Like one of those home renovation disasters, Manchester United are finding themselves rebuilding on top of the rebuild. Or at the very least, they’re tearing down that new extension they put on the structure last summer.
As the January market rumbles into life, United are open for business. Per sources with knowledge of the club’s situation, offers would be entertained for the bulk of the first team squad. That group is said to include not just the usual veterans whose performances haven’t measured up to their salary, but also the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo, Rasmus Hojlund and Leny Yoro.
In many of those instances, sales would be reluctant in the extreme. Garnacho arrived as a 16-year-old and has shown flashes of the sort of fearless wing talent that delights Old Trafford, Mainoo is United through and through, another who has room to grow, but whose performances on the biggest stages have earned him the right to do that in the shirt of his boyhood team.
As compelling a story as that makes for United supporters, these homegrown talents are also great for the balance sheet. One of the most notable successes of last summer was the raising of over £60 million in sales from Scott McTominay and Mason Greenwood, both academy graduates, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, whose initial transfer fee from Crystal Palace had been amortized. Manchester United ended the 2023-24 season not far from the limits allowed by the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). There is no quicker way to gain breathing room than clearing out your academy.
Suppose, in excessively simple terms, that United sold Mainoo, out of contract in the summer of 2027, to Chelsea for $50 million. Set aside the wages for an instant and that allows for £250 million spread across five year contracts to rebuild Ruben Amorim’s squad. That is the case to reluctantly sell one of your own, particularly when you’re looking at a 2025-26 season that is likely not going to have European football of any flavor.
It would be hard to make a profit on the remaining book value of Yoro, Hojlund and even Manuel Ugarte, another who has been linked with what would be a remarkably speedy sale. If United had their way, the likes of Marcus Rashford, Casemiro and Mason Mount would go first. Easier said than done. That AC Milan might consider half a season of Rashford, his wages subsidized by his parent club, seems a coup.
Best to realize the value of those who United haven’t spoiled yet. Maybe that includes Hojlund, averaging a smidgen over one shot per 90 in the Premier League and evidently at risk of frittering away the natural gifts that make for a really interesting striker. Is it really too late to bring those out under Amorim? Is it a better option to mold a different lump of clay after 18 fruitless months with the one you committed nearly $90 million on? Not for the first time since the change of ownership at Old Trafford 12 months ago, it is easier to ask questions about what Sir Jim Ratcliffe and company are doing than find answers.
There are further questions to be asked of some of these bright young things, particularly in relation to how they would fit into Ruben Amorim’s system. Among the possible PSR sales, can Mainoo be the best version of his fledgling self in a midfield two? Is there an easy fit for Garnacho, light on the defensive chops for a wing back, even one as aggressive as Amorim’s, and not quite natural enough in the interior to take a more advanced role?
That, however, is putting the cart before the horse. There is a reason why Liverpool baulked after initial talks with Amorim, who had appeared the frontrunner to take their managerial vacancy when Jurgen Klopp said he was leaving. It is understood that the then Sporting coach made clear that he would not be for sacrificing his 3-4-3 system. His early weeks at Old Trafford have only reaffirmed the sense that the man is not for turning. “I have to sell my idea,” he said after last month’s 2-0 loss to Newcastle. “I cannot find another one.”
If Amorim is their guy, United need to put together a roster that suits his system. That will take money that they are going to have to generate in the transfer market. There is a fine line to be trodden though. The last thing Ratcliffe wants to do is his own equivalent of that moment every owner checks their roster after sacking Antonio Conte, asking themselves how on earth Ivan Perisic and Victor Moses got there.
Given where United are — an awful long way from relevance at the top of the table — they need to be in talent accrual mode with a view to at least getting close to fulfilling CEO Omar Berrada’s vision to lift the title in 2028, the 150th anniversary of the club’s founding. At least some of their deals of late have shown that they got that. That is why they committed to the likes of Yoro, Hojlund and 23-year-old Ugarte.
They are rebuilding? What is the point of digging out the foundations and starting over?
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