Will Manchester United Executive Vice President Ed Woodward help give Manager Jose Mourinho the roster additions that he is looking for this summer? Is the summer of 2017 going to be a big one regarding upgrades to the Red Devils player roster?
Today, prior to the 3-0 win over Sunderland, Mourinho admitted the club is not close to where it needs to be and that reinforcements are needed. The Red Devils are long eliminated from the title race, and face a tough challenge to even qualify for top four. This despite being undefeated in their last 21 Premier League fixtures. Of course, 10 of those 21 resulted in draws, leaving United stuck in the same exact spot they were when the unvanquished run began- sixth.
Mourinho has had only one window to work with, as United have recently become a club that doesn’t do much business in the January transfer window. They seem to be a summer window only kind of team, as the only transactions we saw this past January were the departures of Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin. Bastian Schweinsteiger moved on later to the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer in March.
United have a lot of work to do this summer, and Mourinho said as much on Sunday.
“We have far to go. When you’re speaking about the 20-game unbeaten run, if you were speaking about just three more victories, then it would be different.
“I’m not talking about winning four, five, six or seven more games, just three. Against Bournemouth we missed a penalty. Hull crossed the midfield line once in 94 minutes. Both games were zero-zero.
“And there were other games like that. With just three more victories, we’d be quite stable in the top four with two matches in hand and playing to finish second or third. So what we have now is not bad at all –details make it look worse than it really is.”
Traditionally, United are huge spenders in the summer transfer window,with 2016 being the biggest and most expensive of all time at £157 million. The return of Paul Pogba, for £89 million marked the first time that United had ever broken the world transfer fee record.
“We had just one transfer window,” Mourinho added. “We didn’t use the second transfer window. We need a big transfer window again.”
The major rumors about United’s summer transfer window center around Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, who the club is apparently confident about acquiring.
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 and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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