2024/25: INEOS, Sir Jim, and a New Era for Manchester United
I'll give this a shot. As the title states, I'll be starting a Manager Career save with Manchester United and I'll be basically pretending it's the start of the 24/25 season.
This means I'll be editing the Premier League to include and remove clubs that look set for promotion and relegation, respectively. I'll be editing the Champions/Europa/Conference League groups to reflect my best guess for who will feature next season.
Unlike when the game is released, I'll be turning on the first transfer window, as well.
I'll start things off with a major announcement. More to come soon.
following germany's fantastic run to the 2024 euros final, where they lost 2-1 to england, newly appointed manchester united manager julian nagelsmann addressed the media ahead of what promises to be a busy preseason for the red devils.
speaking in a press conference at old trafford, nagelsmann stated that united's summer transfer business is complete and he is happy with his squad. considering player departures, a much-needed clearing out of some players, and ffp restrictions, he and dan ashworth had their work cut out for them heading into the transfer window, given the expiration of the contracts of raphael varane and anthony martial. this left a major lack of depth in united's striker and centerback positions. these were united's first pieces of business, and austrian centerback, kevin danso, was purchased from rc lens, while young nigerian striker, george ilenikhena, was brought in from royal antwerp after a stellar season for the belgian club.
jadon sancho, too, made demands of united's hierarchy that they didn't feel were warranted, which led to the winger submitting a formal transfer request. newcastle united made a bold approach for the 24 year old, hoping to capitalize on his unrest with a lower offer, but it was ac milan who turned sancho's head and agreed to a fee that more closely matched united's asking price.
brazilian winger, antony, has found adjustment to the premier league to be more difficult than anticipated and personal issues off the pitch haven't helped. ashworth isn't completely sold on antony's suitability to united's long-term plans, but agreed to listen to loan offers for the brazilian. la liga side, real sociedad, agreed to a one-year loan with an option to make the move permanent, which united and antony accepted.
two wingers out the door forced united to finally put pen to paper on a deal for michael olise, who agreed personal terms with united months prior. amad diallo, as well, was given assurances from nagelsmann regarding first team minutes and will remain a part of the squad this season.
tyrell malacia's absence and alvaro fernandez's move to benfica saw united bring in dutch left-back, bjorn meijer, from club brugge in a shrewd piece of business. the young fullback will provide solid competition for luke shaw, whose injury woes haven't gone unnoticed by ashworth.
it was widely believed that casemiro would be the next player in the twlight of his career to make the move to the saudi pro league, but an unexpected offer from paris saint-germain proved too good to pass up and the midfield veteran opted to join the ligue 1 giants. in need of a powerful midfielder, united signed mats wieffer from feyenoord, who nagelsmann and ashworth firmly believe will seamlessly adjust to the demands of the premier league.
finally, donny van de beek joined royal antwerp, christian eriksen moved to feyenoord, free agent anthony martial joined eintracht frankfurt, willy kambwala joined southampton on loan, and victor lindelof joined ogc nice.
nagelsmann will use the season to further assess his squad and a strategy is already in place regarding united's next few transfer windows.
as it stands, here is manchester united's squad for the 24/25 season
@sonofthepitch Is that an Xbox? Screenshot = BRIEFLY press the central 'X' on the controller (as if you were closing it down). You get the 'home' screen, with the actual game screen dimmed. Then press the yellow "y" button, and you save the screenshot. If you producse this stuff on a PC, access the Onedrive on your PC and find the 'pictures' folder. In there, you will see an 'Xbox screenshots' folder, where you can find them. In terms of getting them on here, I use 'Snip and Sketch' to save a JPEG and then add it to the story.
the 2024-25 premier league season is up and running, with august seeing the first three matches of the season, as well as the close of the summer transfer window. united played wolves, spurs, and forest in their first three fixtures.
August proved to be a fruitful month for United. Not only did Julian Nagelsmann's side win their first three matches, but the German manager won the Premier League Manager of Month and Bruno Fernandes earned the Player of the Month award, as well.
September, however, will be a test. United have six matches (four league fixtures, a Europa League group stage match against LASK, and a Carabao Cup tie against Bristol City) with an international break thrown in, too. With most of the matches falling in the last two weeks of the month, Nagelsmann will be hoping his players don't pick up an injuries on international duty.
before we take a look at each of the match results, though, an update on united's academy.
nagelsmann and ashworth have workd closely with united's academy director, youth coaching staff, and youth scouts to identify the culture, tactics, and player profiles they'll value moving forward. united have four academy players that look promising.
17 year old attacker noam van damme is a belgian talent with excellent dribbling and can play on the wing or as a number 10.
utilizing their local scouts in england, united have also earmarked two english defenders to keep an eye on. 15 year old left-footed centerback sebastian brewer has pace and great awareness, enabling him to quickly sniff out danger and make recovery runs. ethan andrews is a 17 year old left-back whose physicality and stamina allow him to get up and down the pitch without tiring, enabling him to contribute to both attack and defense
finally, united sent a scout to argentina to take a look at a young goalkeeper tipped to have a bright future. just 17 years old, german ochoa is a towering 6'5 shot stopper whose impressive distribution and reflexes caught united's eye. united acted swiftly on the recommendation from their scout and signed ochoa to the academy, where he's been a standout in the u-18's. ochoa's performances have been so impressive, in fact, that it's believed he is ready to be tested with the u-21's.
