Manchester United have a major problem even £138m transfer splurge won't solve

One major Manchester United issue reared its ugly head again during Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

It's been a busy summer at Old Trafford with the arrival of three new defenders, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui as well as a new striker in Joshua Zirkzee. Around £138million in transfer fees has been spent to strengthen Erik ten Hag's squad as new sporting director Dan Ashworth looks to transform how the club buys and sells players.

It's too early to say whether Ashworth's work has had any effect and at least one more signing is set to be made before the window closes on August 30. Paris Saint-Germain's Manuel Ugarte has agreed personal terms with United and the Reds are now close to a breakthrough with PSG.

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But one central problem remains which Ten Hag has yet to fix, two games into his third season at the club. United succumbed to defeat at the Amex Stadium from a late stoppage-time winner, scored by Brighton's Joao Pedro.

It followed the late equaliser scored by Bernardo Silva at Wembley in the Community Shield against Manchester City. United went on to lose that fixture as well, on penalties.

Since the start of Ten Hag's first season in charge back in 2022/23, United have lost more games to goals scored in the 90th minute or later than any other English top-flight side (six). It's a startling statistic considering that they had only lost two such matches in the first 30 Premier League campaigns combined.

And with another concentration lapse on Saturday costing United yet again, questions