There's plenty of talented players around that could get picked up but for me sterling is a no brainer. After the champions League final I thought that havertz should play as a false nine and rather than look at a striker we should have gone all out for a goal scoring winger. The player I wanted last summer was chiesa and if he didn't get that bad injury then I would still have been saying him. Sterling is exactly the right sort of player who can facilitate having havertz in the team. He's a luxury when you consider we need centre backs and possibly midfielders but havertz, mount and sterling up front would cause so many headaches for defences. If say rice came in as well then we could go to a back four and have 2 of mount, kovacic kante and Gallagher and put Hudson odoi in the front 3 as well. To me sterling just makes sense. 

We could gamble on another striker but of those who seem talented (scamacca, evanilson ect.) Are they better than broja? We already have havertz as well so going for sterling who's proven in this league for 50 million and would compliment the forwards we already have just makes sense.

I can’t fathom why this man is allegedly our prime transfer target. Has it come to this ladies & gentlemen? 
A 25 mill punt on sensible wages I’d be ok with to watch him miss as many as our current crop of duds do, but 40 mill on a 5 year 300K a week contract, why ? 

On 10/06/2022 at 14:58, axman2526 said:

Going for Nunez would be pointless. Liverpool have had him lined up for a while now, but there are other young talents we will hopefully identify as quickly as we did once upon a time with Oscar, KDB, Salah et al.

An old story so not really relevant now but Oscar does not belong in that list.

18 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

It really took being linked with Sterling for you to think that?

We signed an untalented Dortmund bench warmer while ignoring the 2 talented Wingers who were starting ahead of him.

We signed Lukaku despite him already proving he isn't talented enough for a big club and having glaring technical flaws that he has displayed for a decade.

Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Kepa, Bakayoko, Emerson.

Our scouting has been awful for a long time.

Kepa in particular was particularly bad because he had an 18m release clause 6 months before we bought him that no club on the planet wanted to trigger because Kepa was never an 18m goal keeper.   Our scouts clearly hadn't heard of him or apparently any other goal keeper up until the day Courtois left and then it was full blown panic

I'm pretty sure our scours just googled keepers with the highest release clauses and then made the assumption that must make Kepa decent and went for it.

Sterling would be a scouting masterclass in comparison to most of our business over the last 5 years.

I have to admit, that I agree with every word you say,  and agree that the more recent disasters were forgotten when looking back to the heydays of 2004/5.

In truth, our recruitment has been disastrous in recent years, dare I say, since Emanalo left the Club ??

5 hours ago, coombsie said:

I have to admit, that I agree with every word you say,  and agree that the more recent disasters were forgotten when looking back to the heydays of 2004/5.

In truth, our recruitment has been disastrous in recent years, dare I say, since Emanalo left the Club ??

That’s my view Emanalo was excellent. Get him back. 

Dirty Madrid now sniffing around him…

 

If its Tuchel that wants him then I have no issue with him signing for us. I trust Tuchel's judgement. 

13 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

If its Tuchel that wants him then I have no issue with him signing for us. I trust Tuchel's judgement. 

Given Sterling is still in talks with City over his role and possible new deal our interest does not hurt that at all.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Given Sterling is still in talks with City over his role and possible new deal our interest does not hurt that at all.

I think we have the upper hand that he'll get more playing time with us compared to City, with Ziyech, Werner and Lukaku all rumoured to be leaving. 

wrong thread. oops

Edited June 25, 20224 yr by Sheva

1 hour ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

I think we have the upper hand that he'll get more playing time with us compared to City, with Ziyech, Werner and Lukaku all rumoured to be leaving. 

Aye in terms of play time absolutely. In terms of winning trophies and money City and Real have the advantage.

Chelsea hopeful of signing Raheem Sterling for a similar price to Arsenal-bound Gabriel Jesus. #MCFC value Sterling at close to £60 million but are expected to compromise on price. £45 million could be enough, although Chelsea bidding a little lower first. Talks set this week.

Interesting that he says personal terms have been discussed, not that they've been agreed to. I wouldn't be surprised if the wages are e bigger issue than the fee if City will move him for something like £45 million.

I maintain Sterling is the sort of player you sign if he is the ONLY piece of the jigsaw you are missing. He would be a waste of money at this time as we lack creativity, especially through the middle of the side.

58 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

I maintain Sterling is the sort of player you sign if he is the ONLY piece of the jigsaw you are missing. He would be a waste of money at this time as we lack creativity, especially through the middle of the side.

I think you got to start somewhere. Sterling and Dembele would be a big upgrade on Pulisic, Werner and ZIyech. Midfield can be fixed with a proper DM, wich would allow us to play with 3 midfielders.

9 minutes ago, comtrend said:

I think you got to start somewhere. Sterling and Dembele would be a big upgrade on Pulisic, Werner and ZIyech. Midfield can be fixed with a proper DM, wich would allow us to play with 3 midfielders.

Sterling might happen, or he might be using us to get a new deal.

