Return To Glory : Manchester United

It would be an early Christmas for Erik ten Hag and United, or more likely a stocking full of coal, as December would feature a slew of difficult matchups for the league leaders. Games against City, Chelsea, and Arsenal in the Carabao Cup would leave little breathing room in a month with seven games that would roll right into Arsenal on New Year’s day. Their opening game against City would be the most concerning, with it being at The Etihad, and Pep Guardiola eager to jump Liverpool in 2nd and stop United from pulling away.

The atmosphere of the Etihad would be one of a fierce rivalry, but that never made it to the field. Both sides would put on a performance so dull and tentative that they seemed to be playing for a 0-0 draw, and Marcus Rashford would turn in one of his worst performances in years. All of the action went down in a span of five minutes starting at the 15’ mark when Pedro Porro lost his head after a tussle with Jack Grealish. Grealish would knock Porro down in a tussle for the ball in the box, and Porro’s response would be to get up and absolutely wreck the English playmaker. There was no debate it was a penalty, and City appealed for a red card but didn’t get it. Erling Haaland would take the penalty, but Diogo Costa was up to the task and kept it 0-0. A failed United press would decide the game, as City would escape their third and Kevin De Bruyne would feed Haaland for the only goal of the game at 23’. The limp outing increased the volume on ‘flat track bully’ calls, ten Hag would need to do better against Chelsea and Arsenal to quiet the critics.

The second squad would scrape through against Olympiakos 4-3 to finish out Champions League group play, the win didn’t help Dortmund even with a better GD, the Greek side were through to the next round with United. The knockout stage draw would pair the Red Devils with Inter and ten Hag could turn his attention to the Premier League again. Hard to tell if ten Hag figured things out for their match against Chelsea, or if Tuchel : The Return wasn’t working out as expected. A much anticipated game against a potential title contender heading for mid-table turned into a stinker for anyone but United’s fans. United would build a 3-0 lead before halftime and double that to take the game 6-0 thanks to a Rashford hat-trick and a Jadon Sancho creative master class. Things were so bad for Chelsea that United finally managed to score goals from corners and / or set pieces, with Raphaël Varane heading one in and Bruno Fernandes scoring from a free kick. United took (27) shots with (12) on target compared to Chelsea’s (4) and (1), making it easy to see how the game finished 6-0. The surprising win rolled right into more good news for their game against Norwich, Liverpool would draw earlier in the day and give United an opportunity to take an eight point lead in 1st. A 3-1 win featured more scoring from Rashford and Fernandes, with a late lapse of concentration giving Todd Cantwell a goal at 75’. Teemu Pukki, who left for Lazio in the summer, was not on hand to make things inexplicably difficult for United.



Old Trafford would host the Carabao Cup Quarter Final against Arsenal, a game ten Hag would use his second squad for. He would wave off criticism as usual, sticking to his belief that youth players should play as often as possible and be trusted with big games. Casemiro would be suspended on yellows, so Scott McTominay would swap with Christian Eriksen to fill the void. United conspired to make the critics look right early on, but then Arsenal just completely fell apart. Eriksen, playing slightly out of position, would make a mistake in United’s third and give the ball away to Thomas Partey who would play through to Gabriel Martinelli for a comically easy goal at 27’. Arsenal would look comfortable with a 1-0 lead, but then they started to lose the script and dumped the game to United. Gabriel would foul Yaser Asprilla in the box for a penalty at 32’ that would allow Eriksen to level the score. Vitor Roque would miss the mark twice on excellent through balls from Eriksen and Hannibal, but finally covert thanks to an Asprilla pass in the box at 66’ to make it 2-1. Hannibal would be taken off with an injury at 69’ and his replacement, Fernandes, would give Vitor Roque his third blown chance as ten Hag should have been up 5-1 at this point. Arsenal would have their best chance of the second half to pull level with a free kick close to the box, but it would hit the wall and United would break forward with Jude Bellingham threading a ball through Arsenal’s back line for Anthony Martial to knock in for a 3-1 lead at 90’+2. Bukayo Saka would hit Gabriel Jesus with a suspect long ball at 90’+3 to make it 3-2, with VAR coming down on Arsenal’s side, but it would only flatter the final scoreline. Arsenal came out flat and were dominated, they were lucky to get two. The last laugh would be Arsenal’s though, not that Mikel Arteta was out to hurt anyone, Hannibal’s ankle injury would rule him out for ten to fourteen days and cause some serious roster issues.

The first squad would be back in force for Brentford, their last game before facing Arsenal on New Year’s Day, and The Bees let United roll right over them. Like the Chelsea game, the visitors never really showed up, and a 7-0 win would be the result. Rashford would have another hat-trick with Fernandes adding two of his own, Brentford only had three shots with two on target to United’s thirty three and eighteen. It’s hard to pull much out of this game aside from what United are capable of when everything is clicking, but the game that followed it left a lot of unanswered questions. The second squad would head to Saint Mary’s Stadium and lay the biggest turd of the season in an infuriating 2-0 loss. Moving Asprilla to CAM was the start of the problem, but he was hit with a groin injury just 24’ into the game and replaced by Fernandes. Even the addition of United’s centerpiece didn’t do anything, Southampton’s opening goal saw Max Cornet take a speculative shot from a mile out that somehow passed through a ton of players and caught David De Gea off guard. He clearly couldn’t see it, but from that point on the team just gave up and failed to get anything going. United’s form when their roster gets shuffled around has been horrible.

Losses bookending the month was bad enough, but United got more bad news when the Ballon d’Or voting concluded. Everyone knew it was coming after the season he had last year, but United fans had to grit their teeth as Haaland was given the award. He would top Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski by a wide margin thanks to his (78) goals in (60) appearances. Just his goals alone would be more than Salah and Leweandowski’s goal involvements combined (74), truly a dominating Ballon d’Or win.

Top of the league and regularly blowing out lesser teams, and sometimes Big 4 teams, has truly been a team effort. The massive roster overhaul of the summer has borne fruit quite quickly with players like Jude Bellingham proving to be well worth the fee. As individuals they haven’t received much recognition outside of a few national / regional awards. Hannibal would be named the African Young Player Of The Year, Christian Eriksen Danish Player Of The Year, and Antony the best European-Based Brazilian Of The Year. Some of these were low hanging fruit, but Antony being recognized above someone like Neymar is noteworthy.


