Manchester United have long been a club without a unified sense of direction. Something which became frighteningly clear last month.
While United’s hierarchy have spent a lot of money on trying to build a successful squad, it was only really under previous boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that any coherent squad building occurred across consecutive years.
This lack of long-term vision is part of the reason United rejected the chance to sign three players during the transfer January window.
As per journalist Fabrizio Romano, United declined the chance to sign midfielders Denis Zakaria and Boubacar Kamara and forward Julian Alvarez who has now been signed up by United’s local rivals Manchester City because of concerns over the new managers plans in the summer.
The clubs currently at the top of the English Premier League all have a clear distinct transfer strategy regardless of who is in charge. And due to United not yet knowing who will be in charge come the summer they chose not to sign these young players due to the new manager potentially not liking the transfers.
While on the surface it is a good idea to not make signings for the sake of it, all three players represented relatively cheap investments and are players who could have grown into moulds any new manager would like.
Former United CEO Ed Woodward has now left his role within the club, with his place being taken by Richard Arnold.
The Red Devils need to formulate a long-term transfer plan even when manager turnover is a fairly regular occurrence. Otherwise they will never be able to create a squad capable of truly competing with the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
United interim coach Ralf Rangnick allowed a number of players to leave on loan, including Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek.
However, the lack of incoming signings of any of the three aforementioned individuals showcases why United have been incapable of building capable squads since Sir Alex Ferguson retired – they rarely want to recruit young rising stars who can potentially fit the squads future mould and instead only look for established stars.