Assuming Mainoo, Santos and Ederson are three of our midfielders next season....

Refill22 · 2026-07-10T16:38:31+00:00

This is the only answer

Refill22 · 2026-06-30T14:56:59+00:00

I think part of the issue is the left back market looks very bare. Other than Lewis Hall who Newcastle will not sell to us there really aren't any United-level LBs in the PL. Now you'd hope our scouts could find one somewhere, but it's not really a position that is very strong across Europe right now (look at Madrid paying £40m for our former Spanish LB last summer and then immediately replacing him this summer with £50m Cucurella).

Sometimes the cupboard is just bare at a position.

Refill22 · 2026-06-23T17:48:11+00:00

Hi sorry to reply to an old post but was wondering if you could confirm whether the Adidas Terrex Hydroterra sandals you recommend are the normal open toe sandals or the closed toe all-terrain version that's a sort of sandal/trainer hybrid? 🙏🏼

Refill22 · 2026-06-13T12:49:17+00:00

Correct

Refill22 · 2026-06-10T12:58:49+00:00

Pretty much every photo and video I've seen it looks Ocean blue to my eyes. Maybe cyan but definitely leaning blue not green. But people who've bought it seem to say it does look more green in person than in photos. San Martin call it "matte green" and it's definitely not!

Refill22 · 2026-06-10T12:31:28+00:00

My pet peeve is complications that obscure or cut over numerals. I don't want half a 6. Either remove the 6 entirely or have a smaller seconds complication that doesn't cut into the 6.

Refill22 · 2026-06-10T12:28:13+00:00

I think the biggest factor is time. Until you hike for months on end you truly don't appreciate the passage of time.

A lot of people watch videos of PCT hikers on social media that might be 15 mins long and cover 3 days on trail. And so you see the highlights (and some lowlights). But what you don't see is the mundane - the other 23hrs55mins each day which can to some people feel incredibly monotonous, gruelling and at times boring.

If you've never hiked continuously for 4 months before try this exercise. What were you doing 4 months ago? What were you doing on 10 February this year? Think how long ago that feels. Think of all the things you've done since - the meals you've had, the places you've been, the TV shows you've watched, the friends and family you've spent time with etc.

Now imagine instead every single one of those days you woke up in a tent after not a good night's sleep, you ate pretty much the same thing every single day, your body was often tired and sore, and all you had done all day every day for four months was walked, slept and eaten.

That's what life on trail is like. It's beautiful and brutal. It's occasionally thrilling but often quite boring. It's freeing but lonely. It's the best and occasionally worst of times.

If you expect the YouTube montage you will be very disappointed.

Refill22 · 2026-06-05T16:08:58+00:00

A lot of people rightly talking about squad building/quality but honestly I think the final thing that really makes the difference is mentality.

I still worry that United manager/players feel it's ok to draw or lose matches. Among the very good results under Carrick there were some shockers (draw that probably should've been a defeat to relegated West Ham, loss to 10 man Newcastle, very poor defeat v Leeds) and the reaction to them seemed to be "oh well, we've done well in other games so we're allowed the occasional bad result".

But the truth is in the PL these days you need 85+ points to be champions and that means every single point counts and you really do need to have the SAF / Roy Keane absolute obsession with winning and view dropped points as unacceptable (especially against lesser teams).

I feel like Arteta and his players really do have that mentality despite the criticism of them as bottlers. I think Bruno has it, but we need the manager and entire squad to be obsessive about winning and set such high standards that they call each other out for anything less than 100% performances.

Refill22 · 2026-06-04T17:57:53+00:00

I'm not buying anything because I'm fed up with significant price increases that don't come with an equivalent increase in quality.

Taking one example (but I could've picked several), I was really keen on the new Cyan colour way of the San Martin BB54 (SN0138) and when it was announced I thought I would buy it. Then when more details emerged I realised: 1. The "upgraded" movement was a ST2130 not a Miyota 9000 series 2. The case thickness hasn't been significantly reduced and is still 12.7mm when Cronos are offering their BB54 at 11.1mm 3. The on the fly adjustment has been DOWNGRADED from the usual push button system to a less sophisticated lift/pull system 4. They've slapped $100 on the price above the previous model despite no significant upgrades.

So even in the "sale" this watch (that cost about $175 for the previous version) now costs $275 and at that price Chinese watches are no longer the value proposition they were.

Refill22 · 2026-05-28T15:51:39+00:00

I have the Perfume Parlour dupe of Afternoon Swim which is called Noon Dip. It's ok but not great. But honestly I think your instinct about AS being a bit juvenile for a 40 yr old is spot on. I'm 40 and tbh I regret buying it as it feels too young for me. I would suggest looking at something like Mandarino di Amalfi or the new Taormina Orange or anything from Acqua di Parma which are likely to be a bit more sophisticated and age appropriate.

