Apparently his agent was photographed in the same hotel as Al Hilal's President in Saudi. I think it's more likely he goes than not; if he wasn't seriously thinking about it, it doesn't get to this point. I think Bruno's last game was unfortunately an exhibition match in Asia (that we won, but only after we took off Bruno, ironically).

On the plus side, we don't have to watch PSG destroy us in the Super Cup.

Delap signing with Chelsea due to champions league football. One of shows I was listening to thought that could be the signing of the season.

If the Sauds want to pay us 100mm for Bruno, I say let him go. We need quality in numbers.

I mean… is he an upgrade over Rasmus Hojlund or Nicholas Jackson? You would hope, but he doesn't look that much different going in. Delap's season this year looked a lot like Hojlund's the year prior. I remember him hitting two sitters right at Onana in one of our matches and being a non-entity in the other. I may be misremembering, but that was my perception.

It is a position that you kind of have to keep trying to fill and hope you eventually get it right. Wrong answers tend to litter the road to the right answer, unfortunately.

🚨 Kingsley Coman, expected to leave FC Bayern this summer with several clubs keen on the French winger.

Barcelona were interested last summer as Flick knows Coman well; Rashford and Luis Diaz remain on their shortlist now.

More clubs from PL and Saudi now informed. pic.twitter.com/ap6Pfgpdmo

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 2, 2025

Bayern potentially going for Rashford (sounds like Diaz and Rashford are the short list for Barca as well).

I may be misreading that (I can't tell if he's giving Bayern's list or other players on Barca's list as I re-read)

Mbeumo chooses United

🚨 EXCL: Bryan Mbuemo decides he wants to join Man Utd & #MUFC now expected to open talks with Brentford in bid to sign 25yo forward this summer. Likes of #AFC #NUFC #THFC all interested but Cameroon int’l favours Old Trafford if deal agreed @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/GQzsop35pI

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 2, 2025

Turns 26 right before the season starts. Has overperformed his metrics like Cunha. I think Brentford are asking 50m for him. His contract ends in 2026 but they have a club option to extend by a year so I guess they still feel like they deserve to be paid handsomely for his services.

For me, this is effectively the Cunha transfer 2.0...similar questions in my mind. Overperforms his stats, likely will require the rest of their transfer budget (pre-departures) to sign him, and plays in the same area of the pitch that 6 other players on the team prefer to play in.

I really, really hope they are going to sell some players and go get some quality central midfielders now. If the plan is to stick Bruno and Mount in midfield with Casemiro and Ugarte, then I fear we won't see much improvement in results. And now I'm even more concerned about Mainoo's future at United.

Rashford and Diaz have both previously been linked with Barca so I think it's a reference to that and not Bayern.

If the only thing you are looking at is goals, yes, his goals were higher than his xG. His xA was a little under his actual assists though. And his creative numbers, although not Bruno level, have been pretty good for a few years. I really like him. And Amad has played better at RWB than right 10.

If Bruno leaves, we REALLY need him. If Bruno stays, this probably makes Bruno primarily the more 8-ish mid in the double pivot. I think if Bruno leaves, you would probably look for someone that is a bit better carrying for that position.

I kind of see your point on Cunha, but I disagree on Mbeumo (because I don't think we are buying primarily based on his goals last season).

Probably right, but… man, they should look at him. Let's say you sell Coman for 40m which is not impossible; you can buy Rashford for the same price. He's going to want higher wages, but Sane is probably moving as well, and Rashford-Kane-Olise… I mean wow. It's a strong looking attack.

Don't listen to me, though; I'm admittedly a fanboy. If he and Amorim didn't fall out so extremely, I'd 100% want him back. As it is, I'm still a fan.

Fair points. I do agree that, like Cunha, I would expect/hope that Mbuemo's chance creation wouldn't be affected if his goals scored revert to the mean. But then that still means United need 1-2 forwards capable of capitalizing on those chances and playing in areas they can play into. Basically, I'd feel better about this signing if I knew what was to come after it. There's a lot of opinions and words written about individual transfers but don't think some moves can be properly judged until you see the entire body of the transfer season.

There are rumors that, as part of the contract negotiations with Mainoo, Amorim is planning on using him primarily as an 8 going forward and that he'll be his first choice there. Would run counter to how Amorim used him the final few months of the season but perhaps that was done out of desperation to create goals and the additions of Cunha and maybe Mbuemo means Amorim feels he can play him deeper now. I think he needs to be better defensively to be an effective 8 in Amorim's system but would welcome that as a solution.

Bruno stays. I think we are probably better next year with Bruno than the money. He's too good to replace, especially when you are sitting where we sit in the table (we obviously need a striker, for example, but the big problem is finding one that is good that will come regardless of the money; it's not like you can get any player you want like in FIFA. We can pay for a striker with Garnacho and Rashford money if and when those deals are done). The big question is whether we are better off in three years with Bruno or what we could have gotten with the money.

