3 Signings Man Utd Should Make Over The Next Year

I'm sure even the most diehard Man Utd fans will admit the current squad isn't as good as the squads of old, but with SAF at the helm he's dragging them to the Premier League title. There's no doubt City will come back stronger next year (regardless of the title outcome this season) so I have highlighted 3 places the current squad needs strengthened and possible signings.

LB - Leighton Baines - I'm not going to kid myself. Evra has been way short of his usual self this season. Performances have improved over the last few weeks but at the start of the season he was a liability. I'm more than happy to see him play next season but if, when the January transfer window comes around, he is still not playing well, I'd like to see Fergie make a move for Leighton Baines. Baines is solid in defense and provides a great cross. He's also a free-kick taker and can provide a swinging ball into the box that I feel the current Man Utd team are lacking.

RB - Kyle Walker - This one all depends on Harry getting the England job. If he does, I can see an exodus of Spurs players happening. Man Utd don't seem to have a first choice right back. I'd play Phil Jones there but Fergie doesn't see it that way. I think Walker would be a very good signing. He's extremely quick and loves to get forward. He's also not bad in defence. With Walker and Valencia on the right, that would be a fearsome attacking partnership.

CM - ? - This is the main area. Due to the illness of the world's best midfielder Darren Fletcher ( ), there is a shortage of creativity in the midfield. I think we've been rescued by the return of Paul Scholes when all seemed lost. I'm sure Sir Alex won't make that mistake again of letting Scholes retire and not replacing him. Even if Scholes decides to stay another season, this would be a perfect time to bring in another creative CM. He can learn from the master himself and get used to a season in English football (if he comes from abroad). Possible signings:

Mario Götze - Of course, but he's just signed a new contract for 5 years and Dortmund are definitely on the up. A great player to have though. Chances of happening: 2/10.

Christian Eriksen - If Man Utd could get him reasonably cheap, he'd be worth a punt. He's a good player although he might struggle in the PL which is a step or 2 above the Eredivisie. Chances of happening: 5/10.

Eden Hazard - This guy is quality. Maybe not quite a prolific playmaker in the centre of midfield but he's an excellent young talen who I think would excel in the premiership. A lot of clubs are after him though so I can see a dog fight for him. It all depends on how much money the Glazers are willing to spend.

The floor is open to suggestions. Am I right? Am I wrong? Does the team need another CB? Who do you think Man United need?

Good choices there. I think Baines is the best in the league now and Walker has a hell of a future ahead of him. I agree that you do need a creative centre mid and I like the ones you suggested, Hazard is very versatile and he would be good in any league imo, Gotze and Eriken would be gambles but they do both look to have big futures in the game. I have always liked Ever Banega from Valencia and I think he would also do well in the prem.

Hazard would be good for utd, however i dont think gotze and eriksen are worth the galmbles just yet.

United missed a massive trick with Ozil going to RM for only £12m

I agree there TopHat...

Interesting that the OP feels RB is a place needing reinforcing because I've held that belief since Neville retired. I just don't rate either of the Da Silva's at all. Far too injury prone and far too raw at the moment defensively.

Ozil was in the last year of his contract and told Werder Bremen he was not signing a new one so it was either take a cut price or end up getting nothing.

cricketfan90 wrote:Hazard would be good for utd, however i dont think gotze and eriksen are worth the galmbles just yet.

Would you have said the same over Ronaldo?

Gotze is about to become a double Bundesliga winner at the age of 19.

As a Palace season ticket holder, Man U should go in for Natty Clyne at RB easily good enough for Man United and wouldn't cost too much (unfortunately for us).

The_Essence_of_Excellence wrote:As a Palace season ticket holder, Man U should go in for Natty Clyne at RB easily good enough for Man United and wouldn't cost too much (unfortunately for us).

That Zaha guy looks very good too and Victor Moses is playing well in the prem I knew you guys had a good academy but you seem to be producing a very good batch latley.

dublfcynwa wrote:

The_Essence_of_Excellence wrote:As a Palace season ticket holder, Man U should go in for Natty Clyne at RB easily good enough for Man United and wouldn't cost too much (unfortunately for us).

That Zaha guy looks very good too and Victor Moses is playing well in the prem I knew you guys had a good academy but you seem to be producing a very good batch latley.

Zaha is good but he is a bit selfish on the ball and lacks a killer finishing product a bit like Walcott...he can beat a guy as many times as he wants...it's after he beaten him he is a bit weak.

