Rate the window out of 10.

I rate the window as a 6. I do think not panic buying is a good decision. If we can finish 5th, everyone will be happy with the decision. No matter what, Sesko, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Mainoo, Santos, Belaba, Yoro, Heaven and Lammen has another season under their belt. JJ will be physically ready to be unleash following season. Next season, we will find out new RB, CB and CB. Hopefully we bring in another LW and striker to challenge for the league.
 
Highfather_24 said:
5/10.

The Athletic article was an awful read.

- Had Anderson,Tchouameni and Fernandes as top targets. Couldnt compete financially on those deal
- Were basically humbled and spat on by Tottenham and WHU on the Fernandes deal, and revealed fee was a bigger issue than wages
- Were told A.Scott was not for sale, and Ederson had knee issues, so pivoted to Tielesman and Santos
- Went in for Hall only in August. Had no other real backup in mind
- Panicked and scrambled near deadline day for the likes of Salinas, Balde and Ait Nouri
- No CFs either
- Failed to sell/loan the likes of Rashford, Zirkzee etc
- Deadline day drama over a youngster, and still refused to pay up

So incompetent, and honestly embarassing.
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Think most of this is just plain wrong. Andersen chose City, Tchouameni would only have been available if Real managed to buy Rodri, and choosing not to over pay for Fernandes was a sensible decision, its not being 'humbled'. Likewise we declined Balde because we didn't want to commit to a permanent deal, and we were offered Ait Nouri, asked for details, but again only willing to take a loan, probably because we want to go back in for Hall next year.
You can't control what other teams do, if selling teams set OTT prices and other teams are willingly to get fleeced all we can do is make sensible choices for ourselves and pivot to other options. Likewise we can't force other teams to buy our players. We've had incompetent windows in the past under different leadership, but this window and recent ones have been anything but.
 
mctrials23 said:
Christ you lot are depressing. We've sorted out our midfield for the foreseeable future in all likelihood and we have a great attacking unit. Defence needs work but if we had bought a LB it would easily be an 8/10 window. People giving it a 3 are mental.
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But we didn't sign a LB and there are huge question marks over 2 out of the 3 midfield signings. We did nothing apart from that, I don't think it's mental to suggest it wasn't great. The impression seems to be that the club is content with fighting for CL spots.
 
7/10

This United squad doesn't have the numbers to win a Quadruple. But it DOES have the numbers to match its quality across four competitions.

We'll get knocked out of some the cups and fall a little bit short in the PL, and all the naysayers will chirp about how this is proof that the transfer window was a failure. But winning everything was never going to be feasible in 2027.

Another LB and CF would have given us a bit more breathing room. But the age profile of the squad is really good. So as the younger players develop, we'll have a better idea of precisely where the gaps are in the squad next summer. It's possible to do too much too quickly, and paint ourselves into a corner for the rest of the rebuild. In fact, that's been the story of the last 13 years. This window's incremental updates should help us avoid that trap.

It's also important to note that United DID NOT need to pay the 'United Tax' at any point this summer, and it feels as though there's finally been a reset on our how our profligate spending has been taken advantage of since the Woodward era. Consider it short term pain for long term gain. I'm glad INEOS didn't chicken out at the last minute to ruin the new reputation we've worked so hard to build. From now on, selling clubs will think of us as sensible buyers rather than easy marks. It had to be done, and it'll make next summer a hell of a lot easier.
 
Mockney said:
There's a difference between thinking we can plausibly win the League, to thinking we shouldve made a push for it/been in the race....which is a perfectly normal thing for a club who finished 3rd to think frankly.

Its also a massive transition year where City and Liverpool (the two big hitters of the last decade) have new managers and could be a lot weaker. It would've been a very obvious moment to identify as one to 'push on'....but for whatever reason (and im sure financials are one of those) we've decided 'just about keeping it ticking along and hoping for the best' was the call. Its completely reasonable to find that disappointing
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Exceptional circumstances you’d have to agree
To challenge Arsenal we’d need 7 top players, no one is doing that
 
5/10

Our midfield purchases are quite risky in nature and we've left ourselves exposed at fullback and backup striker.