There are a lot of numbers that jump out at you here, with the biggest ones coming from Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes. It’s easy to overlook the United captain and Rashford continues scoring at a record breaking pace, his (30) in (16) appearances is far beyond what anyone could have hoped for this year. It’s more amazing to think that Rashford hasn’t taken any penalties, a duty that has helped pad Fernandes’ numbers, it might be too much to think this trend will continue in the second half. The creative output from Antony and Jadon Sancho is also promising, they are doing so much for the attack that United may be too hard to stop for most of the year.


It wouldn’t be very hard to see why United was leading the league in scoring, possibly fueling the number of teams with sizable negative goal differentials. Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrović is the only player from outside the Red Devils in the top three scoring categories.

A generally quiet transfer window saw more fuel for the tabloids and rumor mongers than actual news, something United seem to be striving for but will never be able to completely avoid in these times. Erik ten Hag and John Murtough struck quickly with players that have been scouting for months, and with relatively little to work with after a big summer spend they needed to be smart.

Ten Hag spent a hefty amount of time rolling his eyes at reporters thanks to some internal discontent. The most coverage was given to the Harry Maguire Saga, with the former team captain extremely unhappy at the club. Reports are that he demanded to be sold or loaned out, but there is little word on where he would actually go. There were some reports that Valencia and Porto were looking into Maguire, but both clubs denied making a formal offer. His high salary and non-playing status at United leave little desire for the central defender, at this point he has become a toxic asset. Diogo Dalot, now very unhappy being second fiddle to Pedro Porro, was starting to join the “sell me now” camp but finds himself in much need as roster depth. It didn’t get as much attention as Maguire, but ten Hag was also beginning to see Lisandro Martinez grow more vocal about his role in the team. Inside sources report that Martinez has not been able to regain his form after suffering a season ending injury last year and he’s still upset about the signing of Eric García, things would get even worse after United announced their biggest signing of the window.

Two other plays finding their place difficult to stomach would further ten Hag’s problems. Scott McTominay, practically gathering dust, would reject a contract offer from Roma after a £32.5M offer was accepted by the club. Inter and Spurs would jump in at this point with insultingly low offers based around small upfront sums and long term payments, all rejected by United, and all signs would point to the midfielder being sold in the summer. Anthony Martial would join McTominay after a £20M bid from Juventus was rejected, reports are that Martial filed a formal transfer request and the team came to an agreement with him to be sold in the summer.

The moves that United did make were key in building the future of the club, more importantly they are establishing a pattern of finding young players they can bring into the senior squad immediately for a reasonable fee rather than spending five to ten times as much down the road in a panic. The sale of Brandon Williams, who was barely being used, for £15M to Leicester helped tip United over the line for their biggest move. The purchase of Zeno Debast for £52M from Anderlicht was similar to the purchase of António Silva, which has worked out very well, the club may have their CB pairing of the future. The £52M is structured as £29M up front with £21M coming in deferred payments, with the way the market is trending this could end up being a bargain. The final move of the window was landing DM Andrey Santos for a paltry £10M, a surprising feat considering that Juventus and Bournemouth were reported to be extremely interested. With McTominay on his way out, the young Brazilian will have plenty of opportunities to play and learn alongside fellow Brazilian Casemiro.



Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Brandon Williams (RB, Leicester) - £15M

Senior Transfers (In)
Zeno Debast (CB, Anderlicht) - £52M
Andrey Santos (DM, Vasco de Gama) - £10M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
None

The Guardian’s Jamie Jackson had the opportunity to sit down with Manchester United’s striker Marcus Rashford to discuss his potentially record breaking season and a renewed United.

You have played for a number of managers during your time at United, how does Erik ten Hag compare?

Very different, he’s definitely brought a level of discipline back to the club we haven’t seen in a while. We’ve had a real range of managers, some with really big personalities and some who are more reserved, he’s definitely focused on the process while trying not to make himself the center of attention. Things were tough for some of us at the start, but he won us over when the results really started coming. He’s brought some life back to our playing style, and that has been missing for a long time.

A lot was made of PSG’s interest in signing you over the summer, ultimately you signed a new contract with United, did PSG factor into that decision at all?

No, not really. It was an option if United had decided to sell me, but I’ve been here for so long and worked so hard to get here that I want to finish my career a Red. I’m also working to improve our community, our nation as a whole, so leaving for Paris wasn’t an ideal situation.

You’ve been having an incredible season, with more goals and assists than last year in just half a season, what do you feel is responsible?

I think the team as a whole is responsible, including management. Thirty goals really jumps off the paper, but Jadon [Sancho] and Antony are really helping create opportunities off the wings, and you know Bruno [Fernandes] might be having a better season than I am. Ten Hag has created an environment for all of us to thrive in right now, and everything is just clicking for us. None of us can do this alone.


You’ve essentially seen it all at United, coming up through their academy in the final years of Sir Alex Ferguson, how do you feel things have changed and where do you see the club headed?

It’s crazy to think how long I’ve been here, and all of the ups and downs we have gone through, looking back it seems like so much has changed. The football economy has really developed, and the change in ownership looks to be reshaping the club for the future. Winning the league again was just the start for us, there is so much talk around the club about changes coming and it’s exciting. The excitement is new, it’s starting to feel like we can do anything.

You were awarded an MBE for your work in the community, do you see yourself expanding on this in the future?

Absolutely. Absolutely, it’s imperative because the problems are still there. I was able to help, but when you pull back and look at it, it was just a single step. There will always be more that I can do

Manchester United barely had time to enjoy Boxing Day and certainly couldn’t be out late for New Year’s Eve with the most congested month of the year slamming right into them. A New Year’s Day game against Arsenal would kick off a ten game month with a whopping seven games in twenty days. Erik ten Hag would need to navigate wild ends of the schedule spectrum, with a number of ‘easy’ games mixed in with double fixtures against Liverpool and Arsenal. If United / Liverpool / Arsenal weren’t already sick of seeing each other, they would by February.

