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Christian Pulisic

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,883
71,188
I must admit the romantic in me wants Bale most of all but if it's a choice from that selection I'd love Martial, a top CM and De Ligt (only if we can't make peace with Toby)
Im probably wrong, but I honestly think there’s more of a chance of Bale coming home(and theres very little chance of that) than United selling us Martial. I believe what the ITK is saying but honestly when it comes down to it, i just cannot envision a scenario where Mourinho would sell to a club he views as a title rival.
 

Ghost Hardware

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
18,000
61,618
Moura ....... Eriksen..... Alli.....Martial
Pulisic ..................................... Son

Bye bye Lamela (ITK that he’s available)
Which would leave us with zero left footed attacking players. I do wonder if Eriksen will be dropped into midfield. Even if we sold Lamela I still don’t see how we keep all those players happy.
 
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Living Legend Colm G

SC Supporter
Jan 30, 2011
1,639
6,242
Im probably wrong, but I honestly think there’s more of a chance of Bale coming home(and theres very little chance of that) than United selling us Martial. I believe what the ITK is saying but honestly when it comes down to it, i just cannot envision a scenario where Mourinho would sell to a club he views as a title rival.

I'm not so sure. I honestly believe Maureen is arrogant enough to think we are not legitimate rivals to United and believes they are up on the next level with City looking down on us. I believe the ITK that it's the United hierarchy rather than him that will block it if anything.
 

GetSpurredOn

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2006
5,022
8,922
My guess is two from Pulisic, Sessegnon and Martial, maybe even place Bale in that group. Two from that list, plus De Ligt and a CM, that's your £170m or whatever it was.
4 players at £40-45m each.
Quality not quantity.
Sell Vorm, Aurier/Trippier, Alderweireld, Dembele, Sissoko, maybe Lamela, Nkoudou, Llorente and Janssen to recover as much of the spend as possible.

Reduce the player pool, less heads, but higher quality overall, then clear a pathway for the brighter prospects to fill the gaps where required.

Did Sissoko really offer much more than Onomah could have? Would minutes on the park for Sterling have been that much more derrirmental than what Janssen and Llorente gave? Could Edwards have benefitted more from the squad place Nkoudou took?
Could Skipp provide a viable alternative in the deeper midfield 2 rather than playing Dier and Wanyama together when Dembele was out? Could Georgiou's athleticism have provided some spark from LWB when we were running Davies into the ground whilst Rose was out?
 

GetSpurredOn

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2006
5,022
8,922
I'm not so sure. I honestly believe Maureen is arrogant enough to think we are not legitimate rivals to United and believes they are up on the next level with City looking down on us. I believe the ITK that it's the United hierarchy rather than him that will block it if anything.

Ultimately, it could just be a case of Mourinho actually not rating Martial, and as such not being that bothered if he moves to us, he's always looking for the next shiny toy anyhow, and will convince himself whoever he's buying instead is worth the getting shot of Martial. He's had a history of mismanaging players and selling them because they didn't perform for him, only to see we them thrive elsewhere.
 

Everlasting Seconds

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2014
14,914
26,616
My guess is two from Pulisic, Sessegnon and Martial, maybe even place Bale in that group. Two from that list, plus De Ligt and a CM, that's your £170m or whatever it was.
4 players at £40-45m each.
Quality not quantity.
Sell Vorm, Aurier/Trippier, Alderweireld, Dembele, Sissoko, maybe Lamela, Nkoudou, Llorente and Janssen to recover as much of the spend as possible.

Reduce the player pool, less heads, but higher quality overall, then clear a pathway for the brighter prospects to fill the gaps where required.

Did Sissoko really offer much more than Onomah could have? Would minutes on the park for Sterling have been that much more derrirmental than what Janssen and Llorente gave? Could Edwards have benefitted more from the squad place Nkoudou took?
Could Skipp provide a viable alternative in the deeper midfield 2 rather than playing Dier and Wanyama together when Dembele was out? Could Georgiou's athleticism have provided some spark from LWB when we were running Davies into the ground whilst Rose was out?
That's it. We need to stop gambling on transfers with 30% chance of success, start buying really good players and otherwise play whoever we have in the youth ranks to supplement a more narrow squad of higher quality.
 

felmani26

SC Supporter
Jan 1, 2008
24,362
43,015
My guess is two from Pulisic, Sessegnon and Martial, maybe even place Bale in that group. Two from that list, plus De Ligt and a CM, that's your £170m or whatever it was.
4 players at £40-45m each.
Quality not quantity.
Sell Vorm, Aurier/Trippier, Alderweireld, Dembele, Sissoko, maybe Lamela, Nkoudou, Llorente and Janssen to recover as much of the spend as possible.

