Manchester is RED | Cunha on his way | Post-season tour latest
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Hello and welcome along to the latest episode of the Samuel Lutker Show from the Manchester Evening News. My name is George Smith and joining me all the way from Malaysia is our Chief United writer Samuel Lutker. Samuel, how are you? It's been a busy week of travelling for your good self. It certainly has been. It's been a busy couple of months it feels like in terms of travelling but the view from my hotel room is pretty spectacular. It's just pretty much high-rises everywhere you look and

Although this is a whistle stop stay, we've been able to get out a little bit and the Patronus Twin Towers, which the name might not be familiar to a lot of people, but if you see the image of it, I think it will be familiar to people. And that is pretty jaw-dropping spectacular at day and at night as well. And that was on our walk to the United Team Hotel, which is roughly about...

10 minutes away from where a few of us are staying here in Kuala Lumpur. It's my first time in Malaysia. The people are extremely friendly. They're very warm, whether it be at the airport or a taxi driver or

going to the stadium and speaking to some of the local media as well yesterday. So that's, although there has been, frankly, there has been too much travelling for myself recently and the amount of connecting flights, it's more understandable when it comes to this part of the world. But it is still probably the biggest perk of the job that you do get to go to places that you wouldn't ordinarily consider going to or even imagine going to.

And of course, United first came here in 1995. So it will be interesting this evening to see how enthusiastic the support is for them in the national stadium, because I don't think it's a sellout. The tickets are quite pricey. I mean, when I checked into my hotel, rather embarrassingly, before I'd even got my key,

the night manager recognized me and he wanted to check holding out his phone showing my Twitter profile that I was that that was me that I was Samuel Lacazette yes yes it was it would have been quite the coincidence there was another one here at the same time you know I was playing and I asked him if he was going to the game and he said unfortunately not he was working but he did say that the tickets were quite expensive um I think the lowest band sell sold out in in four days

One of the gentlemen was saying yesterday at the stadium, but some tickets are priced at £400, which is...

especially in this part of the world where the meal we had at lunch yesterday was, I think the equivalent in pounds sterling was something like two pounds something, which is extraordinarily, like unfathomably cheap. To be charging 400 pounds for a ticket out here is, it seems like, it seems beyond steep, but I think they'll, you know, I think the stadium will be, you know,

It's mostly full, but it does hold about 87,000 fans. So I think it's probably a little bit of a reach to expect it to be a sellout.

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But with the formalities out of the way, Samuel, we will dive into the football now. You've already mentioned that you found it quite interesting out in Malaysia. You've mentioned about how the people are incredibly friendly. You went to see Ruben Amri and Mason Mount yesterday. You also attended an open press conference ahead of today's friendly against the ASEAN All-Stars. Samuel, firstly, just paint a picture of how the last 24 hours have been for United. You had a busy day yesterday, so much so we had to delay the recording of this podcast until today. You were out and about quite a bit yesterday, weren't you?

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Rules and restrictions may apply. Yeah, I mean, with the time difference, it's a seven-hour time difference. So that's why it's kind of tricky in terms of collaborating with people like yourself back home in terms of things with a podcast. The United Press Conference in the end started a little after 3 p.m. local time, which was what, just after 8 a.m. UK time, was it? Just about keeping up with the time zone differences, I think.

And it was on the eighth floor of the W Hotel, which I believe there's a Marriott Bonvoy tie up there. And of course, Marriott Bonvoy are one of United's sponsors. They tend to, even when they were staying in Beverly Hills last year, if there's a Marriott Bonvoy hotel to stay in or something that's tagged with Marriott, then they will stay there. It's not necessarily a cost cutting thing.

And the hotel they're staying in is lovely, just spending a bit of time there. Yesterday, I don't think there were going to be any complaints from the players at all. One of the levels has a swimming pool, so they've been able to use that. I mean, there was absolutely no chance of players being able to go for a walk around out here. I'm not too sure whether many would be interested there.

In doing that, I mean, I know we can paint a picture of footballers as quite insular, but the reality is that whatever the mechanics of a trip, whether it's a pre-season tour or a post-season tour, they are here for it.

It is their job to be here. And it's quite amusing that myself and a colleague were in a lift with a few players yesterday. We had our accreditation lanyards on, so they've known or should have known that we were journalists. And they were already somewhat complaining about the commercial activities that they had to do because this is a commercial trip.

