Manchester United have competition from Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle in transfer market

Six weeks ago Manchester United might have looked at Kalvin Phillips and Darwin Nunez and thought they had a good chance of strengthening their midfield and attack this summer.

United's interest in Phillips was revealed by the Manchester Evening News in April, while Nunez has been towards the top of a list of potential attacking signings for a while, as a player who has attracted admiring glances from across Europe. But then Fernandinho announced his intention to leave Manchester City and the Blues lined up Phillips as his replacement, leaving United fighting a losing battle on a player who was unsure of the merits of swapping Leeds for their bitter rivals.

United were never likely to have a clear run at Nunez, but Sadio Mane's intended departure from Liverpool has made the Anfield club clear favourites to sign the 22-year-old. Not only are they a more attractive proposition than United at the moment, but they have a more efficient transfer structure as well.

READ MORE: Where United stand on De Jong and Nunez as transfer window opens

So for John Murtough and Erik ten Hag it's looking like it's on to new targets; this is a problem United could be faced with through the summer. For all the resources and intelligence poured into recruitment departs now, the Premier League's elite often end up circling the same players.

That could create a market that plays into the hands of selling clubs, especially those in Europe who see the riches on offer in the Premier League as a way of massaging their own sometimes unstable finances. As one United source said of their pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, "we're not going to fix Barcelona's financial problems for them".

Every Premier League executive is aware that clubs on the continent see