Got a lot of criticism last year on here so can't see him changing his form by signing for united. He's looked slow in the middle with Kante so will just have to see how he does. What bothers me is the players in the side from last year that have gone/ going may have been replaced, but Conte stated with chmp lge football we would need a bigger squad. Unless there are deals in the background I think we are short by 3-4 players once the others are fit i.e. Hazard etc.

That is what we need. 3-4 players. I think we will end up with 2-3 players and probably not the ones Conte would have wanted. Someone young needs to step up I'm afraid.

These days the summer is 50% of the season and how it pans out. Last summer we got Conte. Two summers before that it was Costa and Cesc.

The way Utd has done business they are going to be strong, City as well. We are there with Spurs, Arsenal and maybe Pool in the next tier.

4 minutes ago, evissy said:

The way Utd has done business they are going to be strong, City as well. We are there with Spurs, Arsenal and maybe Pool in the next tier.

No, we are top tier, everyone else is below us.

20 minutes ago, enigma said:

pasalic is set to go back to italy on loan. i am not mad at that, i don't think he's good enough for us. at least not yet. 

didnt know that Spartak Moscow is in Italy

12 minutes ago, evissy said:

That is what we need. 3-4 players. I think we will end up with 2-3 players and probably not the ones Conte would have wanted. Someone young needs to step up I'm afraid.

These days the summer is 50% of the season and how it pans out. Last summer we got Conte. Two summers before that it was Costa and Cesc.

The way Utd has done business they are going to be strong, City as well. We are there with Spurs, Arsenal and maybe Pool in the next tier.

Agreed. We are definately falling way below our direct rivals in terms of how our squad looks. We have a top first 11 but the rest of the squad is very average in terms of strength and depth. 

United and City have seen their weakness and spent huge on adding to their squad which is what we should be doing. Instead we are selling more than we are bringing in and not replacing that experience and strength. It's actually pretty worrying and is not be shocked if Conte gets pissed off with the way our board are jeopardising our season ahead. We have one of the smallest squads in the league now which is simply ridiculous given our stature and finances.

Edited July 31, 20178 yr by Chelsbear

22 minutes ago, enigma said:

apparently we've made 200m since january 2017 from player sales. not sure how true that is though. 

There are all pretty rough, so bear with me.  But I think we've done

Matic 35M

Oscar 52M

Ake 20M

Cuadrado 17M 

Begovic 10M

Traore 9M

Bamford 6M

Atsu 6M

Chaloba 5M

We also are getting about 2.5M for the sale on of Salah

 

SO that's roughly 35+52+20+17+10+9+6+6+5+2.5= 162.5M

Edited July 31, 20178 yr by mad_mac

You get the sums wrong:
Matic - 40m.

Oscar - 60m.

Ake - 20m

Cuadrado - 17m3 + 5m. from the loan - 22,3m

Bamford - 10m(inc. bonuses)

Atsu - 6.2m

And the sum is 182.5m

And we also will probably get arround 3m. for Solanke so more then 185m .....

 

 

 

Our lack of depth is greatly exaggerated. Bring two wingbacks & a 4th choice CM in & we have a very strong squad. Way stronger than last season. More depth & overall quality, only inferior to City.

All this moaning abut Matic is laughable, a quickly declining player that hasn't hit the heights he had since 2014. Slow & ponderous on the ball, positionally weak, mediocre technically, one-footed, unathletic, extremely inconsistent & terrible against the press. Like Mata & Cech this is a sale we definitely won't regret unlike Filipe Luis & De Bruyne.

Our inability to complete the Alex Sandro deal is the only thing I'm overly worried about. Sandro & Hazard would be by far the most devastating duo in Premier League history. Two World Class players on one flank is almost unfair.

 

Edited July 31, 20178 yr by Gilvorak

I really think this is a bad decision to let him go. But that's life.

Great player who played a big role in two title wins. Will never forget the night he bossed Toure off the park when he first came back. 

Good luck to him (but not too much).

1 hour ago, Richard P said:

Got a lot of criticism last year on here so can't see him changing his form by signing for united. He's looked slow in the middle with Kante so will just have to see how he does.

Mourinho will be happy for him to largely just sit deep which will cover a lot of his deficiencies.

A key piece in one title win, a complete passenger in another, thank you and goodbye.

