Manchester United Need To Start Driving A Harder Bargain

Manchester United have slowly but surely been clearing out the dead wood of their squad since the end of the last campaign. Players who originally showed promise have been sent off to pastures new, while even proven talent who have started to stagnate are currently finding new digs in a foreign land.

But there’s been one constant with all of these sales: Manchester United really haven’t been getting their money’s worth for the talent that they’ve sold.

Sure, the likes of Tom Cleverley, Nani, and Robin Van Persie weren’t the players that they either threatened to be or had been during their prime, but United deserved much more money than they actually acquired for each of them.

Take Cleverley for example. Yes, in the end, he laughably fell short of becoming the new Michael Carrick – heck, he only just eclipsed Darron Gibson’s Red Devils antics – but he is still a proven Premier League player, England international, and at just 25-years-of-age he is only going to improve. Especially since in the blue of Everton he won’t be under the tidal wave of pressure that came with every single touch of the ball he had in a United shirt.

In fairness though, Cleverley’s free transfer was always going to happen after United sent him out on loan to Aston Villa with just one year of his contract left. In fact, since the final season of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign, Cleverley’s United future had always been heading towards an underwhelming conclusion.

Nani’s departure is different though. Like Cleverley, he was sent out on loan by Louis Van Gaal just ahead of the Dutch coach’s first season at Old Trafford. But Nani had several years left on his contract, while he was also a recognised winger who had won the Champions League in 2008, played in two more finals, had repeatedly excelled for both United and Portugal, and is still just 28.

The fact that United only managed to get £4.25 million from Fenerbache for him is a travesty. Especially since we are currently living in an age when Raheem Sterling is supposedly worth £49 million, Mario Balotelli’s career has more lives than a satanic cat, and teams are willing to part with dozens of millions for players that have only briefly teased potential.

Once again, there are actually a few integral reasons why Manchester United were more than happy to sell Nani for such a paltry fee. First and foremost, Nani was on an astronomical amount of money at Old Trafford that United immediately wanted to get off their books. Any amount they received would be a bonus to the $150,000 that they now don’t have to depart with on a weekly basis.

Secondly, Nani’s destination was always going to be to a mainland European league, where they simply don’t have the funds to prize away players for exaggerated sums. Sure United could have tried to play hardball, but there really wouldn’t have been much point, and, in the end, they were more than happy to let bygones be bygones and to allow Nani to start afresh.
United do have precedent for selling players that they’ve splashed millions of pounds on for next to nothing though.

£30 million signing Dimitar Berbatov went to Fulham for around £2.5 million, while Anderson, Bebe, and Kleberson were each sold for a substantial loss, and United never came close to getting the fees that Nicky Butt, Wes Brown, and John O’Shea warranted. It’s a peculiar stance considering how clubs are now run in such an economical fashion.

In fact there is one direct comparison from this summer that proves United’s selling policy needs to be toughened. While Robin Van Persie and Bastian Schweinsteiger admittedly play in two different positions, their post-World Cup trajectories have been rather similar.

Both finished the Brazilian tournament having shown the flashes of brilliance that have repeatedly punctuated their careers. But at the same time there was the brief suggestion that they were beginning to grow weary.

Last season underlined these concerns, as both players were dogged by injuries, poor form, and they each found themselves on the periphery of the Bayern Munich and Manchester United starting elevens for the first time in their careers.

Moving to new clubs made sense for both players. But while Bayern Munich were able to eke out between £10.6 - £14.4 million (depending on who you believe) for Schweinsteiger from United, the Red Devils were only given £3.84 million for Van Persie – who, even though he is a year older, has never relied on pace for his goals, and is less likely to be found wanting in his new league.

There’s no denying that Schweinsteiger should prove to be an astute purchase for United, as he is one of the smartest and most efficient midfielders in the modern game. But rumblings from Munich have been that he’s experienced a sharp decline over the last few months, and if he’s unable to quickly adjust to the rigors of the Premier League then his signing could soon look a tad naïve.

What would be even stupider is if Manchester United decided to part with Angel Di Maria for the fees that have been speculated. It’s beginning to look more and more likely that United will allow the Argentinian winger to transfer to Paris Saint Germain, just a year after they paid a British record fee of £59.7 million for him.

But that should only happen if United get the same fee that they paid for him. Currently fees of between £43 million to £50 million have been touted for a player who just 18 months ago was widely regarded as the third best in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Yes, after a stunning start, Di Maria’s form badly nose-dived. But there’s no doubt that this will only be a brief lull, and he’ll soon return to the stunning performances that convinced United and Van Gaal to splash out the astronomical sum to bring him to England.

Anything less would be ridiculous. And while there’s no denying that, as one of the richest sporting institutions in the world, United can afford to lose this money, once you start adding together all of the potential funds that they’ve lost out on, it does look rather silly.