Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United have not been the Manchester United that you know and love/hate. Or love to hate. Since Fergie time ended, the Red Devils failed to qualify for UEFA Champions League two out of three seasons, and haven’t been serious Premier League title contenders at all.
Before this summer, this was not the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys style “we’re much richer than everybody else so we’re going to spend more on all the best players than everybody else and we’ll bludgeon everyone on the strength of all our money” Manchester United that we’re grown accustomed to.
That all changed this summer.
This summer, United is very much back to being “that evil empire” beloved by 680,000,000 supporters worldwide. In Zlatan Ibrahimovic, they landed the summer’s biggest brand name individual player and pleasantly zaniest character. The sixth highest paid player in the world at the time of his signing, Ibra has already started to pay many dividends. He’s also the second most expensive player in history of combined transfer fees from all moves at £144 million.
A name Manchester United fans know all too well, Angel Di Maria is first at £152 million.
United broke the all time transfer fee record to sign Paul Pogba, the best player on the whole global transfer market this year. Was the fee ridiculously exorbitant? Did many outsiders call them out for spending way too much on one individual player?
Sure, absolutely. However, if you got it, flaunt it. They’re pretty much printing money at Old Trafford, so why not spend it? That’s what it’s for.
Remarkably, this is the first time United have broken the world transfer fee record. They broke the British transfer fee record 12 times, most notably with Angel Di Maria. In the David Moyes and Louis van Gaal years, they broke the club transfer fee record three times. So they have spending big money all along, they just haven’t been spending it wisely or in the right places.
United did a lot more than just get the best available player with the best all around skill set AND the biggest superstar. Manager Jose Mourinho counts as perhaps the most important summer transfer window acquisition.
Manchester United have done more than just buy for the present, in the “win now” mode. They made purchases for the future too. Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan don’t get the press that Zlatan and Pogba do, but they’re brilliant buys in their own right.
United were quiet on transfer deadline day itself, but that’s not really of major consequence. Mourinho gets his business done early, so that he can focus on the season. It’s how he rolls.
United failed to offload Marcos Rojo and Bastian Schweinsteiger- that’s the only real news they made today.
Manchester United Summer Transfer Window Summary
IN
Paul Pogba
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Henrik Mkhitaryan
Eric Bailly
OUT
Paddy McNair
Adnan Januzaj
Victor Valdes
Tyler Blackett
Will Keane
Guillermo Varela
Manchester United Summer Transfer Window Grade/Rating
10/10 A+
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.