Fixture Release Day! United’s Tough Start & Summer Transfer Hopes | Samuel Luckhurst Show
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Hello and welcome along to the latest episode of the Samuel Luckhurst show from the Manchester Evening News. My name is George Smith and joining me for this one is Samuel Luckhurst himself. Samuel, you're back from your holiday, all fresh and ready to go. How was your break, first of all?

Yeah, everything went quickly. Nice to have a break. It's a bit of an unusual summer for me for personal reasons in terms of time off and working, but nothing serious, nothing untoward. And working it out, it's another one of those summers where the summer does get shorter. And of course, the fixtures have come out today and that always seems to sound the alarm for people to get ready.

Not necessarily get into the Premier League mode or mood as such, but it is an opportunity for people to start having a look at their diaries and provisionally planning around them. And of course, with the first fixture, the dates and the kick-off time have been confirmed. So, yeah, I'm sure a lot of people will be doing some planning and booking around 17th August in Manchester now.

Yeah, they certainly will. It certainly, fixture release day signals the countdown to the beginning of the season. We are going to talk about the fixtures in a little while. But before we dive into this podcast, we must offer a shout out to our new podcast sponsor, Saley, which is a brand owned by NordVPN that is a new eSIM service app that you can use abroad if you're in desperate need of an internet connection. You can download Saley in your app store and use code MANCHESTER at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase. For more information, please visit our description box below.

With that out of the way, as we've just said there, we are going to talk about the fixtures. They've been released this morning at 9am. They dropped. And Samuel, it's quite an interesting start for Manchester United. A tough start. Their first five games offer some very stern tests.

Arsenal at home on the opening weekend of the season. As you said a few moments ago, the TV picks have been confirmed for the opening weekend and United will face Arsenal in the 4.30 slot on the Sunday. Liverpool-Bournemouth will open the season on the Friday night. But a really interesting start for United, a historic fixture, but a tough start nonetheless.

Well, the list certainly reminds me of Moyes' season. He did complain after the announcement of the fixtures. I think it was at some Premier League launch event that United had been dealt an unfair hand or a tricky hand because in their first five fixtures...

They had to play Chelsea at home, Liverpool away and Manchester City away as well. And they didn't win any of those games, unsurprisingly, under David Boyce. They started the season Swansea away, had a very good win. They beat Crystal Palace at home as well. And Palace had just been promoted, so they weren't particularly challenging opponents back then.

The tricky thing I think for us with fixtures, normally I'm off when the fixtures drop. So this is a bit different for me this year. I think they'll come out maybe a little bit later. But of course, when the fixtures drop, you do want to know who's the first game going to be against? What's the final fixture? What's the Boxing Day fixture? And in terms of

team, whichever team you follow, their rivals, you want to know when are those games as well. But beyond that, it's always really difficult or dare I say pointless to write about them because you're almost forcing a narrative there

And I was definitely off when the fixtures dropped last year because I think it was Stephen who wrote a piece essentially querying when Ten Hag might get sacked. And that was quite prescient. It wasn't exactly something that was...

necessarily original and I don't mean any disrespect by that but because of Ten Hard's future and the state of play there it was pretty obvious that people would look at that way of going about it and I'm sure some people will be looking at those first five pictures thinking will Ruben Amron be under the cosh

in mid-September but it doesn't really feel particularly organic to look at fixtures that way I cannot recall ever a manager blaming missing out on a title or relegation or missing out on a European place because of the way the fixtures came out through the fixture computer and we know that the fixture computer gets fiddled with I think it's safe to say looking at some um

at the timing of certain Premier League fixtures and how they come about. And years ago, you'll probably remember Sky always used to have that, I think they called it Grand Slam Sunday when it used to be a case of the top four. This was before the big six when it was just Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United. And the fixture computer just happened to randomly have those four playing against each other on a couple of games.

of weekends and a few seasons. So we know how it works in that sense. But there are a couple of occasions and run-ins in 91, 92, 96, 97, where Alex Ferguson had a bee in his bonnet about the scheduling of United's fixtures and how many games they had to play within

a period of time how crammed it was and he was particularly bitter about it in 92 because he felt that it had a huge bearing on them not winning the league and there was a fear that it could there could be a repeat of that in 97 but United did win the title ahead of Newcastle that year

