173: Amorim TRANSFER Frustration! United SPIN Begins!

0:00Hello, buddy. Welcome to the United Stands. I'm Mark Goldbridge and this is your latest Manchester United news this Tuesday, the 2nd of September. The transfer window is closed. The spin begins. I'm feeling a little bit dizzy. I'm like Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. If you know, you know. But I am feeling dizzy from the spin, but we expected it. And the great thing about this community is we predict the things that are going to happen. I literally said last night, Manchester Evening News will drop a story this morning about future plans for transfers in January. And lo and behold, it dropped. We've also got an athletic article, which is a bit spinny, but a bit not spinny.

0:38And Reuben Amrim is not happy. So we'll get into all of that this morning. Plus, get your thoughts in. I just want to start off by saying that what we do in this community is we don't follow spin. and we say how it is, but we're also very real. The transfer window is shut. We go with what we've got. I don't think Amrim's happy. In fact, I know he's not. I know that Omar Barada yesterday was making calls for midfielders, which we'll talk about in a moment. And I also know that in many ways, we're not in the worst position. There are clubs like Brentford probably looking at Man United and going, yeah, we've lost Wizzat and Bermow, Norgard, Flecken and our manager.

1:20and we've not really replaced them. So, you know, boo, bloody who? Bournemouth might do the same. They've lost a lot of players. Aston Villa might look at Man United and go, you know, we were in the Champions League last year. We've not really done anything. At least you've spent£200 million. So look, it ain't like Amrim's walking around the streets homeless. He has had some investment and there has to be a return on that investment. But when you compare it to where we want to be, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, we haven't done the things we needed to do. So look, it's not that what I'm trying to say is, you know what I'm like.

1:56I said it after the, when we lost the Europa League final, I said, that's going to be rock bottom. I woke up the next day and I felt liberated. I was like, well, here we are at rock bottom. The only way is up. Let's fight. Have we fought from that rock bottom? You know, I think we've made some mistakes. I think we've made some positives, but we are where we are. And I'm one of the first people to say, when you wake up the next day, are you going to keep moaning about it? Or are you going to go, well, come on then. let's see your plan because we can't do anything now. The window is shut. We are going to have to go with what we've got.

2:24You take a deep breath, you have a sleep, you wake up and then you go with what you've got. I'm not happy with it, but I ain't going to keep moaning about it because it is what it is. We are where we are. Some people have it worse than us. Some clubs have it better than us. What is achievable now? So let's get into it. LeMens is now official, but I want to just dive straight into a few bits. Just on the midfielder, this is from our source. Man United were making calls for midfielders yesterday. Absolutely. The names will probably come out. Let me have a sip of coffee. The names will probably come out, but Barada was making calls up until five o 'clock yesterday for midfielders.

3:06So when you get the Manchester Evening news leak, and we always knew this was going to happen. I will just read it to you because it's not been made up. Manchester United sources have said the midfield was never a priority due to already having options that the club view is strong and versatile. So this is from the Manchester Evening News this morning. Manchester United sources have said the midfield was never a priority due to already having options that the club views is strong and versatile. I mean, that story has got more holes in it than a hedgehog's lilo. It's sinking on its own bloody mattress.

3:45It's incredible that, I mean, I don't know whether that's made up by that paper. I don't know whether it's leaked from the club. But whoever has given that story is a prize idiot. Like, that's incredible to me. And there are more leaks this morning. There is more spin. but that is incredible and we'll break it down right we'll break it we'll break it down on fact so the story is man united are happy with their midfield because it's strong and versatile and a midfielder was never a priority okay let's just break this down really easy without getting angry so a midfielder was never a priority and we're happy with what we've got we had five midfielders going into the summer we've loaned one so we've weakened our midfield maynew wanted to go and we forced him to stay, wanted to go on loan.

4:35Tell me why that's strong and versatile. When one wanted to go, one's been loaned and you've brought nobody in. One's a number 10. One's about to retire in a year and one's confidence is low. Come on. That's nonsense. What was the second part of it? We never prioritised a midfielder. I must have dreamt Ruben Amarin publicly saying on the US tour that the midfield lacks intensity and speed. I must have dreamt that one. It was early hours of the morning. Maybe I was hallucinating, but I think about 20 ,000 other people on that watch along must have been hallucinating as well. Thirdly, is David Ornstein a bullshitter?

5:15Is Fabrizio Romano a liar? Is Ben Jacobs full of shit? I mean, did we not spend two weeks negotiating a deal with Balaba, who last time I checked, played in the midfield. So, and further to that, Omar Barada was making calls to midfielders desperately yesterday. So for all that evidence, apparently we never prioritised the midfielder and were really happy with it. And this is what you have to put up with. And I will just play the game a minute here. When we mock these journalists and outlets and the club and whoever leaks this spin. You call it what it is as spin and people go, not everything's spin.

