It is fair to say that Manchester United have splashed the cash rather erratically over the past decade or so, with the Red Devils' seemingly scattergun transfer approach having been a factor in their struggles in recent years, with it coming up to ten years since the club last won the Premier League title.
As The Price of Football's Kieran Maguire noted last month, the Old Trafford outfit have spent over £2bn under the Glazer's ownership to date, albeit while recouping just a "quarter" of that figure back with regard to player sales.
That latter failure has been a constant theme at the club of late, with United regularly proving unable to shift players on for a respectable fee, having seen a number of players depart for nothing last summer after being allowed to run down their contracts.
In fact, the only major, permanent sale ahead of the start of the current campaign was Andreas Pereira's move to Fulham for a fee of around £10m, with even that figure appearing rather meagre for a player who has eight goal involvements in the top-flight this term.
Undoubtedly 'disappointing sellers' – as per Forbes' Sam Pilger – the three-time European champions did seemingly enjoy a rare success with the sale of Dan James back in 2021, however, having truly struck gold with that permanent exit.
How much is Dan James worth now?
The diminutive winger had initially been snapped up by United for a fee of around £15m back in 2019 after catching the eye at Swansea City in the second tier, with the Wales international going on to have a "great pre-season" ahead of his first campaign at the club, according to then-boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
That positive first impression then continued as James scored on debut in the 4-0 thumping against Chelsea, before ending August with three goals from his first four Premier League appearances, memorably curling in a stunning effort against Southampton at St Mary's.
The wide man would only add one further goal to his tally in all competitions in the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign, however, as that early momentum was swiftly curtailed, albeit while having been "unbelievable" in the derby day win at the Etihad in December 2019, according to club legend Peter Schmeichel.
Such displays were few and far between for the Hull-born dud in truth during his time in Manchester, as he went on to make just 26 appearances across all fronts in the following campaign, again scoring just three league goals.
Despite falling down the pecking order during Solskjaer's latter time in charge, the Red Devils were still able to recoup a rather hefty fee for the 5 foot 7 wizard as rivals Leeds United came calling in the summer of 2021, with James departing for around £25m.
Since that move to Elland Road, however, things have not worked out for the 42-cap speedster as he currently finds himself out on loan at Craven Cottage, despite having provided nine goal involvements in the league last term at his parent club.
Now 25, the struggling asset – who has been criticised by journalist Tom Dutton for his "awful decision making" – has been restricted to just three league starts for the Cottagers this season, with his solitary goal in the competition coming, ironically, against Erik ten Hag's men when the two sides met back in November.
The peripheral winger endured a far more unhappy reunion with United earlier this month as Marco Silva's side suffered a late implosion in the FA Cup quarter-final clash at Old Trafford, with James notably finding himself on the receiving end of a crunching, yet clean challenge from Lisandro Martinez, after entering the fray as a mere late substitute.
It has been a notable decline for the once-promising gem since that flurry of goals in his early stint in Manchester, with the one-time Shrewsbury Town loanee now said to be worth as little as £13m, according to CIES Football Observatory.
That plummetting valuation – in contrast to the £25m fee that was paid to take the winger to Leeds – appears to indicate that, for once, United truly did hit the jackpot with the sale of a player.