So ultimately, I know everyone has said it before, but you have to play every team twice. You know that. And there'll be periods in the season where it's testing on paper and there'll be other periods where it looks a little bit kinder on paper. But with United having just finished 15th and lost 15th,

How many games was it in the end? Was it 18 or 19 Premier League games? Every game looks testing. And I think that although it was, I thought it was a really poor season, the Premier League, in terms of quality of it. But I think because of that, the only upside was that it did and it has become more competitive in that you're seeing teams

Crystal Palace finish above United, Brentford finish above United, Fulham. Some of those teams have never finished above United before in their history and they did so. And it wasn't really particularly newsworthy because of how bad United are. But it does fuel a sense of anticipation coming into the new season that there is that challenge for United to...

demonstrably improve on last season and of course they've made a pretty positive start in the summer by signing a player that they should have signed in Mateus Cunha and this is I think this is something that should be reassuring for United in my absence they've actually made decisions that I would make if that can reassure any supporters I'm not too sure but I've

I went on record. I even did a piece on why they should sign Brian and Bumo back in. I looked at the date of it. It was November 2023. It was a bit more distant than I thought. So I'm a little bit more pleased about that. And I said quite a few times before that they should be in for Cunha long before they opened dialogue with his representatives. And they've all but sacked Sir Dave Browsford as well with this whole thing.

of he's stepping back from his role, even though Sir Jim Ratcliffe told us last year in Knightsbridge that he would be a success at United, which of course is something that completely undermines this script, that he's stepping back, it was always the plan, blah, blah, blah. So they're actually making good decisions. They're making decisions that I would make. So that should, and I say this objectively, that should absolutely reassure Manchester United fans at this time. And that's why...

given how bad they were last season, it's partly why it's going to be such a fascinating season in the upcoming one, in that they've got to show clear signs of improvement. And they've got this... It is an advantage of not having European football. They'd rather not have it. We'd rather not have it. I mean, the whole concept of the Champions League and the new format, I don't like, I don't agree with.

But had United got into the Champions League, they probably would have been guaranteed 10 games because even a team as bad as them probably would have finished 24th or 25th, whatever that cut-off point is, to get a knockout tie. And with that extra knockout tie, that takes you up to 10 games. Now, yesterday in the Champions League, if you played 10 games, you were a quarter-finalist. Now, you've not even played in the round of 16. That's what a ludicrous change that the format is. So,

we're missing out, United's missing out, the supporters are missing out. They've got to make it up to the supporters and make it up to us. Poor journalists as well, deprived of European trips and European football. I jest, of course.

to have a really good domestic season and hopefully not have as few games as 40. I mean, I'm quite looking forward to seeing what the second round of the League Cup offers in August as well. It's not exactly uncharted territory for United. They entered the competition at that stage in

in 2014, that infamous defeat to MK Dons. But the fact of the matter is, you look at the Premier League fixtures list and you can tell just by the dates when the pesky September internationals intervene because United only have three league fixtures before players go off to all corners of the court.

to represent their national sides but fortunately for us we have got an extra game which will be the second round of the League Cup. I'm not too sure quite what date it is, it might be sandwiched between the first and second League games in August but there's going to be something quite curious about that and hopefully United are sent to a ground that they've not been to before or they come up against opponents they've not played in an

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Yeah, it certainly could be a glamour tie for some of the lower league clubs, certainly. I think the second round of the League Cup is between the Fulham and Burnley games. I think it is, Samuel. I think the 25th, 26th, something like that. But you mentioned there about the September international break after just three league games. But we've got a rather tasty fixture to build up to it during that. The first Manchester derby, four games into the season, the Etihad on the 13th of September, probably will change, almost guaranteed will change.

