It started so well, didn’t it? Day 1, Cunha to United, here we go.
Then talk about Mbeumo, and Delap, and Gyokeres, and Osimhen. Lots of talk. Lots of rumours. Maybe we were finally behaving like a serious football club again?
Then one by one, our first choice transfer targets blew us off for clubs offering European football, and the one player who actually wants to come to us may be lost because of an extra few million quid United keep haggling over.
What on earth is going on?
Missed Targets
Whether you were keen on Delap or not, for £30 million, he was an affordable replacement for Højlund who actually scores once in a while. With service from Cunha, Bruno and others, he could well have been more prolific in a United shirt.
But Delap snubbed United to join Chelsea instead. Why? European football. Watching a promising young player choose a rival over us wasn’t fun, especially given that Delap isn’t even a world class player. No disrespect to the lad.
Then there was Gyökeres. I genuinely, and probably naïvely, believed we could get this one done. I thought the relationship with Amorim could swing it for us. At the time of writing he hasn’t officially joined Arsenal, but all the reports suggest a statement is imminent.
Once again, it is the promise of Champions League football that turned his head. To be fair, Gyökeres never actually rejected Manchester United, he just prioritised Arsenal. The end result is the same, but he was at least open to the idea of becoming a Red.
Victor Osimhen rejected us too. The rumours around him were always a little more hazy than with Delap or Gyökeres, but it turns out we were indeed in for the Nigerian goal machine, but he wasn’t willing to come down to the wages we were offering. And why should he? You don’t go to a world class striker in his prime and offer him reduced wages when you have just finished 15th in the Premier League. What kind of incentive is that?
The Bryan Mbeumo Saga
Then we have Bryan Mbeumo, a player we desperately want and who genuinely wants to join us. He is just old enough to remember the days when we were still challenging for titles, and that’s part of the attraction for him.
United won’t have that kind of impact on players in a few years, they will all be too young to remember us being good. So we need to make the most of it wile we still can and perhaps get back to those glory days.
Mbeumo when he finally signs for us pic.twitter.com/74R4AO3VWw
— Trey (@UTDTrey) July 2, 2025
But we won’t do it by haggling over £2.5 million like we have been doing with Brentford over Mbeumo. In today’s market, that makes zero sense, and it damages the reputation of the club, too. It makes us look like we don’t know what we want or what we are doing. Every other deal we try and do will suffer because of it.
This transfer should have been easy, Brentford named their price, which is fair based on what we paid for Cunha, but United higher ups are penny pinching. Not shrewdly negotiating, but low balling. As a result, the saga has been going on for a month and may not even happen at all.
We are 3 bids in, Tottenham are still interested in snatching him away down South, and the new season is fast approaching. The Mbeumo non-deal isn’t just frustrating, it’s embarrassing.
Desperate Measures
So after failing to sign one player who wants to join Man Utd and a handful of players who don’t, we have hit desperate measures.
The latest name linked with United is Dominic Calvert Lewin. I mean really!? A guy who scored a grand total of 13 goals in his last 3 seasons. Not to mention his trouble with injuries.
Are we really considering signing an injury prone striker who doesn’t score to solve our goal draught?
From Osimhen to Ekitike to Gyokeres to Calvert Lewin… get INEOS gone man because im done with this club if this is true https://t.co/oZ3SDpedWg
— Ace🥤 (@speeds_c) July 5, 2025
He might be on a free but that is not a reason to bring him in. We had nothing but trouble with injuries last season – at one point we could barely field a team – so what is the thinking here?
It reeks of desperation and panic, and underscores how far standards have fallen at Old Trafford. I have nothing against the guy personally, but Calvert Lewin had two good seasons, and they were a long time ago.
I know Ollie Watkins has been in the conversation too, and other names like Nkunku and Ekitiké, but none of them seem likely right now, and the fact we are even talking about Calvert Lewin is depressing.
Players we Can’t Sell
It’s not just on the buying side we are struggling – we can’t get rid of anyone either.
We have 5 players who have officially told the club they want to leave:
- Antony
- Rashford
- Sancho
- Garnacho
- Malacia
All have been out on loan except Garnacho, and none of the clubs they were loaned to want to keep them except Real Betis who are very keen to keep Antony. But they can’t afford him. Despite the fact we would be selling him at a massive loss.
It’s a similar story with Sancho. Juventus are apparently interested, again at a massive loss to United, but Sancho’s wages are an obstacle, and he doesn’t have the brains between his ears to realise that salvaging his career is more important than one extra year of inflated wages.
Garnacho and Rashford would both represent pure profit for Manchester United since they are home grown talents, but every club in the world knows our situation so no one is going to play top dollar for them. We wouldn’t make a loss, but we won’t get proper value for them either. Not that anyone is interested… Well, Chelsea are apparently exploring the idea of signing Garna but they are interested in everyone.
Tyrell Malacia feels like he left ages ago, and wouldn’t represent a huge financial gain in transfer fees or recouped wages, but we can’t get rid of him either.
Impact on Next Season
If nothing changes over the next few weeks, I really worry about the coming season. We could actually start off weaker than we were last year.
Depth will be a huge issue, and our attacking quality will have had an upgrade, but not enough of one. What’s more, the impact a poor transfer window has on squad morale can’t be ignored.
For Amorim too it must feel hugely disappointing. He will have at least have had time to train with his players, which he didn’t really get much time to do last season due to a busy schedule, an injury crisis, and his mid-season appointment. Nevertheless, being unable to bring in the players he needs to implement his system will be hugely frustrating and limit his ability to play the football he wants to, not to mention causing him more mental fatigue.
All of this adds up to next season being potentially just as bad as the last. That’s why this transfer window was so important, but it looks like United have messed it up.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope we see a flurry of activity over the next couple of weeks. There is still time and there is still hope, but hope is not a strategy. As things stand, this could quite realistically be one of Manchester United’s worst transfer windows ever.