9 hours ago, Topico said:

didnt know that Spartak Moscow is in Italy

He is also set to be going to Betis as well 

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

My thoughts exactly. After just a season with Matic, United will be back desperate to sign a better defensive midfielder and by that time, to get a younger quality player they will still have to spend like 60 to 70.
Bad move for united!
I will be happy if we replace Matic with a quality midfielder in his mid 20s.

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. 

That's true. I can't see any other manager in the world who will pay more than 20m for Matic. Even the Chinese ain't interested in him. The board realised it and they took there chance before getting stuck with a depreciating player on high wage.

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.

You seriously think United will be a better team with Matic rather than obvious upgrades like Fabinho, Nainggolan or Verratti.

As long as he's replaced then that kind of offer is far too good to turn down, and almost certainly more than anything we would have gotten from any other team.

Can't remember the last time we share an opinion!

We both have a birthday today, so happy birthday to him.

weakness from the board i bet utd wouldnt sell us a player

Trust me, if we try to sign Matic back after one season with them, either on loan or a permanent deal, they will be happy to do business with us.

I think it's a done deal. Just hope we have a replacement.
While he wasn't great by any means, Matic played his part in our wins but I will always be grateful to him in that he spelled the imminent end to Mikel's time here. For that alone I just cannot be negative about him. Ciao and thanks.

I am more grateful for all the success we had of which Mikel played a part in than that of Matic.

I don't understand all this tantrum with selling to a rival. Conte wants to improve our team and Matic can't be an improvement so we sold him to united who overpayed for an aging average player. It's good business for us as he is worse than the other players they have been linked with. Now to those who claim united won't sell to a rival, can you place a bet on united holding on to someone like Carrick if we try to sign him for like 50m? A player who might not even play more than 20 games mostly as substitute for them!
Lol, am willing to do more business with United this transfer window as we still have the an experienced and world class keeper in Eduardo who will like to showcase his acrobatic skills in the Champions league this season.

I'm wondering who will become the next scapegoat if Matic goes, as it seems he will. My betting is Alonso and Moses.

Its already Moses. If Moses leave, Batshuayi will take over.

15 hours ago, Gilvorak said:

Our lack of depth is greatly exaggerated. Bring two wingbacks & a 4th choice CM in & we have a very strong squad. Way stronger than last season. More depth & overall quality, only inferior to City.

All this moaning abut Matic is laughable, a quickly declining player that hasn't hit the heights he had since 2014. Slow & ponderous on the ball, positionally weak, mediocre technically, one-footed, unathletic, extremely inconsistent & terrible against the press. Like Mata & Cech this is a sale we definitely won't regret unlike Filipe Luis & De Bruyne.

Our inability to complete the Alex Sandro deal is the only thing I'm overly worried about. Sandro & Hazard would be by far the most devastating duo in Premier League history. Two World Class players on one flank is almost unfair.

 

But it's not greatly exaggerated. You're right, bring in two wingbacks and a 4th choice CM and we will look very strong......but the fact is we haven't got those players yet and don't look like we are any closer to bringing those players in either. I would feel a lot more comfortable bringing those players in before letting players go.

Herrera has quickly become one of the most overrated players in the league.

Matic is better than him and will definitely be more of a mainstay than him under Mourinho.

10 minutes ago, startedwithglenn said:

Herrera has quickly become one of the most overrated players in the league.

Matic is better than him and will definitely be more of a mainstay than him under Mourinho.

I don't think there is a United player that doesn't get overrated at some point. 

12 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I don't think there is a United player that doesn't get overrated at some point. 

Remember Januzaj being spoken in the same breath as Hazard? 

17 hours ago, Gilvorak said:

Our lack of depth is greatly exaggerated. Bring two wingbacks & a 4th choice CM in & we have a very strong squad. Way stronger than last season. More depth & overall quality, only inferior to City.

All this moaning abut Matic is laughable, a quickly declining player that hasn't hit the heights he had since 2014. Slow & ponderous on the ball, positionally weak, mediocre technically, one-footed, unathletic, extremely inconsistent & terrible against the press. Like Mata & Cech this is a sale we definitely won't regret unlike Filipe Luis & De Bruyne.

Our inability to complete the Alex Sandro deal is the only thing I'm overly worried about. Sandro & Hazard would be by far the most devastating duo in Premier League history. Two World Class players on one flank is almost unfair.

 

Probably need another attacking midfielder as well, unless we're relying on Kenedy or Moses to step up.