last one for today, but it's a big one.
after weeks of discussion, presentations illustrating the vision for united's future, tours of old trafford, carrington, and the proposed sight of a new stadium, manchester united have convinced julian nagelsmann of the project and the german coach has agreed to become manchester united manager in a shocking turn of events that will also see thomas tuchel take over as the head coach of the german national team ahead of the 2024 euros.
nagelsmann is eager to get to work and is looking forward to meeting up with the players and coaching staff. meetings with united's recruitment team will also be held over the next few weeks as transfer strategies for the next several years are identified and implemented, beginning with compiling a detailed list of targets for this summer. nagelsmann also plans to work closely with united's academy directors and coaches to ensure the club maintains its strong tradition of promoting from within its youth ranks.
tomorrow, we'll take a look at priority positions to strengthen, transfer targets, focus for youth scouts, and players who will be sold.
which positions do you think united should look to prioritize? which players would you like to see united target? keep in mind, i'll be taking nagelsmann's transfer history into my decisions, too, along with his tactics. see you tomorrow!
@sonofthepitch
Interesting start, I must say. I don't think Ratcliffe will stick with ten Hag in real life, unless he accepts a 'head coach' role, rather than Ferguson-style 'manager'. I hope for our sakes that, in real life, ten Hag does accept that change, because I think he's be good at that.
If you are tracking 'real life', remember that we are in a hell of a mess financially with regard to FFP (or whetever it's called these days), and maybe you therefore need to find 'bargains', in terms of new signings. Unless, that is, you get decent money for some of your outgoings. Personally, I think you'll be lucky except, perhaps Jadon Sancho (although it might be an interesting development if you kept him now that Nagelsmann has replaced ten Hag). I can't see you getting much for the other players you listed, except perhaps Greenwood and Casemiro. When I sold Casemiro in my own career save, I got £95 million for him, so there's a challenge for you 🙂
In terms of buys, I'd recommend Rayan Cherki, most definitely, as @Danimal5981 says. I'd also go for Ander Barrenetxea, who is low priced and pretty good. In defence, you should consider Luca Netz at left back (you maybe need to replace the always-injured Luke Shaw).
Oh, and anyone who reads my career stories won't be surprised at the next one - Facundo Farias. He's at Inter Miami, so there's a United connection through Becks, which you could use in the storyline. He's down as a CAM, but if you get him (he's pretty cheap in the overall scheme of things) and convert him to a CF, you'll find him just about the most prolific striker in EAFC - I do, every time. You need someone to bang in the goals, we need someone like that in real life, too, and he's it.
Looking forward to seeing how this develops...welcome aboard.
second bit of transfer news
in their two new additions--kevin danso and george ilenikhena--manchester united have addressed their top priority positions early on the in transfer window.
in kevin danso, united identified a powerful presence in the backline who is young, but also has plenty of experience as a mainstay in the starting eleven. nagelsmann will look to danso's physicality and aerial presence to compliment lisandro martinez, and hopes to establish and strengthen that partnership during preseason. danso nearly joined napoli in the summer of 2023 after kim min jae joined bayern munich and danso's performances helped lens secure a second place finish in ligue 1, but lens were able to hold onto the austrian centerback for another season. former united defender, raphael varane, returns to rc lens as a free agent after united allowed his contract to run down. varane was part of the lens youth setup for nearly a decade before being promoted to the first team in 2010.
studied football fans will recall that julian nagelsmann brought exciting young attacker, mathys tel, to bayern munich in the summer of 2022 and had plans to turn the versatile french forward into a prolific attacker. in a similar move, united's manager worked with the recruitment team to identify ilenikhena as a promising young player. the 17 year old ilenikhena is a confident and precocious talent who is blessed with power, pace, and excellent close control. while his youth means he can be aggressive and make the wrong decision here and there, there's a definite talent there, and one who nagelsmann believes he can develop into the next great striker.
with malacia's forced absence from football and benfica taking up the permanent option for alvaro fernandez, it's believed nagelsmann will set his sights on a young left-back who can seamlessly rotate with the injury-prone luke shaw. french giants paris saint-germain have shown interest in casemiro, as well, which means united are ramping up their efforts to narrow down their search for a defensive midfielder.