🚨💣 EXCLUSIVE: Bruno Fernandes has REJECTED Al Hilal proposal. ❌🇸🇦

Despite crazy contract proposal from the Saudi Pro League club, Bruno Fernandes wants to continue playing football in Europe.

Man United captain wants to play at top level in Europe. Decision made. pic.twitter.com/7liKWOHETs

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 3, 2025

Well I highly doubt any top European team is going to make a bid high enough to tempt United into selling him so looks like Bruno is stuck playing mid-table European football. I would have seen the positives in selling him but I'm also fine to keep him even though that doesn't clear the attacking mid logjam.

Chelsea has officially passed on Sancho and will pay the 5m penalty.

If we didn't have a litany of attacking mids, it wouldn't be out of this world to suggest seeing if Amorim can get something out of him. Not sure where he goes now. Maybe Dortmund again if they sell Gittens to Chelsea as is the rumor?

Sancho doesn't really count, not really. He doesn't have to go home, but he won't stay here. Realistically, if we wanted to use him, we'd need to give him a new contract because he's entering the last year of his contract. We won't do that because we'd lose any value he has left. We could also possibly use an option year, but his wages are too high for that. Plus, he would really need to be a wing back but his defense is … well, it's Rashford level tbh.

My prediction is we sell him to Dortmund for 20-25M and give him a payoff for part of his last year wages from the Chelsea penalty payment.

At this point I'd be ecstatic if we got rid of him for 20m. If not Dortmund, maybe he could find a place in Serie A but I don't think any of the bigger English or Spanish teams are going to be interested in him.

Well Dortmund would barely need to pay anything out of pocket… because we still owe them 17M….

Mbeumo analysis. Basically he overperformed his xG last season by the 2nd largest margin in Europe but he also underperformed his xA by a very large margin and he's an elite level ball carrier while also playing extremely well off the ball.

https://theanalyst.com/articles/bryan-mbeumo-man-utd-brentford-stats

If United do finalize this, then I think Amad as primarily a RWB is a lock. Assuming Mainoo doesn't get sold, he almost certainly goes back to a deeper central midfielder role. But that would still leave Cunha, Mbeumo, Bruno, and Mount all sharing playing time in the more advanced midfield roles. Wouldn't be a problem if we had European football but that's 4 guys splitting 38 league games and 2-6 domestic cup games. That likely pushes Bruno and/or Mount into a deeper role on at least a 50/50 basis and I don't think either are what you ideally want from your deeper mids. Basically if they finalize Mbeumo, I think it signals that they aren't going to reinforce the deeper lying midfielder roles which I think would be a mistake. We'll likely see some combination of Mainoo, Casemiro, Ugarte, and Bruno there.

When we've been in possession, we've been in nearly a 3-1-5-1 shape anyway recently; when Bruno is one of the back two on the pre-match lineup, he inevitably plays between the 10s in the actual game. Bruno has been playing pretty high even when he's nominally one of the deeper midfielders. My assumption is he's supposed to be there.

Viewed in that prism, if the five behind the striker is:

Dorgu-Cunha-Bruno-Mbeumo-Amad

That admittedly is pretty strong looking from an attack standpoint. Especially if we can get a striker. The big question to me is whether we are getting too thin in defense. (2023 with 20+ shots per game admittedly wasn't real fun even though we somehow had a better record; that was it's own kind of brutal).

Also, I'll admit my Mbeumo bias: I watched about 5 or 6 Brentford games that didn't involve us last year. I don't know why; maybe I'm fascinated by Thomas Frank's hair (I can never decide if it is great or awful lol). Anyway… he stands out when you watch Brentford. It seems like he always stands out, and not just the goals.

Maybe if I watched Wolves I'd like Cunha more lol. Wolves used to hardly ever score, so I learned to avoid their games.

Yeah… how terrible that would be… imagine watching a team every week that never scores… can you believe it?

The worry is that 1, unless it's Rodri, is going to get overrun if Cunha, Bruno, and Mbeumo are playing high up the pitch. Both Cunha and Mbeumo are good ball progressors so when United are in possession in their own half/defensive third, they should greatly add to the variety and ability to move the ball towards goal. But if/when United lose possession in their attacking third, they better press like hell to get it back immediately or else Ugarte is going to get run through. So many times some combination of Ugarte/Casemiro/Bruno were caught out in the middle and the opposition just walked through the middle third. Could maybe claim that the wingbacks and some intelligent interplay (i.e. not everyone forward at once unless you're desperate for a goal) could help out in that situation but if Amad is the first choice RWB, he's not going to be defensively reliable (he presses really well I think but he's not a natural defender).

I personally think at least one, true box-to-box mid is required to really make the team work on both ends of pitch, both in and out of possession. Of course, easier said that done but we have had one of this since...I don't know Carrick? Fletcher? Mainoo could maybe become that but he's not there defensively. At least not yet.

By the way, I'm fully assuming that Mbeumo joining United is just a matter of time so sorry in advance when he ends up signing for Newcastle or whatever.

