Mbeumo deal done. Wasted nearly 2 months.

65mm pounds plus 6mm pounds in add ons.

I'm gonna need Bryan to score the game winner on opening day against Arsenal in order to not be annoyed by this deal. Nothing against you Bryan. Just annoyed by our decision makers.

I love him. He has me at hello.

Also, Twitter says the add ons aren't that easy and are team goals, so assume we have to get back in CL before really owing addons. And we are paying over 4 years, which I think we were willing to pay Wolves a bit more money to spread it out a bit more. So from a cash flow perspective this hits our money available a bit less than the Cunha deal.

But I just really like the player. Whenever I watched Brentford, it seemed like he was constantly around the ball. It's a little bit like how Bruno always seems to be around, if you know what I mean.

I'm practically hexing him at this point, and he will be a flop, all my fault. But I do really like him.

From that standpoint, it seems like there were able to get decent terms. However, just once, I would like to be Man City or RM. Rumor of said player going to Man City. Window opens. Deal is signed because it was already done before the window ever opened. Player comes in immediately to be incorporated with the squad.

Has that happened for RM much this year? The Trent thing dragged on forever (Will he? Won't he? Got sick of it.) And they just got the Alvarro Carreras deal done. Jude Bellingham took a while, I remember when he was supposedly headed to Liverpool. They also buy kids, but then we do too, and pretty quickly lately. That Bournemouth deal may have been relatively quick, but think it was a release clause so they just agreed terms with the player and triggered the release.

We do have a special talent for draining the joy out of deals, though. Can't deny.

Marcus on loan to Barca has been given the "Here we go" from Romano. Earlier report from Ornstein also reported a deal to be far along and closed soon. This is probably all we could expect this window. I hope he does well.

🚨🔵🔴 BREAKING: Marcus Rashford to Barcelona, here we go! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Verbal agreement in principle between all parties involved with Barça planning for medical tests next days.

Loan deal with buy option, details being finalised today then Man Utd will authorize his travel to Spain. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/Hp4sZNBCRv

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 19, 2025

That's not going to give a lot of financial relief. I would guess United are paying a significant portion of his wages. Barca's financial situation makes their ability to pick up any option to buy highly questionable. Best United can hope for is an Antony outcome. He excels and makes himself more interesting for a permanent transfer next summer.

Still sad it has come to this. Hope he kills it there.

Barca are paying his full wages Debbie Downer. And they were bidding around 50-60M for Nico Williams. I think they just aren't ready to commit to him yet, and we can't force a deal because there are no other clubs coming in.

🚨 Barcelona set to pay whole Marcus Rashford salary as part of proposed transfer from Manchester United. Impending loan + option to buy includes 100% wage coverage by #FCBarcelona as all parties work to finalise deal for 27yo #MUFC attacker @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/n6HWvIbJTp

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 19, 2025

Alright I stand corrected. Hooray for full wages and the extra 8m it saves.

Didn't realize that Maxi Oyedele moved to Strasbourg. United pick up a few more million in sell on fees. Loose change is slowly adding up.

Isak says he wants to leave Newcastle. Lord I hope he doesn't go to Liverpool.

Yeah, we just have to hope some of their guys flop and that Salah and VVD get old. We aren't catching them this year, anyway.

It's so much fun hoping freaking Arsenal or City do well enough to keep them from winning titles.

According to Sky, 2 Saudi clubs are interested in Antony.

And I had missed this but lots of reports that Sancho agreed to terms with Juve? But they are slow playing it because 1) they need to sell and 2) they are the only suitors and are probably waiting for United to get desperate.

I think they do need to sell. They have a similar problem in Vlahovic; he's on 22M Euros wages for this year. He's basically their Sancho.

Radek Vitek signed a new contract through 2028 and will spend the season on loan at Bristol City in the Championship.

Feeds into the narrative that United aren't looking hard at goalie and are at best looking for someone to compete with Onana and not replace him. If Vitek does well at Bristol City, he could be that goalie next season. But getting a cheap option to compete with Onana this season wouldn't block Vitek next season.

Athletic reporting that United have narrowed their striker search to Watkins in Sesko which doesn't really feel like news. I doubt Sesko happens. Arsenal walked away because it was too expensive and convoluted. He has a similar risk/reward profile as Hojlund in that he's young, talented, but unproven in the EPL and didn't exactly light up the league he currently resides in. Don't think it makes much sense to pursue a player like that when you're pursuing a forward because you already have a player like that.

I'd rather just hold Hojlund and bring in Watkins, if the price was reasonable. I don't love that move as a long term strategy but I've come around on it as a short term one. United just need to make progress toward top 8 this season and Watkins is a lower risk, lower cost way to get there than Sesko. Sesko has a higher potential ceiling but I don't think he's worth the risk for where United are at right now. Would rather sign a player like Watkins and invest in more youth talent that's a couple of years away (i.e. like Kana-Biyik) than sign Sesko.

