Manchester United's poor decisions cost them £180million in transfer funds

Manchester United fans have largely welcomed the exit of Paul Pogba.

His time at Old Trafford has been underwhelming, with many feeling as though he has failed to live up to his £89million transfer fee. At the time it was a world record sum, but the player has lifted only the 2017 League Cup and Europa League since.

He is one of a number of players whose contracts expire on June 30. Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic and Jesse Lingard are also due to leave for nothing this summer.

READ MORE: Manchester United confirm Paul Pogba departure

Edinson Cavani is set to depart too but unlike the others (other than academy product Lingard), his exit bears no financial loss after the striker arrived from PSG two years ago on a free. Mata arrived from Chelsea in 2014 for £37m while Matic followed from Stamford Bridge in a £40m switch three years later.

United will get no cash return from any of the aforementioned players when they leave Carrington.

But they could have at least gained some money back from selling Mata last summer. In an ideal world, Matic, now 33, would have fallen under the same category but United’s midfield options were stretched even 12 months ago.

This could have been avoided by entrusting in Donny van de Beek, a move that could have possibly opened the door for a Matic exit and getting a return on his £40m fee too. It has been clear for a while that Pogba was not fully happy at United.

Van de Beek was brought in to replace the Frenchman, and at that point United arguably should have facilitated an exit for Pogba to cash in on their investment. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s big coups of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane last summer somewhat covered up a reluctance to offload players.

That said, maybe it was