Who's ready for some more pain?!

I can't think of a single thing that could go wrong! GGMU!

United confirm that Lindelof, Eriksen, and Evans will not be returning for the 25/26 season. No surprise there.

New season. New sense of optimism. I'm ready to have my heart ripped out. It's been a **** few seasons for all of my teams, one of them is bound to turn it around at some point

Woo hoo. Nothing like watching the Titanic sink.

I look forward to hearing what austerity measures are implemented this summer.

Thoughts and prayers for Dre. Cunha officially a Red.

🚨🇧🇷 Matheus Cunha to Manchester United, here we go! Verbal agreement in place between all parties involved.

Cunha will sign deal until June 2030 with option until 2031. Wolves to receive £62.5m clause value in installments.

Formal steps/contracts to be checked next week. pic.twitter.com/RiP4iMoH6m

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 25, 2025

Damn. Someone is going to have to lick a lot of Green Stamps to cover that transfer fee.

Thats a lot of money for a club that claims to be broke.

need a proper number 9 Rasums aint it

I'm ready. Lets do it.

I have a feeling the number 9 will be Delap from Ipswitch, who is unfortunately another prospect, basically. Getting the top shelf strikers may require finishing a little higher in the table than 15.

Showstopper said:

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I have a feeling the number 9 will be Delap from Ipswitch, who is unfortunately another prospect, basically. Getting the top shelf strikers may require finishing? a little higher in the table than 15.

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they cant use the Sancho money buy someone better, also I would bring Antony back from Loan at least see if his spell at Betis translates to a second go with United,

Yeah, I've officially moved into deeply skeptical territory on Cunha. Even if you think he'll put up the same numbers as he has the last few seasons and even with the upcoming Garnacho sale, there's no rational explanation for adding to that position first. There are now 6 options at attacking mid. To add Cunha and improve the balance on your squad, you either have to sell at least 2 more attacking mid options in addition to Garnacho or you have to play guys out of their best position.

Amad alternating between attacking mid and right wingback is maybe doable as he's looked good in both positions (though I would never want to rely on him as a full-time wingback). Mainoo looks decidedly better as an attacking mid in Amorim's system. Bruno has been OK as a central mid at times but he's a liability there way too often to play him there a reasonable amount of time.

I would expect/hope to see more players sold from that position so that we can balance this roster. Won't be Amad or Mount. I fear that Mainoo will be on the chopping block soon due to his "pure profit" tag and the fact that Amorim seems to favor him less than 2-3 other options. Selling your two best, young academy players to support a coach that just finished 15th in the league would be an insanely risky move. For all the Ratcliffe talk about "building a club philosophy/style of play that is independent of the manager", they are 100% doing the exact opposite. They are giving the keys to Amorim and asking him to be this generation's SAF.

Laid down my first rant of the season thread and the old season ended barely 12 hours ago.

Reports that Napoli are meeting with United this week to discuss a Garnacho sale. They offered 40m for him in January but United wanted 60m. Thought is they might reach compromise at 50m. Garnacho can be reunited with McTominay (who had a fantastic season for Napoli).

Maybe I'm a jerk, but Napoli might come in under 40m and say "you didn't do anything to increase his value, and now you are forcing him out so you have to sell, so now he is worth less than January."

Just saying, I don't know that we get 50 easily.

The problem is the top shelf players want to play in the top shelf competition (Champions League) which we are not in.

Plus we aren't selling Sancho for big money. Chelsea has an obligation to buy at 25m, I think they are probably going to pay a 5M penalty to get out of it, so we may have to find someone who will pay 20m to make up the difference (if we can).

Amorim didn't want Antony in January. Maybe he reconsiders, but he strikes me as a guy who is slow to change his mind once he makes it. There is enough interest that I think they cash out on Antony now.

Classic. Manu wants to buy this player? Double the price!

Manu wants to sell this player? Offer them half.

Could do though Garnacho is a 20 yr old, high ceiling winger. One would think there would be a significant market for him at 40m. Heck, Napoli paid 30m for a 27 yr old Scott McTominay who yeah, had a better year in 23/24 than Garnacho did in 24/25 but Garnacho's youth and position should more than make up for that.

Think United did do reasonably well with their transfers last summer. I don't think they overpaid for anyone and sold reasonably well under the circumstances. Could argue in hindsight that 40m for Zirkzee was too much...and maybe it was but also hard to find forwards for that price. 15m for Mazraoui was an absolute steal. But their transfer history has been pretty horrid in general so wouldn't be surprised to see this go off the rails.

