The transfer market is where Ineos have set about to fix Manchester United first and foremost, but they could be about to repeat a £42m mistake with Kobbie Mainoo.
Transfers under Ineos have largely been faultless because there is a visible degree of precision and clarity with which they have approached sales and buys.
Even Kobbie Mainoo, who was under a cloud of uncertainty in the summer, was given clarity as Sir Jim Ratcliffe stepped in personally to ensure he wouldn’t leave.
Six months later, they will be faced with another decision on Mainoo, and they must not repeat the £42m mistake they made last time, which created a Ballon d’Or contender.
Ineos’ biggest transfer mistake at Man Utd
There has been a trend of players leaving Old Trafford and finding a new lease of life, most of whom were expected because the pressure of playing for the club was too much.
The same can’t be said for one particular player, who was sold against the manager’s wishes at the time.
It is interesting to see Scott McTominay flourish for Napoli, because he’s impressing everyone with the exact role he thrived in for United.
Kobbie Mainoo wants to leave United in January – latest
He was misprofiled as a destroyer in defensive midfield, when he was at his best as a box-crashing advanced midfielder.
As a result, he was sold to Napoli, and in came Manuel Ugarte, a true destroyer, for £42m. The peril of buying a limited player is now clear.
When Ugarte is not cleaning up every attack in sight, he can look extremely limited. Even Ruben Amorim is failing to get the best out of him, while McTominay is rewriting his legacy in Italy.
United sold an academy player to make a flashy foreign signing. They are left with only regrets now.
Instead of learning from that error, they could be about to double down on it with another academy product, Mainoo, making way for a limited player.
Replacing Kobbie Mainoo with Conor Gallagher is a sideways move
Ruben Amorim has set repeated gauntlets for Mainoo, but there has been a feeling that the fight to secure minutes hasn’t always been fair.
Bruno Fernandes plays even when he’s struggling, while Mainoo has to be perfect in every minute he plays, no matter how scarce he is, to get more minutes.
The puzzling thing is United’s links to Conor Gallagher for a potential January move, but only if they allow Mainoo to leave.
The latter half of that equation alone won’t go down well with Man Utd fans, but United making space for Gallagher by letting Mainoo leave is an even bigger problem.
Yes, Gallagher can run for days, and Amorim values athletes, but Mainoo’s potential, his academy status, and the talent he’s shown already in his career make it a counterproductive move.
McTominay’s rise has surprised many, but it’s a guarantee that Mainoo will be world-class wherever he goes, while Gallagher is a hard-working and honest player, who can’t make the first XI of Atletico Madrid.
He is, much like Ugarte, an athletic specimen whose ceiling is nowhere near as high as Mainoo’s could be.
Instead of nurturing a potentially generational talent like Mainoo, United could be looking to move him on for a player who, at best, represents a sideways move at present, and a backward lunge in the long term.
They must avoid it at all costs.
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