UNITED ‘Standing still’ United risk being left behind
IN the Jurgen Klopp biography Bring the Noise, it is alleged Ed Woodward pitched United as ‘an adult version of Disneyland’ to the then-Borussia Dortmund coach. Klopp dismissed it as a ‘bit unsexy’ and the comparison had already been drawn disparagingly in the defunct RedIssue fanzine. United shirts are actually on sale at Disney World, courtesy of one of their more prominent sponsors.
United are not quite living up to their Mickey moniker, though. “I can never stand still,” Walt Disney once stated. “I must explore and experiment.” From the careworn stadium to the stale squad, United are standing still and at risk of getting left behind.
Sergio Romero, Diogo Dalot, Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera and Eric Bailly are all injured.
There is a variant, too: Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba are all still on holiday after the World Cup. But Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones have returned early.
If the current casualty list cannot jolt Ed Woodward to recruit a central defender then United are heading for their worst window since 2013.
Eerily, Gareth Bale and Thiago Alcantara’s names have resurfaced to give supporters frightening flashbacks to five years ago.
Back in David Moyes’ sorry summer, United were dashing around like a hapless Supermarket Sweep contestant, looking for anything attainable as the last grains of sand dropped into the hourglass.
Liverpool’s new additions – Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Naby Keita – did not figure at the World Cup. Xherdan Shaqiri did but was easy pickings, what with being attached to a relegated club, but Liverpool had to push the boat out for Alisson.
Their dismantling of United was inconsequential and a 4-1 scoreline is improbable in a competitive game against a side bolstered by Pogba, Lukaku, David de Gea et al but Liverpool’s positivity in the transfer market has bred optimism. Negativity mounts at United and the supporters are pessimistic.
Liverpool, with a stadium that still holds 20,000 fewer than Old Trafford and with one trophy in the last decade, have spent £250m this year already.
Mourinho has not enjoyed half as much backing from United, free to clinch pre-World Cup deals for Diogo Dalot and Fred through their release clauses. They were eager to conclude a move for Toby Alderweireld prior to the finals in case his value rocketed. It has. So has Harry Maguire’s.
There was a modicum of optimism from Mourinho in Ann Arbor: “I think that it’s possible that I’m going to have one [signing], is possible. And that one I gave a list to my club, five names, a few months ago. And I wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players.”
If Mourinho is talking positions, whether it is Alderweireld or Maguire or Willian or Bale, one role is insufficient for runners-up who were so distant last term that City resembled a mirage.
United are standing still.