07 Aug 2026 17:17:10
On 7th Aug 2025 we had only signed 2 players Cunha and Mbeumo in that summer window.
I remember all the little mental breakdowns of all concerned on here.
By the end of the window we had 3 more in. 2 of them post the season opener.


Same heads panincing now.
In last year's summer window there were 145 formal transfers according to the source I've looked at AI generated.
107 of them took place after 10th Aug.
But the sky is falling in.

1.) 07 Aug 2026
07 Aug 2026 18:42:32
I agree, Ken (despite what United Addict says, sometimes you have a good day and make a good post. ?)

Every summer, fans convince themselves that transfers should be wrapped up by early August, yet history tells us otherwise, and get caught up in the rumours on Twitter and from certain "journalists".

Fans forget that football isn't Championship Manager or FIFA, where you click "Make Offer", the other club accepts instantly, and the player signs the next day. Every deal involves multiple moving parts: negotiations between two clubs, agreeing a transfer fee and payment structure, agent commissions, player wages, contract length, bonuses, image rights, medicals, work permits where required, and often the selling club needing to line up a replacement before they'll sanction the sale. On top of that, the player themselves has to want to move or have expressed some desire to move. Gordon has been rumoured to move for a while now, Guimaraes wanted to leave in January, apparently, and there have been ongoing rumours that Tonali has wanted a move for a while.



The market is also interconnected. One transfer often triggers another, which then unlocks another. Clubs deliberately wait because prices can change, leverage shifts, and opportunities appear once other teams have completed their own business.

I get that fans naturally want signings as early as possible because it's exciting, but the reality is the majority of business happens later in the window. That's not incompetence; it's simply how the transfer market operates.

Judge the recruitment once the window closes. Discuss and debate individual targets or identifying areas that still need strengthening, that’s fair enough, but acting as though the club has somehow failed with weeks of the window still remaining ignores how virtually every transfer window unfolds.

2.) 07 Aug 2026
07 Aug 2026 19:15:09
Good one Ports.

All good on Cunha and Mbeumo, but weren't those well scouted clubs' primary targets for those positions? In no way can those 2 be compared with the 2 we have got this window, when clearly both Santos and Tielemans were way down the list and perhaps targets of chance.

3.) 07 Aug 2026
07 Aug 2026 19:25:08
Who on this list were they behind?

4.) 07 Aug 2026
07 Aug 2026 19:29:54
Why, thank you, Ports. ?
A tiny bit of research goes a long way.
Since 2002 United have made approx 114 permanent signings in summer windows.
63% of those were signed in the last 16 days of each respective window.
What we are seeing is normal.
Ua, I can't write this in crayon for you, but try to understand.


I did not compare Mbeumo and Cunha to anybody.
I wrote about the number of signings we made early last season v this season.
63% of our signings in the last 20 years were in the last 16 days of the window.
What we are seeing is normal. It's not at all unusual.

5.) 07 Aug 2026
07 Aug 2026 19:36:18
Ports, on the shopping list they were behind milk, butter, sliced pan and some frozen fish fingers, don't you know the latter was published on the United stand. ???