Wouldn't be an offseason if Licha didnt go down without a knee injury.

Mathguy64 said:

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Wouldn't be an offseason if Licha didnt go down without a knee injury.

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To be fair, it looked like a quad injury. So 4-6 months.

Signed 18 yr old Tynan Thompson from Spurs. Left winger who has apparently been given an Ayden Heaven type path to first team playing time. 4m + 4m in potential add-ons.

I don't know if anyone here was really hot for Summerville from West Ham, but off to Saudi (for 60M GBP total package; good year to sell; since everyone at West Ham is so valuable, surprising they were relegated lol)

🚨 Offer accepted by West Ham United for Crysencio Summerville £55m guaranteed + £5m potential bonuses - total package worth just over €70m as #AlHilal try to finalise signing of 24yo #Netherlands international winger - not fully done yethttps://t.co/Hr429OPfhF@TheAthleticFC https://t.co/QumbUx8Rcc

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 21, 2026

Everyone's favorite Argentine academy graduate is off to Villa on a conditional option to buy. Maybe we will get a little out of this, I don't know, but I think our sell-on is on the profit not the gross. So if they sell for the 50M they want, we'd get 1M. Confetti! lol. It could happen maybe; as the Athletic article explains there is an artificial reason for Chelsea to overpay for Rogers and Villa to overpay for Garnacho, and the obligation to buy causes the UEFA rules on player exchange transactions to not apply because they would be separated by more than 45 days. (Sub required for that level of detail, sorry, but that's the idea)

🚨 Aston Villa agree deal sign Alejandro Garnacho from Chelsea. 22yo #CFC winger joins #AVFC on loan + conditional buy obligation. Medical done & Argentina int’l in Birmingham to complete. 4yr contract upon permanent switch - driven by Emery @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/39Uk4lYdbw

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 22, 2026

A relegated team getting nearly 150m for two of their players is insane

A little surprised United aren't looking at Welbeck since it seems Brighton are willing to let him go and they were rumored to be interested last summer. Would seemingly be a great rotation/back-up option for Sesko, but perhaps Chelsea are the only ones willing to pay Brighton's more than likely overpriced valuation.

Would actually love if we grabbed him as a cheap backup/mentor. Would be full circle for him to return to United AND it would keep him from scoring his annual worldie against us

I wish it would happen. At the same time, how much can you actually pay for an almost 36 year old? But that probably means they pay only like 5M or something, and I just get mad.

Before bringing in Welbeck to take backup minutes in all the extra matches they better figure out if they have to find minutes for Rashford. I won't be shocked to see him back.

We apparently loaned Sekou Kone and "sold" Tyler Fredricson to Lausanne. Seems we don't want Chelsea having all the shady shared club ownership fun.

Huh. Eddie Howe left Newcastle. They are in shambles.

Speculation is Howe didn't want to sell as much as they are (Bruno G. to Arsenal is close to done, supposedly). Possibly a better chance to move for Lewis Hall now that Howe is leaving. If Carrick sees Dorgu as a wing, then our only left back is Luke Shaw. Plus, even his contract expires next year, and I kind of doubt we extend.

Edit: Think Jose comes for his testimonial?

I'm not sure what their owner's long term strategy is but it's definitely a complete shift in strategy. The players they are bringing in are not of the same level/profile as the players they are selling and their new manager's resume includes Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Ahli. Before they operated like a team with a 5 year plan to become a perennial CL club. Now they're operating like a team with a 5 year plan to become Brighton.

Could be worse; the Saudis are at least still seem more committed than they are to their Liv Golf thing.

(One does kind of wonder if someone didn't say, "Wait… how much money have we spent on sports washing? What does it do for us again? What if we just keep the money and ignore mean articles instead?")

FabRom reporting that Everton are going to make an offer for Ethan Wheatley. He has been rumored to on loan to either Scotland, Netherlands, or English Championship.

Supposedly United rate him and I guess Everton do too. He's only 20, but he's scored exactly 3 league goals in his 38 appearances...against League One competition. Doesn't exactly instill confidence that he's ready for a step up.

