Remember all those Manchester United transfer stories circulating amidst the Twitterverse, blogosphere, cyberspace and media world back in November and December? The narrative was that Manager Louis van Gaal was going to be handed a massive war chest in which to buy a host of players and upgrade the roster.
Ed Woodward and the board were going to make sure LVG could make some buys and push ahead towards the top of the table. You know they certainly have the money to do so. Instead all we got were crickets chirping.
Nothing. Nada. Here’s the full Manchester United transfer window summation:
In- Adnan Januzaj (Borussia Dortmund loan cancelled)
Out- Liam Grimshaw, Ben Pearson, Dean Henderson*, Kieran O’Hara*
*loan move
“Watch this space” was actually “watch paint dry.” Credit United for this, they have balance and symmetry right now. Their transfer activity is just as boring to monitor as their style of football. And all this dull tedium revolves around Louis van Gaal. There was so much uncertainty involving his future with the club, and that uncertainty paralyzed their activity.
It’s harder to get a new player to come in if he doesn’t know who he’ll be playing for.
Of course, the main transfer move Manchester United should have made is transferring the Dutchman out the door, but obviously that didn’t happen.
Yawn.
Sadio Mane, Ahmed Musa, Edinson Cavani, Felipe Anderson, Renato Sanches- all those stories were just sound and fury signifying nothing.
Woodward, Van Gaal and Manchester United were all drumroll and no cymbal this January transfer window.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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