Man United’s Biggest Problem Exposed! Truth About Onana & Garnacho | The Samuel Luckhurst Show
51:54 Share

I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto-friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger. So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three. Will that be cash or credit? Credit. Galaxy S25 Ultra, the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you. Get yours at Samsung.com. Compatible with select apps requires Google Gemini account results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy.

This episode is brought to you by Polestar. Electric performance is at the core of every choice that went into the all-electric Polestar 3. Like merging a spacious interior with the torque and handling of a sports car, or the ability to go from 0 to 60 in as little as 4.8 seconds, and get an EPA-estimated range of up to 315 miles per charge.

Choices like this all lead to making your decision to choose Polestar 3 obvious. Book your test drive today at Polestar.com. Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot, crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. ♪♪

Before we jump into this podcast, let's just have a first word from our sponsors. NordVPN, the fastest VPN in the world and an absolute essential travelling companion. You can use NordVPN on 10 devices with just one account, easily switching your virtual location to access apps and websites in other countries. But if you're out of the country, make sure that you've got NordVPN to be able to use your subscriptions and watch the live sport that you might miss.

If you're at home, use it to see if you can save money with products that might be cheaper in another region. Go to nordvpn.com slash Manchester to get four extra months on the two-year plan. The link is also in the podcast description. Hello and welcome along to the latest episode of the Samuel Luckhurst Show from the Manchester Evening News. I am of course joined by our Chief Manchester United writer, Mr Samuel Luckhurst, and myself hosting this podcast, George Smith. Samuel, first of all, great to see you. How are you?

Yeah, I'm well, thank you. I'm grateful for the extra help. I didn't mind the one-man shows, but I certainly prefer two-handers. Even Gary Neville has Peter Drury, but I think I've got an upgrade in George Smith today, definitely.

I'll take that as a compliment. So I appreciate that, Samuel. Very kind. On this podcast, myself and Samuel are going to reflect on Wednesday night's topsy-turvy 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town at Old Trafford, and as well as that look ahead to Sunday's FA Cup fifth round tie with Fulham at Old Trafford. Samuel, we'll start with that victory over Ipswich on Wednesday night. It was a much needed win to say the very least. It had everything you could have wished for at Fiji United falling behind yet again.

Coming back, getting their nose in front, the red card for Patrick Dorgue, then being pegged back, going in front and then standing firm to hold on. It was probably just about the chaotic evening that we've come to expect covering this football club, isn't it? It certainly is when that mistake happened and the press box is pretty much in line with the 18-yard mark.

line at that end of Old Trafford and even before Patrick Dorghue had made that faithful contact with the ball he looked pretty shaky running backwards with Philogene breathing down his neck

And it was a situation that really he had to take ownership of, but didn't. I still can't quite understand how he didn't see Andre Inanna, 6'4", wearing bright green, coming towards him. There was culpability on Inanna's part, but I thought and still think it was a bigger mistake by...

by Dworgu and it only took three weeks for him to be brought down to the level of his teammates unfortunately and it's so drastic for a player that they can go from a pretty consistent and positive performance one day and then four days later they just have an absolute disastrous

45 minutes and it's perfectly fine to criticise a player when they've made two mistakes as Dorg who did and Amrim gave ample context to that regarding the red card he said where he'd made such a glaring error he wanted to atone for it and you could see that with the way he was chasing around I think he won the corner it might have been for the

for the second goal. So he's a proactive player, but the red card was completely warranted. It was a bad tackle. He didn't, I don't think he tried to do Amir Hutchinson. It was just an overzealous tackle and where he didn't make clean enough contact with the ball, the follow through did look bad.

And look, for Dorghu, really good Manchester United players, brilliant Manchester United players have had worse starts to their Manchester United careers than Patrick Dorghu. He's had a mixed time, I think it's safe to say. Lasted only a half on his debut. Didn't do much of notes at Tottenham, I didn't think. Looked pretty bright and as I said, I think he was the most consistent performer against Everton. And then 45 minutes to forget

against Ipswich in midweek. But come the game at the weekend, he will be missed because United won't have a left-footed winger or wing-back or left-back, whatever you want to call them. And the balance of the team will be compromised by

by his absence. And I think out of necessity, Ruben Amorim will have to play Diogo Dalot on one side and Nusum Azrari on the other. And those two, by virtue of the system and their positions in that system, they have hampered United's attacking play. What little attacking play or coherent attacking play we've seen because they're not

they're not expert attackers and dog who seems more proactive and and certainly he balances out the side being a left on the left

But nevertheless, United did show pretty good resilience to come through that. And I think if anyone has watched Match of the Day after Harry Maguire's winning goal, which was in the 47th minute, I think they only showed one highlight, if you can call it that. And it was a routine save for Inanna. And I'm sure we'll get on to Inanna shortly. But United did manage the game really well. And I noticed from Ruben Amrim about...

might have only been about five or ten minutes into the second half, certainly when they were 3-2 up, but it was early in the second half, he rubbed his hands together and it wasn't because he was cold, the way I read it was that he sensed a shift, that he was quite comfortable even though it was an uncomfortable position. They were only 3-2 up, they were a man down, so Ipswich had the personnel advantage in terms of numbers.

