The Red Devils 19/20 - The Rebuild
April 29, 2019 4:43PM
edited April 2019
Season 2018/19 Summary
The Premier League ending in dramatic fashion with Manchester City winning the title on the final day finishing on 98 points, a record breaking finish for Liverpool as they end runners up on 97 points, both teams dominate the league but there could only be on winner. As for the UCL spots, Tottenham finished 3rd place and will look forward to a full campaign in their new stadium this upcoming season. The 4th spot was fought for right until the very end with Chelsea claiming it finishing on 72 points. Arsenal finished 5th with 72 points but a slightly lower goal difference than Chelsea. Manchester United ended in a disappointing 6th position and will play Europa League next season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Man City claimed the domestic treble in the end winning not only the league but the Carabao Cup and Emirates FA Cup. While Valencia did enough to beat Arsenal then Chelsea to win the Europa League. The UEFA Champions League final saw Barcelona beat Ajax in what was a very competitive match, Messi making the difference in extra time. As for the Premier League relegated teams, Huddersfield, Fulham and Cardiff City went down with Norwich, Sheffield United and play-off winners Aston Villa return to the top flight of English football. Now the 2019/20 season commences...
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Goalkeepers
David De Gea - Rating 91
Sergio Romero - Rating 80
Lee Grant - Rating 74
Defenders
Victor Lindelöf - Rating 81
Luke Shaw - Rating 81
Eric Bailly - Rating 80
Chris Smalling - Rating 80
Phil Jones - Rating 79
Ashley Young - Rating 79
Marcos Rojo - Rating 79
Antonio Valencia - Rating 78
Matteo Darmian - Rating 76
Diogo Dalot - Rating 74
Axel Tuanzebe - Rating 72
Ethan Laird - Rating 64
Lee O'Connor - Rating 63
Midfielders
Paul Pogba - Rating 88
Nemanja Matić - Rating 83
Ander Herrera - Rating 82
Juan Mata - Rating 82
Fred - Rating 80
Andreas Pereira - Rating 77
Scott McTominay - Rating 75
Angel Gomes - Rating 67
James Garner - Rating 63
ForwardsTransfers in (€0,000,000)
Transfers out (€0,000,000)
Brandon Williams - Free Agent
Antonio Valencia - Free Agent
Ander Herrera - Atletico Madrid (Free)
Juan Mata - Leicester City (Free)
Hope you do a better job than Woodward and save my team.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær is about to get underway on his first full season as Manchester United manager after coming in towards the end of last season, an instant impact saw United go on a good winning streak but that soon ended and the club finished disappointingly 6th place. Despite not being in the Champions League Man United will look to bring in the best they can as they look to close to gap on Liverpool and Man City after their incredibly successful seasons in the last campaign. Ole has spoken out on him wanting to see the club be ruthless not only with buying players but also selling, he has already drawn up a list of changes he wants to see and now it's up to the CEO Ed Woodward to make those changes a reality.
This summer is a make or break situation for Ed, he has been disappointing over the last few windows with below par players coming in, failing to sell deadwood squad players and overpaying to bring certain players in, one being Sanchez which is destroying the wage structure and things need to change fast.
The reported budget the club has available to spend is close to £150m and that doesn't include player sales, we could see Man Utd spend somewhere north of £250m by the end of the window. Many players have already been linked including the sensational Jadon Sancho from Dortmund, Alderweireld from Tottenham is said to be moving on with his £25m release clause ready to be activated this summer and over the past few weeks Sporting creative midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been heavily linked with the Red Devils.
Manchester United have done some incredible transfer business very early in the window before the club set off to Mexico for their pre-season tour. But before we get into that the club have come out this morning and said a squad list for the tour will be released at 3pm this afternoon, including the three new signings. But some key players will remain in England as the club look to complete talks for their sales, these players will be; David De Gea, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Fred, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Matteo Darmian.
You could say all three in comings are marquee signings but the big one has to be the Lazio striker Ciro Immobile, what a big signings this man could be for the club with Lukaku heading out, what does this mean for Rashford? Only time will tell but Immobile has a magnificent goal scoring record and has set Serie A alight over the last couple of seasons the question is can he do it in the Premier League? The £85m forward signed a 4 year deal with the club and will earn around £185k/week wages. Immobile takes the number 9 shirt and the Italian had this to say, "I'm honoured to be playing for such a massive team like Man Utd, I know the fans want to see success back at this historic club and I plan to be the catalyst to take them back where they belong".
In addition to this deal Ed Woodward completed the sale of Alexis Sanchez to Lazio for a £20m fee. Sanchez accepted a reduced wage packet with United paying part of his wages.
Next up many clubs were in for the experienced Tottenham centre-back Toby Alderweireld with his £25m release clause ready to be activated on July 1st. Manchester United fought off the likes of Bayern Munich, PSG, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid to get the Belgian's signature, many thought the deal wouldn't go through as Man Utd failed to achieve UCL football this season, however Toby came out with an interview on MUTV yesterday saying he always had Man Utd in mind, he wanted to remain in England and he has been named captain of the club for the upcoming season, Alderweireld signed a 4 year deal earning £175k/week wages and will wear the number 4 shirt for the season ahead.