United are not pretending that this is a trip to maintain fitness and sharpness and give us a good end to the season or anything like that. It's all about the lucre and they're going to get £8 million from a week's work, which when you frame it like that, you can understand it. And of course, there's this June 30th deadline. It's the end of the financial year, so they need to get

some additional revenue in given the issues that they've had complying or issues they continue to have to comply with the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules. The flip side, of course, and I'm sure some people would have seen the FC United tweet criticising United the other day, whereby they're highlighting that United have no problem going on at 6,500 mile per

round trip or whatever it is to Malaysia and Hong Kong yet they're all for scrapping FA Cup replays and of course tiredness is not going to be a factor in how United fare next season because they're going to have so few games they're going to have so many free mid weeks their pre-season tour is going to consist of only three games again in the United States all of them are going to be on the east coast I'm not I can't quite remember what the time zone difference is between Chicago

and the UK where they're going to be based, but it can't be more than six hours. It's probably five hours. So they're all going to be the right side of America as far as that is concerned. But going back to this trip, it's, you know, someone at United was trying to say that, you know, other teams playing football this time of the year, we want to be playing football at this time of the year, albeit in a Champions League final or a European final, which of course they had,

they had last week. So, you know, why shouldn't we be playing games? And I can kind of see where they're coming from, but ultimately this is a trip that doesn't, from the footballing side, it doesn't reflect well on them where they've just had their worst season in human history and then, you know,

just after the players have had a shower, after the final game of the season, off they go to Asia for a money-spinning trip. But football has been like that for a long, long time. I struggle to be offended by it. I mean, it is interesting being out here from a news perspective.

I mean, we'll get a good gauge of how fervent the United following is out here still. But there have been some suggestions that it has been waning because they've not won the title for 12 years. Malaysia has always felt like a stronghold is probably an exaggeration because you get a lot of English clubs coming out here and they all have followings to various degrees. But United first came out here, as I said, 30 years ago and they

it was such a novelty the far-flung pre-season tour back then that the only journalist who attended it was the the Manchester Evening News' recently appointed chief united writer now when it's a pre-season united tour there are there are at least 10 of us journalists who who go out to follow them whether it be whether it's in America or Australia or Asia

But there's some fascinating footage of that trip in 1995 because there was a signing session and the signing session had to be abandoned because of overcrowding outside. And of course, United then, they just missed out on another double in 94-95, finished runners-up to Blackburn Rovers. They lost the FA Cup final to Everton. It was quite a seismic summer with Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrzej Konczalski being sold as well.

But the popularity of United, that worldwide popularity, it was starting to become, I suppose, known more so in the UK or you were starting to see evidence of it because although United was a name that was known around the world, probably dating back to the Munich air disaster, you didn't really have a glimpse of how fervent the following was. And back then, United used to release a monthly video

which essentially, I mean, the journalism in it was impeccable. And the Club magazine back then as well was really professionally done. And it had really good journalists working on it, like Sam Pilgo, I'm sure people are aware of, and Justin Barnes. This might have been a little bit before their time.

But they were sending these, essentially writing up these dispatches that nobody else was seeing. And this was the only way of knowing about it was to buy the club magazine or buy the club video and read about it and see evidence of it. And this clip from, I mean, Rob McCaffrey is another name who people might be familiar with. He used to narrate those videos.

And in this video, you can see there's a clip of David Beckham signing an Adidas ball rather appropriately, Brylcreem in his hair before he was even endorsing Brylcreem. But he was known out here because it was so fanatical that they knew who Ben Thornley or Terry Cook or the other class of 92 members, Terry Cook wasn't part of them, but Terry Cook was starting to get a little bit of prominence in the youth team at that time.

And so it's pretty, when you frame it like that and you see the adoration in a foreign country, long, long way from the UK and how clued up they are about United. And they had a clubhouse as well back then. There was a supporters group that had been set up, I think, for about 20 years.

And whether that's sustained consistently over the last 30 years, I think we'll get a good gauge of this evening during the game. But that's why it's a slight surprise that United haven't come to Asia as much for pre-season tours in the past 15 years. America has really ruled the roost on that to the point that they're going to embark on a third successive pre-season tour in the United States this

But certainly during my time during pre-season tours, the first tour I did was to China in 2016, which was an absolute disaster. And you knew that as long as Jose Mourinho was going to be United's manager, they were never going to go to China again. The second game in Beijing was cancelled because of the absolutely appalling state.

of the pitch despite pressure from the local authorities United City because it was due to be the first Manchester derby between Guardiola and Mourinho in Beijing at the birds nest sounded spectacular absolute disaster both teams wanted the game cancelled they got their way so United went all that way to China just for one game in Shanghai and Mourinho was very dismissive of

of the defeat to Brucey Dortmund. He said that United had no gasoline in the tank. It was an unfair comparison because Dortmund were fitter at that time as well.