So far I think we have made smart moves. I don't think the FO has done nearly enough to fight in multiple competitions. Everyone of the big clubs you expect to fight for the top 5 much less a title have gotten better or on the edge of getting better. I don't want another yo-yo season for what seems like the hundredth time.

You can kind of make a two deep for every position right now other than the last midfield slot and left back. I feel like something will still shake out at midfield because they could just sign Kone if they really wanted to close the position. (There is a little creative license here with Cunha, Rashford, and Dorgu all being left wings or providing coverage there, but Cunha and Rashford can play CF; I just don't know that they are really going for a backup striker if a few mil if Welbeck was not an acceptable patch). It seems like left back is the most pressing need, and I feel like we need to be most of the way there on one by this time next week; season starts really soon. I'm also worried about CB, but I just don't know when to think de Ligt is coming back, so he kind of counts but doesn't to me. At least Martinez may not be as bad as they feared (but then again, they said that about de Ligt, so who knows). We have 5 of them for two spots, but three are either over 30 (Maguire) or injury issues (de Ligt and Martinez)

Showstopper said:

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You can kind of make a two deep for every position right now other than the last midfield slot and left back. I feel like something will still shake out at midfield because they could just sign Kone if they really wanted to close the position. (There is a little creative license here with Cunha, Rashford, and Dorgu all being left wings or providing coverage there, but Cunha and Rashford can play CF; I just don't know that they are really going for a backup striker if a few mil if Welbeck was not an acceptable patch). It seems like left back is the most pressing need, and I feel like we need to be most of the way there on one by this time next week; season starts really soon. I'm also worried about CB, but I just don't know when to think de Ligt is coming back, so he kind of counts but doesn't to me. At least Martinez may not be as bad as they feared (but then again, they said that about de Ligt, so who knows). We have 5 of them for two spots, but three are either over 30 (Maguire) or injury issues (de Ligt and Martinez)

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Obviously, we don't have the inside information but given it was back surgery I think you have to treat de Ligt as out for the season. If he comes back, it's like a mid/late season roster addition you weren't expecting.

I don't know what to think. There was a video of him lifting what looked like pretty decent weight posted to his instagram about a week ago. He was also doing step up leg lunge looking exercises using a bench. I'm hesitant to get my hopes up because we've already been burned so much, but… maybe before calendar year 2027? Dare to dream? (Club said something recently like "early stages of 2026-27 season" but we've seen how reliable their vague timelines have been).

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbYrRE9Deb7/?img_index=4&igsh=MXJnZjl0Zms0Z3hxNg==

Showstopper said:

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Speculation is Howe didn't want to sell as much as they are (Bruno G. to Arsenal is close to done, supposedly). Possibly a better chance to move for Lewis Hall now that Howe is leaving. If Carrick sees Dorgu as a wing, then our only left back is Luke Shaw. Plus, even his contract expires next year, and I kind of doubt we extend.

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Has Carrick ever implemented a back 3? I know I know Amorim did and it sucked…but Thinking out loud, if Carrick wants to get Dorgu on the pitch more, it could have some value. With this, and Also With the injuries, I'm curious how much we see Shaw at CB this season along with Maguire and Yoro/Mazraoui anyway.

I highly doubt they are done. They'll likely bring in at least two more players.

Priority will likely be based on how things develop but if I had to guess right now, it will be another CM and a LB. Hard to know if there's any real path for Rashford to return, but I don't see how they can justify getting a left winger if he stays. Cunha, Rashford, Dorgu and new guy Thompson (my bet is he starts season on fringes of the first team) is a lot to choose from even if Cunha/Rashford are periodically playing forward. Throw in Mbeumo as an option at forward (and maybe Lacey's development letting United feel more comfortable moving Mbeumo to forward on occasion if needed?) and I don't see either left wing or forward as high priority...unless something changes or a great opportunity presents itself.

Everyone complains about how expensive forwards are… and yeah his wage is high, but his transfer fee is low for a guy that can put up goals and assists (which used to be pretty important for forwards). But no one he would go to seems to be coming in for him. And I don't think we would have enough time to get a good replacement before the start of the season if someone came in late. So….

Like Manchester, Rashford is red (at least until January, anyway).

Hopefully he's coming back focused.