We still need people in key positions whether we go for a big name or not.

Furlock Bones said:

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We still need people in key positions whether we go for a big name or not.

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Yep. Need depth at LB and CB.

Rashford is kind of expensive, but I'll be honest, 50M for Summerville, even with 1/3 to 1/2 of his wages, seemed pretty expensive too. Seems like that was the probable alternative. Rashford is admittedly a short-term solution given his contract, though. But I'm still a big fan… when he's on, he's really good. If we have an improved midfield that can help feed him, and if he's serious about his career…

Well, I'm ready to be hurt again. Lol.

Definitely seeing more transfer rumors at left back and midfield this morning. Whether they are borne of legitimate United interest or fiction artists starting to ramp up the nonsense as we head to the late stages of the transfer window remains to be seen.

If you're talking about the David Raum stuff, it's showing up in my Leipzig news (but not from anyone reputable yet).

He'd be one I'd be sad to see go. (If y'all recall, I liked Sesko's potential, but was happier to have the money).

Strengths: work rate, leadership, crossing, tracks back well to defend. A fiery competitor.

Weaknesses: can be a hothead - has leveled out a lot after he became team captain… but he still occasionally makes rash choices… cards, conceding penalties, etc. He'll gamble a lot too. That said, I'd rather have a player who goes for broke and loses sometimes than one who plays too safe all the time, but it is frustrating when it costs the team.

I think he's probably better as a LWB than a LB but he's done both for Leipzig.

Yeah Raum was one. Jorge Salinas as well at LB. But nothing from what I would call a reputable source.

I'm worried the Raum news is just coming from Carl Anka's shopping for Carrick article for the Athletic last week where he just tries to find players that fit stat profiles we might like and might be available.

That thought crossed my mind as well. Whether it is or not, it's in the category of made up clickbait in my filing system.

A repugnant soulless void whose brand marches on ceaselessly, spreading misery across the globe,..now linked with Bezos https://t.co/p8xO1KfDsi

— Jim Keoghan (@jim_keoghan) August 10, 2026

Maybe Elon is a closet United fan?

Is it happening??? (Probably not, they are probably just buying a backup for Hall, but maybe I can delude myself for a bit).

In related news, Arsenal is shopping Lewis -Skelly, specifically to us. If Hall doesn't happen, we need something, but I kind of feel like if we wanted to go for Skelly it would've probably happened already. Need to get someone though…

Edit: Livramento is (still) hurt so probably just coverage. It was a nice 5 mins lol.

🚨⚪️⚫️ Newcastle are in club to club talks with Benfica for 23 year old fullback Amar Dedić.

Negotiations started today and Dedić is keen on #NUFC move, also approved as target by Matthias Jaissle.

Deal on - follows @samc_reports today. pic.twitter.com/X9xtyAnxOl

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 11, 2026

I don't know why people think Bezos being a minority owner matters. Do people think he's going to shovel in money for players for free to support a 30% equity stake? If he were doing that, wouldn't he just buy the whole thing? Do we even think he likes Liverpool, or is this one of about 1,000 buckets for him to park money? Latter seems much more likely to me.

(Edit: and I'm not even talking about you guys, I've just seen a lot more articles from the UK acting like it's a big deal than I think it warrants, and I think, "I wonder if Bezos actually even knows he's buying this?" lol.)

Depends on how they structured the deal, but yeah, just cause Bezos buys doesn't mean that any of his money hit the club's books. Simplifying greatly in an attempt to mirror stock market language… the club would have to "issue new shares" instead of just having the current ownership group sell their own shares… which means the current ownership would have to believe that the reinvestment will create enough growth in the company/club to offset the giant negative of diluting their percentage share of ownership while getting nothing immediately in return. It's a big ask for a current owner.

I'd bet that 9 times out of ten, if a club gets a new owner added, most of their money just goes to current owners who want to cash out a bit rather than reinvest in the club.

yea, this is like share dilution. creates valuations. gets another large backer in the mix.

No freaking out over meaningless preseason matches.

Sucks that it was a mostly full squad.

Sucks that it was a loss to Amorim. And that LB got exposed.

I didn't see it, but if it results in us getting a left back, I'll live with the loss to Amorim.

Showstopper said:

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I didn't see it, but if it results in us getting a left back, I'll live with the loss to Amorim.

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I only saw some highlights. Truly preseason matches are meaningless. But getting pumped by the guy you fired does not feel awesome.

Our unaddressed weaknesses are still our weaknesses.

