02 Sep 2026 12:41:55
Both injury to Urgarte and Barcelona failing to buy Rash, impacted everything. I would expect they thought these two would have been sold, and possibly Onana and Zirkzee. So they started in the back foot.
We really don't know the extent or limit on our purchasing abilities. The failure to get a LB might give Amass and maybe Leon a chance to step up. It's closed now, we get on with it.
02 Sep 2026 13:52:56
Regardless of our debt, etc. I can't see how, after getting back into the Champions League, we didn't have more than £100m available for transfers. Ipswich spent more, and they were in the Championship last season.
Look, I have no problem with the club making sensible additions if their top targets are too expensive. Anderson and Fernandes went for silly money, and I'm happy with the 3 mids we've brought in.
However, you'd expect the money saved by going for cheaper midfielders would have been used to plug the obvious holes in the squad.
Instead, we were begging City for a no strings loan with an hour to go on deadline day. Not to mention failing to move Zirkzee, despite him being available all summer.
The "keep calm" argument seems to be that the club is willing to wait for top targets. But there's nothing to suggest that they'll, for example, be willing to fork out upwards of £60m for Hall next summer, given what we've seen this summer.
As for Amass, the use seems to be that we were unable to find a suitable Championship loan for him. He's not ready to play at the top level.
02 Sep 2026 14:08:28
It does seem we haven't spent what we had available, which is odd, as a big worry is the rumour that Wilcox has gone rogue and is making decisions based on his view.
It also seems clear we now believe in value for money, rightly or wrongly.
02 Sep 2026 15:53:27
Given that we couldn't get rid of Rashford, Zirkzee and Ugarte, because of his injury, it's not surprising we didn't buy another striker. If Rashford comes good, which he well might, then we have plenty options/goalscoring threats: Rashford, Mbuemo, Cunha, Amad, Bruno, Tielemans, Amad and possible odd contributions from Zirkzee, Mainoo, Baleba and Mount if he's ever fit.
We'll see what happens in midfield, but on paper we seem to have at least provided more depth, and if Baleba becomes the player of the season before last then we will have undoubtedly strengthened too. There should be no reason to play Bruno as a DM ever again, and there should also be opportunities to give him a rest here and there.
Like everyone else, I'm disappointed and bemused that we didn't strengthen the full backs. I don't buy the story that we couldn't afford to do so. We had probably a further £200m available without threatening the squad cost cap. The only reasons for what seems like a tremendous oversight are either they couldn't find anyone better than who we have at a reasonable price, and/or they weren't interested in gambling on an unknown, and/or their plans were waylaid by other events, and/or they simply dropped the ball until it was too late, i.e.
they blew it. Whatever, it's a sad reminder of the decade + of managerial incompetence that led us to the point where the once by far the biggest club in England by revenues, can't afford to buy a top class full back or splash out £100m on any player when all our main rivals are doing so. It might be because they need to guarantee a profit in the coming year, not necessarily because they intend to start paying dividends immediately, but to satisfy banking conditions, and to set the table for getting the new stadium project going.
I sincerely hope that the rumours about discord are just that: rumours. As we all know, the media is always out to find stories about United. If there aren't any real ones, they'll make a mountain out of some mole hill in order to create traffic.
02 Sep 2026 16:24:17
AJH, I don't know if the rumours around Wilcox are true but there are some warning signs:
1. Whether you like RA or not, he undermined him.
2. He appears to have vetoed recommendations by scouts and Vivell in favour of his own viewpoint.
Depending on your viewpoint, isolated examples of this are fine and sometimes justified. But repeated instances of that sort of behaviour is not a good sign of upper management. But all this is very predicated on rumour right now.
02 Sep 2026 16:41:02
He's a control freak.
02 Sep 2026 20:18:53
Don
Heard similar with Wilcox and Vivell. Apparently Sangare was also a Vivell suggestion but Wilcox went Tielemans.