After failing to sign major players in the summer transfer window, Manchester United has been finding it hard to claim points comfortably this season. The fans criticised the board for not bringing in some major signings even after apparent need.
Jose Mourinho, the Man United boss, argued that he had three to four star players on his wishlist of the last transfer window. However, his wish indeed remained unfulfilled until the end of the transfer window. He ended up in landing three minor signings.
He signed Fred, Dalot, and Brunt. These are important signings but are still not filling the void that is apparent and exposed.
The Portuguese boss, in the winter transfer window, had signed Arsenal star player, Alexis Sanchez who is yet to prove his worth at his new club.
Sanchez is the highest paid player in the squad.
Performance below standards
Six premier league matches and a Champion’s League match have been played by Manchester United so far. They won the Champions League game against Young Boys comfortably. However, their winning percentage in the Premier League is 50 percent. This shows how the most Premier League trophy winners are struggling to keep up with the pace of changing football.
The team won the Premier League Trophy last, in 2012, which was the year when one of their greatest managers, Sir Alex Ferguson, retired.
Since then, Manchester United has struggled, dearly, to resurrect its golden days.
Their best performance after 2012 was the last season when they finished second with Jose Mourinho as their manager. Last season, they also set the record to beat every team in a season. However, they finished 19 points behind champions, Manchester City.
This season, they have already lost two games and played a draw against a newly promoted side Wolverhampton. Their first important game came against Tottenham in which they were thrashed by 3-0 at home turf.
Off and Onload of players
It’s pretty clear that Manchester United needs huge investments for buying some star players for a few specific playing positions.
They also need to offload a few players for the club who aren’t playing up to the desired standards.
United needs star players for midfield as well as for defense. Particularly, they need some major signings to strengthen their leaky defense. And it’s not a rocket science to understand this as they’re clearly exposed to this vulnerability.
There are also some players who are superfluous in the team and need to be offloaded as soon as possible. Too many players also create funding problems to bring in new players. Jose Mourinho needs to do some offloading first then bringing in some new players.
Career at risk
There was some speculation, before the season started, about replacing the manager. However, it didn’t happen.
But if the Portuguese don’t address major problems soon, his career at Old Trafford could be at risk.
United have already sacked two managers, David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal, after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. If Jose Mourinho doesn’t produce some silverware this season, he could be next in the list of sacked managers.
It’s unlikely that Manchester United will win anything this season yet again with this kind of performance. If the Portuguese get sacked, the former Real Madrid Manager, Zinedine Zidane is most likely to replace him.