Last night signaled the end of the January transfer window for 2025 with a lot of deals being done by pretty much all clubs.
Other than United of course.
I almost feel like saying Murtough, Arnold and Woodward OUT! as it's so similar to the windows they used to handle.
Little to nothing in winter, say we're preparing for the summer and just let the current season teeter out to a point where in this particular campaign, run the risk of not getting into the top half!
We want to play some sort of European football because none for a club of our size is utterly embarrassing. Even to be playing Europa League this consistently is an absolute disgrace as it is simply not the standard of Man Utd.
You never see the likes of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich playing in European football's second-tier club competition. That is the level we want to be at.
However, as we're in the Europa League, I want to win it and we HAVE to as it could be our only salvation from a season that has somehow managed to be worse than last which was truly one to forget.
Should we want European football as well, winning this competition is the only way as through the league, we ain't got no chance considering we're 13th and 5 points off the top half.
🤣🤣🤣.
If you don't laugh, you'll cry.
Playing in Europe will also bring in some money that could help improve the squad and whatever other areas of the club.
One could argue that we run the risk of just wasting away a season that has potential by looking at the little business that was done.
We brought in just two players. Both are potentials who are unproven.
It's always exciting when you bring in new recruits just as we are with Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven but they aren't really players who would make you believe that we are going to go to the next level, with all due respect.
The outgoings were just Antony and Rashford on loan to Real Betis and Aston Villa. We didn't receive any fees for them other than some of their wages will be covered which is something but really, is it enough?
With the whole sell to buy policy, the fact that we didn't actually sell anyone meant we couldn't buy what we needed.
Looking at the current squad, not only are we lacking in quality, but the numbers have depleted with certain departures and not replacing them.
Current squad
Goalkeepers:
Altay Bayindir
Tom Heaton
Andre Onana
Defenders:
Victor Lindelof
Noussair Mazraoui
Matthijs De Ligt
Harry Maguire
Lisandro Martinez
Tyrell Malacia
Patrick Dorgu
Leny Yoro
Diogo Dalot
Luke Shaw
Ayden Heaven
Jonny Evans
Harry Amass
Midfielders:
Mason Mount
Bruno Fernandes
Christian Eriksen
Casemiro
Manuel Ugarte
Kobbie Mainoo
Toby Collyer
Forwards:
Rasmus Hojlund
Joshua Zirkzee
Amad
Alejandro Garnacho
That is a poor squad.
What I've done is chosen which players are certainties for now and have a future at the club whilst explaining why I think this about each player.
Goalkeepers:
Altay Bayindir - somewhat unknown as while he is shaky, we don't give him enough consistent game time to truly judge his quality. However, with the way Onana is performing, people would like to see the man who wears the number 1 to become just that.
Tom Heaton - a 3rd goalkeeper that with all due respect, no one really cares about.
Andre Onana - inconsistent as one game, he is prime van der Sar and the next he is playing for the opposition. He isn't the standard of goalkeeper that we need between the sticks at the moment because we simply cannot trust him.
Goalkeeper is a position that we need to look at in the summer.
Defenders:
Victor Lindelof - I've always felt that the Sweden captain was the quintessential backup centre-back. He can do a bit of everything but would never have the quality to be a regular starter for a club like United. Now that he is quite injury prone though, we cannot rely on him and he needs to go.
Noussair Mazraoui
Matthijs De Ligt - I don't have a problem with both Mazraoui and De Ligt as we need more players like them. Experienced, quality and great levels of consistency. They are two of our best players this season.
Harry Maguire - the former captain has improved in the last year and has definitely been a lot better under Amorim and while he is good for now, he isn't one for the future.
Lisandro Martinez - this guy ticks a lot of boxes and has been so important for how we want to build up from the back under the new manager. He's also recently added some attacking output that has taken the butcher's game to a new level.
But Martinez is now out for the season after picking up an ACL injury during Sunday's loss to Palace. That is his fifth major injury since the end of the 22/23 campaign. The defender is becoming a bit unreliable. At 27, this maybe quite the issue moving forward.
Tyrell Malacia - always a backup at best but not the level required to start. He also looks on his way out after reports said he was in the Netherlands potentially going on loan to PSV.
Patrick Dorgu - the defender has just come in and is still young at 20 so will need time.