Moses was awesome was a sad day when admin forced our hand. Definately destined for great things.

The best of the bunch is Jonathon Williams seriously for an 18 year old this guy is raw talent. He broke his leg playing for Wales and come back like nothing has happened. He reminds me of Scholes in so many ways and his attacking runs from midfield are awesome!

It's an exciting time- and to be honest like most fans would rather see younger players play for the shirt than older guys looking for a payday.

Hero wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:Hazard would be good for utd, however i dont think gotze and eriksen are worth the galmbles just yet.

Would you have said the same over Ronaldo?

Gotze is about to become a double Bundesliga winner at the age of 19.

not just to do with gotze though is it, its down to his team as well, the way your putting it, makes it sound like its just down to him..

lets be honest i highly doubt gotze will ever be in the same bracket as ronaldo and messi.

Gotze has just signed the contract extension and is returning this weekend from a lengthy injury in which during that time Kagawa has flourished further, I expect him to be more one that Utd show an interest in.

cricketfan90 wrote:

Hero wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:Hazard would be good for utd, however i dont think gotze and eriksen are worth the galmbles just yet.

Would you have said the same over Ronaldo?

Gotze is about to become a double Bundesliga winner at the age of 19.

not just to do with gotze though is it, its down to his team as well, the way your putting it, makes it sound like its just down to him..

lets be honest i highly doubt gotze will ever be in the same bracket as ronaldo and messi.

Last season he was an integral part of the title win yes. This season less so as he's had an injury for 4 months, it's hard to put anyone in that bracket as Messi & Ronaldo but he's already been thought of as being one of the greatest German players which is quite an acclaim based on some of the stars of yesteryear.

Good suggestions so far folks, keep them coming.

I'd like to see what Fergie could do with Taarabt. The guy is talented but hasn't flourished much in the PL. MUFC should sign him on the cheap. If he doesn't perform then ship him out. Honestly, is it any more of a risk than Bebe or Obertan?

I disagree with throwing money around when the current team has alternatives which have still not been explored. In fact, I disagree with football teams throwing money around and making 'gambles' as did Liverpool this season.

LB- there is no need for a replacement for Evra just yet. He has played an unbelievable amount of games for man united and just does not get injured. I still remember when United were going through a defensive nightmare and Evra was pretty much the last defender standing.

RB- again there is no requirement. Jones and Smalling are more than adept at playing in this role and I do believe Fabio (in my opinion the better of the Da Silva brothers) will begin to blossom as a full back (at LB or RB) once he begins to mature.

CM- again, do we really need to spend £12m - £15m on an outright gamble? When the likes of Cleverly, Pogba and to some extent Anderson only having a limited amount of playing time?

I'm with Fergie on this one, unless the very best becomes available (an experienced international such as Schneijder- note one average season doesnt make someone bad) then I don't believe it's worth signing these marginal players who won't add too many benefits to the current squad.

In addition, I believe the current United squad are grossly understated. The likes of Valencia, De Gea and Evans have been outstanding recently. There appears to be a lot of healthy competition in the side when you add Hernandez, Young, Cleverly and Jones into the mix. I don't believe grand signings are required, I think too many of us are obsessed with the world of Football Manager as opposed to running a club with responsibility.

Agree with half of ATGs points, specifically the fullback points.

Evra has been dropping his high standards, and a high starting position is telling that his legs are starting to go - but he is still the best left back in the league by quite a margin and is very experienced. If we replaced him, realistically we would only have Rooney and Vidic as experienced heads regularly available to start.

RB, don't rate Walker, Rafael is equally as talented and as bad defensively so why shell out £20+ million.

I do however agree we need a dominating central midfielder and have done since 2006. Who that is I do not know but as ATG suggests there needs to be proven quality there.

Pogba (50/50 to stay) looks a very good prospect and Cleverly is a great, tidy player around the box but not a dominating type. As for Anderson he is an absolutely garbage footballer and should be sold.

No, I really think we need a CM. It could take Pogba years to come good (if ever) and he's a DM, Anderson is awful and Cleverley, as good as he is, doesn't seem to be fit.

SING HESKEY!

NAH GET SJENDER, A NEW cb AND A NEW LM

TSC wrote:No, I really think we need a CM. It could take Pogba years to come good (if ever) and he's a DM, Anderson is awful and Cleverley, as good as he is, doesn't seem to be fit.

Has Carrick undeformed? Do we not have two/ three midfielders who can take up the mantle? Paul Scholes still seems to be going... Fletcher will hopefully return next season as well.

