LVG:- The problem I have at United is that the selection is not balanced. There are five No.9s and six No.10s - and we don't have enough defenders

If we sign Di Maria and do not address the glaring imbalances in the squad, it will have the same effect as when we signed Mata and actually played worse in the 2nd half of the season. But I am no longer going to comment on this sham till the window closes.

I am not amongst those who believe we should just sign anyone who has quality for whatever price out of desperation, with out keep in mind our tactics, budget and balance of the squad. You don't spend a fortune of a player and then start permutating how to shoehorn him into the system, you spend a fortune a player whom you are either going to build the system around or whom you have confidence will fit or adjust to the existing setup.

Woodward will wreck this club, unless the Glazers wise up and hire a director football or some such, to take over some of the footballing decisions that are clearly over his head.

montelik:

If we sign Di Maria and do not address the glaring imbalances in the squad, it will have the same effect as when we signed Mata and actually played worse in the 2nd half of the season. But I am no longer going to comment on this sham till the window closes.

I am not amongst those who believe we should just sign anyone who has quality for whatever price out of desperation, with out keep in mind our tactics, budget and balance of the squad. You don't spend a fortune of a player and then start permutating how to shoehorn him into the system, you spend a fortune a player whom you are either going to build the system around or whom you have confidence will fit or adjust to the existing setup.

Woodward will wreck this club, unless the Glazers wise up and hire a director football or some such, to take over some of the footballing decisions that are clearly over his head .

It was quite easy to agree with you up until that point!

I don't get it... "Woodward will wreck this club", how!? Like he is buying Di Maria all on his own without consultations or approval from someone or somewhere else? Why the reluctance to criticize LVG?

MrTA: Blind and de jong rumours getting stronger. Just as important as di Maria for us imo.

Shows we're desperate but I guess we can't really afford to fall out of the top 4 for another year.

We have to throw everything at the chance to get back to the top asap. Cannot afford a lLiverpool style fall.

Blind and De Jong....Is this really true ? If we have both of them and then Di Maria, then Man U should be a contender for the top 4 dis season. Just that all this speculations are getting boring this days. I am yet to believe Di Maria's move to Manchester United until i see Di Maria wearing the United Jersey. This Woodward of a guy is a wood head.

Thank God we're in the last week of transfer window.

RuuDie: Madrid jack Di Maria fee up to 75m GBP...!!?

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-real-madrid-di-maria-asking-price-102757244--sow.html

Abeg e don reach time pull out and find something else do with dis money... if we donate am sef to ebola victims, e go too make sense!

Believe that and you can believe anything....

montelik:

If we sign Di Maria and do not address the glaring imbalances in the squad, it will have the same effect as when we signed Mata and actually played worse in the 2nd half of the season. But I am no longer going to comment on this sham till the window closes.

I am not amongst those who believe we should just sign anyone who has quality for whatever price out of desperation, with out keep in mind our tactics, budget and balance of the squad. You don't spend a fortune of a player and then start permutating how to shoehorn him into the system, you spend a fortune a player whom you are either going to build the system around or whom you have confidence will fit or adjust to the existing setup.

Woodward will wreck this club, unless the Glazers wise up and hire a director football or some such, to take over some of the footballing decisions that are clearly over his head.

So Woodward now determines the players we should buy and the positions we should strengthen?


I guess you also belong to the "LVG can never be wrong" crew.

Ariya in here tonight.

I see a lot of peeps itching to criticize van Gaal
this man has lost one game out of six yet; why the rush?
even if we sign di Maria, Aguero & Lionel Messi, then close this window, we still have to see how the team perform under his tutelage..

we've seen this team under Moyes, let's see it under van Gaal then

chrisley024: I knew it!

God punish devil!

Those people na witch n wizard...

Dadehmola:

So Woodward now determines the players we should buy and the positions we should strengthen?


I guess you also belong to the "LVG can never be wrong" crew.