Leny Yoro - the same could be said of Yoro although he came in in the summer but did have that major injury before the start of the season keeping him out for three months. I think he'll be okay despite some inconsistent performances.
Diogo Dalot - not sure how he can go from player of the season last year to complete shite this, but that's what's happened. Serious questions are being asked of a player that a lot of us did like.
Luke Shaw - the less said about him the better.
Ayden Heaven - young and unknown at this point. Lad didn't even play for Arsenal so we really don't know what to expect from him.
Jonny Evans - he's too old and while he has his qualities, he really needs to go.
Harry Amass - never given a chance under Amorim even though we know the qualities he possesses considering how highly he's rated at the club. I do believe he has a future but at the moment, we have no idea what will happen.
Midfielders:
Mason Mount - Luke Shaw's brother is another injury prone player that we wasted money and time on. I do think he's a good player and one that could perhaps fit into Amorim's system but when he can't get on the field, what's the point?
Bruno Fernandes - the skipper is one of the most divisive figures at the football club and I believe that this is all down to him being much too inconsistent for a player of all his qualities. He can go from brilliant to crap in a matter of moments or have a man of the match performance in one game then go and be chaotic and poor in the next.
Not exactly what you want from your experienced, quality captain. Despite signing a new contract last summer, I don't think there would be too many who would be opposed to him going this summer.
Christian Eriksen - Amorim hasn't used Eriksen as much as I thought he would as in recent weeks whenever he's been called upon, he's not looked too bad. Of course though, he's too old and not what we need and has to be moved on.
Casemiro - the Brazilian is another whom I can't understand how he went from unbelievable in his first campaign to what we've seen since. Really poor from a player who has all his quality, experience, leadership and winning mindset.
Manuel Ugarte - much like Mazraoui and De Ligt, I have no problems with the Uruguayan.
Kobbie Mainoo - he'e been below par for most of the season with his best performance coming in the recent win over FCSB in which he played as a CAM where he displayed his best qualities. However, at just 19, he has enough time to develop. The quality is also there.
Toby Collyer - young and just about coming into the first team of which, he hasn't done too bad when given his opportunities. One for the future indeed.
Forwards:
Rasmus Hojlund - I've been very disappointed with Hojlund this season. He had a good first year and after 16 goals, you would think that he would be on the up from here. It's actually gotten worse as not only is he not in the goals, his overall game has been awful. There have been reports that the Dane is on trial with Amorim.
Joshua Zirkzee - what is he? I still don't know what is Zirkzee's best position. He's no doubt got a lot of technical ability and there is a player there but he just looks like a bench option at the moment.
Amad
Alejandro Garnacho - no problem with these two guys as well.
Can't believe we have just FOUR forwards for the rest of the season 😳. Manchester United football club have just four attackers in their team for the second half of a campaign and two of them are shite. Should Amad and/or Garnacho get injured or lose form...
Out of that squad of 27, there is only Mazraoui, De Ligt, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amad and Garnacho that I would say are absolutely nailed on starters with quality and have a future at this club.
It remains to be seen what the likes of Yoro, Dorgu and Heaven can do but the rest are all under pressure.
A handful of players that are what we need.
And all we did was bring in two unproven young players.
And didn't at least remove more of the crap we needed to.
INEOS have set Amorim up to fail. They have truly given him an even harder task than what he originally had when he first came in and that was a nigh on impossible job itself!
When Amorim was given the ultimatum of having to start now (November) or never, the club would've had to have given him assurances that he should take the job now as why would Amorim leave a club flying high in Portugal and the Champions League and a team that he built for one that was struggling like ours?
INEOS would've had to have told him that they will give him signings in January to help in certain areas should things not improve with the current squad.
Those things haven't come to pass and now we're in a worse position than when he came as we have fewer attackers and one less defender in Martinez.
I don't know what they're thinking not giving Amorim what he needs to give him a chance of at least making something of this season. We basically have no strikers, defensively we were suspect even more so now that the butcher is out, clearly something is not right in midfield as well, and all we've brought in were two young, promising defenders.
The manager cannot work magic.
Erik ten Hag does not get enough credit for managing to win two trophies with that squad.
A transfer window rating of just 2/10 for me. I'm not really sure what to make of the rest of the season.
The fact that we looked to sell Garnacho is a perfect example of what a shambles this transfer window has been.
Background Image: Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven sign for Man Utd | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)