Manchester United have a long line of ‘what if’ transfers in the past decade and now another major name can be added to the list.
Poor footballing structure has been detrimental to Manchester United over the past two decades with multiple talents being missed out on due to a lack of footballing experts in positions of power.
The Glazer family were the main source of this, failing to hire sports people to make sports decisions and ultimately the club paid the price.
Things may well be about to change thanks to Ineos, but before it can, another painful transfer miss has been reported from 2018.
United refused the chance to sign Jamal Musiala in 2018
The transfer failings under the structure implemented by the Glazers are well-known around Old Trafford with names such as Moises Caicedo and Erling Haaland being commonly mentioned as players United could’ve signed for bargain fees.
Now, another name has been added to that list and it’s more embarrassing that those two combined.
According to The Athletic, in March 2018, United were offered the chance to take Germany’s Euro 2024 hero Jamal Musiala on a trial amid his impending exit from Chelsea.
Musiala was a 15-year-old at the time and United youth scout Andreas Herrmann watched him at a Germany training camp, from which he reported that the current Bayern star was the best player.
United’s then assistant head of academy recruitment, Lyndon Tomlinson, was also impressed by Musiala who performed well for England during an U16 game alongside Jude Bellingham.
Ultimately United decided not to enter the running as they were concerned about regulations and risks of doing so – but for a player of this quality the risks might just have been worth testing.
The German attacking midfielder has been raved about by Ilkay Gundogan as a ‘complete player‘ in recent weeks and now it’s frustrating to hear he could’ve been a Carrington graduate, along with being worth £100m.
Musiala isn’t the only name mentioned by The Athletic also reported that Pedro Neto had featured in an academy game for United before the Red Devils fumbled the contract offer, waiting seven weeks to send it.
Another was Benjamin Sesko who United could’ve signed for €2m, however, Matt Judge who was director of football negotiations only offered €1m. Sesko is now one of Europe’s best young strikers.
Ineos have already solved this problem
In just six months, Ineos has done what the Glazers couldn’t and founded a world-class group of experts at United in order to make all the big decisions.
Ineos have appointed Omar Berrada as CEO, Dan Ashworth as sporting director, Jason Wilcox as technical director and Christopher Vivell as director of recruitment on an initially short-term contract.
This is the structure of dreams and while it doesn’t guarantee that gems won’t slip through the fingers only to be rued later, it does mean we will have smart people who understand football making the decisions – also they are all men with excellent track records within the sport.
The problem has never been the scouting, but rather having people who understand the game, and now that problem is solved United could be in line for some exciting moves.
Erik ten Hag may not like the power of transfer being lessened, but with this structure, he stands the best chance at returning United to where we belong.
Exciting times ahead.
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