But it's the earliest Manchester derby there's been since the 2016-2017 season, when it was Mourinho versus Guardiola. So it could be quite an interesting game that. And United, obviously, winning at the Etihad last season, we're going for another away day to remember. I think that was the fourth Premier League fixture that season, if memory serves, that United...

started with Bournemouth, Southampton and Hull. I think they were their first three league fixtures that season. And there was a huge sense of anticipation building up to that derby, mainly because of the Mourinho-Guardiola factor and also

We'd been deprived of a first Manchester derby on foreign soil because of that farce in Beijing when the two teams were due to play against each other and the pitch was worse than anything I've seen. A local park in the UK, it was absolutely perverse. The ground staff allowed the bird's nest pitch to have fungi growing on it, which was literally the case. It was incredible how...

You see it sometimes on pre-season tours, the state of pitches, and they can look really bad. But on that occasion, it was so bad that the friendly was just completely cancelled, which the Chinese authorities weren't happy with. But it was their fault. And with this one, with the first derby next season, it's of course going to be a pretty early opportunity for Ray and Cherky to try and kill United, as he told colleagues in America last.

week, which is such a memorable quote that it will certainly not be forgotten come the build-up to that game. With him, around that Lyon game, the first leg in April, myself and Paul Hurst got a taxi from the airport to our hotel on the day of the game because we were delayed getting into Lyon due to a delayed connection. So the two of us spent a night in Amsterdam before

eventually getting to Lyon on the day of the game and the taxi driver spoke impeccable English and he was a Lyon fan and Schurke was the man he brought up and I just said would you make him is he the best since Benzema that they're going to produce and he said without you know a moment's hesitation that he was and he did quite decently against United in those two games he of course

He scored in the first leg. Did he score in the second leg? I mean, so much, that second leg, so much happened, did it? I can't quite keep up with how many goals were scored, who the scores were. I know Lacazette got a penalty, didn't he? But I don't know if Schurke, I think he did, didn't he? I think he did. I think, did he score? Did he get the third goal? The third goal, I think he did. Did he get the first goal in the first half of extra time? I seem to think. That's what's ringing a bell for me.

So much happened that night. It's hard to forget. Yes, he did. 104th minute. There we go.

Obviously, he got the first goal. Looking at the scores that night, no recollection of Tagovico getting the second goal. But Schurke, I was pretty sure he did. So he did score in both legs. And that will add a bit of extra spice to it. I mean, for the colleagues who were sent out there, they must have been like, to go out and cover this ridiculous tournament at

Although you've got the privilege of still being able to go to see what the new tournament's like, you've got the privilege

going to America. It's a really tough gig, isn't it? And of course it isn't. But, you know, fair do's to colleagues who went out there, were sent out there and got an absolute box office line like that from a new Manchester City signing. That's why journalists have to be present for games, for tournaments. It's so they can ask those questions and bring up those

bring up those angles and unfortunately in their case, Scherke was more than happy to give them a box office line. So that will certainly be fascinating and it will also just be fascinating because City will look quite different, I think. You only have to look at their squad for the Club World Cup and it is starting to look a lot different from

the team that won the treble a couple of years ago. That squad is pretty much breaking up. It's in the process of it still. I think there are one or two others who will be on their way this summer and are certainly

on the downward spiral and have served their purpose at the club. I mean, Kyle Walker is one who obviously comes to mind, particularly so after his performance for England at the City ground last week as well. And you hope, United say, that they will look very different and they'll play very differently from England

from last season by and large, but it was a quirk of their campaign that some of their best results and best performances came against the top teams. They were unbeaten against City across three games, if you want to include the Community Shield and not get into penalty shootout territory and whether that counts or not.

They were second half at home against Arsenal. They were excellent. Ironically, the half where they were unwatchable that day, they scored in and the half they were brilliant in, they didn't score and conceded. They were very good at Arsenal in the FA Cup, of course.

