WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Having been linked with nearly every player available to buy since the season finished and having been linked with a lot of players who aren’t and won’t be available to buy, Manchester United have until now bought, or more precisely, announced the purchase of,……………………nobody.

This is not as surprising as some people would have us believe as the transfer window does not even open until July 1st! Just because those pesky neighbours have been and gone and announced the signing of Bernardo Silva and the probable signing of Ederson doesn’t mean that they have prised open the window early. No, it means that the players in question have signed a contract dated for the beginning of July. This is not illegal, nor is it immoral. It is just good management.

This is one of the reasons that City tend to steal a march on United when it comes to players in which both clubs are interested. Txiki Begiristain is decisive and goes all-out to procure the players wanted by his manager.

Conversely, Ed Woodward, whilst admittedly having improved in the last window, still dillies and dallies and dallies and dillies, as the song goes. If we are to believe that José Mourinho gave his transfer “wish list” to Woodward back in March, (and there is no reason to believe otherwise), then why aren’t we hearing of any signings? It has now been three months, surely something could have been negotiated in that time.

We here at WSA get the impression that City began negotiations over Bernardo Silva immediately after they played Monaco in the Champion’s League. The same can probably be said about Benjamin Mendy although there is no sign of any conclusion yet in that one.

United, on the other hand, reportedly began negotiations over Victor Lindelof in JANUARY, and there is still no sign of an announcement there either! That is the difference!

It has to be the difference because there is now little to choose in anything else between the clubs. They both have world class managers, they are two of the richest clubs in the world and so can offer more in wages than virtually any other club, they both attract massive support and both have been reasonably successful in the not-too-distant past.

Unless, as a player, you want to ply your trade in the lesser leagues of Spain, Germany, Italy or France, then there is really no competition to these two clubs. Any player with ambitions to be competing against the best has to do so in England, where winning a domestic trophy actually still means something and is not generally a knockout competition between the two best teams every year.

In the Premier League various London clubs will have a period where they do well, such as Tottenham are experiencing at present. This will last until they sell their better players or the manager leaves for pastures new. Only Arsenal and Chelsea however, of the myriad of clubs in the South, have provided any consistent competition to the Northern teams.

Next season Liverpool and Everton are expected to be more of a threat to the top end of the table and, as such, the league will become that much more difficult to win.

That is what makes it so attractive and should attract the best players in the world, not an easy ride to trophies at Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Where is the challenge in that?

With a few signings between them City and United should be the two outstanding candidates to win the Premier League next season. They both, but particularly United, need to get their transfer business done early and get the players they want in so that they get a full pre-season with their new club.

Then we can all sit back and watch them go.