This would be a monumental mistake.  Firstly, we're short of midfield options ourself, and secondly we would be making United a hell of a lot stronger whilst making ourselves weaker.  You really have to wonder what's going on for the board to allow this.  If he has to be sold then sell to a completely different country.  I'm sure there's other teams out there that are interested in him, it can't just be United.

My worry is that we are not linked with quality replacements and the ones I can think of seems hard to get.

Edited July 30, 20178 yr by comtrend

3 minutes ago, comtrend said:

My worry is that we are not linked with quality replacements and the ones I can think of seems hard to get.

Exactly.  It just seems like we're selling for the sake of selling at this point.  Kante, Matic, Bakayoko and Cesc is a great quartet of midfielders.  It's going to be a long season and all of those players would have a part to play.  As it stands, getting Baka in only to sell Matic is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.  If we had another player lined up then I would feel a little better about Matic leaving (only a little, because I still think it's a mistake selling to United, no matter what the price is).

He may not be 'world class' to everyone but from the years of playing and watching football sometimes a so called 'inferior player' can contribute to what makes a team tick. Conte's alleged text nonsense with Diego and letting Matic go could be his downfall.

Edited July 30, 20178 yr by the special one

57 minutes ago, STATS said:

What the club are thinking strengthening another rival I do not know and United of all teams espec after Lukaku thing should be a no go. Even if it is a very good offer, United are a much stronger force with Matic in. He will allow Pogba to be much more of an offensive threat next season and I believe Pogba is going to be on another level this season. Concerns me about how much the board are always happy to receive money without realising bigger implications.

obviously offering more money than juve. juventus seem to want a deal all the time. juventus could also be reluctant to buy matic because it would involve a deal with sandro. could be something to do with either not wanting to let sandro go or wanting full fee for him. it's the only thing i can think of. 

8 minutes ago, the special one said:

He may not be 'world class' to everyone but from the years of playing and watching football sometimes a so called 'inferior player' can contribute to what makes a team tick. Conte's alleged text nonsense with Diego and letting Matic go could be his downfall.

matic hasn't been the same player he was in the first season and a half (of less) since returning. he doesn't offer enough going forward when parterned with kante, so it's defensive overkill. bakayoko is more forward tthinking from what i've read, but is capable defensively too, which is exactly what we need next to kante. matic is just too often labourous. there's no doubting though that with him partnered with herrera and pogba it would be a solid midfield, but for us it's just not going to work for him with baka here now. business is business. 

Edited July 30, 20178 yr by enigma

Plain and simple- Do not sell to a rival. 

Why is it always us that sell to rivals? Other clubs don't allow it or if they do it's rare we seem to be selling to anyone.

Don't rate Matic one bit. I'd be delighted with 50 million however only if we bring in another midiflder and sell abroad.

that was fast lol

 

Well there it is I guess. Hope we have a replacement in mind. What we have is not deep enough to compete on multiple fronts. 

Fee is around 40m.  It might mean we step up our chase for Sandro now, but we do still need another central midfield to replace Matic as well.

Good riddance buddy. Can't stand players forcing their way to a rival. Lets hope Mou throws you under the bus as many times as he did in 2015 eh.

Confirmed?

Can't blame him for wanting to go, we signed Bakayoko so the conversation between him and the club must have been do you want to sit on the bench or go?

He's still only 28 and been starting for a top club for 3 years, he's not going to give that up when there's an opening at United. Makes you appreciate Cesc even more huh?

The question isn't who we replace him with but who we replace the 4th choice CM - i.e Chalobah with, another youth or I think it will be a player bought in with a smaller reputation.

10 minutes ago, evissy said:

Confirmed?

Not 100% confirmed, but basically it's confirmed.

I'd imagine we've got a replacement agreed and signed, otherwise selling a midfielder when we're already paper thin in that department is pure stupidity.

 

2 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I'd imagine we've got a replacement agreed and signed, otherwise selling a midfielder when we're already paper thin in that department is pure stupidity.

Wouldn't be the first time lol.

Dont think he strenghtens Utd one bit. Herrera already does everything Matic does, only better. Herrera and Matic in a midfield pairing diesnt work well either. Speaks volumes to how little Conte rates him that he doesnt even care if he goes even if we are short on options. Even to a rival. If the fee is 40 mill as rumoured thats a fantastic deal. A year from now we will all sit back and laugh at Utd

No matter how good or bad matic has been for us over the yrs and however much we get for him iam f**king sick of us selling to rivals really pisses me off and makes one wonder what the f**k the board are playing at!!!

10 minutes ago, Womble said:

No matter how good or bad matic has been for us over the yrs and however much we get for him iam f**king sick of us selling to rivals really pisses me off and makes one wonder what the f**k the board are playing at!!!

he wants to go, utd are the only ones willing to pay what we want. that's it really. i think one thing great about our owner/board is they're not willing to keep a player who wants to leave, no matter how long they've been at the club. 

Edited July 30, 20178 yr by enigma

30 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

Can't blame him for wanting to go, we signed Bakayoko so the conversation between him and the club must have been do you want to sit on the bench or go?

He's still only 28 and been starting for a top club for 3 years, he's not going to give that up when there's an opening at United. Makes you appreciate Cesc even more huh?

The question isn't who we replace him with but who we replace the 4th choice CM - i.e Chalobah with, another youth or I think it will be a player bought in with a smaller reputation.

I don't think Kante and Fabregas works that well in a midfield two to be honest. We should have 3-5-2 as an option, with Fabregas beeing given a bigger role this year by Conte. We already switched to that formation several times last season during games, makes no sense to me not to have 4 quality central midfielders to be able to switch from 3-4-3 when there is a need. 

Why do we sell to rivals when they won't sell to us? Yes he's been on the decline for a while and we are getting a great amount of money for him but he would still strengthen them, we must have a replacement lined up surely otherwise we will struggle big time.

Kind of surprised about this... and I agree about not selling to a rival even though you don't see him as a starting option. I still remember when Evra took over our left back position and Heinze wanted to move to Liverpoo...

There was just no way in hell that he would be allowed to make that move

good riddance