUR given Rashford's extended poor form, Antony's crapness and Garnacho and Amad both being young and likely to still hit growing pains. Would be different if they were going to replace Sancho but highly doubt that will happen this late in the window.

Latest rumors on Sancho...

He prefers Chelsea to Juventus potentially because he worked with Maresca at City before moving to Dortmund. Ashworth actually wants Sterling and thinks he would be a good fit. But Juventus has already agreed a fee and it's possible that Sancho goes to Juventus and Sterling still comes to United...Chelsea want him gone regardless of whether Sancho comes.

Take it for what it's worth...that's an amalgamation of like 3 different rumors all with varying levels of trustworthiness.

I hate the thought of doing any business with Chelsea right now, especially essentially trading a young player for an aging one who is also prone to long periods of droughts AND after they absolutely fleeced us on the Mount deal last year.

Speaking of Mount… injury confirmed. Out a few games.

🚨🔴 Mason Mount will be out due to new injury.

“During the last game I picked up a minor muscle issue. I’ll be out for few games”.

“I worked hard to get my fitness back to where it needs to be, I felt sharp and ready”.

“I wanted you to hear it from me how frustrated I am”. pic.twitter.com/RIgvzfdaIi

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 29, 2024

Soccer players are the most pathetically trained athletes in the world.

Welp, I guess that strikerless formation is over with for the time being. Liverpool will be a pure chaos ball game.

Do not like

🚨⚪️⚫️ Negotiations between Juventus and Manchester United on Jadon Sancho are currently in total stand-by.

Juventus consider request made by Man United too high and won’t proceed at current conditions.

⚠️ It could only change with more sales in final 24h or price to drop. pic.twitter.com/GkucDMmRnr

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 29, 2024

Other teams play hardball with us. We cave. We don't know how to play hardball back. We need to be willing to play hardball back.

I don't think it's a matter of playing hardball. Sancho is on a deal that probably only about 15 teams in the world could even think about on wages. Then you throw in the problem that it's been about 3 years since he's looked that good over multiple games.

I think there's just no real market. There's a few teams with minor interest, but no one is really extending that hard to make any big offers. We can play hardball, but we have to be prepared to close the window with Sancho if we do.

It's a gamble to be sure since Sancho has already caused a big disruption in the past when he felt aggrieved. But in general I agree with sticking to your guns in this situation.

We get to play the Fightin' Mourinhos in the Europa League. Already annoyed by the yet to be written takes.

Amrabat is apparently going to join Fenerbahce which means that game will have Mourinho coaching a team that could start Fred and Amrabat in the midield.

The stories. Think of the stories.

I agree with his last sentence re: Shearer analysis in general:

Ten Hag on Shearer's criticism on MOTD of Rashford v Brighton: 'It is not why I took him off, that his performances weren't right. We had to rotate. There will be rotation and there is the conclusion the player isn't performing. It can be, but not in this. Stupid analysis.' #mufc

— Chris Wheeler (@ChrisWheelerDM) August 30, 2024

apparently a deal with chelski to send Sancho there is picking up steam.

🚨🔵 EXCL: Chelsea submit official bid to Manchester Utd for Jadon Sancho.

Understand it’s initial loan proposal, similar to terms offered by Juventus but total package higher.

Sancho, OPEN and keen to joining Chelsea so up to the clubs/Man Utd to decide. pic.twitter.com/g7tRFOyzVn

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 30, 2024

Someone will have to explain to me how Chelsea can sign another player. I know UEFA is not happy with their clever accounting of selling their own assets to themselves and calling it positive cash flow.

This is just a loan, so low money. They would potentially offset that with a loan of Sterling to Arsenal.

Now as to how they are potentially buying Osimhen… I don't know.