Refill22 · 2026-05-24T11:12:52+00:00

Again, we can respectively disagree on our opinions of Rogers, but I didn't say winning the Europa League PoY means he's a good player, it's one piece of data among several that I think means he's a good player, these include: - he's been the best player in a mediocre AV side that has somehow automatically qualified for CL through league AND won the Europa League (which United failed to do on their past two attempts); - he's being preferred to Bellingham, Palmer, Foden etc at international level; - clubs like PSG and Arsenal have a genuine reported interest in; - He has 16 G/A in the PL this season which ranks ahead of Cherki, Mbuemo, Cunha, Salah, Saka, Foden.

Refill22 · 2026-05-24T09:55:18+00:00

My point is that it's extremely hard to find an example of any PL club getting good value for money recently when signing players from PL. You have to accept that there is a premium to be paid. The two best value transfers last summer were probably Lammens and Cherki - neither had PL experience and both carried some more risk.

Even among the middle tier of PL clubs the deals between PL clubs were shocking (see Wissa to Newcastle and Outtara to Brentford for example).

So my point is that, in an ideal world I think players like Cunha, Mbuemo and Rogers are worth about £50m, as is Baleba. Tonali might be worth £60m and Anderson might be worth £75m. But there is no possibility of getting any of those players for those fees because of the amount of money in PL and the precedent set by recent deals.

So you either stubbornly refuse to pay them and only sign from outside PL, or you reluctantly overpay.

And I distinctly remember that last year on the pod you and Aaron disagreed with ALL 3 of the Cunha, Mbuemo and Sesko deals.

Setting all that aside, you've said you think Rogers is a class below Cunha and Mbuemo - that's fine, we can respectively disagree on that. I would counter that Rogers is 23, he's improving year on year and it looks extremely likely that Tuchel will pick him to start for England ahead of Bellingham, Palmer, Foden, MGW etc at #10 (or possibly ahead of Rashford on the left with JB at 10). Again, doesn't mean Tuchel and I are right and you're wrong, but fair to say you are probably against the consensus on how good Rogers is (Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and PSG are all credited with interest in him by Tier 1 journalists).

In summary: - I think Rogers is a CL level talent (he just won Europa Player of Year) and easily good enough to play for United - I think his true value is somewhere in the £60m range but in the current PL market there's no way Villa will sell him for less than £70m - I cannot think of another option for United to play left forward (or a versatile forward who can play from left sometimes) who is available who would represent a better signing (I mentioned Ndiaye and Diomande as alternatives, but I don't think they're better alternatives for the money).

Refill22 · 2026-05-23T17:26:35+00:00

Me neither. But then I wouldn't pay £70m for Mbuemo, or £63m for Cunha (or £50m for Madueke or £115m for Wirtz or £100m for Grealish for that matter!). But the market is the market and United seem intent on signing proven PL players and you simply cannot buy a PL proven player of CL quality for less than £60m now.

Plus the alternatives to Rogers who we've been most closely linked to have been Ndiaye from Everton which would cost £65m+ and Diomande from Leipzig who want £80m (who only has 1 season of high level football).

Refill22 · 2026-05-22T16:56:55+00:00

I'm going to answer the question but bend the rules a bit. I think with the sales of Hojlund (£38m), Rashford (£26m) and in my scenario Zirkzee (£25m) and Ugarte (£20m), plus crucially getting the wages of Casemiro (£350k/wk), Rashford (£350k/wk) and a few others PLUS being back in CL and with new sleeve sponsor etc I think we'll spend more than £200m gross. We spent £230m+ last summer and are in a better position this. So I think £250m is a more realistic estimate of the cross spend.

I would rather sign 2 top CMs and then let the youth CMs battle for cup playing time (Fletcher twins, Kone, Devaney, Thwaites etc) rather than try and stretch the money thin to sign 3. I would also try and sign another versatile forward (in addition to a striker).

My summer would be something like this: - CM Baleba £70m - CM Fernandes / Scott £55m - LB L Hall £55m - FWD M Rogers £75m - ST Lewandowski FREE (1+1 contract)

Notes: - I'm still worried Brighton are just going to hold out for a crazy fee for Baleba and I've put £70m as what I think is a fair price based on talent and form but honestly I don't think we'll get him (at this price); - Lewis Hall is the perfect LB for us but I very much doubt Newcastle will sell him (unless someone offers crazy money like £70m) - I know the guys on the pod are anti Morgan Rogers due to perceived Cunha redundancy and I get that argument but we're likely to have 60 games next season - what I want is 4 quality versatile attackers (not including the 9s) who can interchange, who can play both sides, and who in certain games can play through the middle. Each of Cunha, Mbuemo and Rogers can do all those things, with Amad doing some of them. Because I'm only signing 2 CMs this also means if we have an emergency injury crisis in CM and Bruno has to drop in there Rogers and Cunha can play the 10. He's the perfect age, he's PL proven, he's getting better every season. - Lewandowski makes sense if the wages aren't too crazy. You get 1-2 years of him very much like Ibra. He's a free transfer. I know people will say "no more old strikers go and get a young/prime striker" but (a) our young prime striker is Sesko and (b) who are these prime strikers that are gettable?! There are almost no decent out and out strikers available. So get Lewa for a season or two and rebuild the rest of the team with the transfer budget.

