More than Mbeumo-Cunha, Ineos’ “failed” £180m swoop shows they deserve patience with transfers

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Man Utd fans are losing patience with Ineos after the club struck out on Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, but history says otherwise.

Of course, there are the deals for Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha last summer to prove that when Ineos go for proven quality, it pans out.

They do it on their terms and only for players who are desperate to play at Old Trafford, leading to a unified dressing room.

However, more than those two successful deals, Man Utd fans should look back at a £180m “failed” double swoop to see that United are doing just fine.

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Man Utd walked from Jarrad Branthwaite and Carlos Baleba

The players who did sign show Ineos will get deals done for those who want to join, but these Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes snubs are better understood from a different perspective.

That’s because Ineos have been in this position before in each of the summer transfer windows they’ve overseen at the club.

The first one was Jarrad Branthwaite in 2024, the Everton centre-back who was United’s top target.

Everton, much like Forest and West Ham today, slapped a £75m price tag on him, rejecting multiple bids from United which fell below that mark.

Needless to say, United walked away from the deal, and two years on from that decision, Branthwaite is a shell of the player he was tipped to be.

Injury worries and inconsistent form have proven that what Ineos valued Branthwaite at was correct, and so was their decision to walk away.

The second one happened in 2025, when Man Utd explored the conditions for a deal for Carlos Baleba, only to be greeted by a price tag north of £100m.

Moises Caicedo and Declan Rice became the standard bearers back then, and United swiftly concluded their chase.

No prizes for guessing what happened to Baleba since then, because his form fell off a cliff, and he doesn’t even rank amongst the club’s serious targets one year on.

Ineos valued these two players perfectly, and the events since they walked away from either deal have proven them right.

It’s impossible to say that Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes will walk the same path, because they did end up getting a transfer, unlike the pair above.

However, the owners have earned enough patience from Man Utd fans that they can be relied upon to get alternatives, who might even turn out to be better than these snubs.