Hungover revelers filled The Emirates for a battle between the top two teams in the league, a win for Arsenal would have been big with United seven points clear of them in 1st. Mikel Arteta would need to at least come away with a point to keep United from getting too far ahead of the pack, and with City level with them on points anything but a win could push them into 3rd. Arteta and ten Hag would need to contend with squads that looked hungover as well, with both sides playing well but nothing happening for most of the game. Arteta would walk away feeling unlucky at best, with the Gunners form clearly better but unable to take advantage. A 20’ span in the second half would break the game open and leave the hosts smarting. Raphaël Varane would break the deadlock at 55’ by heading in a corner, and then Jude Bellingham would pick the ball off Oleksandr Zinchenko (playing LW) and play the ball into the middle for Bruno Fernandes to make it 2-0 at 63’. The turn of luck in United’s final strike would be so extreme that even Fernandes would initially be upset. At 75’ a scrum in the corner would end with Fernandes playing the ball back to Tyrell Malacia who would proceed to take the most hopeful shot possible from an impossible distance. Fernandes could be seen throwing up his hands in frustration at the attempt, but the ball would magically pass through a sea of bodies before Aaron Ramsdale could get a hand on it before deflecting into the goal. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and United were very lucky to leave this one with a 3-0 win.

The next two games were quite a rollercoaster despite being very easy for United. First a 1-0 win over Fulham, who never looked like they were going to do anything, took 63’ for United’s second squad to tip firmly in their favor. That dull win was followed up by a game that looked like Crystal Palace must have personally insulted everyone’s mother. The return of United’s first team resulted in a 9-0 beating that just kept going deep into the game, even after most of Palace’s fans had opted to escape the humiliation their players were trapped in. Jadon Sancho would walk out of this one with a 9.9 rating to go along with his two goals and an assist, Marcus Rashford would sit at (26) league goals, (10) more than second place Mohamed Salah. Fernandes would also come out padding his league leading assist total (12) to go along with his (15) goals.



Ten Hag would need to slog through a three game run of cups with two of them against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Renan Lodi and Lisandro Martinez would miss the first game through suspension, bringing in Tyrell Malacia and forgotten-man Harry Maguire to take their places. Despite playing to a 2-2 draw, the game would have some exciting goals scored on both sides with a sprinkle of Maguire showing why he’s been relegated to the bench. Diogo Jota and Vitor Roque goals would put the score at 1-1 before Maguire stood on the ball too long in his own box, letting Salah take the ball off him and score from nearly point blank. Maguire might as well have kicked it in himself, and with Liverpool’s fans whistling in stoppage time it looked as though Liverpool were home free. A classic Ferguson-Era move would change that around when Hannibal would find Vitor Roque right up the middle for a leveler at 90’+2 and send the series back to Anfield 2-2. The second squad would play again in the FA Cup against Grimsby Town and hand them a quick 4-0 loss, earning a draw against Bradford City in the next round. The 1st squad would be back at Anfield for the second leg of the semi-final, this was partly due to the 2nd team being tired but also due to Yaser Asprilla being away on international duty. While the goals weren’t as exciting as the first leg, the heartache was just as bad for Liverpool. The hosts would go down 1-0 after 9’ of play on a Fernandes penalty and they would need to wait until 70’ for Otávio to send a cross into the box for Evanilson to hammer home. A dominant Liverpool had all the momentum and looked to take it into extra time before another Ferguson-Era dagger, at 90’+1 Antony would drive to the end line and pass back into the middle for Vitor Roque to stroke in and book their ticket to Wembley. Liverpool had (29) shots to United’s (10), but failed to control possession and make it count.

Riding high off the rivalry win United would rip through the next three games with a 6-0 goal advantage. Beating Southampton 3-0, West Ham 1-0, and Chelsea 2-0 before a big home game against Arsenal. Arteta has seen his fortunes crumble over the course of the month, dropping well out of second and looking up at City and Liverpool from 4th. Arteta would end up walking out of Old Trafford wondering where things went so wrong, though to be fair United were viciously efficient on the attack and even a banner day from Ramsdale couldn’t save them. Things really started to fall apart when United made it 1-0 just 10’ into the game, a Bellingham shot was blocked by Ramsdale’s body but Fernandes was right there to tap in the rebound. It was sad to see that one go in because up until then, and really throughout the game, Ramsdale was on fire. A Malacia cross to the far post would find Antony to make it 2-0, and a VAR confirmed Rashford strike would make it 3-0 before halftime. William Saliba would head in a corner at 42’ to bring some life back into Arsenal, and a risky Bellingham foul on Gabriel Jesus would give the Gunners a penalty at 45’+4 that Kenneth Taylor would convert to make it 3-2. That 7’ span of momentum evaporated when the teams came back out, United would make it 5-2 by 53’ with Rashford and Eriksen goals. The final straw came at 59’ with a goal that typified the kind of night Arsenal were having. Bellingham would play a quick through ball to Rashford in the box, and thanks to Arsenal’s positioning the United striker would find himself in a mini two-on-one with Sancho to his left and only Ramsdale to beat. A smart pass across to Sancho would result in an easy goal, a furious Arteta, and a 6-2 win. Ramsdale was so good that he received a 6.8 rating, better than Diogo Costa, despite allowing six goals. The loss would be big for the Gunners, once in second Arteta found himself in 4th and five points back of Liverpool in 3rd.

Rashford’s latest double would put him at (29) Premier League goals, not quite enough to blow past Erling Haaland’s record of (47) last year, but definitely enough to put him in rarefied territory.

After racking up some serious frequent flyer miles to London and Liverpool Erik ten Hag would get a bit of a break for the month. The worst game on the schedule would be a trip to Milan for the Champions League, but with Inter flagging and United seemingly on fire there wasn’t too much for anyone to worry about.

Ten Hag would never admit to how much easier the schedule was, constantly responding to questions with a caveat that anyone can beat them if they aren’t focused on their approach. If there was a risk of United falling asleep, the first game of the month would help wake them from that stupor. A 2-2 draw with Brentford was a clinic for how not to play, with ten Hag looking like he didn’t know what his team was doing most of the game. The second squad managed to claw back from being 2-1 down just before the half with a sublime goal from Alejandro Garnacho, but Tyrone Mings was booked twice in the span of three minutes and Brentford ended up down a man at 77’. This would seem like a perfect opening for United to take the full points, but they couldn’t get anything going and had to settle with one. The next two games saw United turn things around with two absolute romps before facing off against Newcastle. A 5-0 win against Leicester was topped by a 7-0 thrashing of Bradford City by the second squad. Marcus Rashford would star against Leicester with a hat-trick and Hannibal against Bradford City with two goals and two assists, earning a sparkling 10.0 rating.

