Now that the dust has settled over the land of football after the armageddon that is Transfer Deadline (Dooms)Day, it is time for followers of the game to acclimatise to this brave new world in which Hull City have suddenly transformed into a side who possess a degree of exoticism and potential for danger that matches the striped feline whose name the club takes as its nickname.
The dawning of this new era has also seen Danny Welbeck – once the darling of Old Trafford – defect to Arsenal, long-time Premier League rivals of Manchester United, like a desperate, disillusioned North Korean gallantly traversing the 39th parallel in search of a better, more prosperous life in a land where the future looks altogether less bleak than in the place he once considered home.
Comparing the current situation at Manchester United to the totalitarian regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea – and by extension United boss Louis van Gaal to chubby-cheeked, dubiously coiffed despot Kim Jong-un – may be wildly hyperbolic, tenuous and trivialising. It is also likely to attract howls of derision and accusations of being hopelessly inaccurate or pessimistic.
After all, deadline day saw the Red Devils produce the transfer coup of the summer by landing perennial goal-churner Radamel Falcao, as well as industrious utility man and World Cup star Daley Blind. Add these two signings to the British transfer record paid for Angel di Maria and not only do United now have a flexible player who strengthens their options in defence and midfield – something they desperately needed – but also a star-laden forward line saturated with match-winning quality which would rival any team’s attack.
Nevertheless, the very much accurate reality is that the situation is indeed grim at Manchester United. Though the £150 million spent in the summer has secured the services of world-class talent at Old Trafford this season, the fact that the club greatly overpaid for a number of their targets gives their transfer dealings an air of desperation, panic-buying and papering over the cracks.
It is widely believed that such a splurge was triggered by the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions’ League during David Moyes’ calamitous tenure last season, with the addition of proven, albeit expensive quality the best way to ensure an immediate return to Europe’s elite.
Missing out on the Champions’ League is undoubtedly a major disappointment for a club of Manchester United’s ambitions, but fears that successive absences from the competition would lead to United’s downfall are greatly exaggerated, and the hierarchy at Old Trafford should have known far better.
It is here that a comparison with Manchester United’s greatest rivals, Liverpool, seems apt. In the 2009/10 season, the Reds finished 7th in the league, consequently missing out on the Champions’ League the following season. Like United, Liverpool were under the control of deeply unpopular owners, and it wasn’t until the following season that the situation was resolved following Fenway Sports Group’s acquisition of the club. Even this did not see Liverpool back onto the road to recovery straight away, with yet more disappointing league campaigns and expensive failures to come before Brendan Rodgers finally led the club back to the Champions League last season after a painful five-year hiatus.
In spite of the darkness which surrounded Anfield during their troubles in the wilderness, a desire to return to their previously lofty position in world football was always the aim, accompanied by an acknowledgement that such a return may not be immediate. Through careful planning and implementation of a clear philosophy – due in no small part to Rodgers – Liverpool secured their return.
Meanwhile United, in their haphazard, reckless cash-splashing, seem unwilling to accept or even consider the possibility that regaining their status amongst Europe’s best sides may not happen overnight. Their current team is better than the one that played on the first day of the season, however a measured, responsible transfer policy would have seen strengthening in all areas of the pitch, which they inexplicably failed to do. The midfield in particular still seems lightweight, whilst they have failed to address the departures of Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who for so long formed the core of the United defence. The signing of three predominantly left-sided defenders in Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Daley Bllind smacks of a muddled, opaque transfer policy led by people who have allowed themselves to be caught up in the hysteria surrounding United’s supposed decline.
Even if the Old Trafford outfit do succeed in qualifying for the Champions League on the first time of asking, the sheer sum spent on transfers, coupled with the inability to permanently offload sufficient players deemed surplus to requirements, will surely cause problems with regard to Financial Fair Play. Whilst Welbeck may not have been particularly prolific at United, he certainly had more potential than Anderson, Fellaini and Nani, which makes his sale, and their retention, seem baffling. Though Nani is at Sporting Lisbon on loan this season, United are still paying his wages in full.
On a sentimental level, the departure of Welbeck is especially poignant; once proudly considered to be the latest successful graduate from United’s fruitful academy – the same academy which gave birth to the mythical Class of ’92 – his sale was a sign of the club turning its back on homegrown talent, displaying a dispiriting lack of trust in the produce of its own centre of excellence. Having been with the club since the age of 11, United ditched Welbeck in favour of a one-year partnership with Falcao, a man with a history of injury woes whose Twitter account briefly and erroneously expressed delight at his signing for Real Madrid just days before his switch to Old Trafford.
The club’s recent predictions of a fall in profits for the next financial year have been attributed to a lack of Champions’ League football, which the club are striving to rectify. The way it is doing so, however, has the air of panicked desperation, which may ultimately make matters worse.
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