⚽ Football (Soccer)

[Zantera]

I'm curious how much of us being linked to strikers is actually us going for strikers and how much of it is the media linking us with targets because it's an easy headline, it makes sense and people buy into it.

If you take Delap I think there might have been genuine interest because his buyout clause was pretty low (~30m) though that would certainly have been a gamble as well. I think his last season is comparable to Hojlund's first season with us. (Not saying Delap won't get better) I actually don't think we were ever in for Gyökeres at all. I think Amorim possibly reached out to him months back to check the pulse but it's been so clear since the window opened that Gyökeres only wanted Arsenal and you get the feeling Sporting only used our name towards the end to put pressure on Arsenal to wrap things up. Sort of a "if you don't meet our demands we go elsewhere" situation.

And whenever you see us linked with the likes of Sesko or Osimhen or even Isak (I think even the media realizes nobody will buy those links haha) you realize it's all made up because we haggled with Brentford over Mbeumo for a month just over minor details. The club is not in a situation to financially just splash those kind of figures on a striker. Watkins feels more like "let's ask and see what they want" rather than genuine "let's make this happen". You get similar vibes with the Jackson links. Probably not someone the club really wants but another "maybe, in case of emergency".

If you gave Amorim the chance to get a top striker he would probably bite your hand off. But it's clear that we've exhausted our financials now with Cunha and Mbeumo. We missed out on CL by losing to Spurs in that final and arguably that could have been 1 more signing. Now we need to get rid of the likes of Garnacho, Antony and Sancho to open up some funds. Onana will start the season injured so a GK is high on the priority.

So my defense of sticking with Hojlund for 1 more season is not so much because I think he will bloom into the next Van Nistelrooy. It's more that we can't get everything this window and with Cunha and Mbeumo coming in, even though it doesn't fix the striker position I think you can say we invested money into some more firepower. Now we need to invest in a bit more defensive stability. Maybe next summer there is another good striker we could sign.

 

[B]

I get where you guys are coming from but I see 3 issues.

1 - I think a bit of space has perhaps foggy'd the memory on just how bad Hojlund was last season, he looked like someone that won a ticket in a kellogs packet to get the chance to play with Manchester United in a charity match, he was beyond horrendous.

I think the majority of the squad last season looked like they'd won a prize to play in the Premier League.

Seriously though I do agree he himself was poor, beyond having good workrate there wasn't much evidence to suggest he's ready to lead this season.
The level of service he received last season didn't help & was on an all-time bad level IMO, the same Manchester United socials up in arms that we haven't dropped £100m on a new striker are the same socials that posted a plethora of videos throughout the season of him actually making good runs & being in acres of space inside the box only for whichever player was in possession failing to get their head up & find him.

Make no mistake though I still agree he was poor in & of himself, but even any striker would have struggled for goals & as a result, impact, last season with the level of service he got.

2 - Zirkzee or Bruno as a false 9 is something I've thought is worth trying, given the dearth of good strikers available and how much of a liability Bruno is as a CM, but every piece of evidence has shown Amorim likes a focal point #9 with the #10's driving from behind, that's why he started using Zirkzee there, he doesn't want a false 9.

3 - If he was willing to be flexible in this area, why have we wasted so much time trying to get a striker? Instead we could have used that time to get a midfielder, then we'd have had someone to partner Kobbie or Ugarte, not ideal as we need 2, but keeping Bruno and that selfish **** Casemiro refusing to leave screwed us up from fully fixing midfield, but one would be better than none and the stupid idea of playing Bruno as a CM.

Truth is we needed Casemiro and Onana to go, and Amorim was foolish to keep Bruno, if we'd gotten rid of those 3 on top of the 4 problem child wingers, and added 2 midfielders and a striker to Cunha and Mbeumo, we'd be looking in decent shape for a top 7 push, as it is we'll be lucky to finish top 10, we've added 2 decent forwards to a garbage midfield, with suspect wingbacks and no striker.

