Manchester United's poor start to the season continued with a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano on Tuesday evening. Goals from Pablo Barrios and Ademola Lookman condemned Michael Carrick's side to a fifth game without a victory.
Recruitment questions mount
A host of factors have contributed to United's difficult campaign, including their summer recruitment. The starting XI picked by Carrick on Tuesday night contained no recognised left-back or centre forward, with the club focusing almost entirely on strengthening midfield instead.
Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba were the trio brought in to bolster the midfield, but all have endured difficult starts. Baleba has been out injured until recently, Tielemans appears to be suffering from a tiring summer that included a World Cup campaign, and Santos has struggled for game time.
Santos' difficult start
Santos made a surprise start against Atletico, only his third of the season. United have lost all three games Santos has started since his £50m move from Chelsea, including the opening day defeat to Hull and the Carabao Cup loss to Brighton.
Speaking on the Manchester is Red podcast ahead of the Atletico clash, the MEN's United reporters Tyrone Marshall and Steven Railston discussed Santos' plight. Many were taken aback when United moved for Santos, and the Brazilian's early months at the club have not gone to plan.
"It always felt a bit of a wild signing," Marshall said. "They like data at this club now, they were keen on the signing of Santos - so keen that when Chelsea asked for £50m they went 'here's £50m', which when you consider how tight they've been on other deals... I'm not saying Mateus Fernandes is the answer here, we've said all along he was too expensive, but United were willing to go to £85m, they just wanted to pay it over a longer term than Tottenham are. But to suddenly say to Chelsea 'the asking price is £50m we'll do it as £48m plus £2m'. But what's his role? Where's he going to play? What does he do?
"I think he's played 16 minutes in the Premier League since the opening day of the season. Do you need five midfielders for two positions? Because that is what they've got now if Mason Mount is playing that deeper role. The answer is: probably not. They've spent £50m on a fifth-choice midfielder.
"There are obvious questions about how they've spent that money. Santos had a good pre-season but lots of players look good in pre-season and then it drifts away and it's a lot harder when competitive action starts. It feels like he's on the periphery at the moment."
