Manchester United want to be a top club. They just don’t operate like one

For most of last season, Manchester United fans were basking in the glow of a brilliant 2025 summer window. The recruitment was so good that club bosses clearly stuck to the same template this year: three forwards and a goalkeeper in 2025 became three midfielders and a goalkeeper in 2026. You do not need an Oxford degree to work out that 2027 is shaping up to be the year the defence finally gets sorted at Old Trafford.

And that is the real question hanging over this summer: have they actually done enough?

Last year United had finished 15th and just needed to stop the rot. This year, after a season that went way beyond expectations, the bar should have been much higher. But the way the club operates still does not match the ambition it keeps talking about, and that is what made this summer so frustrating.

To be fair, United did some good business. Their midfield needed rebuilding, and they addressed it properly, bringing in Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, with Karl Darlow arriving as free goalkeeping cover and Tynan Thompson added as a young winger for the future. The rebuild alone cost around 150 million pounds.

But you cannot build a squad one department at a time, and that is where this window falls apart. United finished third last season, getting back into the Champions League under Michael Carrick, who took a team that had finished 15th the year before and blew past every reasonable expectation. That result should have changed how the club approached this summer completely.

Instead, it felt like United were fixing one problem while quietly accepting that another could wait. The window has now closed, and the questions United had at the start of the summer are still sitting there unanswered.

UNITED HAD A CHANCE TO BE BOLDER

This is what makes the window so hard to accept if you actually support this club.

United finished third, kept Carrick in charge, saw Bruno Fernandes named Player of the Season and got back into the Champions League. At the same time, Manchester City lost both Pep Guardiola and Rodri, Liverpool and Chelsea got new managers, and there was real uncertainty hanging over several of the clubs United have spent years trying to catch.

For once, there was a genuine opening: a real chance to use the momentum from last season, strengthen the squad properly and put pressure on Arsenal at the top. Instead, United largely decided to sort the midfield and live with the weaknesses elsewhere. That is where the real criticism should land. It was never really about how much money United spent. It is about whether they used the opportunity right there in front of them.

MIDFIELD REBUILD DESERVES CREDIT

It would be unfair to pretend everything about this window was a disaster, because it was not. The midfield business was genuinely the strongest part of what United did. Santos cost an initial 48 million pounds, potentially rising with add-ons. Tielemans arrived for 35 million pounds after United activated his release clause. Baleba cost an initial 65 million pounds, potentially rising to 70 million, completing his move from Brighton shortly before the window shut.

Manchester United signed Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba (Reuters Photos)

You can understand United not wanting to get dragged into the mad prices being paid for midfielders elsewhere this summer. That part of the plan makes sense.

THE UNITED TAX

But this is where the argument around United’s spending gets complicated. There is a legitimate argument that United have been forced to pay more simply because they are Manchester United. Selling clubs know the size of the club, the pressure around every transfer and the desperation that builds when a position is left unattended too long.

Baleba was a good example. Brighton wanted more than 100 million pounds for him last summer; United never made a formal bid and walked away. A year later they returned and got the deal done for 65 million, plus a possible 5 million in add-ons. United were right not to pay Brighton’s original asking price. There is nothing wrong with refusing to cross a line just because a club knows you are Manchester United.

But there is a danger when that caution starts shaping the whole strategy. Elite football in 2026 means that if you want to compete for titles, sometimes you have to buy 100 million-pound players. Manchester City have just shown that, spending 116 million on Elliot Anderson and 125 million on Enzo Fernandez, with Ayyoub Bouaddi also costing around 85 million.

Nobody is saying United should throw that kind of money at every available player. But there is a difference between refusing to be taken advantage of and refusing to pay the going rate for elite talent. If United genuinely believed a player can transform the XI, they cannot always walk away because the number looks uncomfortable.

Being smart in the market is not the same as being miserly. United cannot keep overpaying simply because of who they are, but they also cannot become so obsessed with avoiding the tax that they miss the players who could take the team to another level. The objective is not to win the window by spending the least. It is to build a team capable of winning matches.