I think the reality is though if the type of striker you like isn't available for whatever reason be it price, quality or whatever, you have a few choices, you either break the bank to sign one of the few available, you try to develop your own or you try adapt your formation & style to suit different player profiles, strengths & weaknesses.
It's something he'll have to do as a manager anyway if he wants to be a success.

I wouldn't read too much into why we've allegedly targeted X position instead of Y position, I've given up on doing that after some of our strategies in the market in the last.. well truthfully probably 20 years, but even more so in the last 13 or so since SAF departure.

 

[B]

A striker on loan wouldn't be a bad idea if we could get someone semi-decent. Just to take some pressure off Hojlund while at the same time not going for what seems like our 5th or 6th choice on a permanent deal.

 

[Zantera]

@B brings up another good point I agree with regarding Hojlund and that is how the team hasn't done great in setting him up with passes. We've all seen those clips of Hojlund in a good position to score only for Garnacho/Rashford/Antony (or someone else) to bury their head, try and dribble past 3 players and fail miserably.

Hojlund still has areas he needs to improve don't get me wrong. But I think we've had bigger fundamental issues in creating chances and if we can change from being a team struggling to create chances and become a team creating a lot of chances then it's a good start. Now if we make that change and Hojlund is coming up short missing sitters and not taking his chances then it's a logical position to replace. But based on how we looked last season I wouldn't be convinced that dropping a Sesko/Gyökeres/Isak into the team would suddenly make that big of a difference and they would just run around a lot waiting for a pass that never comes.

Hopefully we can improve those areas this season because Amorim didn't struggle at Sporting to create chances or score goals. Different leagues/teams sure, but we've looked so lethargic going forward it really needs to improve.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I'm curious how much of us being linked to strikers is actually us going for strikers and how much of it is the media linking us with targets because it's an easy headline, it makes sense and people buy into it.

If you take Delap I think there might have been genuine interest because his buyout clause was pretty low (~30m) though that would certainly have been a gamble as well. I think his last season is comparable to Hojlund's first season with us. (Not saying Delap won't get better) I actually don't think we were ever in for Gyökeres at all. I think Amorim possibly reached out to him months back to check the pulse but it's been so clear since the window opened that Gyökeres only wanted Arsenal and you get the feeling Sporting only used our name towards the end to put pressure on Arsenal to wrap things up. Sort of a "if you don't meet our demands we go elsewhere" situation.

And whenever you see us linked with the likes of Sesko or Osimhen or even Isak (I think even the media realizes nobody will buy those links haha) you realize it's all made up because we haggled with Brentford over Mbeumo for a month just over minor details. The club is not in a situation to financially just splash those kind of figures on a striker. Watkins feels more like "let's ask and see what they want" rather than genuine "let's make this happen". You get similar vibes with the Jackson links. Probably not someone the club really wants but another "maybe, in case of emergency".

If you gave Amorim the chance to get a top striker he would probably bite your hand off. But it's clear that we've exhausted our financials now with Cunha and Mbeumo. We missed out on CL by losing to Spurs in that final and arguably that could have been 1 more signing. Now we need to get rid of the likes of Garnacho, Antony and Sancho to open up some funds. Onana will start the season injured so a GK is high on the priority.

So my defense of sticking with Hojlund for 1 more season is not so much because I think he will bloom into the next Van Nistelrooy. It's more that we can't get everything this window and with Cunha and Mbeumo coming in, even though it doesn't fix the striker position I think you can say we invested money into some more firepower. Now we need to invest in a bit more defensive stability. Maybe next summer there is another good striker we could sign.

We are definitely used to get clicks and views, but i also think we knew Mbeumo wanted to come so part of the reason that stalled is we were thinking we could get a couple sold and then finalise that deal, so we pivoted the try and get Gyokeres. My biggest question is why were linked to so many strikers instead of midfielders if Amorim is open to using a false 9. Honestly, for me, I'd rather see Bruno behind Cunha and Mbeumo as the front 3, and a midfielder brought in, but it feels unlikely.