The Leipzig news I follow thinks Sesko to United deal is likely. Evidently both the player and club are lowering their demands after the Arsenal failure.

Personally, as a Leipzig fan, I'd love to have the money rather than the player - so that should probably tell you something…

In Sesko's defense though, our build-up play was pure trash this year so the numbers he managed to put up are pretty good considering how few chances he was offered. He's a good player and has loads of potential, but I think he'll need a year or two to settle in to EPL before he can be productive.

🚨🇸🇮 BREAKING: Manchester United are prioritising a move for Benjamin Sesko!! [@David_Ornstein, @lauriewhitwell]#MUFC pic.twitter.com/ctY4ecjMOG

— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) July 30, 2025

Rumors that Sesko prefers United over Newcastle. Also potential of a player swap with United sending Hojlund their way.

Well what I am worried about is replacing our physically impressive but underperforming striker with their physically impressive but underperforming striker. My reticence is partially being burned by Hojlund (think he had about 9 goals over a half season of playing time at Atalanta) and Sancho (remember him being only second to Messi in goals plus assists in Europe's top 5 leagues from Dortmund; or something crazy like that).

I hope he's the one that hits… I'm scarred from the past, I can admit it.

Villa must've wanted too much for Watkins to make it worth the risk

yea, I am not even making predictions anymore. When I first saw Zirkzee play for us, I thought "finally we a true finisher". well, that hasn't quite been the case. so, i'll just fingers crossed now.

I would watch Hojlund and think the same thing.

He just always seemed to be a half beat behind the ball.

🚨 RB Leipzig asking price for Benjamin Sesko ~€75m guaranteed + add-ons & percentage of future sale. Fee expectation communicated to suitors for 22yo striker. #NUFC / #MUFC pursuing but no agreements yet with #RBLeipzig or Slovenia forward @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/nwxt5qQb8L

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 30, 2025

Run away. Run away as fast as you can from that deal. Thats got ManU tax written all over it.

Mathguy64 said:

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Run away. Run away as fast as you can from that deal. Thats got ManU tax written all over it.

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Well, there's a reason Arsenal pivoted away from him. It seems that Leipzig doesn't really want to sell him but are also happy to fleece any Premier League team willing to get fleeced.

This is where I'm at and why I lean towards Watkins. Though if Villa aren't budging from their 60m valuation, then United are right to walk away.

I personally wouldn't give up on Hojlund. Last season was bad but he's still only 22. And bringing in another 22 year old striker to lead your forward line that has high potential/high risk makes little sense. That's how we got here in the first place. Yes they are different players with different skillsets but they have some stark similarities and Sesko's decision making creates a big question mark as to whether he can mentally handle the pressure of being "the guy" at Old Trafford when every opposing fan, media member, and even some United fans are just waiting for the moment when they can rip you shreds.

If Sesko is my only somewhat realistic option, I would much rather use that money to get another central midfielder. Even if some U-18/U-21 players are nearly ready to make the jump to first team minutes, central midfield is a position where investing in a young high potential but riskier option makes sense. It's an area of need now and in the future yet has players with experience. You can take on more risk there than you can at the position that currently has really only youth and inexperience as options.

Yeah, I don't think that price is a Man U tax. That's pretty consistent with what they asked from Arsenal.

Here's hoping that Newcastle sells Isak and saves United from themselves. They won't have any trouble meeting that valuation if they sell Isak and they can offer CL football. I can't imagine that United would be able to compete with both of those.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Run away. Run away as fast as you can from that deal. Thats got ManU tax written all over it.

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Well, there's a reason Arsenal pivoted away from him. It seems that Leipzig doesn't really want to sell him but are also happy to fleece any Premier League team willing to get fleeced.

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I believe they don't want to sell, but they did have a bad year where they crashed out of Europe entirely as well, and they probably don't have the big commercial safety net United has. And they haven't made any sales of any real substance (only 7M eur total against 92M eur in purchases, per transfermarkt). So… we'll see is all I'm really saying. Maybe they don't. But maybe they are just posturing. (Edit: that said, I think Chelsea will buy Simons; but I don't think they get to keep all that money, either).

Good first 30 against Bournemouth so far...Hojlund got a hair touch on a Dorgu ball in and then Dorgu got free and put one in himself. Pretty nasty conditions but they look good so far

The conditions are horrible right now. No one needs to try and stop and slip and pull something or tear up a knee

Classic preseason 9 man change.

Preseason doesn't mean a thing but I would much rather win the games than lose them...especially after last season.