But he seemed quite content with the United set-up and it was almost as if he trusted the players to see their way through that game. And he spoke afterwards about how it's a wrench for him that United seem more comfortable playing in a reticent set-up where they're not expected to play on the front foot.

And of course, when they'd have headed out against Ipswich, they would have been expecting to play on the front foot. And to a certain extent, they did when it was 11 versus 11. But the goals did come from dead ball kicks.

But certainly their standout games or performances or results under Ruben Amrim, City away, Liverpool away, Arsenal away, they would have had relatively low possession in those three matches. But it didn't matter because they managed the game quite well. And one of the reasons they managed those matches well was because it was quite a reticent set-up. They weren't going to go hell for leather in those games either.

And they had to adapt against Ipswich and they adapted very well. It is still quite peculiar when you see Diogo Dalo and Casemiro chest bumping after winning a throw-in with the 90th minute looming or Bruno Fernandes geeing up the crowd. I'm not being the celebratory police here. I'm not taking umbrage with United celebrating goals or anything like that. But I do think there is a lack of self-awareness with this team.

When ultimately after that game, which United won, it only lifted them to 14th in the table. I think sometimes it's got to be a case of get through the game, clap the fans, shake hands, get down the tunnel. That's it. You don't need to do anything for the cameras. But some of these players are, they've either been,

reprogrammed or they're programmed in a way that is not one you don't expect that behaviour from a Manchester United player but maybe we're being too idealistic in terms of consistently going back to the standards of the club when they were a force which let's face it was quite some time ago

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, obviously, the other night it was a familiar trend in the fact that they fell behind again. But they have now recovered four points from the last two games from a losing position, 14 in total this season. So, as you mentioned there, Samuel, about it's not necessarily a good look to be celebrating a victory over a team that is almost destined to be relegated in Ipswich Town. But it does at least show Ruben Amar in these last couple of games that there is at least some fighting spirit within this team to come back from these deficits.

Yeah, and I think when we spoke to Harry Maguire after the Leicester game, he was struggling to remember had they had any comeback wins earlier in the season. They probably had more than people think because they've lost so many matches this season. And you look at the position in the league, you think, well, they can't have much resilience about them. But they did it against Brentford in March.

I think that might have been Eric Ten Haag's last home game in charge, where they went 1-0 down and came back out, scored quite quickly twice in the second half. They did it, of course, against Pilsen and Manchester City in the same week under Amrim. They did it in Amrim's first home match against Bodo Glimps. They went 2-1 down in that game, but won 3-2.

And Liverpool away, they didn't win, of course. But I think when Mohamed Salah stuck that penalty away, you thought, well, that's probably it for United. But it wasn't. They equalised. And then they went for the win as well. They weren't settling for a point that day. And that was a game where a lot of people, the majority of people, myself included, thought it was going to be a case of how many Liverpool would win by United.

There was a hell of a lot of adversity in the Arsenal match where Dallow, Darfley got sent off and they had to see how that came with 10 men. But I think they became stronger and looked the likelier of the two teams, the more the game aged. And they took that momentum into the penalty shootout and won on penalty kicks very, very convincingly and very clinically. And as you said, they've done it against the three teams that are going to get relegated in Southampton, Leicester,

an Ipswich since the turn of the year and it's not it's not a great look it's not a flattering look that they keep conceding first I think they've done that 21 times out of 41 games this season which is a pretty extraordinary number they've still not scored a goal from open play in the first half of a game in 18 matches running I think that second goal in midweek you've got to put that down as I don't think that's a goal from open play even though it

It kind of is. It's a goal-mouth scramble from a dead ball kick. It's three goals from three set pieces. And credit to both Fernandes, Bruno and Carlos, the assistant, who now oversees set pieces. They've put the hours in on the training ground and it certainly worked against Ipswich. And Kieran McKenna was adamant afterwards that Ipswich have been pretty good at defending set pieces this season. But it didn't look it on Wednesday night. So you've got to give United a hell of a lot of credit for that.