Reduce the player pool, less heads, but higher quality overall, then clear a pathway for the brighter prospects to fill the gaps where required.

Did Sissoko really offer much more than Onomah could have? Would minutes on the park for Sterling have been that much more derrirmental than what Janssen and Llorente gave? Could Edwards have benefitted more from the squad place Nkoudou took?
Could Skipp provide a viable alternative in the deeper midfield 2 rather than playing Dier and Wanyama together when Dembele was out? Could Georgiou's athleticism have provided some spark from LWB when we were running Davies into the ground whilst Rose was out?
That's incredibly optimistic IMO.

Don't think we are getting much change out of £150m for two of the above.
 

GetSpurredOn

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2006
5,022
8,922
That's it. We need to stop gambling on transfers with 30% chance of success, start buying really good players and otherwise play whoever we have in the youth ranks to supplement a more narrow squad of higher quality.

It's what United did well in the Fergie years. For every top drawer player they had, there was a slightly more limited but equally very able stand in, who knew his place, and filled a gap. Were Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea, Phil Neville, Darren Fletcher, Nicky Butt, Kieren Richardson, etc really that talented, or did they just prove to be able standin's for the likes of Gary Neville, Stam, Vidic, Keane, Scholes, Giggs etc.
Good club raised pros. And once you are seen to give lads from within those kinds of opportunities, then the next batch of talented kids looking to join a club will be drawn to that kind of pathway.

If we could be seen to be giving the likes of Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, Onomah, Edwards etc the chance to step up as depth in place of signing more Stambouli, Sissoko, Nkoudou, Njie types, then maybe when the top tier of youth football get fed up of joining Chelsea just to go out on loans for 4-5 years, they'll opt to join our academy instead.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
Im probably wrong, but I honestly think there’s more of a chance of Bale coming home(and theres very little chance of that) than United selling us Martial. I believe what the ITK is saying but honestly when it comes down to it, i just cannot envision a scenario where Mourinho would sell to a club he views as a title rival.

He sold mata to utd?
 

Everlasting Seconds

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2014
14,914
26,616
It's what United did well in the Fergie years. For every top drawer player they had, there was a slightly more limited but equally very able stand in, who knew his place, and filled a gap. Were Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea, Phil Neville, Darren Fletcher, Nicky Butt, Kieren Richardson, etc really that talented, or did they just prove to be able standin's for the likes of Gary Neville, Jaap, Vidic, Keane, Scholes etc.
Good club raised pros. And once you are seen to give lads from within those kinds of opportunities, then the next batch of talented kids looking to join a club will be drawn to that kind of pathway.
Additionally, if you are fielding say maybe 8 or 9 outfield players of true quality, it's easier to accept the risk of adding 1 or 2 kids to that line-up. When you are fielding maybe 5-6 outfield players of that quality and you have mundane senior players for the other spots, tossing kids into that mix just isn't wise. But it becomes a wise thing when the overall risk inherent in the line-up isn't that blatant.
 

CoopsieDeadpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2012
18,257
70,419
Uhhhh Martial is very likely?! Or is that Pulisic? Somebody help me.

Im guessing Pulisic is v likely and Martial is possible but depends on Utd being willing to sell to a rival or Toby needs to change his demands to Utd

I'm thinking the other way, with Martial likely & Pulisic possible. Don't forget ITK just stated we're aggressively going after Martial. Makes him most likely, no?

ITK also said Utd would rather sell abroad so who knows really. Either could be the very likely option. There seems to be less obstacles though in getting Pulisic imo
You could flip it the other way and suggest that going after Martial aggressively means that we need to force it through more as it's harder to pull off. It could plausibly be the way you suggest but it could be either. Hmmm



@dtxspurs Hope we cleared that one up for you. :cautious:
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,907
78,646
It's what United did well in the Fergie years. For every top drawer player they had, there was a slightly more limited but equally very able stand in, who knew his place, and filled a gap. Were Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, John O'Shea, Phil Neville, Darren Fletcher, Nicky Butt, Kieren Richardson, etc really that talented, or did they just prove to be able standin's for the likes of Gary Neville, Stam, Vidic, Keane, Scholes, Giggs etc.
Good club raised pros. And once you are seen to give lads from within those kinds of opportunities, then the next batch of talented kids looking to join a club will be drawn to that kind of pathway.

