What next for Manchester United as they play out another trophyless season?

Manchester United will end a fifth successive season without a trophy as the club find themselves at yet another crossroads.

Hopes of lifting the Champions League always looked faint and their failure to land a glove on Atletico Madrid saw them meekly tumble out at the round-of-16 stage on Tuesday evening.

The 1-0 loss at Old Trafford made it a 2-1 aggregate defeat that only highlighted the work required this summer – a situation that the PA news agency has taken a look at.

Having finished as Premier League runners-up and lost the Europa League final on penalties, hope of further progress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was fuelled by the summer acquisitions of Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo. But they were out of the Carabao Cup in September then humbled on home soil by Liverpool and Manchester City, with the 4-1 loss at Watford leading to Solskjaer’s exit in November. Interim boss Ralf Rangnick has only lost two Premier League games but there have been too many draws and disjointed displays, plus they are out of the FA Cup and Champions League.

The club have now won just two Champions League knockout matches in the last decade – a period in which their gross transfer spend is reported to be £1.4billion. United currently look unlikely to even qualify for next year’s competition as Rangnick’s Jekyll and Hyde outfit fifth in the standings, a point behind an Arsenal side that boast three games in hand. Unless performances improve, the club could even slip into the Europa Conference League or miss out on European football for the first time since they finished seventh in 2013-14.

There are far too many frayed edges for people to work effectively across many departments at United and that starts from the top.