Man United must complete £155m transfers to avoid repeated Ruben Amorim humiliation

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'By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail'. Never has a quote been resembling a football club than this one with Manchester United and their transfer business.

United are back to square one this summer after investing in Erik ten Hag this time last year. After the board decided parting ways with Ten Hag was the right decision, the Dutchman instead signed a new contract and was backed in the transfer market.

Despite previous deals not working, the newly-formed recruitment team brought in two more players that had previously worked with Ten Hag with Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui. Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee were signed and the priority position, a No.6, was not through the door until the third game of the season in the shape of Manuel Ugarte.

Ten Hag was sacked and United went on to suffer their worst season in 51 years with a 15th-placed finish in the Premier League. Some would argue that United opting to keep Ten Hag when he should have gone was never going to work but the failure to get in the right players early in the market certainly played a huge role.

12 months later and United are faced with a similar problem. Today (June 21) marks one month to the day that Ruben Amorim's men suffered defeat in the Europa League final to Tottenham, their rock bottom. It's also one month until the first pre-season game against Leeds United in Sweden.

At the start of the month, it looked as though United were going to move with power and authority in the transfer window. Matheus Cunha's arrival from Wolves was the first of many hopeful signings this summer and Bryan Mbeumo rapidly became the next priority.

However, going into the final week of June, United are in the exact same spot as they were after Cunha's was announced. Mbeumo isn't through the door, for whatever reason, and their hunt for a new prolific striker hasn't gathered pace. For United and the people at the club, that isn't a problem.

(Image: Michael Regan - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images.)

"We're going to do our best to do more signings quickly," Omar Berrada recently told The Athletic. "Sometimes when you're not quick, it's because you're negotiating and you're trying to make sure you get the right value for money. So being efficient or quick isn't necessarily the best thing for the club."

Getting Mbeumo and a new centre-forward before the start of pre-season is the dream scenario for Amorim. Following a difficult start to life at United, the Portuguese knows more than anyone that he needs to get his team well-drilled during pre-season before the start of the season.

However, it isn't just incomings being delayed that is a problem. There are plenty of players who could be sold this summer but the four of Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Antony are the big-hitters. Unfortunately, United are no closer to raising funds.

Sancho is attracting interest from Italy while Antony is understood to be prepared to take a 30 per cent wage cut to leave the club on a permanent basis. United require a fee of £32.58m to avoid a loss on the Brazilian under the Premier League's profitability and sustainability regulation.

Rashford's case is different. Barcelona was said to be his dream move but Nico Williams' imminent arrival has put that on hold. The Manchester Evening News understands that Inter Milan have enquired about the 27-year-old for a loan deal but United would prefer a permanent exit.

(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)

A recent report from ESPN has suggested that Rashford is planning to return to United training next month if an exit has not been agreed. The same can be presumed about Sancho, Antony and Garnacho, meaning there's a real chance they could be included in the pre-season schedule. Players who appear to have no future in Amorim’s plans being part of the squad isn’t the best preparation.

Player sales is something that United have struggled to master in recent years. Scott McTominay's switch to Napoli for £25.7m is the club's sixth most expensive departure. If you wanted an idea of how poor United are at cashing-in, Liverpool are about to sell Jarell Quansah - not a first-choice under Arne Slot - for around £34m.

The Reds have a good relationship with Bayer Leverkusen after recently signing Florian Wirtz but the fact that they are about to get that fee for a defender who hasn't been superb speaks volumes of their ability to raise funds through player sales.

It's something that United need to work on. Selling the four players is a must before pre-season and failure to do so will be a major contributing factor to Amorim's fate this season. By failing to prepare for their biggest season in years, United are preparing to fail.

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