Opportunity knocks for Reds in January sales
UNITED have coined a new moniker for the January transfer window: ‘Opportunistic market.’ The club made £38million from the sales of Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis 11 months ago despite both players’ last appearances coming in November and them not starting a single Premier League match in their short second season. Now United may have to inhabit the role of opportunists.
They are 11 points adrift of City and the post-Sir Alex Ferguson championship drought could extend to six years. Yet United are also in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, Xabi Alonso kindly drew them against Sevilla in the Champions League last 16 and a routine FA Cup tie at home to Derby awaits in January. They also have a 27-man squad to negotiate the business end.
When it was suggested Jose Mourinho needs to sell to buy, a United source pointed to the club’s cash balance of £297million. Sellto-buy was the condition imposed on Mourinho when he wanted to bring Jose Fonte in during his first transfer window and Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones’ form was cited as the reason behind United’s decision not to buy Victor Lindelof in January this year. United’s squad was 28-men strong then.
Just like last season, Mourinho is keen to do business in January but United are not as eager. They have not bought a player in the winter window since Juan Mata in 2014.
United are not completely opposed to doing business but regard the winter window as an opportunistic market for selling clubs, rather than buying ones.
Mourinho is unprepared to have players foisted on him and the Portuguese decided on which areas needed strengthening in the United squad six months before this year’s summer window opened.
Pep Guardiola has spent roughly £100m more than Mourinho since they rocked up in Manchester and it showed in Sunday’s derby. Guardiola started with four of his buys while Mourinho had two in the United XI and the gulf was great.
United are scouring for a left-back, a midfielder and an eminent forward, amid interest in the left-footers of Danny Rose, Antoine Griezmann, Mesut Ozil and Gareth Bale. The quartet, even accounting for acquiring Ozil on a free, would cost close to £250m.
Ozil has earmarked United as the only Premier League club he is prepared to join but a January switch is improbable. Mourinho wants a ‘magician’ to sprinkle some stardust over an attack which is lopsided and, according to the manager, lacking creativity. Midfield is in need of retooling, with Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic in their late 20s, Michael Carrick expected to retire at the end of the campaign and Marouane Fellaini aged 30 and open to leaving as he approaches the last six months of his contract. Mourinho, who wanted to bring Renato Sanches to United on the advice of his compatriots, covets a midfielder to alleviate the burden on Paul Pogba and infuse the midfield with some dynamism. Ashley Young has started the last 12 league games at left-back and emerged as one of the most consistent performers while Luke Shaw has been promised more opportunities there after his start against CSKA Moscow. It would be premature to dub that a turning point and United have not yet triggered the one-year extensions in Shaw or Young’s contracts, it is understood. It was also telling that Mourinho dropped two left-backs in Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind from his derby squad. Opportunistic buyers may be welcomed. Samuel Luckhurst