Top News

Casemiro’s departure was dealt with — although how effectively remains open to debate — while other problem areas were left untouched.

Another transfer window has passed, and once again Manchester United supporters are likely to be left with a lingering feeling of frustration.

After a turbulent 2025/26 season, capped by Casemiro’s exit, it was obvious the Red Devils needed to strengthen this summer. Early on, it looked as though they would do exactly that, but an energetic July gave way to a meandering August and a directionless Deadline Day. In the end, only three new arrivals — all midfielders — came in.

United are due to make their long-awaited return to the Champions League in a week, and several major doubts around the squad’s depth and overall quality have still not been resolved during this transfer window.

Here, Standard Sport looks at the good, the bad and the ugly of United’s summer business.

United’s decisiveness in this transfer window cannot really be criticised. Casemiro’s departure in May meant there was effectively only one clear priority on the shopping list and, while rival clubs waited for the World Cup to finish, United acted quickly to sign Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans before the end of July.

They can also take some credit for finally getting a deal over the line for long-time target Carlos Baleba, thereby completing a major overhaul of the midfield.

The move did not require much initiative from United, but allowing Jadon Sancho to leave as a free agent at the end of last season should still count as a useful boost, if only because his £300,000-a-week wages are now off the books.

Unfortunately for United, the negatives outweigh the positives by the time this window has shut.

United were linked with Newcastle’s Lewis Hall throughout the transfer window as an upgrade on 31-year-old Luke Shaw, who has looked off the pace in the opening weeks of the campaign, but they never followed through with a bid. Harry Amass is not yet at the required level, while Rayan Ait-Nouri — a player United were reportedly interested in roughly two hours before the window closed — would have represented little more than a panic move.

A solid centre-back would not have gone amiss either, especially given Harry Maguire’s questionable form at the start of the season.

Joshua Zirkzee’s position also remains an intriguing one. He had appeared likely to leave the club this summer in pursuit of more regular first-team football, but potential moves to Juventus and Everton both collapsed in the final days of the window. He was pushed to the margins after Carrick’s appointment in January, and he now appears set for another campaign on the fringes.

There was also a strange Deadline Day development when United moved for Louis Page, Leicester’s 18-year-old midfielder, only for the deal to collapse after they failed to agree a fee. For a club of United’s size, securing youth prospects from League One clubs ought to be routine business. To miss out did not reflect well on United’s sporting directors.

Elsewhere, United may yet regret not finding a permanent solution for goalkeeper Andre Onana, who has returned to Trabzonspor for a second loan spell in successive seasons. The issue of his long-term future will now have to be revisited next summer.

United’s midfield rebuild was overdue and, on the face of it, seems to have been managed smartly — although only time will tell on that front. They do lose marks, however, for failing to deal with defensive weaknesses, and the lack of high-quality depth could become a serious issue once European football begins to crowd the fixture list.

United’s transfer planning has followed a fairly neat sequence in recent seasons. Last summer was centred on the attack, this summer on midfield, and so the natural expectation is that January will bring defence into focus — or at least that is what supporters will be hoping for.

The next few months may well reveal fresh problem positions, but as things stand, signing a top-class left-back should be one of the club’s main priorities.

The club showed considerable patience and persistence in its pursuit of Baleba. There is no reason why the same approach should not now be applied to Hall.