Sergio Reguilon was charging about Carrington under the nose of Erik ten Hag on Friday morning, yet Manchester United were unable to confirm his acquisition.
Meanwhile, the club’s new transfer whizz Matt Hargreaves was on his way to Italy to rush through some kind of deal for Sofyan Amrabat. Last minute? Away with you. This was the result of careful planning, first-rate talent identification and best-in-class execution. United even had eight hours of the transfer window to spare. Time for a round of golf before the flight home.
Unless you have played under Ten Hag or against him in Holland, it would appear your chances of a move to Old Trafford are limited. Rasmus Hojland must have family in Amsterdam.
The need for an immediate return on United’s £72m investment in the 20-year-old Dane is already acute, which casts an unflattering light on the infrastructure at Old Trafford, which ultimately feeds back to the ownership by American financial speculators who can’t decide whether to stick or twist over the sale of the club.
In the build-up to the fixture with Arsenal, a club transformed by a back-room operation headed by sporting director and former player Edu Gaspar, his assistant Jason Ayto and head of recruitment James Ellis, Ten Hag has been dealing yet again with the consequences of United’s organisational dysfunction.
Arsenal moved swiftly and decisively to augment the squad. Declan Rice at £105m was too rich for United because of the mess Ten Hag is working through, a top-heavy squad of high-earning, under-achievers, most of whom need to be moved on.
Versatile defender Jurrien Timber was another in United’s eye-line. Again the £34m Arsenal paid for a 22-year-old was too much for United. The signing of Kai Havertz may or may not work but his arrival was born of a clear rationale.
United spend big in extremis on underwhelming players and compound the error by offering eyewatering contracts that make them almost impossible to shift. They then sit on the ledger like FFP dead weight.
West Ham would love to take Harry Maguire but not at the £190,000 a week he is earning to sit on his backside at Old Trafford. Maguire is not even the worst example. The figures presented by the independent International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), a respected research organisation based in Switzerland, offer some insight into the bloated squad Ten Hag inherited.
Only Chelsea had a greater net spend than United’s half a billion pounds in the four years from 2019 to 2023. The sums detailed by CIES are broadly in line with those shared by Capology, a database that penetrates the secret world of undisclosed player contracts with estimates of football salaries.
The sums rank United’s £195m annual wage bill top of the Premier League in that period, £15m higher than champions Manchester City. Marcus Rashford has since signed a new £375,000 a week deal making him better paid than any at United, and at City for that matter, bar Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland on £400,000.
At least Rashford contributes on the pitch. Jadon Sancho earns £350,000 a week and is not even a starter. His output since joining United in a £73m deal from Borussia Dortmund two years ago – 12 goals in 82 appearances – is a Return on Investment disaster.
Casemiro also banks £350,000 a week. Raphael Varane earns £340,000 and yet again is facing a long injury lay-off. Both Casemiro and Varane reflect United’s reactionary transfer dealings, a combined fee of £105m splashed in desperation on experienced internationals the wrong side of 30. Varane, 30, spent a decade at Real Madrid. Casemiro, 31, was 23 when he became a Blanco. That would have been the time to get him.
Anthony Martial has scored just 11 Premier goals in the past three seasons, pocketing £250,000 a week for the privilege. No wonder United can’t find a loan move for the brittle striker. Of the nine signings made by Ten Hag since his arrival in June 2022, seven have come via his Dutch connectivity and three of them – Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana – worked with him at Ajax.
Amrabat also played for Ten Hag at Utrecht. Mason Mount, injured two games into his United career, impressed when on loan at Vitesse Arnhem to such a degree Ten Hag tried to sign him at Ajax. Tyrell Malacia was a fixture at Feyenoord. Christian Eriksen was a free hit and needed no introduction yet still graduated via the Ajax academy.
United appointed former Adidas executive Hargreaves in June to replace Matt Judge as head of transfer negotiations. It is way too early to assess his impact. The deal for Mount was already advanced before Hargreaves’ arrival. Hojlund and Onana were also identified prior.
Injuries to Mount, Varane, Malacia and Luke Shaw are nobody’s fault but have left United exposed, which demonstrates how unfit for purpose United’s executive structure has become under the Glazers.
Ten Hag has thus been forced to shop in Poundland for replacements. The dismal haggling over nickels and dimes with Fiorentina before the late departure of Dean Henderson freed up some cash for Amrabat and the Reguilon confusion heaps mortification upon embarrassment at a club valued at £6bn plus.
The tame defeat at Spurs showed how little progress Ten Hag has made on the road against teams in the top half of the Premier League. Arsenal have stumbled into the new season but are unbeaten and heavily fancied to inflict a second defeat in four games on United, who were lucky to take three points off Wolves in the season opener and spent the last 15 minutes hanging on against the 10 men of Nottingham Forest after falling two behind inside four minutes.
Goodwill is an ephemeral quality at Old Trafford. Ten Hag is burning through it at an alarming rate and will be the one accountable should United continue to tread water.
Meanwhile, the despised American owners continue to pillage a legacy institution for all its worth.
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