Cyborg wrote:

Thimmy wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:According to Marca and (originally) Bild, Zidane is interested in Salzburg's midfielder Szoboszlai. They claim he phoned him a few days ago to try and convince to sign for Madrid. Apparently, he sees him as the ideal replacement for Isco who will most likely leave at the end of the season.

I have no idea how good this guy is, I haven't watched Salzburg at all this season, so I would really appreciate any feedback about him.

He looked very bright on the few occasions that I watched him in 2019. He had really good chemistry with Haaland, and I got the impression that he didn't receive as much credit as he deserved for impacting team results. He's relatively tall, hard-working, and technically proficient. I haven't seen him enough to tell you whether he seems like the real deal or not, but apparently he's become even better since then.

He seems to be more direct than Isco, and he's without a shred of doubt, more hard-working. They're different types of players. Szoboszlai probably matches what we need, to a greater extent than what Isco does. Then again, there's also a chance that playing for us might make him less direct in his style of play than what he currently is. It's easier said than done, to take the initiative to force the ball forward, when everyone around you are comfortable with passing it backways and sideways

The kid looks good on highlights.

It's the type of players the team needs.

High footballing IQ but can attack and beat players.

The team is sorely missing someone who scares defenders. Teams are too comfortable when they face Real.

He's expected to transfer to Leipzig in winter, Salzburg are their feeder club after all, and not to a bigger club yet.
Maybe he'll have a release clause in his Leipzig contract similar to what Haaland has at BVB

It doesn’t matter how good that kid looks, it would not be wise to sign kids in midfield at this time. There is this guy in Manchester looking for a new club, hum I think his name is Pogba or something

Don’t shoot the messenger, just think we would be better off with a player of Pogba’s level, than another wonder kid that is going to take 5 years to develop. If you can find a mature midfielder in his mid 20s other than Pogba, fine.

By the way, Sabitzer is awesome, it’s a shame he doesn’t have a name that rings nice enough for Madrid

Pogba would be a great fucking signing if he showed an even a fairly consistent level of his actual talent the past, what, 4-5 seasons at Utd.

Personally, the same risk of signing a wonderkid applies with signing Paul but with more money involved. Way more.

Nick: I don’t think I have anything new to add when it comes to Pogba. You refer to him as a mid 20s midfielder, and seem to suggest that he’s got experience, but he does in fact turn 28 in march, and as far as I’m concerned, his limited, positive experience amounts to winning the world cup with a well oiled team of players that aren’t exactly lighting the world up for their respective clubs at this moment.

His glimpses of, admittedly, exciting talent are displayed so rarely every season, that I fail to see how he’s got much of an edge over a young prodigy, seeing as he’s both bafflingly inconsistent and prone to clumsiness that has directly lead to Man United dropping points on multiple occasions. Those are typical traits of an inexperienced player. Might as well describe him as a late 20s player with potential. And I think that description is quite flattering. Eden Hazard was much less of a risk than him, and that transfer hasn’t paid off either.

I can’t come here and defend Pogba’s experience at United, he has been shit overall. Is he in a bad situation? Yes. Is he inconsistent? Yes. Has he shown he can perform better outside of that environment? Yes. That’s what I go by.

I agree he is pushing a bit outside of the preferred age range I would like and that’s why I said I would more than welcome another name over a young kid who is going to struggle.

Lol Nick, you want a proven CM and you list Pogba as that!

The way Kroos and Modric have played the last few games, they are unlikely to leave for next season. But they could be pushed into a lessor role with solid developing youngsters. We have that in Valverde and hopefully with Odegaard. Camavinga sounds like he would make the ideal purchase to make the complement of 6 midfielders, all capable of playing.

sportsczy wrote:The blockers with Pogba are going to be two things imo:
- The agent fee for Raiola
- His wages

I don't think his transfer fee will be that high. But the other two things, both must make an effort if they want a transfer to Madrid.

BUT, signing Pogba is going to require Madrid to start him. Over who? Not Casemiro or Kroos, because they would want to leave. That leaves Modric... is Pogba better than Modric today? I'd say no. And then you also have Valverde.

I'd go for Camavinga. He's much younger and would fit in better. Pogba needs to go to Juve, City or PSG... places where he walks into the starting 11.

Wow, what a reversal from the guy who has been pushing for a Pogba signing for 3 years! Nice to see!

sportsczy wrote:@Bill... Pogba is proven. He's just been playing on a marginally talented team until this season. And this season, because they want Bruno Fernandes to play as the 10 behind 3 strikers, Pogba is playing very low.

He just never fit in for some reason. Mourinho, lack of talent and then a role he doesn't fit into (he likes to take too many dribbling risks for that low a position).

Is he proven? Abso-fucking-lutely. It's not a coincidence that he was world class for Juve and has continued to be world class with France. In those two environments, he has the talent around him and the managers play him in his proper roles. He's not a 10. He's not a DM. He's a B2B. Don't project what he should be able to do based on his skillset and focus on the position that he's actually been world class in.

Sports, he’s inconsistent as hell and his self motivation is sadly lacking. It’s also a question of value for wages he would demand. Sadly lacking on all counts!

Is Milinkovic Savic still on our radar? thought Zidane was asking for him a few months ago. he could end up being cheaper than Pogba and he's younger than him too.

I don’t understand why Pogba triggers so many people (lie)

Is there a near world class midfielder, or the level just below, that we can sign for less than 50 millions and who has the personality and technical skills to bench Modric and to make us not miss him.

