There is one major flaw with Man Utd's transfer policy and it's putting them in a 'vicious circle'

Analysis

FT Desk

Manchester United have made their worst start to a Premier League season in 40 years.

After seven matches played, they have just seven points on the board via one win, four draws and two losses, with the solitary victory coming against newly promoted Ipswich.

At the weekend, their winless run continued when they could only manage a 1-1 draw away at Leeds. They actually took the lead through Bryan Mbeumo 10 minutes before the break, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised in the 51st minute and the points were eventually shared.

Leeds had more possession, more shots on target and a higher xG (1.44 to Man Utd's 0.91).

It was another abject performance this campaign, which has come following another underwhelming summer transfer window in which only the midfield issues were addressed. Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba were all signed to plug numerous midfield holes, while undeniable issues at centre-forward, right-back and left-back were ignored.

United spent €173.2 million in the summer which is a lot for a team not in the Premier League, yet compared to their rivals it isn't a significant outlay.

Chelsea spent €407.5m, Man City spent €526.2m, Liverpool spent €269.6m, and Tottenham spent €366.4m, as a few examples. (We all know how Man City spent that amount).

The Red Devils could not afford to compete with that transfer spend this summer and years of excess and splurging on mediocre players is catching up with them; a crucial reason for that is that the club is dreadful at bulking up their transfer kitty by selling current players.

Every one of the aforementioned teams, as well as the likes of Arsenal, Newcastle and Aston Villa, all sold at least one player for €30m or more in the recent window.

Man Utd's highest was €8.15m after Radek Vitek signed for Middlesbrough.

Now, Rasmus Hojlund did move for €44m this summer but that transfer was already triggered by obligation by Napoli during last season and represents a huge loss as he was signed for just under €80m from Atalanta in 2023.

"I just think when you're at a club that's spending big money, and those players are continuing to fail, you're not getting in the Champions League as well, you've got one of the biggest wages; eventually you can be the bigger spenders of the season, but you're not being successful," Jamie Carragher stated on Sky Sports.

"Liverpool and Manchester City are two of the few clubs that have consistently won trophies and then have big spending sprees. The money will always be there because they're one of the biggest football clubs in the world, but it can't just be a tap that never gets turned off - it just can't.

"And then you're talking about net spend; well, you don't get players out. It's difficult to get players out when you continue failing at the club. Then they're on big wages, and you can't move them on - no one will take them. It's a vicious circle that they're in. Eventually, it gets to a stage where you can't be the biggest spenders and for me, that was this summer."

Man Utd's record sale remains Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and that came in 2009. Yes, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria were both sold for decent money to Inter and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively, but like Hojlund, they represented a net loss from the fee that was spent on them.

Look at the summer of 2025, too, Antony was initially signed for a whopping €95m fee from Ajax, yet he was allowed to leave for Real Betis for just €25m.

There has been speculation that last summer United wanted to prioritise attacking reinforcements, in 2026 they prioritised midfield reinforcements and in 2027 will look at the defence, but that is simply not how elite clubs operate in this day and age and if they want to create a balanced squad, they will need to start boosting the transfer budget with significant sales.

That, of course, starts with displays on the pitch as nobody wants underperforming stars on exorbitant wages.