The most recent signing due to drive through the barriers at Carrington next week might not be Mateo Mejia now.
The Manchester United reserve striker agreed to a contract extension this week after two goals in 15 appearances for the Under-21s last season. Mejia is a Colombia Under-20 international, so there is possibly some resale value.
Eyes will be kept peeled for another player with the initials MM on Birch Road. United seemed certain to go through June without a single new addition to their first-team squad until they agreed a £60million deal with Chelsea for Mason Mount on Thursday afternoon.
Mount, 24, is a Champions League and Club World Cup winner, one of 22 players to have started in a major final for England with a World Cup under his belt. He has been an accomplished performer in the Premier League over the last four years and suits Erik ten Hag's style.
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Mount may be unfashionable with some but he appeals to coaches as diverse as Ten Hag, Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter. Mount is the only departure the new Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino will rue.
It is inevitable the United media department will seize on Mount's attendance at Old Trafford as a nine-year-old in 2008. A boyhood Portsmouth fan, he was in the away end to witness Cristiano Ronaldo's physics-defying free-kick. As a junior at Chelsea, he confidently addressed the camera and said, "I try to place my free-kicks like Ronaldo."
Mount's arrival is timely ahead of United's first week of pre-season training. How ironic that Mount was not at Carrington for England's recent training sessions. Declan Rice and Harry Kane, both unattainable, were.
Luke Shaw will have been wasting his time with Mount. United agreed personal terms four weeks ago and now Chelsea have banked a fee. Despite last week's discord, it has been a relatively painless process.
A source close to one of the United players stressed that players get excited by the sight of new signings in training on the first week back for pre-season and the absence of any new faces does affect the mood. Mount will lift it.
United conducted themselves diligently during negotiations with Chelsea, compromising on an up front fee of £55m and £5m in add-ons. Chelsea were holding out for more.
Mount has been signed in time for a debut in United's first friendly against Leeds in Oslo. Leeds are mutually loathed by Chelsea and United, so Mount can be assured of an enthusiastic ovation from the Norwegians.
Players are not as consumed by transfers as much as supporters but they are interested observers. At United's celebratory reception after the 2008 Champions League final, Rio Ferdinand approached the chief executive David Gill and demanded to know who United's targets were.
Wayne Rooney questioned Sir Alex Ferguson why United had not been in for Mesut Ozil in 2010 and publicly questioned the club's transfer strategy when he flirted with Manchester City.
Now United need to seize on the positivity of Mount's imminent arrival. A striker is more pressing than a creative midfielder and so is a starting goalkeeper if David de Gea's contract is shredded. A new deal for Marcus Rashford would fuel the feel-good factor.
Dressing room sources said the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba at Carrington boosted morale after a staid season under Louis van Gaal. Even Daniel James earned rave reviews after his first week in training.
A month ago, there was an upbeat mood at United as Ten Hag bullishly addressed the Old Trafford denizens and the players enjoyed a kick-about with their children on the pitch as staff cleared the gangway.
The FA Cup final defeat put a dampener on a progressive season and, until the Mount development, there had been a gradual deflation. The Glazer family remains in situ and decisive action over De Gea is beyond United.
United players have not had that privilege of greeting multiple signings at Carrington since 2016, when Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were on board in time for Jose Mourinho's first week. So was Ibrahimovic, only he was vacationing in California after the European Championship.
Wan-Bissaka did not start training with United until they flew to Perth for the start of their pre-season tour in 2019, so James was the sole newbie on sight in 2019.
There were contrasting moods at both of Mourinho's Los Angeles camps. In 2017, a suntanned Victor Lindelof and Romelu Lukaku donned a grey training kit under blue skies, with United revelling in blindsiding Chelsea to sign the Belgian for £75m from Everton.
A year later, the sepulchral Mourinho's first words in the JD Morgan Center at UCLA were "our pre-season is very bad". The only signings present were Lee Grant and, Diogo Dalot, who was shielding from the sun under a canopy as he recovered from a meniscus injury. Fred joined midway through the tour and Ed Woodward infamously denied Mourinho the centre-back he had pined for.
Covid-19 compromised United's preparations in 2020 and 2021, as they were prevented from touring overseas. Jadon Sancho belatedly reported for training the week after United's camp at St Andrews while Raphael Varane had to quarantine before he was paraded on the Old Trafford turf.
Erik ten Hag oversaw his first week at Carrington with players he had inherited until Tyrell Malacia touched down in Manchester the following week. Malacia was the lone recruit as United toured Bangkok, Melbourne and Perth in July.
Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez - three summer signings - were among United's best performers last term. Eriksen and Martinez had the benefit of arriving before the competitive campaign began and Casemiro was wily enough to adapt immediately once he was belatedly granted a domestic start away at Everton in October.
Having ample time to integrate is key to signings initially flourishing. James, Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire were regarded as successes after one campaign, back when the transfer window closed before the season started. The quartet of Bailly, Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic and Pogba all had lockers at Carrington ahead of United's first Premier League fixture in 2016-17 - still their finest season in the post-Ferguson era.
Ibrahimovic, a different beast and spared United's joyless trek to China, followed up a volleyed scissor-kick in a friendly victory over Galatasaray with the winner in the Community Shield against Leicester and debut Premier League and Old Trafford goals.
United need a similarly lethal No.9 and that is not Mejia.
