Manchester United Transfers: Grading Each of Reds' Moves in the Summer Window

Manchester United sent out strong signals of intent by making some major purchases in this season’s transfer window. The procurement of world-class players like Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa signifies Sir Alex Ferguson’s convictions to compete strongly on both European and domestic fronts.

United have also managed to let go of some of their fringe players—having released Michael Owen and offloaded the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Ji-Sung Park.

Here is the cumulative list of Manchester United Transfers this season:

Players Purchased	Fee	Players Sold	Fee
Nick Powell	£6,000,000	Matthew James	£1,000,000
Shinji Kagawa	£12,000,000	Ritchie De Laet	£1,000,000
Sean Goss	£100,000	Oliver Norwood	£400,000
Robin Van Persie	£24,000,000	Tomasz Kuszczak	Free
Angelo Henrique	£4,000,000	Park Ji-Sung	£2,500,000
Alexander Büttner	£3,900,000	Paul Pogba	Free
		Dimitar Berbatov	£4,000,000
		Michael Owen	released
Total	£50,000,000		£8,900,000

Transfers In:

Nick Powell

Nick Powell will, under Ferguson’s tutelage, evolve into a strong central midfielder in the mold of Michael Carrick. He is a strong acquisition to make for a smooth transition to replace someone like Carrick or Paul Scholes.

Grade: B

Shinji Kagawa

I have always been a huge fan of Shinji Kagawa ever since his Borussia Dortmund days where he terrified opposition with his incredible link up-play, orchestrating ability and goal scoring exploits.

Kagawa, as witnessed in the past games, has also equipped Sir Alex with more tactical flexibility allowing United to operate as a 4-2-3-1, a more fluid formation that has been adopted by the more successful clubs and country in the past few years.

Furthermore, he, along with Robin van Persie, will lift the burden off of Wayne Rooney and allow the latter to focus more on his goal-scoring duties rather than playmaking ones.

Grade: A+

Robin van Persie

Robin van Persie is one of the classiest forwards around, and he proved his worth with a hat-trick against Southampton.

His age and his history with injuries makes him quite a suspect candidate, but if he can continue his form, he can be quite the asset.

Grade: B+

Angelo Henriquez

A young and impressive striker from Universidad de Chile, he was scouted also by cross-town rivals Manchester City. He is a prudent investment, and time will tell how he fits into the United style of things.

Grade: N/A

Alexander Büttner

Not quite the finished product, but he can take a lot of notes from Patrice Evra who might have at least one good season in front of him.

The signing makes sense, as it puts a bit of pressure on Evra to up his performance, but also allows for cover if injuries plague the Frenchman.

Grade: B-

Transfers Out:

The major players that made their way out of United were Ji-Sung Park, Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Pogba.

Ji-Sung Park

A big-game performer whose work ethic completely won over the United faithful—his presence will be missed. He is an ever industrious player and keeping him on the fringes might have made sense when the need arises.

Grade: C

Michael Owen

It was time to let go of the once prodigious talent and is a wise move.

Grade: A

Dimitar Berbatov

One has to feel sorry for the Bulgarian—Golden Boot winner in one season, the fourth choice striker in the other.

He was always, and still remains, a class forward who is quite capable of orchestrating play as well. A talented striker like Berbatov should not be on the fringes, and it made sense for both parties to part ways.

Grade: A

Paul Pogba

United should have really tried to keep hold of the talented youngster. He is an explosive player and could have been nurtured into one of the world’s finest.

Alas, Pogba chose the Italian Giants Juventus and United lost one of their most precocious teenagers.

Grade: F

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