If we didn't buy players, Woodward has failed, so they said. If we bought against all odds, he is senseless. You can never satisfy people.

igbsam:

Blind and De Jong....Is this really true ? If we have both of them and then Di Maria, then Man U should be a contender for the top 4 dis season. Just that all this speculations are getting boring this days. I am yet to believe Di Maria's move to Manchester United until i see Di Maria wearing the United Jersey. This Woodward of a guy is a wood head.

i would rather spend £60m on vidal than spend £35m on di maria. this is the equivalent of a homeless man under the bridge spending all his money on a blackberry porsche!

our biggest need now is a world class central midfielder that can dictate the pace from the middle & carry us forward. vidal is the missing link. de jong is clumsy, a fat version of tiote. i'd rather alex song than de jong.

Dadehmola:

no surprises, from available players

except maybe Rafael

coogar:

i would rather spend £60m on vidal than spend £35m on di maria. this is the equivalent of a homeless man under the bridge spending all his money on a blackberry porsche!

our biggest need now is a world class central midfielder that can dictate the pace from the middle & carry us forward. vidal is the missing link. de jong is clumsy, a fat version of tiote. i'd rather alex song than de jong.

I hear Juve are making unreasonable demands, like cash + 2 players or something similar. we have lost 6 players already from the Moyes' era & brought in 3. it makes little sense losing more @ this tail-end of the window

Kai see midfield

SailorXY:
I hear Juve are making unreasonable demands, like cash + 2 players or something similar. we have lost 6 players already from the Moyes' era & brought in 3. it makes little sense losing more @ this tail-end of the window

juve need cash. they will drive vidal to old trafford themselves if we tender £40m bid. we are greatly imbalanced, for the next 3 transfer windows, defence & central midfield is where we need to bring in more quality. the attack is fine.

coogar:

i would rather spend £60m on vidal than spend £35m on di maria. this is the equivalent of a homeless man under the bridge spending all his money on a blackberry porsche!

our biggest need now is a world class central midfielder that can dictate the pace from the middle & carry us forward. vidal is the missing link. de jong is clumsy, a fat version of tiote. i'd rather alex song than de jong.

Vidal deal is still on with reports that United are about to make a final bid of £32m+one player. Di Maria doesn't affect the midfield problem. They are two separate issues.

My view on Di Maria is that his shirt sale will immediately recoup most of the money spent on him, particularly as it's the iconic number 7 shirt which has been idle for a while now.

I'm not convinced that vidal deal will happen. I read he'll wait for strootman in Jan but obviously that's just one of several rumours.

BBC:

Angel Di Maria: Man Utd must pay British record fee for Argentine

By Simon Stone

BBC Sport

Manchester United will have to pay a British record transfer fee to sign winger Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid.

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed Di Maria, 26, said goodbye to his team-mates ahead of an impending move.

United have been quoted £75m for the Argentine, though they do not expect the final figure to be so high.

However, senior club sources say the fee will "definitely" eclipse the £50m Chelsea paid Liverpool for striker Fernando Torres in 2011.

The Red Devils last broke the British transfer record when they paid Leeds £29.1m for Rio Ferdinand in 2002.

"Di Maria has not trained with us today and he came in to say goodbye to the players and people at the club," said Ancelotti on Sunday.

Biggest transfer fees paid by a British club

Liverpool to Chelsea

2011

Fernando Torres

£50m

Atletico Madrid to Manchester City

2011

Sergio Aguero

£38m

Chelsea to Manchester United

2014

Juan Mata

£37.1m

Real Madrid to Manchester City

2008

Robinho

£32.5m

"There is nothing official yet but it is being sorted out. The decision is his and the club has done what it could to keep him here."

United boss Louis van Gaal is a known admirer of Di Maria, who would become the club's fourth summer signing.

The Old Trafford club have already bought left-back Luke Shaw, midfielder Ander Herrera and Di Maria's Argentina team-mate Marcos Rojo for a combined £72m.

Di Maria was named on the 10-man shortlist for the Fifa player of the tournament at this summer's World Cup, though he injured a thigh in the quarter-final win over Belgium.

He joined Real from Benfica for £36m in 2010, and won La Liga in 2012 and the Champions League last season.

"Personally I don't like it," said former Real president Ramon Calderon. "Normally a club who owns the very good players don't like to sell them."

