As Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s future hung in the balance, the team he put out against Aston Villa on Sunday was notable for the absence of his own signings.
Only Andre Onana, Noussair Mazraoui, Jonny Evans, and Christian Eriksen were present in the starting line-up from the fifteen stars Ten Hag has recruited permanently for United.
The nine-man bench, by contrast, was populated by seven of the Dutchman’s signings.
In fact, as Eriksen and Evans were both free transfers, the starting XI had just €65.2 million worth of a colossal €645.8 million spent by Ten Hag on display – just 10% or so.
This raised a number of eyebrows, with many observing that when fighting for his life, Ten Hag did not even seem to trust his own signings.
In fact, if one was to compare a possible XI (with a couple of subs) that would have cost nothing with one made up of Ten Hag’s paid-for signings, arguably, United might have been better off having spent zero in the past three years.
source of transfer fees: transfermarkt.com
In goal, Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir vs. David de Gea and Dean Henderson is an interesting contest. De Gea was certainly not at his best in his last season for United but is now reinventing himself at Fiorentina. He was and still probably remains a better shot-stopper than Onana, although the Cameroonian is undoubtedly better with his feet.
Henderson showed his own value in a man of the match performance against the Red Devils recently. Bayindir hardly seems to feature for United so for that reason alone, you have to question whether his €5 million was money well-spent.
Noussair Mazraoui is, as Wes Brown recently noted, likely only to be a backup to Diogo Dalot at right back, and Tyrell Malacia a backup for Luke Shaw at left back. But perhaps the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Alvaro Fernandez Carreras would have been adequate reserve full-backs.
The expensively-assembled center-back lineup should, in theory, be a massive upgrade on Maguire and Lindelof (we are leaving out Raphael Varane, as he has sadly been forced to retire). Yet Ten Hag’s selection of Maguire and Evans over De Ligt and Martinez against Villa suggests that on present form, even he sees the British pair as the safer pair of hands. The likes of Teden Mengi and Willy Kambwala might also have grown into important players had they stayed at the club.
In midfield, Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte have struggled at United. As Napoli continues to celebrate the capture of Scott McTominay and he is heralded as their new messiah, you do have to question whether a McTominay-Mainoo combination, which would have cost nothing, would be superior to Ugarte and Casemiro. Again, on current form alone, you have to say they would. James Garner, now at Everton, might also have been an asset worth keeping.
Another former player (technically still on loan) who is ripping it up for his new team is Jadon Sancho. You could also substitute Mason Greenwood, now with Olympique de Marseille, for Sancho on the right wing. Most people would agree that either would be an upgrade on €95 million man, Antony.
Then we have Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee, and Rasmus Hojlund, all bought to improve United’s attack. Again, on current form, none of these three would be likely to be selected ahead of Bruno Fernandes and home-grown Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Some would argue that Anthony Elanga would also have been a more potent weapon than some of the newcomers.
Of course, it is unfair to judge some of the new signings at this stage, particularly the newest arrivals and in particular Leny Yoro, who is yet to kick a ball in anger for United. Ugarte, too, has only had a couple of games under his belt. Nonetheless, the picture is a bleak one.
For all the very justified criticism of United’s majority shareholders, the Glazer family, you cannot deny that they have allocated almost two-thirds of a billion Euros into signing new players for Erik ten Hag and that the 54-year-old has hardly convinced anyone that it was money well spent.
Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
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