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I like the player, yeah. Versatile who can play CF, out wide and midfield. Reckon he could thrive and fit in well with the other Brazilians. I don’t think he’s worth more than £40-50m however, let alone the rumoured £100m Brighton want for him. To answer the question, does he excite me? I’d say, not massively. At least, not compared to other options out there. But I don’t think Howe cares. When we were linked with Madison and Barnes, we ended up with Barnes, despite Madison being the more flamboyant technical player. Most of us probably would have preferred Madison, but in hindsight, did Howe get it right? I’d say for us, yeah probably. Howe’s priority, I think, is players with pace and athleticism who will buy into how he wants to play. Outstanding technical ability (Isak/Bruno) is a bonus but not the most important thing.

If we sign Trafford, Elanga, Pedro and Guehi, it’s been a successful window and Howe will probably be happy but you’re talking the best part of £200m because they’ve got PL experience. And it could leave us in another PSR pickle if it goes wrong and we don’t continue to qualify for CL and do big commercial deals. There’s so much better value abroad, which is what I think Mitchell was getting at with his “not fit for purpose” comment. We also need to do more deals for the likes of this Spanish kid we just signed from Malaga to loan out then either bed in or sell, as we did with Minteh

Does Pedro excite anyone here? We'd be paying a Premier League Premium price for someone who IMO has bafely proven himself to be worth what Brighton paid for him (£30m). He strikes me as a poorer Richarlison, a player capable of the brilliant but streaky and not assured. Elanga is also not a pure goal scorer buy he has express pace and versatility to play wide or centrally. Given we are still constrained on budget the versatility is more valuable. Pedro would only be getting substitute minutes in games where Isak is available. Elanga could earn himself a starting spot. We do need some depth up front but we'd be paying overs with Pedro who seemingly also has temperament issues. Pass.

Pedro and Elanga would be pretty tremendous but if we got those, my natural reaction is to assume we’re losing someone important

It would be funny if the mancs have to pay stupid money to someone they won’t play.

Wilson signed a new contract yit?

https://x.com/mcgrathmike/status/1931318236659802519 I assume it's him OR Elanga. Because if we get both, alongside Guehi and Trafford, we are winning the league!

I think he’d struggle to get a club to even pay half his wages.

He’ll probably get another loan where Man Utd have to pay 1/2 his wages.

That's why it's goooooood

He might struggle to pass the no dick heads policy

I wonder if that actually matters to him. It depends on what people have said to him or how he views the whole situation. Some footballers would want to play and achieve something and others will just see it as a job where they will want to make as much money as possible and it is not their fault if their boss is an idiot.

It is, but unless a Saudi move comes up he's got no football ahead of him next season if that doesn't change. No one will keep him on his man u wages.

Wasn't his lack of willingness to drop wages the reason that he left Chelsea to go back to Manchester Reds (we are the only team that should be associated with the name United).

agreed. I think there are better technical wingers out there but he looks exactly the sort of player Howe likes - young, pace, power, athleticism - and I’m sure he’s one Howe could improve. shame our late bid for him last summer wasn’t accepted as his price has probably gone up by £20m after the season he’s just had.

Neither Ruddy (veteran/young kids mentor) and Gillespie (outfield players shooting practice keeper) are in the squad expecting to play, Eddie talked about them and their importance in those roles some months ago so suggest they're not who he meant.

There it is! Only ever performed overseas, huge wages and price tags following him around, known to have a bad attitude. Its PERFECT!

That is a surprisingly disappointing list of players, none of them are bonkers enough. Maybe Arda Guler, young, almost definitely wouldn't thrive in the PL, has the real madrid and "performed well in an international tournament" cred to bring in.

Sancho? That has been eddified? Cheeky loan plus option to buy if he’s willing to drop wages to get his career back on track?

It's allowed, yes. The fact that we have two other National Team Swedish players has to help somewhat with deciding where to go. I don't think he's a £50m player though. More around the £30-40m mark. I suppose it also depends on the wage requirements.