But they are causing themselves a hell of a lot of strife. I mean, by conceding first in games, strangely enough, it was a dreadful defeat and it really did peter out. But in the Palace game at the start of the month that United lost 2-0 at home, in the first 15 minutes, they were very, very good. It was possibly their best start to a game all season. But it's, you know, I'm mentioning it now. I don't think many other people are mentioning it because look at the final score that day.

This weekend is a big one, though, because it's Cup football again. And I don't think they can necessarily afford to go 1-0 down against Fulham, who are a far better team than Leicester, who, of course, were the previous opponents for United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

And we will come on to the FA Cup title, I'll tell them a little later on, but just looking at the data while you were talking there, Samuel, four wins from a losing position in the Premier League this season for United, only City and Newcastle have won more games from behind. So it's not a bad record, even though it's not ideal. But looking at more of a positive thing, Samuel, and you've already named him a moment ago, Bruno Fernandes, he was arguably the star of the show against Ipswich on Wednesday night, had a direct hand in all three goals, although only credited with one assist.

We've all seen Roy Keane's comments in the last couple of days, I'm sure, about what he's been saying about Bruno Fernandes. Ruben Amrim's addressed it today in his press conference. Do you think Roy Keane's a little harsh in his criticism of Fernandes? Because there's been so many occasions where he's dragged this team out of trouble this season and in the past as well.

That's weird that Fernandes didn't get an assist for the Morse own goal. I've just seen it now. So, I mean, you're the FPL expert, George. You've kind of almost rigged the system. But that's an assist, isn't it? It's pretty ridiculous. I would say so. Yeah, yeah. Going back to Keane's criticism, I was off on Thursday, but I saw the clip of it.

I mean, Roy Keane, his punditry, I think, has gone downhill for a couple of years now. I don't think he's particularly insightful. I think we know what a lot of broadcasters want from pundits. I think CBS have pioneered it from their Champions League coverage where they just want viral clips. They want something that people are going to lap up, that they're going to find funny or they're going to be talking about it or debating it.

And that's what Sky go for. And I think a lot of King's punditry, I should add the caveat that I probably wouldn't have the gall to say this to him in person, but I think a lot of King's punditry is,

feels scripted and premeditated and one of the most famous things he did was a premeditated act on Inger Harland's knee that time but with these podcasts we know sometimes we have a running order I've been improvising quite a lot recently these one man shows but we're pretty prepared we know what we're going to talk about and sometimes it feels quite forced and

you know talk sport pioneered it 25 years ago on listening on the radio someone has to say something and the other person has to disagree with it even if they actually privately agree with it i i completely believe that roy keen doesn't buy bruno fernandez as a manchester united captain

but he's judging Manchester United on the United of 20 years ago. And that is becoming a little pointless at times in the wider perspective and the wider context of Fernandes' leadership. I actually think he's a good captain. There are times when

He does daft things and he drives you up the wall, even for us as journalists. United will concede a goal and he'll go to a referee and complain about something that is absolutely nothing. We don't know what he's complaining about. And you just think, just shut up, go back to your position or gee up your teammates or try and do something, use some positive body language. He has this tendency just to complain about anything and everything. I go back to an interview I did with him a couple of years ago.

on the eve of the Derby. And he explained at quite reasonable length his interactions with referees because he was effectively the captain at that point where Harry Maguire was a substitute most weeks. And he was almost apologetic about it. And he's a very different character now

to the character that crosses the white line as a lot of footballers are they you know they transform into different beasts and he he is an extraordinarily competitive player and Keane was as well I suppose Keane's personality off the pitch was more similar was similar to his personality on the pitch as well I see Fernandez is quite a different personality

But he isn't. He's not oblivious to it. He's aware that his behaviour with referees is probably disadvantaged him at times because he gives them such an earful. They'll give him short shrift if he should get a decision, but doesn't get a decision. A good example of that would be at Arsenal in the FA Cup last month, where he should absolutely have had a free kick on the edge of the area after Gabriel Jesus tripped him.

and he didn't get it, but his reaction to it was the wrong reaction. I think he tossed his boot, which came off in the foul. He tossed it to the ground twice, and it was almost like he did it the first time, he didn't get booked, and he thought, well, I'll do it a second time, and I'll get booked this time. It's almost as if he wanted the yellow card,

But Keane said that Fernandes isn't a fighter, which is complete nonsense. You just have to, you could tell from his first game or his first couple of appearances at United that he is a fighter. He puts a shift in. He's missed two games through injury throughout his whole time at the club. His durability is extraordinary and talent's not enough, was the other quote from Keane. And yeah, I agree with that. But when someone like Keane,

