This? Oh, just another reminder that Manchester United are bad at transfers
They left it late – really, really late – but Manchester United did manage to get some badly needed reinforcements through the door on transfer deadline day.
Although Ed Woodward reportedly failed to sign a single one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s primary targets, the arrival of Alex Telles may yet prove to be a shrewd move.
Telles was a firm fans’ favourite at FC Porto, where he was also captain. And with the 6-1 hammering by Tottenham at the weekend raising more questions about Luke Shaw (and just about any member of the club’s defence, for that matter), he could well find himself as United’s first-choice left-back pretty quickly.
United’s interest in Telles only became apparent, of course, after it emerged Sergio Reguilón, who helped knock them out of the Europa League semi-finals in the summer, was on his way to Tottenham. It’s now emerged that United were also making alternative plans on the off chance they were unable to strike a deal with Porto for the Brazil international.
Speaking on his Here We Go podcast, Fabrizio Romano, the transfer window’s all-seeing eye, has revealed that failure to reach an agreement over Telles would have seen United switch their attention to signing Emerson Palmieri from Chelsea.
The 26-year-old has failed to make an impression at Stamford Bridge and was linked to a move to Italy over the summer. This, for some reason, was enough for United to mark him down as a Plan B (or C) option.
As well as Telles, United completed deals for Edinson Cavani on deadline day, as well as teenager wingers Amad Diallo and Facundo Pellistri. Despite the frenzy of last-minute activity, it was not enough to hide the fact that this had been yet another disappointing transfer window for the club, who had been expected to complete the signing of Jadon Sancho.
