Deadline Day Summer 2023

[OnlyOne]

Incomings I’d give an 8, I think we’ve massively improved as a squad with 3 players I know are going to be really good here.

If Havertz starts to do anything, then that’s just a bonus.

Out-goings I’d give a 3 I think, maybe worse. I think the fee for Balogun is pretty shocking, Tavares and Tierney should have got fee’s, the fee for Holding is something you’d get for a league 1 player (I’m serious).

The Xhaka fee is good.

 

[OnlyOne]

Btw I thought Amrabaat was super rated? Literally all the big clubs avoided signing him and he’s ended up on a loan on deadline day?

Sounds like a

 

[The_Playmaker]

Btw I thought Amrabaat was super rated? Literally all the big clubs avoided signing him and he’s ended up on a loan on deadline day?

Sounds like a

It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the pace of the league. He has gone from the Dutch league, to the Belgium league, to the Italian league. He has put up good numbers but the pace and physicality of the league is a massive factor.

Ouhnahi looked amazing on the international stage as the pace was also slower in the world cup. It suited Ambrabat aswell. Let's see how he adapts, but I don't think he is the game changer United fans are making his out to be.

 

[Game Over]

We'd better win the league this season or the whole process could come crashing down. Fingers crossed.

What makes you say that? Do you think players will get itchy feet if we don’t win the league this season?

 

[Nunowoolmez]

There will always be deadwood. It’s a cycle.

The end of last seasons window it felt like we were finally mostly free of deadwood.
I.e. We didn’t see Holding as deadwood back then.

Injuries, aging and players failing to cut it will come up most every season.

Ok, but my point is that Liverpool & City hardly ever have deadwood. They mostly buy very well & when they want to sell a player, they have no issues.

 

[ArsenesCoatMaker]

I think the window is a 9/10 from me. I'd rate the signings as follows:

Rice 9/10 - I do think it's a transformative signing. His engine is immense, his defensive awareness is world class and I think his offensive output will surprise a few people. I initially put 10/10 but I think that rating has to be kept for generational players

Timber 8/10 - perfect for our system. Great at inverting, carrying and distributing while being an aggressive ball winner. Let's just hope he comes back the same player

Havertz ?/10 - He's had some uninspiring performances. But the defensive side of his game is easily matching Xhaka's. He's still learning his midfield role in this side and has only played against parked buses. He's a big game player by all accounts and off the ball he looks great. His stamina looks to be top tier.

Now people are knocking the window based on an injury. I don't think that's reasonable. It's not something you can forsee. Has it left us short? Maybe, but I think we're intentionally playing with less defenders it is.

Sales

Disapointing we didn't get fees for more of our players. I suppose with Tierney clubs are questioning why he's barely played for 12 months and his 100k a week contract or however much it is. That's allot of wages to then pay a fee for when you don't know what Tierney's fitness and current ability actually is.

The Balogun deal is pretty decent coin. He went for the same amount other similarly scoring forwards in ligue 1 are going for. The Xhaka deal was good business.

 

[OnlyOne]

It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the pace of the league. He has gone from the Dutch league, to the Belgium league, to the Italian league. He has put up good numbers but the pace and physicality of the league is a massive factor.

Ouhnahi looked amazing on the international stage as the pace was also slower in the world cup. It suited Ambrabat aswell. Let's see how he adapts, but I don't think he is the game changer United fans are making his out to be.

I just found it interesting that Arsenal, PSG, Chelsea, City and Liverpool were all desperate for midfielders and everyone completely ignored him, even when he was cheap as chips.

I may eat my words and he’s class but maybe other teams have seen stuff they didn’t like. I also won’t buy the ‘only wanted United’ because if any of those teams come in he’s not saying no.

 

[LookingForEric]

Something needs to change at this club, we’re constantly getting the piss taken out of us when it comes to selling players. We’ve sold a 27 year old, experienced HG CB for far less money than some clubs are getting for loaning players no one’s ever heard of.
Holding you’d expect at least £5M, Tierney should be £25M, Turner should of been £10M etc, clubs are bullying us in deals because they know the people they’re dealing with are incompetent!

Turner with add ons is literally £10M.

Clubs are “bullying” us in deals because the players are ****.

If holding stayed you’d say “well everyone’s incompetent because he’s still here”.

We are one of the highest performing clubs in terms of outgoings this summer, that’s a fact. We’ve generated around £85M in player sales, without having one guy that’s sold for £80M +, with £16M to potentially come in for Tavares.

The only other clubs to outperform us with sales were Chelsea, City (only slightly) and then Sp**s who had a £100M asset sold, West Ham the same with Rice, Wolves who made like £150M in the end, and of course Brighton who also had a £115M sale.

 

[OnlyOne]

‘Only other clubs’ names half the league

 

[Hunta]

An early deadwood listing for next summer:

Runarsson (out of contract)
Okonkwo (out of contract)
Hein
Cedric (out of contract if still here)
Tavares
Tierney
Elneny (out of contract)
Jorginho (out of contract)
Lokonga
Pepe (out of contract if still here)
Marquinhos

No doubt more pieces will be added to the DEADWOOD pile as the season progresses - I’m looking at YOU ESR and Fairy Vieira.

 

[ArsenesCoatMaker]

Btw I thought Amrabaat was super rated? Literally all the big clubs avoided signing him and he’s ended up on a loan on deadline day?

