The most extravagant summer spending sprees Manchester United have embarked on were in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2022.
Do you notice the correlation? They had failed to qualify for the Champions League in the previous seasons.
This was how Glazernomics worked. Joel, Avram and the other siblings would turn the tap on if United were not in the Champions League. Competing to win the Champions League or the Premier League was not factored into the business.
Which is why United's spending graph nosedived like the Wall Street Crash in 2018. They had finished second in the league and were runners-up in the FA Cup. Ed Woodward privately admitted the trajectory was "good". Yet the tap was turned off.
United spent £73million on three players. Fred and Diogo Dalot had release clauses. The other was Lee Grant. This was how Glazernomics worked.
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During his first two summers, Jose Mourinho suspected United capped the budget at £150million. They never broke that barrier for permanent signings until 2022 when they were panicked into the appeasement purchases of Casemiro and Antony.
Casemiro was in a holding pattern while United waited for Barcelona to address Frenkie de Jong's wage deferral. They never did, so United committed to spending £155.3m on two Brazilians. Neither are guaranteed to be at United next season.
The director of player negotiations Matt Hargreaves replaced Matt Judge last year and is in charge of recruitment for the interim period now John Murtough has left. Hargreaves is highly regarded and has tried to change the perception of United in the marketplace.
Yet his
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