If Sesko and Shaw stay fit and they along with Santos/Baleba hit good form then rightly in retrospect it'll have been a 7/10. That seems unlikely so can't be given up front.
 
Way too early to judge. Last year everyone was raving about Liverpool's transfer business as being the most dominant display of spending post Premier League win in history. Likewise, I think our business last year has aged very well but at the time people were hitting panic buttons after the first two matches.

We have strengthened the midfield, without a doubt. Tielemans is a fantastic player, albeit he's started a bit shit. Santos is exciting and Baleba has a very high ceiling - although he is coming off a notably poor season (personally think his head was turned by United last year).

Left back is a glaring hole that has been discussed to death, but I may be in the minority in thinking that a fully fit Shaw is bloody good. It's just a case of the number of matches this year, which is a worry.

However, compared to rivals we have clearly been outmuscled and not even turned up to compete. I feel like we were swatted away on the Anderson signing, gazumped by Spurs of all people on M. Fernandes and were never in for players like Tchouameni. Lewis Hall would have been perfect, but again with Newcastle flogging Tonali for £100m and Guimaraes for £85m it was a non-starter.

All things considered, right now it feels like 6/10 for me. I'm happy with every single transfer we made, this isn't an Antony for 95m EUR situation that was screaming "oh feck what have we done". We just didn't finish the job (and I don't blame the football side of club for that, it's ultimately down to shit ownership hindering us).
 
At this point: 5/10.

Addressed the midfield, finally, though I'm slightly concerned about the general lack of athleticism outside of Baleba.

Left Back is obviously a big concern, and bigger given how Shaw looks at the moment. Failure to address this is the biggest black mark for me, at this point, even a loan would have been fine.

The lack of outgoings is a big disappointment. Unable to shift Zirkzee or Rashford, couldn't get a club to outright buy our two goalies that aren't needed any more. Some of the fees paid for our younger players felt a little on the low side, but whatever.

Better be in excellent financial shape next year for this window to pan out as it has, but I fear we miss out on CL.
 
golden_blunder said:
We have one striker

The only saving grace for this window is that many other clubs left themselves short too
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We have players that can play up front a lot more convincingly than George or Johnson.

Also, how many clubs have more than one seasoned CF these days? Chelsea do after signing Welbeck, but Arsenal have Gyokeres and then they play Havertz, who isn't really a CF. Don't City just have Haaland now?

Really we need to sign another young talented CF to push Sesko, but that will cost a fair bit i would imagine.
 
Mockney said:
I fluctuate between 5 and 6 because the midfield could be very good value if it all clicks, but likewise it could not, and being only one/two personell better off going into a 20 extra game season just smacks of something we didnt intent to do, and therefore failure.

Its also the manner of it all that worries me.

Ive no issue with not competing with the 100m targets, but we shouldve had a far better plan to make up for that. It seems very obvious that we drastically misjudged the window, after briefing Anderson was going to be our top target and then acting surprised that the league's most high profile available CM going into the World Cup as an England starter wasnt going to be 60-70m - which seems to be the limit we've set ourselves on transfers after managing it last season, and frankly makes us look dumb.

We then just bumbled around targeting the most obvious people until eventually settling on our back up choice who we knew wanted to come and we got late on after he'd already injured himself because he was clearly so far down our list.

...and then we just gave up.

There is absolutely a bunch of players out there in the entire world of footballers that couldve been useful and acquired cheaply... there will be players worth 100m next summer that arent immediately obvious this summer (like Anderson and Fernandes, for example).and we clearly just werent competent or imaginative enough to find them. Thats the bigger worry for me.

If we dont get top 4 again this season, then itll be a huge failure that cant just be put down to our financial difficulties.



One position can absolutely affect one or two placings in the league. Its a couple of wins and/or losses, and if our 'plan' and immediate ability to get out targets in the future comes down to getting 4/5/6th, that will be a huge issue.
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Not if it's a LB. Our final position will come down to the likes of Bruno and Sesko staying fit, MDL coming into the backline (or Yoro finally making his claim), and how well the new midfielders will gel.
 
Robocrap said:
3/10.


