Manchester United have shown how to complete a squad rebuild in three transfer windows

We never got to ask Ralf Rangnick whether he included winters in the "two or three transfer windows" Manchester United's squad rebuild could be achieved.

Rangnick described the mid-season window as "not the most sustainable" to recruit at his introductory press conference in December yet advised United to make an 11th-hour addition to offset Mason Greenwood's sudden unavailability.

If United are to follow Liverpool's blueprint, then they cannot be as dismissive of the winter window as they have been previously. Virgil van Dijk has been Liverpool's most transformative signing of the last 30 years and the transfer was announced five days before New Year's Day 2018.

READ MORE: United prioritise Timber as defensive target and hold talks with Carmo

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer effectively admitted United would not have qualified for the Champions League had they not parachuted Bruno Fernandes into Carrington in late January 2020. The 2006 double of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra remains United's zenith in the winter window.

United have assembled a title-winning squad over "two or three" windows, ironically at the start of the Glazer family's ownership. Their significant summer recruits in 2005, Edwin van der Sar and Ji-sung Park, left with five Champions League finals between them.

Michael Carrick inherited Roy Keane's number 16 in 2006, a summer David Gill promised "two world-class signings". United ended it with Carrick and Tomasz Kuszczak.

Bayern Munich delayed Owen Hargreaves's move by a year and Sir Alex Ferguson failed with an 11th-hour move for Villarreal midfielder Marcos Senna. Jose Mourinho's Chelsea juggernaut were twice reigning champions and added Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko.

FourFourTwo magazine predicted