Manchester United must spend as wisely as rivals City and PSG if they want to keep up
- At their best, Solskjaer’s men beat anyone, but they have to tighten up on their player ins and outs like Europe’s best
- Rashford, Martial and Greenwood are promising youngsters but they need to recruit more Fernandes-level talent
Reality struck this week in European football. PSG’s 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou was a watershed, showing the Parisians have the quality to outclass Barcelona away, and the Catalans, so long a pre-eminent force with 13 consecutive Champions League quarter-finals, will not add another this year unless they can produce a comeback even more dramatic than 2017. PSG are better, Barça weaker and the image of Gerard Pique trying to cling onto Kylian Mbappe’s shirt was a microcosm of the shift.
PSG have a rich state behind them, Barça are supporter-owned, but the presidents those supporters voted for made too many rash financial decisions. Covid-19 exacerbated the dire financial position at a club who have the biggest stadium in football and had attracted more free-spending football tourists to games than any other.
In England, Manchester City moved 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League. Everton played well, but City blew them away. Manchester United played well against Everton recently, yet let them equalise in the last seconds. Small margins; big differences.
City’s winning machine is more ominous with Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero back and their revival coincided with champions Liverpool’s two wins in 10 league games, while neighbours United stuttered after hitting top of the league. Liverpool have regressed, United are improving, but City are well ahead.
That PSG and City, football’s two best-funded clubs, are rising is little surprise. Money always talked in football – sometimes too loudly. It’s been a year since City’s two-year European ban for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, but such bans are seldom upheld and City’s was quashed.
They don’t have a European Cup between them, but, 10 years after coming under Qatari ownership in Paris and 12 years after the Abu Dhabi takeover, the moneyed duo are getting closer. PSG reached the final last year.
City have yet to go beyond Manuel Pellegrini leading them to the semi-final before Pep Guardiola arrived, but both clubs have the resources to recruit smartly and play well. Yes, PSG bought Neymar and City De Bruyne, but PSG also bought Leandro Paredes from Zenit, Moise Kean on loan from Everton, from where they also signed Idrissa Gueye. Alessandro Florenzi is on loan from Roma, Keylor Navas wasn’t in favour at Real Madrid, nor Ander Herrera at United. City signed Ruben Dias among others from Benfica – United had signed the man Dias replaced, Victor Lindelof.
City and PSG will be better positioned than any club to strengthen in the summer. Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland might have hinted at a future in Spain, but the money is at City and PSG, not Real Madrid and Barcelona. United and Liverpool are England’s biggest clubs – two American-owned giants managing debt rather than acting as benefactors.
City and PSG ran at vast losses but squander their riches. They employed smart sporting directors and managers. Guardiola is a serial winner who is tight with his club’s football decision-makers. When Thomas Tuchel started criticising PSG publicly, his days were numbered. The now-Chelsea manager wanted old-fashioned autonomy and to bring his own players in, but sporting director Leonardo has the power.
Rivals have also failed. United, now a distant second in England, bought poorly in the post-Ferguson years and changed their manager too often. They wasted millions on bringing Alexis Sanchez, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Radamel Falcao and more to Old Trafford in a haphazard recruitment policy.
It has improved since, the youth system too. Charlie McNeil, a 17-year-old Mancunian striker who joined from City, scored four against his old club at the weekend. But will he reach Sergio Aguero levels?
Amad Diallo made his debut in the impressive 4-0 win against Real Sociedad on Thursday and defender Teden Mengi, on loan at Derby, is a talent.
James Garner’s loan to Watford didn’t work out, but he’s thriving at Nottingham Forest. He needs a year in the Premier League next. Below them, U-23 stars Hannibal Mejbri and Shola Shoretire, but it could be years before they become top class, if they ever do. Many United fans don’t have the patience and are sceptical. Buying youth has risks, that’s why Liverpool’s most transformative signings, Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson (OK, not this week) have been fully formed players. But Real Madrid, Barcelona and United are recruiting young.
Players need to develop to be among the best in their positions in world football. How many United players could you claim to be the best?
The attack of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood, who signed a new contract this week, can excite, but none have been prolific this season. Would any get into City’s team? Would any United player at present? Bruno Fernandes probably – but who else?
United need more Bruno-class players – they’ll be costly, though prices in the transfer market will deflate, and they need to be smart. Jadon Sancho, excellent in Dortmund’s win in Seville, will be available for far less than what was quoted last summer and United know that.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking at a forward, right winger and centre-half, his scouts watching Sevilla’s 22-year-old defender Jules Kounde extensively. Solskjaer has done well moving players on, but more on vast wages who seldom play must go.
The Norwegian will meet his bosses again in a few weeks to discuss individual targets, their likely demands and the probability of getting them. He’s got United ahead of Liverpool for now but knows he has to get them closer to City – and that’s difficult.
At their best, United beat Paris and City away. Twice. But the initiative is with those bankrolled clubs who have spent millions but done it well.
