INEOS have ‘insulted’ Man Utd fans by selling ‘crown jewel’ as 20 deals are graded

One Man Utd supporter is unhappy that they have sold Jadon Sancho to Chelsea, while another has graded all of their signings. Plus, Arsenal’s move for Raheem Sterling, Chelsea’s business, transfer window blues, James Ward-Prowse and more…

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Manchester United’s transfer window deals graded
With the window closed, I felt it would be a good time to grade some of their transfer deals now they have got their act together. Before the window began, they needed at least 1 Cb, 1 LB, 1 CDM, and 1 CF. They also needed to shift some of the deadwood and lower the wage bill.

Ins:

Zirkzee – 36M. They needed a striker, and got a striker. He will bring something different to Hojlund, but remains a physical force that should adapt to the PL. His low release clause was a plus for a player of his ability, and the fact it was negotiated up to amortize the fee over the long term helped financially. B

Leny Yoro – 52M. They needed a replacement for Varane, and signed someone who could become the new Varane, prior to his injuries. Beating Real Madrid to the signing was a nice plus, but he is a player with high potential who should do well over the coming years. More expensive than a Lindelof, and cheaper than a Maguire, he has the potential to be far greater than either, but current ability to be just as good. B+

Matthijs DeLigt – 45M. A Ten Hag favorite, just 25,  he was allowed to leave Bayern despite many of the fans and Mauthaus saying he was their best CB. Injuries have semi-plagued him for the past 2-3 seasons, but he is a solid ball playing CB on his day. Costing about half a Maguire but with more ability. Should allow United to play a more progressive game, and give us great depth at CB. B+

Noussair Mazraoui – 15M. While LB is not his preferred position, he can play there, and with Dalot, gives us good options on both full back positions. Far better on the ball than AWB, and costing less, he is a nice upgrade who brings ability and know how to the team. At 26 he is about to hit his peak, and provided he can stay fit, he should go down as a top class signing. A-

Ugarte – 42M. United needed a CDM, and boy have they got one. He is one of the best ball winners in all of Europe, and despite his limited ball playing ability not suiting PSG, he should fill that donut shaped hole for United. He will give some respite to Casimiro, and give us a dogged duo when the times call for it. Just 23, and for a reasonable fee, this is a solid signing. A-

Outs:

Mason Greenwood – 26M. The saga is over. United get pure profit on an academy project, a hefty sell on clause at 50% and the cloud of controversy over. A+

Aaron Wan Bissake – 15M. A player I liked, who was certainly handy to keep around. That said, final year of his contract, and never quite good enough to be what United needed him to be. Should do well at West Ham and a decent price for both parties. B

Scott McTominay – 25M. A sadder sight to leave than AWB as he bleeds for the shirt. But similar to AWB, he just was not quite good enough to be what we needed. 25M is pure profit, and although his goals, height and energy will be missed, the time was right. B

Wily Kambwalla – 10M. I liked what I saw last year despite him being slightly raw. 10M represents pure profit, a healthy sell on clause and an option to return one day. B

Hannibal – 5.4M rising to 9.4M. He never seemed quite up for the level required, but I can see him coming good for Burnley. B-

Facundo Pellistri – 6M. Looked handy at times, and out of his depth at others. Will go down as a profit and has a decent sell on clause. C+

Alvaro Fernandez – 6M. Pure profit on an academy player unlikely to make it through plus a sell on clause. B-

Will Fish – 1-3M. Pure profit. C+

Donny Van De Beek – 500K rising to 8M. This is a tougher one. While a massive loss all things considered, getting something was decent business. If he does well and they sell him, the picture will look far more rosey with the sell on clause. I hope poor Donny gets back to his old self. C-

Varane, Martial, Forson, Williams – Contract expired. Massive amounts of wages are now off the books for players who rarely or couldn’t play. Sad to see Varane go but understandable as to why. Martials situation was sad but happy his wages are no longer a United issue. Forson got game time which was ridiculous in hindsight, and Williams just was not good enough. B-

Amrabat – loan ended. Off to work with Jose for him now. I personally liked him and had we signed him, I would have been happy. That said, I will take Ugarte over him any day of the week. I wish him all the best and thank him for his service along with all of our departing players. N/a

Sancho – Loan. Good riddance. Not a bad player, but not a good attitude or good fit. He just did not work with this team, tactically or effort wise. We had hoped for a permanent transfer but this at least gets rid of the wages and offers a sale next summer. A positive move all things considered with a touch of ‘what if’. C-

Overall:  They had goals going into the window and pretty much hit them all. Lindelof, Maguire and Antony remaining, and no specialist LB are the only stains to the window, but not massive ones either. They signed all the positions they needed, with young and capable players. They also got rid of the deadwood and players not fit for purpose, while drastically cutting the wage bill. That’s about 200M spent and almost 100M in sales. A great beginning to a new era.  B+
Calvino (TX Bill- it’s Matt, Hunter & AI- a bar set beyond the any man 😉)

