With the stadium plans in the background for the foreseeable future and the immediate focus on the Europa League, the summer window is in the middle spot for priorities.
Ruben Amorim and Manchester United know they have a big job ahead of them to shape this squad in their idea in the summer window.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s transfer admission didn’t do anything to quell those worries, with the club set to pay about £89 million for players already at the club.
In such a situation, Amorim might well have to raise money by selling the players in the team, where Wayne Rooney and Ian Wright have said only three should be spared from.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Ian Wright and Wayne Rooney on Man Utd untouchables
Hardly any Man Utd player is coming away from this wretched season with their reputation enhanced when the club is on track to finish its worst-ever league season.
However, even in this bad season, Ian Wright and Wayne Rooney have named three players who should avoid the summer culling.
Rooney warned United that they might need as many as 10-15 new players, something he said is impossible but a long-term clearout is nonetheless needed.
Rooney said: “Obviously they can’t do that but 10-15 players need to leave the club. There’s a mentality there where no one’s taking responsibility.
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“I said this last year and it’s the same again. I’ll keep Bruno [Fernandes] and [Kobbie] Mainoo, the young ones, but I think it’s just a culture there now where it’s too easy for them to lose games.”
Wright added Alejandro Garnacho’s name to the list which Rooney didn’t debate but it is nonetheless a damning verdict on a team that has cost the club millions to assemble.
Rooney and Wright are only partially correct
While the three players they’ve mentioned are all worth keeping, it is debatable that they are the only three players worth keeping.
Rooney does mention the young ones as a category of its own so players like Chido Obi and Ayden Heaven are undoubtedly included in it.
However, even among the established first-team players, talents like Matthijs de Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, or Amad have shown themselves capable of carrying the weight of the United jersey.
The club will prioritise and that is the right way to go about it because no squad is made up of 11 world-class players with 11 world-class substitutes.
Wright and Rooney have gotten carried away here in their criticism of the United team, something which can be said for most pundits this season.
The hope is that the players will use these as fuel to drive themselves and prove people wrong.