I don't watch or listen to those podcasts, but I saw the clip. But you need someone to provide the ample context that comes with it. And when Jill Scott comes up and says, oh, I don't think he's right as captain, like anyone can say that.

where's the context? Do you go to Manchester United games? Do you see him? Do you observe his body language? Have you looked at what he's done for United? Have you seen the way he conducts himself with the press? When he came in for media, some media activity before the League Cup final in 2023, it was early February, he

And a few of us were waiting to interview Marcus Rashford and he shook all our hands. And Harry Maguire came in at that point and he kept his distance. He offered a pretty cursory hello. And at that point, it was pretty obvious then that Fernandes was going to be made the captain on a full-time basis and he was in the summer. But there was a big difference between the way the two captains, if you like, conducted themselves in a very small setting

a pretty unimportant setting but it also highlighted how confident Fernandes was shouldering that responsibility as captain Harry Maguire did not do a good job shouldering the responsibilities of Manchester United captain he has done a very good job playing for Manchester United or a good job maybe a very good job is overdoing it given that some of the injuries he's had but he's become a better player and he's become a Manchester United captain

after having the captaincy taken away from him he talks differently he sounds more authentic he talks you know with with an authority i i think at times way had to speak so often as captain

it probably didn't help him he was overexposed whereas Fernandez is a lot more comfortable in that role where a captain is obligated to speak to a rights holder after a game and that's why Fernandez won't appear in mixed zones as often now because he's spoken to two or three television reporters or broadcasters

But Fernandes is comfortable in that role. And I can see why people will question his captaincy. I've questioned elements of his captaincy before, but I do think some are also out to get him. I mean, Gary Neville said a couple of years ago when they were losing 7-0 at Anfield, he said, oh, Fernandes is asking to be taken off. Now, he wasn't. Gary Neville couldn't have known that he was being asked to take off as well. It's a pretty serious allegation there or accusation there.

And it wasn't the case whatsoever. But certain people have made their mind up about Bruno Fernandes and that he is the captain of a really poor Manchester United team. So that counts against him. And there are times where his impacts will just mask his performance. At Everton last week, for 70 minutes, he was abysmal. If he hadn't have done anything in that game, he was getting three out of 10 from me. But then he scores a brilliant free kick.

And then he has a role in the equalising goal as well. But had they lost that game, had the penalty been given, which I thought it should have been, I certainly thought it shouldn't have been overturned, that...

That problem, even though it was to let shirt Paul or McGuire shirt Paul, it stemmed from a daft pass by Fernandez. And that's what he does. Sometimes he does daft things and it didn't cost them in the end. And of course, as soon as that penalty was given, he was at the referee and he was pointing up at the pitch at something, something or nothing. But it was nothing. All of us know it was nothing because it was the guilt complex.

where he'd cocked up by playing such a bad pass across his own third. And that led to the shot that was parried by Inanna. And as I said, I thought Efton should have had a penalty. But he's constantly on edge and that's not a bad thing. And let's face it, if United had 11 players with the durability, with the quality and the attitude and the mentality of Bruno Fernandes, they would be close to the top four or pushing top four.

I'm not necessarily saying they'd be winning the title because I don't think as good a player as he's been for United, I don't think he's a good enough player to be in the title winning side. And very simple rationale for that. Manchester City gave serious consideration to signing him in the summer of 2019. They didn't ultimately. Liverpool scouted him and I was told that one of the senior Liverpool scouts, when they were asked why they didn't sign him, they said he gives the ball away too often.

And so he would have jarred with their system. But Fernandes and United, this Manchester United, they do go hand in glove because Manchester United are a moments team. There's no structural play involved.

the system they play in, too many of the players jar with it anyway. They rely on someone who can do something out of nothing and Bruno Fernandes can do that. And those two teams I just mentioned, Liverpool and Manchester City, what do they both have in common? They're the only teams that have won the Premier League title in the past since 2018.

But in terms of what Roy Keane said about Fernandes this week, I think he went overboard. But a lot of pundits go overboard these days because it goes on social media. It will get the retweets in the four figures. And ultimately, I think that's why Sky's punditry in general this season has gone downhill. It feels far too scripted at times.

Well, I did a piece in reaction to the debate with Roy Keane and Ian Wright yesterday. And Ian Wright questioned Roy Keane saying, where would this United team be without Bruno Fernandes? And I worked out the numbers and looked at his direct goal contributions. They'd be nine points worse off. They'd be sat 16th. So it just goes to show how important he has been in this team, regardless of what people think of his captaincy and his antics with referees.

He is so important to this team. But Samuel, moving on, you mentioned him earlier on. We were going to talk about him and that man is Andre Odana. Not the best night for him again on Wednesday evening. Obviously, the cock-up with Patrick Dorgan for the first goal, then allowing the second one to seemingly wait for Liam De Latt to get a touch on the ball that never came.

