Manchester United made a decision to sell Marc Jurado on transfer deadline day. It now looks like a pointless sale.
Lost for many amid the frenzy of transfer deadline day, was Manchester United’s decision to cut ties with promising defender Marc Jurado.
Jurado, 19, was sold to Espanyol, for a fee so low that United did not even include the amount when announcing his departure. It is expected to be below £1 million.
This followed the strategy of clearing out academy players who Erik ten Hag did not see a first team path for, however, in the short-term, Jurado would now have come in pretty useful.
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Manchester United sell Marc Jurado
Manchester United signed Marc Jurado in 2019 from Barcelona’s La Masia academy, where he held the record for the fastest goal scored at youth level for the club, in which he netted after just five seconds.
Jurado went on to make 86 academy appearances for Manchester United, including playing a starring role in the FA Youth Cup win in 2022. He is pictured top alongside Charlie McNeill and Alejandro Garnacho, the latter of who is now a first team star.
The Spaniard impressed in the winter friendlies in Spain, and also stood out in pre-season, scoring Manchester United’s goal in the match with Wrexham in San Diego.
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Jurado, 19, had not been given a chance to go out on loan and was making some encouraging progress.
Letting him go for a pittance, seems like a poor decision, especially now amid the injury problems. On deadline day, United were already down two left-backs. An injury to a right-back would have created a bigger issue, which we are now dealing with. Jurado should have been kept as cover.
Short-term and long-term negatives
If Manchester United felt Marc Jurado would not make the grade long-term, so be it. The defender will try to prove the club wrong during his time in Spain, with second-tier Espanyol, who are pushing for promotion.
Almost irrespective of how he fairs, in the short-term, United should have kept him around as cover.
This is a player who has had three years training at United, and was desperate for an opportunity. Surely it is better to have a specialist right-back used as cover, than have to rely on shifting Victor Lindelof into right-back, or playing another player out of position.
Hannibal showed at the weekend that young players can contribute positively if given a chance. Even if United felt Jurado was not a long-term solution, he could have been an effective stop-gap in the short-term. The club’s options at the position feel incredibly thin.