June Gloom was coined by Californians for the cloudy weather in the sixth month of the year and it now appears to have been adopted by Manchester United supporters.
The last time United went through June without a single signing was in 2010 and they had already given Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez tours of Old Trafford that year. Even in the infamous summer of 2013, Guillermo Varela was paraded on a late Friday afternoon by the then-United chief operating officer Michael Bolingbroke.
The response to the ill-fated David Moyes error was reasonably swift. Louis van Gaal signed off deals for Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw before July and nixed an expected move for Toni Kroos.
Also read: Why United have not signed anyone yet
Five of Van Gaal’s 13 signings were players he had already managed and the incumbent Dutch United manager favours familiarity. Frenkie de Jong, Jurrien Timber and Antony all played under Erik ten Hag at Ajax and it was at the storied Dutch club that Christian Eriksen turned heads before leaving for Tottenham at the age of 21. Eriksen trained with Ajax last season prior to joining Brentford.
For now, the goodwill is with Ten Hag. He is weeks into one of the most scrutinised managerial jobs in sport and the target of United supporters in transfer windows is always the board and never the manager. Ten Hag is holed up in remote and bucolic Mere, rather than the selfie-magnet Lowry Hotel, where there is a Championship golf course and a nearby National Trust to maintain his headspace.
Figures at United estimate they have been linked with over 90 players this summer. It is such a silly season one Italian website erroneously reported the length of Alejandro Garnacho's contract by two years. Murtough receives messages from agents he never replies to and it is swiftly reported as "United make contact" by a reporter.
The aforementioned quartet are fine players who would enhance a squad that contributed to the worst United season in decades. In a summer where United’s pull is nearly as low as in 2019, the 25-year-old Barcelona mainstay De Jong could easily be presented as a coup.
United maintain they prefer the title of ‘manager’ than ‘coach’ and Ten Hag has quickly attained autonomy. John Murtough, the football director, is not blocking moves for Eredivisie-based players or Ajax alumni.
Perhaps he should. United cannot bury their heads in the sand over the standard of the Dutch league, where six Premier League rejects were regular starters in Ajax’s run-in and one, Daley Blind, was dismissed as an un-United signing by Ed Woodward.
Woodward was not a sound judge and his assessment of Blind, actually one of a handful of decent signings in the last nine years, was extreme. Still, Memphis Depay and Donny van de Beek, a combined £66.3million worth of investment, each secured transfers from United after 18 months. The dismal Depay was more impactful than Van de Beek.
Maybe Ten Hag, a more modern coach than Van Gaal and more decisive than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, could buck the trend. Antony, a left-footed forward, would balance out an attack that is still lopsided, Timber might keep Harry Maguire on his toes, De Jong would modernise the midfield and Eriksen is four years Juan Mata’s junior.
Solskjaer touched base with Eriksen three years ago, a summer when United were reeling from a wretched run-in they ended in sixth place, and he gave them short shrift. Three fine months at Brentford and Eriksen is ostensibly essential to Ten Hag. Another director of football might pull rank, or the scouts would have sourced a more suitable suggestion.
No one should mourn Timber should he give United a swerve, as Ryan Gravenberch already has. Pau Torres has more experience and pedigree while Liverpool prepared a private jet for fellow centre-back David Carmo last year; the transfer only collapsed after the Braga coach threatened to resign.
United are progressing with a deal for De Jong but however they might dress up the signing of a technically gifted Dutch midfielder from Barcelona it is a risk. De Jong would rather stay at Barcelona, he is not the steely shield to hold the fort United need and he has played in England once.
Barcelona and Ajax - De Jong’s former and current clubs - as well as the Netherlands national team are all culturally aligned through Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels. Barca have signed nine players from Ajax since Cruyff in 1973 and 13 Dutchmen have played for both clubs.
United? Their identity is not so much a crisis as obsolete. De Jong has had it on easy street in the Eredivisie and the sedate La Liga; better players than De Jong have been swept up by the Premier League vortex.
Murtough had been at United for eight months when Angel di Maria was driven into Carrington when United had a free run at a world-class midfielder Real Madrid were prepared to sell. Di Maria wanted to join Paris Saint-Germain, out of the running due to Financial Fair Play constraints. Eight years on, United are advancing with negotiations with one of the Clásico clubs for a player railroaded into joining them.
De Jong seems a sounder professional than the cowardly Di Maria, who skipped a scheduled flight to Seattle for United’s pre-season tour in 2015, offering supporters hope he avoids the moniker Frenkie de Maria. De Jong has the skill set to be a transformative transfer.
There is endless mitigation for United’s inactivity this month but it does not wash with supporters. Clubs ranging from the elite (Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid), to the also-rans (Borussia Dortmund) to the mediocre (Aston Villa) have executed business. Roma, like everyone, only got wind of Nemanja Matic’s contract expiring this year rather than next (as United incorrectly communicated in 2020) on April 14. It took them less than two months to welcome the Serb to the Eternal City.
At the start of last month, an industry source who often deals with United described them as a “total mess”, irrespective of the upbeat noises emanating from the club. The mass exodus has left United lagging; their negotiator has gone and so have the scouts with the highest-profile titles, so they are starting from scratch and pursuing leads closer to home, endeavouring to lift the June gloom.
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