5:55Right. Look, I know what spin is. I've worked in organisations who spin. It's part of the industry. If you get, let's say Sir Jim Radcliffe, losers, the America's Cup, that boat race thing, right? He has to do an interview after it. He's absolutely pissed off that they've not won. What's he going to say? What a load of shit. I've wasted all this money on a bunch of knobheads. What a weight. I'll never get them four years back and I'll never get all that money back. Absolute idiots. We've absolutely messed up. We're rubbish. Alternatively, at the end of the day, we are really proud of what we're achieving here.

6:30We're working towards something that we will achieve. Everything has gone really, really well. And ultimately, it's just one of those things. You're always going to get the spin because that's what companies that want to make money do. They're never going to expose the truth. So I expect the spin. The reality is we're not stakeholders. So we can be honest and say, come on, you can't be putting it out the next morning that you never wanted a midfielder when every bit of evidence shows that you did. Who were the midfielders that Omar Barada was talking about? Well, I could give you a name right now, but I'd be in a lot of trouble.

7:06All I'd say is I think he plays in Italy at the moment And he's a midfielder And I believe I've had him on a previous EFC Probably FIFA career mode But Ben Jacobs said we reached out to Conor Gallagher as well Apparently we reached out to somebody from the Championship So that's three straight away Even if two of us are wrong I doubt all three of us are wrong So we were reaching out yesterday to midfielders. It wasn't Edison. Ineos counting on the men's and Lyon to make it to five signings, says Savage. Morning legends, disappointing window considering what other teams did, but there's nothing we can do now but to back the team and the manager.

7:51I literally said this in a chat this morning, Natty. Where we are this morning, I agree with you. You've got the Glynios Rimmers, who are basically telling you it's the best transfer window we've ever had. You've got the Amrim outers Who are feasting on all the losses that are about to come And then you've got Uslot Who are basically fastening ourselves in For the rollercoaster that's coming Where it's going to be up and down I think there are three factions at United Glynios Rimmers Amrim outers And then Uslot And I think all of us know That it's going to be a rollercoaster season I'm just fastening in for it Like, you know, I hope All I want is Amrim to survive the season my personal feeling is can he survive the season that's my honest take and you should watch the show last night because we broke it down in such granular detail it was a great show you know not everybody agreed but it was a brilliant show if you want a transfer review show check out last night's show it was brilliant from start to finish I was watching it back last night we just got into so much detail I don't think anybody can argue we didn't miss anything from Bruno's sale to the lot, you know, but my big thing is I worry about Amrim and my big thing is, can he survive the season?

9:05He has to survive the season. But is Amrim happy? Well, I will come back. No, I'll do the Amrim happy thing now. What worries me about Ruben Amrim is, is that he's very publicly made it very clear that he wanted a midfielder and he didn't get it. He's also very publicly threatened to quit twice. So you don't need to have a degree in psychology to know that Ruben Amirim is not going to be very happy. He's going to have to put a positive spin on it like we all are, and he's going to have to get to work and deal with what he's got. Like I said, some managers in the Premier League have got it harder than him.

9:43Some managers have got it better than him. The difference between being a Brentford manager like Keith Andrews and having a very hard job is that Brentford fans don't expect them to finish in the top four and they don't have the media on their arse. Yes, there are managers in the Premier League that had worse windows than us, so, you know, Amrim can't cry poverty. But no other manager, not even Pep Guardiola, not even Maresca, have the pressure that Ruben Amrim has. You could argue Arteta and Slott don't either. So when he doesn't get what he wants, he ends up scrutinised to a ridiculous level.

10:17So he's not going to be happy when you ask for something and you don't get it. But like that chef we spoke about at the start of the summer who wants to cook a lasagna because he's a Michelin star chef who cooks lasagna. And then, you know, your owner turns up and says, we've got no mince. He's going to have to cook a vegetarian lasagna, isn't he? Is it going to be good enough without the mince? We'll have to wait and see. Vegetarians will be happy, but will the rest be happy? We're just going to have to wait and see how it pans out. but of course he ain't going to be happy because he didn't get everything that he needed.

10:49It's not Martinez, but we have to back Lemans, says Liam. I just want to say on Lemans, I'm getting sent so much stuff. He's our goalkeeper and we back him. I'm very consistent on this. I'm very honest. I didn't want Matic. I didn't like Matic, but I backed him. I wasn't particularly happy with Lukaku, but I backed him. I didn't like Fellaini, but I backed him. I might have got proved wrong on my reservations, but I still backed them until it was very obvious they were shite. But I ain't got a problem with laments. Like somebody said last night, two weeks ago, you were very excited about this signing.

11:23And I didn't reply to it because I thought I'll just do it on the morning show. I was very excited two weeks ago. I was probably very excited two days ago. But if you offer me Martinez, I want Martinez. I might be very, very happy with a car. And then if someone turns up on my drive and says, here's a better car, I'm not going to go, no I'll stick with that one that's what happened I still like Le Mens but I think we had a better option and we didn't take it in my opinion you have a different opinion that's fine um I want Le Mens to do well I see people saying he's shit I see people saying he's going to be the next Courtois I don't know I don't even know if he'll start against Man City I don't even know if he's going to be our starting goalkeeper I hope he is because Martinez would have been so I want Le to be the starting goalkeeper.