It is becoming a concern. I'll hold my hands up and admit I've never been a goalkeeper, so I don't really want to hang him out to drive too much. But you did the piece back in January that Ruben Amring wanted another goalkeeper at some point this year. I think it's fair to say that it's going to be required, isn't it? Certainly to push him at the very least. Yes, and some errors or culpability have also crept into his game with Bayon Deer on the sidelines. I mean, we saw outside Bayon Deer driving out of Carrington earlier.

but Ruben Amrim, I mean, there wasn't much to read into that whatsoever. Ruben Amrim said that nobody's coming back this weekend, so he's still injured and he's been injured for three weeks now, which is a pity for him because he'd have probably played against Leicester in the fourth round and he'd have probably played this week against Leicester, sorry, who's it again? Fulham, Fulham in the fifth round. But Nona, I...

If you were to go through every goal he's conceded for United, I'm pretty confident you'd get to probably close to two dozen goals that he let in that could be described as savable or avoidable.

And when you look at the Premier League stats for errors leading to a goal, Inan is only on three, which doesn't really give... It's not a reflection of how he's performed this season. And the peculiar quirk is that in the first three months of the season, he was quietly having a good season. He had made some astonishing saves, like Crystal Palace, Fenerbahce...

He'd made some important saves as well. I remember one with United 3-2 down at Porto. If that goes in, they lose that game and Harry Maguire's not getting an equaliser and added time. And that would have been important in the context because United drew their first game. If they'd lost their second game, there'd have been a bit more pressure on them.

But really, since that Arsenal game, and that has signalled a turning point this season for the worst for United. I mean, Amram said, I think, a day or two before it, when he did the pre-match press conference at Old Trafford,

that the storm was coming and the storm has been pretty relentless since then. And Anana has made some really glaring errors. I thought there were, I mean, the first real high profile error he made was the Morgan Gibbs white goal. But I thought it might have been the third goal, the winning goal against Forest that evening. He was poor for it as well. He was in slow motion as the ball went past him.

Brighton's winner, which wasn't the glaring error from him that day. That was for the third goal for Jorginho Rota's contest killer, if you like. If the ball drops for Matoma in the six-yard box, a goalkeeper's got to get that. I thought his goalkeeping for the two goals that Arsenal scored from corners, it was too feeble. He needs to be on the front foot.

And, of course, last season, his first six months, he told us himself how difficult the first six months it was off the pitch, settling into England. He was referring to that more than his own pitch problems. But clearly he was letting in some really bad goals. And there was no player who was more responsible for United's Champions League group stage ejection than Inanna.

But I really did think from speaking to him a few times and the relatively steady second half of last season that he had, that he would be a more dependable goalkeeper this season. And as I said, for the first three months, it looked like that was the way it was going. But I was wrong because he's making some really bad errors. He was certainly culpable or partly culpable for the first goal in midweek, but I still maintain that was Dorgu's error there.

It's a difficult one for Dorku because he's, what, 20, I think, isn't he, Patrick Dorku? And Arnaud's 28.

if you're a player who's just recently signed and you're in that scenario there, you're bound to feel a little subservient towards the senior player because you've only just rocked up and this is a player who's playing the Champions League final, Barcelona, Ajax, Inter Milan and been at Manchester United for 18 months or so. So you're bound to feel that way. But with the second goal, I mean, Amrim tried to give Inanna a pass today when I asked him about it.

and about Anana that is rather than the goal itself. And he said that, you know, he's expecting to get a touch. So there's little he can do with the shot. And I see where he's coming from, but it might be the split second after Villagini plays the ball in, Anana takes a step to his left and it makes no sense because the ball is going in the opposite direction. So his footwork is all right.

I have said since quite early on last season, there is a problem with the way he actually saves shots as well quite often in that he gets too flush of contact on it. He's spilling the ball out back into overplay. And it happened at Everton with the non-penalty incident, again, where it was probably he didn't have to push it out. He could have put it out of harm's way. Of course, the Tottenham winning goal, I think,

I thought it was maybe harsh at the time to criticise him for that because he did push it to the side, but he could have done it better looking it on the replay. So I get that, but that's not going to go down as an error leading to a goal. But football is a game of opinions, isn't it? And you can be subjective in your analysis of a goalkeeper and a lot of United fans will have that down.

