[Twitter]

It looks like those that wanted Nketiah to work for a season under Bielsa are going to get their wish.

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

Thompson > Brentford
Rico > Celtic
Tierney > Arsenal

Lots of different people on Twitter saying Tierney has been spotted in London.

Brilliant shop-window strategy by Emery.
I was not impressed from the little i saw of Thompson.
The rate at which we have began kicking out useless players suggests either scraping for every loose penny for a major buy or Kroenke has ordered Raul to bring our negative balance into the black.

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

It looks like those that wanted Nketiah to work for a season under Bielsa are going to get their wish.

One of the best pieces of transfer news all summer.

Gazza M wrote:

We shouldn't have bothered with pepe if we end up with these poverty options. That money should've been used on the defense

£80m on a 20 year old CB is ridiculous.

Mirth wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

We shouldn't have bothered with pepe if we end up with these poverty options. That money should've been used on the defense

£80m on a 20 year old CB is ridiculous.

Didn't have to be upamecano. Could've been any number of other centre halves. In reality we needed 2 to replace both kos and mustafi

Klaus wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

It looks like those that wanted Nketiah to work for a season under Bielsa are going to get their wish.

One of the best pieces of transfer news all summer.

Yeah, Leeds probably have more money to buy him outright.

I'm actually okay with Luiz - a loan ideally but even permanently for the right fee. A couple of seasons back I would have said no, but think he's more reliable and he's more mobile than Sokratis. Wouldn't want to team him up with Mustafi, but if we can offload the latter, see no problem with him being around to guide Holding and Saliba. The fee quoted for Upamecano is too high IMO and we'll be in a better position to negotiate in January if we really want him with only 18 months left on his contract.

The noises around the luiz deal suggest it wouldn't just be a 1 year loan either

Gazza M wrote:

We shouldn't have bothered with pepe if we end up with these poverty options. That money should've been used on the defense

We needed Pepe.

Another season of Ozil/Mkhi starting is forfeiting top 4 again.

We could afford to sort both attack and defence this window.

We needed both. And it's not an either/or situation.
The Upamecano rumours started as far back as May. So we have been looking into this situation. We didn't just stir yesterday and decide we want the Frenchman

Gazza M wrote:

Mirth wrote:

£80m on a 20 year old CB is ridiculous.

Didn't have to be upamecano. Could've been any number of other centre halves. In reality we needed 2 to replace both kos and mustafi

In reality United also needed a CB and couldn't find many alternatives to Macguire. It's not been an easy market to shop in.

Shady wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

We shouldn't have bothered with pepe if we end up with these poverty options. That money should've been used on the defense

We needed Pepe.

Another season of Ozil/Mkhi starting is forfeiting top 4 again.

We could afford to sort both attack and defence this window.

Claudius wrote:

We needed both. And it's not an either/or situation.
The Upamecano rumours started as far back as May. So we have been looking into this situation. We didn't just stir yesterday and decide we want the Frenchman

51 goals against suggests the defence is the bigger problem by miles.
https://www.skysports.com/premier-league-table/2018

It has really put the Saliba deal into perspective. We all wondered why Arsenal was spending so much time running around after an 18 year old for the first half of the summer. Well that 18 year old was only the highest rated defender of his age group, had just signed a contract extension, and was on the verge of his first full top flight season. That was good foresight by Raul + co.

That's next year's £60+ chase avoided

Mirth wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

Didn't have to be upamecano. Could've been any number of other centre halves. In reality we needed 2 to replace both kos and mustafi

In reality United also needed a CB and couldn't find many alternatives to Macguire. It's not been an easy market to shop in.

I think they wanted a solid, big, English speaking centreback more than anything (and I sympathise with that view). In that sense the market was closed off maybe. An £80 million bid early in the window would surely have given them a pretty good chance of landing most defenders out there though. In the end they got skinned because they left it so late, just like we're failing with bids right now that would probably have been considered pretty good back in June.

Bold Tone wrote:

Shady wrote:

We needed Pepe.

Another season of Ozil/Mkhi starting is forfeiting top 4 again.

We could afford to sort both attack and defence this window.

Claudius wrote:

We needed both. And it's not an either/or situation.
The Upamecano rumours started as far back as May. So we have been looking into this situation. We didn't just stir yesterday and decide we want the Frenchman

51 goals against suggests the defence is the bigger problem by miles.

We've made a £60mil bid for Upamecano. 

It may not have been enough to close the deal, but if we are willing to spend that sort of cash AFTER buying Pepe, then clearly we could have sorted both positions. Seems like we didn't plan our defensive signing strategy well. We only had cb links at the end of the window.

