At least Manchester United should have a specialist in the subject overseeing matters. Their summer midfield overhaul is being conducted with a midfielder at the helm. He has started with his old role. Michael Carrick’s first buy has been Andrey Santos, for an initial £48m. His second is set to be Youri Tielemans, for £35m. It appeared it would be Ederson, for a similar fee, but United have put a move on hold after the Brazilian failed a medical.
So the midfield merry-go-round at Old Trafford appears to have accelerated. Or, some would say, veered off course, given the change in names. There will be no Elliot Anderson or Mateus Fernandes; nor, seemingly, Aurelien Tchouameni, who has signed a new contract at Real Madrid. It is hard to escape the sense that United are down to the second tier of targets or that a club who have long been big spenders are being outbid, forced to operate on the cheap. If so, they have further reasons to regret overspending in the past. Last year was the summer of the £70m forward for United; this, so far, is the window of the £30m-£50m midfielder.