Camavinga is interesting but he doesn’t have the maturity or 10% of Modric playmaking ability

Why do you keep on putting world class and Pogba in the same sentence? Do you realize that putting those words next to each other is an oxymoron in itself?

Pogba doesn't trigger anyone. It's the criminally false consensus that he's a great footballer that makes sane people wonder where it comes from. Because every time we watch him play, he's crap. Really crap.

I don't know about you, but I would hate for Madrid to spend €70m on this overhyped piece of crap and not get anything in return other than flashy moments or a goal once every three months or so.

That money would be better spent somewhere else and on players we actually need.

Pogba and world class players are definitely not in the same sentence

I won't front, I'll be hella triggered if we pay 70+ million and whatever in wages and agent fee for a midfielder that is struggling to make an impact vs the likes of Palace and Arsenal. A player that has a lower whoscored rating than Lindelof ffs.

His agent is what bothers me. Raiola alone adds anywhere between 10-20 million in agent fees ontop of the transfer fee. No thanks tbh.

Although for shits and giggles, I would welcome a Pogba-Casemiro-Valverde midfield, but that's because I'm not a fan of Kroos

Edit: would like to add that if we are going to pay a high agent fees for Raiola client, I would do it for Haaland, but not pogba

The way Zidane is talking about Benzema, Haaland is. It coming here anytime soon.

FennecFox7 wrote:Man united are an absolute mess of a team. Pogba is an excellent player. He hasn’t wanted to be there for years and yet stayed professional the whole time. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with man united fans, their team is straight hot garbage besides Bruno and the front line

I genuinely don’t understand the thought process behind this argument, and it’s been raised on here more than once before. Let’s just assume that Man United really have been holding Pogba back for the past 4, going on 5 years. How has he been acting professionally during that time?

Even under positive circumstances, when the team has dominated the opposition, or he’s been allowed to play behind the striker without any defensive responsibility, he’s relatively often been among the worst players on the team - which is why I suspect that he was never able to make his favored position(s) his own.

It’s not like he always played deep or had defensive duties, and I’ve said this before, but it seems strange to me that someone would use «that’s just not what he does» as an argument for him not performing when he’s expected to do what everyone else does - track back. So, he’s a luxury player?

I’ve watched the majority of Man United’s matches since before Pogba arrived, and it makes me wonder how you can describe Pogba as having stayed professional the whole time. Even if you exclude his very public and untimely flirting with Real Madrid, Juventus, and the Man United fans at times that seemed most convenient to his own situation, and absurdly inconvenient to Man United’s situation.

There’s also the matter of his attitude on the pitch, and periods of him seemingly demonstrating that he doesn’t care by hardly being mobile off the ball, or simply giving away possession by being sloppy. If he had been one of ours, we’d all be raging at him. That’s definitely not my idea of professional behaviour, and don’t tell me he’s showing professionalism simply by being on the pitch. He earned more than twice that of any other player on the team, bar De Gea at one point in time. Being present is the least he can do. We’ve criticized Bale despite showing more effort. You’re absolutely being ignorant or dishonest if you really think he’s been nothing but professional during those 4 seasons.

I don’t have an agenda against him. We’d all be happy if he actually had displayed a professional attitude, like you suggest, and I’d have absolutely no issues with us acquiring him if I thought he was good enough. You don’t spend 4 seasons with highly inconsistent performances and sulking over the supposed lack of quality of the rest of the team (or the team not being like a family), if you’re good enough. Hell, we’ve played worse than Man United for longer stretches of time over the past two seasons, and he’s still managed to stink up the pitch, even when the rest of the team have been firing on all cylinders. A world class player would’ve shown his class under the same circumstances, and that’s how you earn yourself a transfer to an assumed better team. A world class player doesn’t have a million excuses for performing below par for multiple league seasons, and in the majority of big games.

sportsczy wrote:@Bill...  Pogba is proven.  He's just been playing on a marginally talented team until this season.  And this season, because they want Bruno Fernandes to play as the 10 behind 3 strikers, Pogba is playing very low.

This season, Pogba isn't "playing very low". He isn't playing. That's right, he has been benched at Manchester United, for being absolute dogshit over a few years now while generating off-field noise all the time. This Man United team has not been underachieving despite Pogba, they have been underachieving also because of him.
He's been absolutely terrible. If he has proven anything, then it is that it's impossible to consider him a top player in 2020.

I like him and used to rate him very much, and I'd like  to think that footballer is still in there, but it's been a very  long time since we've  seen him for a whole 90 minutes and I'm not sure whether it's possible to dig him out after all these years, or if he's  half-decomposed.

And don't come with France and World Cup, that France team is playing like trash too, Deschamps should be ashamed of himself for wasting a golden generation of talent on horrible, painfully boring football, and international tournament level is a joke.

Perfect fit at Real.

Hansi, my man

Yeah, hate agreeing with Hans but Paul isn't a top player, not in the year of our Lord 2020. Quite a number of much better performing midfielders out here.

@Thimmy
You'll think folks aren't watching Utd games but I cannot fathom how Giggity, who I know watches a lot of football, can say Paul has been professional. Also, Paul chose to be there and wanted out when he realise that he actually has to be the midfielder he thinks he is.

Pogba to Madrid in January, who says no? ok i stop

I was surveying who is doing what I’m midfield this season and I am not liking many prospects to be honest. I like Sabitzer but I don’t watch enough of him. But I suspect the talents we will be linked with are Fabian, Aouar, Bennacer and Camavinga.

As far as DMs, Ajax had this kid that was balling early in the season, called Kudus but he got injured and he is coming back only now.