Ornacle reporting that United are offering 45m +10m in add-ons for Mbeumo.

How the Glazer family cost Manchester United 1.2bn British Pounds
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd9lwdegxvxo

Quote:

---

Calculations by BBC Verify - based on an analysis of the club's published accounts and stock market announcements - show that since the Glazer family's acquisition of the club in June 2005 it has paid out:

815m British Pounds in debt interest repayments
166m British Pounds in dividends to shareholders
10m British Pounds in management and administration fees to Glazer family companies
197m British Pounds in external net debt repayments

This means that, in total, 1.187bn British Pounds in cash left the club between 2005 and 2024 which it is reasonable to argue would not have done so in the absence of the Glazer takeover.

It is a conservative estimate, too, because it does not include various fees to banks, financial advisers and other financing costs, including currency hedging.

It also does not include the cash that has left the club in the form of directors' fees.

Since the Glazers re-listed a portion of the club's shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, 125m British Pounds has also been paid out in compensation to the club's directors.

Given half of the directors were Glazer family members, it's likely half of this sum - about 63m - went to them.

---

...

Quote:

---

In 2005, Manchester United PLC's total gross debt was just 50m British Pounds.

---

dabo man said:

---

How the Glazer family cost Manchester United 1.2bn British Pounds
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd9lwdegxvxo

Quote:

---

Calculations by BBC Verify - based on an analysis of the club's published accounts and stock market announcements - show that since the Glazer family's acquisition of the club in June 2005 it has paid out:

815m British Pounds in debt interest repayments
166m British Pounds in dividends to shareholders
10m British Pounds in management and administration fees to Glazer family companies
197m British Pounds in external net debt repayments

This means that, in total, 1.187bn British Pounds in cash left the club between 2005 and 2024 which it is reasonable to argue would not have done so in the absence of the Glazer takeover.

It is a conservative estimate, too, because it does not include various fees to banks, financial advisers and other financing costs, including currency hedging.

It also does not include the cash that has left the club in the form of directors' fees.

Since the Glazers re-listed a portion of the club's shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, 125m British Pounds has also been paid out in compensation to the club's directors.

Given half of the directors were Glazer family members, it's likely half of this sum - about 63m - went to them.

---

...

Quote:

---

In 2005, Manchester United PLC's total gross debt was just 50m British Pounds.

---

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Sickening

I don't know when it's going to happen but that debt (about 700m now I think) will eventually either destroy the club or be completely wiped out by someone problematic. For lack of a better word, I don't see how that debt can be removed "correctly" and/or without consequence. Could be in a few years. Could be in a few decades. But one of those two scenarios is likely to happen.

In other news, it appears that Chelsea, Arsenal, and Villa all have interest in Garnacho. Leverkusen and Napoli do as well but his preference is to stay in the EPL.

I'd personally slap an extra 20m on the price tag for any EPL club who came calling. If Leverkusen gets that Wirtz money from Liverpool then maybe we can take a sizable chunk of it off their hands and he can be reunited with EtH. Everyone's happy.

Well Chelsea appear ready to finalize the Gittens transfer from Dortmund. I would guess that means Garnacho to Chelsea is unlikely but also not surprising if Chelsea go out and add 3 more wingers because Chelsea.

Can anyone here make a call and see if their new manager can be persuaded to fill their Gittens sized hole with a little Sancho? Would be nice if Chelsea signing Gittens opened the door for Sancho to leave United and for Garnacho to go somewhere not in the EPL.

Some day, someone will have to explain to me how Chelsea can afford all these players without running afoul of the spending rules.

Other than "we sold the women's team to ourselves so that's 100% profit on the books. We have more money!"

Mathguy64 said:

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Some day, someone will have to explain to me how Chelsea can afford all these players without running afoul of the spending rules.

Other than "we sold the women's team to ourselves so that's 100% profit on the books. We have more money!"

---

Y'all are trash. YNWA

I think it's the 8 year contracts they sign everyone to. That means on an annual basis, the total cost of the transfer is significantly less than it would be if they signed players to a 4 year contract (how much less depends on how large a portion the wages are of the total cost). Since the rules only apply to how much your annual spend can be, you can actually acquire more players or spend more and not break the rules.

If they make more good transfers then bad and/or sell well when they make a bad transfer, then they'll probably be fine. But if they don't, they are at risk of torpedoing the club for a decade. Of course United torpedoed their club for a decade anyway without resorting to 8 year contracts. At the end of the day, your club is going to be in trouble no matter what the contract lengths are if you make a lot of transfer mistakes so I guess might as well sign them up for 8 and take advantage of the system.

Yes they did that but the system requires they amortize the cost of the contract over a max of 5 years. They can't just spread it out, defer it or do a Bobby Bonilla style contract.

Yes, but that rule change only went to affect this year...and it does nothing to change the amortization schedule of anyone Chelsea signed before the rule change.