as an anonymous mistake or certainly an avoidable goal that he's been responsible for. But United are going to be stuck, seems a little bit harsh, but of course they've got him for the rest of this season. The dilemma they will have in the summer, because they will have to buy a goalkeeper of some sort of profile and that could be

somewhat a grizzled veteran who's well into his 30s and just wants to help out and be Tom Heaton's replacement because I think Heaton will likely retire in the summer or it could be someone who's going to challenge Inana because I still don't think that player will that keeper will be Bayon Deer and Bayon Deer will have a decision to make whereby with the summer it's a year out from the World Cup

Does he want to be Turkey's number one? Of course he does. But will he be Turkey's number one playing for Manchester United as a second fiddle to Andre Anan or can he back himself to take Anan's place? You could understand if he got itchy feet and he'd want to get a move. And also United might make a profit on him as well. So you've got to look at a very specific profile of goalkeeper who's also not going to cost much. And this is the problem Manchester United have.

They were so sport for choice with Schmeichel, van der Sar and De Gea, but particularly the van der Sar and De Gea era, because over 18 years, which is an extraordinary amount of time, they didn't have to proactively look to sell the goalkeeper. Van der Sar retired, De Gea was released. You would have to go back all the way to Fabian Barthez as the last Manchester United number one that United proactively sold.

And even Bartes had probably lost his number one place at that point because at the end of the 2002-03 season, he was so poor in the Champions League quarterfinal against Real Madrid, the Ronaldo-Hattrick game. You look at some of the shots Bartes let in that night and it's just unacceptable. And I think for the final three games of that season,

He was dropped by Sir Alex Ferguson. Maybe there was an injury issue as well, but I'm just double checking now. He was certainly on the bench for the final two games. So he wasn't even the number one then. So...

Is it Mark Bosnich maybe? It possibly is Mark Bosnich as the last number one who United practically sold. And they gave him away. They were never going to get money for him. He had that one season, 99 to 2000. And then nobody saw him again, apart from maybe a pre-season friendly. He was just completely out of the fold. He didn't get a look in ever again. I don't think he was ever in a United squad again. And they didn't get money for him.

So this is how rare it is that Manchester United proactively sell their number one goalkeeper. And also they are restricted, I think, to the Saudi Pro League clubs to selling Inanna. Because if you're to spread the cost of his transfer fee, which is £47.2 million over a five-year contract, then that's what...

I think it's about, I'm doing the maths here, £9.44 million. So it's the best part of £30 million for a goalkeeper if they're to avoid a loss on PSR. There's not a European club, a European big hitter, because Inanna would have to go to a European big hitter, that is going to be paying that money for Andre Inanna. There is not the market for a goalkeeper out there.

But he's still relatively young enough that you could envisage him or you could envisage a Saudi pro league club making that signing. But United seem to be the only big club that is struggling to shift players to Saudi Arabia as well. I mean, Saudi pro league clubs are not going near Casamira at the moment.

so it's a real it's a real tricky one but they absolutely have to sign a goalkeeper in the summer not just to be you know a de facto goalkeeping coach but someone who is actually going to push an honor and and offer him competition and from what I've been told um Ruben Amram wants a goalkeeper of that profile but of course

It's going to be difficult unless they have the budget for it. And there's so many variables at play here with United and what their budget could be for the summer transfer window.

It depends on who they sell. Are they going to have European football income, whether it be the Europa League or the Champions League? If they get into the Champions League, which is still doable, of course, through the Europa League, if they were to win that, it would be the best news they've had all season, for obvious reasons, because they'd have won the Europa League. But that would make an enormous difference to their budget and what they could do in terms of strengthening the first team squad in the summer.

Yeah, it certainly would make them a hell of a lot more attractive. Attractable. There's no, no doubt about that, but that does conclude part one of this episode of the Samuel Looker show. Do rejoin us in part two, where we'll look at Sunday's clash with Fulham in the FA Cup. Still getting around to that fix on your car. You got this on eBay. You'll find millions of parts guaranteed to fit. Doesn't matter if it's a major engine repair or your first time swapping your windshield wipers.

As a small business owner, my favorite thing about posting a job on LinkedIn is that when I hit post, I

I clock out and LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, get qualified candidates, and manage them all in one place. Plus, LinkedIn extends the reach of your job post by allowing you to share it with your network. And hiring managers that add a hiring frame to their LinkedIn profiles receive two times more qualified applicants. Go to LinkedIn.com slash achieve to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

I'm

I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. ♪♪♪

Welcome back to part two of this Samuel Lucker show from the Manchester Evening News. As I mentioned a few moments ago, we're now going to talk about the FA Cup clash with Fulham in the fifth round on Sunday. Samuel, you said right at the beginning of the show about how the FA Cup was obviously so important to United this season. And we sort of said it before the third round win at Arsenal. We said it ahead of the Leicester game in the fourth round about how basically each has each tie and each round comes, it is United's domestic season on the line.

