Yep, in a tournament final “when he came on for Rodri in the Euros Spain hardly skipped a beat” is a very big compliment.
FFP seems to be affecting a lot of clubs this summer, more so than in prior seasons. Newcastle and Villa for sure have been restricted a lot. City don’t seem to be likely to have a big net spend with Alvarez on the way out for big money.
Certainly don't think he's as good as Rodri by any means, who currently is the best in the world in that role IMO, but he definitely looked if nothing else, solid when he filled in for him. Could prove to be a steal if Liverpool have nabbed him for £50m.
We seemed to have shifted our attention to Berge of Burnley at the moment, feels like we are not getting all the targets we want or our first choice, seems like we are struggling to move some on as well so progress has slowed a bit due to their huge wages, a bit of groundhog day again this summer.
Don't mind Berge, he played well against us last season I think it was the game at Old Trafford. He's not a player I'd expect to drastically move the needle, but he'd at bare minimum give us some much needed depth with the potential to be more.
If we can nab him for £15m-£20m, preferably on the lower end of that scale, he'd be worth a punt.
Seemed relatively well rounded, decent tackler, big physical lad, seemed competent on the ball, neat & tidy.
Truth be told I'd rather take a punt on a couple of players than pay over the odds to PSG for a player like Ugarte. I hope we actually have walked away from that deal because it's clear PSG are trying to shift him & to try to gouge United on price, when they're looking rid is taking the piss.
It boils down to us having some royal sacks of **** who refuse to move on from the ridiculous contracts given to them by the previous morons. Woodward, Murtaugh and the other tool should be arrested for criminal negligence with the Casemiro and Antony transfers, and Casemiro jogging about the pitch with his chubby face, lunging into tackles and then laughing like a goof is the worst of the bunch, but AWB is another mercenary wanting us to pay him to leave. McTominay at least seems open to a move but our club seem to be blinded by him scoring a few goals and thinking it makes him more valuable than he is, nobody is paying £30M for a last ditch bench striker, as a midfielder he's worth about the £20M Fulham offered. Eriksen is another one just sitting on his arse and there's no interest in Lindelöf.
We are in trouble, Evans is our only fit CB as of now, for the start of the season, our midfield is garbage and our wings are reliant on Garnacho and Amad.
Really it's not the players fault, it's the previous regime for giving them such over the top deals. While doing so might in some cases stop players head's turning, it also impacts your ability to shift them if the time comes.
I can't criticise because if I was one of the players in question I wouldn't take what is likely a 25%-50% pay cut to leave, not without compensation for lost earnings which in the case of the likes of McTominay, AWB & Maguire for example, even though I believe they're out of contract in 2025, is likely anything from £1m-£5m. The hell I'd be letting a club trying to force me out the door when I'm still under contract get away with that lightly.
It's not uncommon at all for the selling club to give players in these sorts of situations either lump sums or agree with the buying club to cover the difference in wage for x number of years, it just comes down to is it worth it for the selling club to do that or just keep the player themselves.
