There are plenty of reasons why David Moyes just didn’t work out at Man United, but his transfer dealings were a major part of that.
He just seemed to be obsessed with the idea of signing Everton players, but he was only able to attract Marouane Fellaini.
Even when the team was struggling, he then moved to sign Juan Mata who didn’t really fit into the system, so it was no surprise that things didn’t turn around.
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One of their biggest issues was finding someone to act as the long term successor to Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, as they often struggled to control the game and it left them on the back foot too often.
This story has emerged about the chance he had to sign Thiago Alcantara, and it looks very damning in hindsight:
David Moyes decided he was not a player for him at United. Thiago could not believe it and being in Munich to sing the contract to join Pep’s team, asked his agent to ring MUFC again. Same answer, not a player needed. Then he decided to join Bayern
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) June 25, 2020
The price tag is very reasonable but the most incredible thing is the decision that he just wasn’t wanted as a player.
You could understand it if they tried to sign him and missed out, but this suggests they rejected the chance to sign him initially, before passing up a second time before he actually agreed to sign for Bayern.
It’s hard to say if Moyes would’ve lasted longer if he’d signed Thiago, but it definitely would’ve given him a better chance of success.