The Goalkeeper situation definitely can't be overlooked, as it doesn't matter how much firepower we buy, Onana will cost us a minimum 12 points, he's hopeless and creates anxiety, if he won't go then sell Bayindir and get Lammens to ease in.

I think the majority of the squad last season looked like they'd won a prize to play in the Premier League.

Seriously though I do agree he himself was poor, beyond having good workrate there wasn't much evidence to suggest he's ready to lead this season.
The level of service he received last season didn't help & was on an all-time bad level IMO, the same Manchester United socials up in arms that we haven't dropped £100m on a new striker are the same socials that posted a plethora of videos throughout the season of him actually making good runs & being in acres of space inside the box only for whichever player was in possession failing to get their head up & find him.

Make no mistake though I still agree he was poor in & of himself, but even any striker would have struggled for goals & as a result, impact, last season with the level of service he got.

Oh yeah, we have more frauds than Wallstreet!

The service was bad no doubt, and his confidence eroded over the season, the pressure of the United spotlight definitely affected him, but it wasn't just the lack of goals, his hold up play was awful, he spent more time wrestling with defenders and falling over, he's surprisingly lacking in physicality for a guy his size.

The way things are going he's likely getting another season, as other than a couple of Italian clubs there's no interest in signing him, maybe his new beard will help him lol.

I think the reality is though if the type of striker you like isn't available for whatever reason be it price, quality or whatever, you have a few choices, you either break the bank to sign one of the few available, you try to develop your own or you try adapt your formation & style to suit different player profiles, strengths & weaknesses.
It's something he'll have to do as a manager anyway if he wants to be a success.

I wouldn't read too much into why we've allegedly targeted X position instead of Y position, I've given up on doing that after some of our strategies in the market in the last.. well truthfully probably 20 years, but even more so in the last 13 or so since SAF departure.

I agree, Amorim needs to be more flexible with the front 3 if he can't get the type of striker he wants, and I think if he accepts using Bruno as a false 9, it also helps the midfield situation if Bruno isnt playing there, and if we bounce Antony and Garnacho we should put that money into a midfielder.

Honestly, even going back to SAF's latter years we seemed to constantly neglect midfield, he didn't seem willing to replace an aged out Scholes, and our ineptitude in recruiting midfielders after he left has been farcical.

A striker on loan wouldn't be a bad idea if we could get someone semi-decent. Just to take some pressure off Hojlund while at the same time not going for what seems like our 5th or 6th choice on a permanent deal.

I said early in the window that Ramos on loan from PSG would be a decent option, but the only loan striker being touted around in general is Muani, he's technically clumsy but maybe?

A lot of stories today saying that United have narrowed it down to Watkins or Sesko.

 

[Zantera]

If we have it in our budget to somehow pull off Sesko that would be really exciting to me but Watkins feels less exciting because it would be a Casemiro type signing, which is the kind of signing I'm not a huge fan of. But I can get why some would find him more appealing.

A front trio of Cunha-Sesko-Mbeumo would actually be very exciting though I still have my reservations because of how we looked last season. I'm sure teams like Sunderland and Wolves will still run through our midfield and we'll lose to teams in the relegation zone because we fold like origami under pressure.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[B]

Oh yeah, we have more frauds than Wallstreet!

The service was bad no doubt, and his confidence eroded over the season, the pressure of the United spotlight definitely affected him, but it wasn't just the lack of goals, his hold up play was awful, he spent more time wrestling with defenders and falling over, he's surprisingly lacking in physicality for a guy his size.

The way things are going he's likely getting another season, as other than a couple of Italian clubs there's no interest in signing him, maybe his new beard will help him lol.

The wrestling with defenders is something I'm not a big fan off him doing. While he looks like a big lad I don't think he's fully developed his 'man strength' just yet. It's not something really just related to size, I'd imagine the training to develop it for a footballer is more core & balance related as you don't want to pack on a lot of muscle & lose speed/agility, you just want to be harder to be moved, knocked off balance &/or bullied as easy.