I want to see Pogba and Cleverly in action before feeling the need to splash the cash. I'm also on the fence with Anderson, he has so much potential he's the type of player who needs consistent experience in order to peak. I think in his mid 20s we may see the best of him.

I think we're still in a good state for the EPL next season, if anything we'll be even better. As for the CL we're in a group of 4 or 5 teams who are miles behind Barcelona. Signing 3 or 4 players would not solve that problem.

I wouldn't say signing marginal players like Walker and Baines would add much to the united side.

Ent wrote:Agree with half of ATGs points, specifically the fullback points.

Evra has been dropping his high standards, and a high starting position is telling that his legs are starting to go - but he is still the best left back in the league by quite a margin and is very experienced. If we replaced him, realistically we would only have Rooney and Vidic as experienced heads regularly available to start.

RB, don't rate Walker, Rafael is equally as talented and as bad defensively so why shell out £20+ million.

I do however agree we need a dominating central midfielder and have done since 2006. Who that is I do not know but as ATG suggests there needs to be proven quality there.

Pogba (50/50 to stay) looks a very good prospect and Cleverly is a great, tidy player around the box but not a dominating type. As for Anderson he is an absolutely garbage footballer and should be sold.

Disagree re:2006 comment. We won the CL in 2008 and got to the final in 2009 and 2011. It's just because Barcelona are so good right now is the reason behind the added scrutiny to United's current squad.

Winning the EPL Depaite many sides spending millions shows how good this current United squad are. But 28 points out of 30, does cement how good Paul Scholes is.

DO they really need any new signings?

In my opinion they should just renew the referees contracts and keep the same average squad who got destroyed twice by Bilbao.

All Time Great wrote:

Ent wrote:Agree with half of ATGs points, specifically the fullback points.

Evra has been dropping his high standards, and a high starting position is telling that his legs are starting to go - but he is still the best left back in the league by quite a margin and is very experienced. If we replaced him, realistically we would only have Rooney and Vidic as experienced heads regularly available to start.

RB, don't rate Walker, Rafael is equally as talented and as bad defensively so why shell out £20+ million.

I do however agree we need a dominating central midfielder and have done since 2006. Who that is I do not know but as ATG suggests there needs to be proven quality there.

Pogba (50/50 to stay) looks a very good prospect and Cleverly is a great, tidy player around the box but not a dominating type. As for Anderson he is an absolutely garbage footballer and should be sold.

Disagree re:2006 comment. We won the CL in 2008 and got to the final in 2009 and 2011. It's just because Barcelona are so good right now is the reason behind the added scrutiny to United's current squad.

Winning the EPL Depaite many sides spending millions shows how good this current United squad are. But 28 points out of 30, does cement how good Paul Scholes is.

We do need a dominant midfielder who can command a starting 11 place in the side and have done for some time.

We've signed numerous players to try and fill the void with varying degrees of success.

Your other points do not suggest we have a good midfield, in 08 + 09 we had the best defensive unit in the world, the best player in the world and an attack boasting Ronaldo, Rooney and tevez.

We are getting buy with a 37 and 38 year old alternating the central midfield role with a 20 year old centre back chipping in on occasion.

Seeing jones and giggs gettig over run at home vs Bilbao should be setting off alarm bells.

We need new blood in midfield - wether that is from the youth team or a signing is up to the manager.

Tiote/Martinez/De Rossi as a holding midfield player 20-30m

RB, Clyne maybe or someone like Walker from Spurs-4m Clyne, 10-15m Walker

Creative midfieder-Should have got Ozil, what a miss that was. I'm thinking someone like a Modric Silva that sort of mould, so I would want maybe Snjeider/Shaqiri/Erikkson/Goetze-30m+

So we are looking at spending over 60m no problem, but we need to in order to reach the levels of Madrid, Barca and Bayern. Hopefully get 10m for Berba when he leaves, and bits and bobs for other players. I'd let Anderson
go, too injury prone and doesn't look like the next big cm, considering the 12.5m we payed for him. Hopefully get some of that money back also.

martyr_94 wrote:Tiote/Martinez/De Rossi as a holding midfield player 20-30m

RB, Clyne maybe or someone like Walker from Spurs-4m Clyne, 10-15m Walker

Creative midfieder-Should have got Ozil, what a miss that was. I'm thinking someone like a Modric Silva that sort of mould, so I would want maybe Snjeider/Shaqiri/Erikkson/Goetze-30m+

So we are looking at spending over 60m no problem, but we need to in order to reach the levels of Madrid, Barca and Bayern. Hopefully get 10m for Berba when he leaves, and bits and bobs for other players. I'd let Anderson
go, too injury prone and doesn't look like the next big cm, considering the 12.5m we payed for him. Hopefully get some of that money back also.

