The Manchester United fan base has been extremely vocal due to the team’s lackluster start to the season and an uneventful offseason. Manchester United currently sits at 14th, out of 20 teams, in the Premier League table and has a record of 2-2, not quite living up to the expectations of fans. The community of supporters have mainly shown outrage and discontent, seen in the form of blogs and op-ed pieces.
Some fans believe that the club is in a tough position due to a poor offseason. Pauly Kwestel asserts that Ed Woodward and Matt Judge, the Executive and trade negotiator of Manchester United, “did a fantastic job of destroying all the goodwill that had been built up at the end of last season.” Kwestel expands on this claim, stating that “the toxicity has never been worse than this past summer,” which can be seen in the form of the club criticizing the fans for not being patient along with continuous negativity over social media. In this case, I agree with Kwestel’s assertion that the toxicity has never been worse than what we have seen in the previous months. That being said, I also believe that the outrage from the fans is completely warranted. At the end of last season, Manchester United went on a 14 game unbeaten streak in the Premier League, a very impressive feat. Despite the streak, United was still 33 points behind first placed Liverpool, accumulating 99 points in the season, which is shown on the Premier League’s website. Being so far behind from first place, it is clear that United’s current team is not good enough to legitimately contend for the league title. With high hopes for the offseason, Manchester United fans were baffled to see the club only sign three new players and fail to acquire many big name targets. In response, fans took to social media, bashing the club for its inability to improve over the offseason.
As for specific players to sign, Pauly Kwestel insists that “United HAVE to sign Sancho” due to his young age of 20 years and raw talent as a player. I acknowledge that acquiring Sancho would improve the team, but there are other players and positions of need. Since Sancho plays right wing, he would be taking over the starting spot which is currently Mason Greenwood’s. Sancho and Greenwood are very similar in terms of raw talent and potential. Since Greenwood is only 18 years young, he could potentially be better than Sancho in the coming years. Additionally, there are other positions of need which Manchester United need to address. According to Manchester United’s website, the starting front three of Rashford, Martial, and Greenwood combined for 56 goals in the Premier League, the most out of any attack in the league last season, proving that the attack clearly is not the issue. Instead the team should look to bolster the defensive line with a large purchase at the center back position. While Sancho might not be the most blaring need for the team, I do agree that signing Sancho would improve the morale and support of fans.
On top of former players giving their opinions on signings, the current Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjær, mainly known as Ole, has also given his input on potential offseason transactions. In a recent interview, Ole reaffirmed his confidence in the players currently on the roster. I understand that as a coach he needs to remain positive in order to keep trust in his players, but I disagree with his opinion. The goal for every season should be to win the league; with the current team, this would be a very hard and nearly impossible task. Teams such as Liverpool and Manchester City are much better which was exemplified in the 2019-2020 season. Other teams, such as Chelsea and Everton, are also expected to drastically improve due to their active offseason, signing numerous big name players. While other teams in the Premier League made strides to improve, Manchester United failed to add any meaningful acquisitions. The offseason can prove to be detrimental for United and beneficial to other teams which seized the opportunity to improve.
Although Ole has been very encouraging of the current team, he has had times where his input on future transactions has slipped out. Ole believes that by selling some players, specifically right winger Dan James, the team can generate funds in order to help purchase highly skilled, expensive players. The original target Ole wanted was Sancho. While it has become clear that United will not be able to acquire Sancho, there are still many other players which United could target. I strongly concur with Ole’s belief that players should be sold in order to afford new transfers. At this point, it will be extremely difficult to compete with other clubs which have spent hundreds of millions on transfers over the past offseason.
The main reason Manchester United should sell players is to generate revenue. According to Jai Vardhan Singhania, United are set to lose an amount close to “£139.39 million from the absence of crowds and lack of commercial revenue.” Singhania asserts that the loss of revenue is the reason behind United’s lack of signings over the offseason. I partially agree with Singhania's opinion. The current pandemic is making it harder to generate revenue; however, United has still made some sizable signings. The issue is not that they can not spend money, but more so how they are spending their money. According to Jaikuran Randhawa, 33 year-old Cavani, one of United’s offseason additions, is set to make approximately 12 million euros each year. Cavani is projected to rarely play and only add depth to the roster. Paying 12 million euros for a player to sit on the bench is ridiculous. Rather than waste the already limited funds, United should either save it’s money or sign players who will make a meaningful impact on the team.