Given his age unless we receive a good offer for him ie £40m-£50m I'd give him another season before I'd really start to think about being prepared to eat a loss & shift him for whatever we could get.

I agree, Amorim needs to be more flexible with the front 3 if he can't get the type of striker he wants, and I think if he accepts using Bruno as a false 9, it also helps the midfield situation if Bruno isnt playing there, and if we bounce Antony and Garnacho we should put that money into a midfielder.

Honestly, even going back to SAF's latter years we seemed to constantly neglect midfield, he didn't seem willing to replace an aged out Scholes, and our ineptitude in recruiting midfielders after he left has been farcical.

I recall talking to you many times about it, Scholes's legs had went & while he was obviously still world class at picking teams apart with the pass, there was more & more games he was just getting overrun with the ever rising super athletic midfielders.

It's a position that's the most important on the pitch. Everything gets linked by those 2 or 3 players in the middle of the park & weakness in the area either by quality of player or tactically, is punished severely.

We're in a situation in which we've Cunha, Mbeumo, Garnacho, Antony, Sancho, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Obi AND Amad/Fernandes/Mount you could even include, all potentially fighting for only 3 spots with potentially another one on the way. That's 10 potentially 11 players.. meanwhile we've Mainoo/Ugarte/Casemiro & .. well that's pretty much it for recognised DM/CM roles. We need to shift 3 or 4 of those forward players & sign at least 1 CM.

I can see at some point during the season all 3 of those players being injured as none have the best injury records & us having to field an oddball pairing in the middle. Fernandes & Mount perhaps..

I said early in the window that Ramos on loan from PSG would be a decent option, but the only loan striker being touted around in general is Muani, he's technically clumsy but maybe?

A lot of stories today saying that United have narrowed it down to Watkins or Sesko.

Sesko looks good & for his age/ability that's seemingly a fair price IMO, but we could end up in FFP trouble if we drop that sort of fee on him without selling a couple of players.

I doubt Leipzig would go for any but I'd try testing the waters & see if they've any interest in any of our forwards we'd like moved.

 

[Hunter Rider]

If we have it in our budget to somehow pull off Sesko that would be really exciting to me but Watkins feels less exciting because it would be a Casemiro type signing, which is the kind of signing I'm not a huge fan of. But I can get why some would find him more appealing.

A front trio of Cunha-Sesko-Mbeumo would actually be very exciting though I still have my reservations because of how we looked last season. I'm sure teams like Sunderland and Wolves will still run through our midfield and we'll lose to teams in the relegation zone because we fold like origami under pressure.

There's been a briefing today regarding Sesko, as all the top journos are carrying the story. I get those that feel Watkins is more ready made, but I think you can also argue he's peaked, and we've already bought 2 PL proven forwards this summer, so i think we can be a bit more adventurous, and go for a player with a higher ceiling and at an age with plenty of room to improve, I think Sesko is the better option, even though neither were top of my list.

 

[Hunter Rider]

The wrestling with defenders is something I'm not a big fan off him doing. While he looks like a big lad I don't think he's fully developed his 'man strength' just yet. It's not something really just related to size, I'd imagine the training to develop it for a footballer is more core & balance related as you don't want to pack on a lot of muscle & lose speed/agility, you just want to be harder to be moved, knocked off balance &/or bullied as easy.

Given his age unless we receive a good offer for him ie £40m-£50m I'd give him another season before I'd really start to think about being prepared to eat a loss & shift him for whatever we could get.

I wonder if loaning him out might be the best solution if we sign Sesko, a season on loan might build up some confidence and put him in the shop window for next summer. I'd love to be wrong but I just don't see him turning things around at United.

I recall talking to you many times about it, Scholes's legs had went & while he was obviously still world class at picking teams apart with the pass, there was more & more games he was just getting overrun with the ever rising super athletic midfielders.