Man Utd terrible business
At the beginning of the summer I will admit that I was someone who hoped that both Ten Hag and Sancho would stay, and rebuild at least a working relationship. After two games where Sancho wasn’t in the squad, that seemed unlikely. Never would I have thought that those in charge at Manchester United would have been so utterly terrible at their jobs that they would gift a team who are rivals for a Champions league qualifying position such an immensely talented player who had up to 3 years left on his contract with us for the same amount as we sold Scott McTominay for, who had 1 year left on his contract. To a team that last year pulled our pants down over Mount when he had one year left on his contract, who signed amongst others Mudryk for £62M, and who reportedly were only in because it was such a sweet deal they couldn’t say no to it.

It’s actually insulting to us as fans that the club is flogging a player who should be one of our crown jewels to a rival and the only reason they’re interested is because he’s so cheap. For all the progress Ineos have made with actually signing players, my prior assessment of them has now been blown out of the water by this utter display of ineptitude to sell a massive asset that we needn’t have sold, at a huge loss, to a rival club that overcharged us for Mount last summer. The only consolation I can think of is that at least the idiots didn’t agree to swap him for Chillwel so we could have 3 left backs who are always injured.
Daniel (absolutely fuming) Cambridge.

Quickly on Sterling
Delighted to have him in for Arsenal and on such a good price too (no loan fee, £100k wages).

I wrote a supportive email about him last week when I thought Chelsea had done him dirty and frankly have always liked him almost entirely for how much people used to hate him.

What a fire he’ll have in him too – to stuff Chelsea (and you’d think still resenting City) and show people he’s an elite winger and great team mate.

Absolutely thrilled.
Tom, (not unreasonable chance he’ll be a lock on the left by Christmas tbh) Walthamstow

Chelsea transfer window
Just because you can’t see the plan, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

I don’t necessarily agree with everything Clearlake have done this window , but there’s a clear pattern to what’s going on here. And that is to reduce the wage bill and bring structure to it, while assembling a youthful, talented squad which will be ready to challenge in a few years.

The reason Sterling doesn’t fit is that he produced very little for the wages he was on. I sum up the Chelsea transfer window as follows:

Wins
– Massively reducing the wage bill
– Selling Lukaku for a decent fee
– Adding lots of competition in attacking areas

Losses
– Forcing out Gallagher
– Not signing a good keeper

To be seen
– Signing Sancho for a relatively low fee
– Resigning Felix
– Signing KDH
– Not signing a world class striker by breaking wage structure

Cheers!
RS, India

READ MORE: Deadline Day summer 2024 recap: Sterling to Arsenal and Sancho to Chelsea among late moves

Mason Mount’s injury
Surely I’m not the only one who can almost hear Ten Hag’s sigh of relief after Mount’s new injury.Now he can kick back, relax and let Bruno Fernandes run around all he wants in his non-system.

Nobody was fooled by Mount’s first 2 games as a starter; we all knew he’s just there and sooner or later, Bruno’s gonna take over the chaos.

Ten Hag was supposed to fix this but here we are.
Karen A.

Transfer window blues…
The rules really have cemented the league positions for a generation more. As a Newcastle fan I despair when I hear Howe has said it might take 10 years to grow revenue streams to compete with the top clubs. In the meantime what excitement is there in fighting for 7th-8th place each season, occasionally popping in to the top 6 or sometimes falling in to the bottom half. Villa, Brighton, West Ham and others are all in the same place and its really quite depressing and all feels a bit pointless.

Those top 6 clubs are all growing their revenue streams as well, so the teams below have to find some way to accelerate past their growth. It’s like expecting your local shop to outperform Tesco, Sainsburys et al.

A wage cap would never happen in a million years but it might be the only way to force teams in to the same boat. It would screw with the PLs competitiveness internationally which is why it would never happen.

I was actually in favour of a breakaway super league, purely for the fact it would make domestic football more interesting and competitive.

Conscious I’m going no-where with this and nothing matters anyway, but its just incredibly disheartening that I could write this email at this point in a year for the next decade and have it be equally true.
James, Leeds

Fear leads to anger, anger to hate, hate to… Nuno…
Inb4 the closing of the transfer doors covered in Chelsea blood. But I’ve just seen James Ward-Prowse linked to Nottingham Forest.

Sorry, but how do Forest keep getting talented players and still ending up sh*te? That squad will probably spend the season dancing with relegation with a squad that should comfortably be mid table/ knocking on top 10. Maybe the managerial choices have something to do with it?
Will