Dark Summer Of Transfers For United

The transfer window was closed on the 5th October 2020 in Europe. In one day, Manchester United made four signings after only making one signing previously and going through large periods of it without making any signing. First Signing Of The Summer The first signing we made I felt was uncharacteristically efficient and swift. We signed a quality, young player at a reasonable transfer fee, Donny Van De Beek. Van De Beek’s quality and versatility mean that we have now got cover for Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes and he can play with them too.

The Ones That Missed The Boat Now for the biggest open-book secret of this transfer window, our interest in Jadon Sancho. Only at United would the main transfer target be common knowledge and this interest would drag on to the end. A club would slap a transfer fee on a player, the club that wants to sign the player has every right to negotiate to get a favourable deal. If the selling club is not budging, you are faced with two options, pay up or move on. United did neither and we are left without our main transfer target. We were linked to Sergio Reguilon too. We didn’t sign him however based on the reported terms of the deal, I felt it was fine that we missed out on signing him. According to the reported terms, it was effectively a loan deal as he had an eye on going back to Real Madrid and didn’t want to exhaust that option. We were then linked to another left-back, Alex Telles who became one of the four signings we made on the final day of the transfer window. Treble winner, Thiago Alcantara was also another player that was linked to us. Sir Alex Ferguson had courted him when he was at Barcelona but he joined Bayern Munich at that time. With the signing of Van Der Beek, our midfield was complete but it doesn’t hurt to add quality in the squad. We lost him to our bitter rivals, Liverpool. Not that it was an absolute necessity for us to sign him. The biggest name signing we made on the final day was Edinson Cavani. He was available all summer and if we were really interested in signing him, we should have signed him earlier. I agree we need an experienced traditional centre forward, a goal-getter, someone with a winning mentality. Cavani ticks all those boxes and he was available on a free transfer. This could have been concluded a long time ago. The fact that it was concluded on the last day screams panic buy.

The Signings That We Made To make up for losing Sancho, we signed an unknown young Uruguayan Facundo Pellistri. I struggle to think he will get into the first-team or the fringes of it immediately. We have dropped our objective from signing a young but established player to a young, untested player. In a similar vein, we signed another youngster Amad Traore who will arrive in January. The signing of two similar profile teenagers on the final day of the transfer market equals panic signings again. What happens to another young teenage winger, Tahith Chong who is away on loan with the signing of Pellistri and Traore? We should have had a Plan B in case we don’t sign Sancho and that is to sign a player that is of similar profile to Sancho. Frustration Of Fans Fans are extremely frustrated because after a long time it looks like we are finally building a team that can get us back to winning ways again. The fans expected more quality signings to further strengthen the team. But to struggle to make one signing and then go until the last day to make the rest shows that the club isn’t organised and didn’t strategise their transfer policy. Near the start, the club rolled out a meek statement warning of reduced activity due to the pandemic. All other clubs have suffered due to the pandemic too but yet all our rivals have signed more than one player and didn’t need to scramble until the last day to sign players. Inefficiency & Incompetence For the fans, inefficiency and incompetency in the transfer market has been a staple since Ed Woodward took over from David Gill. Long drawn-out transfer sagas, haggling over transfer fees, not signing players that the manager wants, not having a clear strategy in the transfer market, no proper scouting for talent, not being able to move players on unnecessarily big contracts are Ed Woodward’s trademark. The club has been looking for a Sporting Director for the longest time to handle transfers but the fact that we have hired no-one again shows our incompetence. Our rivals have identified players silently and swiftly made signings without getting it dragged into the full view of the public. Like in the case of Liverpool, they have made quality and shrewd signings that have progressively strengthened them. That was the way we worked on the transfer market. Not anymore. Pattern Of Lack Of Investment A pattern has also developed. The club spends more in seasons where United are out of the Champions League but when it is back, the investment is not as much. This gives the impression that the club is happy with just qualification to the Champions League. That attitude is not acceptable for the fans who demand that United get back to regularly challenging and winning league titles, Champions Leagues and cups. The fact that the current top two teams in England are our bitter rivals, Liverpool and neighbours, Manchester City deepens the hurt felt by United fans. Pulling Wool Over The Eyes The club using the pandemic as an excuse for the lack of signings is a ploy to try and pull wool over the eyes of supporters especially since the club repeatedly emerges among the top two richest clubs in the world. We are behaving like paupers as well, the club was relying on player sales before making signings. United have been among the two richest clubs in the world for many years now. Clubs that aren’t as wealthy have spent more than us. This has led to increased scrutiny on the ownership model of the club. Ultimately, all the fans want is for the club to focus on matters on the pitch and bring success back to the club. Not placing sole emphasis on the business of the organisation. The events of this summer have left a dark cloud around the club, the fans and in this ex-players are included as well, have repeatedly voiced our dissatisfaction at the lack of investment in the team. I feel the fans should organise themselves and let the Glazers and Ed Woodward know about this displeasure aside from moaning and groaning on social media.