admin Man United’s business in the transfer window has been decent so far and the right decisions are being made by Erik ten Hag.
Manchester United buys the players it wants and sells the ones it deems redundant this summer. Reasonable decisions are made and it certainly wasn’t always like that at Old Trafford.
The club’s operations have been updated and it seems a little too good to be true like something bad is about to happen. “Why is my soccer team acting sanely?” Fans think confused.
They’ve been used to making bad decisions over the past decade, as Ed Woodward made a series of mistakes during his tenure.
Richard Arnold succeeded Woodward as creative king last February, and while some fans would say he’s barely been behind his predecessor, his 18 months as CEO so far have been promising.
The management structure has been improved and progress has been made on the pitch, thanks in large part to Erik ten Hag, but with Woodward above him it would have been more difficult for the Dutchman to succeed.
Woodward was involved in managing the club’s football team when he was clearly unqualified for it. He studied physics at Bristol University and was a qualified chartered accountant.
Woodward’s strategy was always surprising and upon his appointment, Arnold wanted to distance himself from his predecessor and decided to retire from football and go into the business instead.
Arnold has been happy to empower football director John Murtough and there’s now a leadership group with multiple different voices present on investor calls, instead of Woodward almost single-handedly captaining the ship.
United sunk to dark depths with Woodward making the decisions but the tide seems to be turning. The business this summer has been encouraging and Ten Hag’s ruthless approach is steering the club in the right direction again.
Although it’s no secret United have a poor record of selling players, the wage bill has successfully been reduced and transfer fees have been raised, with the prospect of a few more outgoings in the next few weeks.
There have been 15 departures so far, including Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, David de Gea, Alex Telles and Anthony Elanga from the first-team, while Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage were relatively high-profile exits from the academy.
Di’Shon Bernard, Nathan Bishop, Ethan Galbraith, Ethan Laird, Bjorn Hardley, Charlie Wellens, Manni Norkett and Eric Hanbury have also left the club, with some leaving for nominal fees and others departing on the expiry of their contracts.
Those exits have raised over £20million and De Gea was the world’s highest-paid goalkeeper so his farewell was significant. That money can be invested back into the first-team and the kitty is set to be topped up again.
United have accepted a €15million (£12.93m) fee from Fenerbahce for midfielder Fred, who is flying for his medical this weekend, and that’s a reasonable sum for a 30-year-old who is entering the final year of his contract at the club.
West Ham have agreed a £30m fee with United for Harry Maguire and that deal is expected to go through. The player still needs to agree personal terms with David Moyes’ side but a clean slate for him is best for everyone involved.
Maguire made just eight league starts last season and he was stripped of the captaincy, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Tom Heaton and Scott McTominay even wore the armband over him in pre-season games.
Alongside the scheduled sales of Fred and Maguire, United have accepted a £7.78million offer from Bayer Leverkusen for goalkeeper Matej Kovar, who impressed with his ball-playing quality in friendlies against Leeds and Lyon this summer.
Kovar is 23 years old and he spent last season on loan at Sparta Prague, where he won the Czech first-division title, so there was no going back to playing academy football at Leigh Sports Village at this stage of his career.
There is believed to be a buyback clause with a right of first refusal in the deal with Leverkusen and the sale represents shrewd business when considering goalkeepers mature late and that Andre Onana is the new No.1 stopper.
Dean Henderson, Donny van de Beek, Eric Bailly and Brandon Williams are others who could follow through the exit door this summer and the deadwood is gradually being shifted, something fans have wanted for some time.
There’s still work to do in the transfer market, but the business this summer has been promising so far.
