20 Aug 2015 10:33:59
The last 24 hours have seen a lot of people criticising those of us asking questions about our performance this summer in the transfer market. The usual, 'we dodged a bullet with Pedro' stuff has been cropping up. But there is also a belief that we have done well in this transfer window, even if we don't make another signing. For the sake of discussion, let's go through what happened in this window.

Last summer we made a massive investment. Biggest transfer spend, league record signing, and a massive loan deal. The message was clear: Manchester United do not finish 7th and steps needed to be made to ensure that it never happened again.

The early signs this summer were positive. Signing a hugely exciting player in Memphis, and LVG stating that he wanted to sort out new players early in the summer.

It was obvious that we had a few core problems in our squad. A keeper who was refusing to sign a new contract and looking for a move, a defence that had made a high number of unforced errors, a midfield lacking in strength and depth, a lack of top quality wide players, and a host of misfiring strikers on big wages. When Giggs said that we were looking to strengthen the spine of the team this is what he meant: adding quality players to improve us in every one of our problem areas.

In July we got to work on this: bringing in a new rb and two new midfield players right before going on tour, and even brought in a new keeper on a free. Then things started to get a bit more complicated:

- We sold RVP and (understandably) didn't sign Falcao leaving us bereft of strikers.
- Di Maria forced a move, leaving us short of pace on the wing.
- We moved Blind to cb to cover for our lack of defensive reinforcements, largely in the hope that Ramos would sign.
- And the manager publicly questioned De Gea's frame of mind and exiled him from the squad.

Coming back from tour we still had four main problems:

1. Three of our senior keepers effectively had no future at the club.
2. We hadn't signed a new cb because Ramos had, as everyone suspected, been using us for a new contract and the stop-gap suddenly became a permanent fixture.
3. We had to replace Di Maria.
4. We had three strikers, one that is unproven and one that the manager doesn't rate.

LVG's acknowledgement that we need pace and creativity up front after Di Maria's exit, and that he was still looking to bring in new faces, confirmed that we weren't finished. By all accounts we know that we were negotiating for two specific players: Pedro and Otamendi. In both cases we refused to meet the desired fee and lost them to direct rivals. Regardless how we personally rate these players, the manager clearly does and wanted to bring them to the club. Tellingly, we didn't sign players because of the price.

At present we have a net spend equivalent to West Ham. In addition, we have cut a large amount of money from our wage bill. This doesn't look like the transfer spending of a club with ambitions to challenge for the title. It appears that we have loads of money to bid for players who we have no chance of signing (Bale and Muller), but when a genuine transfer is on the cards it's too expensive. This is worryingly similar to the transfer activity in Fergie's last few seasons when we had our hands tied by our owner's penny pinching: all talk and no action.

The fact of the matter is that we have so far failed to address four of our key issues. The club may intimate that they pulled the plug on deals, or that we already have the players necessary to challenge but our manager and assistant manager's statements over the last few months tell us that this simply isn't the case. The proof of the pudding will be in April when we are battling it out with Liverpool for fourth place instead of fighting for a league title.

By all means pretend that any criticism is being a doom merchant. But the facts all point to the undeniable truth that we have failed to improve the squad in the way the management team desired at the start of the summer.

1.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 11:16:52
I have a worrying feeling you might be on to something. The main two situations involved here are those of otamendi and pedro. But similar circumstances might also have present in the clyne and firmihno transfers. Maybe and hopefully, the next 10 days will prove you wrong.

2.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 11:40:08
I agree with everything you have just said. But hopefully everything you said there is wrong and we have better targets available to buy, but time will surely tell if that's true or not.

3.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 11:41:11
Just on the ramos thing, you rightly point out that we all suspected it, as did the club themselves hence the demand of him for degea in the knowledge it would never happen. I applaud the club on how we've dealt with RM and degea regarding the matter. A squad is about more than individuals, will you eat said pudding if you're wrong?

4.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 11:54:02
Hi Danny,
Good read!
However, I do disagree with the summative statement at the end of your post.
At the start of the Summer, the one main area we needed to improve upon desperately was CM. This has been achieved with new faces that understand how LVG needs those positions to be played. The other points you mention I also believe are in the process of being sorted. The GK situation is less than desirable but Romero has done ok since he came in and if De Gea does leave before end of the window I believe we will replace him. If he stays, he will play it is that simple.
The CB problem you raise is over exaggerated, please read my article of the Football Articles page linked to this site.
Your third point about replacing Di Maria, I thought we had with Depay?
Your final point is the only one I can relate to, again you will see why from reading my recent article.
Good post though mate and look forward to reading your response.