A two game stretch against Newcastle United and Inter would set off some serious fireworks, some of them for the wrong reasons. The Newcastle game would seem somewhat mundane with Eddie Howe struggling, but when he was sacked a few days before the game and replaced with José Mourinho the media hype was turned up to an 11. The look on ten Hag’s face fielding questions about Mourinho made it plain that he was tired of being asked about him. Despite all the hype, the game would turn into a Mourinho special minus his usual touchline antics. Jadon Sancho would sit out to recover from a minor thigh injury, ceding LW to Garnacho, but it wouldn’t matter much as Newcastle parked the bus and locked in a 0-0 draw to excite nobody.



The sight of Mourinho stalking the touch line must have cast a spell on United because the trip to Milan was nothing short of a train wreck. Ten Hag spent most of the game looking incredulous as United drew booking after booking for innocuous fouls, and to make it even worse they were playing so poorly it was hard to tell what they were trying to do. Four bookings in the first 18’ put Sancho, Antony, Christian Eriksen, and Pedro Porro on thin ice. Over and over United’s rest defense would fail, allowing Inter to break on them after giving up possession. They would also struggle in their own third, constantly turning the ball over and giving Inter chance after chance to score. Just when it looked like they might escape with a 0-0 draw Nicolò Barella would knock a ball through to Joaquin Correa at 90’+1 to snatch a 1-0 win away from the defending Premier League champions. The loss wouldn’t hurt as much as losing Eriksen to a suspension on bookings, at least the second leg would be at Old Trafford.

“Unacceptable, there is no other way to say it, we will need to take a hard look at ourselves” was what ten Hag said right out of the gate after the game, not even waiting for a question from the media.

The first team would bounce back well from the loss to Inter, easily turning aside Sunderland 2-0 while playing poorly. The win would allow them to finish the month (11) points in 1st with City in second. Rashford would now have (32) league goals and get all of the media attention, but in his shadow Bruno Fernandes is having a Ballon d’Or worthy season that shows how key he is to the squad. Logging (19) goals and (15) assists while leading the Premier League in average rating (8.18) should get more coverage, but at this rate Fernandes is just expected to be that good. The two combined would explain why United have scored a league best (99) goals, though they have allowed (18) for second best. Blasting bad teams and tripping up against good ones seems to be their modus operandi.

With the season just a few months from being over, Erik ten Hag has some serious issues to examine with on field performance. United’ recent form has seen some ups and downs, but the month of March saw some stupefying play that shows United’s tendency to shut down when things aren’t going well.

Ten Hag opened the month with a game that left him openly furious, though he managed to call down after the game it was clear he wasn’t happy with the players. A 5th round matchup with West Ham in the FA Cup would be fielded by the first squad due to the Carabao Cup Final coming up. It didn’t affect the game, but the news that Harry Maguire had suffered a hip injury in practice put a tiny black cloud over the team. Ruled out for two months, the former United Captain’s time at the club might finally be over. This game seemed like a simple task, even with Brendan Rodgers piloting West Ham, but United just clearly were not in the right headspace. Constantly giving away possession resulted in a Jarrod Bowen goal at 14’ that had ten Hag practically sprinting out onto the field to yell at his players, Eric García in particular was doing his best Maguire impression. Bowen was running right by García again and again and getting shots off much too easily. Jadon Sancho would make it 1-1 at 35’, a goal that papered over the fact that Christian Eriksen lost the ball before Sancho stole it back. Marcus Rashford’s dream season would flip into a nightmare, with two wide open missed shots that should have had the game at 3-1, a game so bad he would finish with a 5.9 rating. Kurt Zouma would head in a corner at 53’ and Sancho, making something from nothing again, would score from an impossible angle to make it 2-2 at 81’. The final nail in the coffin came with United’s entire back line standing around to let Gianluca Scamacca head in a Vladimír Coufal cross at 81’ and finish off the game 3-2.

Getting knocked out of the FA Cup right before the Carabao Cup final cleared up United’s schedule a bit, but ten Hag would need to turn things around quickly after such a lackluster performance. The rest of the month would be brutal with games against Spurs, Inter in the Champions League, and Liverpool. Despite the fanfare around the cup final, United’s second squad managed to make quick work of Leeds in a 3-1 that should have been 3-0. Vitor Roque would open the scoring at 26’ with the young Brazilian narrowly missing out on a second at 31’. His shot would be snuffed out but Anthony Martial would knock in the rebound to make it 2-0. Martial would assist Vitor Roque on his second just after the half and put United in cruise control at 3-0. Ten Hag, ever the perfectionist, found something to boil his blood despite being way up. Daichi Kamada would be given a free run at goal late in the game to make it 3-1, just another typical lapse in concentration by United. 3-1 would be good enough to bring home the silverware and make Wembley United territory once again.



The next three games nearly killed ten Hag, despite enjoying a wide margin in 1st the media would have you believe that March was the end of his time at Old Trafford. A sad 2-2 with Spurs, a game played with the second squad, saw Vitor Roque score twice while United kept allowing Spurs to stay in the game. Both of Vitor Roque’s strikes would be sumptuous, one of them ending with him passing into an empty net thanks to a wonderful ball by Hannibal. Cristian Romero would head in a corner at 79’ to pull Spurs level in a game United threw away with wasted chances. They would be rescued by Southampton beating Manchester City 2-1, leaving United (12) points in first after essentially dropping points against Spurs.