It's a position that's the most important on the pitch. Everything gets linked by those 2 or 3 players in the middle of the park & weakness in the area either by quality of player or tactically, is punished severely.

Oh yeah, I remember after the 2011 Champions League final, we were both lamenting the state of our midfield, and here we are, nearly 15 years later, having the same, exact discussion!

We're in a situation in which we've Cunha, Mbeumo, Garnacho, Antony, Sancho, Hojlund, Zirkzee, Obi AND Amad/Fernandes/Mount you could even include, all potentially fighting for only 3 spots with potentially another one on the way. That's 10 potentially 11 players.. meanwhile we've Mainoo/Ugarte/Casemiro & .. well that's pretty much it for recognised DM/CM roles. We need to shift 3 or 4 of those forward players & sign at least 1 CM.

I can see at some point during the season all 3 of those players being injured as none have the best injury records & us having to field an oddball pairing in the middle. Fernandes & Mount perhaps..

The lack of balance in this squad is insane, and i have to put part of the blame on Amorim, yes our succubus owners are the overall problem, but Amorim clearly wants a striker and he knows we only have budget for either a striker or a midfielder, so he's got the priorities wrong. Hopefully we manage to move Garnacho, Antony and Sancho over the next month, but I don't see us signing a midfielder this window.

I get the feeling the purse string pullers and Amorim have decided this summer is all about revamping the attack, and next summer they'll go in fully on midfield, when the contract of the CM bleeding us dry is finished, and hopefully Amorim has come to his senses about Bruno. I honestly wouldn't mind us following the PL tested approach we've taken with the forward line and go for Wharton from Palace and Anderson from Nottingham Forest.

Sesko looks good & for his age/ability that's seemingly a fair price IMO, but we could end up in FFP trouble if we drop that sort of fee on him without selling a couple of players.

I doubt Leipzig would go for any but I'd try testing the waters & see if they've any interest in any of our forwards we'd like moved.

There were stories last night that United are playing PSR paupers and can afford Sesko without major sales I honestly don't know as it's a complicated thing that even so called experts find hard to explain, but I don't think all the top journos run the Sesko story yesterday unless United briefed them, and I don't think they brief the media unless they feel they can get the deal done.

 

[Zantera]

It's funny because I already see those clickbaity Facebook posts "Who is stopping this team next season?" with us having Cunha-Sesko-Mbeumo on top. Thing is even if we had prime Cristiano Ronaldo, prime Messi and prime Maradona as our front trio we would still have the problems in other areas.

Hopefully we can improve midfield and goalkeeper because I feel worried any time the ball is close to our box and Onana is put to any sort of test.

 

[Hunter Rider]

It's funny because I already see those clickbaity Facebook posts "Who is stopping this team next season?" with us having Cunha-Sesko-Mbeumo on top. Thing is even if we had prime Cristiano Ronaldo, prime Messi and prime Maradona as our front trio we would still have the problems in other areas.

Hopefully we can improve midfield and goalkeeper because I feel worried any time the ball is close to our box and Onana is put to any sort of test.

Agreed, our midfield is still laughably bad and we have a goalkeeper who creates panic at the back, we should definitely score more goals this season, but our defence is going to be under a lot of pressure. Onana and Casemiro are like millstones around our neck.

 

[B]

I wonder if loaning him out might be the best solution if we sign Sesko, a season on loan might build up some confidence and put him in the shop window for next summer. I'd love to be wrong but I just don't see him turning things around at United.

I think at this point the club maybe has 3 or 4 forwards they're happy with, the rest are available for loan/transfer so long as a good enough offer comes in.

I'd see if Leipzig would take him the opposite direction if we sign Sesko, if not permanently, even a loan to fill a hole in their squad. It's a less intensive league & Leipzig in recent history have tended to taking a liking to players with good workrates, which Hojlund certainly has.