This is a reason why irresponsibly run football teams go bankrupt. United have Paul Pogba and Tom Cleverly at their disposal to play in central midfield.

Let alone 4 right backs who are probably on par with Kyle Walker. Insane waste of money to purchase a right back when young players such as Fabio, Raphael, Smalling and Jones can play there!

Tom Cleverley*

Yeah I wouldn't mess with Nathan Cleverley in CM...

You're being unreasonable, Man Utd have got every right to spend money. Do you see them going out of business? No.

martyr, Shaqiri has signed to join Bayern in the summer unfortunately.

Sorry was on the boxing boards late!

TSC wrote:Yeah I wouldn't mess with Nathan Cleverley in CM...

You're being unreasonable, Man Utd have got every right to spend money. Do you see them going out of business? No.

martyr, Shaqiri has signed to join Bayern in the summer unfortunately.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable. United signed Jones, Young and De Gea last season. Spending that sort of money season upon season is unsustainable. The last thing united need is yet more defenders when they have or 5 in their early 20s.

Man United are a loss making entity (on a free CF not a P&L basis), they need to cut their over ambitious spends if they want to paticipate in future Europe going forward.

I forgot about the "Fair Play" rules actually. Man City need to cut that out as well.

The thing about the Rafael twins is that they aren't natural defenders, no matter how much they pretend to be. Wing backs at best. Rafael is a liability when I see him. Fabio doesn't even get a chance which makes me think "is he good enough?".

I agree with Smalling and Jones being able to play FB but Smalling doesn't look comfortable there. FB isn't even the main problem, it's the midfield.

I don't see United signing defenders, although as I've said before, Rafael and Fabio aren't good enough.

Midfielder wise, we need two in my opinion as despite them being somewhat superhuman, we can't rely on Giggs and Scholes like we do.

Perfect time to get one in so they can learn from Giggs and Scholes (if they're young).

TSC wrote:Perfect time to get one in so they can learn from Giggs and Scholes (if they're young).

What about Cleverly, Pogba and Andrson?!!

Since when were United a loss making entity? We have the highest profit margins in world football and are the most valuable team in the world, we have high debt levels but for a club of our financial size it's very sustainable so spending money when needed isn't a problem. You make out as if we're on the verge of doing a Rangers when the truth couldn't be further away.

Having young players with potential is important but our current midfield does need improvement, come the end of next season our options would be Carrick, Cleverly, Pogba, Anderson and possibly Fletcher. That just isn't good enough in a creative sense, Sneijder should be the player we go all out to sign and possibly a midfield destroyer like Diarra too.

TSC wrote:I forgot about the "Fair Play" rules actually

The 'Fair Play' rules are a complete joke. They basically state that whoever wins the Champions League can spend the most money and everyone else has to spend less to catch up. If anything these rules are anti-competitive.

Onto Man United's needs, they need two midfielders - one defensive and one attacking - and they could do with an out and out striker to compliment Wayne Rooney but that is probably less of a concern. Javi Martinez could possibly be one of those players.

Martinez, Garcia or M'Vila for the defensive midfielder role.

The LB position I'm not too fussed about, as somebody has mentioned above Evra just plays and plays and plays, and from what I've seen we could already have hisreplacement in the reserves in Ezekiel Fryers

RB is different, I am not a fan of either of the Da Silvas and when I see them play I'm confident one of three things will happen. They'll either get booked/sent off, get injured or make a mistake that could lead to a goal scoring chance. Smalling has looked OK there early on in the season, his defensive quality is superb considering him playing Non-League football just a few years ago, but he looks out of place going forward. He has a heavy first touch which takes the ball away from him, only a minor criticism granted but think it shows its not his most favoured position. Jones seems the likely candidate, but in all honesty I wouldn't want to waste what could probably be one of englands best central defenders (in the future) in the right back position.