The Serie A MVP Scott Mctominay? They may argue that if Mctominay was only worth 30m (or whatever it was) that Garnacho is only worth 25m or less.

I kid a little, but I don't know that 50m will be easy. Especially for a sale outside the EPL. If Chelsea comes in, we should be able to get it.

A second opinion of Cunha for those interested. Would feel better about it if added two good forwards in the window. His ball carrying ability and chance creation should remain relatively consistent (maybe even expand?) even if/when his goal scoring eventually falls off.

https://theanalyst.com/2025/05/matheus-cunha-man-utd-wolves-transfer

I'm not watching, but…

We are apparently losing to the Asian All Stars. Is this like an NBA team losing to the Harlem Globetrotters? Are we the Washington Generals?

Edit: Final. Asian All Stars 1 - Manchester United 0

Starting our off-season tour off well I see

Can't believe the team that couldn't be bothered in the EPL when it was clear the games didn't matter also couldn't be bothered when playing a friendly in SE Asia immediately after their worst season in half a century.

These post-season tour money grabs are worthless.

Technically they are worth about 8m GBP if you believe Barrada.

But yeah, they absolutely do not move the needle for me from a sporting aspect. Could lose the next one by 4 or win by 4. Don't care.

To be fair the guy that scored against us is worth 134k pounds on Sofascore.

Amorim, go get him!

Hearton is signing a new 1 year contract. United expect Delap to make his decision next week as he wants to resolve it before the U21 Euros. They think it's between them and Chelsea.

Here's the real reason why I think we win the Delap race: I think Chelsea will win the Ekitike race (or however it's spelled). Frankfurt apparently want 100M for Ekitike. They bought him for <20M last year. Nice flip if you can swing it.

Chelsea is basically the new us (sees questionable player, immediately opens checkbook).

Anyway, I think we win almost by default because the clubs that are doing good will fill up on other players, and I am hoping we can still out recruit Everton.

Yeaaaaaaaaa.

I may have jinxed us.

🚨 Chelsea are closing in on a move for Liam Delap after positive talks.#MUFC's lack of European football has weakened their position.

Newcastle and Everton have also held talks, but Delap is now leaning towards Chelsea.

🤝 @alex_crook pic.twitter.com/eJtTxHSQPl

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) May 28, 2025

On a more lighthearted note…

Antony becomes the first player ever to lose the Conference League and Europa League in the same season.pic.twitter.com/7LIvP1X4e3

— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) May 28, 2025

It was always going to come down to what he preferred…playing time or a club playing in CL. Even if United had won the EL and been playing CL next season, they are far from a club that can compete for CL every season. Interesting to see who they target now and if they can seal the deal. Barrada talks a big game about having a plan for every situation and executing. Let's see if they actually have one and can.

Well I don't even think he's that good; when we played Ipswitch, I didn't think "Wow, who is this Delap kid, what a talent!" But we need to get someone. We need a top shelf guy, but we probably won't get top shelf this year. Delap is closer, to me, to Great Value brand from Walmart - you can convince yourself it's just as good but the truth is that it isn't, it's just cheaper. Maybe he actually is the next dominant striker, but… probably not.

I don't disagree but United aren't going to obvious their way out of this mess. They're going to have to find caviar talent at Great Value prices because everyone else thinks they're just normal chicken eggs. Which is hard to do even if you're competent and United…aren't.

It's a little worrying that a playing like Mbuemo is being linked as an alternative when he carries a lot of the exact same question marks as Cunha.

I think Mbuemo is closer to Great Value Bruno. I'm not holding my breath on him unless Bruno left.

Edit: Great Value Bruno isn't pejorative, btw. Bruno is so good, imo, that a lesser Bruno can still be really good. I'd take a Great Value Haaland or Kane on our budget, that's for sure, I'm just not sure they are out there. Delap may kind of be Great Value Haaland without the production, at least yet, to be fair. Mbuemo may be HEB Bruno in a way; he's quite good.

Now multiple reports, even some reputable ones, that Al Hilal is offering Bruno 25m a year net which triples his salary and 80m as a transfer fee.

Amorim says he doesn't want to lose him. United are unlikely to push him out. My guess is that it's really just a matter of whether Bruno is interested in Saudi or not. Should know soon as the CWC starts in like 2 weeks.