Manchester United's transfer priority was obvious vs Southampton

Football can often be turned into a game of statistics in the modern era, but the xG numbers attached to Manchester United's goalmouth scramble in the first half at St Mary's would have told you a goal was a certainty.

The numbers do sometimes lie and so it proved in this instance as Bruno Fernandes (twice), Anthony Elanga and Christian Eriksen all conspired to leave the Southampton net alone.

Fernandes looked poised to score with his head and his feet but missed both chances. Elanga had a simple task to convert the rebound but failed and from the centre of goal Eriksen found a blocker rather than an empty part of the goal.

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Chances for United were few and far between at Southampton so the miss could have been costly. Instead, Fernandes converted a much more difficult chance in the second half to give United a victory they probably didn't deserve on the balance of play.

They won't always be able to play a get-out-of-jail-free card, however, and in microcosm that five-second passage summed up their need in the transfer window before Thursday's deadline.

United intend to be active between now and the night of September 1 and a new goalkeeper, right-back and forward could arrive, but it feels like the latter of those is the most pressing need.

Club officials will spend the weekend deliberating whether to make yet another bid for Antony, but there's an argument they need a more proven finisher than the promising but still relatively raw Brazilian winger. The 22-year-old has all the tricks to fill a YouTube compilation and a growing portfolio in the Eredivisie, but at the figures now being quoted this would be a gamble.

Exactly how United approach reinforcing