12:06And I think I'm pronouncing his name wrong, by the way, because I don't think it is Le Mens. So if anyone knows how you pronounce it, let me know. But yeah, I do look forward to seeing how it's going to pan out. But, you know, I certainly think he's a bit of a risk. David Mullen says Fellaini wasn't a shit, wasn't shite. He was absolute shite, mate. But unfortunately for you, it's 2025 and I'm not spending any more time talking about Fellaini. Those days are gone. Dragon Guide says, the only way I accept the less amount of players brought in this window is if Ineos stick with Amrim the whole three years, irrespective of everything, says Dragon.

12:45I love that statement, mate. And I saw a few people saying it yesterday. If they're not going to back him in the window fully, they better fully back him over the season. Completely agree. But hypotheticals never work in reality. When you're getting pumped 7-0 by Liverpool, no one's going to sit there and go well they better keep backing him for the next two years because quite rightly we all live in the moment and that's the problem if the bad results come this hypothetical they better back him for two years will go in the bin no one will think about it because that's not how the football fan works now the transfer window is shut where do you think we'll finish?

13:25two injuries in the midfield and we'll be in serious trouble I think we are going to pick up injuries that's another hypothetical but we will pick them up, but we don't know where. I'm still pitching us between fifth and 10th. Seventh is where I'm going for. I think Spurs and Newcastle are better than us and obviously the top four. So I'm going to pitch us in at seventh at the moment. Somebody might say that's a bit generous, but that's where I'm going now. Glaze has spent almost three billion since 05-06. We've been mismanaged, says the Berka. Pengers says that the Athletic are detailing a lot of the transfer window this morning.

13:58Hard to know all fact from fiction, But if it's true, the story about Inanna arriving to preseason, seeking a contract bump, it's laughable. I've read a lot of that. I'm going to go through a lot of that now. I think some of it, you know, in all honesty, the Athletic are client journalism. They do do that. And what that is, the clubs go, here's this. And they go, we'll put it out for you. But there is also an element of journalism as well. I think the Athletic is quite unique in the sense that they are client journalism, where they take information from the club and feed it out for them. But there is also sometimes an aspect of journalism where they go and get stuff themselves or they'll cast an opinion themselves.

14:36So let's go through some of that because I read some of it this morning and it was quite interesting. So first and foremost, let's start off with the midfielder. Ruben Amorim pushed for Belaba internally and Sir Jim Radcliffe wanted Manchester United to try for him, but the club couldn't justify the price. At the start of talks, United sense Brighton might be open to a sale in the ballpark of João Pedro's move to Chelsea for£60m. United agreed personal terms with Belaba, who was keen on the switch, having received positive messages from Anana, Mbermo and Yoro. United are expected to return for Belaba in the future.

15:22Well, look, straight away, that last sentence, you know, spin me around on the chair.

15:30It's spin. That last sentence is basically designed to distract your eyes from what went on yesterday. There is no one in the world that can guarantee we're going to sign Belaber in January or the summer. And if you think that, you're ridiculously naive, in my opinion. And I'll explain why. this happens after every transfer window. It's been happening for years. The window closes, you don't get what you want, and it comes out that next summer we're going big. And nobody can tell me I'm lying because I can go and find every article for you. Every year, when the window closes, the morning after, next summer we're going to get this player.

16:11Next summer we're going to get Ronaldo. Next summer we're going to get Bale. It happens every single year. Also, it's very important to say that United are expected to return for Balaba in the future, he's still going to be 100 million quid. He's still going to be out of your price range. So, you know, if you can't justify the price now, how do you justify it in a year? And also other clubs will be looking at him in a year. The only reason we got a clear run at Balaba was because Liverpool didn't need a midfielder. Arsenal had bought two midfielders. Man City had bought their midfielders and Chelsea you don't need midfielders.

16:47In a year's time, that might be different. And let's not forget PSG, Real Madrid and everybody else. So we had a perfect storm to go for Bel-Aber and we didn't do it because we couldn't justify the price. So whether it's Laurie Whitwell or David Ornstein or Fabrizio Romano or the Manchester Evening News, I'm sorry, in my opinion, you saying United are expected to go for him next year because United are briefing it to you, I would say, can we sit down and live in the real world. If you can't justify the price now, why would you justify it in a year? Mic drop, number one. Also, we had a clear run at him and we didn't do the deal.

17:26In a year or in January, all the other clubs will come in and that'll push the price up and the wage up. Mic drop, number two. Mic drop, number three. Oh, I remember this happening on February the 1st with David Ornstein saying we're in talks with Kenda and everyone got excited and forgot the January transfer window. Five weeks later, he's signing for Chelsea. So I don't, unfortunately, if you want to wake up and be positive and believe that we're going to get belabor, I think there's three really big points there that are not opinion-based, they're based on fact. So I don't believe that, to be honest with you, if I'm being honest.

