Manchester United did not prioritise bolstering their midfield during the summer transfer window. The Red Devils brought in Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko, Senne Lammens and Diego Leon, but Ruben Amorim's midfield options remained untouched.
Insiders at Old Trafford have revealed that strengthening the midfield was never a top priority due to the club's confidence in their existing versatile and robust options, according to the Manchester Evening News. Amorim has Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, Mason Mount and Kobbie Mainoo at his disposal in the midfield. Both Casemiro and Fernandes have been featured in all three Premier League matches this season.
United did express interest in Carlos Baleba, but Brighton's £100million valuation of the midfielder proved prohibitive. With United having already splashed out £215m on new signings, a high-profile midfield addition was financially unfeasible.
Toby Collyer was permitted to join West Brom on a season-long loan. Despite being promoted to the first team last season, Collyer was given the go-ahead to seek regular first-team football elsewhere.
Mainoo expressed a desire to leave on loan in the final week of the summer window. However, United denied his request, with Amorim stating in his pre-Burnley press conference that he wanted the young player to stay.
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Following the draw with Fulham, Amorim disclosed that Mainoo was vying with Fernandes for a place in the starting line-up.
"He's fighting for the position now with Bruno," Amorim said of Mainoo. "And I change two midfielders. I let Mason Mount [play] there because we want to score a goal and when I changed I felt the team need to return to one holding midfielder near Bruno.
"So he (Mainoo) just needs to fight for the position with Bruno, as I.T. should be at Manchester United. [Sometimes] he's going to play with Bruno, but at the moment he's fighting in training with Bruno for the position."
Mainoo started against Grismby in the Carabao Cup defeat and came on at half-time against Burnley due to a Mount injury.