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United will possibly “return to its position”, as its resources require a place in the Champions League every year, but they have also been before.
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Manchester United is returning to the Champions League. This undeniable fact will be all that they fear for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his players and his players this morning after an 11-month crusade in the Premier League in which they came here within two numbers of the relegation zone and yet they ended up as the third most productive team. in the country.
Although this is a cliché, it would be fair to say that United is “back in position,” not because they have the divine and inalienable right to play among the elite of European football, but because their point of resources and expenses means that a position at this table is the minimum wait, season and season.
So yes, “instead, ” but they’ve also been in that position before. This is not the first time in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era that the Champions League standings are announced as a turning point. This will be the last time such a tipping point is needed, but it will require classes to be learned from past mistakes.
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Look back at the movement windows of the last 3 seasons of the United Champions League: 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The players were bought at a very high price to build a team worthy of the new stage. But few lasted more than one or two years.
Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger all arrived after Louis van Gaal’s moderately successful first year, then all departed under Jose Mourinho after just one full season. Matteo Darmian hung around a lot longer, though as emergency full-back cover rather than the established starter he was supposed to be.
Once Mourinho returned to the Champions League after winning the Europa League, he signed Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez six months as a component, at an exorbitant price. Barely a year and a component later, the two will be rejected through Solskjaer as a component of a “cultural reboot” and sent to play combined at Inter.
And in the last summer of Mourinho, after a moment of position in the league, Fred and Diogo Dalot arrived for a combined payment of 71 million pounds. At 21, Dalot’s long career at Old Trafford is bleak after Timothy Fosu-Mensah fell into the hierarchy. Fred inspired before the blockade but has played a little since then, Solskjaer who prefers Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay as a defensive complement in midfield.
These windows were new enough, and expenses gigantic enough, to make their footprint visual. They have not been exempt from moderate successes. However, of all players signed in the seasons, only Anthony Martial and Victor Lindelof will in fact be a component of Solskjaer’s first-choice starting lineup when the Premier League begins in September.
This summer’s attempts to take advantage of the Champions League playoffs and consolidate that position will have to be evidently greater than those of the recent past. As the move-in window opens, all eyes are on Executive Vice President Ed Woodward and de facto negotiator leader Matt Judge, who have vital decisions to make.
Jadon Sancho is the priority, as he has been doing for months. Dortmund is able to sell to the 20-year-old this summer, but offers little leeway in its selling value despite the Covid-19. United, meanwhile, has a tighter budget, as Woodward said in April about “not being safe” from the effects of the pandemic.
Reinforcements are also needed in other spaces of the team, specifically in the midfield, left side and half field. The call for a striker has decreased given the form of Martial and the extension of Odion Ighalo’s loan until January, however, this is a domain in which Solskjaer needs features and competence.
Because despite all the valid progress communications after Sunday’s win in Leicester City, United’s total of 66 problems is precisely the same as last season. They finished sixth then, but now third. On average, 66 problems were enough to secure fifth place in the Premier League. This is usually a Europa League in general, rather than the Champions League standard.
And in recent years, United has landed around that same brand. His total championship problems since Ferguson’s retirement are now 64, 70, 66, 69, 81, 66, 66. Apart from the atypical value of Mourinho’s 2017-18 finalists, they are all in a diversity that usually translates into a final between fourth and sixth place. .
That’s what was post-Ferguson United: the 4 contenders more productive than certainties. Next season, to keep the current momentum feeling ahead, Solskjaer hopes to avoid such a tight run by the Champions League standings. To do this, you want team training that is practical and time-tested, unlike what has been noticed in the past.
United is back in place, however, there are many paintings to be done in the coming weeks up there.
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