Manchester United are changing their transfer strategy at the wrong time

It's still early to be judging the work of Richard Arnold and John Murtough at Manchester United, but one assessment that can be made so far is they appear to have a good grip on why things have been going wrong at Old Trafford.

Arnold replaced Ed Woodward on February 1 and taking on the job title of chief executive was perhaps the first sign that he intended to do things differently to his fellow University of Bristol alumni. That includes taking a backseat when it comes to the football department and Murtough has seen his powerbase grow as a result.

In Arnold's pub chat with supporters at the weekend he made it clear that football director Murtough and manager Erik ten Hag were responsible for what happens on the pitch. He has wielded the axe across departments in an attempt to move the club forward and that has included recruitment.

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Murtough is now the man in charge of recruitment. The departures of chief scout Jim Lawlor and head of global scouting Marcel Bout were part of a plan to streamline the scouting operation and, like most of their rivals at the elite-club level, United are now putting a greater emphasis on data.

There is certainly an element of caution to United's approach this summer. The club are determined not to be panicked into deals and to avoid accusations of overpaying for players, an area where they've been rightly criticised in the past, with the £125million lavished on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire three years ago a case in point.

As he talked freely to the fans on Saturday, unaware he was being surreptitiously recorded, Arnold said United had "burned through" £1billion in the transfer market and as someone with a firm