Even the much maligned Bruno Fernandes was signed for 40 or so million and has done well.
Heâd be sold for profit now too.
Van nistlerooy was a great slightly left field signing but Iâd say he was fairly sought after at the time too. Itâs true though Ferguson never signed an even close to established world star. Rooney and Rio and possibly cole were absolute marquee English signings but there werenât even many of them. Likes of Dwight Yorke. No big clubs outside England would have gone near him.
Veron was
One and he was disaster.
Van Persia too and he was excellent for one season.
Itâs also believed they picked van persie over lewandoski.
Smalling over Varane the same summer.
Its not just that lads. The coaching has been poor for years. Getting lads whoâve just finished playing in straight away to coach is madness. Very very few can make that jump. There are very few lads who have improved while playing for united in the last 5-6 years. EtH did very well with a few last year but before that its years.
And putting lads on huge money doesnt work. They lose all hunger. Put them on much less with whopper bonuses maybe but in general the money is insane. And they dont even have to perform for a long while to earn it. Lunacy.
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They paid plenty for hojlund but you can see his hunger on the pitch compared to many others.
He is the sort of player they should identify.
The only established top qualify player klopp signed was Thiago and he hasnât really worked out and Is on massive wages.
Barcelona had a similar strategy to man United.
The likes of Griezemann weâre signed for huge
Money and didnât work out.
Itâs a really bad strategy.
Iâd say both of those selections had far more to do with Bayern and Real attracting Lewandowski and Varane than Man United deciding to sign RVP and Smalling.
Smalling and rvp were both excellent signings. I cant believe they picked smalling as the one to let go. Mourinho saw him and went, âyep, thats the dude who can just defend for me non stop.â A 10 yellows a year man who will bust himself. I really liked smalling.
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I wouldnât agree. Everyone wanted to play for man United back then.
Evans should never have been let Go.
Man United could have had shaw, evans, Smalling and Rafael as an ok defence post Fergie.
Instead theyâd Alex buttner/Ashley young, rojo, Smalling and Valencia.
Just crazy.
What they done to the da silva twins was a disgrace as well.
Not over Bayern and Madrid.
United when they were winning, were always signing the top guys coveted by everyone. ExamplesâŚ
Van der Sar at Fulham was the best in the league
Rio was the England centreback
Rooney had torn up Euro 2004 and was the best young player in the world
Ronaldo was the best young player in Portugal and they snatched him off Arsenal and Barca
Ruud was the best player in Holland and cost ÂŁ17million off a cruciate which was a fortune then, Stam was big moneey at ÂŁ10 million in 98â and similarly, the best in that league when that meant something
Veron was the best midfielder in Italy
Going back further, Andy Cole was a phenom for Newcastle
Yorke was consistently brilliant for Villa.
Things started to slip when they didnât reinvest the Ronaldo money, but they bailed themselves out in 12/13 by signingâŚRVPâŚthe best player in the league the previous year.
United have always signed nailed on top players or established top players. If Ferguson had lived, they probably sign Van Dijk in 18â, Rice and Bellingham a couple of years later, all for huge moneyâŚbecause its what they always did.
The issue for me isnât the Di Maria and Pogba type signings as these are blue chip guys put in a bad structure, its the likes of Donny, Antony and Sancho, who when you stand into these guys, youâd know that these people donât have the athleticism, technical variation or mentality to be top players.
Letting Mason Greenwood become the person he has has also really damaged the club. Literally hasnât played in 18 months and slots in seamlessly in the Spanish top division, already scoring goals, terrible waste.
Side note, Sancho needs to study Bernardo Silva really closely if he wants to be a player.
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Thereâs a massive difference in signing 18 year olds
Like Rooney and ronaldo to signing Sanchez who was nearly 30 and di Maria who was 26/27.
Signing Sanchez and di maria wonât work. You pay way too much and you get stuck with a player or else take massive losses.
Veron was a disaster.
Rio while an excellent younger player hasnât won anything or played too much in the champions league.
I think Real Madrid have really shown the way. Theyâve five excellent young players in Bellingham, vincious junior, camavinga, Rodrigo and tchouamemi. A young core that carry the team forward together.
Even valverde another excellent signing of a player who hadnât too much of a profile in Europe.
Far cry from the galactico period or singing the likes of hazard and bale.
Regardless of age, they were all known quantities and proven in their league as being top players. Rooney, Rio, Ruud were proven internationals, top lads.
Not every signing will work out, Madrid signed Hazard, great signing on paper. They also signed Figo and Zidane at that age. Roma won the Scudetto paying over the odds for an ageing Batistuta, Lazio did the samesigning a heap of ladslike that. Barca just signed Lewandiwski and Bayern just brought Kane. Ancelloti brought Deco and Ballack and Chelsea pissed the league were robbed by the ref in Europe.
What has killed United just as much has been really poor mid tier signings we have seen a lot of recently. Lads who could never make it on their attributes. Signings that could never work.
Everybody knew about Rio, Rooney and Ronaldo, they couldâve gone anywhere and were in huge demand. Ferguson tried to bring Sol Campbell and make him the highest paid defender in the world.
I wouldnât arbitrarily stop signing lads over 27 because of a Sanchez type deal.
Bottom line, stop signing players that are deeply flawed technically or physically that cannot ever make it.
I like Malacia but would think he is much too small. I wouldnât have signed him.
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Those boys were all well touted and there was huge competition for them. They are like when Real took Benzema at 18 from Lyon. Everyone wanted him as well. Blue Chip prospects. Madrid hace basically taken the best young lad from 3 or 4 top footballing nations. United would be in for those boys, they were in for Camavinga and Bellingham.
I think thatâs easy to say In hindsight. For every Rooney and ronaldo thereâs been plenty of flops.
Man United didnât know much about ronaldo until he played them in a pre season friendly. he ripped them apart and they signed him afterwards.
It isnât just donât sign players over 27 but they should target younger players who arenât proven itâs far more cost effective.
I donât know one person who thought signing alexis Sanchez on 500k a week was a good idea. It totally distorted the wage bill and every other signing was over paid after that.
Trying to prize lads from Real Madrid and psg or other top pl clubs hasnât worked out for them and it costs way too much money. What will save them with Varane and caseimoo is probably Saudi money.
As example signing eirksen and evans is smart despite their ages because thereâs no real risk to the signing.
I think you are using a lot of hindsight here. Signing talented youngsters isnât as easy as you make out. Thereâs plenty of duds. Your man jao Felix was a 150 million worth of a mistake. Same with dembele to Barcelona.