I've been seeing a lot of shit towards our latest signings. There's been a lot of talk about how members of the United board had disagreements about the business done in the summer transfer window.
Throughout the season so far, there has also been many journalists, reporters and fans talking down some of our signings.
While they may not be world beaters (yet 🤞), they aren't shit either.
And, it's only been 22 games. There's more than enough time.
Everyone is so quick to make their minds up. Chillax
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People also say that Erik ten Hag had £200m spent on him in this transfer window and it all went to waste by bringing in Zirkzee, Yoro, Mazraoui, De Ligt and Ugarte.
They've been some of our best players!
Mazraoui and De Ligt were good before and after ten Hag's sacking; Ugarte was starting to come good towards the end of the Dutchman's reign but is now one of our better players; Yoro only just played his first minutes in the last two matches but still looked decent; only Zikrzee is the question mark.
Mazraoui has been our best player and is the best bit of business we've done in a long time. £12m for a multi-purpose player who gives his all every game, has the right attitude and quality, and consistently drops 7/10s most games. He is probably one of the best things ten Hag did at United.
De Ligt is another who like Mazraoui, is experienced having played for Ajax, Juventus and Bayern Munich (only some of the biggest clubs ever who wouldn't have signed him if they didn't see some quality in him), is a leader, has the quality and is at a good age at 25-years-old to be one for the future.
He definitely hasn't been getting as much praise as he deserves as while it may not be as clear to see his superb performances like Mazraoui, De Ligt has quietly gone about his business in a very professional manner and one where he too, regularly drops around the 6-7/10 ratings.
Ugarte has made himself very important to the team as we are now starting to see the best of him. We knew that we needed a classic, old school, destroyer of a CDM in midfield which is why we selected the 23-year-old as that perfect candidate.
His stats suggest that before he came to United, he was one of the best at tackling (4.11 per game - 99th percentile) and interceptions (1.86 per game - 96th percentile).
We've seen that when it comes to aggressively pressing the opposition higher up the field, there are few better than him at winning the ball back in the final third.
He also now has the manager who made him: Ruben Amorim. If anyone will know how to get the best out of the Uruguayan, it will be his former Sporting manager.
Yoro has only played 97 minutes this season after featuring in the two defeats against Arsenal and Forest. Yes, he may not have had much time which makes it difficult to know whether he is good enough or not, yet in his two appearances, the 19-year-old showed some promise.
The fact that Real Madrid were getting a stiffy trying to sign him obviously implies that this lad has a lot of quality.
But admittedly, Zirkzee is one that is more on the concerning side of things.
The first issues is, what is he?
Is he a striker? False 9? 9.5? CAM?
Not only do I not completely know what he is, I also feel like he may not have the quality for any of those positions.
As he isn't an out-and-out goal scorer, he cannot lead the line. If he is to be a false 9 or 9.5, he will have to drop deeper into that area occupied by the number 10s. Zirkzee also doesn't seem to have that creativity of one that needs to play in that position.
He also appears to be a player that plays on confidence. Take it away from him and it looks like he's never seen a football in his life. After scoring 2 goals against Everton, his performances dipped when coming on as a substitute against Arsenal and Forest.
That could be a problem.
The Dutch forward has also been linked with a move away from Old Trafford as reports have come out that Juventus are in for the 23-year-old.
So in a way, 3 out of 5 signings have been good, two of which (Mazraoui and De Ligt) have been our better players, one of which in Mazraoui is our best player with only a returnee in Yoro and Zirkzee being the doubts. Yet there is still time.
Even all the signings of Erik ten Hag, when you look at it, a lot of them have been good or have the potential to be, at least in my opinion.
Martinez been better than not (also missed a season through injury); Casemiro was brilliant in his first season and then I don't think anyone can explain what happened to him last season; Eriksen was also great until a horror tackle in January last year and until Amorim came in, was one of our best players; Onana was poor last season but been a lot better this season other than the Forest game; I do believe Hojlund will come good as when looking at his goal conversion rate, give him the chances, he will score; Malacia was a good backup until his injury; Bayindir is a backup goalkeeper; with the only ones who I think have categorically not worked is Antony and potentially Mount.
The five of this season, in the main, have been good.
So I don't understand where people are coming from that our signings have been shite.
Do you agree that the business United did in the summer was not good enough or that people are talking rubbish?
Background Image: Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs De Ligt, Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee | Images via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)