Oh yeah, I remember after the 2011 Champions League final, we were both lamenting the state of our midfield, and here we are, nearly 15 years later, having the same, exact discussion!

The lack of balance in this squad is insane, and i have to put part of the blame on Amorim, yes our succubus owners are the overall problem, but Amorim clearly wants a striker and he knows we only have budget for either a striker or a midfielder, so he's got the priorities wrong. Hopefully we manage to move Garnacho, Antony and Sancho over the next month, but I don't see us signing a midfielder this window.

I get the feeling the purse string pullers and Amorim have decided this summer is all about revamping the attack, and next summer they'll go in fully on midfield, when the contract of the CM bleeding us dry is finished, and hopefully Amorim has come to his senses about Bruno. I honestly wouldn't mind us following the PL tested approach we've taken with the forward line and go for Wharton from Palace and Anderson from Nottingham Forest.

I agree, the only sort of reasoning I can think behind not shifting focus on a midfielder is perhaps he feels Kone or Collyer can be brought through more this season & used to fill holes when Mainoo/Casemiro/Ugarte inevitably go down injured.

The more & more I've seen about Hayden Hackney I think he wouldn't be a bad punt at all. I had seen his name constantly come up last season as being a potential promising signing for any PL club given the year he had in the Championship. Ipswich apparently have had a bid accepted for him of only £20m which seems like the sort of fee we surely could cobble together & match.

There were stories last night that United are playing PSR paupers and can afford Sesko without major sales I honestly don't know as it's a complicated thing that even so called experts find hard to explain, but I don't think all the top journos run the Sesko story yesterday unless United briefed them, and I don't think they brief the media unless they feel they can get the deal done.

It seems very complicated but my general understanding of it is, for transfer fee to have least impact on PSR, the payment needs to be spread over multiple years in instalments.

That was part of the spiel United socials were spinning as to why the Mbeumo deal took so long as they were apparently trying to have it negotiated over a longer period than Brentford wanted. I think the PSR is £105m loses in every 3 year period & I believe that 3 year period has just ended on June 30th so maybe that's the reasoning why they feel he can be affordable.

 

[Zantera]

I feel like we're not getting linked to a lot of midfielders so my gut feeling is we'll get a striker (I hope Sesko) and a goalkeeper (maybe Lammens, realistically we're not buying a superstar keeper as Onana is here for this season). Wouldn't be surprised if a midfielder is ruled out due to budget and Casemiro's contract expiring after this season. Could see the club riding that out and then getting a CM next year. I think that could hurt us by the way but I also didn't expect us to make that many signings this summer.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Hunter Rider]

I think at this point the club maybe has 3 or 4 forwards they're happy with, the rest are available for loan/transfer so long as a good enough offer comes in.

I'd see if Leipzig would take him the opposite direction if we sign Sesko, if not permanently, even a loan to fill a hole in their squad. It's a less intensive league & Leipzig in recent history have tended to taking a liking to players with good workrates, which Hojlund certainly has.

There was a story the other day that Leipzig were interested in Hojlund as part of a deal for Sesko, but I've not seen it from the top transfer journos. Loaning him to Leipzig would be an interesting solution for us in trying to raise up Hojlund's value, but I do feel like Amorim still feels he can get more out of him, just from the way he talks, which I know isn't always the true barometer.

I agree, the only sort of reasoning I can think behind not shifting focus on a midfielder is perhaps he feels Kone or Collyer can be brought through more this season & used to fill holes when Mainoo/Casemiro/Ugarte inevitably go down injured.

The more & more I've seen about Hayden Hackney I think he wouldn't be a bad punt at all. I had seen his name constantly come up last season as being a potential promising signing for any PL club given the year he had in the Championship. Ipswich apparently have had a bid accepted for him of only £20m which seems like the sort of fee we surely could cobble together & match.