And this has been a recurring theme with United and pre-season trips. There's always a feeling that the football has taken a backseat or the schedule has not been geared towards the football. And Van Gaal made his feelings known about that during his first tour in the United States. David Moyes, I think in 2013, they played in...

I think they played in Sydney, they played in Hong Kong, they might have played in Japan and South Korea. I think the amount of travelling that that entails, it's crazy. And also football has evolved now. Where United have not had one manager for 26 and a half years, it's not like the players just go out and do some ball work, do some training, have some practice matches. Someone at the club was saying yesterday that

Under Ferguson, where it was so, everyone knew their cues, everyone knew what was expected of them. There was no real tactical training. But of course now, where there's a different manager who's only been in six months and there was a different manager who had a pre-season tour in 2022. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had, I think, one proper pre-season tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was in 2019. That was in Perth.

Singapore and then Shanghai at the tail end of it. There's a lot of tactical training that goes on now, but the person we were speaking to from United said under Ferguson, there was hardly any tactical training because everyone knew what was expected of them. So the dynamics have changed a lot there. And that's why,

These managers, these coaches, if you come in at Manchester United, they get it. You're going to have to have a commercial-centric tour. You're not going to be able to go to Austria or one of these European training camps that Ajax might go to. There's a commercial obligation, but the football does seem to take the priority. And I've told from a couple of people that there was a little bit of pressure from Snapdragon to, can you play a game at the Snapdragon Stadium, which, of course, is in San Diego, Southern California, New York.

which is a long, long way from Chicago. And United are not doing that. They're playing three games in Chicago, New Jersey, and Atlanta in Georgia, I should say. And so that's a little bit of a victory for the football side of things in that they've not had to go all the way to San Diego to play a game to please the sponsors, which would have been completely unwise.

completely ill-advised and they're of course playing in this Premier League tournament as well so the organisation is set up for them which makes it easier and normally United are dealing with agencies or companies that are overseeing matches or tournaments like you used to have the International Champions Cup as well but on this occasion the Premier League have just taken care of it for them so it makes it a lot easier. With Asia there's a lot more

I think the days of United just being based, because as I said, where they're going to be based in Chicago for a while. And in previous summers, it was based in UCLA last summer, summer before that, based in UCSD in San Diego, even though they started in New Jersey, which didn't make a lot of sense.

they want a good base for for a sustained period of time at least a week pretty much they are never going to do that in asia i don't think i just don't in terms of the humidity it's not quite conducive for that so that's the difficulty that they have um in that they you know clearly their sponsors would love them to to come out here a hell of a lot more often but it just doesn't tally with

the football side of things. And obviously the football should always be the priority. And it's not always been the priority at United in the past 15 years or so. So that's why they've seen this as an opportunity where it's, okay, look, we can come to Malaysia, we can come to Hong Kong, territories we've not visited for a while. Next year will be interesting to see what they do with the pre-season tour because I think America, there will be soccer fatigue there from the World Cup.

And I don't think United would be able to generate the decent crowds that they've had. And they've had to be quite creative and go into different territories, different states. South Carolina was a great example last year when they played Liverpool. It's somewhere they'd never played before. It has a huge university stadium. And can we get an opposition that are also going to generate, you know, whip up interest and be an attraction? Yes, Liverpool ticks all those boxes. No problem. The stadium is sold out, even though it is a place that,

nobody would really think of to go to for a soccer match. It's not exactly LA or New York or Chicago or Washington, these other cities where United played in, which, you know,

they're the most significant or certainly most famous cities or areas in the United States that's why they happen to be a little bit creative at times they've not been to Chicago for 10 years they're going back to Chicago great facilities using um I think the I think they're staying at Soldier Field in terms of their training so that works out well for them they've never played in Atlanta

And I think Atlanta United, I remember reading they've got a huge season ticket take up there. So a bit of a soccer stronghold. They should be relatively optimistic of getting a good crowd there, even though these Premier League games, I think it's two games played at a time on the same day. So one is staged and then there's a pause and then the next game is staged as well. A bit like some of the European tournaments you've seen.

in years gone by like the Amsterdam tournament or the Audi Cup that used to be staged in Munich by Bayern.

