Not by time stamp, lol. I think Wheeler actually was first; I have Lock Screen notifications from Ornstein and Romano and I didn't see it from Romano first, although with his volume it's easy to miss a tweet; man kills my notifications.

You're probably right as I don't actually follow Wheeler and based it solely on when it appeared in my timeline.

In other news, United have submitted an offer for Yoro and had it accepted. Unlikely to matter as the kid seems hell bent on playing for Real either this season or on a free next season. Even if they did manage to persuade him to come to United this summer, he'd always be a risk to leave.

🚨 Manchester United formal bid worth over €50m for Leny Yoro has been accepted by Lille today.

Lille, insisting with Yoro to accept Man Utd as it’s best proposal on their table.

↪️⚪️ Leny Yoro has always given priority to Real Madrid, waiting for them.

Decision up to Yoro. pic.twitter.com/8GnSUSLoEh

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 9, 2024

Yeah I saw that but I'm less happy because Yoro seems to have such puppy dog eyes for RM, I'm still expecting it to not work. Must be nice to be RM.

Edit: and a lot of my melancholy is from my Fabrizio Romano reading where everything reads like "Liverpool Man Utd and PSG interested, Yoro has told agent his priority is Real Madrid" about 50 times

So Zirkzee is effectively done and United will eventually pay a little more than the release clause so that they can pay a little less than the release clause now.

🚨🔴 EXCLUSIVE: Joshua Zirkzee to Manchester United, here we go!

Man United will NOT trigger the clause but pay slightly above €40m with better payment terms, in three years.

Zirkzee signs until June 2029 with option for further season.

First signing of INEOS new era. 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/clTwvvgTC8

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 11, 2024

He just specified in a follow-up tweet that the final price is 42.5 million euros over three years as opposed to 40M all at once under the release. I don't think anyone has said what the final agent fee is.

I'm not familiar with FFP/PSR details but I would assume that 42.5 million over 3 years will free up a lot of money this window as it would count as roughly 14 million this season, 14 million in 25/26 and 14 million in 26/27 since that's what the actual payout schedule is.

I would MUCH rather do that then pay 40 million towards this season. You could argue that it will be a bad deal if Zirkzee flops or United is cash restricted in the coming seasons but the benefit of freeing more money up now is much higher and valuable, in my opinion.

Did we just do...good business?

Jonny Evans signs a new 1 yr contract. Let us hope he doesn't have to play as frequently as he did last season.

Dre_00 said:

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Jonny Evans signs a new 1 yr contract. Let us hope he doesn't have to play as frequently as he did last season.

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We were fortunate to have him around last year, but yeah, would prefer to not have to use that insurance policy as much this upcoming season.

Holy ****

🚨 BREAKING: Jadon Sancho held positive face to face meeting with Erik ten Hag this week and they’ve clarified the situation.

Both ten Hag and Sancho agreed to draw a line on their disagreement and move on.

Jadon, available for pre-season games.

He’s now back in training. pic.twitter.com/1rWjDsRgse

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 12, 2024

You are fast. I literally just saw the notification from Twitter lol

We are putting the band back together!

Seriously. How in the world is this going to work? I mean he set the bridges on fire on his way out. The only way it works is if Sancho says "I pledge to do whatever you say Coach. And I won't complain or say a single word about it."

Lol...right place, right time. Or have no life on a Friday night. Take your pick.

Now I can't help but wonder where he plays and how he fits in. He seems better suited as a left winger who cuts in on his right rather than as a right winger who looks for the cross on his right. Is we willing/able to succeed as a right winger? That's where United need help. Wherever he plays, you don't want him to now stunt Garnacho or Amad's development and I think both clearly need a lot of playing time this season.

Does this maybe give United a little extra encouragement to sell Antony (even though you'd likely be selling at the absolute bottom)? Does this maybe give United a little extra encouragement to sell Rashford (even though you definitely will be selling a year too late as far a maximum value is concerned)?

Would be massive if he could step in and become a very good right winger. I still have faith in Rashford especially after a proper offseason and a rejuvenated Rashford and Sancho paired with young Garnacho and Amad would be quite an interesting foursome on the wings.

Well this is surprising and not in a good way. I thought he did quite well when he played and CB is already a position of weakness. Clearly need at least 2 CBs now this summer. I guess new decision makers are employing the sell with a buy back clause strategy rather than the loan out strategy but yeah...thought he had a good shot at decent first team minutes this season.

🚨🟡 Villarreal are closing in on deal to sign Willy Kambwala from Manchester United!

Understand it will be a permanent transfer for fee around €10m for 2004 born CB.

The deal also includes a future buy-back clause for Man United.

Final details then... here we go, soon 🏁 pic.twitter.com/ZHZp96hPgq

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 13, 2024

Well, I'll present the counter-argument on Kambwala: he's out of contract after next year, and he's in an uncomfortable territory where he wasn't really good enough to justify a new contract. If he's sold with a buyback and a significant sell on clause, I'm ok with it. I'd have liked to see more this year as well. But let's assume they buy de Ligt and another CB:

Starters: Martinez/de Ligt
Second 11: TBD (wishlist Yoro)/Maguire
Fifth choice plus: Lindeloff/Evans/Kambwala?

