It’s that time of year again- the Man United summer clear out speculation listicle! This club has just been so egregiously awful in their transfer window activity that we have to keep producing these articles, every silly season. As bad as so many of the signings have been, the club is even worse at getting rid of them, and that just compounds the problems over and over.
Next to no one is off limits when it comes to the 2025 summer transfer window, so let’s get after it. Click the name where highlighted for more on that Man United player.
Championship Sunday FYIs
Man United vs Aston Villa
Kickoff: Sun. May 25, 4pm, Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
Team News: Man United Aston Villa
Starting XI Predictions: Man United Aston Villa
Marcus Rashford
Rashford was once “the face of the franchise,” to use an American sports term. However, we’ve known since January that his time at the club is through. He’s looked better at Aston Villa, and that improved form will help the process of selling him. We’ve listed Rashford, Sancho and Antony first on this list for a reason- the club will prioritize selling this trio of underperforming/embattled forwards, above all other players.
Jadon Sancho
He’s not coming back from his Chelsea loan deal, we already know that. Actually, we’ve known for well over a year that he’ll never put on a United shirt again. In loan stints at Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea he’s shown some semblances of quality, so that should help the cause of moving him out.
Antony
A total flop on all fronts at United, he’s finding his form again at Real Betis- five goals, two assists in 17 games. He’s one of the biggest mistakes that Erik ten Hag has made, and his horrible rate of production was only exacerbated by his exorbitant transfer fee. Yet he seems to be playing better elsewhere. Noticing a theme here?
Bruno Fernandes
He’s the club’s marquee player, and that fact is very troublesome. When your most brand name player isn’t really consistently high quality, well, this is why United are where they are. It is probably time to move him on, if the price is right. Definitely do not give him away, because he has quality and value above most of the rest of the squad.
Alejandro Garnacho
It seems the writing is on the wall now- this specific individual footballer and club just cannot co-exist. It is a bummer because there was once a lot of hope for Garnacho- specifically that he could be part of forming a nice young nucleus.
Victor Lindelof
Doesn’t rate in a position group that isn’t even high quality. Lindelof is a holdover from the Jose Mourinho era that has just stuck around way too long.
Luke Shaw
Wednesday night he “scored” the own goal that lost the UEL Final to Tottenham. That was absolutely a Shaw OG, not a Brennan Johnson goal, as was recorded. But the Shaw issues are much bigger than just that. For the past two seasons, he has rarely ever been fit enough to play.
Shaw has prove, over the years that he’s just way too injury prone to deserve to stay.
Harry Maguire
One of the more polarizing players in the squad, he’s had some awful moments. But he’s had some decent moments too, and when West Ham United pursued him last summer it reminded us that he still has some value in the open market.
Casemiro
Like Raphael Varane (who left last summer for Como), he’s a player United bought from Real Madrid, who was already then on the down side of his career. They also did so for way too much money, and now they’ll have take a big loss in selling him. United should take whatever they can get.
Christian Eriksen
Good guy, and you wish him the best, but he’s just not Premier League, big club, first team player quality and consistency.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter
