ClapIt’s that time of year once again when every single football club of note is being linked with a variety of different players, creating a rumour mill that often seems to be never-ending. Some fans enjoy that and others find it stressful and annoying, but regardless of which camp you fall into, there’s no denying that it’s an important part of the year to year story of the beautiful game.
One club who seems to fall into that ‘trap’ so to speak more often than most is Manchester United. As reported by Metro and Manchester Evening News, every single story involving the Red Devils right now is about future transfers during the current summer transfer window. Fans have already decided to push their poor season to one side, because the value of money and the value of these players takes over as the most important storyline imaginable.
Time to wake up
There are a series of interesting connotations that come alongside that, but above everything else, it just feels a little bit desperate from Manchester United. In the last few years they’ve had the same kind of mentality: throw money at a problem in order to make it go away. That’s been the case ever since Sir Alex Ferguson decided to walk away from management, because they’re just so desperate to try and replicate the success they enjoyed under the Scot. Instead of replicating that success, though, they’ve slipped further and further away from the club that we all once knew. They just don’t seem to have a clear idea or objective behind what they want to accomplish, and in short, it seems like they can’t agree on anything behind the scenes.
We partly feel sorry for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but this is the harsh reality of a job like this. When he took this position he would’ve known full well that it wasn’t all going to be good times ahead, and after two wins in United’s last 12 games of the season, that became painfully clear. Ole may be at the wheel but the wheels quickly fell off, and we’re not so sure that funnelling new stars in for millions upon millions of pounds is going to be the easy and quick fix here.
Eyes on the prize
It’s going to take a good amount of time for United to reach the summit of English football once again, and the clearest sign of that was Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese boss has said ever since leaving Old Trafford that finishing second in the Premier League with the squad he had is one of his best accomplishments in the history of the game. People laughed off that idea when he initially said it, but perhaps they shouldn’t be laughing now.
So whilst United fans should get excited about what’s to come for them in the next few months, just try and remember that it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Money can do a lot of things, but it can’t erase the past.
