Living in a hotel, a fan advising Jason Wilcox and earwigging on Christopher Vivell

Living in a hotel, a fan advising Jason Wilcox and earwigging on Christopher Vivell - inside Manchester United's transfer window

Man United broke the £200m barrier for the third time in a transfer window in response to finishing 15th last season.

Berrada, Vivell and Wilcox in the Old Trafford directors' box

Alastair Campbell was in the Old Trafford directors' box on Saturday, so the Manchester United communications department had an expert to turn to for some spin on their transfer window.

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Four senior signings and four senior departures is a modest turnover for the worst United squad in 51 years, a reflection of the Ineos cabal's backing for head coach Ruben Amorim and the business they have hitherto overseen.

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United invested £225.32million to bring in Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens. The word from well-placed sources is United did what they set out to achieve.

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Almost every player who was realistically expected to leave has left. Jettisoning Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho protected the long-term harmony of the squad and its performance culture.

United cut the cord with Antony and Rasmus Hojlund, two headline signings of the Erik ten Hag era, in further shows of support for Amorim.

Tyrell Malacia has proven to be unsellable, never mind a tough sell. Like one of their custodians, United were caught short on the goalkeeper front. They now have more goalies than out-and-out central midfielders.

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United are comfortable with their midfield roster. The quintet of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount have been billed as "versatile" by sources. Only three are specialists.

With the deadline three days away, director of recruitment Christopher Vivell was on the phone at the club's Carrington training complex and could be heard acknowledging that a planned move was viewed as a "step down" by an unnamed player. Jadon Sancho held out long enough to secure an unforeseeable move to a Premier League club.

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United intended to come out of the blocks, as a senior source put it, with two early deals in the window: Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap. Delap's decision to join Chelsea over United for £30million meant the club ended up paying more than double that for their new No.9, Benjamin Sesko. He is yet to start a Premier League game.

Sesko was a fourth-choice target - at best - and his performances have been as unconvincing as Amorim's handling of the 22-year-old. Wilcox was quoted in the statement confirming Sesko's signing but Vivell is more closely attached to the Slovenian. The pair were photographed in a celebratory clinch when Sesko signed for RB Leipzig in 2022.

Sesko was the most expensive recruit

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United conducted a data-led review of their 2024-25 season to determine which area required the most attention and concluded that a lack of goals was the biggest contributing factor to their worst season since relegation in 1974. Basic maths could have concluded that, never mind a bespoke algorithm.

Members of the bomb squad sought shelter in temporary accommodation. Antony relocated to the Marriott hotel in Hale Barns, so close to Manchester Airport that the take-offs may have interrupted his sleep. Sancho was in and out of his mansion in the same suburb. Garnacho switched to a flat in Hale but was still paying the rent on his mansion that his parents and brother moved out of last season.

United did their utmost to put a positive spin on the £40m sale of Garnacho. He had angled to leave in public and the fee is the fourth-highest for a departure in the club's history. Even former academy staff toasted the money United had recouped for him.

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Garnacho: gone

Yet United banked only £2.5m more than Ipswich Town did from Nottingham Forest for Omari Hutchinson. Garnacho is a United academy graduate, Premier League-proven winger and Argentina international. Chelsea have got him on the cheap.

United sources claimed Chelsea's opening offer was £25m. Both sides have dabbled in mischief-making against each other over the summer, whether it be Chelsea linking United with their dead wood strikers or United adding Chelsea to the clubs that Bryan Mbeumo rejected. Chelsea denied that they moved for Mbeumo.

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Garnacho and his on-off partner, Eva Garcia, visited London almost weekly last season. Sources say they would not be surprised if Ms Garcia returns to England now that the father of her child has moved to the capital. United staff on the post-season tour knew there was no chance of a U-turn from Amorim on Garnacho amid the winger's surly behaviour in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

Mbeumo has performed well for United so far

Agency sources said early in the summer that Amorim's 'bomb squad' strategy would cost United millions. Chelsea and Real Betis were the only bidders at the table for Garnacho and Antony, which drove their prices down.

