Making Bad Decisions
What happens when you take a club known for its academy graduates and an irresistible urge to spend money you do not have on players you do not need?
Manchester United is a graveyard for talent.
This wasn’t always the case. The club once thrived on an “us against the world” mentality a foundation built through hardship and resilience, exemplified by its recovery from the Munich disaster and the rise of the Busby Babes. From that tragedy to a crowning moment at Wembley decades later, United’s legacy was carried by youth, unity, and belief.
Today, those very foundations are crumbling block by block.
So how did we get here? How did a club defined by generational talent become a place where promise goes to die? The current culture at United thrusts young, impressionable players into intense scrutiny and unstable systems they are ill equipped to thrive in.
Let’s start with the transfer strategy.
Over the past decade, United have signed a long list of players aged 18–23, many arriving with immense potential:
Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay, Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba, Victor Lindelof, Diogo Dalot, Aaron Wan Bissaka, Daniel James, Amad Diallo, Facundo Pellistri, Donny Van De Beek, Jadon Sancho, Antony, Tyrell Malacia, Rasmus Hojlund, Leny Yoro, Ayden Heaven, Chido Obi, Patrick Dorgu, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee.
Excluding those from signed last season(and Amad) you get these groups.
Players from a physically weak league with obvious deficiencies : Antony
Players who came in with immense potential that never lived up to the expectations: Depay, Hojlund
Players who established themselves as good players but failed to improve and significantly regressed : Sancho, Van De Beek
Players who showed what they were capable but still did not hit the heights expected : Martial, Pogba
Players who came in did their bit and were useful squad players : Bailly, Lindelof, Wan Bissaka, James, Dalot
and finally,
Those hampered by injuries, were a bad fit or never really got a chance: Malacia, Pellistri
Now add in the youth graduates,
Bothwick Jackson, Donald Love, Joe Riley, James Weir, Fosu Mensah, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Perreira, Angel Gomes, Josh Harrop, Guillermo Varela, Axel Tuanzebe, Scott Mctominay, James Wilson, Joel Pereira, Demetri Mitchell, Tahith Chong, James Garner, M**** G********, Brandon Williams, Di Shon Bernard, Ethan Laird, Dylan Levitt, D’Mani Mellor, Ethan Galbraith, Largie Ramzani, Teden Mengi, Dean Henderson, Shola Shoretire, Anthony Elanga, Hannibal, Will Fish, Zidane Iqbal, Charlie Savage, Alejandro Garnacho, Charlie Mcneill, Kobbie Mainoo, Dan Gore, Willy Kambwala, Omari Forson, Ethan Wheatley, Tyler Fredricson, Harry Amass, Toby Collyer, Jack Moorhouse, Shea Lacey, Jack Fletcher.
The players currently playing in a top 5 league from this batch are : Timothy Fosu Mensah, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Perreira, Angel Gomes, Scott Mctominay, James Garner, *******, Dean Henderson, Anthony Elanga, Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo, Willy Kambwala, Tyler Fredricson, Harry Amass, Toby Collyer.
Fosu Mensah is a squad player at Leverkusen, Andreas Perreira is a stalwart for Marco Silva at Fulham, Gomes was one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1 last season. James Garner has established himself at Everton.
Now, there is a bunch of players that I have not mentioned. There is a reason for that. In this article, I want to establish a pattern with youth players leaving United. Using which I will build upon in the next part to talk about a broken identity.
Let’s look at the first set of easy examples. Let us take up the players who left United and are universally accepted as a poor decision for United to let them leave.
The Scottish Superstar, The Swedish Dancer and The Cocky English Keeper
The Cocky English Keeper. The player who at 19 walked up to Mourinho’s office told him that he will be taking De Gea’s place in 3 years. Mind you this was after David De Gea saved the Titanic. Dean Henderson went to Sheffield United and got them promoted. Then he went there again on loan and helped a promoted team finish a few points away from a European spot.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave Deano his chance and he took it. Henderson helped United have one of the best defenses in the top 5 leagues in Europe. He displaced De Gea into a cup keeper and had an excellent performance at the Ethiad where City were unbeaten the entire season. The only problem was, De Gea kept slowly chipping away and kept getting his way, a great performance away at Rome and Henderson making a mistake at home against Liverpool sealed the fate of who has going to start in the Europa League final.
The less said about that final the better.
Then you have Anthony Elanga. The bright spark in a mess of a season where United were supposed to challenge for the title. This was when finishing 6th was a really bad season for United. How the mighty have fallen..
Missed a crucial penalty in a dead rubber FA cup tie. Still finished as United’s best winger that season. Then suspiciously was ousted in favour of a certain Antony. Who United under the spell of Erik Ten Hag spent 100 million for.
Guess the player bought for 100 million and the player sold for 15 million
Ah, Scott Mctominay. The sweet summer child of Jose Mourinho who created a trophy at the players awards to give recognition to a player who would always give his best. Mctominay had his deficiencies, he wasn’t the most creative of passers but he was extremely good at winning the ball and back and was an incredible athlete.
When you lose a player like Mctominay you get a hole in midfield for a very specific reason that was the player who used to pick up tall players in corners, win aerial duels in midfield and have an excellent knack to run into and score crucial goals. The last trait is what Conte enhanced and built a league winning team around.
Take for example his performance against Aston Villa
This is the goal that United conceded, typical set piece goal because the team was physically pathetic.
A massive scramble, Onana on his knees. Three Villa players attacking the ball, Hojlund loses his man. A player at the back post completely unmarked because you put two defenders on the line.
Now, to block the shot Maguire steps out. But there is no one to cover for him since there is a massive group at the back post ball watching. Those near the centre zones have lost all their players.
Who is marking whom? Is anyone marking anyone??
Huge Scramble. Ball is miraculously kept out and cleared.
Why is Douglas Luiz between 6 players all on his own?
Why are 3 players marking one player?
and he scores.
Now with that shitshow at defending a set piece and corners, United turn to plan B(which is realistically their plan A at this stage of the season) and bring on Mctominay.
Mainoo does really well chasing a ball from Fernandes and creates space for himself. Keep an eye on Mctominay who sees Hojlund attracting both the centre backs.
There is a space created for him, with Hojlund dragging both centre backs. Matty Cash is not positioned correctly to deal with Mctominay at this stage.
Dalot crosses Mctominay bullies Cash and gets a free header. United win the three points. This was a recurring theme of the season prior, you had the players come up in crucial moments and deliver.
Then United kept Erik Ten Hag in charge, sold Mctominay and bought Ugarte.
One player sat down in the centre circle after losing the ball.
The other won the Scudetto for Napoli while casually picking up a player of the year award.
You are Manchester United. You have a history of having excellent academy graduates who have bought into the culture of what it means to play for United. You understand that you have to go out there and give it everything you have.
With all of this in mind, some financial people come in and tell you that your services are no longer needed at the club because of the way that the poor spending has caught up to them. So what does the club do? They stack up hit pieces against you. They blame you for not accepting a move to West Ham.
Most importantly, you are Manchester United. You have a history of taking bad decisions when it comes to player recruitment. The urge to spend another 70 million on a player you do not need is too high. Finishing 15th means you have to get rid of an academy player for pure profit to balance out the books. So you do what you do best. Get rid of a valuable asset for a low ball offer. Then pay well over the top for a player who isn’t half as good as the player you lost.
Then you sell the idea to the fans by calling him an excellent data backed signing. Showing a cultural shift. While you spend 60 million on a player who is in a bomb squad.