Saudi Arabia has become a willing dumping ground for Premier League clubs lacking affluent takers. Ruben Neves, purportedly an ambitious footballer, has been exposed as anything but now he is about to join the might of Al Hilal.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund is an investor in Chelsea's owners, Clearlake Capital. Chelsea have a bloated squad teeming with luxuries and need to balance the books. You can guess where the luxuries are headed.
It is doubtful John Murtough has the number of a director of football at a club in the Saudi Pro League (should one exist) but it is perhaps advisable to get on the blower. Eric Bailly? Alex Telles? Anthony Martial? David de Gea has been touted as another Saudi target.
United can just release De Gea, at least. They have planned for there to be more outgoings than incomings this summer but a mass exodus still seems remote. Bailly, Telles and Martial are all under contract for another year with one-year extension options. Bailly could survive five British prime ministers.
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During the Ed Woodward era (or error), United insisted there was not a de facto sell-to-buy strategy. Now they concede it does. Just like two years ago, United have carefully budgeted for two significant signings (a striker and a midfielder) and there is a reluctance to overpay even though they have done that on a near-annual basis the last decade.
Other incomings or dependent on outgoings. A number of players' positions are fluid yet they could also be fixed. Harry Maguire's future hinges on United receiving a compelling offer and whether there are the funds to make it worth their while recruiting an upgrade.
Maguire, Fred, Scott McTominay and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are sellable assets but also a part of United's core squad of first and second XIs. So they would not be forcible sales.
You can count on two hands the genuinely impressive fees United have obtained: Daniel James (£25m rising to £30m) Chris Smalling (£13.6m rising to £18m), Morgan Schneiderlin (£22m rising to £24m), Memphis Depay (£16m rising to £21.7m), Adnan Januzaj (£9.8m), Sam Johnstone (£6.5m rising to £10m), Daley Blind (£14.1m rising to £18.5m).
A precedent was set with David Beckham in 2003. Beckham was 28 at the time, one year into a five-year contract, he had the right foot to sow onto the Frankenstein's Monster of a footballer and he was the most marketable and recognisable soccer player on the planet.
The Real Madrid negotiator, Jose Angel Sanchez, struggled to keep his poker face in check during lunch with Peter Kenyon in Sardinia when informed of the asking price. He telephoned his boss, Florentino Perez: “Peanuts, they’re asking peanuts!”
"Push them lower!" Perez advised. Beckham was sold for £25m at the behest of Sir Alex Ferguson, weary of his celebrity. Only four United players have left for outright higher fees (Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel di Maria and Romelu Lukaku).
United even played a flawed hand with the world-record £80m fee for Ronaldo in 2009. They could have had their pick of the lot in the Real Madrid squad yet passed on Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder and bought Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen and Gabriel Obertan. Robben and Sneijder moved to Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and were influential in Champions League triumphs in 2010 and 2013.
An anomalous summer was 2007, by a distance United's best for incomings outgoings. They recouped £27.2m for Alan Smith, Gabriel Heinze, Giuseppe Rossi and Kieran Richardson after buying Nani, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson, with Carlos Tevez on board before the Premier League season began.
The unimpressive returns under Woodward were a hangover from Louis van Gaal's reign. Van Gaal lit a fire sale that burned across two summers when United received fees for 15 players.
Van Gaal's ruthlessness was required after United's worst season in 25 years under David Moyes but they were shortchanged. Burnley bought Will Keane for £2m, Wilfried Zaha was sold for £6m, West Brom paid that for Jonny Evans, Nani went to Fenerbahce for £4.3m and Robin van Persie £4.7m. Lyon got Rafael da Silva for £2.5m and Javier Hernandez cost Bayer Leverkusen £7.3m.
Keane became a £30m defender at Burnley, Palace rejected a £70m offer for Zaha from Everton in 2019, Evans once generated interest from Manchester City and Leverkusen sold Hernandez for £16m after two years. Nani started for Portugal in their European Championship final victory over France 11 months after he left United and was soon sold to Valencia at a profit.
Only Danny Welbeck (£16m) and Di Maria (£44m) fetched fees that reflected their valuation - and Di Maria was at a £15.7m loss. With some players, Van Gaal was too quick to cut the cord when more funds could have been wired into United's account. The club was a working fax machine away from accepting a compromise for De Gea's agreed sale in 2015.
Italy was a dumping ground across a couple of transfer windows (Smalling, Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Matteo Darmian, and Ashley Young) but Marcos Rojo nor Sergio Romero, two Argentina World Cup finalists, were let go.
United wanted to sell Rojo in four of the five summers he spent at the club but he was almost as immovable as Phil Jones. Four months after Rojo inked a three-year contract, Jose Mourinho revoked the number five from him to pressurise Woodward into signing a new centre half. There was welcome interest in Rojo from Everton, a club with form for acquiring United rejects.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's indecision over Jesse Lingard in 2021 cost United £25m. There was a willing buyer in West Ham, where Lingard had flourished on loan and money had been set aside for him. Lingard eventually ran down his contract.
Last summer, the only permanent sales at United were Andreas Pereira and James Garner, who had returned from successful loans and not been tainted by United's cataclysmic campaign.
United are still constrained in the seller's market by incongruous contract renewals. The method in doling out deals to fringe players was to increase the asset sheet, with a player's value higher. All it achieved was a bloated wage bill.
Bailly received a three-year renewal in April 2021 and, on the morning of the Europa League final the following month, he claimed he would seek a transfer if he did not start against Villarreal.
He would not struggle for starts in the Gulf.
