Manchester United’s chase for Bryan Mbeumo has turned into a farce, but the more worrying thing is what Fabrizio Romano has constantly said about the deal.
The latest update on Man Utd’s Bryan Mbeumo deal is that the two clubs are still ‘considerably apart’ in their valuation of the player.
There have been no significant developments in the last two weeks, leading to calls for United to walk away from Mbeumo.
The more worrying thing, however, is the three words Fabrizio Romano has constantly been saying about the deal from the time it started. It’s turning out to be extremely worrying.
Bryan Mbeumo headshot, hands ready to clap the Brentford fans
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Fabrizio Romano’s message on Bryan Mbeumo to Man Utd
Since United’s interest in Mbeumo was reported more than a month ago, the widespread expectation was that the second bid would be accepted.
When that was rejected, common sense dictated that the third one would come soon, and the saga would be done and dusted.
The third bid still hasn’t arrived, but in the meantime, United have lost out on players like Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Osimhen, Ardon Jashari, and more.
Every time United are linked to a player, or offered a player, Fabrizio Romano repeats the three words that Man Utd are “focusing on Mbeumo”.
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That, right there, is the worrying part. It’s not that the deal for Mbeumo is taking time; it’s that United are back to working on just one deal at a time, leading to them being left behind in the market as dominoes fall around them, making their job even harder.
The latest example of this phenomenon came in Romano’s latest video, where he said United have been offered Dusan Vlahovic, but those three words, ‘focusing on Mbeumo’, ended that discussion for now.
Now the inevitable scenario will begin to unfold as Vlahovic joins another team while United ‘focus on Mbeumo’.
Ineos approach reminiscent of the worst of Glazers
While there is a mitigating factor to working on one deal at a time, that United’s financial condition is not ideal, there are ways around it.
If the player only wants to join Man Utd, then United should spend the funds reserved for him on other players, because Mbeumo is only too happy to sit around and do nothing while the clubs negotiate.
Then, having strengthened the team at other positions, they could have had a proper pre-season and gone back in for Mbeumo had sales materialised by the end.
At that point, Brentford’s stance would weaken since Mbeumo’s contract is ticking, and they would be keeping an unhappy player at the club for at least six months.
Instead, Ineos have taken the worst bits of the Glazers’ approach, spending unnecessary time on a single deal while passing on every other one, only to end up paying what the selling club is asking for because other movements keep weakening United’s bargaining position.
It’s not United finally growing a spine to do a deal on their terms, it’s the club stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy on the verge of cutting their nose to spite their face.