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UNITED’S SEASON BEGINS AMID FRUSTRATION IN THE TRANSFER MARKET AND OFF-FIELD INDISCIPLINE
MANCHESTER United belatedly kick off their Premier League season at home to Crystal Palace tomorrow and they will be far from the finished article. With just over two weeks to go until the transfer deadline, that’s understandable. And yet, the worry for United fans is that, when the window shuts on October 5, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men will remain a work in progress.
Last season, Solskjaer’s first full campaign in the big chair was a period of transition. Unwanted players were jettisoned, youth was promoted and progress towards the ultimate goal of becoming authentic title challengers once more was undoubtedly taken.
The current transfer window, it was expected, was when United would make the final, expensive financial steps required to help complete the job. And yet, aside from the arrival of Donny van de Beek from Ajax, not much has changed, while their manager has had to deal with off-field distractions. Solskjaer has been tasked with rebuilding a dynasty, but still lacks the tools to finish the job.
SOLID FOUNDATIONS
The January arrival of Bruno Fernandes has gone better than anyone, even the greatest optimists at Manchester United, could have imagined. Rarely has one signing so emphatically reinvigorated a club.
The Portugal playmaker’s immediate ascension as the orchestrator of the team also quelled long-standing links with James Maddison and Jack Grealish, the young English duo signing fresh terms at Leicester and Aston Villa instead. The creative heartbeat of the team secured, United were this summer expected to improve their wide attacking options, looking for top-line talent like Jadon Sancho to complement the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Dan James – with all but the Welshman more naturally inclined towards a central role. Van de Beek has real talent but the Dutchman joins a crowded coterie of central midfielders which already numbers Paul Pogba, Fred, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.
HIGH-END FINISH
Observing United negotiate with Borussia Dortmund for Sancho is like watching the immovable object wrestle the irresistible force. Dortmund want £120million, United don’t want to pay it.
And yet, you sense a resolute, perhaps misplaced confidence in the corridors of Old Trafford that they will eventually get their man, that the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic will force Dortmund to sell pounds for pennies. But is that realistic?
The Bundesliga giants are a selling club but they sell on their terms, able in recent years to extract top dollar for Robert Lewandowski, PierreEmerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele. Open for business and probably sympathetic if Sancho decides he wants a move home to
England, Dortmund may yet sanction a
deal. But if United continue to use intransigence as their negotiating position they are likely to be disappointed.
LABOUR SHORTAGES
If Plan A stays in the Ruhr Valley, United are going to need a back-up option. That was widely reported to be Gareth Bale but the Welshman is set for a remarkable return to Tottenham rather than the a longtouted switch to Manchester.
Maybe United were never serious in their pursuit of the Real Madrid man but if their interest was real, they have been gazumped. There will be other targets but, in terms of top-line wing talent, with no Sancho or Bale, United’s options are narrowing. Could Solskjaer change tack and focus on a blue-chip No.9 like Wolves’ Raul Jimenez?
Confidence in their recruitment is not boosted by news Tottenham are also close to concluding a deal for Spain left-back Sergio Reguilon, another Real Madrid player on United’s wishlist.
SNAGGING ISSUES
Spending money is crass, right? The best teams are a balance of talent and chemistry – something Solskjaer, a veteran of United’s glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson, understands intuitively.
Last season he put that knowledge to good use, creating a squad which, on paper, appeared perhaps lighter on talent than 12 months previously but in reality displayed a better balance and, crucially, a more harmonious spirit with disgruntled stars and off-field negativity a thing of the past.
So the Norwegian will have spat his muesli all over the front pages last month when he read news of Harry Maguire’s arrest in Greece.
United’s captain, Solskjaer’s chosen leader, was not the only one making the wrong headlines this summer, with rising star Mason Greenwood flouting quarantine regulations on international duty before a previous cliched dalliance with ‘hippy crack’ caught the tabloids’ attention.
United’s hopes of a lowmaintenance, distractionfree future suddenly seem fanciful. Throw into the mix a brewing rivalry at the back where undisputed No.1 David de Gea faces a very real threat to his status with the return from loan of the extremely talented and equally confident Dean Henderson, and Solskjaer’s task is not as stress-free as he would hope.
BUILDING ON A BUDGET
Behind any discussion of Manchester United’s transfer policy lingers one uncomfortable truth, the nature of the club’s ownership.
Figures publicised this week revealed that, while seven English clubs have benefited from at least £100m in investment from their owners over the past five years, Manchester United have instead paid their own owners £89m. While United have spent big on Pogba, Maguire, Martial and Aaron WanBissaka in recent years, the very nature of their relationship with the Glazer family means they cannot compete financially with Chelsea, Manchester City, or even Liverpool.
So while City moved quickly to sign Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres this summer and Chelsea paid the asking price for Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, United are still at the negotiating table, trying to cut a deal for targets identified many months ago.
Solskjaer is still trying to construct his squad but is not always supplied with the right building materials.