Why Man Utd haven’t sold a single senior player in summer transfer window as spectre of Ten Hag still looms large

IF PREMIER League clubs had actual market stalls, Manchester United’s would possibly be the quietest. Trade is so slow at United that they have not sold a single first team squad member with the transfer window open for only five more days. Vitek joined Boro in a deal potentially rising to £14m Credit: Getty Fredricson started three games for United Credit: Getty Radek Vitek cannot count. He fetched a reasonable fee of £7million from Middlesbrough but spent the last two years on loan in Austria and at Bristol City. Tyler Fredricson, whose last start was exactly a year ago in the grisly Grimsby defeat, could only be flogged to the Ineos-owned FC Lausanne-Sport. Fredricson left for a “nominal fee”. Sign up for the Man United newsletter Thank you! There is a scene in the great baseball film Moneyball where Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane is negotiating a trade. He says: “There’s just one more thing I need. “I don’t want the guys paying for soda. I want you to stock my soda machine for three years.” Fredricson perhaps did not cost as much as a years-long stocked vending machine. United’s reputation precedes them. Whoever first came up with that quote that the club is a “graveyard for talent”, its legacy endures. You can’t blame clubs for giving United a swerve. Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir conceded 31 goals in 17 games and was prone to dropping clangers. Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK Where is the market for a back-up ‘keeper that is error-prone? United bought Bayindir for a measly £4.1million on deadline day in 2023 and the Turkey international did not even find sanctuary back in his homeland. Bayindir is warming the bench on loan at Celta Vigo. Joshua Zirkzee, 25 has scored two Premier League goals in 20 months. He has started once under Michael Carrick and was an unused substitute at Hull, where United lost 2-0. A return to Italy for Zirkzee has been mooted since the 2025 winter window. Italian clubs are hard up and United are never going to obtain the £21million to avoid a loss on Zirkzee, bought for £36.5m in July 2024. So the best-case scenario has to be a season-long loan with his salary covered. Marcus Rashford is United’s highest earner on £325,000 a week and his two loan clubs, Barcelona and Aston Villa, signed left wingers he has shared a dressing room with (Anthony Gordon and Alejandro Garnacho). Zirkzee was a dubious signing Credit: Manchester United via Getty Imag Rashford is stuck at United Credit: EPA So even Rashford, aged 28, a starter in recent World Cup games and available for £26m, is a nigh-on impossible sell. Manuel Ugarte is unsellable as he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at the World Cup. If Ugarte was fit, it is hard to imagine United would have arranged a permanent exit by now. Zirkzee and Ugarte were misfits who epitomise the amateurish first summer under Ineos in 2024. Having lost their nerve over plans to sack Erik ten Hag, Ineos had to compromise in the summer market with a ‘one for him, one for us’ policy. So a few Dutch-born players arrived (Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui) and the two biggest buys were from Ligue 1 clubs (Ugarte and Leny Yoro) who faced the Ineos-owned Nice. United only bought Zirkzee because of his nationality and his release clause. His underwhelming stats in Italy did not scream Premier League standard but their decision-makers have form for a lack of knowledge of United matters. Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to move to Saudi Arabia, after the very idea was derided in front of him by Piers Morgan Credit: TalkTV Ronaldo lost his place under Ten Hag Credit: Reuters There was never going to be a fire sale at United this summer when this has been their most stable year since 2017. Their financial restraint is also admirable when this is the silliest of silly seasons. “Do any clubs have a plan?” a senior agency source said. “The market feels completely insane in the Premier League.” Clubs reeling from losing their linchpins are overpaying (£65m for Nicolas Jackson and £50m for Liam Delap), lining the pockets of a club that has failed to qualify in two of the four seasons and changed manager five times under its current owners. Tottenham want to get supporters back onside and United know the easiest way to do that is by paying record fees. City’s stall is always teeming as their players were schooled by Pep Guardiola. A City academy talent could just be pictured with Guardiola and his valuation would rocket to eight figures. United do not have as many years chiselled onto their honours’ board as City’s in the past decade, so their sellable players are not appealing. It is not just current United players struggling to find a new club. Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia – all released by United in recent years – are without a professional home. Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen, released last year, did not relocate until September. David de Gea spent a year out of football following his acrimonious exit in 2023. Even one of the greatest, Cristiano Ronaldo, was burnt by his association with United. When Ronaldo effectively filed for divorce with his November 2022 interview with the sycophantic Piers Morgan, Morgan said: “If it was just about money, you’d be in Saudi Arabia.” Saudi was the only place to offer Ronaldo a home. Even he did not have shoppers flocking to United’s stall. Comment now