17:59And I said honest three times. However, what I do focus in on is the fact that we agreed personal terms with belabor, The fact that we thought we could get him for 60 million and the fact that we spent two weeks on that deal, on that amazing belief. I think that if we had 60 million pounds to spend on Balaba, why was that 60 million pounds not spent on another midfielder? because what I'm struggling to deal with is that one, we thought Brighton would sell a midfielder for 60 million when they sold Casado for 100. Why would they give us a 50 % reduction? So that's laughable. And two, where is that 60 million pounds?

18:48Because it's not been spent. So where is it? That 60 million pounds could have been spent on at least, well, I could say to you now, give me the Belaber deal crashes three weeks ago. Give me five names of midfielders I can go for in the final three weeks of the window for 60 million. And you would give me probably 15. So where's that 60 million gone? Are we seriously going to keep it in our pocket because we think we can get Belaber for the same price in a year? And how the hell did we go into that deal thinking we could get him for 60 because João Pedro went for 60. I mean, that's United for you.

19:33I mean, the thing that jumps out to me is that we're now getting the explanation on the Belaba deal and it is the explanation we feared. We genuinely thought we could get him for half price. Wow. That's mad. And also, when you look at United's negotiation this summer. And I think if you're a Glynios rimmer, you need to leave because you're going to start crying. When you look at our negotiations this summer, can anybody tell me where we've done well? Because Embermo, 65 million after seven weeks of negotiations, the top price paid. Cunha was a release clause, 62. We went to offer 60 for Belayba, crap negotiations.

20:18uh lemens well look who knows i don't know 18 million for a belgian goalkeeper it's is it is it too expensive is it not i don't really care it's not that much money um and shesko well look we paid probably the fair price for says shesko so we haven't necessarily negotiated that well anthony's price is probably a little bit low ganacho's price is very low um rashford we didn't sell. Sancho, we didn't sell. So I don't think we've negotiated particularly well this summer when you look at the prices. And going for 60 million for Belaber is incredible to me. How do you rate the new goalkeeper in terms of shot stopping, command of the box footwork?

20:59Sorry, mate, I'm not seeing works as John. I'm like you, John. I don't know. I mean, if there's anybody out there, we've had a few people who are apparently Belgian saying he's average. He's been analysed in Norway. They say he's shit. And then we've got a few people saying he's amazing. I don't know. I bloody hope he's good because I tell you what, there is no patience at Manchester United. So if he comes in and messes up in his first game, then confidence is key. I just hope he's got confidence. That's the thing. I think if he got Kenda, he would have signed two attacking midfielders and had 30 million extra for a midfielder or a goalkeeper.

21:41Window was ruined from the start, says Kai. Somnath says the culture did not change. Expected average to be good. Do we have to be patient with Lemens, says Visco? We do, but that's very hard. Very, very hard. Not for me, but if we take our fan base as a whole, it's not patient, is it? Stegg says only three games in, but to play devil's advocate, we may have had a lucky escape with Belaber. He's been shocking so far. Go all in for Wharton next summer. Like the rest of Europe, mate. that's going to be a hard deal to do. I think what you make a good point of, though, is that when you look at Amrim's disappointment and try and justify it, I mean, I justify it, I'm sure many of you do, but if you can't justify Amrim's disappointment, look at it like this.

22:28Look at the first four games of the season, Arsenal, Fulham, Grimsby, and of course, you know, the game against Burnley. All the problems in those games, forget the results, What are the problems in that game? So we've all seen the problems of the first four games. Amrim, you, I, and more importantly, the owners. They've seen those four games. Amrim's seen those four games. What have we done about it in the window? What have we done? After four games where we can see in 4K what the problems are, what have they done? Nothing. They haven't done anything. it's not speculation it's not july we've seen four games and they've done nothing well obviously laments we've spoken about laments but you know and that's a conversation we can't talk about until we know whether we know he's starting or not he might be a reserve goalkeeper in which case they've done nothing he might be going straight in and in which case he's a young goalkeeper who hopefully can solve our goalkeeping issue but they've done nothing they've watched four games.

23:33They've watched Grimsby dominate our midfield. They've watched Burnley get two goals back against our midfield. They've watched the midfield cost us the goal against Fulham and they've done nothing about it. And that will be massively disappointing for Amrim because he'll be able to say, look, I know I said I wanted a midfielder in pre-season, but you've seen the season, you've seen the problems and you've done nothing about it. It's depressing comparing us to Liverpool, says Dizzy. Liverpool are our biggest rivals, but we are turning into Everton. Everton's biggest rival is Liverpool, but they're not really anywhere near them.

24:06And we are becoming Everton because Liverpool are our biggest rival, but we're not anywhere near them. We're going to be rocking up to Anfield and Old Trafford as massive underdogs, hoping to beat our rival and give them a bloody nose. We used to be better than them and we used to be on a level with them, but at the moment, we're just a long way behind them. Why don't we go for Camavinga? Market value of 60, probably 80. Play CDM and can do left back. Still young with experienced. The labour seems overpriced, this syndicate. I've never heard anything credible about Camavinga apart from when he went to Real Madrid.

