Manchester United’s transfer window wrapped up on Tuesday without any additional signings. The club addressed the gaps in midfield with three new players with proven talent at the Premier League level, but failed to address other areas of need in the squad.
The Busby Babe staff shared their thoughts on the window business and where it leaves the Reds under Michael Carrick with a season of domestic and European adventures ahead.
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I’ll start with the positives: Who among you would be happy spending what United spent and getting Savinho and Omar Marmoush in return?
Manchester United’s leadership set out to find three midfielders who could add strength in depth with at least one player replacing Casemiro as a game wrecker with upside in the pivot. They found the candidates on a budget, but it remains to be seen how successful the players are.
Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba are ideal players who will either be in the first team for a long time or will still have value as PL-proven midfielders should the club decide they need to sell on down the line. Youri Tielemans has a lot of miles on his legs but is an excellent addition of experience and forward passing that the team sorely lacked.
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The Reds also brought in a promising youngster in Tynan Thompson and a reserve goalkeeper in Karl Darlow. Again, if we’re looking at Thompson two years from now and he’s even just around the first team as a reliable rotation player, that’s a win for the recruitment team. If not, £4m isn’t much to worry about.
What held back United’s window is the delay in finding a third midfield option and the chaos that caused in pursuit of other positions. The club decided it could not spend what Newcastle United asked for Lewis Hall, fair enough, but did not move decisively for another option to address a glaring need in the squad.
Reports from various outlets indicated that United were also in search of a backup striker option while attempting to move Joshua Zirkzee out on loan, which also detracted from the club’s search at fullback. The word out now is that United will attempt to address the defensive depth issues next summer, but that long term planning isn’t much good at the moment for a manager who sees potential with the team to compete now.
United avoided overspending the way other clubs did, and found good alternatives when the initial targets became the subject of bidding wars. But if the club deserves praise for that, it also deserves scrutiny for the inability to pivot late in other areas of need.
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Manchester United deserves credit for finally addressing the midfield this summer. Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba give United more quality, athleticism and depth in an area that desperately needed it. The midfield is clearly better, but a successful transfer window is also about fixing your biggest weaknesses — and United failed to do that at fullback.
Luke Shaw is showing his age and has clearly lost some of the pace that once made him so effective, while Diogo Dalot continues to be vulnerable defensively. We already saw Ipswich attack United out wide, and the Premier League’s better teams will target those areas relentlessly. For all the money spent improving the midfield, leaving the back four essentially unfinished is a major concern.
That’s why I give the window a B-. United are a better team than they were last season, but failing to strengthen at fullback could ultimately put a ceiling on this squad. Against City, Liverpool, Arsenal and other top sides, those weaknesses will be exposed. Instead of challenging for the title, I think United could find themselves fighting for fourth or fifth place — and the failure to address the back four may be the biggest reason why
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United addressed the biggest need in their team, bringing in three new midfielders. There are other holes, but we knew that coming in. There was always going to be more holes than United could address in one summer. The priority was midfield and the rest was going to depend on sales. That’s the financial situation United were in. The club’s financial accounts, published back in February, made that crystal clear.
The failure to bring in a left back stings. There’s no doubt about that and Vince rightfully points out it lowers the ceiling on what this club could achieve this season. Having said that, it was never the plan to compete for the league this season. The club has very publicly outlined their ambition to be ready to compete for the title by 2028. You don’t suddenly break from your long term plan because you overachieved earlier on, that’s how you come crashing down.
Overall, the club acted fairly sensibly in a market that went fully crazy. They set boundaries on their targets and walked away when the price didn’t match their valuation. A lot has been made about the “United tax” in recent years and the clubs habit of getting taken for a ride in negotiations. The only way to shed that reputation is to actually walk away from deals and show everyone you mean business. Perhaps that means United didn’t get the biggest names in the market, but for where this club is in their rebuilding process, right now they needed multiple good bodies rather than one great one. Besides, it was only a year ago that the club signed Senne Lammens, who should serve as a reminder that good players still exist outside the biggest names.
Now onto the part that will actually define this transfer window. Once the players get on the pitch, they have to actually perform.
