United did not bring in any players in the winter transfer window in January, with the club turning down opportunities to sign Argentine striker Julian Alvarez and Swiss back Zakaria, who eventually joined Manchester City and Juventus. The reason why Manchester United gave up the reinforcements was that it was feared that buying people under the undecided situation of the new manager could eventually become a waste of money.
United only went in and out of the winter window, renting out the likes of Anthony Martial, Van der Beek and Amade Diyallo, but without adding new blood. In this way, the strength of the team has not risen but declined, and in the Premier League competition, I am afraid to lag behind Conte's Tottenham, who has brought in two new signings, signing Bentankur and Kulusevsky from Juventus.
Prior to January, Manchester United's buying rumors were endless, with Alvarez and Zakaria both being rumored to be very close to joining. Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed that United have been given several opportunities to engage River Plate's "new Aguero" Alvarez, but the club has repeatedly made it clear that they are not interested. In the end, Alvarez moved to Manchester City for £18.5 million, signed for five and a half years, and was returned to River Plate on loan to play the season.
United also approached Mönchengladbach midfielder Zakaria's agent, but eventually gave up the fight and let him join Juve on 31 January with a transfer fee of £4 million. At the end of January, Marseille's young defender Babkar Kamala was also shortlisted, but the club ultimately did not follow up on the transfer on the grounds that the official manager was undecided.
After Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left the class last November due to poor results, United failed to find an official manager and invited Ralph Lonnick to temporarily coach. Not only that, but the current club executives have not even determined whether the 63-year-old Lonnick has been regularized, but they have also hired another mastermind, such as Pochettino, Tenhag, Luis Enrique or Lopetegui.
This is the first time since 2019 that Manchester United have not added new signings in the winter transfer window, after the previous two winter windows, Manchester United signed Bruno Fernandes, Ighalo and Amad Diallo respectively. It is worth mentioning that there were no buyers in 2019 and this year, which appeared in the context of good results during the winter window. Firefighting boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had only one game left unwinned in January three years ago, while this year Ronnick beat West Ham before the winter window closed to return to the top four of the Premier League.
The Manchester Evening News concluded that there was no official manager, interim coach to lead the team, the bloated squad and the limited choice of winter window buyers, so that Manchester United finally decided not to buy people in January. A club source insisted: "We are preparing for the summer signings. We start selecting people every September, and by this stage it has become clear that if the winter window can buy the summer target, we will also take action, but this is extremely unlikely."
On Monday's transfer deadline, West Ham again offered Jesse Lingard, who had just lost to Manchester United in the Premier League's four-point battle nine days earlier. In that game, the Hammers only had one kick on target, which was not a match for United at all. However, the Red Devils still see Moyes' side as a big problem and refuse to sell Jesse Lingard to their opponents.
Jesse Lingard was more than happy to join West Ham, but United passed up the opportunity to charge a transfer fee and pave the way for the future introduction of Dekran Rice to show goodwill. United decided it was not worth the risk, insisting that Jesse Lingard himself was eager to stay in the squad and rejecting offers from West Ham, Newcastle and Tottenham.
In this way, if Manchester United wants to bring in England defender Rice in the future, it will be strongly hindered by West Ham. Since Jesse Lingard, who has only half a year left in the contract, can be priced at 16.5 million pounds, it is "logical" that the contract period will be until 2024, and there will be a one-year priority renewal right for Rice, as the main midfielder of the England team, with a asking price of 150 million pounds.