The Signs of a New Transfer Approach at Man United

Leny Yoro, an 18-year-old defender, was signed by Manchester United for £52.1 million. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s minority owner, hopes that this acquisition would revolutionize the recruitment philosophy of the team and establish decisiveness—rather than desperation—as the new guiding principle at Old Trafford.

For the first time to more years than anyone cares to recall, possibly dating back to 2008 and Manchester City’s pre-Abu Dhabi ownership days, United has defeated a formidable opponent to recruit a player who is thought to be among the best young talents in Europe.
The France under-21 international from Lille was being pursued by Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain this summer, but neither team was willing to match United’s last offer for a player who had just 12 months left on his deal with the Ligue 1 team. Yoro had even stated that he would like to move to Madrid, possibly playing out his contract and signing a deal to play at the Santiago Bernabéu at the end for the meager compensation that clubs receive when players under the age of 24 depart from the team that nurtured them.
Yoro is not like the others. In addition to winning the race, United closed the transaction before the first preseason kickoff and negotiated a reasonable price, instead of letting negotiations dangle into August and leading up to the last-minute deals that have typified the team’s previous transfer activity.

What has altered, then? Ratcliffe merely wants United to focus on developing talent and complete deals faster. The days of blowing cash on old players who make high salaries are long gone.

In March, Ratcliffe declared, “Instead of spending a fortune buying success, I would rather sign the next [Kylian] Mbappé.” It isn’t very smart to purchase Mbappé. That one may be figured out by anyone. It is more difficult to identify the next Mbappé.
The audit that Ratcliffe’s INEOS team conducted about a year ago, following his purchase of a minority investment in the club and taking over football operations from the Glazer family, served as the impetus for United’s new strategy.

Ratcliffe tasked key consultants, including Sir Dave Brailsford, Rob Nevin, and Jean-Claude Blanc, with evaluating the previous five years of player recruiting at Old Trafford during the lengthy period of due diligence that examined United’s finances. According to a source who spoke with ESPN, the audit found excessive overspending, a poor philosophy of extending player contracts only to keep players from becoming free agents, and uncertainty that resulted in inflated transfer prices. Some believed that United’s roster was overly large due to the latter policy alone.