For most football clubs, spending over £105 million to add new players constitutes a blockbuster summer transfer window. Obviously, most clubs aren’t Manchester United. Old Trafford spent £75 million, the fifth highest amount ever, on acquiring striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton. They spent another £30.75 million on signing central defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica.
For almost every club, either one of those transactions would absolutely shatter the franchise record for summer transfer window spending. At United, it’s about a lot more than just money though. Red Devils Manager Jose Mourinho has roster needs that still need to be filled, and he’s becoming increasingly pessimistic about completing his summer shopping list.
Mourinho recently said that the team was halfway done with their shopping; two players acquired, two to go. Now the Portugese is resigning himself to acquiring just one more player, not two, and he admits that he is unhappy with how the summer transfer window has unfolded.
“We always want more,” Mourinho told ESPN.
“We always feel there is room to improve, and I cannot say that I am happy with our transfer window. What I can also say is that it is a difficult transfer window, and I don’t blame anyone — it is just a reality of things. The market is going in such a direction that many players are difficult to get, not to say impossible.”
“Every club is powerful, and they don’t want to sell or their demands are really high, so the market is difficult.”
Mourinho still wants a holding midfielder, as a long term replacement for Michael Carrick, who would allow Paul Pogba to push forward. He also seeks an attacking winger, but as of now progress towards all of the remaining targets seems to have stalled. Pursuit of Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic, Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier and Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic have reached an impasse.
Mourinho continued: “Everton started really strong in the market without the Lukaku money. AC Milan, without selling players, are buying nonstop, so it depends on the moment, the objective, maybe on new owners.”
“What I will say is that, a long time ago, we thought about four players to strengthen our squad, but it is really hard to do it. If we do the third and forget the fourth, I would be quite happy with that because I know it is difficult.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.