2020–21 Manchester United Preview
Like many European clubs, Manchester United’s pre-season has been peculiar. There hasn’t been the usual pre-season training. No pre-season tours and not many pre-season friendlies generally. Due to our progression to the Europa League semi-final, we have had a later start to pre-season training and the league season. We have had only one pre-season friendly as well.
It has also been a pre-season that has been blighted by off-field troubles. Harry Maguire getting into the wrong end of the law while on holiday with his family in Greece. Mason Greenwood breaking the COVID-19 protocols while on international duty with England. Discontentment of the fans on social media towards the club’s transfer activities. The club has been shrouded in negativity.
Donny Van Der Beek
The one positive from pre-season was the signing of Dutchman, Donny Van Der Beek from Ajax Amsterdam. The way the transfer was conducted was unusual from United. The signing of a quality player with growth potential conducted swiftly and efficiently without paying over the odds. On the surface, it looks like a good signing. A player that can play in various position in central midfield and able to deputise for Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes. Let’s hope he can prove to be a positive signing for us.
Fans Discontentment
The fans are up in arms virtually on social media at our transfer strategy. The club came out to warn us that it will not be business as usual due to the pandemic. While there is some truth in that due to the pandemic, clubs are not spending as much and freely. For United, pandemic or not, it has been the same story of inefficiency and incompetence. Every summer, we drag our heels at signing players. We are always involved in long-drawn-out transfer sagas and it doesn’t always end positively. The fans recognise that the team needs further reinforcements if we are to close the gap further with the top two. The club is constantly trying to tell us that we can only sign 2–3 players per window while our rivals have signed more. The way the other clubs conduct their business is also so different from us. While they conduct it swiftly and efficiently without much noise, we rarely conduct our business like that. When we are interested in a player, the whole world knows about it.
Are the fans right to feel discontent? They are! Ever since Ed Woodward became our CEO, our transfer business has been inefficient and incompetent. It is not only a matter of signings, but it is also a matter of selling players. We are struggling there too. So many years and seasons have passed but nothing has changed. The Glazers seem to be happy at the way things are going. They don’t seem to care.
2020–21 Season
We had a strong and positive end to the season stretching back to pre-COVID-19 days but Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s over-reliance on the starting eleven is a major concern. The signing of Van Der Beek will add quality to our midfield but we need further reinforcement elsewhere. We also need players that are on the fringes to perform. As Solksjaer has correctly pointed out, the team needs to find consistency and maturity this season. Can the team now find the consistency to produce that week in, week out? The players that were the mainstay can they perform every week at a high level? Can the players on the fringes of the team step-up and put pressure on the first-teamers?
We still need signings made even if it is late in the transfer window. The key to how we do this season will lie in the answer to the questions above.
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