This is the beginning of a sort of a big week for United for me with the Real Sociedad game to come as well. It's just one of those, isn't it? Obviously, ultimately a cook game that they've got to win. Yeah, I mean, the periods get bigger and bigger now where we're just coming into March. And certainly if you're in cup competitions, there's a hell of a lot to play for. And the jeopardy is just naturally, it's heightened.

i mean fulham are having a pretty decent season and they are they're a decent side you look at the quality they have it's such a weird quirk of fulham's season that they've actually lost the worst manchester united team in 51 years on on two occasions i mean i think i think some people thought it was almost like daylight robbery that united won at craven cottage last month i thought fulham were really really

quite poor just so subdued given that United were there for the taking and they didn't deserve anything from that game because they didn't reach the performance level that they should have and

United were pretty poor by and large and they only had one attempt on target there was a big deflection that the keeper gloved and it hit the woodwork on the way in but they got one goal Fulham didn't get a goal so this nonsense about oh Fulham deserve better from that they didn't they they were really really poor that day and it's difficult to think of apart from the Toby Collier clearance off the line much that that Fulham created it will be interesting to see whether they're

a little bit more motivated for this game this weekend, given what happened in the FA Cup quarterfinal at Old Trafford two years ago. And it is relevant to mention that because Marco Silva was still going on about it after they beat Wigan in the fourth round a couple of weeks ago. He said, I have to remind you that two seasons ago, we achieved the quarterfinals of the FA Cup competition and probably didn't achieve the semifinals for other things that I don't want to speak about here today.

referring to the three red cards. I thought my mind was playing tricks, but I had to go back, look at the highlights from that game, and my mind wasn't playing tricks. It was a clear handball on the line by Willian, so it's a red card. Marco Silva went berserk and was red carded.

didn't appeal against it. So clearly he didn't behave in a proper way. And Mitrovic manhandled, shoved the referee and got, was it a seven match ban on top of that? I think so. The three red cards were entirely deserved and Fulham were absolutely the better side that day for 70 minutes. They were far and away, you know, the superior team and,

They threw it away. They imploded. And then United scored a couple of goals to go make the most of the two-man advantage and got through to the semifinals. But Marco Silva does strike me. I mean, he was moaning after the league game last month. We should have had, you know, we deserve better, blah, blah, blah. He can be quite an angry little man at times. And I just wonder whether he will try and play on that.

going into this cup game. And as I said, I mean, Fulham should be embarrassed to have lost twice to this Manchester United side already this season, never mind a third time. And they did win at Old Trafford last season with a goal in added time. And they were very good value for their win that day. I was very impressed by Rodrigo Muniz when he played at Old Trafford. He seems to be in better form at the moment after a pretty slow start to the season. And,

And Fulham won't be favourites, but you look at the players United have got missing and how motivated Fulham should be for this game. It wouldn't surprise me if Fulham knocked United out. Nevertheless, United have got a very good record against Fulham. That defeat last season was an aberration in terms of the club's recent history.

Yeah, it was. It was the first defeat to Fulham since December 2009 and that's over all competitions. But generally speaking, though, United have obviously beaten Fulham twice this season. Recent meetings have been pretty tight. There's not been a big scoreline in either favour. But one thing that has escaped my notice, Fulham have only lost three games on the road all season and two of those have been in Manchester, one to United, one to City. So, like you said there, Samuel, it's not going to be an easy one for United, particularly with the players they've got missing.

No, I think it's still nine players out injured. I'll try and go off the top of my head. That's Heaton, Bayinder, Evans, Shaw, Martinez, Mount, Collier, Mainu,

Ahmad and Patrick Dorgoo is suspended for this game. Amram did say at Carrington earlier today that Alejandro Garnaccio had suffered a knock against Leicester. It wasn't the reason why he came off, but he will have to be assessed. My gut feeling is that he'll be fine to play. He's one of only seven players who's been available for every game this season. He's avoided injury as he avoided injury last season. It's

It's a quality of Garnaccio's that probably doesn't get the amount of airtime that it should do. But his durability for a 20-year-old winger is extremely impressive.

But United have got a lot of players absent to contend with. Chido Obi is going to be in the squad again. He's not even playing in the FA Youth Cup game this evening. We're recording this on Friday. It's nearly Friday tea time now. But he's not even gone down to Arsenal for an FA Youth Cup quarterfinal against his former club. So,

So that's how important he is to the first team at the moment. It's gutting for him because he's got seven goals in three FA Youth Cup games and need have been going back to Arsenal. It's a huge game. It's been played at the Emirates Stadium as well. That's why Stephen's going down to cover it for us. But he's needed for the first team. So he's got to take it as a big compliment, even though I'm sure it's a real wrench for him to be missing out on that quarterfinal.

