Football News: Manchester United Will Find It Harder Than Ever To Buy The Best Players

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The strategy behind targeting young British or domestic talent with potential sounds a plausible and sensible solution to our recruitment dilemma but scratch under the surface and this route might not be as well conceived as first thought.

Traditionally and certainly in the Alex Fergerson era Manchester United (Utd) were masters at identifying and targeting the best domestic talent. In that respect Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (OLG) back to basics approach is well supported by over two decades of solid evidence.

In the past Utd faced little competition and were successful in poaching the best domestic players from around the league. The likes of Pallister, Ince, Keane, Cole, Yorke, Rio, Carrick, Berbatov, Rooney, RVP and numerous others all went on to have long and distinguished careers.

However with the current riches of the Premier League and lucrative TV revenue distributing wealth throughout the league, the landscape has changed.

Utd are finding it increasingly difficult to flex their financial muscle and persuading domestic Clubs to sell their best players has become much more complicated and problematic.

Many Clubs are no longer under financial pressure to sell, most Premier League players are paid handsomely and getting them through the door for a reasonable fee is becoming harder and harder.

Tottenham Hotspur's (Spurs) recent success has been aided by their ability to keep hold of their best players. In the past they have had to sell the likes of Carrick, Berbatov, Modric, Bale etc., but now they are able to better retain their best players.

The problem Utd are facing this window is stark; clubs don't want to sell and unless Utd are prepared to pay well in excess of their perceived value, we simply won't get the player. The likes of Crystal Palace, West Ham and Leicester can no longer be bullied and are better prepared than ever to dig in their heels and play hard ball.

Of course Utd on occasions are still able to exercise their financial strength over smaller Clubs but are now facing increasing competition from the likes of City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal.

The problem we face is we need several players to improve a weak squad and targeting domestic talent has become complicated and very expensive. The likes or AWB, Maguire, Rice, Maddison and even Diop have all seemingly been priced out of moves. To secure just three of these players could conceivably cost anything up to £200m and whilst all are good players with potential they are certainly not in the class of the likes of Keane, Rio or Rooney.

Matters at Old Trafford are further complicated with the likes of Pogba, Lukaku and De Gea pining for new horizons, none of which will be easy to replace.

This is shaping up to be one of our most difficult and complicated windows to date. The OGS revolution will not happen overnight and how much patience he will be afforded by both the board and the fans remains to be seen.

Expect the next few months to be chaotic and whilst targeting the best domestic talent has been a recipe for success in the past, things won't be as straightforward as OGS is about to find out. Maybe a rethink is required already!

Written by DLIB June 19 2019 18:32:11