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De Jong is probably just surplus to requirements due to the rise of both Gavi and Pedri, and they’ve replaced his role in the squad with Kessie on a free, who I assume will be on significantly lower salary. They’ll get decent cash for him too I’d imagine 

Pique, Lenglet and Umtiti won’t be in the first team picture next season for one reason or another and Christensen is a decent enough player to come in and strengthen their options there, again on a free.

Lewandowski pursuit is the only one that strikes me as odd given they’ve Aubameyang already.

Milner’s eventual replacement?

How did Elliott and Jones play?

2 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

United are paying close to £50 million for the Ajax centre back that is 5 foot 9! 

He’s a DM as well isn’t he? I reckon that’s where he’ll play alongside De Jong. Surely.

2 hours ago, Scott_M said:

C’mon mate. Brilliant player.

 

You don’t make it in that Guardiola Barca team lacking quality on the ball.

 

Edit - Although saying that, I’m struggling to get him in my squad as well. 

Yeah he was a very good DM but too limited on the ball. I’d have Gerard, Alonso, Didi, Fabinho, Thiago and Hendo before Mascherano.

2 hours ago, coachpotato said:

Jones has an additional problem that, being a local lad, he’ll possibly have to impress that little bit more than most. It has been the case that in the past, locals have had more of a focus on them, Spearing, Lee, Case etc. who were all decent enough players, but the first the crowd got onto if they didn’t excel, whereas Gerrard and Trent for instance have/had their detractors unless they’ve been pretty much excellent every game.

Curtis has shown lots of promise but needs to be more aggressive, in my opinion, with his attacking play and certainly his shooting, he’s tidy enough but then again, plays safe passes as if under orders to keep it simple. That’s why he gives the impression he’s slowing play down maybe?

Hendo plays it simple but plays it quick, often one touch. Thiago almost always looks for a forward/line breaking pass and he hits his pass with a bit of oomph. Jones on the other hand, often takes an extra touch before he plays a safe pass, taking away all forward momentum. 

1 hour ago, Vincent Vega said:

More than the Mancs are getting and more than Barcelona were getting from Rakuten (they’ve since done a new deal with Spotify but that includes sponsorship of the stadium so isn’t comparable).

 

Watch out Jeff!

8 minutes ago, No2 said:

I called him as a player the first time I saw him play. Him and Carvalho are my 2 boys.

I’ve seen him play a handful of times. His languid style reminds me a bit of Pogba. I prefer Ramsey.

1 hour ago, etho said:

Mad that koulibaly with a year left on his dear went for more than Mane

Isn’t it the around there same price both at ~£35m?

2 hours ago, HBenn said:

Yeah funny that, funny that none of the journos mentioned that the club thought he was too expensive. Funny how all of them repeatedly said that they wanted him but they thought he was bound for Madrid. 

Now of course he was too expensive.

Nope, he said in the aftermath of the Villa game. Maybe you haven't got the full interview? 

Maybe, instead of trying desperately to be a smart arse you would be better off asking why, if Klopp was so happy with his options it was even raised by him or why he chose to play a half fit Thiago in the final and a 60-70% Fabinho. Maybe just maybe he isn't as happy with those backup options as he tells the media.

Just a thought!

 

I gave you both the post match interview (including the opening and final questions) and the press conference. I promise I’m not trying to be a smart arse, sorry if it came across that way. I’m just curious because what you posted doesn’t sound like something Klopp would say, so I would like to hear it first hand. Please have another think and get back to me, I’ll be happy come back here to post the link to the interview or press conference. Happy to discuss the CL final after we resolve that one.

Just now, 3 Stacks said:

It's not the quality of the players, although Koulibaly is obviously top class and the other two are solid, it's that they're once again spunking money all over the place and are linked with about a million players when we were told months ago they were in trouble.

To be fair, months ago they probably were when they had no owner, but they got bought out by guys with money. 

37 minutes ago, HBenn said:

It isnt really.

The journos said we wanted am athletic, strong midfielder to patrol the pitch. All of them have said we were in for Tchou but he preferred Madrid. How many clubs typically make it known that they lost out on a player? Cannot remember one ever.

 

Klopp has made it clear that he won't block the path of players like Elliott, Carvalho and Jones in the attacking areas. So cannot see us spending huge in that area now.

 

When he went through the players the other day, the cover he mentioned for Fabinho was Hendo and Milly. They are both getting on and if you add that to what all the reliable journos are saying its pretty obvious that the strategy is to bring in a player to provide cover or partner Fabinho long term.

 

Yeah, he talked about on Sky when interviewed directly after the Villa game. Not sure why he would have mentioned it after the home game against fhem, Fabinho didn't get injured so it would have been a bit of a weird thing to do 

It’s difficult to lose out when we didn’t even submit a bid. Likely Tchouameni was a player we liked but once we find out about his valuation then we moved on. Barry’s normally good with his info so if he says we didn’t submit a bid, I believe him.

Below is the link to the Sky post match interview. He actually praised Hendo’s performance in “ winning back control” and didn’t mention anything about the team lacking midfield cover. Perhaps a different game?

lfc://lfctvgoapp/video/0_hi9pu7s8

18 minutes ago, HBenn said:

Of course they won't. But they weren't being bought as alternatives to solve the same issue.

If you work on the basis that we have a system and clear principles in the way that we play then Tchouameni was being bought to solve issues in the midfield. Bellingham will most likely being bought as an alternative to solve the same issues. I doubt we identified a lack of energy, control and susceptibility to attacks in midfield and so targeted Tchouameni and then decided we could pivot to solving that by buying a player who is a goal scoring midfielder.

Again, we scored a record amount of goals last season and typically our midfielders have not been in the team to do that anyway.

More likely they feel Bellingham could do - perhaps in a slightly different stylistic way - all of the things Tchou could do and perhaps score goals as well given time.

 

This is a mistake on your part assuming the club is in-line with your thinking. We scoped out Tchouameni likely because was a highly rated talent, but we obviously didn’t want him enough, as we didn’t even put in a bid for him as per @Barrington Womble’s post the other day.

Did you ever find out which interview was it Klopp stated that he didn’t have enough midfield cover? I sent a link to the Villa away post match interview but struggled to reconcile that with your summary. Was it from the home game maybe?

We did the exact same thing with Fekir and Alisson. We agreed £50m with Lyon to buy Fekir, pulled out of the deal and then purchased Alisson with the cash instead. No one will argue that Fekir and Alisson are like-for-like, surely?

2 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

Where did Fabio Carvalho play today out of interest? 

Lest sided CM, but noticeably further forward than the right sided forward, Morton. Looked lively but a bit lightweight. 

Nothing interested happened in the second half. Would’ve liked to have seen more of and from Nunez but early days still. 

Good: Diaz, Elliott, Ox, Milner

Bad: Phillips, Firmino, R. Williams

Meh: the rest

Good effort from Mo, hitting the post and Nunez skied it from 5 yards out with goalie already beaten. 

The new top is disgusting.

Jim Beglin thinks that “this is the first glimpse of a change in culture at Manchester United”

Kick it long to Nunez, let’s see what he’s made of.

Just now, Babb'sBurstNad said:

Whisper it quietly, but Ox has looked good.

Yeah he looked okay, as did Elliott and Diaz. Carvalho had his moments. Phillips, Williams, Jones and Bobby looked real sluggish. 

You have to feel for the Thai fans who’ve spent their hard earned cash to go to this.

Sancho ballin

lol Phillips what the hell mate

Will we ever score in a final again?!