Manchester United’s January transfer window: Wout Weghorst – loan, two goals in 20 Premier League games for Burnley; Marcel Sabitzer – loan, two goals in 40 Bundesliga games for Bayern Munich; Jack Butland– loan, third-choice goalkeeper at Crystal Palace.
When the market opened opportunity knocked but was ignored by the owners, the Glazers, who showed no ambition to try to end the club’s decade in the title wilderness. On 1 January Erik ten Hag’s team were 11 points behind Arsenal, each having played 16 matches, and ahead were meetings with Bournemouth (3 January), Manchester City (14 January), Crystal Palace (18 January) and the Gunners four days later. When United beat the Cherries and Arsenal dropped points by drawing with Newcastle on the same day, the maths was simple: win their next three games, including at the Emirates, and the gap would be down to a maximum of three points and a championship charge was on, despite Mikel Arteta’s trailblazers having a game in hand.