The performance at Anfield was their best at Liverpool in 10 years, probably, I would say. So that was one of the quirks of their worst season in 51 years. They did turn it on in certain games against top five teams, teams who are going to be playing in the Champions League next season. So,

They need to apply that, of course, across the board next season. No excuses, but there will certainly be a lot more focus on them because they're playing three Champions League qualifiers in their first five fixtures. I would be amazed if it had any bearing or prompted any shift on Amram's position. I don't see that happening unless, of course, United were to

lose their first five games. I hope for all our sake that obviously doesn't happen. Next season, from our perspective, we want to, and the sports perspective of course, want to enjoy watching United again. I think it will be enjoyable watching Kunja play because he's a player I've really enjoyed watching for quite some time now, pretty much since he

he came to Wolves and Bumo is such a class act if United can get that deal done I think that's that makes infinite sense I think he'd be such a you can't say he's going to be an absolute success for United because look at the recent hit rate but he's a player who absolutely would fit into that team and would be he would improve that team as Kunyip would improve that team as well and if they can get they need to get that striker sorted but

it's going to be, I've used the word fascinating already, but how they handle this advantage. And there is extra pressure that comes with this advantage we're speaking of, not having

many midweek commitments whatsoever, apart from your Premier League fixture. There will obviously be the usual midweek rounds. I think there's one in December, there'll be another in January and there'll be one or two others throughout the season. But United are going to be one of the freshest teams next season, or they should be one of the freshest teams next season. And we've seen in recent years how

teams can make the most of not having European football and have really, really good or great in the case of Leicester win the title in 2016 and Chelsea win the title a year later. Great Premier League seasons. Yeah, I fully agree with that. I think it could be beneficial.

Short-term pain for long-term gain, hopefully. And Ruben Amarim did hint about it towards the end of last season, didn't he? That it wouldn't be the be-all and end-all if they were to miss out in the Europa League final, which obviously they did. But before we move on, Sam, just sort of recap for people who may not have seen the fixtures. United's opening five, Arsenal at home, Fulham away, Burnley at home, City away and Chelsea at home. Actually only played six league games before the end of September. So those clear midweeks and everything already looking like it could be favourable.

But moving on, Samuel, away from the fixtures, transfers, you've already mentioned there how pleased you are personally with the addition of Mateus Cunha. I know you've written about him quite a lot. You've talked about him on this podcast quite a lot. Brian Mbumo, you've mentioned him there as well. That came to light while you were off. United certainly trying for him. You did the line on Monday that United are still confident they'll get him despite the interest from Tottenham.

I, like yourself, I've written about him in the past saying the United should go for him. I think it'd be a fantastic signing. I really do. 20 Premier League goals this season. Very versatile, athletic, strong, quick, powerful. Ticks a variety of boxes for me.

You couldn't have put it better in terms of

summarising his profile and the interesting thing that if they do sign him will be of course his position because I mean I completely understood where you come from last year listen to your podcast when you're touting him as one of the two number tens I think he absolutely has to be the right winger because those two

those two wide men who some still refer to them as fullbacks or wing backs they're not they have got to be wingers because they've got to be servicing a striker and you need quite attack minded players there or you certainly need a balance and that balance was never going to happen with masraoui and dallo it got a little bit better with dorgoo and dallo and there was a period after the season restarted with the forest game and united's it didn't reflect with united's form certainly domestically

But it felt like Dorgue and Dalot were starting to have a little bit of an impact on the team and they were creating chances. The chances weren't always getting taken. More often than not, they were not going in because look at United's goal scoring exploits last season. But there did seem to be some progress being made by the wide players then. And that stopped when Dalot got injured. And then Dorgue, during games, sometimes he was ending up on the right.

I think there might have been the odd game towards the end of the season where he did start on the right, which of course was where he made his debut rather infamously and Amrim came out with the wide scout quote. But going forward, they needed a right winger this summer. And I look at Mbumo and I don't, although he scored 20 goals last season, which was an absolutely superb tally,

And I don't think you can say anything to diminish that at all. And I wouldn't want to. Where he would be going to United if he was to go to United, fans can't expect him to get 20 goals. If he gets 20 goals, he's their best signing post-Van Persie, Barvan, Fernandes, because that would be an extraordinary tally for a player of that profile who's been playing

for a club as progressive and as stable as Brentford for six years. If he was to score 20 goals for Manchester United, 20 league goals for Manchester United this debut season, it would defy all expectations. He will do well if he does go to United again, I have to say, add that in. He would do well to get 10 goals

United scored, what was it, 44 Premier League goals last season. If he was to contribute roughly a quarter of that tally, he will have done well because the level of scrutiny he would be under at United compared to Brentford would be tenfold at the very least. So you've got, I think for his, he's absolutely a signing who should come into the first team.

