The new INEOS regime is in the door at Manchester United, and while it still remains early days, those changes at boardroom level have not yet seeped into improved performances on the pitch – nor into enhanced recruitment.
Much was made of snapping up the likes of Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada earlier this year, yet on current evidence, the highly-rated United hierarchy has merely overseen another questionable summer of transfer business.
£36.5m was spent on Joshua Zirkzee, yet the Dutchman has since scored just once for the club in all competitions, while Manuel Ugarte – who arrived on deadline day on a £42m deal – has found himself behind an ageing Christian Eriksen in the starting lineup in recent weeks.
Noussair Mazraoui looks to be a rare bargain for the Red Devils, while hopes are high for ex-Real Madrid target Leny Yoro amid his impending return from injury, although fellow centre-back, Matthijs de Ligt, has endured a shaky start in Manchester, having been axed in favour of Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans last time out.
Much of the blame may fall the way of under-fire manager, Erik ten Hag, although this latest batch of incomings appears to follow a common theme of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Man Utd's most notable transfer failures
Where to begin?
It is hard to overlook the saga surrounding Paul Pogba, of course, with the polarising Frenchman having been allowed to leave for nothing, prior to returning on an £89m deal, before then again leaving on a free after six turbulent years in Red.
£75m signing, Romelu Lukaku, only lasted two years before being given the boot by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while Louis van Gaal’s statement capture – Angel Di Maria – only enjoyed a solitary campaign at Old Trafford, before packing his bags for Paris.
In more recent times, the £80m spent on Harry Maguire has long looked like an albatross around the Englishman’s neck, with the former Manchester City target notably stripped of the captaincy last year after losing his place under Ten Hag.
The Dutchman also showed a ruthless streak to bring Jadon Sancho’s time at the club to an end this summer, with the 24-year-old moving onto pastures new at Chelsea after scoring just 12 goals and providing only six assists in 83 games for the club. £73m well spent.
Ten Hag may not have had a hand in those catalogue of signings, but he must shoulder the blame for the addition of £86m man, Antony, a move that has been described as the ‘worst Premier League transfer of all time’ by journalist Daniel Storey.
The former Ajax man was also at the helm when another Brazilian, Casemiro, rocked up in 2022, and despite a solid first season – in which the five-time Champions League winner was hailed as the “cement” in the side by his manager – he has since dropped off spectacularly.
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Now looking like “he’s in Soccer Aid” – as per pundit Jamie Redknapp – the £70m man does now strike as an expensive mistake, albeit with United’s £350k-per-week asset at least faring better than another high earner at the Theatre of Dreams, Alexis Sanchez.
Alexis Sanchez's total cost at Man Utd
80 goals and 44 assists in 166 games for Arsenal. Seemingly at the peak of his powers at the age of 29. What could go wrong?
A lot, was the answer to that question, with United’s decision to swap Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January 2018 backfiring spectacularly, such was the financial burden that the Chilean would prove to the club.
From the get go, the one-time Barcelona man failed to hit it off in his new surroundings, ending his first six months at the club with just eight goals and assists in 18 games under Jose Mourinho’s watch.
The winger’s first full season at the club didn’t go much better, in truth, as he chalked up just six goal involvements under Mourinho and Solskjaer, with club legend Gary Neville admitting at the time that it was a “mystery” as to why Sanchez hadn’t recaptured the form he had shown at the Emirates.
That ‘mystery’ was perhaps solved by the fact that the marquee signing didn’t appear to want to be there, having later revealed that he asked his agent to rip up his contract after his first day of training at Carrington.
There were moments of magic, no doubt, including his last-gasp winner against Newcastle United in the 3-2 win in October 2018, as well as the equaliser in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur in April 2018, yet rarely did the forward look up to the task.
Such woes were ultimately compounded by the exorbitant wages handed to him by the club – or Ed Woodward, rather – at the time, with the Daily Mail reporting that he had been taking home around £400k-per-week, or £21m a year, before bonuses, thus ahead of what even Casemiro earns today.
With £31.5m having been dished out in wages during his 18-month stint in the first-team squad, United then still had to fork out around £16.5m of that sky-high salary upon his initial loan move to Inter Milan in the summer of 2019, as per the Mail’s report.
To cap it off, Woodward and co were then forced to provide a £9m payoff to Sanchez ahead of his permanent move to the San Siro on a free transfer in 2020, totalling up to around £57m spent across his time at the club.
Stats by club
Games
Goals
Assists
Arsenal
166
80
44
Inter Milan
142
24
28
FC Barcelona
141
46
37
Udinese
112
21
20
Man Utd
45
5
9
Marseille
44
18
3
River Plate
31
4
3
Colo-Colo
19
5
3
Cobreloa
5
3
0
For a return of just 14 goals and assists in 45 games, that deal certainly didn’t prove worth United’s while, with the hope being that such high-profile moves for ageing players will remain a thing of the past.
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