The short answer to the question posed in the headline is yes, they can. There are, however, caveats as is always the case with United these days. If the question is reworded to read ‘WILL these three take United to the top’? then the reasonable answer is ‘no they won’t’ but maybe with the addition of a couple more quality players, top eight or better can be achieved.
At present the club does not possess a world class goalkeeper which is virtually a must-have asset. This has always been the case and United’s relatively recent periods of dominance coincided with having Peter Schmeichel and then, after a few tailor’s dummies, Edwin van der Sar.
As of going to press United have, reportedly, agreed terms with Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens which has to be good news, if true, as their current choices represent a variation on Dumb and Dumber but under the names of Bad and Badder.
Obviously there is no guarantee that any new goalkeeper will be world class unless an absolute king’s ransom is spent on one who already is but a 23 year old, who has already been called up to the national team, could well be on the way to that standard.
If this signing is made and the player turns out to be one of the best then the odds in favour of a top eight finish increase dramatically.
Also required, according to the social media ‘managers’ and a few more reputable sources, is a ball winning midfielder. It would seem like Ugarte already needs upgrading yet, in the main, he has looked quite comfortable and quite good in the role. Maybe just not quite good enough for a club with aspirations as high as United.
Carlos Baleba of Brighton seems to be everybody’s favourite at the moment but he won’t be moving north anytime soon if Brighton themselves have anything to do with it, which they do. He has immediately been placed in the £100 million+ bracket and, as United have already spent more than £200 million they haven’t got, a bid is unlikely until next summer.
So do the club go for a slightly cheaper holding midfielder or do they make do with what they have and wait for Baleba?
Of course waiting is a gamble. United are by no means guaranteed a place in any European competition next season and there will inevitably be a question mark over how long they will be able to entice top players on reputation and name alone. Maybe they wait a year and Baleba goes elsewhere, is it worth the risk?
Anyway this is all hypothetical at present as United don’t yet have a world-class goalkeeper or a world-class holding midfielder and this may go some way to explaining why they have taken only one point from their first two games this season.
For all genuine United supporters let’s hope at least one more arrival comes through the door to give the headline three a fighting chance!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 