Heading into this season, Manchester United had been coming off their most productive off-season in years. Unlike in previous transfer windows, the Glazers openly brandished the big money to bring players to Old Trafford. These weren't no-namers either - Lisandro Martínez, Casemiro, and Antony all arrived at United, making this, at least on paper, one of United's strongest squads in a long time.
After a slow start to their Premier League campaign, United had managed to get back on track in recent weeks with impressive victories over Liverpool and Arsenal as part of a four-match winning streak. However, Erik ten Hag's team were given a stern reality check by cross-town rivals Manchester City. This latest iteration of the Manchester derby saw City claim a 6-3 victory at the Etihad stadium; Phil Foden and Erling Haaland's hat-tricks combined to give City an extremely one-sided win.
In spite of the enormous amount of money that the Red Devils spent in the off-season, their loss in the derby highlighted one key point: it's not going to happen without a megastar who is a legitimate Ballon d'Or candidate. Although Martínez and Casemiro are certainly above-average starters who would merit a place in just about any team's starting 11 while Antony appears to be an intriguing young prospect with a high ceiling, United were taken apart by such a player.
As has invariably been the case throughout this season, Haaland was close to a one-man wrecking crew for the Citizens. In addition to his three goals, Haaland provided the assists for two of Foden's own trio. The Norwegian is one of two City players who occupies that highest and rarest echelon; Kevin De Bruyne is the other. The effects of having two such players have been evident since the season began. While City currently lie second in the Premier League behind Arsenal, they will almost certainly overtake the Gunners at some point before opening up an enormous lead as they roll to yet another Premier League title by a huge margin. City are also the only English club who have a realistic chance of winning the Champions League.
This brings me back to United. Somehow, despite spending an eye-popping €240 million in the recent transfer window, it can absolutely be said that United "played it safe". This is especially true when considering the calibre of players who were up for grabs. Now, it's true that Haaland would never have signed for United owing to the history between the club and his father who was dealt a career-ending injury by a cheap shot from former United captain Roy Keane. Sadio Mané, who left Liverpool for Bayern Munich, was also off the table due to the rivalry between Liverpool and United. However, United did have many other opportunities to "swing for the fences" but passed on all of them.
This past off-season, Robert Lewandowski left Bayern for Barcelona. In-house friction between Neymar and Kylian Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain almost led to Mbappé's departure from PSG. Speculation around Harry Kane's future at Tottenham Hotspur continues to circulate. And, if United had happened to have an unusually large appetite for risk, they might even have considered bringing Romelu Lukaku back to Old Trafford in hopes that he might recapture the form that saw him dominate during his first stint at Inter Milan. A large portion of the money United spent could easily have been used to finance the signing of one of these players.
None of this is a knock on any of United's key acquisitions. With their help as well as ten Hag's adept tactical mind, United will probably finish second or third in the league and either win the Europa League or make a deep run in it. However, this is Manchester United we're talking about - the world's most high-profile club with a level of glamour arguably only matched by Real Madrid and Barça. The prospect of being the face of United is something which the club should have leveraged to bring in that all-timer at the peak of his powers. United are thus likely to rue not doing so.
This season's United team do present a formidable challenge for opponents both domestically and abroad. However, in the words of Meek Mill, "there (are) levels to this"; United's timidity in the transfer window (masked by their extravagant financial outlay) has kept them from the topmost level.
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