Manchester United are now off until April 4, when they’ll resume their Premier League campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion. In the meantime, we’ve got some transfer talk to do, and hopefully, United will do a lot better this summer than they did the last time around.
If they’re going to make a major move, then it’s probably at Borussia Dortmund where United will do their shopping. That means either Jadon Sancho or Erling Haaland, but certainly not both, as they can’t afford the pair. Honestly, no one, outside of Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, can spend freely like that this upcoming window.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit everybody, to varying degrees, but United’s status as one of the world’s richest, most powerful clubs makes them better suited than almost anybody else to adapt to this new, more unforgiving marketplace. Of course, City and PSG compete on a different financial playing field, far above everyone else, so the Etihad has a big advantage in the race to sign Haaland.
Don’t rule United out though, as the BVB scoring sensation is a countryman to United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is friends with his dad.
As MUFC look poised to make the Norwegian a new long term contract offer, and expand football operations to build around him, actually finally formulating a true transfer market strategy, we can see a legitimate rebuilding plan to start to take shape.
That plan needs of course more central building blocks, and Haaland could be that next critical piece. Or it could be Sancho, who United have been incessantly linked with for well over a year or so. Dortmund are just outside the top four right now, only four points off the pace, but if they miss out on Champions League football, they’ll need money for sure.
To acquire that monetization injection, they’ll likely cash in on at least Haaland or Sancho, if not both. NBC Sports has more over at this link.
And what if they don’t get either Sancho or Haaland? What’s the contingency plan/fallback option? Watford’s Ismaila Sarr, according to the Daily Express.
The Sunday Express goes on to report that the “Hornets were open to selling Sarr following their relegation to the Championship, but wanted £40m for the wideman- and the deal nearly happened.”
Would United be willing to pay that? Clearly, they need to beef up their options on the wing, one of the weakest position groups on the team. United have really struggled in finishing off scoring chances this season, and perhaps strengthening out wide is the way to fix that problem.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.