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Antony is a huge loss under the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules. United insiders say the club have nevertheless - maintained financial discipline in compliance with PSR.

It remains to be seen if director of football Jason Wilcox will now emerge from the shadows. Dan Ashworth reflected on United's summer transfer window two days after it closed last year in the Old Trafford boardroom with journalists.

Ashworth lasted five months

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One fan who encountered Wilcox enthusiastically lobbied him to get the Sesko deal done. Wilcox cagily stressed that Newcastle were also interested. The fan reminded him, "It's Newcastle."

Senior figures at United repeatedly stressed a goalkeeper was not a priority but Amorim's assessment of that area evolved as Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir took turns to drop clangers. Amorim endorsed an enquiry for Emiliano Martinez but Lammens is more aligned with the data-driven model United are implementing.

Patrick Dorgu was the first of that ilk. He has been overpromoted and overplayed to the point that Amorim resorted to starting Diogo Dalot on the left wing against Burnley on Saturday.

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Cunha was the first signing of the summer for United

United noted that Lammens had one of the highest goals-prevented metrics in Europe, made more saves than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top ten leagues and made the most progressive passes for any goalkeeper under the age of 23. That will all be irrelevant when he is in net for the most scrutinised sporting institution on the planet.

United supporters of a certain vintage will recall that Royal Antwerp were the club's original feeder club in the Nineties. United farmed out 34 players to the Belgian side and never signed anyone from them. Lammens is the first.

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Sources say a goalkeeper was a secondary priority contingent on whether Lammens would become available. Funds had to be raised from sales and loans for United to have the headroom to execute the £18.2m deal.

Lammens and Sesko are contradictions. Amorim all but admitted that United prioritised established Premier League recruits yet the two most important positions in the team - in goal and up front - have been taken up by Premier League novices.

Lammens was the final signing through the door

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"You watch every weekend Matheus doing things against the players that you are going to face," Amorim said in Chicago on July 25. "That can help you to have more certainty when you choose players. So that was a policy that we tried to use this season.

"So I can say yes, it's not just that, because they have characteristics that we need, but we focus on getting players that can come here and to face this kind of pressure, like you said, since the first day." Club sources clarified there was a balance of recruits to immediately improve the team and younger players with potential.

United will leave it to Amorim to clarify whether Lammens, not among the four goalkeepers in the Belgium squad this month, is their new No.1. Elsewhere in goal, there is no movement on any outgoings (at the time of writing). United have four senior 'keepers in a season where they could play as few as 40 games if they exit the FA Cup in the third round.

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United have four senior goalies now

The Turkish transfer window is open until September 12 but Jose Mourinho had no interest in Onana or Bayindir before his defenestration at Fenerbahce. The Süper Lig runners-up bought Mourinho's old scourge, Ederson, who tossed milk at the Portuguese after Manchester City won at Old Trafford in December 2017.

A dressing room source said Amorim was wary that Bayindir's confidence could be "killed" if he was dropped after his costly 'keeping against Arsenal. By sticking by the Turk at Fulham, Onana's own self-esteem plummeted, though that does not excuse his chastening performance at Grimsby Town.

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Confidence in both goalkeepers has dwindled among the United players. "Altay is a good 'keeper and has good skills," a source who works with the player said. "But United is too demanding for him."

United's first four signings of the summer

United will go big for a midfielder next year as the area was not regarded as a priority in the recent window. They came up short with Carlos Baleba but have started the long game. Casemiro will not be at the club next season and his heir apparent, Manuel Ugarte, has been the poorest of the Ineos-era recruits.

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Ugarte played under Amorim for two years at Sporting Lisbon but has started this season where he ended last season: on the bench. The interest in Baleba would suggest some at United have already given up on him.

No amount of spin can disguise that.

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