Manchester United is getting worse and worse, the root cause of the problem is not money, but "unruly" signing strategy

Manchester United is one of the fourth highest-paid clubs in the world (according to Deloitte's latest financial report), and they also pay the players the fourth highest-paid salary (according to FBref's estimate). However, such a wealthy club ranks fifteenth in the Premier League's strength assessment last season - not the ranking in the standings, but the "real strength ranking" derived from a data model based on actual goals and expected goals.

is not accidental, but a continuous decline

Some people may say that "wealthy club Waterloo" will happen occasionally, such as Klopp's Dortmund also fell to seventh place in the 2014-15 season, Mourinho's Chelsea also went from winning the championship to being fired a year later, and the team ranked only tenth. But Manchester United's problems are even more serious - this is not a one-time disaster, but a systematic downhill.

In the past four seasons, Manchester United has ranked sixth, third, eighth and fifteenth in the Premier League, with goal difference of 0, +15, -1 and -10 respectively. The only "good season" is actually an exception and an unusual state.

In other words, Manchester United is a team that has continued to decline, and they still have strong financial resources. In this case, they should have built the next championship-level Manchester United instead of continuing to "burn money out of order" in the transfer market.

Does Manchester United want to win the Premier League or just want to live a life?

World-class players are usually signed before the age of 24, and most of the core players of Premier League and Champions League champion teams also join between the ages of 22 and 24. Manchester United signed two players who are about to turn 26 this season: Brian Mbeumo and Mattus Cunia, with a total transfer fee of nearly 150 million euros.

The problem is that none of them are "potential stocks", but "immediate combat power", but is Manchester United really in a position where they can pursue short-term returns? Should the team ranked 15th in strength assessment last season really regard the next two years as a window period for championship competition?

Can the two new players really maintain their highlight performance last season?

Cunha and Mbemo were one of the most valuable players in the Premier League last season,

Mbemo scored 20 goals for Brentford last season, and Cunha also contributed 15 goals for Wolves. On the surface, they seem to be the fourth and eighth Premier League scorers. But if they use their average shooting conversion rate in the first five seasons to restore, they can only score about 12 goals and 8 goals respectively. Moreover, Mbeumo took penalty and free kicks at Brentford, and these opportunities at Manchester United are basically B fees.

In other words, Manchester United is paying for a "hot" state rather than investing in stable long-term output. The position of the new player is just blocking Manchester United's most promising young man

If the signing is to "guaranteed not to be relegated", it may be understandable. But Manchester United originally had some young players with great potential, such as Garnacho and Amad Diallo. They showed talent and growth respectively last season, especially Garnacho's data is close to England internationals such as Foden and Martinelli.

But ironically, their positions overlap with Mbeumo and Cunia. This means that Manchester United either does not allow new players worth hundreds of millions of yuan to play, or they must compress the development space of the most promising youth training players. This is not cultivating the future, it is blocking the future.

No plan, only chaos

Manchester United did not bring Garnacho, Sancho, Anthony and Malaysia in the US preseason lineup this summer, originally to promote the transfer. But this kind of "obviously unwanted" signal has caused other clubs to lower prices. result? No one wants to take over.

According to ESPN reporter Rob Dawson, Manchester United complained about the price he raised while silently paying the price he asked for when he talked with Brentford about the Mbeumo deal. He said bluntly: "You can't buy it at all, but Manchester United doesn't even understand the negotiation process." The future plans are chaotic, and the direction is unclear. What's even more chaotic is that Manchester United's current center targets are actually two completely different types of players: RB Leipzig's 22-year-old star Benjamin Cesco and 29-year-old Aston Villa forward Oli Watkins.

One is a core potential stock in the next three to five years, and the other is possible output guarantee in two years - choosing these two as alternative targets for the same position is obviously no clear team building strategy. Although the new boss Ratcliffe said in March, “The timeline for our real chance of winning is 2028.” He even admitted that “this estimate is optimistic enough.” But in reality, Manchester United is signing players in their thirties and locking their eyes on the current one or two years.

Mbeumo will be 29 years old by 2029, Cunya will be 30 years old, and Watkins will even be 33 years old - they can't bear the goal of "revival" in 2028. United said they are building teams for the future, but everything they are doing shows: they can't wait to win now - even if the price is to fail again.