5.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 12:07:40
Good post danny

6.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 12:20:59
Good post Danny my only argument is if it's not a bale or muller or someone of that calibre is there any point in splashing the cash on players who are not much if any better than what we have? By this I mean would pedro going to take us to the next level? I'm sure if bale was available we'd do everything to get him. Otamendi yes maybe would of improved us but I don't know much about him. Time will tell and still 2 weeks left yet

7.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 12:23:02
Good post with plenty of good points, and if you wait 12 days and post and post it again then you might be correct, at the moment I am willing to not think a club that paid £60 million for a player last summer is 'penny pinching', perhaps just being a bit more sensible.

8.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 12:41:02
It does seem that way. Because of no CL, United's turnover is projected to fall to£390m in this reporting year but increase again to £520m the following year, which with the reduced wage bill, should shed off boatloads of free cash. I've seen projections closer to £600m for the year after which would take us above Madrid. But, if we don't make the champions league at the end of this season then there would have to be a big revision downwards

So, it would seem evident that CL qualification is the most important achievement from a financial point of view, and with this in mind, not investing in the squad looks like a risk not worth taking. The financial losses would be the equivalent of paying for a £50m transfer every year.

Which leads to the conclusion that there are various possibilities, or combination thereof:

1. The club believes its already done enough transfer-wise to secure CL football next year.
2. The club has faith in its younger players and wants to give them a chance to shine rather than lose them or loan them.
3. They genuinely believe that of the names bandied around like Pedro and Otomendi, there is no one that brings an improvement significant enough to justify the spend.
4. There is still a big transfer possible (Inshallah).
5. No Spanish speaking person in his right mind wants to play for the cantankerous philosopher.
6. You're right. Contrary to any reason known to us, the Glazers have put the brakes on for financial reasons despite the footballing logic demanding otherwise - at least to us desperate fans.

9.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 12:54:00
I agree with some of what you say Danny about the strange behaviour in the last few weeks in the transfer market. It doesn't seem to make sense that we publicly express an interest in a player and then lose out over a couple of million. It does seem to remind me of the last few years under Fergie where we chased Ozil and Hazard and lost out.
On reflection though i think our defence looks a totally different prospect this season, Darmian looks like he been here for years and a proper solid defender who opponents will not relish going up against. Shaw has come back from holiday looking like a man on a mission to live up to all that early promise and i think he will establish himself as the best young left back in Europe. The biggest surprise for me has been Smalling who always gets compared to Rio but after the few games this season I think he is more like Vidic, absolutely dominating everything back there at the moment, like Rio said on BT sport on Tuesday he looks like he's in Beast mode. Blind has done all that's been asked so far but i like others have reservations about how he will cope up against the world class strikers. I think this is our only real weakness in the back four as we don't have a ball playing CB to partner the more physical nature of Smalling. Otamendi does look a good buy for City and he would have definitely strengthened us but maybe LVG sees him and Smalling as two similar to warrant spending the money on him.
The Midfield has had the major overhaul that everyone demanded and to be honest i probably would have bit your hands off if Bastian, Memphis and Morgan were offered over the summer. Hopefully LVG persists with Memphis down that left hand side where he loos at his best and in Young we have a good cover.
Our problem is how LVG fills the right hand side and No9 & No10 roles. He seems to like Mata on the right not as a winger but as someone to fill that channel between central and the touch line many of us aren't in agreement with that but it seems that's how he wants to play. Brings me onto Pedro and again I would have welcomed his signing but what would he actually bring to the party. From his interviews we have established that LVG wants a pacey option on the wing from a player with a high work rate and discipline. Remeber Toni Valencia? In his first few seasons he was very good you would see defenders panic whenever he ran at them. Since his injury he lost that confidence and so many times would get a one on one and then turn back to the right back or look inside rather than take his man on. He still has to be the quickest player in our side much quicker than Pedro, hopefully his RB days are over and LVG starts to build him up back to that standard of when we first signed him. I know his crossing is abysmal but surely that can be developed quite easily. The one place I think we need to strengthen is up top, Rooney has been a great striker but i don't think he has that role in him with the current players, playing this philosophy, we need a Benzema or Lewandowski if we are going to continue this style or I would take a Berahino to play in front of Rooney.
There a little while to go in this window yet and i don't believe we are finished with signings yet, one or two correct signings and that could be the difference between title contenders or another year of steady development either way it looks a lot more promising than it did at Xmas last year.

10.) 20 Aug 2015
20 Aug 2015 15:53:40
Danny. I agree with all you said and I too think there is gross underspending and lack of real ambition and direction at the club.
The club is totally committed to signing commercial deals and seem to be able to do this at will.
However, when it comes to the footballing side, our dealings leave an awful lot to be desired. In fact, many deals are farcical.
The club have lostvits ability to attract and conclude deals. We're also losing our attraction to the top players as the club goes from one transfer cockup to another.
I think Woodward is doing a great job for the glazers in signing these commercial deals, but he's never been the right man to structure and conclude the transfers. I think the club need to go back to square one on that front and employ someone who knows the ins and outs of transfers. Chelsea, juventus seem good at it, so it can be done, we just need to employ the right personnel to do the job.