A 4-0 win over Inter at Old Trafford would easily overturn the loss in Milan, moving forward with a 4-1 aggregate win. After playing like garbage against West Ham the first squad was able to turn things around and make quick work of Simone Inzaghi’s side. Sancho, Rashford, Jude Bellingham, and Antony would all score in this game to earn a draw against Barcelona in the next round. United must have been out drinking late after the win because they walked into an important rivalry game with their pants down, and Jürgen Klopp was very pleased to be handed a win. Liverpool’s press and attack, their whole game really, was killing United from the start. It took 15’ for United to even take a shot, and somehow it managed to go in. Eriksen snatched the ball of Virgil van Dijk in their own third, layed it off to Sancho who hit Rashford at the far post for an improbable 1-0 lead. United must have thought the game was over at that point because Liverpool made them look like they were standing around. A failed attempt to clear a corner at 51’ resulted in Thiago being allowed to score. Luis Díaz would be given a free run at goal at 58’ to make it 2-1, and then Mohamed Salah would find Evanilson for a point blank shot that would make it 3-1. At this point Diogo Costa was just being left for dead as United’s defense became spectators. Salah would find Darwin Núñez at 82’ to cap off one of the most humiliating losses of the season. By the end of the game ten Hag wasn’t even mad anymore, he could be seen just staring at the field with his chin down and jaw set forward. Such a massive mental failure would no doubt trigger a serious review of the squad.

“I do not know what to say that I have not said before. It was unacceptable. This is a bad loss, we are far ahead, but you cannot play like this.”

With the FA Cup no longer a concern, despite fans expressing disappointment in being eliminated, Erik ten Hag would see some serious schedule relief. Two rivalry games and a tough Champions League matchup against Barcelona would be enough to keep United occupied, a good run of results would see the Red Devils basically lock up the Premier League with almost a full month left in the season. The two legged tie with Barcelona would be the focal point of ten Hag’s efforts, but nobody would want to lose to City or Leeds.

A trip to The Etihad probably wasn’t what ten Hag wanted before their first game against Barcelona, but with the league basically locked up this would be a very aggressive warm up for a visit from Barcelona. Pep Guardiola would end up walking away from this one very disappointed after a span of 15’ (crossing halftime) would sink City. Rúben Dias would shove Raphaël Varane at the near post during a corner to put Bruno Fernandes on the penalty spot and give United a 1-0 lead at 38’. At 42’ a well timed press would have Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford descend on Kyle Walker in his own third, get the ball off him and break for the goal in a 2-on-1 situation that would see Rashford easily slot it in for a 2-0 lead. Coming out of the half up 2-0 United would lose some composure and dump the ball off in a panic, giving away the ball in their third and allowing Ousmane Dembélé to drive at goal and play it into the middle for Erling Haaland to make it 2-1. Just two minutes later at 53’ a Christian Eriksen free kick into the box would be headed to the far post by Fernandes for Rashford to finish off. Leaving the west side of Manchester with a 3-1 win was a nice sendoff before Barcelona arrived at their front door.

The moral boost of beating a rival would be much needed by ten Hag, with Pedro Porro suspended on bookings Diogo Dalot would be starting at RB with Marc Jurado on the bench. Despite the setback at RB, ten Hag wouldn’t be able to blame their struggles on Dalot. Throughout the game United would practice poor ball management, giving up possession in their own third and playing long balls to nobody in response to Barcelona’s pressing. Rashford would score early, at 3’ in, on a through ball but it would be disallowed on offsides. Rashford would get a second chance at 19’ after Antony played a ball from wide into Fernandes in the middle, he would find Rashford to make it 1-0 and VAR couldn’t do anything about it. They were lucky to take a lead, giving Barcelona all the chances they could need, and it finally bit them at 55’ when Memphis Depay played a cross into the far post for Robert Lewandowski to head in. That was all the visitors really needed with the first leg ending 1-1, United gave away so many chances and have probably lost the round with a trip to Camp Nou coming up.

The second squad would turn the disappointment of drawing with Barcelona into a thrashing of Brighton. A 6-0 would be the result of a banner day by Vitor Roque, who is quickly becoming one of the hottest strikers in the Premier League if not all of football. The young Brazilian would log a hat trick on his way to a perfect 10.00 rating. If only ten Hag could put that performance in a bottle and save it for the trip to Barcelona, unfortunately he would need to figure out a way to turn things around with the 1st squad. Things would not start well, with Barcelona mostly in control and giving United a taste of their own medicine. Pedri would open the scoring at 39’ after Depay made it to the end line and played it into the middle for the Spaniard to score. The game would be tight, but United would sneak back in at 59’ with Sancho playing a long ball to the far post that Antony would head in to level it 1-1. The game would drag in extra time, seemingly putting the game in Barcelona’s favor, but ten Hag would be able to unleash the magic of that 6-0 win over Brighton in the simplest way possible. Vitor Roque would expand his legend by coming on for Rashford and scoring a déjà vu double at 95’ and 103’, both times someone would get to the end line and play the ball into the middle for him to score. The hosts would be stunned as people rushed to Transfermarkt to look up Vitor Roque. The 3(4) - 1(2) win would earn a matchup against PSG in the semi-final, a game in which United will start out as firm underdogs.



United would follow up the win in Barcelona with two 1-0 league wins over Leeds and Crystal Palace. The game against Leeds was mostly notable because the second squad managed to pull it off down a man for 85’ of the game. Hannibal earned a straight red at 5’ for an ugly tackle on Brenden Aaronson. Yaser Asprilla would score at 13’, and somehow Leeds never had much fight in them despite having an extra man.

Two lackluster wins wouldn’t be awe inspiring, but they would do enough to put United two points from clinching another league title. Liverpool would finish the month with a 1-1 draw with Leicester and City would suffer a stunning 5-1 defeat to Brentford, and to make things worse for them they would play each other next month. United’s last league fixtures would feature two teams in the relegation zone, with Cardiff already clinching relegation along with Southampton. Things couldn’t be set up better for United to finish off the league and focus on the Champions League.

The final month of the season would be incredibly hectic, not just for the possibility of playing in the Champions League final, Erik ten Hag would need to close out the Premier League and Marcus Rashford would be on the cusp of a United goal scoring record. Coming into the month with (44) club goals would put Rashford just short of Denis Law’s record of (46) goals set in the 1963/64 season. The way Rashford has been playing, and with at least two extra games against PSG, there was a good chance that a sixty-year old record could fall.

