We mere mortals can only speculate on what it must be like to have several million pounds available to spend. There is, however, a limit on how much of these several millions can actually be spent due to something called Financial Fair Play.
This was all the rage just a few short years ago and was tested out on Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. Both of these clubs benefitted through being purchased by Middle-Eastern billionaires who immediately went about spending some of their wealth on improving the teams.
The problem was that this was money that neither team had actually generated through it’s own efforts and was seen, therefore, to be unfair on all the other clubs who hadn’t been purchased by Middle-Eastern billionaires, which was most of them.
Everything eventually settled down but only after City and PSG had been heavily fined with the promise that the money would be returned once they were able to comply with FFP regulations.
This duly came to pass and, since then, nothing much has been heard of the rules. That isn’t to say that they no longer exist and even a club such as Manchester United, who do generate all their own wealth, has to be careful not to spend more than they can prove that they earn.
This has meant that José Mourinho has a transfer budget probably in the region of £250-300 million, if he feels as though he needs that much.
Here we take a look at his options in the transfer market. Firstly, a striker and it would appear that there are three who could possibly fill the role.
Alvaro Morata
Seems to be the preferred choice and, if the press is to be believed. wants to come to United. According to Real Madrid though, no offer has been made for the player. This seems quite strange when it was reported more than a week ago that personal terms had been agreed. Is this just a case of Ed dithering again? Remember he needed two transfer windows to get Herrera and Lindelof so lets hope this one isn’t going to take that long.
WSA player rating – 8/10 Chance of being at Old Trafford next season – 8/10
Romelu Lukaku
Always rumoured to be going back to Chelsea although, again, nothing appears to be happening at the moment. He would certainly suit Chelsea’s style and, if Diego Costa is to leave, then they need a new target man. He is expected to turn up at Stamford Bridge at some stage and will be the nearest Chelsea have come to replacing Didier Drogba if and when the deal eventually goes through.
Although Mourinho likes a big target man it is our humble opinion that he wouldn’t be the right fit at United and, for this reason, Morata would be a better option.
WSA player rating – 7/10 Chance of being at Old Trafford next season – 5/10
Robert Lewandowski
The Pole has thrown a spanner in the works by throwing his toys out of the pram. In explaining why he wasn’t the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season he used that old footballer’s trick of blaming everybody but himself. It was Carlo Ancelotti’s fault for not instructing his team mates to make sure that he got enough chances to top the scoring charts. It was his team mates’ fault for not making sure that he got enough chances to top the scoring charts. It was the pitch, it was the weather, it was anything but poor old Robert, who couldn’t have tried any harder.
This all seems to be very similar to a certain Cristiano Ronaldo blaming everybody else for his tax situation and we feel that the outcome will be the same with both players. They will both stay with their clubs having had their egos massaged by the knowledge that clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea have been crazy enough to dance to their tune the second they started playing their fiddle.
WSA player rating – 9/10 Chance of being at Old Trafford next season – 2/10
In a future article we will look at four more players who may or may not join the Red Devils. Bet you can’t wait!
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