Manchester United have had a quiet summer transfer window and manager Jose Mourinho has once again aired his grievances about that. Mourinho has been in midseason form when it comes to complaining about his club this preseason, and the lack of transfer activity has provided plenty of grist for his mill.
United have bought three players this summer, but only one can be considered legitimate first team material this season. It would appear, given what Mourinho has said that he and club CEO Ed Woodard are just not on the same page right now.
In addition to implying that Woodward is not giving him the support that he believes he’s asked for/deserves, the United boss also took another swipe at Liverpool’s transfer spending this summer, and warned that United could be in for a very long season if they don’t strengthen the side between now and deadline day on Thursday.
“The other clubs that compete with us are really strong or they have already fantastic squads like Chelsea, Spurs, City, or they are investing massively like for example Liverpool buying everything and everybody,” Mourinho told the club’s web channel MUTV.
“If we don’t make our team better it will be a difficult season for us.”
“My CEO knows what I want for quite a long time, I know he tries to do the best for me and I still have a few days to wait to see what happens.”
Mourinho wants a centre back first and foremost, but a right winger is also high on his list of positional targets. Top central defender targets include Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld and Jerome Boateng.
United made a huge spending splash in the first two summer transfer windows of the Mourinho era, making the shortcomings of this window seem all the more dramatic. Mourinho definitely has a point though about how if your side is not strengthening, they’re actually weakening, as the rest of the big six aim to beef up their rosters. United finished 19 points behind City last season in the table, so they entered the summer with a substantial amount of work to do.
They can’t afford to fall behind even further, thus they’re lack of activity now is quite puzzling.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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