Seriously? No offence but if you think that we will buy anything in January you are deluded. It will be the usual "No valute in the market" bollocks and "We are concentrating on the summer" nonsense.
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I believe we will try to move ZZ in January and to bring a back up CF. Also, if LB becomes a real problem, then we may bring someone else in.
 
r0663664 said:
I rate the window as a 6. I do think not panic buying is a good decision. If we can finish 5th, everyone will be happy with the decision. No matter what, Sesko, Mbeumo, Cunha, Amad, Mainoo, Santos, Belaba, Yoro, Heaven and Lammen has another season under their belt. JJ will be physically ready to be unleash following season. Next season, we will find out new RB, CB and CB. Hopefully we bring in another LW and striker to challenge for the league.
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Everyone is happy with 5th? Really? Everyone? Just because we are so sht that when we get Champions league we tend to drop the next season does not mean 5th is a good season. Its still sht. And what makes you think we can go from 5th to challenging? If we can't get a lb and striker this window then what makes you think we will manage a defensive overhaul, plus striker plus lw next season?
 
SirScholes said:
Exceptional circumstances you’d have to agree
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The exceptional circumstance was only having 40 games, which we used to our advantage. This year we dont have that so we're liable to go backwards if our goal is just to stand still, not to mention that Chelsea, Spurs etc are also out of Europe and could plausibly use the same advantage which is even more reason for us to have actually strengthened to give us the best chance of maintaining our position. We havent done that.

SirScholes said:
To challenge Arsenal we’d need 7 top players, no one is doing that
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Again, challengeling is different to actually winning it. And there is every possibility that Arsenal's players (particularly WC ones) are going to be knackered and/or that refs come down a lot harder on their set piece tactics which sees them getting a lot less points.

This season presented an opportunity. Otherwise whats the attitude here? We were lucky last year, everyones better than us anyway so feck why bother doing anything?
 
3/10 all three points for Baleba who I believe will be a great signing for us, finally.
Santos cost less than Delap..
Teilemens, 5 year contract for an injury prone 29yr old?
A huge minus for getting absolutely nothing we were going for, and not replacing players who are past it. We simply haven’t got enough cover for the extra games.
But the biggest issue is all the gaslighting bullshit and trying to con the fanbase.
We are already doing our Christmas list for next year. Like your Dad telling you your only getting a card this year and you saying it’s alright Dad I know money is tight as he’s tacking to port on his new yacht.
 
You can justify it however you want, but go back and read the forums, and literally no one wanted just 3 signings. So its cope.

We simply didnt do enough.
 
Highfather_24 said:
You can justify it however you want, but go back and read the forums, and literally no one wanted just 3 signings.

We simply didnt do enough.
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And even if you find someone who did, they certainly wouldn't have wanted all three of those signings to be in CM.

The bottom line is that we went into this window reportedly interested in improving three or four different positions, and only improved one. And even in that case, we had preferred targets we missed out on.

Even if you want to be generous and say a lot of it was out of the club's control due to not being able to offload players or other clubs spending crazy fees, the end result is still a bad window for us.
 
Crimson King said:
Not if it's a LB. Our final position will come down to the likes of Bruno and Sesko staying fit, MDL coming into the backline (or Yoro finally making his claim), and how well the new midfielders will gel.
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I mean we literally went behind on Saturday because our LB got skinned (and then needed a slip, a dodgy handball and a penalty to get ahead) All it takes is that to happen in a tight game against a good side and we drop points...and if we arent making a push to challenge, then we're going to be living or dying by those margins in 4/5/6th
 
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Crimson King said:
I think there's also a chance you are overestimating the impact though. We're not going to fail hard because of one position, that's not how football works. It doesn't suddenly invalidate the good players we do have in other parts of the pitch.

I'm sure at some point we will see someone even less than ideal than Shaw playing at LB, and that will change how the team will play somewhat. Ultimately though, that's what a coach is there to do. We could have signed a LB, him and Shaw both get injured at the same time, and then we'd still have to find another solution mid-season.

We needed to sign someone better then Shaw so he became the back up. Beyond Hall, I'm not sure who we could have got that makes that happen.
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It is exactly how football works at this level. If you have a weakness opponents will target it and some opponents will have players good enough that it will mean you not winning the game.

We didn't need to sign someone better then Shaw either. Just someone more likely to stay fit and who would have been better then potentially using Yoro there.

