The club that was once run with an iron fist by Sir Alex Ferguson keeps on making headlines for all the wrong reasons
What would Manchester United give just for a bit of peace and quiet? Since the end of last season, a memorable campaign which saw the team return to the Champions League and win a first trophy for six years, the club has been entangled in a spiral of negative story after negative story.
From the mishandling of the Mason Greenwood situation, to staying silent about the allegations against Antony, to haphazard dealing in the transfer market and the saga around Jadon Sancho, there has been a never-ending stream of reports coming out of Old Trafford that paint the club in a bad light.
GOAL looks back on three months of chaos at United which has left to yet more questions about the club's ownership and Erik ten Hag's ability to handle his squad…
GettyDe Gea U-turn
The first big story of the summer to come out of United was when the club decided to reverse their decision to hand David de Gea a new contract. The Spaniard waved goodbye to the squad after the disappointing FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City in June and said he would see his team-mates again for pre-season, having verbally agreed to extend his contract with the club.
However, United never signed the deal themselves, and it was then withdrawn, replaced by another offer on significantly reduced terms.
United had their reasons for not wanting to keep De Gea as the goalkeeper's form declined as the season went on, despite keeping more clean sheets than any other Premier League 'keeper. And replacing him with Andre Onana, arguably the best in the world with the ball at his feet, was definitely the right thing to do.
However, the club should have decided to part ways with De Gea months previously. They could have given him the send-off he deserved after 12 years of service. Instead, they showed huge disrespect to a modern club great and made themselves look like an indecisive mess.
AdvertisementGettyMaguire stays put
United seemed to be taking a positive step when they agreed to sell Harry Maguire to West Ham in July. Ten Hag had already stripped the defender of the captaincy due to his diminished standing in the squad, having been relegated to the fifth-choice centre-back last season, even behind Luke Shaw.
The Red Devils agreed a £30 million ($37m) fee with West Ham, way below the £80m ($99m) they had paid for Maguire in 2019, but at least they were moving on, giving the much-derided defender the chance to do likewise.
However, Maguire refused to join the Irons, demanding he received his full wages from United before he left, which the club would not agree to. Now the club are left with a player whom they openly wanted to get rid of, who is facing unprecedented abuse on social media and mocking by rival fans, prompting his mother to speak out in his defence.
GettyHorrible handling of Greenwood
The biggest decision United faced all summer was what they did with Mason Greenwood following their internal investigation into the striker after all charges against him were dropped. And they made a huge misjudgment of the public mood by leaning towards reintegrating the England international into the squad, only to change their minds following a fierce backlash to reports of their decision.
United eventually facilitated Greenwood's loan move to Getafe on transfer deadline day, but the striker remains on their books and they are paying a large chunk of his salary. And even though he is no longer part of the squad – for this season at least – the public have not forgotten United's initial stance.
GettyVan de Beek move falls through
As if the failure to sell Maguire was not bad enough, United's hopes of parting ways with Donny van de Beek were also dashed after Lorient were unimpressed with the Dutch midfielder's attitude.
The Ligue 1 side had shown interest in signing the out-of-favour midfielder in mid-August, but according to the player preferred to wait for a better move. With time running out in the transfer window, his representatives made contact with Lorient, only to be told their offer was no longer on the table.
Van de Beek had struggled to get game time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and Ten Hag, his former manager at Ajax, and now has little choice but to try and get back into the side following a serious knee injury in January. That, though, has been made more difficult after he was left out of United's squad for the Champions League group stages.