And there's no reason why he couldn't switch with, say, Ahmad, who I think should be that number 10 for the time being. And they can switch during games because Ahmad is quite diligent playing on the wing as well. And I certainly would have played him there in the Europa League final. But I also understand and understood why Amin wanted him as one of the two number 10s. He's always used the phrase closer to the goal.

with Ahmad and you look at his season and until he got injured unfortunately he was I thought he was United's player of the year so I completely understand that and he has played more often as the number 10 than the winger for for Amring and again that's another reason why I would say putting Buma on the wing because you need an upgrade on the wing

they need an upgrade as one of the two number tens positions um they've got that in kunya going off his form last season and the season before that with wolves i don't think you need a completely different front three when you've got ahmad or bruno fernandez and if fernandez does stay as well because we can't just completely discount him um going he's not going to saudi arabia

But whether a big European club comes in, you'd understand it if it turned his head and you'd understand if he wanted to go. But the way it's looking is that he will be at United next season. And if that's the case, he's got to be a midfielder, I think, which was something that Amram was toying with, well, more than toying with before the

March internationals, it felt like Fernandes had been permanently reinvented as a midfielder. And then all of a sudden he went back to the number 10 for the run-in. And then as we got close to the Europa League final and Ugarte was performing poorly and then, of course, brought Fernandes back into midfield, I think he needs to make a definitive decision on where to play Fernandes next season. And I think the best use of him would be in midfield because they have got two quality starting number 10s

Nkunya and Ahmad. Of course, they absolutely need a new striker, which is the priority. But as I wrote earlier in the week, United's priority target is often one of the last or the last through the door in the summer. And I know that one's definition of a priority target in recent years, it can be quite subjective. For me, I thought the most important position for them last summer was a defensive midfielder.

because of the grand canyon that had developed between the defence and the attack in the 23-24 season, the majority of games.

and Ugarte didn't come in until deadline day in 2023. As far as Eric Ten Hag was concerned, the striker, and I agreed with him, the striker was the real key signing that summer. Hoyland came in relatively early before the Premier League season started, but they still had to wait until August to get that done and dusted.

Casemiro, Frenkie de Jong, Deep Lyon, Defensive Midfield, however way you want to look at them, when one finally arrived in the case of Casemiro it was 22nd August and there was an element of panic about it because of what had happened and the results against and the performances against Brighton and particularly that generational nadir at Brentford when they were thumped 4-0. I suppose in 2021

Whether you consider centre-back or winger as the priority target, they came in early, Sancho and Ferran. And I don't think that's a coincidence. Mignolet and Solskjaer was... He was probably the weakest manager of all the post-Ferguson managers. And that probably accounted why he had such enviable backing in the majority of his summers. And he got those two players in...

pretty early and it would have been earlier with Ran had an issue not been flagged in his medical which caused them to redraft the paperwork and make some adjustments which in the end it meant that he got an unveiling pre-match against Leeds United with a packed house at Old Trafford for the first time and

in nearly 18 months due to the pandemic. So that just gives you a recent idea as to how long United have had to wait. And with some of those signings, it was before PSR and all those ramifications and complications and this new deadline day of June 30th, which doesn't feel like it's currently getting as much traction or build up as it has in previous years. But we're still a way off from that, I suppose.

because of course June 30th signals the end of the financial year and that does have a bearing on whether clubs will sign a player now or wait until we get into July and then part with their cash then and of course United are becoming more

more creative and more disciplined. You saw that with the dealers they did last summer. They didn't spend more than £60 million as an overall fee for any of those signings. And it wasn't a coincidence that Omar Barada, coming in as chief executive, having worked for several years at Manchester City, where for a long, long time, they used to boast about not paying, or very, very rarely, paying more than £60 million for a player, which is still...

a discipline they do largely abide by. They've spent a lot of money this kind of year, but off the top of my head, I don't think the majority of those signings have been in excess of £60 million. Again, I'm not professing to know the figures off the top of my head, but that also comes into play because United are not going to want to be played like they have been in the past, whether it was parting with Liverpool

60 million up front for Casemiro, 64 million up front for Hoyland, the £81.3 million that they are guaranteed to pay Ajax for Anthony. They can't do that, one, because they can't be as incompetent as that. And also, they don't have the financial muscle to do that. It was so different in Edward Wood's

Not his first summer, but certainly that second summer in 2014, where I think the way he operated with certain signings, he thought it was good that the players cost a lot of money. Luke Shaw, I think, was a record deal for a teenager when he signed in 2014.

