Why Manchester United didn't sign anyone in transfer window

So Manchester United didn’t sign anyone (significant) in the January transfer window — despite being linked with Mats Hummels, Marquinhos, Aymeric Laporte, Nemanja Vidic, Diego Godin and every other well-performing centre back at a well known club. They were also, oddly enough, linked with Gareth Bale. But as the transfer market shut, many fans of the club were left disappointed with the alleged ’lack of ambition’ the club showed in the window. However, it would have been senseless to buy anyone — and here’s why: Contrary to belief, the United squad is NOT thin: Manchester United have a 26-man team. Chelsea have a 22-man squad and Manchester City a 24-man team. This is after January business. Chelsea and City still sit above United. Even position-wise — the centre of defence has been the area most mentioned as United’s weakness — United are well-covered. Six CBs with two upcoming youngsters in Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair, four wing-backs (left/right) if you include Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, six pure central midfielders, four wingers and four strikers. [caption id=“attachment_2077351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Man United have no lack of stars in their team. Getty Images[/caption] Defence has not been the biggest issue for United this season — it’s been the 40-plus injuries sustained and the lack of a core team selection which has resulted in their inconsistent performances. One would be foolish to add to a team which is already finding it hard to gel. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are not bad by any count, Marcos Rojo is coming into his own, Jonny Evans is good but down the pecking order and the youngsters Blackett and McNair have done well whenever called upon. Mats Hummels would ideally be a fine purchase — but January was never going to be the time Borussia Dortmund would agree to a sale. They’re in no hurry — Hummels is contracted till June 2017 and has been the model professional, not grumbling about his struggling club. To top this — United have lost just twice in their last 15 league fixtures and are still in the FA Cup. Juan Mata and Ander Herrera can’t even get in the team — things are not that bad after all. It was a market to offload, not to reload: United had a massive squad and did very little selling in the summer so that Louis van Gaal could run his rule over his roster. Well, now he has — and he doesn’t need Anderson, Darren Fletcher or Wilfried Zaha. For Van Gaal, this was a market where he needed to let go of deadwood. Fletcher’s exit was also well thought out — he needed game time and Van Gaal has allowed him that without overdrawn negotiations. Zaha didn’t impress on his loan at Crystal Palace and Anderson has looked well past it for quite some time. Now Van Gaal has a slightly trimmed squad to choose from. There are some headaches which are good to have for managers — but an over-inflated side is not one of them. It’s not about players, it’s about tactics: There’s a valid argument against the first point made in this article — City and Chelsea have smaller squads but with top top talent. World class, some would like to call it. And it won’t be an overstatement either. Apart from a ‘big name’ in defence — United too have stars in every department. Wayne Rooney, Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie, Angel di Maria, Juan Mata, David de Gea, Daley Blind, young Adnan Januzaj, Rafael and Luke Shaw are hardly unknowns. The issue is not ‘big names’ — it’s the tactics. Van Gaal has had to contend with injuries and unnecessarily experimented with a 3-5-2 for more than half of the season — leading to a confused pack of players. But, there have been signs of consistency in formation and approach. It’s been an alarmingly slow transition — but it isn’t surprising after the type of overhaul the club has experienced in the last two seasons. Money! United spent about £150 million in the summer. Financial Fair Play is not a toothless tiger — making it vital to balance books. United need to reach the Champions League for Adidas to pay them £75 million a year starting next year — without that, the deal is £50 million a year. There’s never been a greater desperation for United to make it to Europe — which was the first reason why fans clamoured for another big buy in January. However, without selling, there was no way United could have bought in winter. And there is no one to sell to fund a purchase like Hummels or Marquinhos. Also, Van Gaal is not a manager who will blindly buy — he is notoriously thorough in dealings. Club money, managerial style and an inflated market — and it’s easy to see why United didn’t buy.