Manchester United is very unfortunate in the 2019/2020 season transfer market. Of the dozens of players targeted by the Red Devils, only two players were successfully recruited. What made MU feel bad about the player transfer?
After slumping last season, Manchester United management is rumored to have prepared hundreds of millions of pounds in funds for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. No half-hearted, a number of British media had reported that Solskjaer had funds of up to 200 million pounds to be spent on purchasing players.
The fresh funds were prepared so that Solskjaer could recruit players according to his wishes and form a strong squad in order to be able to compete in local and European competitions. Understandably last season Paul Pogba and his friends only finished sixth in the Premier League, the third round of the League Cup and the quarter-finals of the Champions League and FA Cup.
But nine days ahead of the closing of the English Premier League transfer market this season, Manchester United just recruited two players. Daniel James was recruited by Manchester United from Swansea City with £ 15 million and Aaron Wan-Bissaka was bought from Crystal Palace with 45 million pounds.
Even if you see rumors circulating, Manchester United is at least connected with 30 top players in Europe in recent months. Of the 30 players, only James and Wan-Bissaka were successfully brought to Old Trafford.
In the list of 30 players there are some players who choose to join other clubs, such as Matthijs de Ligt who docked at Juventus, Youri Tielemans, who is honored by Leicester City, and Tanguy Ndombele who joined Tottenham Hotspur from Lyon.
For other players linked to Manchester United, but until now they have not been recruited, there are the names Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Samuel Umtiti, Jadon Sancho, Ivan Rakitic, Paulo Dybala, Mauro Icardi, Christian Eriksen and Declan Rice. The list of Manchester United target players is still long and does not stop here.
Obviously the recruiting of James and Wan-Bissaka is not enough for Manchester United to compete this season. Moreover, Manchester United lost a number of important players such as Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini in midfield. In addition, Manchester United is also rumored to be left by Romelu Lukaku and linked with Inter Milan and Juventus.
Two Important Factors
At least there are two important factors that make Manchester United fail to get the players they want in the transfer market this season. The first reason is of course the big name of Manchester United that has continued to fade in the last few seasons.
Until before the 2012/2013 season Manchester United was still easy to bring in players. Manchester United’s big name and Sir Alex Ferguson as coaches became the main attraction for players in Europe. Players like Robin van Persie, Edwin van der Sar, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov, Eric Cantona, and Rio Ferdinand were easily recruited by Manchester United despite coming from rival clubs.
After the Ferguson era ended, Manchester United’s achievements continued to decline. Since Ferguson left, the most successful club in the English Premier League was only able to win an FA Cup trophy, one League Cup and one Europa League.
Along with the decline of Manchester United’s achievements, the players in Europe began not to consider Old Trafford as one of the place for starting a new career. Moreover, Manchester United increasingly rarely play in the Champions League, as happened this season.
The second factor that is not less important is that Manchester United is still considered one of the richest clubs in the world. The latest Forbes data says, Manchester United currently occupies the sixth position of the richest sports club in the world with US $ 3.81 billion.
That condition makes clubs sell Manchester United target players at high prices. An example of the case of Leicester City costs Harry Maguire up to 80 million pounds. A price that is far more expensive than when Juventus got De Ligt from Ajax Amsterdam.
Leicester’s asking price for Maguire is considered inappropriate. The England national team defender is deemed unfit to bear the status of the most expensive defender in history to see the track record of his career.
Money is actually not a problem for Manchester United. Especially since Ferguson’s departure, Manchester United has spent more than 500 million pounds in purchasing players such as Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Angel Di Maria, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial.
Unfortunately, Manchester United’s investment in the transfer of players is not comparable to the achievements they have. The players brought in are often arguing with the coach starting from David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, to Jose Mourinho.
Now Manchester United management is likely not repeating the same mistakes. They are more patient in buying players and don’t want to be wrong in investing players.
But, with nine days remaining in the Premier League transfer window 2019/2020 season, Manchester United must move quickly in the transfer market to get the players that Solskjaer needs.
