Connor Higgins @the_mutt - Twitter Profile

[Long Post] Seen some collective head losses over the Yoro deal and wanted to clear some things up. 𝐐: 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 ��𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫? A: Well for starters we wouldn't even be in the running for him next year. This summer was our first and only chance at him. By next summer he was sure to have signed for Real Madrid for a free transfer. We are essentially paying Lille €50m+addons to avoid that situation. 𝐐: 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 €𝟐𝟎𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫? A: Well it's partly due to them having to direct their finances elsewhere (Mbappe even though he was a free transfer, still needed a substantial signing bonus) and partly due to their arrogance and confidence that Yoro himself would force the situation to join them. This was when United took advantage of the situation. €20m is NOT Yoro's market valuation. 𝐐: 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬? 𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥. A: I think we have to change our attitude. Yes, we are Man United, but we aren't Fergie's Man Utd anymore. 10 years of obscurity have dented our stature significantly. We cannot just knock on the doors of players and expect them to come to us immediately. They now have to be convinced to join us, especially with so many other opportunities in the PL and elsewhere. Hopefully, this changes going forward. So it was understandable that Yoro took some time to think over the decision especially since he had a dream of playing for Real Madrid 𝐐: 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝟑 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠? A: Well then let them then. Yoro will sign a 5+1 year deal with United. If by 2027 RM come looking and he wants to join them, he can be free to join them. But they will have to pay premium fee for him, maybe even a world record fee for a defender if his development goes as planned. It will help us massively in PSR/FFP calculations. But if they don't come looking, you are getting the best young CB to play for your club for the next 12-15 years. How can that be a bad thing? I can only see massive gains from both scenarios. 𝐐: 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 €𝟔𝟎𝐦+ 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟖-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡? A: It's a pretty normal fee for the best talents in the world. For example, Real Madrid recently paid €72m for 17-year-old Endrick, Barcelona paid €30+30m for Vitor Roque. If you go back a few years, PSG paid €180m for 19-year-old Mbappe (funnily Yoro is said to be the Mbappe of defenders). Even Man Utd have spent substantially for the best talents. We paid €37m (£27m) for 18-year-old Rooney in 2004 which in today's market is €90-100m. We paid €37.5m for 18-year-old Shaw in 2014 and a deal reaching €60m for 19-year-old Anthony Martial in 2015. Good players cost money. Figures of €100m were being touted by Lille earlier but his contract situation has helped us get him for half the amount. 𝐐: 𝐈𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝? A: Frankly I wouldn't be the best person to answer that question. I just watched him a couple of times and thought he was very decent. But I will say this though. He has always been United's top choice at CB. They wanted him at all costs and they got him. How many times have we been able to say that in the last 10 years? I think we have signed a fantastic player and I don't really see any downsides with this deal. Should be a very successful signing for Man Utd if he remains injury-free.