UNITED STILL END UP WITHOUT A LEFT-BACK

The problem is the rest of the squad needed just as much work and barely got any. Joshua Zirkzee remains at the club, and United still lack the attacking depth you would expect from a team returning to the Champions League. Benjamin Sesko is there, but another established striker did not arrive, and nothing significant was added out wide either.

Then there is left-back, a position that has been staring the club in the face all summer. Luke Shaw started every one of United’s 38 Premier League matches last season. Tyrell Malacia has since left, Shaw’s fitness record is still a worry, and United are now adding Champions League football to an already packed schedule. The club knew it needed genuine competition for him, not just a body on the bench.

Lewis Hall was the leading target, but Newcastle made it clear they had no interest in selling. Several other names were linked, including an enquiry for Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde, but none of it went anywhere. Late on, United asked about Manchester City’s Rayan Ait-Nouri on a possible loan, but City wanted an obligation to buy included, United would not commit, and the move fell through.

There is nothing wrong with deciding that was not worth it. What is harder to understand is why United were still scrambling at that stage of the window. If the club knew back in May that Shaw needed cover, why was the search still dragging on in the final days of August?

United will now lean on Shaw, with Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu able to fill in, while Harry Amass stays rather than going out on loan after United failed to bring in an experienced option. That is a big gamble heading back into Europe’s top competition.

UNITED SPENT LESS THAN NEWLY PROMOTED SIDES

United spent less than a number of the Premier League’s biggest clubs this summer as they prepare for their return to the Champions League. Manchester City spent around 458 million pounds. Chelsea spent around 349 million pounds, Tottenham around 303 million pounds and Liverpool pushed past 200 million pounds. Arsenal were also around the 200 million-pound mark.

The final figures vary slightly depending on whether add-ons are included, but the scale of spending around United is obvious. None of that alone proves United had a bad window. A club can spend 300 million pounds and still get it badly wrong.

But United were not just competing with those clubs on paper. They were trying to close a real gap on the pitch, and the investment around them shows just how serious that challenge remains.

The United tax does not mean the club has to spend recklessly. It means knowing when a premium is justified and when it is not. City paying huge fees for Anderson and Fernandez is a reminder that elite clubs will still back their judgement when they believe a player is worth it, and United cannot afford to treat every major fee as something to avoid on principle.

Chelsea are a useful comparison because their summer was not simply about throwing money at every problem. They brought in players, moved others on and backed their new manager with a major rebuild. Their window was not perfect either, but Chelsea still looked like a club actively shaping its squad with a real plan behind it.

That is the standard United need to start living up to.

CARRICK CANNOT CARRY THE BLAME

If this season goes badly, Michael Carrick cannot become the easy scapegoat, because he has already done far more than anyone reasonably expected of him.

Taking United from 15th to third was a remarkable achievement, and getting them back into the Champions League earned him the right to expect the club to strengthen the squad around him. There is no guarantee he repeats last season’s form, but the squad is ultimately down to the people who built it. United knew they needed a left-back, more attacking depth, and that the Champions League would add strain physically. If those weaknesses cost them this season, plenty of the blame sits above the manager.

The same goes for the players. It is easy to point the finger at Rashford, Maguire or anyone else when things go wrong, but these are players the club has chosen to keep and rely upon. Carrick can only work with what he is given.

SPORTING STRUCTURE HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

This is where Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, and whoever else runs the club’s transfer business, deserve real scrutiny.

Manchester United have developed a habit of leaving things until it is too late. A position becomes a weakness, the club sits on it, the problem worsens, and by the next window it is suddenly urgent again. Fans have watched this pattern too many times to find it convincing.

There was also frustration that United did not move on more of the senior squad, even while talking up ambitious future plans. Now there is talk of signing three defenders next summer. Maybe they will, but fans are entitled to ask why that has to wait a year.