2014. And Herrera had a release clause, but 29 million was still relatively steep for someone who was coming from Athletic Robau. Angel Di Maria was a British record transfer at that time. Two years later, Paul Pogba was a world record transfer as well. I think Woodward actually relished that. He reveled in it, even though it didn't really

well very seldom brought united success but they can't do that now and nobody would uh would endorse that kind of deal making either no it certainly seems a lot better on that front and we have seen improvement as you mentioned there samuel last summer no fees exceeded the 60 million pound barrier united pays slightly above that for matthias conyer but i think they can get away with that with the premier league proven record that he has it was a release clause so it was a relatively easy deal to get done

And Mbwemo, it seems, is going to cost a fee in a similar region. We don't know specifically what it could be. United have had a package of 55 million turned down so far. But you mentioned a few minutes ago about United's overall attacking output last season in the league of 44 goals. Kunya and Mbwemo between them, 35 league goals. So a huge percentage of United's figure there.

both of them with proven Premier League records. For me, and I wrote about this while you were off, it feels like the type of signs that United have needed for quite a while, Premier League proven players that are ready to come in and hit the ground running. Of course, there's no guarantee there'll be a success, just like any managerial appointment, there's no guarantee of that. But it feels like United, they've got the head screwed on in the right way and it feels like they're making the right steps that are long overdue.

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Well, they're signing players, and I'm only speaking personally, they're signing players that I would sign or I'd want to see playing for United. And again, opinions vary on a signing, but the majority of signings in recent years, I'm not for a single second suggesting that I was right or prescient on all the deals they did, but the majority of signings United have made in recent years, I thought...

why are you doing that? Or I thought, why are they signing that player? And I've not always been right. I was sceptical about Lissandro Martinez going for him, mainly because he was playing for Ajax. And of course, they've not obviously done particularly well just signing players who were schooled at Ajax and didn't under Eric Ten Haag. But Martinez, when he's been fit, he's been a good player for United. And that's the problem.

been his height, it's not been any shortcomings in his game. It's been injuries. He's had far too many of them. But I look at Mount Hoyland and

I didn't really think Maserati should be doing that last year, but Maserati was really good last season. So again, I'm not for a single second saying that any player I don't think should be signing is going to turn out to be rubbish for them. That's not been the case with Marseille and it certainly wasn't the case with Maserati last season. But as a point of principle, I didn't like that United were taking...

We're essentially doing Bayern Munich a favour and taking two players off their hands. I didn't understand Xerxe. With Xerxe, you didn't even have to watch him play. You only had to look at his statistics in Italy. And when I looked at his goals return, not just in Italy, but other clubs, I thought Rasmus Hoyland was

And look what happened last season. And Hoyland, again, he was another player. You didn't have to look at his, you didn't have to watch him. You just had to look at his goals tally. And that would have told you that he was a player that you shouldn't have gone for. It's nothing personal against him. He just was not what United needed at that time. And they thought that he would do after they lost their nerve with dealing with Daniel Levy.

over Harry Kane. But Mason Mount, I thought would be, I mean, Arsenal and Liverpool were looking at him as well. And I thought he'd have been quite a good match for them because of the state of playing their squads, the way they were playing, what they needed at that time. I thought he was a complete mismatch for United. And he was a mismatch for United because they tried to make a central midfielder out of him.

and he is not a central midfielder. Now, he could become a good signing by accident because they've signed someone who plays... Sorry, they've recruited a coach who plays a system that Mount is well-versed in. That said...