But coming back to Malaysia again, people at United say that the players are actually happier than they anticipated. They thought that, I think they dreaded the mood after what happened last week in Bilbao. The players have been quite accepting of it. It would have helped that they won on Sunday. As insignificant as the game was, they played quite well.

surprisingly well and Aston Villa were atrocious possibly the worst team I've seen at Old Trafford this season and obviously I include United in that that's that's how bad Villa were so that's lifted the mood a little bit and ultimately if you they're flying out first class they've got everything taken care of them and it's it's less than a week's work for the players they'll be flying direct back to Manchester after the game in Hong Kong on Friday night

it's not that tough a job. And obviously the players did have some complaints about a post-season tour. And from what I was told, you know, some players had to cancel holidays. It was quite amusing when I was waiting to board my flight at Manchester on Sunday evening. I saw Johnny Evans, his wife and their children and extended family coming through to board and then Luke Shaw's family coming

came through as well and my flight was going to i was going to dubai and then getting it having a layover going on to kuala lumpur i suspect the evans's and the shores were remaining in dubai for their uh their half-term holiday week rather than going on to kuala lumpur but if they're in kuala lumpur then um then fair dues to them close your eyes exhale feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today

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Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Well, they'll be getting better weather than it is back here. That's for sure, Samuel, wherever they've decided to go. Because it's not been great here the last few days. But as you mentioned there, Samuel, quite an interesting point about how

Staff members have told you that the spirits within the camp seem to be a lot better than a lot of people would have anticipated after what happened in Bilbao last Wednesday evening. I must admit from the training clips that I've seen from yesterday's open training session, the live broadcast on MUTV, your video footage as well, there does seem to be quite an upbeat and relaxed feeling within the players. There was a lot of laughter going on from the clips that I saw and that did surprise me because I thought after what happened last Wednesday night, this is the last thing that this squad needed. Yeah.

Yes, as I said, it's not a difficult job being a footballer in these circumstances. They're very well paid. They're in a lovely hotel. Travel's all sorted for them. They've had police escorts out here. It's not a big hassle. It's not a hardship. I don't think anybody's feeling sorry for them, certainly.

And if you play for Manchester United, if you sign for Manchester United, you're going to have commercial obligations and they'll have commercial obligations during the pre-season tour as well. They will try and balance that out. Sometimes they just have a day or an afternoon slot dedicated to commercial activities and the players will be spread out here, there and everywhere.

A few of the players are going on to India to essentially attend an event for Apollo Tyres and a few did that a couple of years ago. I think Davide Haya and Donny van der Beek might have been the players who headed out there because of course they were due to play a friendly in India in 2020. I think it was a pre-season game but that was scrapped because of the pandemic and they've not come close to arranging a friendly there and again it's a difficult one to justify in terms of

The mileage, I can see it being a post-season trip, most definitely. I don't think this is just going to be an anomaly. I can see there being more post-season tours from United, not necessarily next year. I think it will be pretty difficult next year to justify with

with a World Cup around the corner. Of course, it did happen with Tottenham and Newcastle last year, and there was a bit of rancour about players going to Australia just before the European Championship. I half wonder whether FIFA will try and clamp down on clubs pulling that next year where it's a World Cup. We'll have to wait and see.

But I'd be amazed if this is a one-off from United. I can imagine that they'll be going on post-season tours again in the future, particularly as long as the PSR regulations remain in place. And there's been some chatter that there could be some tweets to them, but again, we'll have to wait and see as to whether PSR is completely scrapped or it's modified or what have you. But I can certainly see them at some point

playing a game in India or playing games in India in a postseason tour purely because again there's a growing there's growing following out there and they've never played there before so it would be quite fascinating to see how United would be received I mean cricket is is the religion in India it's pretty having not visited India but just listening to the odd cricket cricket podcasts and

those who have been to India or those who've been in India recently, just how much they live for the IPL out there. And I remember the footage years ago of Mahindra Sindhoni going for a haircut and he was getting mobbed more than the Beatles were when they were about in their heyday in the 60s. So it would be fascinating to see that. I mean, there have been quite a lot of fans outside the team hotel here.

And certainly around the press conference, the lobby area was pretty crammed and there were some checks as to who was allowed in, who was not allowed in. But that's the contrast in Asia to America. Go back to when United's bus arrived at their hotel in Beverly Hills last year.

There were three fans, if you like, who greeted them, which were myself, James Ducker of The Telegraph and Chris Wheeler of The Daily Mail. We just thought, let's take an Uber over to Beverly Hills, see the team hotel, what it's like and what have you for their arrival.

And the only person who was remotely interested other than us was someone who was walking their dog and just wondered why we had our phones out. And he briefly paused his pooch patrol to see what was going on, then continued walking his dog. And that's the complete difference. I think historically, there's a bigger following in Asia for United.

than there is in the United States, even though United have sold out stadiums. They've had stadiums packed out to the rafters for some games out there. The big house in Michigan springs to mind against Real Madrid in 2014. And there was a huge crowd there as well when they played Liverpool there in 2018. The Levi's Stadium in San Jose, they played Real Madrid. That was pretty much a sellout, I think, in 2017. So you can't...