United would head to the Parc des Princes to open their semifinal against PSG, and for once ten Hag would not be the manager under pressure. Christophe Galtier would be facing a ‘must win’ situation as PSG’s form collapsed over the last two months. Looking at an invincible season near the beginning of March, a 2-0 loss to Angers would be a prelude to struggles. A 1-0 loss to Lyon would come before this game, and they snuck past Arsenal in the quarterfinal with a 4-1 home win after losing 3-0 at The Emirates. On paper United would be in trouble, with stars like Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé stalking the pitch ten Hag would need to play a perfect game to get by. It didn’t take long for that approach to fall through, just 27’ into the game Raphaël Varane would tussle with Mbappé in the box and hand the hosts a penalty. In what is now a common sight for the French side, a brief argument between Neymar and Mbappé would delay the taking of the penalty before Neymar won out and made it 1-0 in their favor. Things would get worse for United when Christian Eriksen started limping through a groin injury and came off at the half for Andrey Santos. Rashford would score a stunner after Bruno Fernandes would get the ball off Marquinhos and thread the ball through to him, but VAR would rule him offsides and the score would remain 1-0 at 60’. The two would combine again, this time Gianluigi Donnarumma would help Rashford keep his goal at 62’. Fernandes would find Rashford in the middle and he would fire a laser from outside the box, Donnarumma would get his hands on it but wouldn’t be able to halt the shot, mishandling the ball and letting it trickle in to make it 1-1. It would be a hard grind, but United would escape this one on an amazing game by Diogo Costa. PSG had plenty of chances but couldn’t convert, the loss of Eriksen for a week would sting for the second leg but at least it would be at Old Trafford.



With all of the exciting games United have played this season, it’s hard to believe that a dull 0-0 draw with Norwich would end up being the most eventful. Heading into the day United could clinch the Premier League by just not losing, but with City and Liverpool playing to a 1-1 draw earlier in the day their crosstown rivals would hand them the title before even taking the field. With three games left for Liverpool and United up (10) points, the title was theirs. Andrey Santos would get his first start of the season with Casemiro taking Eriksen’s place in the second leg of the PSG tie, and Rashford would have a goal disallowed at 74’. The scoring record would need to wait.

It’s hard to take much from the second game with PSG other than the fact that nobody does a total collapse like PSG. Just 9’ in a near comical exchange would typify PSG’s usual exit path from the Champions League. Jude Bellingham would loop around the right side of the box and drive to goal before hammering a ball across the face of goal to hit Rashford at the far post. Maquinhos would stick his foot back to block the pass, have it bounce up and hit Donnarumma before going in for a humiliating OG. Immediately after that Achraf Hakimi would be taken off with an injury, pouring salt in their growing wound. At 26’ Antony would make his way to the end line and play into the middle for Rashford to make it 2-0. Rashford would score again almost immediately, but VAR would step in and save PSG momentarily. Neymar would be in full childish pouting mode, vanishing from the game along with Messi, and it would only get worse at 54’ when Tyrell Malacia would find Rashford with a wonderful long ball that he would send back across the face of goal from the far post. Up 3-0, 4-1 on aggregate, and with PSG giving up, this game was over. Marquinhos would look like he wanted to die, carrying a 5.7 rating, and João Félix would come on for Neymar who had already checked out. Danilo Pereira would join Marquinhos with a 5.7 rating, Messi would be a ghost, PSG couldn’t have had a worse day. Galtier would blame VAR even though it denied Rashford another goal, it was clear PSG was not prepared for this game. Rashford would tie Denis Law’s record, and English fans would rejoice as United booked their place in the final for what was guaranteed to be a rivalry game. Liverpool would top City 3-2 at Anfield after dropping the first game 2-1 at The Etihad, once again an all English final would be set for Wembley.

With a ticket to the final booked, and the Premier League trophy won, the next three games would just be an attempt not to lose anyone for the UCL final. A 1-1 draw with Wolves, 4-0 win over Cardiff, and a 3-0 win over Everton would close out the season and leave the starting lineup intact. The win over Everton would feature a Rashford double, taking him to (50) goals in all competitions and (40) in the Premier League. The (40) would be good for second best all time, falling short of Erling Haaland’s record shattering (47) last year.

The English media, and really UEFA as well, couldn’t have asked for a better Champions League final in terms of history and animosity. Having the game at Wembley only increased the hype, with London flooded by United and Liverpool fans ready to watch the game and throw some punches depending on how things went. This would be the fifth meeting between the teams, with United owning a slight 2-1-1 edge at this point. Jürgen Klopp and ten Hag wouldn’t be pulling any punches of their own, with both teams absolutely going after each other from the very start. United would hit the post twice in the first half as Alisson would have a great game of his own, and Diogo Costa would be up to the task as well with Liverpool taking their own chances. Mohamed Salah would have Liverpool’s best attempt with a header that just barely missed. The deadlock would finally be broken at 55’ when a Thiago long ball would find Salah and give Liverpool a 1-0 lead. United would pull level when Varane headed in an Eriksen free kick at 66’ just before Antony would be taken off with a bruised shin. United would be lucky to pull level as Liverpool would have all the momentum after the half, but things would slowly tip toward United as the end of the game approached. Rashford would score at 84’, but VAR would step in again and rule him just slightly offsides. VAR would save Alisson after hasty ball distribution gave the ball to United deep in their third and resulted in Rashford’s disallowed goal. Depending on how you look at it, VAR had too much involvement in this game, and it would decide the tie in extra time. Luis Díaz would trip Eriksen in the box and VAR would confirm a penalty, sending Klopp and Liverpool into a furious protest. Fernandes would covert, even though Alisson went the right way, and United would take a 2-1 lead. With the game still going, and Liverpool pressing hard to pull level, Costa would have two absolutely massive saves to close out the game. First he would block a header off a corner that looked destined to go in, and then a shot from outside the box off a cleared corner that had Liverpool thinking they’d pulled level. The whistle would blow and United’s bench would explode onto the field to celebrate an improbable Quadruple.

After a year in which multiple United players landed on the NXGN50 list United had to settle for only one this year; Vitor Roque. Barcelona’s Gavi took the top slot, but Vitor Roque wasn’t far off at 12th. The young Brazilian did an incredible job as Marcus Rashford’s understudy with (24) goals in (21) appearances.