If we could be seen to be giving the likes of Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, Onomah, Edwards etc the chance to step up as depth in place of signing more Stambouli, Sissoko, Nkoudou, Njie types, then maybe when the top tier of youth football get fed up of joining Chelsea just to go out on loans for 4-5 years, they'll opt to join our academy instead.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Poch work towards this. I think the problem has been mostly rooted in the fact that we aren't successful in terms of winning things. Therefore if we were to/had have filled the squad with these players and not add better quality there's the risk that your bigger players start demanding a move because they want to win stuff and don't see you adding youth as ambition.

If we go through a phase of adding better quality to increase our chances of winning stuff then we may be able to turn to the youth easier once we cement ourselves and not be concerned with losing players.
 

CoopsieDeadpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2012
18,257
70,419
I wouldn't be surprised to see Poch work towards this. I think the problem has been mostly rooted in the fact that we aren't successful in terms of winning things. Therefore if we were to/had have filled the squad with these players and not add better quality there's the risk that your bigger players start demanding a move because they want to win stuff and don't see you adding youth as ambition.

If we go through a phase of adding better quality to increase our chances of winning stuff then we may be able to turn to the youth easier once we cement ourselves and not be concerned with losing players.


Here's the thing. Your post is in response to the Fergie model, ie integrate good youth prospects among excellent talent. Don't forget to take into account that, before he started doing any of that, he went 4 years before actually winning anything at all at United. It wasn't really until after that golden generation of Scholes, Beckham, Nevilles etc etc, that Fergie started the permanent integration of youngsters, thus leading to decades of dominance.

Don't really know what my point was now. Something to do with us not being too dissimilar at this moment in time, probably :unsure:
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,907
78,646
Here's the thing. Your post is in response to the Fergie model, ie integrate good youth prospects among excellent talent. Don't forget to take into account that, before he started doing any of that, he went 4 years before actually winning anything at all at United. It wasn't really until after that golden generation of Scholes, Beckham, Nevilles etc etc, that Fergie started the permanent integration of youngsters, thus leading to decades of dominance.

Don't really know what my point was now. Something to do with us not being too dissimilar at this moment in time, probably :unsure:
Yeah that's what i was thinking too. Fergie hadn't really taken the mantle until he started winning things, therefore he had to make do with trying to change the mentality and stability first. Once they started winning he started integrating the youngsters in and he stuck to that throughout his entire reign. There would be the odd 1 or two big signings, couple of potential players and then a couple of youngsters being promoted. It's one we should emulate if we win a title.
 

CoopsieDeadpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2012
18,257
70,419
Yeah that's what i was thinking too. Fergie hadn't really taken the mantle until he started winning things, therefore he had to make do with trying to change the mentality and stability first. Once they started winning he started integrating the youngsters in and he stuck to that throughout his entire reign. There would be the odd 1 or two big signings, couple of potential players and then a couple of youngsters being promoted. It's one we should emulate if we win a title.


Well judging by each of our previous posts, I'd say we're absolutely on the right path. The similarities between the 2 are pretty blatant.
 

SpartanSpur

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
12,552
43,063
The thing with the likes of De Ligt, Pulisic and Sessegnon is they are such huge prospects, if they do become gettable in terms of a price and/or deal structure that works for us Levy will be extremely keen to not pass on the opportunity.

It has been said before we have a slightly different pot for huge development prospects. Now at the prices quoted for these three I'm sure there would be a ton of overlap with our summer budget but Pulisic could well be one to watch now Herc and Trix have mentioned him.

At their age Levy will try and get them on extremely long contracts and pay in installments with some pretty big performance based elements. I guess this tie in with the 'creative' ITK.
 

Luka Van der Bale

Well-Known Member
Jan 29, 2011
6,041
13,611
Im probably wrong, but I honestly think there’s more of a chance of Bale coming home(and theres very little chance of that) than United selling us Martial. I believe what the ITK is saying but honestly when it comes down to it, i just cannot envision a scenario where Mourinho would sell to a club he views as a title rival.
I think Mourinho would happily. It’s Woodward and the higher-ups I don’t think would sanction it. They’re more aware/ conscious of fan reaction, and know selling him to us would anger a lot of fans.
 
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