24:41Two months on Mbermo but ran out of time. Nice one, says Marius. Look, in the future, if I was giving feedback to Man United, you need to get people in who are better at valuing players. You can't turn up to Brighton and value him at£60 million. You also need to get people in who can work on more than one deal at a time. Because when you look through the window again, you can pinpoint. We stopped working on a bit in Bermot. We started working on Sesco. We stopped working on Sesco. We started working on a goalkeeper. We started on Cunha. Then we went for in Bermot. Every deal, there's never any overlap.

25:15It's like, bang, that's done. Let's do that. Let's do that. You know, you look at how Liverpool work, for example. they were working on three three incomings at once at one time you know when you look at june they had kirkhares frimpong and verse they were all working on at the same time um hi mark hope you well the summer window has been disappointing really hope to show some proper ambition in january love from singapore says p dog i i genuinely would say this to you stop thinking about january like just get over mourn and grieve for the summer transfer window stop thinking about the resurrection in January because do you think anything's changed at Man United with Glynios?

25:55I don't. So what do the Glazers do every January? They make you think they're going to do something up until about middle of December. And then they say, we don't like doing anything in January. There's more value in the summer. We're a club that likes to do it in the summer. So I wouldn't start thinking about anything happening in January. The only thing that might happen in January is we might have a new manager. I think there's more chance that is changing our manager than doing business in January, to be honest. I'm afraid we finished 12th. We lost to Grimsby. Our goalkeeper situation will be more confused with Lamend, who plays.

26:25Our defence midfield is ageing slowly, says Big Z. Dragon Guide, we've done that from you. Thank you very much for that. Vishvesh says, do you think the lack of an attempt to sign a midfielder in the last few days of the transfer window may be a sign that the ownership are unsure about Amrim's future at the club? No, I don't, Vishvesh, because we did. I know for a fact that United were making calls yesterday for midfielders So despite this, we're comfortable with what we've got We were making calls yesterday for midfielders But it's too late It's too late I said this on Sunday I said, look, you know Unless you're going to turn up to somebody and overpay Which we never will No club's going to do a deal with you In the last 24 hours They're not going to go Oh, it's Man United Yeah, we'll weaken our team to help you You've got to put proper money on the table If you leave it late And we couldn't do that When the Glazers give you lemons Let's make lemonade Says Roca Bolton The Glazers don't watch They're any bothered when Cup final or cash Says Dazzo Ray Carl-Branamore, legend Says all they really did Was replace the forward line Not add players to it No players added to the midfield and goalkeeper.

27:42I'm afraid the patient, because it's a very average window if we wanted Champions League football. Thank you, Ray. Well, look, we're basically, somebody, I read this this morning, somebody said, we're basically the team that finished 15th and got done over by Spurs with three new forwards. And, you know, it's hard to argue with that. We're basically the team that lost the Europa League final and finished 15th, apart from the front three. That's it. Embermo, Cunha and Sesko and then the team that finished 15th and that's that's quite a sobering thought of course we've got to factor in Le Mens but he could well be not the starting goalkeeper and if he is we're going to have to be patient with him Woodhamrin by Pineapple in Mallorca says Ibrahim and Rishi says considering 15th last season would you have really expected us to buy the players we have while getting all Deadwood in one window 7 out of 10 Rishi, I mean, look, if you think it's a 7 out of 10 because of that, that's absolutely fine.

28:45But what Deadwood have we got rid of? I don't class Rashford, Sancho and Anthony as Deadwood. They weren't even here. Rashford, Sancho, Ganacho and Anthony didn't even start the bloody final of Europa League. And three of them didn't play at all from January. So if you want to get rid of Deadwood, that's not Deadwood. That's players that need to be moved on. Deadwood is the shit that actually sunk us. Deadwood is the wood that you change on a boat because it's causing leaks and making you sink. Rashford, Anthony and Sancho weren't even on the bloody boat. So yes, they needed to go but that's not deadwood to me deadwood is removing people like casimiro deadwood is removing people you know who actually were in the team can't call players deadwood that didn't weren't even on the pitch they had i agree they needed to go but they didn't make us finish 15th so i i said it after the europe league final like that that team needed dismantling that team look at who starter, that team needed dismantling.

29:55It's still here. We should have gone lone Angelo Stiller of Stuttgart. They wouldn't do that, PJ. Whoever just said the Glazers have spent over a billion since 05-06, Liverpool just spent half of that in one summer. So Scott, great point. Achilles, thanks very much for your super chat. Reminds me of when we took the piss and offered Everton 30 million for Fellaini and Baines. Also that whole Fabregas saga from the same year, says WZU.

30:23Roro says, I wait, this window is a 10, a 10 out of a hundred. Gotcha. Um, thank you very much for that. Okay. There are a couple of other bits for me to discuss here. Um, coming in also, I think it's from Laurie Whitwell. So this will be interesting. He says that, uh, we'll come back to the Rasmus bit in a moment. Um, Andre and Anna, this, this will make you laugh. Andre and Anna came back to Carrington wanting a new contract. He's been of the view that since receiving the standard 25 % cut for non-qualification to the Champions League, a stance that did not go down well with Ameren. So Laurie Whitwell is saying that Andre Inanna came back to Carrington this summer wanting a new contract because of the 25 % cut he's received for not qualifying for the Champions League.