I'd rather win than not. But I don't think there's much correlation between pre-season performance and actual performance. I mean, looking at Sofascore ratings, this Bruno Fernandes guy had a pretty bad day. I think he will end up being ok, though.

Arsenal look like they are ready to repeat. The Bruno G signing was probably the best of the offseason. No way they are selling Lewis-Skelly.

Yeah, he and Zubi-doo plus some minutes for Dowman are probably their double pivot bench with Rice and Bruno G. first choice. Not sure why he was being shopped, but I can't see him getting sold now.

I want to see how the EPL manages and calls all the crap in the area on corners and free kicks. The WC suggests a lot of Artetaball could be curtailed.

Now it is the EPL so they may very well just ignore it.

Rodri to Barca. Was really hoping he would go to RM so United could pry away one of their mids

76.5MM.

What did Barca do? Sell their 2042 media rights?

I'm officially annoyed that a 4th (Santos, Tielemans, Darlow) first team signing hasn't come in by now.

Dre_00 said:

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I'm officially annoyed that a 4th (Santos, Tielemans, Darlow) first team signing hasn't come in by now.

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we are staring at another yo-yo down season if we don't fix the 2 glaring issues. because right now, we have would have to do what Newcastle did. focus on either the Champions League or Premier League to the detriment of the other because we simply don't have enough quality players.

I'm losing my crap, especially at left back. I can kind of mentally say, "OK, how many minutes in all comps does the sixth midfielder (if you count Bruno and Mount) really get?" Comparing to Arsenal's minutes in all comps last year, if you don't count Lewis-Skelly as a midfielder (who was getting minutes at FB at the start of the year but MF at the end), Arsenal's sixth midfielder I believe is Norgaard at just over 1,000 in all comps. Maybe add 500 because we don't have a Lewis-Skelly analog sitting around. Meanwhile, at Right Back, Timber and Ben White had just under 3400 and 1900 minutes in all comps, which I point out because they had players splitting more time at other positions at left back.

So, I mean, we need both pretty bad, but left back is a freaking crisis. And I picked Arsenal just because they played a lot of games, and we'd kind of want to get at least to 16 knock out round in UCL and not embarrass ourselves in the cups. If you want to use Liverpool as a proxy, Chiesa and Endo combined for around 1250 minutes as 6th and 7th midfielders and Kerkez and Robertson did 3200 and 2000 minutes roughly at LB, respectively. (City is harder to use just because of the volume of players that play multiple positions regularly; Chelsea has such a huge squad; Newcastle isn't a Big 6, and no one should model Tottenham last year really; believe that was all the UCL teams last year)

So, I mean that's a lot of minutes, but especially left back… I don't mean to overreact, but we basically need someone that could basically be a starter in tandem with Shaw, and we still don't have one. So…. Kind of a crisis with the season starting in less than a week. I'm kind of panicking.

I still think they'll do something but I'm pretty sure that whatever they end up doing could have likely been done sooner. It's a relatively easy start to the season but that shouldn't be an excuse to delay signings.

If they don't do anything, it will be an abject dereliction of duty. I get that they probably expected to be rid of Rashford and Ugarte's wages (plus whatever transfer fee they could muster) but the 14th highest net spend in a summer where you just qualified for CL is pretty hard to defend.

so, someone on Reddit brought up the fact that this December ends the 3 year moratorium on the Glazers taking out dividends after INEOS bought in. people are now speculating that is a major reason for the lack of spend.

I don't think they will be practically able to take dividends until after new Old Trafford gets built. They had to increase credit just to get the cash for the extra land for new OT.

Showstopper said:

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I don't think they will be practically able to take dividends until after new Old Trafford gets built. They had to increase credit just to get the cash for the extra land for new OT.

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i don't think anything can stop the Glazers from taking money out of the club.

There isn't the cash. Dividend payments are paid from cash, and we don't have cash. I think there is conflict between the siblings with some wanting to cash out their equity. I think that's where the rumor of selling again a couple months back came from. But unless they have a way the generate actual cash, dividends aren't really very realistic.

They did it in the dark again.

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester United closing in on deal to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton & Hove Albion. #MUFC offer for 22yo Cameroon midfielder ~£60+5m; below #BHAFC valuation but amicable talks continue as all parties work to reach agreement @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/WmP1bD2JuT

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) August 19, 2026

On the one hand, if they get it done for 60+5, if feels like an overpay for a guy who had a bad season last year. On the other hand, it feels like a great deal given what other similarly aged players have gone for in that position this summer.

Would be a sizable discount to the price Brighton are rumored to have put on Baleba.