Manchester United are doing what they should have done 12 months ago in the transfer window

No team that finished inside the top half of the Premier League table in 2023/24 scored fewer goals than Manchester United.

United plundered an uninspiring 57 goals in 38 league games, meaning they finished the campaign with a negative goal difference of -1 after conceding 58 times.

United's response to finishing with a negative goal difference for the first time in the Premier League era was to sign five new players in the 2024 summer transfer window. However, four of them were defensive-minded operators.

Defenders Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt all arrived before the start of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, before defensive-midfielder Manuel Ugarte checked in from Paris Saint-Germain on deadline day.

There was no denying United's defence and the base of their midfield needed strengthening after they had conceded 58 times in the previous league campaign, but to only sign Joshua Zirkzee to strengthen their attack was a disaster waiting to happen.

Zirkzee, who quickly demonstrated he was not the out-and-out No.9 United were in desperate need of last summer, had scored just 12 goals for Bologna in 2023/24. He was by no means an upgrade on Rasmus Hojlund, who had plundered a respectable 16 goals in his debut campaign at Old Trafford.

As a result of failing to beef up their attack, United's output decreased last season, resulting in them scoring a paltry 44 league goals. They conceded 54 to ensure they recorded a negative goal difference ten times bigger than the one they had registered 12 months earlier.

It is unforgivable for a club of United's stature to record a negative goal difference for two league campaigns running. For context, their tally of 101 league goals since the start of the 2023/24