31:14This has not gone down well with Ameren. I think what I would say overarching with this is, and I need to like shout them out because they've been so good this summer and beyond, was that March international break, we had it that Amrim and Wilcox wanted Anana gone. Don't trust him, like him as an individual, the players don't trust him, Amrim wants his own guy. So the backdrop to this is that Amrim has always wanted Anana gone for a very long time. It wasn't because of this. so look that's separate Amrin wanted to replace Anana a long long time ago but if Anana came back wanting a pay rise you know I'm not surprised right I'm not surprised there's this thing on TikTok that I can't share it's one of the best things I've ever seen so when we were I don't know what game it was.

32:08And I was going Prattman, right? Somebody has made a whole compilation on TikTok. Just search Goldbridge Prattman and you'll be watching it for about an hour because they've looped it. It's got all these mistakes and I'm going Prattman, Prattman. It's very addictive and it's, but the volume of mistakes is incredible. So I'm not surprised if Andre Unana has come back asking for a pay rise, right? Even though the most logical person would say, how can you ask for a pay rise because we're not in the Champions League, when you're the reason we're not in the Champions League? How does that work? That's like somebody burning your house down and then asking you to pay them for it.

32:55It's madness. but it does make sense because if we're going to criticize Inanna's inability to make good decisions and his inability to stop shots and come for crosses basically he ain't all there is he upstairs when it comes to decision making so coming back to pre-season asking for a pay rise probably fits in with this clown mentality and goal um in fact it fits in really really well He clearly doesn't understand his shit, basically. He's never acknowledged in his career or nobody's ever told him that he's actually technically a really bad goalkeeper. And he's already on 140 grand a week, by the way.

33:40So look, the guy's got no self-awareness at all. And I'm all for confidence. And especially in goalkeepers, you need to be self-assured and have self-belief. but if he's come back asking for a pay rise it just tells you everything about there are still personalities in that dressing room at man united that need removing um and he won't be the only one he won't be the only one um shout out to the only united uh united only whatsapp group i'll get that right caleb shout out to the united only whatsapp group thank you pal shout out to you legends have Have you read the article on Sir Jim's Project 90, says Dimitri.

34:22I haven't read this, no. What's Project 90? Just give it me in bullet points.

34:29I'm like the chief executive. Give me your idea in bullet points. I've only got time for it. I'll tell you what I think. How many players in our current squad have been here for over two years? That's really the Deadwood, says Void. Look, if you wanted me to be really blunt about... Somebody said, well, who's the Deadwood if it's not Rashford, etc. If you want me to really blunt about who the Deadwood is in that team, obviously Inanna, obviously Binder. You could argue Deleuze, definitely Luke Shaw. Maguire's gone in a year. Casemiro, definitely. Bruno, if he's a midfielder.

35:05Agathe at the end of this season, if he doesn't improve. But after one year, I'd remove him, to be fair. So I've got seven. Seven players there straight away. It's harder as you move into the attack because that's where we've removed Ganacho, Rashford, Sancho, Anthony, Rasmus. Xerxes only been here a year. Kunja, Seshko and Embermo are new. Ahmad, definitely not Deadwood. Mount, Mount could be Deadwood, to be honest with you. I know he's had a good start to the season, but if he's injured again, he's Deadwood, isn't he? I think Mason Mount's a unique one. I always said he's a good player, but you've got to look at how many games he plays.

35:44he's deadwood after two years if he can only play one game every you know two months so there's potentially eight there somebody said what about Martinez um I mean look if Martinez comes back and gets injured again same as Mount he's deadwood you've got to you know I this I haven't said this for a long time and it's amazing there's two things you Man United need that all top clubs have and we used to have. You've got to be ruthless in what you get rid of and you've got to be aggressive in what you go and get. And if you've got those two things, you will be successful. I like Mason Mount as a player and I really like Martinez, but if they're both injured again anytime soon, then you look at the last two years and you go, we'd be better off with a player that's not quite as good, but he's fit.

36:36You've got to stay fit. So look, Mason Mount's been brilliant the start of the season his last two years have been terrible if he's injured again and he's out for any longer than two weeks then you've got to say the experiment isn't is over and in relation to mason mount as well and this is not the mason mount show absolutely there are strong rumors out there that he can't play two games a week and even if he plays one game a week you've got to be very careful if you go near 90 minutes because he has an underlying problem that they can't fix. So, you know, United probably bought Embermo and Cunha because Mount is a bonus ball.

37:18He's a sprinkling on the top of the cake. If he's available, great, but don't guarantee it. And that's from in the club. The reason we went for Ember... The reason we've got so many number 10s is because Mason Mount isn't classed as a player in the club as someone you can rely on. If he's available and he stays fit for two or three months, you've won the lottery. But the reality is he's going to miss a lot of games, so you need to replace him. So that's sort of how we are with that. If he could stay fit, he ain't Deadwood. I'm seriously wondering at how thick the owners think we are. There are some in the fan base who are under their spell, but I can see what's missing, says Affy.