It’s insane.

You backed Jason Wilcox over this mentality.

Forget the manager and wins or losses because we’re going to lose until Wilcox is gone.

I really can’t believe it#mufc pic.twitter.com/wgiXun8uKZ— The United Tribune (@utdtribune) September 2, 2026

The same criticism was thrown at the club under Ruben Amorim, when there was a real sense the manager had grown frustrated with the structure above him. Whether every claim about that was true or not, the underlying question has not gone anywhere: who is actually making the football decisions at Manchester United, and are those decisions good enough? Berrada and Wilcox have to answer that. So does ownership.

INEOS QUESTION IS BIGGER THAN ONE WINDOW

The frustration with Ineos was never really about how much they spent this summer alone. It goes back to what fans were promised when Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos arrived.

Supporters were told this would be a different direction, and instead there has been a heavy focus on cost-cutting, job losses and higher ticket prices, alongside questions about the debt the club is carrying, how the new stadium is being financed, and whether United are being asked to fund themselves rather than being properly backed by their owners.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Omar Berrada, and Jason Wilcox make up the core executive leadership group guiding Manchester United (Reuters Photo)

Those are complicated financial questions. But the bigger question underneath is a fair one: what was the point of the ownership change if the football side is still operating under such tight constraints?

The Glazers never pretended to be anything other than what they were, and their time at United became synonymous with debt and no real football ambition. Ineos arrived promising something different. If the reality turns out to be just another version of selling to buy and asking the football side to make do, fans are entitled to ask what has actually changed. Old Trafford, the stadium project, the job cuts and the ticket price rises are all part of the same conversation to the average fan.

That is why the Ineos promise matters so much. If ownership cannot provide the resources or structure to take United forward, they have to be held accountable for that.

FOUR MONTHS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING

There is still an argument that this summer’s caution could pay off down the line. United have returned to the Champions League, which should boost the club’s finances, while the wage bill has also been trimmed through departures.

There are fair footballing reasons for holding back too. United want to give Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven a proper chance, and did not want to sign a left-back purely for the sake of it.

So maybe January really will be the answer. If United are sitting comfortably inside the Champions League places when the window reopens, the club should have both the reason and the money to strengthen properly. But if they are outside the top five by January, the money side gets a lot more uncomfortable, and the club could end up cutting costs rather than adding to the squad. That is why the next four months matter so much.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER SUMMER

Next summer there will be new names doing the rounds: Nathan De Cat, Kees Smit, Assan Oudraogo and others nobody is even talking about yet who will suddenly become the next 100 million-pound player everyone wants.

That is just how football works. There will always be another target and another chance to fix things. But that cannot become an excuse for not sorting out the problems already staring you in the face.

Manchester United had a genuinely good opportunity this summer: the Champions League, an overachieving manager, a squad showing real signs of life, and rivals going through their own upheaval. They strengthened the midfield, but did not properly sort the left-back position, did not replace Hojlund with another established striker, did not add enough depth going forward and did not make the squad look finished.

Maybe Carrick proves everyone wrong again. Maybe Shaw stays fit all season, or the midfield signings turn United into a far better team than the numbers suggest. That is the uncertainty of football.

But if United fall short this season because of holes they knowingly left in the squad, nobody should pretend the warning signs were not there. The board knew about them. The football department knew about them. The fans knew about them too.

Manchester United keep saying they want to become a top club. The next step is to actually start making decisions like one. That does not mean spending 100 million pounds on every player, or paying whatever a selling club demands. It means identifying the players who can genuinely improve the team and having the conviction to sign them when the opportunity comes. It means planning early rather than scrambling late, and fixing weaknesses before they become emergencies, because there will always be another transfer window, another player to chase and another position that needs fixing.

At some point, United have to stop preparing for the team they want next year and start building the team they need right now.

– Ends

Published By:

Saurabh Kumar

Published On:

Sep 2, 2026 12:15 IST