there's no guarantee he will start the season because I think there are at least two number tens, maybe three number tens ahead of him in that pecking order. And his time at United leaves a lot to be desired. And then Stephen's grading of him last week, I have to grade Stephen an F for giving Mason Mount. I think it was a C he gave, wasn't it? Christ, what was it? Three goals in two seasons and the first didn't arrive until, sorry, four goals in two seasons. I almost forgot his Brentford opener, but

Yes, yeah. This is why we've sent Stephen away. We've not really sent him away, but I might have to ban him from the podcast or at least gradings. I don't think there can ever be a day where he can do player ratings. United lose 4-0 and everyone's given a 5 out of 10 or something like that. We can't be having that. So he's got to learn from...

from my grading on that um yeah with an arno i think everybody that was that was fine you thought okay if you're going to get rid of david de heyer okay this guy has played i actually used to play for ten hog but everyone saw him in the champions league final and you thought okay they want to play that way it makes sense it's not gone it's not gone well with anana um i i thought

Varane was a no-brainer. I thought Ronaldo was a no-brainer. They were two very mixed signings, to say the least. So it's difficult. That's why for us, it's a bit of a double-edged sword at times because when a player signs for United...

You don't, you really don't want to go out and say, this is not what they need. This is not right. You want to be, one, you need to and you should reserve judgment. And secondly, you want to actually give them a chance. And also with the signing, you don't want to be overly negative. Sometimes it's just impossible. I mean, I think we all felt

almost a little bit let down by the Hoyland deal because United were very, very adamant in stressing to us that they would not pay more than £60 million for him. And they did. And they committed to a fee of £72 million. And none of us in that room in UCSD

in San Diego thought that that deal was going to work. I think that deal was just doomed to fail from the get-go. And we've covered it in minute detail, why it has failed. And nobody, apart from maybe Hoyland's family members and Keyes Voss, would think he should be a starting striker at Manchester United next season.

And it's not a surprise that, you know, I sent in a little line to do while I was off. It's no surprise that the club that are interested in him

a one from Italy in Inter Milan because that's what Italian clubs do they like taking Premier League rejects because Premier League rejects are likely to find their feet in Italy and Hoyland has got the experience of playing in Italy already so that whether that gets out materialised for United or not remains to be seen but

You've also seen Napoli taking McTominay off them. Napoli wanted Garnaccio early in the year. Italy is still a league that is in decline despite getting to two Champions League finals in three years. But the handy thing for a lot of English clubs, a lot of Premier League clubs, is that their clubs do like to take players from the Premier League. I think they see a cachet in getting players from the Premier League and

It does somewhat blind supporters out there if they're getting these players. And then quite often the case that the players turn out to be very good for them. I mean, Tammy Abraham had an excellent year with Roma, didn't he, when they won the Conference League, I think. Romelu Lukaku had a superb first season with Inter Milan and then they won the Scudetto the second season. And then Lukaku, of course, decided to clear off as is his penchant.

But United, the thing that we're all wondering with United is who that striker is going to be because they cannot...

They absolutely cannot start the season with one of Hoyland or Xerxe up front. I'd rather they went with Fernandes up front and possibly trialled him as a false nine in this 3-4-2-1 formation, which is not remotely ideal whatsoever. But they need a different option. And it might be a wait. It wouldn't surprise me if it goes into August and their first game. We all know now that it's going to be on August the 17th. So it does give them a bit of time, but...

the more you look at it, it looks like this striker will probably come from a team abroad rather than one in the Premier League. And you would really want them to get up to speed. In order for them to get up to speed as quickly as possible, you'd want to have them in for pre-season. And I think it's four weeks. I think it's five weeks away

tomorrow sorry no five weeks today beg pardon I think that that United fly to fly to Chicago for the pre-season tour so that's that's that's how how quickly that will come around as well

Yeah, I think the clock is definitely ticking on this striker search. And I did it again. I did a piece while you were off, Sam. You're looking at how it would be ideal if they could get a striker in for that tour. But at the moment, having missed out on Liam De Lappe, which was again, like Matthijs Kunja, would have been an easy deal, relatively easy deal to get done with the release clause. There's no obvious answer to this search. Jokka has his names doing the rounds consistently. Victor Osserman's, the same names keep cropping up.