Dembele was certainly using us to get a new deal and has already said he is staying at Barca.

Personally I really don't get why we are not looking to sign De Jong from Barca instead of wasting our time chasing De ligt and his huge release clause.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

I maintain Sterling is the sort of player you sign if he is the ONLY piece of the jigsaw you are missing. He would be a waste of money at this time as we lack creativity, especially through the middle of the side.

He is creative. If you are referring to creative as in vision then no, but creative as in dribbling and creating opportunities for the striker he is. Drawing defenders into committing fouls. There is a reason his assists stats are always quite healthy.

13 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Sterling might happen, or he might be using us to get a new deal.

Dembele was certainly using us to get a new deal and has already said he is staying at Barca.

Personally I really don't get why we are not looking to sign De Jong from Barca instead of wasting our time chasing De ligt and his huge release clause.

De Jong, even if we were in for him wouldn't come. United will pay more wages for him than us and he doesn't seem to fit the calibre of CM we are after. With United he is guaranteed walk in their team. Not saying he doesn't start majority of game for us but not a guarantee. His wages are very high.

2 hours ago, STATS said:

He is creative. If you are referring to creative as in vision then no, but creative as in dribbling and creating opportunities for the striker he is. Drawing defenders into committing fouls. There is a reason his assists stats are always quite healthy.

De Jong, even if we were in for him wouldn't come. United will pay more wages for him than us and he doesn't seem to fit the calibre of CM we are after. With United he is guaranteed walk in their team. Not saying he doesn't start majority of game for us but not a guarantee. His wages are very high.

I'm not sure about that, Why would he want to drop out of CL football every season for a pay bump? My general rule of thumb is that any competitor outside of the CL stands a smaller chance in a tug of war over players although not always the case i guess however then your just filing your club up with very expensive less competitive players who want the quick bux etc?!

Looks like this is a goer with everything ive seen reported, Personal terms already being discussed means sterling is open to switching and its just a matter of money. If sterling wasnt happy with our offers they would of probably walked away by now as its been doing the rounds all week and its looking like tod may well be very busy.

Here's hoping for a decent july!

De Jong doesn't want to leave Barcelona and he's already on £270kpw, so to lure him away would be to offer him a higher salary.

United have no European football so you can assume they are willing to break the wage bill for him. 

15 minutes ago, Kantesmini said:

I'm not sure about that, Why would he want to drop out of CL football every season for a pay bump? My general rule of thumb is that any competitor outside of the CL stands a smaller chance in a tug of war over players although not always the case i guess however then your just filing your club up with very expensive less competitive players who want the quick bux etc?!

It is one season. More times a player will join a club who offers higher money than a club in UCL who are offering lower money. United got Pogba and Ibra when they weren't in UCL footy. Arsenal signed Aubameyang, Partey and (likely Jesus) without UCL football and all have left clubs in UCL to go to teams without UCL footy. There are many more examples too. Bayern I remember one season did not qualify for UCL and I am sure that season they got some of the biggest stars at the time. United are a big club and eventually will get in UCL footy again. De Jong is young and will not mind taking at least one season to play in Europa League if United pay higher money. Because, De Jong would need to take a huge pay cut to join us and I don't think he fancies doing that. United will give him the highest wages as usual.

1 hour ago, STATS said:

It is one season. More times a player will join a club who offers higher money than a club in UCL who are offering lower money. United got Pogba and Ibra when they weren't in UCL footy. Arsenal signed Aubameyang, Partey and (likely Jesus) without UCL football and all have left clubs in UCL to go to teams without UCL footy. There are many more examples too. Bayern I remember one season did not qualify for UCL and I am sure that season they got some of the biggest stars at the time. United are a big club and eventually will get in UCL footy again. De Jong is young and will not mind taking at least one season to play in Europa League if United pay higher money. Because, De Jong would need to take a huge pay cut to join us and I don't think he fancies doing that. United will give him the highest wages as usual.

I get the whole no CL higher wages/incentives but if we're competing for him say, Then even if our wage offer is slightly lower but can offer CL and loads of playing time in a much better squad who have actually won things in the past 7 years, Any player worth his salt picks the latter...

I don't get how barca haven't folded tbh, Billion quid debt yet like nothing happened at all!

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

De Jong doesn't want to leave Barcelona and he's already on £270kpw, so to lure him away would be to offer him a higher salary.

United have no European football so you can assume they are willing to break the wage bill for him. 

United are offering him 395K a week lmao

37 minutes ago, Kantesmini said:

I get the whole no CL higher wages/incentives but if we're competing for him say, Then even if our wage offer is slightly lower but can offer CL and loads of playing time in a much better squad who have actually won things in the past 7 years, Any player worth his salt picks the latter...

I don't get how barca haven't folded tbh, Billion quid debt yet like nothing happened at all!

Yep but because there is not a great need for him as we want a different type of midfielder, we wouldn't offer those wages, while United are desperate and the influence of the manager is a key pull as well. He has played under the new manager at Ajax.