Best for all parties that he moves on. Probably worth a quid bet that he scores against us this season...
The only times I've seen him play were the Dutch games a couple of weeks ago and he was... underwhelming to say the least. Made no saves against Italy (3 shots on target, 3 goals, goal 2 and 3 I reckon he should have done better) and 1 save against Croatia.
Not sure if that's just because Netherlands were crap, but he did come of his line rashly, flapped at crosses and I reckon he would have saved a couple if his positioning was better.
His stats at Feyenoord are a lot better, but the quality is clearly a lot lower than the 2 finals. His stats in European competition weren't as good either.
You would hope this is enough to get things done. If it isn't I hope United stick to their guns and move to other targets.
Article says Maguire and Elanga. Which would also be a cracking deal. I do think it's highly unlikely though, player swaps almost never happen.
I hope he can have a proper go joining the first team, but I do think there's something to be said about letting him develop in a place that he's comfortable and happy to be. There's no way of knowing if he went to a lower level PL side if he'd bed in and get the minutes he needs.
He clearly has a good relationship with the fans and manager at Sunderland, so I don't think it'd be a waste for him to have another season there.
I watched a compilation of him dribbling. Absolute mad man. If we get him it'll be worth it for the entertainment alone. Assuming we can put enough goals in the opposition net I think we'll have to put up with the very occasional howler, but the same can be said of Ederson & Allison.
It's festival and gigging season so that's a great distraction from the transfer/takeover clickbait. Glastonbury on iplayer and going down to see Blur tomorrow. Should be great craic.
22 days until we play Leeds in pre-season. Crazy how little rest players (especially international) get these days. Yet they're adding a load more games in the champions League. No way teams can be competitive without having massive squad depth.
Yeah, TIFO used to be decent before the Athletic takeover and the launch of TIFO IRL. Now it just depends who is doing the video. Jon Mackenzie does despise United as he's a Leeds fan, so I can imagine that may be why it was so heavily phoned in.
The midfield point about Camara is a good one though, someone that can cover at 6 or 8 would be good. Mount certainly doesn't fit that profile, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Mainoo get a good number of minutes during pre-season in a deeper role.
Sensible Transfers: Manchester United
I've gotta say this is one of the most uninspired bits of content TIFO IRL has done (Kane as budget striker option?!), but hey, worth a discussion.
Good to get this wrapped up. Having a local lad banging in the goals for us (as well as seemingly being a lovely human being) just feels right.
Hopefully he gets a decent rest after this international break. His first game this season was the 12th of July. He's hardly missed a game. Crazy engine on him.
I'm sure Kim would have been a great signing, but I really don't think CB is our most pressing concern. I think Martinez/Varane/Lindelof+1 younger CB (Tobido maybe?) is a good group to go with. This is assuming we shift Bailly & Maguire. If our budget is still up in the air due to the takeover it makes sense to focus on gettng in a CF/GK first. So ultimately, I think it goes back to the Glazers being parasitic slugs.
If the reports are true and we're not going for Kane, who do we want in?
I like the look of Vlahovic, I think he could be Ten Hag's type of striker. He scores different styles of goals, big enough to be a target, good touch and might not blow the bank as he's struggled to settle at Juve.
I do think there's plenty of options on the market that would improve us in that position (Hojlund and Kolo Muani for example). Anything would be an upgrade on Martial/Weghorst as our striking options!
Hopefully he gets a chance this season. Different sort of winger from what we have in the squad and bags of pace.
Usually dreadful games too. Hopefully Ten Hag has them raring to go.
I do think it's strange that we've yet to announce a new contract if he was going to be staying on. I do think that Ten Hag's positive reinforcement of DeGea in recent months was mainly to keep his confidence up for the run in, if he really wanted to keep him, we would have signed off on it wouldn't we? Or maybe I don't understand multimillion pound contracts. Which is likely.
Got myself a ticket. Will be nice to see United in my home country, haven't been about the last couple of times. Just so happens I'm in Scotland for their Edinburgh game, so I'm gonna have a good Summer!
No worries. Seems like all sorts of outlets just went mad with it. Decent article on the athletic on the whole ordeal.
Can't pretend to be an expert on Hojlund, but from extensive youtube compilations to despacito, he's likely to score more goals than Rooney and Charlton combined. get it done.