Sounds like a

His passing stats look pretty impressive. Big clubs not going for a player doesn't mean he can't go onto be a top player. Obviously I hope he flops but Amrabat and Casemiro at the base looks way more solid than Casemiro and Mount.

 

[dashsnow17]

The only objective thing you can judge straight away is sales. Impossible to say how good a window it was until later this season. Have we improved, or messed with the chemistry too much.

You can judge sales though. It seems like every instance in isolation there is an excuse why we couldn’t get a higher fee, but put all together it’s a clear pattern. It’s seriously not good.

We’re selling proven PL players for prices you’d see about 10-15 years ago? Prices that are almost unheard of these days.

 

[The_Playmaker]

People keep moaning about not being able to sell our deadwood.

Tierney should be 25 million
Holding should be 15 million

We have developed away from these players but so has the rest of the league. Teams play deep blocks vs US. They do it because we are good and will get ripped apart of they leave space in behind. They don't deep block vs other teams.

All teams are trying to invert full backs.
There is a dearth of number 9s so who wants a 1 dimensional full back who can only push and run but can't pass inside.

The only player that I genuinely believe has value that we are unable to sell is Pepe. He has his flaws, but he is able to score goals and goals should be worth something. Pepe in a transition team like Brentford would be really effective. His wages are the problem. A 72 million pound player is on 72 million pound player wages.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Turner with add ons is literally £10M.

Clubs are “bullying” us in deals because the players are ****.

If holding stayed you’d say “well everyone’s incompetent because he’s still here”.

We are one of the highest performing clubs in terms of outgoings this summer, that’s a fact. We’ve generated around £85M in player sales, without having one guy that’s sold for £80M +, with £16M to potentially come in for Tavares.

The only other clubs to outperform us with sales were Chelsea, City (only slightly) and then Sp**s who had a £100M asset sold, West Ham the same with Rice, Wolves who made like £150M in the end, and of course Brighton who also had a £115M sale.

I think there is certainly some truth to this bit, & with Tierney his injury record possibly/probably put some clubs off.

We got a good fee for Xhaka imo & the Balo deal was also decent but can't help but feel if he was a City or Liverpool prospect, his fee would have been more.

Our main issue has been not selling players when their stock is high & retaining them, only to see their value plummet.

 

[LookingForEric]

I think there is certainly some truth to this bit, & with Tierney his injury record possibly/probably put some clubs off.

We got a good fee for Xhaka imo & the Balo deal was also decent but can't help but feel if he was a City or Liverpool prospect, his fee would have been more.

Our main issue has been not selling players when their stock is high & retaining them, only to see their value plummet.

Agree with the last point.

Do you also not think we’re simply not there yet as a club? City and Liverpool can demand such fees because they’ve been a constant at the top over the past few years. Any club sniffing around youngsters or fringe players will be like, ok cool, CL level squad players at least they’ll be good for us.

Whereas with Arsenal this is our first time back in the CL for 7 years, it’s going to take a while to build back that reputation. We haven’t won the league in 20 years so teams probably saw us as a side that had a similar level of footballer.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

An early deadwood listing for next summer:

Runarsson (out of contract)
Okonkwo (out of contract)
Hein
Cedric (out of contract if still here)
Tavares
Tierney
Elneny (out of contract)
Jorginho (out of contract)
Lokonga
Pepe (out of contract if still here)
Marquinhos

No doubt more pieces will be added to the DEADWOOD pile as the season progresses - I’m looking at YOU ESR and Fairy Vieira.

Out of interest, what level of keeper would you expect to have as 3rd choice ?

Hein is 1st choice for his national team & has barely played for us, do it's difficult to gauge his quality. You won't find many clubs with 3 keepers of the same quality. There is always a drop & it's almost always a youth keeper or a keeper reaching their last couple of seasons as a pro.

3rd choice keepers aren't really deadwood. They are there as emergency cover & that's it.

*Hopefully Tavares, Sambi, KT, & Marq can have impactful loans so we can flip them without much hassle next summer !

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Agree with the last point.

Do you also not think we’re simply not there yet as a club? City and Liverpool can demand such fees because they’ve been a constant at the top over the past few years. Any club sniffing around youngsters or fringe players will be like, ok cool, CL level squad players at least they’ll be good for us.

Whereas with Arsenal this is our first time back in the CL for 7 years, it’s going to take a while to build back that reputation. We haven’t won the league in 20 years so teams probably saw us as a side that had a similar level of footballer.

I was actually gonna make the same point on my post but I couldn't be arsed, so thanks for doing it for me lol

100% agree

 

[drippin]

Who said it was? Do you even read the posts you quote?

You said Chambers was hilarious, when he wasn't sold earlier and had to be let go for free.

Which was because he got a 315 day injury, which stopped his very good progress and declined him so much that he had to be let go for free. He has played very little even for Villa, which is sad.

I gave you other similar examples for Arsenal. Hope this helps, it's not difficult to understand.

 

[LookingForEric]

I was actually gonna make the same point on my post but I couldn't be arsed, so thanks for doing it for me lol

100% agree

Yurrrrpp. Just as important being a regular CL for sales.

 

[ArsenesCoatMaker]

The only player that I genuinely believe has value that we are unable to sell is Pepe. He has his flaws, but he is able to score goals and goals should be worth something. Pepe in a transition team like Brentford would be really effective. His wages are the problem. A 72 million pound player is on 72 million pound player wages.

But Pepe didn't do it in a transition team in Ligue 1 last season. He was poor all last season and you're only as good as your last season