What next for Manchester United? Sort Pogba mess and show humility

Resolve the Paul Pogba situation

The last thing a new manager needs is to walk into a divisive disagreement between the club and its most expensive acquisition. José Mourinho’s adversarial habit of picking fights with key members of staff is not for everyone, and his replacement will have to find out quickly whether the United dressing room is a happy place. It has frequently been suggested that Pogba’s apparent restlessness is down to a personality clash with the manager, in which case the air should be cleared now, and United could in theory find themselves virtually with a new player on their hands. On the other hand it is possible that Pogba wants away regardless, which would make it sensible to sell him in January and try to recoup at least some of the club’s losses. Pogba has rarely been seen at his exciting best since rejoining United for £89m in 2016. It might be a challenge too far, amid all the other challenges facing the next permanent United manager, to retrieve an awkward relationship at this late stage.

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Appoint someone to be in overall charge of transfers

Mourinho spent most of the past year moaning about his club’s inactivity or indecisiveness in the transfer market. The club did not do quite so much moaning, but let it be known that they had given their manager sufficient backing and it was no one’s fault but Mourinho’s if the players he had brought in at considerable expense were no longer considered suitable. There is some merit on both sides of this argument, though it is a long way from the template that brought United success. In the later years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign, all the big decisions over scouting and player recruitment went through the same office and were meticulously checked and ratified by a bona fide football expert with a lifetime’s experience in professional football, Ferguson himself. Small wonder United are finding that level of know-how and hands-on experience hard to replace but it has been clear for some time that Ed Woodward and his manager of the moment are not the answer. When Pep Guardiola is asked about recruitment he smiles and says it is out of his hands, safe in the knowledge that when he asked for three full-backs they duly arrived to order. United might never be able to match that expense or efficiency, but any sort of transfer continuity would be an improvement on what is presently haphazard.

Draw up a long-term plan to be competitive

This might come as a shock to United and their supporters, but things have moved on since the time when the all-conquering Reds could scoop in the best players with little more than a phone call and a promised pay rise. Manchester City and Liverpool are doing that now, while other clubs, most notably Tottenham, are reaping the rewards of intelligent sourcing and managerial stability. United have spent the post-Ferguson years not knowing which course to pursue. Their three managers since 2013 have been very different, as have been their respective recruitment policies. David Moyes found it hard to pull off major signings, Louis van Gaal played it too safe, Mourinho tried to make statements but frequently saw them blow up in his face. As a result big-name players such as Ángel Di María, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Radamel Falcao have been brought in and moved quickly out, with Paul Pogba, Alexis Sánchez and quite possibly Fred in danger of the same fate. Arguably the most successful bit of business United have conducted since Ferguson stepped down was paying over the odds for Marouane Fellaini, which was not something anyone was saying or predicting at the time. Self-evidently that is not a recipe for success or progress, and it comes with the added disadvantage of being wildly and wastefully expensive. United need to be wary of a manager demanding only ready-made players, because experience has shown that the best ones go elsewhere. For perhaps the first time since Ferguson retired United need to heed one of his catchphrases and properly start looking for value in the market.

Build from the back

Few would dispute that United’s No 1 asset at the moment is David de Gea, who has just had a contract extension activated to guarantee at least one more season at Old Trafford. After that De Gea will probably review his options, and who can blame him? Does a world-class goalkeeper really need to be playing behind a shifting backline that occasionally includes Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, or does he look at last year’s Champions League finalists and envy goalkeepers screened by the likes of Sergio Ramos or Virgil van Dijk? After all the money United have spent, can it really be that they are persisting with Ashley Young at left-back? Mourinho was fond of accusing City of buying four full-backs at once to illustrate the sort of financial might he was up against, but it is not all about money. Man of the match at Anfield on Sunday in the abject defeat that probably cost Mourinho his job, was Andy Robertson, the Liverpool left-back signed for £8m from Hull City. When United won the treble in 1999 their left-back was Denis Irwin, signed for £625,000 from Oldham. Joe Royle referred to that deal as a robbery for years afterwards, but Ferguson not only knew something about football economics he knew how to put a team together.

Give the sense of entitlement a rest

Mourinho was said to have privately felt that the United squad was not good enough, the training ground was not good enough and the club’s drive and ambition in terms of ownership and leadership left plenty to be desired as well. Plainly Manchester was not good enough either, since Mourinho would only commit to living out of a hotel. All of which makes it appear that the north-west of England is some sort of hell hole and that a manager would have to be desperate to take on a beached whale of a club such as United. None of which happens to be true. United may never be able to outspend City but there is no reason why they should find themselves overtaken by Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal. At a time when at least half a dozen English clubs are striving for trophies and competing for the best players United have managed to lose some of their lustre. It happens – it has even happened to United before – but with the right, positive attitude and a sensible acknowledgment of the club’s new place in the overall scheme of things the situation can be retrieved. A little humility is needed, in other words, not just on the part of the manager but also from the support base. The club has some work to do, and the rewards might not be immediate. For everyone’s sake it will be better if expectations are not set impossibly high from the start. The glorious past is just that for the foreseeable future.