After Manchester United’s humiliating capitulation at Crystal Palace, it’s hard to make the case for anyone staying.
Erik ten Hag’s fate was sealed the moment United missed out on the Champions League and he has succeeded in taking the club backwards after his first successful campaign.
Gareth Southgate has been mooted, although Thomas Tuchel is a better bet and he is the top-level winner United so desperately need in the dug-out. Sir Jim Ratcliffe will take a chainsaw to United’s squad in the summer as he bids to turn them around.
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Ratcliffe has changed everything behind the scenes, bringing in the likes of his right-hand man Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada as chief executive and Jason Wilcox as technical director.
All that remains is ten Hag and his playing staff and Ratcliffe must wait until the end of the season before he carries out that surgery. Definitely leaving will be the out-of-contract duo of Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial.
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Marcus Rashford will follow, if United get an acceptable offer, and they keep thinking he can produce last season’s blistering form when he scored 34 times for them and England.
He has managed just eight goals for United during this campaign and the problem is last season is the exception rather than the rule. Antony personifies ten Hag’s awful transfer business and the Brazilian was his most-expensive buy, costing £82million in 2022 from his old club Ajax.
United will listen to offers for Antony, but will anyone pay them near what they want?
United will look to move on Christian Eriksen, who has one year left on his contract, and he has been a pale shadow of the player who lit up Old Trafford last season.
The same applies to Casemiro, who has two years left, and he has been an embarrassment as a makeshift centre-half.
Sofyan Amrabat will return to Fiorentina at the end of his loan spell, while United will to find buyers for Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho and Donny van de Beek (remember him?).
The Premier League’s PSR have put United in a straitjacket, a situation that has been compounded by missing out on Champions League football, and they must generate money in the transfer market.
This will make it hard for them to go after the players they want as they attempt to strengthen in defence, midfield and attack. They like Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba, but neither will be cheap.
The same applies to Everton’s Amadou Onana and Benfica’s Joao Neves and the Lisbon giants want over £100million for the highly-rated Portuguese teenager.
Striker Serhou Guirassy would be more affordable from Stuttgart, but the Guinea international is 28 and is enjoying an uncharacteristically-fine season in the Bundesliga. These warning signs should make them think again.
A more-realistic target is Michael Olise, who scored twice in Palace’s 4-0 demolition of United. He has a significant release clause in the four-year deal he signed last August and that comes into effect this summer.
There is plenty United need to do, but the question is how much of it will they get done?
