Manchester United’s issues with recruitment have been glaring over the last decade and Ruben Amorim is trying to reactivate a transfer trick at Old Trafford to solve these issues.
You can look at Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and get tired speaking about all the different problems that exist at the club.
But usually, it comes back to the dreadful recruitment made at Old Trafford in that time. Whether it be spending too much on unproven players or experienced stars who somehow don’t work out.
There are many different reasons for why each and every signing – barring a couple – have failed to make the impact expected of them at United.
One thing that almost every pundit and fan mentions is that they can’t handle the pressure. It is always thrown towards those who fail to succeed at the club.
But another strong aspect has been the lack of experience playing in the most difficult league in the world prior to their move to Old Trafford.
United have moved away from signing Premier League players
Sir Alex Ferguson consistently brought from within the Premier League during his 26 years at the helm, with players like Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Eric Cantona being pinched from other English clubs.
Since his retirement, United have signed a total of 14 players from Premier League clubs – two being third-choice goalkeepers – and almost all of them have been respectable signings in comparison to many others. Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini and Harry Maguire would probably all be considered some of the better signings at Old Trafford in this timeframe.
The big miss was Alexis Sanchez, who joined from Arsenal in January 2018 and failed to make any sort of impact during his short stint with the club. Even Romelu Lukaku, who many suggest failed at Old Trafford, contributed to 54 goals in 96 appearances during his time at United.
As a whole, you are usually making a safe decision when bringing in players with that Premier League-proven tag and that is probably only getting more important as time goes on, and the league becomes even more competitive.
In the last six years, however, United have made just three permanent signings from other Premier League clubs. Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka joined in 2019 while Mason Mount moved in 2023. United seem to have finally recognised this fault.
United could re-activate Premier League-proven transfer strategy
It has been heavily reported that the Reds are planning to sign Liam Delap and Matheus Cunha this summer and there have also been strong links with Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo.
Should Ruben Amorim and the United team get these deals over the line, it would match the amount of Premier League players they have signed in the last six years.
But, what is even more staggering is that it would be only the third time that United have signed three players from within the division in one year since 1989.
During that summer, Ferguson brought in Paul Ince and Gary Pallister from the freshly relegated West Ham and Middlesborough. He also signed Neil Webb from Nottingham Forest, Mike Phelan from Norwich City and Danny Wallace from Southampton.
United would not sign three players from the top level of English football in the same year until 2018, when Jose Mourinho brought in Nemanja Matic and Lukaku from Chelsea and Everton respectively, before Sanchez joined the following summer.
Ferguson didn’t need to bring in these kind of players in bunches because it was a regularity throughout his entire tenure. He was regularly propping up his team with these near-guaranteed successes from within the division.
But now, with so much to improve on in a small amount of time, United need to guarantee progress with their signings and bringing in three Premier League-proven players in one year – for just the third time in 36 years – seems like the best way to do that.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.