Signing Upamecano, but not Pepe still wouldn't have been good enough.

Can't blame Raul though. Edu joined late, Pepe returned from AFCON late to make a decision. After spending on our number 1 target + Saliba we have to see what else we are left with to buy.

Bold Tone wrote:

Shady wrote:

We needed Pepe.

Another season of Ozil/Mkhi starting is forfeiting top 4 again.

We could afford to sort both attack and defence this window.

Claudius wrote:

We needed both. And it's not an either/or situation.
The Upamecano rumours started as far back as May. So we have been looking into this situation. We didn't just stir yesterday and decide we want the Frenchman

51 goals against suggests the defence is the bigger problem by miles.
https://www.skysports.com/premier-league-table/2018

Our inability to retain possession is part of our defensive woes. Bringing in Ceballos and Pepe will go a long way towards addressing this. We were so disjointed with the ball, and constantly putting ourselves on the back foot. 

Shady wrote:

Bold Tone wrote:

51 goals against suggests the defence is the bigger problem by miles.

We've made a £60mil bid for Upamecano. 

It may not have been enough to close the deal, but if we are willing to spend that sort of cash AFTER buying Pepe, then clearly we could have sorted both positions. Seems like we didn't plan our defensive signing strategy well. We only had cb links at the end of the window.

Signing Upamecano, but not Pepe still wouldn't have been good enough.

weve been linked to tierney for months now. they clearly know the defense needs sorting.

Clrnc wrote:

Can't blame Raul though. Edu joined late, Pepe returned from AFCON late to make a decision. After spending on our number 1 target + Saliba we have to see what else we are left with to buy.

Of course you can blame him; it's literally his job to get this shit done. It's no different than being in charge of any other club.

Yup, Raul is at fault as much as anyone. The late Upamecano bid shows that the money's there as well.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Yup, Raul is at fault as much as anyone. The late Upamecano bid shows that the money's there as well.

What if the money was only released after everyone went to America for a face-to-face with The Moustache 2-3 weeks ago? 
And what if bids have been made that we don't know about? It's not like this is a reality show where Raul records his every move. 

Ricky1985 wrote:

[Twitter]

Thompson > Brentford
Rico > Celtic
Tierney > Arsenal

Lots of different people on Twitter saying Tierney has been spotted in London.

He’s definitely not in London 100%

Claudius wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Yup, Raul is at fault as much as anyone. The late Upamecano bid shows that the money's there as well.

What if the money was only released after everyone went to America for a face-to-face with The Moustache 2-3 weeks ago? 
And what if bids have been made that we don't know about? It's not like this is a reality show where Raul records his every move. 

To your first question, that would change everything. To your second one, why would bids we don't know about change anything? That would still mean money was available and Raul couldn't land a defender.

Luiz is fine. He's a definite upgrade on Koscielny at least.

Rugani back on the radar

So it's Rugani or Luiz. Let's hope Holding is up to speed soon.

Is Luiz in, Mustafi out an upgrade?

I will say Luiz has some solid passing out of the back but he's full of the same madness as Mustafi.

John Cross trying to stay relevant because no one asked him to join The Athletic.

If we are getting Rugani and Luiz, I will be more satisfied than either one of them. At least if Rugani is shit we have Luiz to partner Sokratis

everyone here has been trashing rugani and calling him the italian mustafi and i really hope they are wrong. but damn, i wish we could do better.

that said, if we end this window with ceballos, pepe, tierney, a new CB and we're able to move a bunch of fringe guys, and hopefully mustafi, then that was a good window.

Claudius wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Yup, Raul is at fault as much as anyone. The late Upamecano bid shows that the money's there as well.

What if the money was only released after everyone went to America for a face-to-face with The Moustache 2-3 weeks ago? 
And what if bids have been made that we don't know about? It's not like this is a reality show where Raul records his every move. 

I think it is possible as it bears similarity to the Wenger non-sacking situation.

Although Wenger, 67, also met chief executive Ivan Gazidis on Monday, the time he spent with Kroenke would have been decisive.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40088644

Mirth wrote:

John Cross trying to stay relevant because no one asked him to join The Athletic.

Cross: I'd love to join the Athletic
Athletic: That's cool
Cross: So, will I receive an offer?
Athletic: Sorry, its hard to hear you, you're breaking up. We'll have to get back....
phone line disconnects

Leno
Bellerin Sokratis Luiz Tierney
Xhaka Ceballos Torreira
Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang

A solid first eleven, and Holding could come into the first team. Depth in attack is worrying.

Klaus wrote: