The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

In a summer transfer window that’s been nothing short of calm, Manchester United, to their credit, have been, well, relatively calm. Their transfer targets, before the summer transfer window, were reportedly Elliott Anderson and West Ham’s Matheus Fernandes.

It turned out they missed out on both players because both clubs wanted an excessive amount of money. Anderson was sold to Man City for £116 million, and Fernandes went to Spurs for £86 million.

With fellow midfielder Sandro Tonali leaving Newcastle for a fee in the region of £100 million, his former teammate Bruno Guimarães is said to be on Arsenal’s transfer target list, but a bid of £70 million and above will most likely prize him away from The Magpies.

As good a player as the former Lyon man is, really? The man is coming on 29, a bit pricey, don’t you think? This market doesn’t seem to think so. Something has to give; 20-time Premier League champions, to their credit, have said it’s not them.

Having been forced to pirouette several times and change tact and the names they’re going for in the market, due to initial targets being too expensive, The Red Devils pulled out of a good value deal for Ederson, who had a reported injury in his medical check.

That setback saw them recover and sign Andrey Santos for £50 million and Youri Tielemans for £36 million. The market is trying to tell us that a 29-year-old will cost around £70 million in today’s market. Man United belittled such a thought.

United are not done. Aurelian Tchouameni was a reported target, but it looks increasingly likely that the Premier League giants will not be able to pry him away from the 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid.

Fellow Frenchman Manu Kone, who had a superb World Cup, has been linked with The Reds. In a real power move, Man United have not rushed into a deal; they’re assessing their options.

Kone is a really good player; at £50 million, he seems to be valued at a good price, but if there is a hint of anything not suitable for Manchester United, they seem prepared to walk away. Lamine Camara is an option for United too.

Since Sir Alex left, Manchester United have been bullied in the transfer market; this window that’s not happened and that’s good. There will be noise that Manchester United are not sitting at the top table when it comes to transfers; that’s ok because they need to please FFP and not people.