Not to state the painfully obvious about Manchester United but they 1.) had a terrible start to the season yesterday 2.) have totally botched this summer transfer window 3.) must give manager Erik Ten Hag more options up top to work with and 4.) are incredibly week in the defensive, holding midfield.
That last point, well everyone knows that actually, but we’ll cover all four of these items in this edition of MUFC summer transfer talk. We’ll start up at the top, where Cristiano Ronaldo’s bitter holdout and Anthony Martial’s injury have left them with barely any viable options.
Ten Hag was seriously forced to utilize Christian Eriksen in the role yesterday. So what are United going to do about it? Well, it sounds like they are ramping up their pursuit of RB Salzburg forward Benjamin Sesko, a scoring sensation that we covered in a previous post. However, there are multiple reports that it’s too little too late for Sesko, as he’s set to join RB Leipzig instead.
Guess it makes more sense for him to stay in the same family of clubs, all under the Red Bull umbrella. He would have been a good long term replacement for Ronaldo. In the short term, United will try to find cover for CR7 with the addition of Marko Arnautovic, 33, from Bologna.
So another stop-gap, putting a band aid over it kind of solution.
I think that’s that as Manchester United as the big club we knew it as. Rabiot coming and Arnautovic close, cements our new small club status. Ends the likelihood of De Jong and Sesko. Going to be hard to support a club that shortly will be surpassed by the likes of Newcastle.
— Hesham Bilal-Hafiz (@hesham786) August 8, 2022
Think Odion Ighalo, but instead of a good guy, they’re getting a forward who comes with all kinds of baggage. United are reportedly closing in on the former Stoke and West Ham striker as an obvious panic buy.
Ditto for Adrien Rabiot, whom is set to move over from Juventus, according to The Athletic.
Manchester United trying to add Adrien Rabiot and Marko Arnautovi? to an already unhappy dressing room: pic.twitter.com/ggLSgEIzso
— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 8, 2022
While the final third is a huge issue, the biggest problem is the middle of the park, and you saw that in the 2-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion yesterday.
The McFred combination needed to be upgraded this summer. Period. Yet Old Trafford wasted too much time chasing Frenkie de Jong, and they’re not even going to get him.
Arnautovic has a notoriously bad attitude and has multiple allegations of racism against him.
Rabiot is known for falling out with people due to how his mum conducts herself.
They’ll make the dressing room even more toxic.— Alexei (@MUFC_redarmy99) August 8, 2022
But Rabiot? Is that an upgrade over Fred and Scott McTominay? No, not really, plus, he’s just like Arnautovic in that he’s likely to hurt the locker room more than he’ll help it. What’s the over-arching plan? Is there a plan?
When does the rebuild start?
That #mufc are open to signing Arnautovic is scandalous. Ighalo was supposed to be a one-off yet, two-and-a-half years later, they are looking to sign an older forward who’s been playing in China. In a summer the squad is being ‘rebuilt’. They are insulting supporters.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) August 7, 2022
Where and how did this summer go entirely off the rails? Well, it’s the Ronaldo and De Jong situations, and the club’s failure to respond accordingly, mostly. We’ll cover that in detail, in the next post.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.