Two years after Manchester United signed a goalkeeper, a playmaker and a striker they are set to sign a goalkeeper, a playmaker and a striker.
Ruben Amorim let it be known less than two months into his tenure he was keen on a new goalie. Andre Onana is expected to have stiffer competition, at the very least, next season.
Altay Bayindir, a frugal £4.3million signing on transfer deadline day in September 2023, will be sellable and Tom Heaton is considering retirement. United could end up needing two new custodians.
Inter Milan sold Onana to United for £47.2m and replaced him with Yann Sommer from Bayern Munich for a cut-price €6.5m a month later. Inter are two games away from a second Champions League final in three seasons. Onana, perhaps wistfully, often dines at the San Carlo Italian restaurant in Hale.
United had bigger priorities in Erik ten Hag's first summer in 2022: a defensive midfielder, a right winger, a centre back, a striker they never got. Ten Hag's perception of David de Gea evolved over their season together. Parting with nearly £50m for a 'keeper who left Ajax at the same time as Ten Hag was still a luxury the United manager should not have been afforded.
Ten Hag tried to make a midfielder out of Mason Mount and gave up after one season. Well, 20 games. Mount is still an appearance shy of the amount of matches he appeared in last term.
Liverpool and Arsenal were both circling for Mount and he would have been better suited to either of those clubs than United. Mount does his best work off the ball and was always going to be wasted in central midfield.
He started this term as United's No.10 and that did not last long. Mount was substituted after 58 minutes in the Community Shield, hooked on 61 minutes against Fulham and forced off after 45 minutes at Brighton.
Mount has been involved in team training for six weeks and his last start remains the Manchester derby on December 15. Amorim wants Matheus Cunha and Cunha wants United. Amorim has expressed his "love" for Mount but their working relationship is yet to blossom.
It made this week's timing of a rare Mount interview with the United website convenient. Mount has been unusually shy nearly two years on from his move to United and had to be persuaded to speak to MUTV during the pre-season tour in Los Angeles last year.
Mount was initially sensitive about further upsetting Chelsea fans. That was nearly two years ago. Onana has had enough torturous days to make most goalkeepers reclusive and he often fronts up. Perhaps too much sometimes.
After his clanger against Bayern Munich at the start of last season, Onana informed his teammates in the dressing room that he would speak to the press. They told him he did not have to. "No, I'm going out there. I'm doing it," Onana replied.
Rasmus Hojlund stopped in the mixed zone after he scored against Leicester City last month. A colleague sympathetically suggested to Hojlund that he lacked service. Hojlund rejected that and accepted sole culpability for a run of 21 games without a goal.
A senior figure at United, no longer at the club, claimed the club tracked Hojlund when he was in Denmark and followed him to Sturm Graz. They were intrigued to see how Hojlund would fare in Serie A with Atalanta as "the Austrian league is s***e".
That was a curious choice of words. The Austrian league is not going to be a winner for ratings but it has spawned goalscorers Erling Haaland and Benjamin Sesko.
Hojlund's adaptation under Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta's esteemed coach, offered United encouragement. United upped their interest in Hojlund around Christmas time. Ten Hag held video calls with Hojlund as summer loomed.
Paris Saint-Germain were monitoring Hojlund and Randal Kolo Muani, but so were United. Muani was discounted as United had doubts he would adapt to the Premier League and he tended to drop deep, whereas Hojlund was a purer No.9. Hojlund was also four years younger.
The then-United football director John Murtough left United's 2023 pre-season tour after the Houston leg to conclude a deal for Hojlund. There had been a £42.8m bid from PSG.
Murtough spent more than 12 hours at Atalanta's training ground. Two days after PSG's take-it-or-leave-it offer, United agreed to pay £21.2m more for Hojlund. Up front.
A lot doesn't add up in the Hojlund deal. United claimed Atalanta's opening negotiation price was £90m. An external source says Hojlund was being touted for £23m to West Ham United at the start of 2023.
People at United enthused that Atalanta thought that they had got a bad deal. Atalanta won the Europa League without Hojlund last season and Ademola Lookman plundered a hat-trick in the Dublin final.
United felt Ollie Watkins was understandably overpriced at £65m-£70m. Evan Ferguson, still goalless on loan at West Ham from Brighton, was in the mix back then but Brighton had no plans to sell after the sales of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo.
Liam Delap partly appeals to United as he will have a release clause. Ipswich cannot fleece them like Atalanta, Chelsea and Inter Milan did.
