Manchester United's transfer window: Midfield addressed, but defensive underbelly remains soft

In the off-season, The Athletic transfer correspondent David Ornstein predicted that Manchester United would be one of the busiest clubs in the transfer window given the magnitude of the rebuilding job at their hands. Midfield was the area that needed the most attention, followed by the need for a left-back and a striker.

Well, with the transfer deadline now in the rear-view mirror, we can say the Red Devils did address the midfield, but they remained conspicuously quiet in the other required areas. Suffice it to say, they were indeed not the busiest club in the transfer market as Ornstein suggested.

The window started rather poorly for Michael Carrick’s side, with their number one target Matheus Fernandes deciding to join Tottenham Hotspur. United believed that they were the front-runners for his signature for the longest time, but they were reluctant to match West Ham’s asking price of £85 million, especially given the Hammers’ relegation. Spurs did not have any problem and paid the money upfront after agreeing personal terms with the Portuguese.

If that was not enough, Spurs also went ahead and managed to snare Newcastle United midfield ace Sandro Tonali, another one of Man United’s midfield targets, for £100 million. That prompted a pretty vocal inquest from all involved at the club with regards to the slow nature of the business being done. This was, after all, after another one of United’s principal targets, Elliott Anderson, decided to join their local rivals Manchester City, giving them an early setback.

The midfield rebuild eventually gathered pace. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans were signed quickly in succession and with minimal noise. Santos provides good game-reading and intelligent space protection, while Tielemans can give you a bit of everything in terms of breaking up play, linking defence and attack, and scoring goals and providing assists. 

Multi-faceted midfield players were what the club had been looking for, and that is what they got with these two. Carlos Baleba then finally joined the club after a prolonged pursuit that began last year, giving them much-needed athletic ability with elite ball progression to go along with it.

However, for all the good, there is also the bad. It is an open secret that Man United need a left-back, with Luke Shaw’s reliability for another full season, especially one that will see them play as many as three games a week once their campaign gathers full steam, under question. Lewis Hall was the dream target, but with United digging heels all through the summer, Newcastle did not countenance a sale, having managed to sell multiple key players for healthy sums.

Jorge Salinas from Racing Santander and Alejandro Balde from Barcelona were also among the targets pursued, but the club’s slow nature of dealing with the two meant neither deal could come to fruition. It also meant that the club had to keep hold of 19-year-old Harry Amass, who was set to join Burnley on a permanent deal, as backup to Shaw.

The club’s failure to sign a backup striker is also cause for concern, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ollie Watkins being the players who were looked at. Mateta remains at Palace, while Watkins has moved to Saudi Arabia.

So there are good things about the window in terms of Man United’s midfield rebuild, but their failure to strengthen their defence given the porous nature of the left-back and centre-back positions, as well as not signing a forward, makes this a rather average window. 

Whether these signings, or their lack thereof, make or break United’s season, we will have to wait and see.