The U21 side finds itself in an odd position as ten Hag and the new owners look to overhaul the academy. The side has turned into a dumping ground for players not good enough to be long term starters for the senior squad but good enough to play elsewhere. A few players that had run-ins with the senior squad last season have found themselves relegated to the U21 side, not even assigned to the senior squad for practice / mentorship, or loaned out. Marc Jurado, who looks to be leaving for AS Monaco on a free transfer, and Facundo Pellistri are the two players who have seen their stock drop the most. LW Shola Shoretire may find himself joining them unless ten Hag opts to use him as bench / registration fodder next season. This roster is likely to see a lot of age / talent level attrition with a number of players over 21 or turning 21 soon, look for this side to get much younger in the 2024-25 season. Despite all of that they took the U21 Premier Division 1 again, won the Papa John’s Trophy, and the U21 Premier Division Cup. Their only failure came with a 2-2 loss in penalties to Arsenal in the International Cup final.

Willem Hoolickin has been extremely impressive, driving rumors and discussion that he might be given a go at the senior squad as a 17-year old. Ten Hag has praised his performances a number of times, but often tempers it with a caveat that he is young and will need to prove himself over the summer. Hoolickin and fellow U18 DM Malick Boussac are being mentored by Christian Eriksen and much has been made of the Dane’s influence on the two, with Eriksen signaling an end to his association with United at the end of his contract we might see Hoolickin taking his place on the roster in the 2025-26 season. Finley McAllister, once the club’s best DM prospect, has faded behind Hoolickin and looks to be falling behind Boussac as well.

The U18 side looks to be the epicenter of United’s more immediate future, with the side featuring more of United’s higher rated prospects. Hoolickin and CB Chris Wright seem the most likely to make the senior squad as a permanent member before anyone on the U21 team, ten Hag has focused on youth transfers that can start in the U18 side so it will be some time before the U21 side catches up.

PROMISING PROMOTIONS

Weaker crop, but the bar is high after the promotion of Hoolickin last year. Heavy on very flexible forwards who can play both wings and striker, United will need to figure out where to focus their training.

Bruno Praxedes (LB - Portugal) : Certainly a position of need, Praxedes will find little between him and the senior squad in the United Academy. Scouts feel his upside is that of a Premier League regular with a shot at a decent international career, he has excellent pace and a level of professionalism that will help him develop into a solid player.

Alex Stringer (CB - England) : A tall (6’-3”) with a clear path to becoming a good ball playing defender has an enormous amount of work to do technically, but should get by on his determination and robust physical attributes. Ten Hag has made it a point to load up on good CB in the senior squad, so it’s hard to see him making the senior squad in the near future.

An improbable run and victory in the Champions League finished off the season with an even more improbable Quadruple. Erik ten Hag looks to have United well ahead of schedule, if not punching above their weight, though nobody would really look at one of the biggest clubs in the world as a perpetual underdog. The on-field transformation of a club that defied logic by making, and spending, massive amounts of money while failing to win much of anything puts United back in the conversation as one of the top clubs in the world. Ten Hag started his tenure with ‘Erik ten Months’ jokes, but it looks like ‘ten Trophies’ is a distinct possibility after stuffing four more into United’s silverware case. Putting United further ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League trophy count is a good sign, but now ten Hag will be expected to close that gap in the Champions League. The quadruple would move United up the European Club Rankings from 8th to 2nd, just behind their derby rivals City.

There would be little word from ownership on future changes at the club, with more and more rumors starting to bubble up about future plans. The club only made a single non-player related announcement; Director David Gill’s retirement. Gill has been at United since 2003 as well as serving as the Vice-Chairman of the FA and UK’s Vice-President of FIFA. United have yet to announce a replacement.

Ten Hag’s success in the Premier League this year was undeniable, leading the league in goals (121) and goals allowed (26) while enjoying the league’s highest attendance. A (14) point win over Liverpool made winning it all much sweeter, it’s hard to believe United are that much better than the rest of the league but the club are likely to work hard in keeping that edge. The player accolades have started to roll in, which isn’t surprising for a team that set a new record for goals scored by a United team. Marcus Rashford would be named the English Player of the Year to go with his scoring title, and Jude Bellingham would sweep the Young English and Champions League Player of the Year awards. The team would also sweep the Champions League Midfielder awards with Bellingham, Bruno Fernandes, and Antony taking all three spots. Ten Hag would also win his first personal award, being named the Premier League Manager of the Year.


Not hard to see why United did so well this year, with Rashford jumping out as the team’s top scorer. His (50) total and (40) in the Premier League set new records for most by a United player. It’s easy to zoom in on Rashford, but Fernandes had a great season as well and his (23) assists was a new United record. Antony and Jadon Sancho should also be recognized for the seasons they had, with Sancho’s new #7 jersey the team’s best seller, as both players were decent goal scorers but important creators from wide. The cat is also out of the bag on Vitor Roque, with his (24) goals in (21) appearances signaling bigger things to come for the young striker.

A new year, a new season, and three titles to defend (four if you include the UEFA Super Cup). Manchester United had a quiet offseason with the biggest news the addition of some sponsors. There were lots of rumors flying around about new players, Erik ten Hag being poached by another club, and future infrastructure but all fans got was good news about the Old Trafford parking lot.

The club would happily announce the addition of Virgin Airways as the club’s official airline partner, a much needed change since the club dropped Aeroflot at the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. The Virgin Airways logo now replaces the Aeroflot logo in the Old Trafford lot, a space that was left blank since they had to dig up the old one in March of 2022. In a more light-hearted move the club added Monster Energy Drinks as a sponsor and a partnership with Daniel Ricciardo, who is a United fan, as a team ambassador. Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s connection to F1 has often been teased as an opening to commercial synergy, but with Lewis Hamilton (Arsenal) and George Russell (Wolves) fans of other clubs it was hard to make a direct connection to the Mercedes team.



Ownership has been very clandestine about plans, but they have stated that more changes are on the way. Inside sources have been very squirrelly about the chances of Nike taking over their kit for next season, their Adidas deal expires this year, but there is hope that the upturn in form will bring Adidas or another kit manufacturer to the table and boost their earning potential. With hundreds of millions in debt still weighing the club down, a big boost in revenue needs to follow their improved on-field form.

