Manchester United are hours away from failing to meet three transfer objectives in the summer window. The club have spent £155m to bolster their midfield, but several players they hoped to offload remain on the books, and no left-back has been signed.
Midfield overhaul completed
United's major priority this summer was to strengthen their midfield, and Michael Carrick has been backed with three new arrivals, all with proven Premier League experience. Youri Tielemans arrived from Aston Villa, Andrey Santos signed from Chelsea, and Carlos Baleba joined from Brighton. Baleba was on United's radar last summer, but they were priced out of a move at the time.
The recruitment decisions this summer and 12 months ago have left United with an attack that can cause the best teams problems and a midfield that, on paper at least, should dictate games better than it has. But that has left certain individuals surplus to requirements.
Zirkzee and Ugarte set to stay
After seeing Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko arrive last summer, Joshua Zirkzee was shunted down the pecking order. The Dutchman's career in Manchester has never taken off, despite a goal on debut, and last season he started just five league games. The plan was to get him a new club, but a loan move to Juventus has broken down late in the day. Napoli have also expressed an interest given Zirkzee first made his name in Italy with Bologna, but United could be left with a situation where Zirkzee remains in Manchester.
Manuel Ugarte was also going to be deemed surplus to requirements this season. United's new midfield trio, coupled with Kobbie Mainoo, are ultimately vying for two spaces in the starting XI. Ugarte was tipped to move on, but a knee ligament injury at the World Cup has curtailed plans to offload him. It means both Zirkzee and Ugarte are looking like they will remain in Manchester despite there being next to no minutes available for them given the depth that Carrick now has.
No left-back signing
Alongside the midfield acquisitions, if the budget remained, United were hoping to land another left-back. Luke Shaw has been a regular in that position for years when fit, but is now into his 30s and was exposed for Ipswich's opener on Sunday. Newcastle's Lewis Hall had been on United's radar, but after losing Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, Newcastle are refusing to sell any more of their major stars. Any move would likely prove out of United's budget.
Barcelona's Alejandro Balde and youngster Jorge Salinas, who plays at Racing Santander, were also cited as possible targets, but with just hours to go it looks as if United will miss out on adding any defensive reinforcements. Gary Neville conceded that, despite the quality in attack, United's backline has the potential to cost them this season. He said: "I just would have liked to have seen Manchester United bring in a left back and a centre-back to advance the money from next season’s budget into this season and just make sure Michael Carrick is covered."
"So it’s not ideal. I’m shocked that Manchester United haven’t put at least one defender in. It would be perfect if they could find a left-sided centre-back that could play left back, but those players don’t tend to exist as much anymore."