When you have adequate resources and strength in your team then you can have the luxury of being picky. When you're only player in a position has a terrible injury record, has never coped well with heavy fixture schedules, and has to be taken off and hour into every game due to getting tired, then it is something you either address or re-evaluate how you expect your season to pan out.

I would assume our minimum standard this season is CL qualification and pushing for a trophy, which means LB is absolutely going to be a problem.

Coaches are there to get the best out of the players they have available to work with. It isn't their job or within their remit to perform miracles with inadequate personnel
 
Crimson King said:
I think there's also a chance you are overestimating the impact though. We're not going to fail hard because of one position, that's not how football works. It doesn't suddenly invalidate the good players we do have in other parts of the pitch.

I'm sure at some point we will see someone even less than ideal than Shaw playing at LB, and that will change how the team will play somewhat. Ultimately though, that's what a coach is there to do. We could have signed a LB, him and Shaw both get injured at the same time, and then we'd still have to find another solution mid-season.

We needed to sign someone better then Shaw so he became the back up. Beyond Hall, I'm not sure who we could have got that makes that happen.
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A lot are overestimating the impact of signing Hall and where we realistically should finish. As you've put barring a crazy defensive crisis we should be okay.
 
Mockney said:
I mean we literally went behind on Saturday because our LB got skinned (and then needed a slip, a dodgy handball and a penalty to get ahead) All it takes is that to happen in a tight game against a good side and we drop points...and if we arent making a push to challenge, then we're going to be living or dying by those margins in 4/5/6th
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Yeah but you're scaling that up to happen in every game now. We won plenty of matches against better teams than Ipswich with Shaw at LB last season. He'll have good moments and bad moments, just like every player.

You're also showing your hand by looking past the fact we won that match very comfortably in the end. So what if it took a mistake from an Ipswich player to equalise? The handball was well within the rules, and Cunha was through on goal for that penalty.

Some of you just choose to be miserable.
 
noodlehair said:
It is exactly how football works at this level. If you have a weakness opponents will target it and some opponents will have players good enough that it will mean you not winning the game.

We didn't need to sign someone better then Shaw either. Just someone more likely to stay fit and who would have been better then potentially using Yoro there.

When you have adequate resources and strength in your team then you can have the luxury of being picky. When you're only player in a position has a terrible injury record, has never coped well with heavy fixture schedules, and has to be taken off and hour into every game due to getting tired, then it is something you either address or re-evaluate how you expect your season to pan out.

I would assume our minimum standard this season is CL qualification and pushing for a trophy, which means LB is absolutely going to be a problem.

Coaches are there to get the best out of the players they have available to work with. It isn't their job or within their remit to perform miracles with inadequate personnel
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I very much doubt Yoro will play LB.

We'll have to see at the end of the season, but I very much doubt United finishing top 4 will hinge on Shaw staying fit.

Let's just agree to disagree
 
No we have the much needed depth, hopefully going forward we'll be looking at 2/3 big signings each year to improve the quality of the squad - but we need to get better at selling players too to make that work.
 
Paul778 said:
The thread is to rate the window, which is asking for an opinion based on expectations.

Based on how upset the Villa and Chelsea fans were when the deals were announced, I'd rate our midfield signings as 8/10 with Baleba hopefully being the cherry on the top.

Not dealing with the LB and striker positions is negligent in the extreme. Carrick is going to have to be massively creative during the season to find solutions within the squad, probably having to play Heaven or Yoro at FB at times. None of the options (even our proper FBs) we have provide any real attacking threat.

Screwing up a simple pursuit for Louis Page after a free run at him on deadline day just makes us a proper laughing stock.

Clearly INEOS expected some money coming in from sales but we effectively got zilch for Rashford/Onana/Zirkzee/Ugarte/Mount. With CL money coming at the end of the season you can to some degree understand prudence.

But the overall window can only be seen as very low. I'd rate it as a 3. For us to go deep in competitions we need a lof of luck, Carrick to work some miracles on the training ground, some players to step up and have massive Bruno like seasons to share the burden. Oh, and to have very few injuries in key positions where we are short.

