1 week ago
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Manchester United has returned for pre-season, with its first fixture set to take place on Saturday. But as things stand, Matheus Cunha and an 18-year-old left-back from Paraguay are the only paid additions to a team that finished 15th last season — with their market struggles exposing a sorry state of affairs.
Ever since arriving and actively making things worse than they were under Erik ten Hag, Ruben Amorim has floated by on the excuse that the team is not yet set up to play his brand of football. Now, with the opportunity to put that right, Man United is dallying, gradually eating into the preparation time set to be afforded to new additions.
It's a sharp contrast with Liverpool, where a deal for Florian Wirtz should have been extremely complicated. Real Madrid and Manchester City were both on the scene, record sums were involved, and there was even a separate but parallel negotiation to send Jarell Quansah the other way; even so, the Bundesliga's best player was through the doors at Anfield well before preseason had got underway.
Man Utd's big target for some time has been Bryan Mbeumo. But that situation has dragged on for weeks with no signs of progress.
According to The Athletic, Man Utd and Brentford remain several million pounds apart in their valuations. Negotiations have been at a virtual stand-still for two weeks, despite talks continuing.
And the galling thing for the Red Devils is that this should really have been an easy deal to get over the line. Brentford is a consistently willing seller once a fair valuation is met, and Mbeumo by all accounts has his heart set on Old Trafford.
Why does Man Utd find itself haggling over what should be little more than pocket change to a club of its commercial size? Has failure to secure any European football whatsoever proved that costly?
Perhaps it's more of a point of principle — it cannot cave to every asking price, after all, and the organization may feel as though it has been taken for a ride one too many times. But there also has to be an element of picking your battles, with Amorim now just a month out from having to go again with a team patently not capable of executing his methods.
Even if a deal is eventually agreed, as still seems likely, valuable preparation time will have been squandered. Frankly, the only reason not to have sacked Amorim already is because he inherited a tough gig with no preseason to instil his methods, but now his first summer in the job is being actively hindered by bungled negotiations.
A head of senior recruitment might be expected to lead the process and smooth things over. Unfortunately, Man Utd is still searching for someone to fill that role.
Again, a comparison to Liverpool is instructive. Arne Slot strode to the Premier League title in his first season, a sure sign that there were no glaring weaknesses in his side, and yet the club was incredibly proactive in making upgrades — led by Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes, each of whom were prioritized ahead of a new manager upon the departure of Jurgen Klopp.
Rather than resting on their laurels, they have added Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong in addition to Wirtz. Giorgi Mamardashvili marks a shrewd bit of succession planning too.
But Man Utd is running through treacle, despite operating under much greater urgency. With Mbeumo so keen on the move, the delay is damning.
After all, gone are the days when United could take player preference for granted. When a target is sold on a move to Old Trafford despite the lack of European football, and the absence of obvious reasons for any optimism about the direction of travel, the onus is on the club to make the most of it and get a deal over the line.
Instead, Man Utd is frittering away the last sorry vestiges of its cachet. It really is a long way out of this hole.
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