Manchester United are finally moving in the transfer market as pre-season’s first match edges closer, with Rosenborg ready to host United on July 15.
This transfer window is expected to be a busy one, as it’s the first window with the new executive structure in place and a squad overhaul on the horizon too.
United’s troubles with Profit and Sustainability Rules mean they need to sell to buy beyond a certain limit and the first first-team sale towards that is in the works.
Donny van de Beek’s move to Girona picked up pace recently and the speed at which things are moving is quite rapid, especially from United’s standards under the Glazers.
When Van de Beek’s move is expected to be completed
United will receive less than a million for the player upfront, with appearance-based add-ons taking it close to about £3-4 million. A sell-on clause plus some more difficult add-ons make it a good deal for United,
Fabrizio Romano reports that if everything is agreed on the player’s side, the move is expected to be complete by early next week.
It means that the player is likely to be given additional time off when the rest of the squad returns for pre-season training on July 8.
United wouldn’t want to risk any training injury to the midfielder when he is on the cusp of sealing a move. The prospect of him being involved against Rosenborg are zero.
With this deal in the bag, United would look to keep moving quickly, with some other priority exits also needing handling.
Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho would both be awkward reunions if they were to return to Carrington on July 8 so they should be top of the list of potential exits.
The deadline for Sancho’s transfer has already been set while Greenwood is also reportedly trying to quicken clarity over his exit.
Van de Beek is a relic of the old era
Unlike many Glazer transfers, which fans and pundits questioned at the time itself, Van de Beek was actually regarded as a coup when it happened.
However, the lack of scouting and planning that went into buying him was laid bare soon after as the-then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer just didn’t seem to have a place for him in the setup.
Things never changed for the player as despite changes in manager, he didn’t look suited to the Premier League and his confidence was at an all-time low.
Injury worries didn’t help, neither did the arrival of Erik ten Hag, the manager under whom Van de Beek played the best football of his career at Ajax.
A parting of ways was long overdue after multiple loans at Everton and then Eintracht Frankfurt. United will have to accept the reality that they will need to accept huge losses on players sales who are relics of the old era.
It is the only way to move forward on the squad reset that has been promised for more than a decade but never arrived with any sort of planning.
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