Every Manchester United player sold since 2018 shows problem remains at Old Trafford

Manchester United have seen 26 first-team players leave the club since the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign and they still seem to be making the same mistakes in the transfer market.

Everybody knows how poorly United have spent in recent years (we’ve all seen the charts) but that perhaps has allowed the club’s failure to sell well go under the radar.

David Beckham’s move to Real Madrid in 2003 – which saw United receive £25 million – remains as one of the largest transfer fees that The Reds have got for a player, despite that amount now only getting you a decent squad player if you’re lucky in today’s market.

There are, of course, certain reasons why United fail to make profitable sales in the transfer market. Providing players with large contracts , not selling at the right time, buying the wrong profiles in the first place, developing poorly. Take your pick.

Only two sales since 2018 has exceeded the £20 million mark. One being Romelu Lukaku, who was sold on loss to Inter two years after he signed for United for £75 million plus add-ons. Fifteen players have left at the expiry of their contract, which could increase to 16 if David de Gea leaves the club in 10 days time.

We’ve seen talented young players who have left the club for peanuts, or less, due to poor (or lack of) loan spells. Angel Gomes is currently a consistent starter for Ligue 1 club Lille and left United in 2020 for free.

Jesse Lingard could’ve left Old Trafford for more than £20 million in 2021 after a successful loan spell at West Ham. Fast forward 12 months and United kept the midfielder for the upcoming campaign, barely played him, and then he left the club in 2022 on a free transfer.

The full list of departures can be seen below since the 2018/19 summer window can be seen below:

Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo was not included in the above graphic, he also had his contract terminated at the end of last year.

The latest example of these shortcomings appears to be the sale of Zidane Iqbal to FC Utrecht for a fee, according to David Ornstein, of around £855,000.

This is a player that could easily have gone for £5-10 million at the very least if he was at a different club. Hell, Liverpool sold Rhian Brewster for more than £20 million three years ago.

Not only Iqbal, though. United seem to be under-pricing many of the players that they are aiming to offload this summer and whilst there’s an argument that getting some of them out of the door is the only important thing, in a transfer window which United reportedly need to sell-to-buy, it’s not a promising look that they cannot find deals for these players at certain prices.

You’d hope that this is something that will be improved upon under new ownership at Old Trafford. The Glazers are set to decide between bidders Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim in the coming days.