The final transfer this week saw Sporting creative midfielder Bruno Fernandes make the switch to the Red Devils. A massive £57.5m fee between both clubs was agreed two whole weeks ago but for some unknown reason it took a while to get the deal over the line, rumours suggested the player was waiting for the club to complete other key signings first as we saw with Alderweireld and Immobile. The Portuguese 23 year old with earn £90k/week wages after signing a 5 year deal and Ole expects him to fit right in as the main creative spark in the team, many comparing him to Bernardo Silva of Manchester City.
Final a word of a few contracted players that left, Antonio Valencia exited the club and is a free agent as of right now, Juan Mata joined Leicester City on free and Ander Herrera moved back to Spain to join Atletico Madrid on free.
As for your pick you might want to reconsider based on my previous post
Good luck in the story. Very nice introduction as always. I like the movements in this summer market. Every line got reinforced. Sadly Mata and Herrera leave... I like both of them, very nice guys and talented.
Looking forward to this one!
Oh god, hope you bring Oblak
Considering you're still doing some transfers, I will wait for now but always taking a look.
Goalkeepers: Romero, Grant
Defenders: Young, Dalot, Alderweireld, Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling, Tuanzebe, Shaw, O'Connor, Laird
Midfielders: Matic, McTominay, Fernandes, Pereira, Gomes, Garner
Forwards: Lingard, Immobile, Martial, Rashford, Chong, Greenwood, Bohui
Ed Woodward continues to work wonders in the transfer market at a very fast pace with another two additions and three exits as the pre-season tour gets underway. Firstly after an incredible breakthrough season at Crystal Palace and Man United's dire need for a right-back, Wan-Bissaka makes his 'dream' move to Man United this summer costing the club a large £40m fee to get it over the line. The 21 year old signs a 5 year deal with the club and will earn around £65k/week wages. Aaron had this to say, "It's a big move for me, I felt like the time was right after a strong previous season and Ole came to me with great ambition". Manchester United CEO managed to strike another deal with Palace, selling centre-back Phil Jones for £12.5m, Ole felt the English defender wasn't good enough for United and he moves as part of the big summer sale the club need to achieve.
Ward-Prowse has been slowly becoming a solid Premier League midfielder and a big name at Southampton, he exits the club this summer as Man United pounce to get the deal done quickly before other clubs came in, £30m was the total cost for the English 24 year old and he is expected to start in that midfield three with Matic and Fernandes until another comes in, both players will join with the squad in Mexico immediately. Andreas Pereira will be the man to directly replace Ward-Prowse as Man Utd sell the Brazilian to Southampton for £13.5m, less than half the cost of his predecessor.
Finally the last transfer we have to bring to you this week is the sale of another Brazilian midfielder, Fred. Tottenham agree to purchase the player for £20m, Man Utd lose an incredible 32m value on the player they only bought last summer. Rumours still rumbling on the big sales still yet to be made with De Gea linked with Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich while Lukaku has been linked with a move to Chelsea and Real Madrid and Pogba has been linked with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and PSG. All three still remain in England as talks continue.
Manchester United's rebuild continues and they add another to their ranks, Portuguese central midfielder Ruben Neves makes his way to Manchester with a £40m fee agreed with Wolves, the player had to force the move in the end after handing in a transfer request with them reluctant to sell earlier in the window. Neves had a brilliant debut season in the Premier League last season with Wolves finishing in the top half. Ruben signs a 5 year deal earning £75k/week wages, the player is set to get the number 6 shirt and will join the rest of the squad for the rest of their pre-season tour.
Romelu Lukaku failed to hit it at Manchester United, one thing about his game many point out is that he cannot perform against the best teams in the league and in Europe, that is a big problem for the main striker at a club like Man Utd. Ole made the decision towards the end of last season that Lukaku was a surplus to requirements with Rashford ahead of him. Real Madrid take a punt on the Belgian forward after agreeing a cut down fee of £45m.
Along with the talks with Neves, Ed Woodward strikes another deal to sell Argentinian defender Rojo to them for £8m, many fans are criticising the club for selling these players for such a cheap fee however with such a task ahead they need to take what they can get.
Rumours are hotting up with Pogba set to join Barcelona potentially next week and Sancho could become Man Utd's record signing at £90m with talks reaching their final stages.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær comments on how the Mexican pre-season tour went, "We did very well overall, the most important thing was to come out with no injuries and we achieved that. The lads performed fantastic throughout, worked hard and we added some things to our game. There have been a lot of changes this summer so it was key to get the new boys integrated in as soon as possible, plenty goals were scored, we defended well at times and some of the younger guys like Greenwood did great, I look forward to the season ahead".
How was Tuanzebe performance? He might be the fourth choice to play as CB... or are you planning to use Smaldiniling?
Bruno Fernandes was an amazing signing, maybe the best player in this pre-season.
These rumours about Sancho... Waiting for a big announcement.
