Jurrien Timber's promise he would mull over his future on holiday would suggest any arrival time in Manchester is not imminent.
The Netherlands have four Nations League fixtures this month, the last of them on June 14. United's non-internationals are scheduled to report at their Carrington training complex on June 27 and the departure date for their pre-season tour is July 8.
Timber would require a governing body endorsement, potentially another minor delay. The 20-year-old said on Tuesday at the Dutch training camp in Zeist "the picture has to be right" and he is open to staying at Ajax.
READ MORE: Timber United's defensive priority as club hold talks with Carmo
With all of that in mind, United have held two rounds of discussions with Portugal defender David Carmo's representatives and have consulted Erik ten Hag on the Spain international Pau Torres.
One of the more sensible strategies as part of the recruitment reboot in 2019 was to whittle down targets to a three-man shortlist. The scouting and recruitment structures have been streamlined amid the recent exodus at the hierarchical level.
Keen though United are to bolster their defence, the decision-makers are in agreement the midfield and attack are the priority Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted a midfielder to balance out the team last year but there were a myriad of reasons behind United not reinforcing that area. Solskjaer played himself into trouble by resisting Paul Pogba's sale in 2019 and with Donny van de Beek, whose deadline day loan to Everton he blocked last August.
Ed Woodward once bragged United had never encountered a situation similar to Arsenal with players running down their contracts. Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani and Nemanja Matic had little resale value yet through their own naivety and indecision, United have failed to raise north of £100million by keeping Pogba and Jesse Lingard, getting little change out of either.
United are content with the imminent departure of six out-of-contracts as they accept the squad became too bloated on Woodward's watch. The method in doling out deals to fringe players was to increase the asset sheet, with a player's value higher. All it succeeded in doing was inflating the wage bill, making the 'assets' unsellable and United worse.
Unsurprisingly, United do not share the same opinion as Ralf Rangnick that 10 new additions are required. Rangnick's rhetoric on recruitment started to spook United and Ten Hag was officially manager for under a week by the time Rangnick was jettisoned.
Despite a fifth consecutive trophyless campaign, the worst points tally in the Premier League era and poorest defensive season since 1978-79, United have emphasised the 'potential' of the squad, highlighting the talents in the thriving academy, which ended its 11-year FA Youth Cup drought last month.
Analysing the first-team squad, the specific 'potential' is difficult to discern. That applies to Anthony Elanga, 19, but Diogo Dalot, at 23, is the youngest senior defender and has been at United for four years. United will hope Jadon Sancho, 22, improves but he has been playing first-team football for four years. Sub-editors should be mindful of reporters prefixing Sancho with 'youngster'.
United have shortlisted targets for every position and are in regular dialogue with agents but only a handful will progress to an advanced stage. They have not put a specific cap on their budget and will spend within their means, with player sales (if there are any) supplementing their spending. Salaries are factored into it, rather than just transfer fees.
The football director John Murtough is leading the recruitment process with expertise from the legal and finance departments for negotiations. Murtough drove the appointments of director of data science Dominic Jordan and deputy football director Andy O'Boyle, who both share similar backgrounds.