37:56Just got to think for yourself, mate. People always think differently. I don't see any of our goalkeepers commanding the box and stopping the crosses. The new kid won't get any respect. You know what, John? We'll leave it for a week. But I'm not actually convinced that Le Mendes will start against Man City. When you think about Sheshko, he hasn't started a game yet. And we were all like, he needs to start against Arsenal. Remember, we were like, he's got to start against Arsenal. He's not even started against Burnley. So I'm, you know what? There'll be a lot of people saying Le Mendes has got to start.

38:27I'm convinced it'll be Biinder. I'm convinced it'll be Biinder against Man City. I don't think he'll start Le Mendes for a while. I think it'll be You've got to get used to the team You've got to get used to Carrington You know That's what you've got to do In which case We haven't solved the goalkeeping problem either Whereas Emi Martinez Would have started that game An honour could start silence Yes, could Have you done that one from Dimitri Big Z says I agree 4 out of 10 What would you rate if we sold Bruno and got Emi Martinez And Belaba a 9 I'd definitely be north of an eight big C yeah add on Casemiro exit and another midfield coming in well we've got to you know whatever I mean I don't want to be part of the spin spin doctor yo DJ spin that wheel I don't know I don't I don't want to do that but um uh ultimately um we have you know we have got to sign midfielders next summer because Casemiro will be gone and I think Bruno will be gone so we'll only have two midfielders and we play a midfield too so we need another three so next summer we'll need to sign two midfielders minimum minimum um otherwise we're going to be in a bit of bother really and there was also a story in the Athletic which I must uh shout out because I know it's true uh for obvious reasons um and that's what I mean about the Athletic.

39:59Sometimes I think they're client journalism and some of it, I think they actually do do journalism. So, you know, it is a bit of a mixed bag, unlike other outlets. But, but, but, but, but, but let me just grab the thing. Here it is. So part of, let me just get this. I want to do it in the right order. Rasmus Hoyland was said to be heartbroken over the realisation his Old Trafford dream was over especially when he started pre-season expecting to continue part of Rasmus's motivation to try and stay was that he considers himself to be better than Szeszko he felt that showing that in sessions might give Amrind pause for thought on his departure despite Szeszko's arrival so So, look, there'll be a lot of people laughing about that, saying, you know, Rasmus has his chance, Shesko is better, etc.

40:57And I agree on both of those points, by the way. I also know for a fact that, you know, huge Man United fan, really, really devastated to leave. But you've got to applaud the swiftness of his exit because he could have said, I'm not going anywhere. and I think there was times up until even three weeks ago where he was expecting to stay at Manchester United 100 % his desire was to stay in fights and that's what he was going to do and that was even when he'd been left out of the Arsenal and Fulham games so he was of the opinion that he was not leaving this club it was his dream club and he wasn't going to go up until even two weeks ago he was going to stay and fight and he felt that with the window closing a bit like Maynou they can't sell me they've got to use me and i think that what actually happened is the message just kept coming through from amram that you know i'm not going to use you i'm not going to use you i'm not going to use you and then fair play he went well okay look you know i can only bang my against the brick wall so far um i'm gonna go and and napoli was a was obviously a much better option than ac milan who aren't even in europe so i think you've got to respect the fact that he desperately wanted to stay and fight.

42:11But I think you've also got to respect the fact that he saw the wood for the trees and went, you know what, I'm not going to make this difficult. I'm not going to become one of the bomb squads. I will go. And I think that's the story, isn't it? I don't think there's anything to add into that. Do I think that he had a rough run at United? Yes. I think being brought in at 20 years of age for two seasons with the worst creative attack we've ever had I mean god whatever Sheshko does and I think he will be successful he's got Mbermo and Kunja behind him Rasmus had Rashford Anthony Ganacho you know the most selfish creators we've probably ever had so I think if you flip it around it could be Sheshko that we bought two years ago and sold and Rasmus was coming in.

43:05You know, I can understand that argument. But look, things like this happen. I wish him all the best at Napoli. And I think Seshko is going to do very, very well at Man United. And, you know, sometimes life's not fair, is it? You know, I don't think, I think it was a very tough ask for Rasmus for two years. And I think Seshko's got a great opportunity, but he's going to Napoli. Napoli are one of the best teams in Europe and Lukaku is injured. So So he's only 22. In a year and a half's time, he might be coming back to the Premier League for 50, 60 million again. You just don't know what's going to happen.

43:41If he doesn't achieve at Napoli, then maybe he's not the striker many of us thought he was. If he goes to Napoli and does well in the Champions League and Napoli, then maybe it was just circumstance of being thrown in at the deep end with a crap attack. We'll find out. And it's one I'm very interested to monitor but i do think that it might be i hope it's not but it could be a hidden mistake not taking the money for bruno and playing playing him in the midfield is not a hidden mistake everybody knows it but removing rasmus to generate funds for lemans because you can't generate money anywhere else might be a mistake if shashko fails or gets injured because i think we're light up front.

