Manchester United need to take advantage of classic top four narrative to set up a big summer

Everyone knows the classic phrase 'nobody seems to want this top four spot' when it comes towards the end of the season, and teams seem to be dropping points regularly, but you could apply this to the January transfer window this season.

Manchester United did not strengthen the squad despite their apparent issues in midfield, and some fans would say they actively weakened themselves, sanctioning loans for Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek.

Arsenal also failed to bring any signings in despite their issues. Still, the club made a big call terminating Pierre Emerick Aubameyang's contract and allowing him to join Barcelona for free alongside other departures, leaving them limited squad depth.

According to Sky Sports, West Ham sought to do some business in the window but seemingly left it too late, having a bid for Darwin Nunez rejected. According to the Twitter account ExWHUemployee, they also failed with bids for Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha from Leeds United.

Only Tottenham Hotspur saw any significant incoming, striking a double deal for Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus. Still, they will be disappointed that they couldn't do more business, failing in approaches for Adama Traore, Luis Diaz and Sofyan Amrabat.

Spurs also saw three midfielders depart in Tanguy Ndombele, Giovanni Lo Celso and Dele Alli. With Chelsea failing to find consistent form, third was for the taking if a team found a rich vein of form, but it seems every squad was happy doing as little business as possible to hope they could sneak in fourth.

For United, their lack of business could point towards the plan of doing a large amount of their business in the summer, as MEN Sport understands that they are looking to target around four