Erik ten Hag has an answer when asked if Manchester United are done in the summer transfer window. “Managers always want more,” he said earlier this month. If it is a generalisation, it is also true in his case: he does tend to want more.
But there are reasons why United have not signed more and why they did not enter the bidding for either Declan Rice or Harry Kane, who commanded nine-figure price tags and, even if attainable, would have swallowed up much of their budget. United’s summer spending so far comes to around £160m, and more than £175m if add-ons for Andre Onana, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund are triggered. Over the course of ten Hag’s reign, their expenditure extends to around £400m. It is not cheap, even for a club whose annual revenue should top £600m or in a division when many another is scarcely a pauper.
