Manchester United has seen much improvement in the pitch under Erik Ten Hag. However the club appears to be clumsy in transfer negotiations and squad planning as well as management.
An instance is how Manchester City made more money from the transfers than United have in the last decade.
The treble winners cashd in Ksh26m ( £143billion ) from the sales of Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus which was a profit despite the signingof Erling Halaand and Kalvin Phillips for a combined Ksh17.2billion(£95m).
When it comes to United, they made a total of Ksh2billion(£11m) which mainly came from the sale of Andreas Pereira to Fulham. In that very summer, they spent Ksh15,448,047,772.50(£85m) alone on Antony.
While every club makes mistakes in the transfer market, with many deals judged with the benefit of hindsight, United look like very bad negotiators.
First United tends to overpay for players. Also they are known to do one deal at a a time and become fixated at their target. As a result they end up paying dearly for a player
Paying dearly for Antony
Antony’s case is a vivid example. United were desperate to land the Brazilian winger despite Ajax hesitation to sell him. Edwin van der Sar the then chief of Ajax is on record admitting that they had the upper hand in the negotiations for Antony.
Initially the Red Devils intended to pay £60m but ended up paying £85m which left the club with no money for the January transfer window.
Outbidding Manchester City for Maguire
It was a similar case with Harry Maguire. In 2018 he was Jose Mourinho’s number one after the World Cup. He was available for £60m, but United were not willing to back the Portuguese manager.
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The following summer Maguires value had gone up and City began to express interest in the English player.
The interests from many clubs made Leicester to demand £100m for him. Manchester City drew the line at £70m and United became the highest bidder and agreed a £80m transfer.
Giving Chelsea what they wanted for Mason Mount
Manchester United had an added advantage in the negotiation for mason mount since the player was in the final year of his contract.
Also Chelsea were looking to sell Mount before June 30 in order to enhance their accounts for the season and comply with the Premier League’s rules on sustainable spending.
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Their opening bid was £40m which was rejected by Chelsea. United ended up paying £55m plus an additional £5m in bonuses.
This was a huge fee for player who scored only three goals last season.
One thing that sets City apart from United in negotiations is their willingness to walk away from a deal. Manchester United have a long way to go when it comes to both buying and selling players.