It's a weird one as Kone hasn't had a single minute so far in pre-season despite Amorim supposedly not wanting him to go on loan after he impressed him in training. With Collyer he's been talking about going on loan and in truth I don't think he's good enough, he's an athlete with an engine but he's very limited on the ball.

I saw Hackney a few times last season and he looked decent, but I do wonder why no teams from the PL have gone for him at that price. I mean going to Ipswich is basically a sideways move. There's also Mateus Fernandes from Southampton, he's valued at around £30M and West Ham are linked, he's one I think United should be considering, Amorim will know him from Sporting as well.


Bruno - Has the long range passing and work ethic, but lacks the physicality and positional discipline to play midfield.

Mainoo - Undoubtedly talented, but jury is still out on what his best position is, might lack the speed and mobility for a deeper midfield position.

Ugarte - A solid ball winner and worker, but poor on the ball and tends to get ahead of his midfield partner.

Casemiro - Has a good pass in him, but often careless on the ball, and his legs are gone, the fact he's seeing out his contract is criminal.


I look at our midfield options and it's bleak mate, I don't see a starting partnership that won't get turned over amongst that lot, especially in the PL.

It seems very complicated but my general understanding of it is, for transfer fee to have least impact on PSR, the payment needs to be spread over multiple years in instalments.

That was part of the spiel United socials were spinning as to why the Mbeumo deal took so long as they were apparently trying to have it negotiated over a longer period than Brentford wanted. I think the PSR is £105m loses in every 3 year period & I believe that 3 year period has just ended on June 30th so maybe that's the reasoning why they feel he can be affordable.

It just always seems like the goalposts keep moving and the loopholes are vast. One of our biggest issues seems to be that we are losing too much on players we sell because we paid too much for them to begin with and not enough of it has been amortised by the time we come to sell.


We are being linked with Donnarumma as well, if we sell Garnacho to Chelsea, that would be a strong bit of business, he's a big upgrade on Onana and has loads of experience while only being 26.

 

[Zantera]

I feel like Zirkzee is the key in all of this in the sense of how Amorim plans on using him. Because I do think Zirkzee showed some promise last season but it ultimately comes down to whether Amorim wants to use him in the #9 role or as an option for the #10s. Because if it's the former then Hojlund wouldn't have just Sesko (or whoever else comes in) to fight with but Zirkzee as well.

As much as I'm mixed on Hojlund I do think us signing a big profile striker will be good for him in two ways. Firstly he gets someone else to fight with (and maybe learn something from) but secondly it takes the spotlight away from him. I think he's probably suffered from having the spotlight on him and being thrown in as the starting striker for a massive club like us, and if he is pushed into a more of a sub (and starting cup games) it might relieve some pressure on him and maybe he can find some confidence again. But it could also be wishful thinking on my end.

 

[Hunter Rider]

I feel like Zirkzee is the key in all of this in the sense of how Amorim plans on using him. Because I do think Zirkzee showed some promise last season but it ultimately comes down to whether Amorim wants to use him in the #9 role or as an option for the #10s. Because if it's the former then Hojlund wouldn't have just Sesko (or whoever else comes in) to fight with but Zirkzee as well.

As much as I'm mixed on Hojlund I do think us signing a big profile striker will be good for him in two ways. Firstly he gets someone else to fight with (and maybe learn something from) but secondly it takes the spotlight away from him. I think he's probably suffered from having the spotlight on him and being thrown in as the starting striker for a massive club like us, and if he is pushed into a more of a sub (and starting cup games) it might relieve some pressure on him and maybe he can find some confidence again. But it could also be wishful thinking on my end.

I agree with all of this, it might be a long shot with Hojlund but I wouldn't mind seeing how a reduced role and pressure works with him, worth a try. With Zirkzee I think him and Mount will be the back-ups/rotation with Cunha and Mbeumo in the #10/Inside forward roles. I'm also interested to see if Mbeumo and Amad might rotate that Right 10 and RWB role.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Hunter Rider]

If we actually have the money to match Newcastle, we should use it for a midfielder.