There used to be a time when the public’s attention turned to test cricket, tennis and crown green bowls over the summer but I’m not sure football has had a day off since May. With the U-21s, the World Club Cup and the womens’ Euros it’s literally not stopped and there’s no getting away from it. I want to spend 3 months every year not thinking about football, not being subjected to even more of it every time I turn the telly on.
As ever, I’m doing my best to stay away from the annual festival of bullshit that is the summer transfer window, but it’s difficult to stop scrolling once you get started. It all started quite brightly with the news that Matheus Cunha was boxed off day one but once Mbeumo’s name was mentioned things took a familiar turn. At the time of writing it’s been reported that a third offer has finally broken the deadlock but even so, this ongoing saga is proving more difficult to conclude than deals for Marcelo Salas, Wesley Sneider and Frenkie de Jong combined.
The main issue with United’s newly improved negotiating tactics is that our track record whenever in this position speaks for itself. We always cave in the end as other clubs are all too aware. The money in the PL means that the likes of Brentford can turn their nose up at £60M offers because they’re in no rush and under no pressure to sell. Why would they when the likelihood is we’ll pay the full asking price eventually.
If the club really wanted to demonstrate a change in approach they would have told them to sling it a month ago and quietly informed the player that they would try again in 12 months’ time. £65 million is a more than acceptable offer for a player of his calibre so if Brentford don’t want to sell then forget it and move on. Dragging things on over several weeks in the vain hope they’ll suddenly cave seems to be a hopelessly misguided way of conducting business.
The fact we’re nowhere nearer addressing the fact we still need a centre-forward concerns me more. We appear to have done the entire budget on a couple of players in a position where we already have ample cover as opposed to fixing the obvious deficiencies in the squad. I suppose the plan is to tackle these once we eventually manage to offload a few high profile names set to depart the club this summer.
It came as no surprise that Aston Villa decided against taking up their option on Marcus Rashford because they aren’t daft and they’ve seen first-hand what his actual level is these days. Barcelona seems to be his preferred destination and incredibly, rather than being wishful thinking on his part it looks like it’s actually going to happen. Teddy Sheringham was bang on the other week when he claimed the player didn’t deserve such a move because he simply doesn’t.
I know it sounds peak boomer but I’ll genuinely be seething if he ends up at Barca. I’ll always wish ex-players well when they’ve put in a proper shift here but I’m afraid Rashford abandoned all pretence of that some time ago. Unfortunately he’s now part of a small but very select group (Di Maria and Pogba the others who spring to mind) who can just do one. That clown walking out in front of 90K at the Nou Camp will have me triggered, big-style. If he does pull this off then his PR team deserves every penny they’ve fleeced off him in recent years. He should be playing for Luton Town or Huddersfield this season.
Another guaranteed inductee into the ‘former players who can fuck off’ group is Jadon Sancho. I recall a blue acquaintance regaling me with rumours of his questionable attitude when he was at Dortmund but I dismissed this as unsubstantiated bitter ramblings. Somehow the little slug looks set to move to Juventus and trouser a £4M payoff from United in the process. Honestly, Woodward and Arnold should be in the dock for the remuneration packages they offered players between 2018-2022. Class action suit for industrial-scale criminal negligence, anyone?
In addition to this pair we still have to shift Antony and Garnacho and again, suitors willing to pay a transfer fee (remember them?) seem thin on the ground. I expect Anthony will return to Betis for another loan spell whereas Garnacho will end up at Chelsea once they manage to offload a couple surplus to requirements. I don’t quite understand what the situation is at Chelsea as they sign new players on 10 year contracts every week yet still seem to function as a whole quite coherently. Their ability to account for this without contravening PSR needs to be studied or do the rules not apply in West London or something?
The question is, will these expected departures generate the requisite funds to finance a world-class striker? It doesn’t look too promising given the remaining budget. Some of the names linked so far range from laughable to terrifying (Jamie Vardy, Moise Kean, Calvert-Lewin) and don’t suggest much of an upgrade from our current options. Indeed, Amorim has already tempered expectations by suggesting we can get by with a reduced squad this season due to the lack of European football.
Unless the club can do something dramatic in the next few weeks (hiring Chelsea’s accountant might be a start) and bring in some additional reinforcements it promises to be a difficult few months ahead. There’s still some time, but pre-season is already underway and we’ve not fixed the main issues that made the last campaign such an ordeal. I can understand the inability to recruit a guaranteed goalscorer as it’s incredibly expensive and fraught with difficulty but not signing a new keeper at this stage would be bafflingly stupid.
Noises coming out of the club suggest a top 5 finish is the target for forthcoming season. It’s an ambitious target as looking at the fixture list, it’ll only take 2-3 defeats in that opening run of games before the manager’s future is being called into question again. Amorim’s default mode of plain speaking and refusing to dress things up is admirable but won’t help him much if we’re in the bottom half of the table in October. As you may have already surmised, I’m not feeling too confident about his prospects at this stage. I really hope I’m wrong.
Copyright Red News – August 2025
carlosartorial 