Yeah, it will be a shame for him, but obviously Ruben Amarim clearly needs him. There's such a lack of options available in so many areas. I've just been doing my predicted 11, actually, and it's really difficult to sort of make the changes you'd want to make because the options just aren't there. But obviously, Samuel, as you mentioned... Is it your predicted 11 or your personal 11, George? My predicted 11. I've not filed my personal one yet. Two different 11s. Okay.

I know, two to do. But going back to Alejandro Garnaccio, something you've mentioned there, obviously, Ruben Amorim, when you went to see him earlier, provided the injury update on him. He also revealed that he's going to be taking the squad out for dinner after going down the tunnel, after being substituted on Wednesday night and following Patrick Dordew's red card. But it does feel as though the situation's been moved on quite quickly with that, and it was Garnaccio that approached Ruben Amorim as well.

Yeah, Simon Peach said, as we were walking out, he said, do you know what, that was a nice press conference, that he gave us a really good line on what happened with Garnaccio, but he also diffused it so it's not a big thing. And as Amrim tends to do, he can deliver, he's like the smiling assassin at times when he's talking about bad news, bad news from Manchester United. He tends to be smiling as he's speaking about it.

But the way he handled the Garnaccio questions today, or questions in fact, was very light-hearted. I think it helped that he stressed that Garnaccio came to him. He knocked on his door, went into his office,

um they you know they obviously spoke about what what happened but he's drawn a line under it quite quickly and it's as i said it's quite it's you know he it feels like he's been fined but he hasn't it's just oh he's just going to take it by way of apology he's going to pay for the next squad bonding

which is quite deft man management, I think, because he knows how important Garnaccio is. Garnaccio has had some big performances, primarily as a substitute for United in recent weeks against FCSB, Leicester,

Everton, I thought he really did lift the team when he came on and he was the most consistent and constant attacker against Ipswich in midweek until, of course, he was substituted. And I didn't agree with the change. I'd have taken Rasmus Hoyland off, but I can understand where Amram was coming from. I also didn't agree with what Garnaccio did later that evening, just passive-aggressively putting...

an unhappy picture of him on his Instagram story. He's got form for that as well. His idle thumbs working overtime when he's had a disappointment. It happened after the Bournemouth game last season when he was substituted at half-time. He liked some questionable tweet criticising Eric Ten Haag's decision.

But then, of course, on Thursday morning, it was a more harmonious post. And I think when I saw that, I thought, well, he's clearly had his talking to now and it seems like everything is...

all is right in the world if he's celebrating a win that he wasn't a part of for half of it. But as I said, even for us as journalists, there's been so much negativity with United and it can be quite taxing or exhausting covering them. But that was quite definitely handled by Amrim today.

Yeah, right. I agree. It does feel like water under the bridge. And on we go to the next game, which obviously is Fulham, as we've mentioned. It's the first of three games in the space of eight days. Real Sociedad next Thursday, the first leg of that Europa League tie, then Arsenal in the Premier League. Probably the Arsenal game, Samuel, despite the rivalry between those two clubs, it's probably the least important game of the week in the grand scheme of things of the season.

Well, you get an extra three million, don't you, if you move up the Premier League ladder. So I'm sure Ineos will be paying close attention to that. And it's rare that a United-Arsen game doesn't involve some sort of incident or it's certainly not. It's never a small game, put it that way. It's difficult to think of the last time it felt like a truly low-key game. It's always on television. There's always a fair amount of build-up for it as well.

And people still harp on about the history of when the clubs were genuine rivals between 97 and 2005. But that was 20 years ago now. And I think the rivalry has been pretty much non-existent since then, because when United have been competing for the title, Arsenal have been also rants.

When Arsenal had been competing for the title, United had been also ran. So in that sense, the rivalry has not existed for 20 years, but it is always a big game. But as cliched as it sounds, and I'm going to sound like a footballer here, there were two games before that and we can only focus on the next game. The next game is the most important game.

It certainly is. And that, of course, is against Fulham on Sunday. And be sure to tune into our coverage on Sunday to keep right across that. And that does bring an end to this episode of the Samuel Looker Show. A big thank you to Samuel for joining me on this Friday afternoon. And a big thank you to those of you who have either watched or listened to this podcast. Remember, you can like, comment and subscribe.

to the Samuel Utker Show and the Manchester Is Red podcast overall on YouTube. So do take care and we'll catch you again next week for another episode of the Samuel Utker Show. Have a good weekend.