It's difficult to really judge which territory is more fanatical about Manchester United than the other. Somebody suggested that it's a bit more casual in America. I can believe that, but I think you need to really do a thorough, thoroughly research that. It was interesting for myself going to America on holiday last year before the tour. I saw more Manchester City shirts than Manchester United shirts.

which you see that and you think, is there a bit of a shift going on there? You go into a soccer store in the States and the first items on the left-hand side when I entered it were a Wrexham scarf and the scarf of the team in the Ted Lasso TV series. And I thought, that is very American, that I can completely believe. And I suppose that does kind of chime with the whole idea

the casual reputation that American soccer followers of overseas teams may have. Like if there's a new fad, they want to see what it's all about. And you've seen with Rexham and their following. And of course our old colleague, Rich Faye, having some FaceTime with not just Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney last week, but Blake Lively as well, uh,

who just Blake Lively just happened to be wandering around in the kitchen in the background and wanting to check in on how how rich and Nathan Salt were getting on so that's that's the mad world we live in now where where Wrexham this this phenomenon when it feels like five minutes never mind five years ago that they were a national league side but that's that's what happens when essentially you're you become Disneyfied which which they have done through their documentary but look it's it's paid off for them they're they're one

They're, what, 24 places away, effectively, from the Premier League now, which is extraordinary still, despite the immense backing that they've had. But out here, we've not spoken to any of the players yet, apart from, obviously, Mason Mount did a press conference yesterday and Phil did a few questions, but the focus was always going to be on Amram because there were a few more things to ask about him after the

after the United season effectively ended. It was quite amusing that he said, you know, we had to close the chapter on the season, but it's not ended yet because I've got a row of English journalists here who want to ask me questions still. So I think he'd have felt a bit more escapism if a few of our familiar faces weren't in the room on the eighth floor of the W Hotel. But he said it in good grace and humour. And with Mason Mount, he was actually on an exercise bike with Luke Shaw earlier.

during the training session yesterday. So going off that, I'm not actually sure he'll be playing in Malaysia. He's one of these players that United has still been very careful with regarding his fitness. He's been fit for two months, more than two months now, probably closer to three months in terms of the team training sessions that he's been involved in. But given his injury history, not just at United, but Chelsea as well, his last six months at Chelsea, he's a player that they're treating with kid clubs.

Yeah, there's certainly no escaping you as the Samuel for Ruben Amram. There is no way of getting away from you and your questions. But you did, obviously, alongside a few others, put some to him yesterday at the press conference that you just mentioned there, one of which was about recruitment and the upcoming transfer window, which obviously opens on Sunday for about a week or so, then it closes again ahead of the Club World Cup.

He was asked about recruitment, Samuel, and he ultimately said United cannot do much this summer, which is not surprising considering the lack of European football and the revenue that brings for next season. But obviously there are going to be changes. A lot of it is going to be dependent on player sales, but it looks increasingly likely as though Matthias Kunje from Wolves is probably going to be the first addition of this upcoming window.

Yeah, that broke last night while I was asleep. Again, this is the time zone issue that you have, even though you speak to people at United. And that's been, I think, for the best part of two months, everyone's felt that that's just going in one direction. And it's not... I don't think there have been any hiccups along the way, no bumps in the road or what have you. He will be a United player next season, obviously.

unless there's a drastic turn of events that kibosh that deal. But it's been pretty well established for a while now that United have wanted Kunu. And I think since that Wolves home game, it's felt like, since then, it's felt like it would be a surprise if he didn't end up at United next season. But it's, I find transfers pretty,

one of the most tedious aspects of football journalism. Before I came into journalism, most supporters were completely transfixed by them, fascinated by them. And I don't blame supporters for being borderline addicted to them. But they are really tedious to cover these days. Every cough and spit and minor development, it just bores me, really. Again, I think there are certain stories where

Less is more is the right mantra. It's certainly the case with the non-takeover of United, whereby I think there are maybe only five stories worth reading during that whole process, and almost all of them were done by Mark Kleinman of Sky News because he is their city correspondent. City as in London City, not Manchester City, for the avoidance of any confusion.

And with transfers, that's pretty much the case as well. I mean, I don't care what Mateus Cunha's father has had to say. It doesn't set the pulses racing. It might set the pulses racing of some people out there, but it will be fascinating to see how he gets on at United because he's a specialist for this system as one of the two number 10s to play behind the striker.