Sancho smashes Man Utd's record signing beating Pogba's £89.3m fee by £700k. £90m was enough to tempt Dortmund to sell the Englishman as he returns to Manchester but not the blue side rather the red side. 5 year deal has been agreed with the player and club and he will earn a reported £150k/week wages. Sancho takes the iconic number 7 shirt and is expected to make his debut on the right side of midfield against Leicester City in the Premier League opener in a couple of weeks. Ole had this to say, "Sancho has lit European football up, not only in the Bundesliga but in the Champions League as well, he's still very young but I know he wants to succeed here in England and prove a point to Manchester City. He will get every opportunity to reach his potential and I look forward to working with him".
Ed Woodward failed with a large rumoured bid of £60m for AC Milan goalkeeper Donnarumma, and now he will look at other targets such as Lopes from Lyon, Hrádecký from Leverkusen, Schmeichel from Leicester and Navas from Real Madrid. Another sale sees Darmian join West Ham for a reported £6.4m fee.
As Manchester United start to wrap up their transfer window before the Premier League kicks off in a weeks time we see two big sales from the club and one come in. Pogba who has been hot and cold last season and really for his whole duration at the club gets his move to Barcelona, £100m fee agreed with both clubs will see the French World Cup winner join the likes of Messi, Suarez and Coutinho. Reports coming from the club suggest players in the dressing room were getting frustrated with Pogba's actions on and off the pitch, 'he's a big personality but that can be a good thing and a bad thing' says a Man Utd fan.
De Gea gets his dream move back to Spain as he joins Real Madrid, £60m fee was enough to get the deal done with the player only having 1 year left on his contract and a double deal was struck as their Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas joins Manchester United in return for a £30m fee. This exact deal was expected to happen only 2-3 years ago towards the end of the summer window but nothing came of it. Now it seems Man Utd have completed their transfer business bringing in 8 players and selling 9, a crazy summer but now the work begins...
Transfers in (£397,500,000)
Jadon Sancho (Dortmund) - £90,000,000
Ciro Immobile (Lazio) - £85,000,000
Bruno Fernandes (Sporting) - £57,500,000
Ruben Neves (Wolves) - £40,000,000
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace) - £39,500,000
Keylor Navas (Real Madrid) - £30,000,000
James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) - £29,500,000
Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham) - £25,000,000
Transfers out (£285,500,000)
Paul Pogba (Barcelona) - £100,000,000
David De Gea (Real Madrid) - £60,000,000
Romelu Lukaku (Real Madrid) - £45,000,000
Alexis Sanchez (Lazio) - £20,500,000
Fred (Tottenham) - £19,600,000
Andreas Pereira (Southampton) - £13,500,000
Phil Jones (Crystal Palace) - £12,500,000
Marcos Rojo (Wolves) - £8,000,000
Matteo Darmian (West Ham) - £6,400,000
Ander Herrera (Atletico Madrid) - Free
Juan Mata (Leicester City) - Free
Antonio Valencia (Free Agent)
"This is how I see United line-up, Alderweireld, Fernandes and Immobile were all bought at the very start of the window and had a full pre-season, Wan-Bissaka shortly joined them and Neves joined for the final 2 games so 5 of the new signings are quite familiar with how Ole wants to play and their teammates around them, Sancho was bought after the tour along with Navas, now I see Navas going straight in there and a record signings like Sancho and his willingness to get straight in and hit the ground running means he gets in for me.
Ole likes the 4-3-3 he's got the perfect balance in midfield, a holding player in Matic that will sit back, a box to box goalscorering midfielder like Neves and a creative hub in Bruno Fernandes. Immobile I expect to be the focal point up front and he'll have the pace of Sancho on the right and Martial or Rashford on the left. On Rashford I think he will give any of the front 3 competition for their place so they'll need to perform week in and week out.
The defensive 4 is much improved, he's kept Shaw and Lindelof on the left side and massively improved the right with Wan-Bissaka and Alderweireld, both Premier League experienced and incredible defenders.
Looking at the depth like I say I see Rashford getting quite a bit of game time whether that be if an injury occurs, out of form players, fresh legs for the cup games he will get his chance to prove his worth and potentially knock one of the 3 ahead of him off. Lingard as well could make an impact, he'll be a winger under Ole but he can also play in midfield so there is that. Ward-Prowse will be the main midfield man off the bench, McTominay can come on to maybe close a game out but you see I put Angel Gomes in the graphic I see him as a player that will play a selection of games this season, same with Greenwood he's had a good pre-season and I expect him to play in the cups and some Europa fixtures. The defence is quite weak and very much the 'old United of last season' I mean Ole couldn't go and get over 10 players this window I'm surprised they got 8 in, let's hope these guys step up when the times comes.
I do believe if these set of players hit the ground running they can somewhat compete with Liverpool and City, I'd like to think they're able to reach 80-85 points this season but we will see."
The transfers are exactly what United need. Young mixed with experienced winners and all new attitudes at the club.
This team should compete for the league title and with the depth, the FA cup is another trophy I can see them going for.