Having dreaded it for years, City winning the European Cup and completing the treble didn’t turn out to be the end of days scenario I’d anticipated. Like the FA Cup final that preceded it, I can’t say I enjoyed it much and it’s not something l’d like to repeat, but a week-long news blackout ensured I missed the worst and it was easy enough to swerve the blues I encounter going about my daily business. If anything, at least I’ll never again experience on that January-onwards fear that this might be their year and spend the next 4 months willing them to fuck it up. It’s happened now, it’s done. Nothing that bad can ever happen again, at least until next May.
I can’t be alone in thinking that the expected barrage of media coverage was a tad muted compared to when United completed the same feat back in ‘99. I’m not trying to belittle their achievement or claim some sort of moral victory, it’s genuinely how I perceived it. Whether they care to admit to it or not, there was a palpable indifference from the wider football community probably because… well, to put it extremely politely, some of some of the methods used in attaining their current level of footballing immortality have been somewhat questionable. To borrow a couple of cliches, whilst their success proves that cheats do prosper, it also appears true that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
Closer to home, the shortened summer break has seen all eyes focused on the club’s continued attempts at piecing together a squad capable of usurping our blue brethren and challenging them for the title. It’s an exhaustive process fraught with difficulty at the best of times, made even more difficult this time out by FFP requirements and the lack of financial certainty due to the ongoing takeover. At least the objectives were clear enough, we needed a goalkeeper, a striker and midfield options minimum.
After a slow start during which the club’s media team had nothing to report whatsoever for a few weeks… ok lads, we get there’s a new kit, you might have mentioned it several hundred times… De Gea was the first to make a move when he announced he was leaving. No complaints here as his departure was long-overdue, but you have to say the manner in which it was handled wasn’t the best. For a club obsessed with social media optics, it’s not the best of looks when a player with 500-odd appearances departs having had a long-standing contract offer withdrawn. I suppose we should just be thankful that common sense is back in the building because I don’t think I could’ve handled watching his attempts at playing out from the back for another 3 years.
I’ve seen nothing of his replacement previously but going off several YouTube clips floating about, Onana looks to be the complete opposite of his predecessor. Having watched a keeper rooted to his goal line for the last dozen or so years, it looks like the Cameroonian is a full-on Barthez-esque lunatic with a penchant for sprinting out to the halfway line at regular intervals. Honestly? This new development probably won’t end well but I’m trying to focus on the positives for now. He can’t be any more detrimental to the team’s progress than De Gea was throughout the duration of last season.
As usual, the ridiculous wages offered by United mean we struggle to offload faces deemed surplus to requirements. Ideally, the likes of Fred, Martial, McTominay and Maguire should have been moved on by now, but it’s difficult to achieve this when they’re earning double what anyone else is prepared to pay them. On a positive note, it’s an encouraging sign that the manager can at least see where upgrades are needed if we’re going to compete at the very top level again. As things stand, all remain up for sale and a couple might be shifted by the end of the window if we’re lucky.
The Mason Mount signing was a strange one in that I figured it might signal game over for Sancho, but it looks like we’re persisting there for another year at least. Presumably Mount has been bought to play deeper than he has done previously because his natural position is Bruno’s domain. We need more discipline in there to counteract Bruno’s waywardness and Mount has never stood out as that sort of player to me. I’d argue we’ve overpaid for a position we already had covered and we’re still short of a quality holding midfielder to complement Casemiro and improve on the consistency Fred and McTominay offer.
As regards a striker, the obvious preferred choice was Kane but that was always unlikely given the numbers involved – though there’s still a part of me thinking United could be biding their time for a surprise move as the end of the window draws nearer. Let’s face it, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of bloke who’d be entirely comfortable living abroad and I’m convinced Manchester would be his preferred destination if it were entirely up to him. Hojlund is exactly the profile of player the club should be looking to sign but it’s a huge ask for him to come in, settle and adapt to English football whilst taking on the main goalscoring burden at such a young age.
All doubts aside, it’s nice to see the club operating with a degree of efficiency again as opposed to the haphazard nature of our transfer dealings in recent years. We’re still overpaying for players but that’s not surprising since we’ve become notorious for doing precisely that. Selling clubs can probably sense the desperation. Despite certain improvements, United remain hamstrung by the Glazer ownership model and will continue to struggle as long as they have a stranglehold over the club’s finances.
Whilst I’m not surprised the potential sale is dragging on as long as it has – the assumption it would be boxed off in a period of weeks was always wide of the mark – I’m genuinely mystified as to why we’re still awaiting a decision on the future of Mason Greenwood. To me it’s an absolute no brainer what should happen and anything other than moving him on would be absolutely catastrophic in PR terms. It honestly defies belief that the club haven’t already reached this conclusion, but the longer it drags on I fear they’re going to do something really stupid and offer him the opportunity to resurrect his career at OT.
I understand that although his current value is diminished, Greenwood remains an asset who is potentially worth a lot of money. As a consequence, the club might be unwilling to write this off knowing his value could increase dramatically if he moves elsewhere and scores a load of goals. Honestly though, I couldn’t care less if that happens because his future shouldn’t be at Manchester United. His army of supporters on twitter will be up in arms at the mere suggestion, but some things are bigger than football and the club should send out a message about what it considers acceptable conduct for United players. They need to do the right thing here, despite the possibility of losing out financially.
Copyright Red News – August 2023
carlosartorial 