It will be a level up in terms of expectation. I mean, United have technically finished above Wolves, which I don't think many of us expected in the final weeks of the season. But there is a literal level up there, albeit not exactly much of a leap, given how similar the two club seasons were. In terms of the expectations, scrutiny is going to be intense, as it is for any player. And look at how many players have buckled amid that.

that scrutiny and the criticism that comes with it. If you have an iffy spell or if you have a... I mean, looking at Hoyland, he ended the season with three goals in 35 games after the Pilsen match, which he won for United in early December. And he was a player who actually had quite a decent first season. But United is a club that really does chew players up and spit them back out. And they need to somehow change that.

And there's a lot to like about Cunha. He's a lovely player to watch. He had a terrific season for Wolves. He was man of the match in the two games against United. I thought particularly at Molineux, he was spellbinding at times. He was playing like someone who wanted to play for Manchester United. We can overcomplicate.

overused the word audition in that context at times but he was really auditioning his heart out it felt like in that game on Boxing Day when he scored the winner direct from a corner and he's got a

And he's got a side to him, which is, in terms of his discipline, it'll be interesting to see how he fares because you look at what Amrim has done with Marcus Rashford. He's seen off a player, not permanently, I should add, who clearly felt had an attitude problem. And I think it's, I think we can say that Rashford's attitude, it was a problem at United. You know, his body language at times and the way he carried himself and,

How his form just nosedived after he got a new contract and some of the transgressions along the way. And Amrim just didn't care for it and saw him off quite quickly and decisively. And the guy who comes in, in Kunja, he could be taking his number 10 shirt, but Kunja himself has had disciplinary problems. You know, the scuffle with...

the Ipswich security staff member after Wolves lost at Molineux, I think it was, when he took his glasses off. I know he offered to pay for a new set of glasses as part of the FA's disciplinary investigation into that. He got sent off as well in the FA Cup tie for, I mean, he just lost his head. There are a lot of Brazilian players who, they can be quite borderline unstable, it feels like. You've seen it with Anthony.

When he came on in the Derby last season, we can still say last season, I think referring to 23-24, when he came on and he just started kicking Jeremy Dokku and he was risible the way he went about it. And then he's given this interview saying how he went days without eating, locked in a room.

it's look if that was genuinely the case you know it's it's it's sad it's upsetting it's not pleasant whatsoever but he is someone who has been also melodramatic at times during his time at United like he he cried after they lost to Chelsea last season he he got a Sonic the Hedgehog teddy out after scoring against Burnley which was his his one and only Premier League goal in the second season so

some Brazilian footballers, Richarlison is another one, another example. They can be, you know, it feels like you could be treading on eggshells with them and speak to some other people who are more familiar with how Cunha's been at Wolves. They say that he can be very charming, but he can also turn on the charm and he can be difficult to work with. So it'll be an interesting dynamic to see how

That dynamic will be quite interesting because United have had some problem players in attack in recent years. And if, well, Amram wants to get rid of four of them this summer in Rashford, Sancho, Anthony and Garnaccio, all four of them to various degrees have caused United problems. Rashford, of course, birthday party on Deansgate hours after the Derby, embarking on his Belfast bender, Sancho publicly accusing Mandry of lying.

Anthony has of course had his issues as well. He had to take a leave of absence last season. Garnaccio, very passive aggressive with his use of social media and how somebody has not told his brother just to keep his traps up is beyond me. It's not reflected well on Garnaccio. It's not reflected well on Garnaccio's advisors who seem to have done absolutely next to nothing to try and nip that in the bud.

but those four players are still on the books at manchester united and then you've got kunya coming in who i think is an absolutely worthy signing decent fee in terms of the release clause that will be spread over a period of time paid in installments as well which is something that united are doing a lot more often now um in in this era of of psr but there is a side to him

which could work in United's favour, it could work against United, but every signing, there are pros and cons. There's never a foolproof signing, I think, and that's particularly the case at Manchester United as well. You only have to look at their hit rate over the

Over the past probably 16 years, in fact, rather than 15 years, I'd say. Dating back to after Ronaldo was sold, that seems to have been the period where they really started to get it wrong so, so often. Even though in Ferguson's last years, he had some

he did have an eye for the odd gem whether it was de jay or hernandez or he just thought i need to go all out here and sign robin van percy to win me the title and robin van percy won them the title but

I'm not having this whole narrative that United's transfer rules only started when Ferguson stepped down. They started long, long before then. And they need, we keep saying every summer they need to arrest that. But they've had in recent years, they've had some of their worst, worst transfer windows. I mean, 2022 and 2023 in particular, they've had some of their worst transfer windows.

