You could be forgiven for forgetting that the summer transfer window is only ten days old.
Since the padlocks on the window were removed and the purse strings on clubs' budgets were loosened, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have wasted no time in strengthening their respective squads ahead of the start of the new season. Liverpool have swooped for Calvin Ramsay and Darwin Nunez, City have unveiled Erling Haaland and Spurs have added Yves Bissouma to their list of additions, following the earlier signings of Fraser Forster and Ivan Perisic.
Manchester United, meanwhile, have done little else but release their end-of-season retained list. To say that it has been a quiet start to the window in M16 would be an understatement.
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But while it is fair to point out that the window is only a little over a week old, and no shortage of players remain on holiday ahead of pre-season preparations starting over the coming week or so, United are already risking being left behind in their own plans to strengthen the squad. The appointment of Erik ten Hag as their new manager in April was seen as giving United the best chance to start the transfer window with a flourish, getting at least a couple of deals over the line while the chord raising the curtain to open the window was still being pulled on.
It is no secret that United are working to try and reach an agreement with Barcelona for the transfer of midfielder Frenkie de Jong, but substantial, consistent links connecting anyone else with a move to Old Trafford, certainly imminently, are dry. Aside from De Jong, you would struggle to pick out any other deals that you know for a fact that the Reds are actively working on.
Liverpool and Tottenham, for example, have been ruthless in their recruitment so far. The former announced the arrival of United target Nunez from Benfica within days of their interest being officially confirmed, while Spurs reached an agreement with Brighton in the blink of an eye to conclude a deal for Bissouma - a player that many United supporters believe the club should have turned to themselves.
Therefore, along with City's early movements to wrap up deals for Julian Alvarez and Haaland, it suggests that having the attraction of Champions League football can do wonders to help speed up the process of getting the wheels in motion for a summer recruitment drive. Admittedly, it is important to point out that United have never been speed demons when it has come to getting players through the door in the past; it took until late-July for the club to complete its first big-name signing of the summer last year, announcing the arrival of Jadon Sancho on July 23. It was also mid-August by the time Raphael Varane made a rock star's entrance ahead of the season opener against Leeds United at Old Trafford.
The difference this summer, however, is that United are in the process of requiring a major rebuild; they need several new additions, opposed to two or three big-name additions to give them a polished look. They need to start moving a little bit quicker to give Ten Hag the best chance of getting off to a positive start in just seven weeks' time.
From the outside looking in, the focus on De Jong, although their determination to sign him proves that they still believe they can attract elite-level players without Champions League football on offer, is threatening to undo all of their good work in restructuring the club and putting the foundations in place. The silence about talks being held over other potential signings is bound to concern the fans when everyone knows the scale of the rebuild required.
You would argue that this is the first time United have entered a 'reset' summer since 2016. That year, following the appointment of Jose Mourinho, United, again without Champions League football featuring in their sales pitch, got their business done reasonably early, signing Eric Bailly in June, before Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan followed in early-July.
Admittedly, we are only just past the midway point in June, but, six years ago, there were already murmurs about Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan joining United long before the club's Twitter account tweeted 'done deal'. Right now, it is hard to predict who could sign for United over the coming weeks, substantial links are in such short supply.
A lack of Champions League football is seemingly harming United's recruitment drive early on, but the club's maintained focus on De Jong also risks delaying other avenues that need exploring. The window might only be ten days old, but the clock, whichever way you look at it, is continuing to tick.
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