Deadline day transfers: Winter window spending up on last year

It was a quiet window for Manchester United with just two players arriving and none on deadline day.

Patrick Dorgu was their main signing with the defender joining from Lecce for £25m. The other player to arrive was 18-year-old defender Ayden Heaven from Arsenal.

There were, however, some significant outgoings with Antony, who signed for United from Ajax in August 2022 for £81.3m, joining Real Betis on loan, while Marcus Rashford left to join Villa on loan.

BBC Sport’s chief football news reporter Simon Stone:

In the end, though head coach Ruben Amorim said the club would try to bring in new players on deadline day, the other element of his assessment of Manchester United’s transfer business held sway – do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

United did explore the loan market and there were discussions around Tel. But, according to United sources, the structure of the deal being offered did not make sense. They effectively felt they were taking a chance on a young player knowing if he did well, Bayern Munich would benefit from his increased value.

But, according to Old Trafford officials, there is a wider point, namely avoiding what they felt were “reckless and expensive risks” which is essentially how United have ended up in the mess Sir Jim Ratcliffe is trying to sort out.

The reality is, after years of heavy losses, United were not in a position to buy anyone, without selling someone for a profit.

Amortisation is not a word football supporters tend to use when they are chatting about the game. But essentially, it is the value of a specific player in terms of their cost and the length of time left on their contract. If a player is sold for above their ‘value’, it is profit and handy when it comes to PSR. If they are sold at a loss, it reduces the scope for spending.

That is essentially why Premier League clubs sell ‘home-grown’ players. For Manchester United, that would have meant academy graduates Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo – despite the fact Garnacho was signed from Atletico Madrid. The problem is Amorim wanted to keep the pair.