I think, ironically, in a way, given how bad they've been this season, 2024 has not been as bad as some of the recent editions. And I thought Masraoui had a decent campaign. You look at Leni Oro and there's a really good player in there and he's had an encouraging first season, given the context there.

De Ligt, Ugarte and Xerxe less so. I think you can politely say it's been a mixed bag, but there was a modicum of progress made there in terms of some of the players that they brought in and the hit rate was slightly higher.

than the previous summers. But the hit rate could go down or it could go up next season if these players are still there. You're never just judged on one season at Manchester United, of course. You've got to, I mean, the case of Joran and Masraoui, they've absolutely got to kick on. Ugarte has got to show that he's ready to anchor that midfield and

De Ligt is clearly going to still be at United next season. He was finding a bit of form before he got injured. He's got to regain that form and then, of course, get even better because he's a player who's been in decline ever since he left Ajax in 2019. Xerxe has done quite decently this calendar year, but if I was in Jason Wilcox's shoes or Matt Hargreaves' shoes, I'd be looking to find a buyer for him because I just don't think he's a player that's going to get United to where they need to be.

next season or the season beyond that. But Kunja is an upgrade for that area. He's a specialist. Obviously, there's a Portuguese-speaking alliance there as well with Amarim.

I think I said maybe a month or two ago, if I could have chosen a player for that role, it would have been Eberichiezi from Crystal Palace. So I just think he's a wonderful player, wonderful person as well. Really like the cut of his jib, really good personality. If he doesn't get a big move this summer, then something will have gone wrong there because he's absolutely ready to...

to play Champions League football, I'd argue. And I'm surprised that United haven't maybe had a closer look at him. They did have a look, but they didn't look that closely. I think they were set on Kunio quite some time ago. And as is always the case with a new United signing, it would be fascinating to see how it pans out. But the good thing for United, I think going into next season, is that pre-season, there's no World Cup, there's no European Championship,

City and Chelsea could be knackered and thrown by their excursions in the Club World Cup. United are not going to have European football next season. They're going to have three midweeks. There is no reason why they cannot have an eminently progressive season. And by progress, I don't mean finishing 14th. I mean finishing minimum top six. They've got to be qualifying at the very least.

for Europe next season. And if the Champions League place is going to five clubs again, which I think there's a very good chance of that happening, given that there are going to be six English teams in the Champions League next season,

and let's face it, it is not difficult to qualify for the knockout stage in any of these competitions anymore due to this ridiculous league format, then I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that United should be one of the top five teams in the Premier League when they are still, despite their financial issues, despite the issues they've had this season, they're still pretty reasonably well equipped to do that. And arguably they will be better equipped than the majority of other clubs in the Premier League to do that next season.

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And that sort of leads me into my question, something that I was going to put to you. We've not done a podcast since what happened in Bilbao last week. Do you think United will be better off without European football next season? Do you think it could be a blessing in disguise in all truth? Yeah, I've thought that all along. Financially, it is a huge hit because even this United team,

they could have sleepwalked to finish 24th or 25th, whatever it is. And by doing that, you guarantee 10 Champions League games. And yesteryear, if you play 10 games in the Champions League,

That would have been six games in the group stage, two in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals. You'd have reached the quarterfinals in the Champions League to play 10 games. Now you've not even reached the last 16 and you've already played 10 games. So that's the massive financial hit of it. They'd have had probably, they'd have had five home games in the Champions League, five match day revenues from Champions League matches,

That is why they craved it. That's why they prioritised the Europa League, as well as obviously winning a trophy to salvage the season. But that team, would they have thrived in the Champions League next season? I don't think there would have been any chance whatsoever of them making the top eight and qualifying automatically for the last 16. But I think it's what's needed for the club now.

because this is the first time they've gone two years outside the Champions League since they re-entered the competition in 1993. They need a jolt. They need a shock, as Adam Rims said earlier in the season. I think he probably wanted, just from some of the things he was saying at times, and I know he's very raw in press conferences, but

post-match press conferences. I think he almost wanted relegation to be a tangible threat so that the players would actually buck up their ideas and not just sleepwalk to safety, which is what they did in the end because three teams that were promoted were so, so bad. And maybe it's wishful thinking, but I do think that Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland will make a better fist of it

next season. Luton made a better fist of it than any of those three teams that, than Ipswich, Southampton or Leicester. And Luton are a League One site now. So that's how bad the three promoted teams were. And I'm not for one minute saying that United are going to end up marooned in the bottom half of the table. If they are, then they're going to be needing a new manager because you can't tolerate that, particularly given the circumstances where they will have free midweeks. But