We need to sell one of Maguire or Lindelof, but barring another crazy injury crisis, we have way too many. Really keeping Kambwala might make sense if you sold both Maguire and Lindeloff, but that seems pretty unlikely with no hints of movement for either.

I agree, seems like good business not to let him go as a free agent, make some money, and have a buy back option.

I never felt he was really close to being a regular starter or even a reliable backup.

Yeah, apparently they offered him a new contract but he rejected it. At that point, it makes sense to sell him and get something for him especially if you have a reasonable buy back clause.

But yeah, I don't think a 2nd CB was mandatory with Kambwala on the team but it definitely is now that he isn't. Will be interesting to see who they get to fill that role but if they don't get anyone, then say hello to Evans getting significant playing time again if even one injury hits the backline.

That's not an "if" an injury on the back line occurs. It's a "when".

These next 2 years are going to be rough. It will be a big roster turnover. ETH isn't getting a two year contract to win, he's getting a 2 year contract to kill time while the roster gets a massive overhaul.

Be that as it may, you aren't going to have more than about 5 cbs in the squad. Which we need to sell one to get to that number. Two if we bring another (I'm counting de Ligt as practically in, not counting Kambwala yet although sounds like he is one).

One is young and the other is old, so they are headed in different directions, but Evans was better than Kambwala last year. That said, I kind of bet this will be the last year we go to the Evans well.

Maybe he was but that doesn't mean, all other things being equal, that he's a better option this season or that he should be relied on for any meaningful role this season.

I'm not saying we should; that's kind of my point. Kambwala hasn't passed Evans for the reserve role, so he can't really stay. (And that's kind of assuming Lindeloff gets sold, otherwise there's even more traffic).

I thought Evans played quite well; he's winning no races, but he was good for a player that literally fell in our lap.

I hope Kambwala becomes a star, but whether he does or doesn't this was good business.

There are lots versions of this story out. They all say that ManU violated PSR last season, mostly over the sale to Radcliffe.

I find it hilarious that United is openly being discussed for the violation yet City can sit back, destroy the rules and nobody cares.

https://www.football365.com/news/man-utd-breached-psr-2023-24-avoiding-points-deduction-revealed

"Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson told Football Insider that he believes United must have breached PSR rules..."

LMAO...the former financial advisor of the club with 114 PSR violations is now conveniently advising that, in fact, the club's crosstown rival broke the rules. Amazing stuff.

No idea if United violated the rules or not. It's hilarious either way.

Zirkzee officially unveiled.

Shaw starts the final...hopefully joins training sooner rather than later but technically entitled to a 3 week break I think.

First pre-season game tomorrow.

First lineup for new season:

Lost on a late goal 1-0. Erik out.

Dre_00 said:

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Lost on a late goal 1-0. Erik out.

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Sorry, no take backs.

The guy who broke the news that United submitted a bid for Yoro has now reported that United and Yoro are in contract negotiations and United are currently ahead of Real Madrid. Yesterday, it was reported that Yoro was "touched' by United's interest.

All Real has to do is up their bid to Lille and they'll get him. But this appears to be some intelligent maneuvering from United as long as it is concluded relatively quickly. Worst case scenario is Real up their bid or Yoro has a change of heart and decides to just wait for Real Madrid by either forcing Lille to get less now or leave on a free in 25/26. If they are indeed discussing contracts, the latter seems unlikely. The former could happen though Real really do seem to be betting solely on the kids desire to play for them being enough to guarantee that they can get him easily and on the cheap. Best case scenario of course is that they get an extremely promising 18 year old CB who likely has a much higher ceiling than an older Branthwaite and they get him for about 20 million less than what they would have had to pay for Branthwaite (different players mind you but still very good business).

Either way, very early results from the new transfer decision makers appear promising.

🚨 Marseille reach agreement in principle with Mason Greenwood to sign forward from Manchester United. Work still needed - 22yo must travel, do medical, put pen to paper - but major development after deal between #OM & #MUFC struck last week @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/usJea6a4vK

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 16, 2024

22 years old. What could have been the last 2 years and going forward with a talented 22 year old striker.

Using some back of the napkin math and some basic assumptions about how add-ons and installment pay affects FFP/PSR, I would guess that United have somewhere between 70 and 100 million GBP left to spend this season if Greenwood is finalized and no other transfers out occur. That would likely mean max 2 more signings in. So if 2 of the 3 most rumored right now (Yoro, De Ligt, and Ugarte) get done, that could be the end of our summer activity unless a significant sale is made.

Well that escalated quickly

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Leny Yoro flying to UK to take medical + finalise personal terms as Man Utd push to complete signing from Lille. 18yo defender initially favoured #RMFC but #LOSC accepted initial €62m #MUFC bid - still work to do but now close @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/Vz5gTFH2Xx

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 17, 2024

What is happening?!?