Man Utd sign £35m midfielder and exciting new centre-back in bold January transfer window predictionplaceholder image
Man Utd sign £35m midfielder and exciting new centre-back in bold January transfer window prediction | Getty Images
Manchester United’s January transfer window will involve three new signings - according to an AI prediction.
If Manchester United were to sign every player they’ve been credibly linked with over the past few weeks before deadline day, then they would have about 40 new players on the books by the end of January – most of them midfielders. Figuring out what a club who generate so many rumours will actually do in the transfer window is certainly an interesting challenge.
With so many stories swirling around, we wondered whether the tech tool of choice for the modern age – the ever-divisive AI algorithm – would be able to pick through the gossip and figure out who United will actually sign over the next week or two. Can a computer figure out which rumours are right and which are worth ignoring? We turned to a popular AI model to ask it to predict Manchester United’s transfer window to find out...
Manchester United to sign two new midfielders before deadline day – according to AI
We started by prompting our future AI overlord to tell us whether Manchester United would indeed sign any of the dizzying array of midfielders they’re supposedly interested in – and if the algorithm is right, two new faces are on the way to bolster Michael Carrick’s options.
One, former Wolves man Rúben Neves, is a potential transfer which has been widely reported in the gossip columns. Currently at Saudi side Al-Hilal, Manchester United and Real Madrid are both alleged to be interested, but it’s a race which the AI reckons United will win with a £17m deal predicted to be completed by the end of the window.
Based on press reports, that isn’t much of a reach by AI, but its second predicted incoming is a little more unexpected – Bayer Leverkusen’s Exequiel Palacios, a 27-year-old Argentina midfielder who hasn’t been suggested by many media sources as a possible option.
The AI notes Palacios’ “versatile, high-energy” playing style as being precisely what Carrick might need for the rest of the season, and also suggests that he might offer long-term value. Apparently, he will be snapped up near deadline day for around £35m. It’s certainly not a signing we have seen any indications of, so if this does happen then perhaps we should start to be worried about just how good AI is getting. Check back in just over a week to find out, we suppose…
A third new player arrives – but will United sell their unwanted players this January?
While that would be enough fresh blood for the midfield, our AI prediction doesn’t think that United will stop there – a new centre-back is also on the menu.
25-year-old Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu is apparently going to move to Old Trafford for around £26m, although the AI does note that with Manchester United focussing on midfield, this is the least likely of its predicted deals to go through, and may depend on United’s ability to make some sales. We suspect that the AI took inspiration from a recent report by gossip site Football Transfers.
It's fair to suggest that Manchester United will be more active if they make some money by jettisoning a few of their less important players, with players like Joshua Zirkzee, Kobbie Mainoo, Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte among those periodically linked with other teams in recent weeks. So will they actually get rid of any members of the current squad?
No, according to the AI. Apparently it wasn’t able to find a bidder for Zirkzee or Ugarte in its virtual transfer market, at least at United’s asking price, while it believe – accurately, in our fallibly human estimation – that both Mainoo and Maguire will stay put for now. How it squares that part of its prediction with the expected arrival of Kalulu, we aren’t quite sure, but who are we to argue with modern technology?
How accurate of a prediction will any of this prove to be? Will a side note inserted into the AI’s responses to our prompts which dismisses recent links with Ruben Loftus-Cheek turn out to be accurate? We’ll find out soon enough…
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