Pushing against your nose. 6 files proving that Manchester United is the "worst negotiator" in the transfer market

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Deals "No owner!!"

Last summer, Manchester City made more money than Manchester United made in a decade, after the Seetzen sold Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Gesso for around €168 million, while spending just over €111 million on Calvin Phillips and Erling Haaland.

While Manchester United did not exceed 12.9 million euros, most of which came from the sale of Andreas Pereira to Fulham, United spent some 244 million euros on their deals, including about 100 million euros on Anthony's deal.

While Pereira achieved a very good level with Fulham and caused 10 goals, Anthony was only involved in 6 goals, including a single goal.

It might seem trolling to compare the prices of two players of different ages, positions and career paths, but given how they performed last season, it seems fair to conclude that United undervalued Pereira and overpaid Anthony.

While each team makes mistakes in the transfer market and trades can usually only be judged late, all of that has made United look like a very bad negotiator in the transfer market when it comes to buying and selling players.

There is little evidence that this policy continues to do deals, too. Having recently agreed to pay Mason Mount up to 70 million euros despite being in the final year of his contract with Chelsea, While David De Gea's departure file seemed very strange After making an offer for renewal, the Spanish guard refused and left the Red Devils.

As United look to conclude deals with Inter represented by André Onana and Atalanta represented by Rasmus Huilund and other players in an effort to strengthen Eric Ten Hag's squad for next season, clubs on the other side of the negotiating table know they can beat the Red Devils in any negotiating round easily.

Anthony... Pay against your nose!

One reason why United tend to overpay players is that they often try to make one deal each transfer season and focus on one goal, don't stop anything until they get the player they want, and as a result, they pay with their nose what the player and his club want.

Last summer, while signing Anthony from Ajax, the Dutch giants did not want to sell the Brazilian winger and could see United doing all things to get him in, and the then Ajax chief executive, Edwin van der Sar, admitted the former United goalkeeper, Ajax had all the bargaining power on this file.

He told The Athletic: "We wanted to keep him here for another year, there was no urgent need to sell him, we had money in the bank, but the value United had offered was too high. United challenged us to go further than any roof. "

United announced at the start of last summer that they would pay no more than 70 million euros to Anthony, but ended up paying 100 million euros, leaving the club cashless in the January transfer window.

While Liverpool signed Cody Jackpo, who was a United target, Ten Hag was unable to sign Foot Fighurst and Marcel Sabitzer on loan after losing Cristiano Ronaldo in November.

Harry Maguire... A similar story!

The story was similar to Harry Maguire, the England centre-back was Jose Mourinho's No.1 goal in 2018 after his Premier World Cup, and was available for €70 million, but United were unwilling to support the Portuguese manager in his demands to bring in the England international.

The following summer, after Maguire's shares rose further, City also showed interest in the defender, prompting Leicester to claim some 118 million euros for him, City put its cap on City drawing the line at 82 million euros, so United agreed to a price of 94 million euros to fetch Maguire and rain Leicester City's coffers with money.

Four years later, Maguire is fifth in the United central defender standings, starting just eight Premier League games last season, and even losing his place in some games to left-back Luke Shaw!.

While Maguire suited the style of football that Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted to play with and remains a starter for England coach Gareth Southgate, he struggles in possession and the high defensive line favoured by Ten Hag.

United will be willing to sell Maguire this summer, reportedly setting a price tag of 59 million euros, which will likely alienate potential annexers and could lead to his real price falling further as he enters the final two years of his contract.

In trying to get the best price for Maguire, United may find themselves suffering from a centre-back who is not suited to their configuration and manager's plan, does not offer any short-term addition and is the most loser of that deal.

The need for Manchester City's courage

The only thing that sets City apart from United in negotiations is their willingness to move away from the deal, for example last summer they were interested in Brighton's Mark Cocoria, but reduced their interest when it came to €53 million, opting to bring Sergio Gomez from Borussia Dortmund instead, paying just €17.6 million.

Meanwhile, Kokoria moved to Chelsea for 64.5 million euros and his debut was poor, Gomez did not perform well for City either, playing just 340 minutes in the Premier League and starting two games, but in the long run City were not affected.

Sometimes they simply sign players in different positions. After withdrawing from the Maguire deal in 2019, City decided that they did not need a new centre-back to upgrade Eric Garcia from the academy and spend the biggest money on Rodri (69 million euros) and Joao Cancelo (64.5 million euros) instead.

City have also moved away from deals for Jalido Koulibaly and Jorginho after they declined their asking price, and did the same with Declan Rice this summer after West Ham rejected their offer of €105 million, leaving Arsenal to snap up the England midfielder instead.

Mason Mount... Chelsea will force you to pay what he wants.

The United side had the opportunity to get a better deal from Chelsea than Mason Mount as the midfielder enters the final year of his contract with his club of origin and will be available for free in July 2024, explaining United's "relatively low" first offer of 47 million euros rejected by Chelsea.

United had the added advantage of Chelsea needing to sell Mount before June 30 at the end of the financial year, to support their accounts for the new season and comply with Premier League rules on fair financial play.

But United finally agreed to pay 64.5 million euros in advance, plus an additional 6 million euros in bonuses related to publicity and success at the Manchestraway Club, it was a huge fee for a player who was sure to leave Stamford Bridge because of his contractual status and because he scored only three goals last season.

Manchester City, seemingly a more insidious negotiator, in turn signed Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea whose contractual status was quite similar to Mount's, for just €29.3 million!.

David de Gea... Two contractual disasters!
United's lack of audacity in their

negotiations was quickly overshadowed as mentioned, despite their poor treatment of David De Gea, the club agreed to a new contract for the Spaniard and the guard was expected to last an extra year, but was shocked by the withdrawal of the offer.

De Gea was surprised that his ways would not meet those of United, given Ten Hag's desire to sign a modern goalkeeper who could play the ball with his feet forward and be confident when the ball was between his feet like André Onana.

United's intention on De Gea may be technically sound as the goalkeeper level fluctuates over many seasons, but everything that happens in terms of negotiations makes United seem a "clumsy" and indecisive club, and can hinder potential Mercato targets from dealing with the club, as well as their agents.

But this was not United's worst move with De Gea. And what happened in the 2019 when he was awarded was when they agreed to give him a contract worth 440 thousand euros a week was unbearable, That made him the highest paid player in the Premier League at the time. In addition to inflating their payroll bill, the contract severely reduced United's chances of selling De Gea in the future which eventually led him to leave the club for free, and the loser as usual.. It was United!.

Last place among the big six!

De Gea is not the only outstanding player to leave United without any pay in recent years, this has happened with Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard all gone at the end of their contracts.

The club's inability to negotiate exit plans for players goes a long way in explaining why they ranked last among the big six in the Premier League in player sales between 2013 and 2023, generating only 156 million euros in player sales. Chelsea topped the list with Euro828.5 million, only this summer with sales of Euro223 million including Mount, Kovacic and Kai Havertz's move to Arsenal.

The poor planning of the United transfer market in the past means they urgently need to sell players this summer to finance the purchase of a striker, having already disbursed nearly half the 140 million euros they are allowed to spend due to the Premier League's fair financial play rules and profitability, after just one name, Mason Mount.

Manchester United desperately need to become a tougher negotiator or roll out their network of targets more broadly, or risk again throwing Hag Tin into the sea in order to catch a new fish next to Vighurst!.