The latter already forms the narrative for some of Richard Arnold’s wonderful works for 2022 Who Will United Land? projection. This is the first window of the 52-year-old as the club’s managing director and to hear and read the hysteria from experts and supporters, he must acquire Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and the next Diego Maradona or his term will collapse and burn before takeoff. . There is, however, real pressure to have a successful window. Starting with Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, then a striker – Ajax Antony, probably – and, perhaps, a defender after Jurrien Timber turned down the opportunity to go with Erik ten Hag to move from Amsterdam to Manchester, the 21-year-old’s decision is based on his desire to ensure that he maintains his place in the Dutch team with a World Cup approaching. Across the city, Manchester City have secured Erling Haland from Borussia Dortmund and, a little further away, Liverpool have recruited Darwin Nounies from Benfica (not to mention Fabio Carvalho from Fulham and Ralph Calvay Aberdeen). Ten Haag also wanted Nunez, and as Haland is the emerging center-forward of world football, United fans see the Premier League’s leading forces and their two toughest opponents already strengthened, with their team moving away. Further rejection came from another Ten Hague goal by Christian Eriksen, with the Dane preferring either to stay at Brentford or return to Tottenham. The only transfer move to United so far this summer has been a series of departures: Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani have all left without charge. It is still early in a transfer window that does not officially open until July 1, with the team reuniting for the first time next month, when Ten Haag will speak to his players as a team for the first time. Understandably, Arnold and his football manager, John Mertow, remain cool. Frankie de Jong is the top transfer target of Manchester United and they are sure that they will attract the Dutch midfielder from Barcelona. Photo: Dan Himbrechts / AAP Their position is that although De Jong is Ten Haag’s main target, there is no need to panic, because Barcelona is in a precarious financial position and so it has to sell, and there seems to be no competitors for the Dutch midfielder, and definitely not from clubs. with the financial resources to make United happy. So Arnold and Murtough will not rush to look for the player and are preparing a second offer of around 70 million euros plus extras for him, having seen an offer of 60 million euros plus a bonus that was rejected by Barcelona. The ideal result is that De Jong’s signature will be sealed before United fly to Thailand for their pre-season tour on July 8. Ten Haag wants the 25-year-old in his place for his first match as captain, against Liverpool in Bangkok four days after United’s arrival in the Far East. If that does not happen, the plan is to make sure De Jong is a United player before the start of the new Premier League season against Brighton at Old Trafford on August 7, which Arnold and Merto believe that is possible. The mood from United is upward regarding De Jong’s arrival, firmly believing that this is the when not if not. But if De Jong is not on the plane to Bangkok, the ghost of the farce summer of 2013 will inevitably emerge. This introduced Ed Woodward, Arnold’s predecessor, who left United’s tour of Australia to “participate in urgent transfers”. When Woodward returned to Europe that Wednesday of July nine years ago, he and newly-hired manager David Moyes had spotted Cesc Fabregas, then of Barcelona, as the signing for the start of the post-Ferguson season. but the Spaniard never arrived. . Indeed, the only player United signed that summer was Everton’s Marouane Fellaini, and even that ended after the deadline and almost failed. This is the kind of disaster scenario that Arnold, Murtough and Ten Hag want to avoid. It remains highly unlikely to be repeated in this case, given United’s strong hand in negotiations with a club that not only desperately needs the funds from the sale of the player but also τον 0 290,000 a week from its books. But that does not mean the deal is over and Arnold and Murtough must ensure that they do not make the same mistake that Woodward made in 2013. At that time United paid ρια 4m more than they should have for Fellaini, who had 23 23.5 million buy-out clause that United could have activated if they had acted earlier. Moyes was well aware of the clause, as it was the Everton coach who had put her in the Belgian midfielder’s contract. Arnold’s secretly recorded meeting with disgruntled supporters at a hostel near his home in Cheshire over the weekend was a candid admission of Farrago’s recent United story. In the face of a bad assessment – “We burned the money” – the most powerful United executive showed that he is in tune with what it takes to revive a team that is more fallen than the giant sleeping at this point. But, as always, deeds will say it. To you, Mr. Arnold.
