To a demographic of younger fans bought up on a diet of Football Manager and FIFA, the transfer window needs winning as much as the football does. In fact, it can often feel like transfers elicit more excitement than the actual action on the pitch.
The success of those games has made everyone a director of football and opinions on who should be signed and who should be sold are entrenched, often without any realisation of the complexities involved. Given their army of fans worldwide, no club has as many armchair recruitment experts as Manchester United.
There are plenty of dream transfer windows doing the rounds on social media, but not many of them are conceived within the realities of how United are operating this summer. A budget of around £100 to £120million has been halved with the deal to sign Mason Mount from Chelsea.