Maybe we dip into the market in January.
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If we finish the season in the top 4 with a trophy, it's been a good season and ultimately that means this has been a good window.

The Ronaldo/Varane/Sancho window of 2021 was probably seen as a great one but what followed was mostly shite and everyone moaned about the state of the squad after Christmas that season.

We could ultimately have spent close to 200 million on Fernandes and Tonali like most on here were begging for. They would have been happy until the first game and then probably complained that we didn't just sign Tielemans for his 34 million release clause.

For some people now, transfers have become more important than what happens actually on the pitch.
 
6/10. We replaced 2 midfielders with 3. That’s pretty much it. Rashford is back so that’s an extra attacker too I suppose. We really should have signed a LB and we should have sold Zirkzee and gotten a backup ST in.

With all the changes in the league, this was our chance to build a serious team and try to push for the league. Really dissapointed that we decided not to.

I still do think we’ll have a good season but we’re now more likely to be competing for the 4/5 spot than we are the 1/2. A couple more quality signings and I would have said we could have been the main challengers to Arsenal, who I still don’t think are that good.
 
Don’t think we got any of our reported primary targets

No LB, no ST, no CB. It’s a 4/10
 
I'd say a 6.

We retooled the midfield, and increased options, but it's still just functional rather than strong. That could change if Baleba and Santos develop.

Everything else that was lacking is still lacking. Striker is still Sesko or bust, no dribbler on the LW, LB is still just a half dead Luke Shaw.

Really big missed opportunity this summer that we will likely regret.
 
2/10

No left back which was vital
No striker which was vital
No centre back which was probably the least concerning but needed.

Midfield sure we signed 3 but most if not all weren't even first choice and what they'll bring to the team is unknown.

I said in another thread we've shopped in the bargain bin this window and still come up massively short.
 
Mockney said:
I mean we literally went behind on Saturday because our LB got skinned (and then needed a slip, a dodgy handball and a penalty to get ahead) All it takes is that to happen in a tight game against a good side and we drop points...and if we arent making a push to challenge, then we're going to be living or dying by those margins in 4/5/6th
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We also went behind because none of Shaw's teammates picked up the man at the back post. It's not solely on Shaw. He made the mistake of getting too tight without checking Martinez was closer covering. It happens, and it would still happen occasionally even if we'd have brought another left back in last night. It's like people think defenders are never going to be beaten (and to be fair it was great attacking play).
 
Well there's always another club who had a worse window...

I'm curious about this paragraph. It's Tammy Abraham rejecting Everton, not rejecting Utd right?

"...Manchester United were called to inquire whether they would release Joshua Zirkzee on loan. There was a willingness to help, but the call had been made too late. He could have had a medical at Carrington to save time, but the deal could not get off the ground. Tammy Abraham rejected an offer, preferring to stay at Aston Villa..."

 
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Some people are ranking it as high as 7. Wow.

3/10.

We didn't address the lack of quality at fullback, nor the lack of depth in attack.

We brought in three midfielders, but none of them were the A options. They were all B or even C options. As usual, it feels like we spent less because we qualified for the UCL goal achieved last season, so just spend the absolute minimum necessary to qualify again.

We also couldn't get rid of any of the unwanted players. Mount, Rashford, Zirkzee, Ugarte (I know his injury made this one practically impossible, but still). Bayindir and Onana only went out on loan without a buying obligation, and we couldn't even secure proper development loans for Amass or Chido, although it seems Chido still has a chance of going out.

That's a 0/10 window when it comes to sales.

The owner's goal doesn't really seem to be winning trophies; it's qualifying for the Champions League, and the window reflected exactly that level of ambition. While other teams are building squads capable of challenging for titles, we're building a squad capable of, hopefully, finishing in the Champions League places.
 
4/10

Midfield reinforcement is decent
Lack of investments in all other areas
No world-class players
Not getting rid of deadwood
Getting outspent by two promoted sides and all other top teams
 
Look it wasn't great, I'd probably give it a 6 or 7 out of 10 for the midfield revamp. However, all of these reports in the media saying "no depth" and trying to cause mass panic is completely overblown. We still have a decent amount of depth to get us by until January but we obviously need luck/injuries to go our way, which it often doesn't.
 
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