There is no player on the market who could help Manchester United. That was the message from the scouting department in January 2022.

That month, Liverpool signed Luis Diaz and Dejan Kulusevski joined Tottenham. Manchester City agreed a deal for Julian Alvarez.

Ralf Rangnick was chairing his penultimate pre-match press conference when he laid bare the incompetence of the club's recruitment. Rangnick ceased to be a United employee three weeks later and a senior player noticed he had started "dropping bombs". Truth bombs.

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Rangnick urged United to recruit a forward on deadline day in the winter transfer window as Mason Greenwood would be unavailable indefinitely. Diaz and Alvarez had already moved yet Rangnick claimed the recruitment department had drawn a blank. Kulusevski moved on deadline day.

United's scouting network has undergone drastic change since. Jim Lawlor and Marcel Bout left that year and several scouts have gone amid Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting bloodbath.

Discarding blinkered scouts is one of the few measures Ratcliffe has got right. Piotr Sadowski, who left in September, was promoted from an academy scout to international scout for emerging talent and first team in 2021.

Sadowski's Linkedin profile states that he scouted players in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, Ukraine, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia between 2021-24. United did not recruit any players from those territories during that time.

"It has been great to assess and recommend world class players," Sadowski enthused upon his departure. "Some of them have been signed by the club and they currently represent the MUFC first team squad." Unsurprisingly, he did not mention any by name. And not just because there are no world-class players in this United squad.

United's recruitment ineptitude is well documented and dates back to Sir Alex Ferguson's last four years in management. Regimes past and present were hoodwinked by Erik ten Hag into targeting Dutch-schooled targets.

Ratcliffe and the Ineos cabal's card was marked by the illogical decision to retain Ten Hag. More illogical was to embark on another Dutch-centric summer transfer window despite the poor return from the previous two.

United's investment in the close season has compromised them next month. The word from the club is they have to sell to buy, which makes Marcus Rashford's interview with Henry Winter such a blessing. He has publicly declared his wish to leave.

Ed Woodward used to be dismissive of the January market. He branded it fool's gold and that it was driven by the desperation of the seller. That was after he orchestrated a club-record signing in January.

United have welcomed some of their most high-profile signings in the New Year window. Juan Mata commanded a club-record fee, Alexis Sanchez club-record wages and Bruno Fernandes is the club's best signing since Robin van Persie.

Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, two incomings in January 2006, took time to settle but became club greats. Louis Saha was a proven Premier League goalscorer in 2004.

Striker signings are tricky in January. Twenty-one years ago, United could make Fulham an offer they couldn't refuse for Saha. Now United cannot afford Fulham's striker.

Saha fetched a £12.8million fee. The only other mid-season striker arrivals have been Henrik Larsson, Odion Ighalo and Wout Weghorst. All on loan.

Weghorst scraped two tap-ins, Larsson got three goals and Ighalo four. All were essentially signed as support strikers. All were not much good.

As United know to their cost, a striker is costly. Rasmus Hojlund commanded an up-front fee of £64m (more than what Newcastle paid for Alexander Isak 12 months earlier) despite an underwhelming season in Italy. Atalanta applied the United tax and United over-promoted Hojlund to starting striker when his entry level ought to have been substitute striker.

At the time United were closing in on Hojlund, one of the coaching staff members stressed that they could not invest another £60m in a striker the following summer. Hence why United homed in on Joshua Zirkzee, who had a release clause.

The Hollandophiles at United did not realise Zirkzee is, well, not a striker. That's two deals under two regimes. And £108.5m down the drain on two number nines out of their depth.

United have a minus goal difference again and failed to score against the worst defence in the Premier League on Boxing Day. Their top scorer has not started in their past five games, having been omitted from the matchday squad for the Manchester derby. The wantaway Rashford is the joint-second highest scorer.

They do not have a consistent goalscorer in their squad and haven't since Cristiano Ronaldo's first-season homecoming. Football is an uncomplicated game and goals win matches. United struggle to score goals. Refusing to go all-out for Harry Kane has set them back to the late Eighties.

This United is four places and eight points above the relegation zone at almost the halfway point. Their malaise is so severe they have to be active in the winter window.

It was bad enough when Rangnick lamented the refusal to reinforce the attack three seasons ago. It got worse the following day with the season's nadir at Brighton, a 4-0 annihilation that flattered United. They ended that season marooned in sixth, eight places better off than the current lot.

There are plenty of players on the market who could help them.