It has not been a good day for Manchester United.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the news by now – Liverpool have signed Cody Gakpo from PSV. This is a bitter pill to swallow for Manchester United fans, who have been researching the player for six months.
But, time to move on, right? Of course, there are other transfer targets in the January window, so why should Manchester United get hung up on being rejected by just one of them?
Well, the bad news continues. According to a new report from Sport, Manchester United can kiss goodbye to another chief transfer target of theirs. Frenkie de Jong is no longer up for sale as Barcelona plan to keep him in their ranks.
Manchester United were previously known to be killers in the transfer market, but this is changing. The club has been on a steady decline for some time now, so the calibre of players they pursue is going down too – but to lose out to Liverpool, who have only recently become interested by Gakpo, is simply embarrassing.
It is a result of poor transfer market management from the Red Devils and the board and manager should be held accountable. As a neutral fan, it is sad to see what was once a European giant failing in the transfer window like this.
But the Old Trafford side must take it on the chin and move on. Like I said earlier, there are other options in the transfer window. They must set their ambitions high, as they did with signing Gakpo, and push to make promising moves earlier than they did with the Netherlands wonderkid.
Football is a harsh business, but it’s a lesson learnt. I still expect Manchester United to be active in the transfer window as they need to sign a striker.
Who do you think Manchester United will sign in January?