but none of them you would think are going to be an easy deal to get done. And I think similarly in the centre of midfield, which is another position they want to strengthen, there is no obvious answer. These two could drag on a while, I think. Certainly, when the Delape made that choice, I got the message waiting for Amram's press conference in Hong Kong, I think it was. And we put it on United then and there was radio silence until...

you know we ran the stories and it was everywhere and they were keen to stress unsurprisingly that they had a contingency plan um if de la had chosen to join chelsea and they they were aware for quite some time that although de la had had discussions with four clubs united chelsea ebbs and new parcel it was going to be there more or chelsea unsurprisingly um

So they were braced for it. And so I was told, I might have put it in a story in late April, early May, that people at United were quite wary that there were quite a lot of clubs interested in De Lappe. So I don't think they were ever, you know, I don't think they would have had a spreadsheet, say, for the squad next season and had his name down as an absolute certainty to be in it, which was different, which was not the case, sorry, with Kounia.

as soon as that stuff came out about kunya and speaking to people around it who were well informed on it it became quickly apparent that it would be a surprise if this deal does not happen that was never the case with dilap i wasn't surprised that he joined chelsea i wouldn't have been surprised had he chosen chelsea three or four weeks before he made that that choice either

So it is, of course, that is going to delay their wait for a striker. But as we've said before, I've never, I never thought Delat was the right choice. Whether he, it doesn't, it doesn't matter whether,

how well he does in stadiums where there's one man and his dog in the United States during the Cashmere Cup or anything. I don't think anybody will care about that. People online, sorry, there will be people online who care about it because that's how football and community works and it's not a world or a rabbit hole that I ever will dive down at any time soon.

But I don't think United can be particularly fussed by it. But of course, the one downside is that it does delay that wait for a striker to come in. And any striker who has created a market for themselves this summer is going to want to be linked with United.

And there are not many out there who you look at and you think he is proven or one that ticks every box. I would absolutely take Yoko as over the lap any day of the week. But he doesn't tick every box because he's become a proven goal scorer in the Portuguese league and the Premier League would be a big step up.

if he was to end up at United. But if United were to get him, which is very hypothetical because of interest in other clubs, and I think some of it has been overdone a little bit in recent days just because of the state of play at Sporting and a bit of a dispute possibly materialising or developing between the Ocaras and the hierarchy there over who they want. I mean, I think after...

after he scored four goals against City in October, there was chatter about him maybe being available for £63 million. And now it's been suggested that that's not the case. He has to command a higher fee, which you can completely understand. And Sporting do have a tendency to drive a hard bargain. They thought that they...

they'd led United down the garden path and played them like other clubs have played them with the fee for Bruno Fernandes in 2020. It turns out that that fee in the end was a knockdown fee that United paid. I think it was a maximum of £67 million, which was steep, but Fernandes showed very, very quickly that he was going to be worth that money. And it would be extremely different for a striker in that situation because

If you go a game without scoring, there's a little bit of pressure. You go two games without scoring, the pressure doubles. You go three games without scoring, it triples. That's the invidious position. That's the occupational hazard of being a Manchester United striker. But they have got to have a new striker in for the start of the season at the very least.

for that first game against Arsenal. It's not always ideal if you've not got a striker in for pre-season, but it very rarely happens these days. I wouldn't be majorly concerned by that, but they've got to have them in for the first game. That would be a concern if United have still got Rasmus Hoyle and Joshua Zirksey as their two strikers, if you want to call them, looking at them last season for very different reasons. Neither of them really resemble Cumbernail's.

No, certainly not. And it is going to be an interesting tale, I think, throughout the summer to see where this striker search does end up. A lot of rumours going around at the moment, but nothing appears to be concrete. Certainly not what we've got anyway. But that does mark the end of this episode of the Samuel Looker Show. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcasts from. Also make sure to leave a like and maybe a comment as well.

Myself and Samuel will be back again for another episode on Friday. So make sure you're subscribed when that drops and we'll catch you again soon for another episode of the Samuel Looker Show.