MANCHESTER UNITED TALK: FULL STEAM AHEAD TO THE GOAL OF WINNING TROPHIES THIS SEASON - REALISTIC OR UNACHEIVABLE?
Who knows what the future holds at Manchester United? Maybe over the next three years, Manchester United will look at Jadon Sancho as a player who would not have fit the mold of what the Manchester United manager is trying to build at Old Trafford, or maybe Jadon Sancho can go on to become an excellent player and Manchester United will see the disappointment of not signing Jadon Sancho as a missed opportunity to acquire a player whom could have played a major role in navigating Manchester United to lifting a few more major trophies in the next four years playing alongside fantastic players such as Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashard, Anthony Martial, and Nemanja Matic.
As the title of today’s article suggests, there are still a few lingering doubts that after the new addition made in January and the summer 2020 transfer window Manchester United are still not in a prime position to grab a place in the top four spots in the Premier League table. As an added incentive, the average consensus around the current Manchester United team as per recent evidence received from football analysts and response received from the recent thoughts of a couple of Manchester United fans, the general mindset around Manchester United football club appears to be that after securing the club’s last few signings for the summer of 2020, not enough!
Manchester United still does not have the right amount of quality players in Ole Gunner Solskjaer's squad to secure success in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League competition comes to the conclusion of the 2020 season.
Winning both the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League competition is certainly the right ambition for Manchester United to have but can the ambition become a guaranteed reality this season?
There is a misconception that seems to be ever-present at Old Trafford which is that as soon as any manager in charge at Manchester United is equipped with a good team covered with at least ten top-class players, the automatic demand placed on the managers lap to win both the Premier League trophy, the UEFA Champions League trophy as well other miscellaneous trophies all in the same seasons these top-class players were signed will be guaranteed.
In layman's terms, Manchester United’s philosophy appears to be- assemble five or six top-class players in the team and win five or six trophies in the next two seasons. Football does not work that way because football is a sport and sports is a competition and in a competition, nothing is guaranteed. Manchester United has somewhat strengthened this past 2020 summer transfer window but there is still no guarantee that even with the recent few additions Manchester United have been able to make this summer that Ole Gunner Solskjaer will successfully lead his new- improved Manchester United squad to win a couple of trophies this upcoming 2020/21 season.
The fact is that Manchester United have improved a little bit this summer but realistically if the comparison of the improvement done this summer between Manchester United and other clubs across Europe such as Liverpool and Chelsea is carried out, the decision to guarantee Manchester United will win the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech all signed by Chelsea within the past year. Liverpool just boosted their squad by adding a hand full of new players with recent acquisition Diogo Jota being added as yet another talent added to Liverpool's roster that just strengthens Jorgen Klopp's side even stronger than they were when Liverpool won the Premier League trophy and the UEFA Champions League trophy last season. No doubt Manchester United supporters will find the comparison made between Manchester United and fierce rivals Liverpool quite uncomfortable to see.
However, as we have made our way out of the 2020 summer transfer window, the idea of comparing a club such as Liverpool who have once again made a strong statement of intent to succeed this season by strengthening their squad this past summer against a club such as Manchester United who hardly made any significant moves this past summer transfer window becomes very hard to avoid.
The conversation centered around Manchester United continues to point out that despite the decent start to the season which the Red Devils have been able to achieve this early on in the 2020/21 campaign, concerns continue to rumble around old Trafford that Manchester United will struggle once again this season just as the Red Devils had experienced during the midway point of last season. As we move deeper into the current season, a closer look at the current team being shepherded by manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer and the entire coaching staff at Manchester United suggests that the Red Devils might have needed to complete two or three more signings to fill up a few more holes in some positions lacking dept in the current Manchester United squad.
The right-wing position, the right-back position, and the center forward position were the key positions where Manchester United really needed to reinforce this summer but manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer has unfortunately been left shorthanded as we concluded the 2020 summer transfer window.
Let’s think about this. Bruno Fernandes, Donny Van De Beak, Harry McGuire, Daniel James, and Aaron Wan Bissaka. Five signings over the past two years will most certainly give the Board of Directors at Manchester United a reason to hold their heads high moving forward. However, according to reports gathered around Manchester United, the work is not done yet is the message sent to the Manchester United board of directors by the media and by the Manchester United fan base.
The board of directors at Manchester United needed to make at least two more signings in the form of one full back and one right-winger. So far only one of the two positions was somewhat filled in the form of 18-year-old winger Amad Traore from Ivory Coast. As the 2020 football season continues to move towards its climax, the outcome of Manchester United's decision making during the recently concluded 2020 summer transfer window should be interesting to watch unravel for the rest of the season.