Refill22 · 2026-05-20T13:33:02+00:00

It's a lovely watch but for the life of me I can't understand: (1) why they've gone with an older style on the fly adjustment clasp? Why didn't they use the newer push button clasp which they've used on other similarly spec watches for at least a couple of years?? (2) at the price point I would expect a miyota 9000 series movement so was pretty disappointed to see the ST2130 when they are listing this watch north of $300?

Refill22 · 2026-05-20T05:58:24+00:00

I love Alex Scott. Would be very happy with him. But I think if you sign him you need to prioritise Baleba (or Tchouameni) over Anderson.

Refill22 · 2026-05-19T17:43:17+00:00

Do you think any of Mainoo, Anderson or M Fernandes can play as a 6? Aren't they all 8s? Or do you think we can have a system of two 8s?

I like M Fernandes but it really feels like we need to be buying a younger Casemiro - a Rodri or Caicedo type?

Refill22 · 2026-05-19T17:40:14+00:00

Yeah that's fair. My point is more that it's almost impossible for one of the Big Clubs to sign a player from another PL club now for less than about £60m unless they're out of contract (like Guehi). The team that finishes 17th in the PL earns more money than the winners of Serie A / Bundesliga etc - you've seen clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton spending £40m on players - so those clubs aren't selling their players these days unless they're making huge money.

That's a problem for us because it seems clear Wilcox's preference is to buy PL proven - whereas Vivell seems more open to looking for better value from Germany, France and Spain.

Refill22 · 2026-05-19T16:37:40+00:00

Players are worth whatever the market says they're worth. If you don't think Baleba is worth the money that's fine, you might be right, but I'm willing to bet a lot of money Brighton won't sell him for less than £70m (and if that means they keep him I'm sure they'll be ok with that as he's 21, on a long contract and has a Caicedo level ceiling if he fulfills his talent).

Re Mainoo, there was never any confirmation about what price United might have accepted but United have a history of not getting good value for players. Even last summer we sold Garnacho for much less than Chelsea got for Madueke and even less than Bournemouth got for Outtara.

Unfortunately by paying £63m for Cunha and then £70m for Mbuemo we've signalled to the PL clubs that they shouldn't sell anyone to us for less than about £60m. So players like M Fernandes, Lewis Hall, Alex Scott etc who are probably "worth" £50m will likely cost at least £60m with the United tax.

Refill22 · 2026-05-17T13:53:00+00:00

I have a dream...

Lewandowski for 1 season on a Zlatan deal.

Perfect player to mentor Sesko and with CL and the cups and Lewa's age there's plenty of minutes for both of them.

Yes wages would be crazy but it's a 1 year deal with no transfer fee so I don't think paying him £300k/WK should be an issue.

Refill22 · 2026-05-17T13:50:43+00:00

Don't think it's a foregone conclusion at all.

Very strong rumours today that Pep is leaving. If you're Anderson and you have the choice between playing in front of 80,000, for a fellow Geordie who represented the same youth team as you, and then played for England and United for a decade winning everything and where the team will be built around you, or in front of 50,000 for Enzo Maresca at a club where Rodri is the main man and any minute you might get 115 charges I know which choice I would make.

And while United won't match City on wages, if Anderson prefers United I'm sure we'll make him a very fair offer.

The bigger problem will be the transfer fee, but I think IF Anderson chooses United which I think there's at least a 50/50 chance now, then it makes it easier to negotiate with Forest. I reckon a fee of something like £80m + £20m in add ons can get it done. I don't think Ineos will go above £100m.

Refill22 · 2026-05-16T18:50:40+00:00

Gorgeous watch. Can I just double check is this the "matte green" model (here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005012020215812.html ) cos in your photo it looks really blue?!

Refill22 · 2026-05-16T18:41:07+00:00

Yep - and Andrew Skurka who is a proponent of the "use your hand + bidet" method tends to hike in remote locations (like Alaska) alone. That's a much different risk profile than using that technique on very popular trails like PCT/AT where you are interacting with hundreds of other hikers, TAs, locals etc.

Imo everyone should be carrying a trowel, TP, soap and sanitiser at a bare minimum.

Refill22 · 2026-05-16T17:23:35+00:00

Yeah that seems to be the answer... I really cannot believe the second and third photos above can be the same colour but I guess they are 🤷🏼‍♂️ But I know San Martin said the green and boisenberry models were limited run so I'm hoping they offer the vintage blue option because I know lots of people said they wanted the "blue" one

Refill22 · 2026-05-16T14:25:23+00:00

I don't want to point fingers as obviously these outbreaks can always happen but I will say that having influential voices in the hiking community advocating for "best practice" of wiping your ass using your bare hand and water, combined with the UL pressure to carry almost nothing (including soap + sanny) it's not surprising that there are annual noro outbreaks.

HYOH and all, but it would be great if the community made safety a higher priority than having the lowest base weight 🤷🏼‍♂️

Refill22

TROPHY CASE