Di Maria joined Madrid from Benfica in 2010 with a fee of £36m. In 2014 some of you guys think Madrid should sell less, even though Di Maria is at his best or reaching his best. Make una check am na.

elampiro:
Vidal deal is still on witbh reports that United are about to make a final bid of £32+one players. Di Maria doesn't affect the midfield problem. They are two separate issues.

if we pay £60m for di maria then that's the end of the window. there's no way united will spend £100m upwards on 2 players. you think this is xbox's football manager?

My view on Di Maria is that his shirt sale will immediately recoup most of the money spent on him, particularly as it's the iconic number 7 shirt which has been idle for a while now.

it's not about the shirt sale.....who says vidal wouldn't recoup most of the money spent if he's signed. any of hummels, vidal, di maria would recoup any amount invested. they are marquee signings - this is why their transfer fees are high in the first place.

elampiro: Di Maria joined Madrid from Benfica in 2010 with a fee of £36m. In 2014 some of you guys think Madrid should sell less, even though Di Maria is at his best or reaching his best. Make una check am na.

he was signed for €25m which was around £20m in 2010.

MrTA: Kai see midfield

Very soft!

elampiro: Di Maria joined Madrid from Benfica in 2010 with a fee of £36m. In 2014 some of you guys think Madrid should sell less, even though Di Maria is at his best or reaching his best. Make una check am na.

Gbam!

When the time comes due for LVG to be criticized I won't relent but as at now. I am criticizing Woodward for the unbalanced squad and over-spending we are doing. Whether under Moyes or LVG, we have spent well over £120m and have yet to significantly improve the squad from the one he inherited. Moyes and/or LVG suggest the players, he approves them and negotiates the deal to get them. He has overspent and negotiated stupidly. Last season I remember saying after Moyes was sacked that loudly that Woodward was lucky, as he should have walked the plank as well. Woodward job isn't just sign checks, sponsors and hobnob in Florida or London. He is the overall boss, who will bare responsibility in the successes and failures on the pitch and off it.

Forget all the myths that SAF was supreme lord, or that he got his way every time at O.T. Go and read up, there were numerous instances under Martin Edwards, Peter Kenyon and David Gill (previous CEOS), when they questioned the objectives of SAF, when players SAF really wanted didn't end up at United, because they understood their jobs and weren't going to bring certain players and cause squad imbalances or pay well over the odds. Go and read up how much Gill flat at refused to pay what Spurs were asking for Berba, even though SAF was constantly on his neck to make a deal (He finally relented on deadline day). How he was the one who pushed for signing Hernadez early, even though SAF had other targets and in mind and wanted to wait till after the world cup, before Gill insisted on Hernandez.

Woodward can't do this, even though he has inherited the position along with all the attendant powers and responsibilities. Either we get someone who can do it (unlikely as favoritism got him the job in the first place), or bring in someone who can help him.

United common

Good to hear rvp so confident that we'll be back.

coogar:

if we pay £60m for di maria then that's the end of the window. there's no way united will spend £100m upwards on 2 players. you think this is xbox's football manager?



it's not about the shirt sale.....who says vidal wouldn't recoup most of the money spent if he's signed. any of hummels, vidal, di maria would recoup any amount invested. they are marquee signings - this is why their transfer fees are high in the first place.

I think we are almost on same page.

* The £200m is not fully exhausted yet. Can't we buy Vidal or Strootman or Khedira from there?

4-1-4-1 for sunderland

elampiro: Di Maria joined Madrid from Benfica in 2010 with a fee of £36m. In 2014 some of you guys think Madrid should sell less, even though Di Maria is at his best or reaching his best. Make una check am na.

this is not true o

PietroRico: this is not true o

40million Euros.... That is around the £36m mark.. So yeh, it is true.

ElFenomeno1:

40million Euros.... That is around the £36m mark.. So yeh, it is true.

it's not true....
di maria was signed for €25m. the other €5m & €6m were add-ons which he might or might not get. at most, he got €30m which is around £25m as at 2010.

90m Euros for Di Maria in total if we're believing Marca.

Bargain.