The final year of Adidas’ deal with United presents a very pedestrian offering. They would reuse the lime green color from the 2022-23 season and go with a safe nearly all-black third kit. United might be hoping to start a bidding war with Adidas keen to remain, but these designs seem to make it apparent Adidas would rather move on.

After the insane summer of spending United had last year it was hard to imagine Erik ten Hag buying that many more players, despite what rumors the media and fans were cooking up. They entered the window reported to have a £70M budget, which was quickly added to thanks to sales, and that helped them move on the one target basically everyone knew they were going after. The opening of the window was marked by two quick transfers, both known to be highly likely in the past month. The first was the sale of Anthony Martial to Juventus, a move Martial had requested after making it clear he felt his time at United had come to an end. The £40M received for the French attacker just made it easier for United to close the deal for their primary target; Declan Rice. Rice, once said to be available for £100M, saw his market value slowly decline as he became more vocal about a move and the end of his contract approached. There was interest from Liverpool, after losing out on Jude Bellingham, but United jumped in again and managed to land him for £75M.


Once that business was done, the remaining dominos started to fall as ten Hag made another attempt to clean out the roster and make room for younger players. The Lisandro Martinez situation came to a head after it started to get hot at the January transfer window, if the addition of Eric García was a warning the purchase of Zeno Debast was a full on red flag for the Argentine. Martinez never managed to return to full fitness, at least in the eyes of ten Hag, and the rift between the two exploded as he never made it back to the first squad as a permanent member. Martinez demanded to be sold and Barcelona were happy to help him escape Manchester. The addition of Rice along with signs that ten Hag wanted Andrey Santos to have a chance at starting in the second squad was enough of a sign for Casemiro to voice his desire to leave as well, it didn’t take long for PSG to step in and add him to their midfield to play next to Vitinha. Crystal Palace saw a similar opportunity and made a move for United’s academy product Kobbie Mainoo, who is being squeezed out of an opportunity on the senior level by Andrey Santos as well as the academy level by Finley McAllister and United wonderkid Willem Hoolickin. Finally, Dean Henderson would make his annual trip out on loan, this time to Marseille.

With so much cash on hand United were able to splurge on a player they have been eyeing for years, as Santos RW Angelo turned 18 and the sale of Martial opened up a slot on the second squad. Angelo has the upside of being the next Antony, and the opening at RW (Yaser Asprilla is available to move to the LW) made it a win-win move for the future. Ten Hag and John Murtough also made some aggressive moves to improve their academy, with the biggest purchase being Palmeiras’ Luis Guilherme for £12M. It’s a big spend for someone going straight to the U21 side, if not out on loan, but Guilherme was another player the club has been monitoring for some time. The rise of Hannibal makes it difficult to see where he fits in, but it never hurts to add more talent.

When the dust settled, the Premier League nearly doubled the nearest league (La Liga) in spending. £1.14B flowed out of England with La Liga burning £532M to improve their squads. With the Premier League taking ahold of the FIFA rankings, we may see more and more all-English UCL finals.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Lisandro Martinez (CB, Barcelona) - £50M
Casemiro (DM, PSG) - £45M
Anthony Martial (CF, Juventus) - £40M
Kobbie Mainoo (DM, Crystal Palace) - £4.5M
Dean Henderson (GK, Marseille) - Loan

Senior Transfers (In)
Declan Rice (DM, West Ham) - £75M
Angelo (RW, Santos) - £20M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Luis Guilherme (CAM, Palmeiras) - £12M
David White (RW, Blackpool - England) - £6M
Bryan Watson-Wentworth (CB, Leicester - England) - £5M
Earl Wessex (CB, Charlton - England) - £4M
Richard France (RB, Colchester - England) - 120K
Jason Lillywhite (LB, Salford - England) - 75K
Baron Silverwood (RB, Fleetwood - England) - 60K

Manchester United opened their pre-season by sitting back and watching international tournaments eviscerate their player availability. A number of United’s players got early warmups in Euro 2024 hosted by Germany, it was a minor mercy that no one ended up playing in the final and they got a tiny bit of rest before getting on a plane for Beijing. Germany would win the title with a 4-1 win over Austria, who had a tournament for the ages but couldn’t get past their neighbors. Germany topped Ukraine 3-1 to make the final while Austria got past Spain 2-1 in extra time. Kylian Mbappé would have an absolutely mind blowing tournament with (11) goals, two more than Michel Platini’s record set in 1984 and nearly double the highest more recent total of (6) by Antoine Griezmann in 2016. The (11) goals makes Mbappé the second leading all time scorer after Cristiano Ronaldo’s (14), in just a single tournament, and odds are that he’ll blow past the Portuguese legend. On the United front Marcus Rashford finished second to Mbappé in average rating, Declan Rice finished with the second most assists with (3), and Diogo Costa tied Mike Maignan for most shutouts with (4).



The conclusion of the Euro saw Didier Deschamps replaced by Christophe Galtier, who would resign from his role at PSG to take up the job. PSG would be caught off guard by the announcement, and they would still be looking for a manager close to the start of the season. Erik ten Hag would have his own headache with the Olympics coming for players that the Euro didn’t take. Alejandro Garnach, Vitor Roque, and Andrey Santos would be called up and be out until the start of the season in mid-August. Losing Garnacho would be particularly annoying, with the young winger swiftly falling out of favor and now set to miss all of the pre-season.

United would head to Beijing for a short and goal laden tour of China after a 2-0 win over OGC Nice in what is being jokingly called the Ratcliffe Cup. Two eye-watering results, 26-0 over YJ Haiyuan and 17-0 over Beijing Baxy, would do little more than drum up interest in China as fans flocked to see the club. The YJ Haiyuan game was so bad that Vitor Roque scored (11) goals before flying off to the Olympics, and (8) players logged a 10.0 rating. The only good news from those two games was Angelo logging (5) assists and folding into the squad well.

The pre-season would finish up at Old Trafford with a 5-0 win over Ashton United and a 6-0 win over Stockport County. Both games mostly featured second squad or youth players and ten Hag gave players ample rest before the start of the season. Jude Bellingham would be named Vice-Captain at the end of camp with Bruno Fernandes remaining Captain.