44:26I do think we're light up front. I think that we're light in the midfield, we're light in the wing backs and we're light up front. And if Sheshko gets injured, we're going to be using Xerxi or Mbomo or Cunha as our striker. And for me, they are

44:50false nines so I do think that Seshko will do well but if he gets any sort of injury I think we're short and that's an indication of where Man United are really we're not ready to be what we can be because we don't have the resources for whatever reason we're light in the midfield we're light at wing back and we're light up front. And we could have kept Rasmus and not been light up front, but we didn't because I think the club said, we're not in Europe. We're not able to carry the squads that Liverpool and Arsenal do. So when you look at it, we've reduced our squad because we're not in Europe.

45:30And some people would say that's right. And some people would say it's wrong. But when you reduce your squad, you run the risk. If you look at Aston Villa, if they lose a couple of players, they're going to be in the same position as us. And I think there's a few clubs that are light. I mean, even Liverpool are light at centre-back now because they didn't get Gay. So it is what it is. But you know what? I do wish Rasmus all the best. Ganacho, no. Rashford, yes. Sancho, I don't even care. It might not do as bad if Sancho does well at Villa, so I don't even care. Anthony at Betis, I don't care. We're never going to bring him back.

46:07He's a very selfish individual and he's proved that at Ajax and Man United, but I don't really wish him, you know, I don't wish he doesn't do well. I just, you know, he'll never be a United player again. So yeah, you know, that's it. That's the window closed. Wild Coaster says, if Le Mens plops, we have Vitek next season. And Abbey says, since 05, how many seasons was our centre midfield squad actually stacked with world-class players, says Abbey. I said this last night. There was a list and I can't bloody find it. There was a list of every midfielder we've signed since 06 and every midfielder that Liverpool have signed since 06.

46:44Not only is Liverpool's list about double, you look through the quality and you just go, why have we neglected that for 20 years? It literally coincides with the Glazers coming in. But the Glazers know nothing about football. So the Glazers wouldn't come in and go, I hate midfielders. We're not buying midfielders. But it literally coincides with the Glazers coming in and our absolute ignorance of the midfield. The place where games are won and lost And we've ignored it And neglected it for 20 years We should sign Van Der Ven, Yulmland and Wharton Next year, says Dragon Guide Afi says Thank you very much for that I've read that one before Appreciate it Imagine having a Park G Sun or an Anderson In the middle of the park again Says Daniel Barnes Do you still stand by your original Man United prediction of fifth, says On No, but look It's cooked in.

47:37It's baked. I said fifth place. I can't move away from that because it's pre-season Premier League predictions. The problem with pre-season Premier League predictions is there is still a transfer window which will change that. So my pre-season prediction was definitely fifth. My post-transfer window prediction is seventh. I feel that Villa and Newcastle are now ahead of us considerably. obviously they've both got to play champions league football we'll have to wait and see if that happens but i still stand by the fact that until game 10 our season doesn't start i think we're gonna we're still gonna be you know adjusting adapting bedding in players um and it's not really till game week 10 where the european teams start getting used to having to do that like we're going to have a whole week off so which you know what which will actually increase the pressure on amrim we don't know that having a whole week off is going to be a good thing you know some people think having a whole week off means we're going to blitz team with intensity and and you know energy okay well let's we'll be able to compare that because we can now get running data for every game um but also a lot of these players are used to playing two games a week bruno maguire casimiro they might become quite lax it could it could work the other way they might be like they might find it problematic not playing two games a week so and also if it doesn't matter how quick you run if you're not good enough you're not good enough are you so it's going to be very interesting to see but i don't think we're going to see the benefit or or downside of that until game week 10 um and as we know after every loss it's going to be chaos because the pylon will be there of course would you bring collier back from loans as fricks no we don't we won't be doing that and we shouldn't do that um yeah so we won't do anything about that amazing grace lovely name says you are spot on they are always telling us they will go big the next transfer window but we know what they will do next january it'll be ffp and psr yeah i don't think we'll have any money in january i i would argue that we probably um the only the only way you'd get belabor for 60 million pounds in january is if he was shit between now and january you know if he if he plays well they're not going to drop the price and this is what makes me laugh we offered 60 they want 100 if he plays well they're not going to go oh we've reduced it now they're going to go 110 so i just you can swallow the spin if you want i don't like the taste um right thanks everyone for watching stay safe take care we are back in the studio at two and of course the eight o 'clock shows have been so good i can't wait for it tonight so thank you very much for tuning in for those make sure you smash the like and subscribe lots and lots planned over the next week or so as we build up towards the return of the Premier League.

50:42But loads of stuff's been parked conversation-wise. I don't want to give too much away because I'll spoil it. But lots of stuff has been parked because of the relentless nature of the transfer window. So it's about to get really good and very, very interactive. So make sure you tune in at 8 o 'clock tonight. I'll speak to you in a bit. Take care. Stay safe. Oh, one other thing. One other thing. Behinder or Inanna will be gone by the time we play Man City. Watch this space. Thank you.