Manchester derby underlines United's biggest failing in face of City excellence

Manchester United are the outsiders in Sunday’s derby, according to the bookies, as their stop-start form contrasts with a Manchester City side that have won 15 of their last 17 Premier League games. But United have managed to avoid the embarrassment of being the most expensive squad of the two old rivals on the day - by shifting over £100million-worth of players out on loan in January.

The recent transfer window saw the Blues, who for some years have had the most expensive squad in the league, become the second-most expensive as they sold Ferran Torres to Barcelona. That reduced the cost of their playing roster to around £800million and meant they were slightly below United, whose own squad was pieced together at a cost of £801million.

Going into the derby, City will actually have a more costly set of players from which to choose, despite having £7million Zack Steffen injured and £60million Ruben Dias a doubt, as United will be without £40million man Nemanja Matic. But that disparity only exists because United have trimmed their flabby squad by offloading Donny van de Beek (£35m), Amad (£19m) and Anthony Martial (£54m) on temporary transfers during the last window.

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City have no senior players out on loan and every outfield member of the squad has made at least 16 appearances this season, which shows there is no excess at all - they cost plenty of money, but every player is heavily utilised.

And the fact remains that United have spent more on their current squad, including loanees, than have City. The contrast gets even more stark for Ralf Rangnick’s side when you compare the value of the two squads.

The football academics at the CIES Football