Even a broken clock is right twice a day and for Manchester United’s transfer business under the Glazers, it seems to have gotten a huge thing right.
Manchester United came away with all three points, plus three goals at St Mary’s Stadium against Southampton.
It eased the pressure off of Erik ten Hag to a great extent after an inauspicious start to the season and slowly, but surely, the new signings are impressing.
Manuel Ugarte got his United debut here and Matthijs de Ligt his maiden goal, but the true hero of the game was a player who was signed as a gamble in 2021.
The unintended ‘masterstroke’
The year is 2022. Manchester United are stumbling to another panicky end to the window after chasing Frenkie de Jong fruitlessly.
Ten Hag has been dealt two blows in his first two league games and the need for reinforcements is dire and urgent.
Cue United spending £60 million on Casemiro, which they would be regretting now, and a mammoth £85 million on Antony, on which the less said the better it is.
The former was necessary because United had zero natural defensive midfielders. The latter was made because the incumbent in the position had failed.
Which brings us to Jadon Sancho, the right-winger who, upon his arrival at the club, was clear that his preference was to play on the left.
Chased for two years, he had signed a year prior for about £73 million. He has left this summer on a second loan spell, at the end of which he’ll be sold for about £20-25 million.
Amidst all this drama, outside of the 2021 summer window, United also signed two youngsters and paraded them as first-team signings, which they weren’t.
Amad and Facundo Pellistri signed for £19 and £9 million, with Amad’s potential fee rising to £37 million, a huge fee for a name not many had heard about.
They are hearing about it now. It came three years later than intended, but the left-field signing is fixing the right-wing issue that £158 million worth of talent in Antony and Sancho couldn’t.
Amad’s breakout
Just like Pellistri, who never really established himself in the Manchester United squad and left this summer for Greece, Amad was thought of as a similar written-off asset.
Rangers loan confirmed it, before the Sunderland loan revived him. Then, against all odds, he has now established himself as not only a regular starter at Old Trafford but borderline untouchable in the Man United squad.
Since Amad’s arrival, many have tried and stake a claim in that problematic right-wing position. Mason Greenwood seemed like the answer until he wasn’t.
Alejandro Garnacho played there because Marcus Rashford couldn’t, and even Bruno Fernandes was left to run himself to the ground there.
Now, after three years and £158 million spent on two marquee players, it’s the £19 million under-the-radar signing that is ending up being the solution.
If performance-related add-ons take it to £37 million, it would be the happiest a club has been paying money.
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