Theres a right back at Lille called Mathieu Debuchy who could be a good fit, wouldn't cost the Earth to buy and as well as the defending chips in with goals and assists going forward

The midfield position is one that has been talked about for seasons now, hardly a week goes by in the season where somebody somewhere is talking about our midfield. At the beginning of the season I would have told anybody to shut up if they criticised our central midfield, Cleverley and Anderson started off like a house on fire, absolutely incredible, unfortunately injuries hit both players and disrupted everything. We lost Fletcher, and who knows may never see him in a United shirt again which left us with Michael carrick as the only genuine central midfielder who was match fit, I still don't rate Giggsy playing in the middle of the park. January came and the question was 'will Ferguson bolster the midfield'. He did, but not in a way I think most people would have thought. He made a decision that arguably was the turning point in what could be a title winning season, it was a stroke of genius, but it also highlighted that Scholes won't be around forever, and when he does hang up his boots for good we're going to need to spen the Earth to get a replacement.

Only problem is how do you replace one of the best midfielders England has seen in the last two decades......I personally don't believe we can. As long as we don't go into panic mode like we did after Schmeichel retired, I trust Fergie to make the right call and bring in the right player.

If I was to pick one player I'd go with Modric

What about Howard Webb, Lee Mason, and Michael Oliver or are they already on the books at Man United?

Do you not get bored of saying the same thing on every thread over and over again?

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Do you not get bored of saying the same thing on every thread over and over again?

No. Thanks for asking though

I do usually forget that Liverpool most recent big trophy win had the foundations laid for it by a Steven Gerrard dive, nothing new there.

All Time Great wrote:I disagree with throwing money around when the current team has alternatives which have still not been explored. In fact, I disagree with football teams throwing money around and making 'gambles' as did Liverpool this season.

LB- there is no need for a replacement for Evra just yet. He has played an unbelievable amount of games for man united and just does not get injured. I still remember when United were going through a defensive nightmare and Evra was pretty much the last defender standing.

RB- again there is no requirement. Jones and Smalling are more than adept at playing in this role and I do believe Fabio (in my opinion the better of the Da Silva brothers) will begin to blossom as a full back (at LB or RB) once he begins to mature.

CM- again, do we really need to spend £12m - £15m on an outright gamble? When the likes of Cleverly, Pogba and to some extent Anderson only having a limited amount of playing time?

I'm with Fergie on this one, unless the very best becomes available (an experienced international such as Schneijder- note one average season doesnt make someone bad) then I don't believe it's worth signing these marginal players who won't add too many benefits to the current squad.

In addition, I believe the current United squad are grossly understated. The likes of Valencia, De Gea and Evans have been outstanding recently. There appears to be a lot of healthy competition in the side when you add Hernandez, Young, Cleverly and Jones into the mix. I don't believe grand signings are required, I think too many of us are obsessed with the world of Football Manager as opposed to running a club with responsibility.

Have to agree with most of what is said here. Only thing is if Utd are to compete in midfield against the likes of Iniesta and Xavi, improvement in midfield would be necessary unless of course they leave Barcelona. Utd lost to Barcelona in 2 champs league finals due to the weakness at centre midfield. Pogba, Cleverly, Anderson, Carrick, Park would be well complemented with an experienced midfield player as Scholes return has shown, this is the only area that needs addressing which SAF will do when he sees fit.

Hero wrote:Martinez, Garcia or M'Vila for the defensive midfielder role.

It's not a simple case of identifying three young players who appear to be raved about (on football forums as well as Football Manager).

Looking at seasons past, Fergie has got it wrong on numerous occasions with regards to central midfielders (in my opinion the most difficult player to find in the transfer market). Kleberson, Djemba Djemba, Hargreaves to an extent and Juan Veron (supremely talented) did not manage to make a sizeable impact at United. This at a cost of apporximately £60m. I would imagine fletcher and Scholes have had a significant more impact than the aforementioned players, and they had no transfer fee attached.

From what I've seen with most English clubs, most of the great midfielders comes through as a homegrown talent whose skills are very much imbedded with the way the side works. For example- the best midfielders in the EPL are from the likes of Gerrard, Scholes and Fabregas (a Catolonian I know, but at the age at 16 can be considered very much a homegrown talent). The emergence of Jack Wilshere also highlights the british tenacity a player needs to succeed in the EPL.

Modric is great and so is David Silva. However, so was Juan Veron but he did not succeed at United. I really do believe Fergie will go down the talent is born at home route (probably why he never gave up on Gibson) as opposed to shopping abroad for a cemtral midfielder. In the very short term at least Cleverly deserves a chance at a first team slot, with Scholes, Carrick, hopefully a returning Fletcher, an invigorated Anderson (so much talent which I hope he learns to channell), Pogba and Giggs filling the slots. That's a hell of a lot of central midfielders.

It's a lot of midfielders but very thin on top level ability.