Overall, it’s been a pretty dull transfer window, but Manchester United are certainly among the winners of it. Outside of Paris Saint-Germain, who proverbially top the transfer market table right now, there really isn’t anybody having a better window than United.
That’s because they’ve signed Jadon Sancho, averaged 12.3 goals and 13.7 assists in three full Bundesliga seasons with Borussia Dortmund, and have not lost anybody. Old Trafford is certainly not done dealing, with central defender Raphael Varane moving closer, and perhaps Eduardo Camavinga after that.
https://twitter.com/Footballing365/status/1416262423909122049
However, they are done buying attacking talent, so now is as good a time as ever to look at how manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will shape his attacking third.
The final third at Old Trafford is extremely crowded right now, and Solskjaer has a tremendous challenge ahead of him when it comes to managing minutes (and egos) in the forward position group.
In addition to Sancho, you’ll have Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Edinson Cavani, Daniel James, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial all looking for major playing time.
The last two on that list, Lingard and Martial, are of course rumored to be on the trading block, but as of now, no transfers out are close to happening. Also, Rashford is set to miss the first couple of months of the season, or so, having elected to get his ailing shoulder surgically repaired.
So his absence will provide chances for playing time/proving oneself to the gaffer. See the tweet above and below, to see what a first team, and a depth chart might look like in 2021/22.
https://twitter.com/VimuAlesso/status/1245389390731448320
Those lineups are contingent, of course, on nobody leaving and United getting their transfer targets. Here’s what we know for sure, despite a slow start in 2020-21, Sancho is undroppable. The young English international was one of the primary reasons Dortmund made a late season push and finished third in the Bundesliga.
He helped rescue BVB from the depths of missing Champions League, and you can slot him in on the right or left wings. His creativity, versatility and finishing abilities, which came with a price of $101 million, means he’s in the lineup everyday. Rashford, when healthy, is probably undroppable too.
After that, who knows, but Cavani deserves regular first team football.
He brings a skill set that no one else in the squad has, and provides them with exactly what is needed. Manchester City is still the team to beat, even though they still haven’t signed anyone this summer (spoiler alert: they definitely will splash the cash between now and deadline day).
United have made the only real Premier League splash signing of the summer, after approximately 89,347 news stories saying it was going to happen over the past two years.
Given that, plus they finished runners-up last season, you know they’ll be better, as will Liverpool who are getting healthy again plus they made a key signing at their position of most need.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.