Finding the 'next Mbappe' and the deal Ten Hag didn't want to happen - inside Man United's transfer window

“We must get recruitment right; it is such a vital part of football today," said Sir Jim Ratcliffe in an interview about becoming co-owner at Manchester United earlier this year.

“I would rather sign the next Kylian Mbappe rather than spend a fortune buying success," Ratcliffe added. "It’s not that clever buying Mbappe. Anyone could figure that one out. What's more challenging is to find the next Mbappe or next Jude Bellingham or next Roy Keane.”

Ratcliffe provided fascinating insight into how he envisaged running football operations and United might have signed a few unpolished diamonds in this summer transfer window.

Beyond the first-team recruitment of Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraou and Manuel Ugarte, they have signed Sekou Kone (18 years old) and Chido Obi-Martin (16 years old), offering a glimpse into what future windows with Ineos could look like.

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All seven of those signings are from different corners of the world, but something unites them all: they all have their best years ahead of them.

United have an unwanted reputation for signing players past their best and although it will take time to shift perception, positive strides were made in the summer window.

The first signing through the door was Joshua Zirkzee. Rasmus Hojlund almost single-handedly shouldered the burden of scoring United's goals last season and signing a forward was a priority, which saw talks open with Bologna over the possibility of signing Zirkzee.

The former Bayern Munich youngster had a €40million release clause in his Bologna contract, but United agreed to pay an extra €2.5m so they can