where they've got a full pre-season with a full squad, no international tournaments, and then no European commitments, they have absolutely got to be qualifying for Europe at the very least next season. I think if they were to miss out on Europe next season and Amram was still in charge, then there may have to be a conversation about the manager's role. And of course, it depends on how they've gone about things that season. But you look at

you look at newcastle qualifying for the champions league this season and two seasons ago they had no european football chelsea and leicester city won the premier league title in 2016 2017 and they didn't have any european football liverpool almost won the league and probably should have won the league in 2014 when they had no they weren't participating in any of the

UEFA competitions, Nottingham Forest have had their best season in 30 years. And of course, they've not had any of those midweek commitments. And it got to the point where they were probably disappointed that they ended up finishing seventh because up until the March internationals, it felt like they were looking favourites to finish in one of the Champions League places. The only team who have had that advantage and have not maximised it, of course, is

were United in 2014-15, where they scraped fourth and they won one of their last six Premier League games. And that season, I think they only played 44 games. They went out of the League Cup at the first hurdle because they had to go in at the second round and it was that infamous defeat at MK Dons. The FA Cup, I think they only got to the...

to the quarterfinals and they played, they played an extra game in that run because they needed a replay against Cambridge United in the fourth round. So they only played 44 matches that season. I think, I think it was 43 or 44 and they still didn't take advantage of, of, of their schedule. And of course a new manager had come in and he had his way of playing and he changed that way of playing several times that season. Start Louis van Gaal started with the back three and,

Then it was, there was a midfield diamond at one point. There was 4-2-3-1. There was 4-3-3. There was a lot of trial and error throughout that season. So you factor that into account. But it was a really poor, really poor quality season in the Premier League. And,

And certainly around April time, it felt like United were on some favourites to get second because Chelsea were, you know, they were champions-elect by that point. But then in the run-in, their form was dreadful. They had a few very bad defeats, particularly away at Everton. I remember them getting battered 3-0 when I think a lot of people fancied them going into that game. And they ended up tumbling down the table and,

ending up in fourth and it was looking a bit tight for them to qualify for the Champions League in the end. As Amrim has said already, he feels a lot more bullish about the prospect, not the prospect, about coming in when he did because he's been able to pinpoint problems in advance rather than coming in the summer and having to work it out a lot more hastily, if you like. He's been learning on the job and there's been a lot of trial and error in terms of

players in certain positions and who's going to be on the bus, who's going to get thrown under the bus somewhat, I suppose you could say. But he's right to feel... He used the word advantage yesterday regarding not playing in the Champions League. And it is an advantage. It's not what United want, absolutely. It's not what we want as well. There are going to be a lot of barren midweeks, which is not great when you'd rather be

Going to, as perfunctory as they can be, an open training session at Carrington, watching that for 15 minutes and then staying for a press conference. And then you've got a Champions League match to cover the next night. That ties you over those matches. It's going to be trickier for us next season with all these sparse midweeks.

But I would be extremely disappointed on United's behalf if they were to somehow finish outside the European places next season. Yes, they finished 15th. Yes, they'd have to climb up 10 places. But Chelsea went from 10th to first to win the title in 2016-17. And they did that with a new manager as well. So you had that Van Gaal comparison of 2014-15 where he came in.

And he had four days off between ending the World Cup with the Netherlands in Brazil and then taking over United and overseeing quite a hectic pre-season where they actually played six games in the United States. They play three games these days. Back then they played six games. It was pretty crazy how long that tour went on for.

But he got a lot wrong during his time at United and Conte got a fair bit wrong at the start with Chelsea as well. They had a couple of bad defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal, but then they were just borderline,

unstoppable and and they won the they won the title quite easily that season they won it borderline at a canter so that shows you that it can be done with with a new manager coming in I'm not for one minute saying that United are going to be title contenders next season I don't think anybody is is expecting them to do that but I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest they could they could finish in the top five and top five could be good enough to to qualify for the Champions League

Yeah, and I think it was a switch to a back three that did it for Chelsea as well, wasn't it, funnily enough? I'm pretty sure it was under Antonio Conte. Maybe he's written in the stars that progress is going to be made, but it's certainly going to be an interesting summer, that is for sure. But that does mark the end of this episode of the Samuel Lucker 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.

Samuel and I will be back again on Friday to review the two friendlies. So make sure you subscribe for when that drops and we'll catch you again soon for another episode of the Samuel Lucker Show.