Manchester United and Moyes Pay Price for Ferguson's Crucial Midfield Mistake

Much has been made of the reports that three “imposters”—purporting to be representatives of Manchester United—turned up at La Liga headquarters in Madrid on Monday, under the pretence of completing the signing of Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera.

In the end a deal for Herrera was not done, with United manager David Moyes telling reporters that he ultimately decided the fee needed was “the wrong valuation”. But the suspicion in England was that the imposters had somehow scuppered the deal with their meddling.

What is perhaps most illuminating, however, is that anyone in an official capacity believed that three unrecognisable men in suits could feasibly be representatives of Manchester United.

Moyes may face the brunt of the criticism for a transfer window poorly handled, but he was never going to be the one actually negotiating the deals. That is not the way of the modern football world.

Such responsibilities likely fall to Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward, who is also enjoying (although he might currently be tempted to advise the use of a different verb) his first summer in the United hotseat.

The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday described Woodward’s first window as a “humiliation,” noting that Moyes had identified a number of targets but Woodward “lacked the contacts book and credibility of his predecessor David Gill to come up with the goods.”

The Guardian, showing slightly more restraint, observed that Woodward had been “bruised” by the "tough baptism" he had faced in the market.

The late addition of Marouane Fellaini—at £27.5 million, £4m more than they could have signed him for earlier in the summer—in its own way only added to that sentiment, suggesting United had panicked and moved in desperation to placate fans and give Moyes the midfielder his squad clearly requires.

While Michael Carrick has cemented his place at the base of the United midfield, Tom Cleverley has done little to convince that he is of the rare calibre required to be Paul Scholes’ long-term successor.

Fellaini, whose height and attributes mean he can play a number of roles, will surely initially slot in as a capable box-to-box partner for Carrick.

Little has been made of the fact that such a gap in the first-team was a problem of United’s own making, however, and long before Moyes and Woodward stepped into the spotlight.

Presumably top of United’s transfer wishlist this summer would have been Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba—had he not left Old Trafford for Serie A just 12 months ago.

Pogba, in just one season at Juventus, has established himself as one of the very best young central midfielders in the game, an all-round maestro for a team that should have very real Champions League aspirations this season.

The France international has shown himself capable of scoring great goals while putting in sublime performances, all just 12 months removed from being considered too raw for the United first-team by Sir Alex Ferguson.

After Pogba’s game-changing Italian Super Cup appearance, respected ESPN football journalist Gabriele Marcotti wrote:

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Paul Pogba is scarily good. On Sunday in the Italian Super Cup, he came on after 20 minutes for the injured Claudio Marchisio and changed the game, scoring one goal, setting up another and spending the rest of the evening single-handedly beating Lazio's midfield into submission in Juventus' 4-0 win.

This will likely be Pogba's last season as a squad player as there is no way you can keep someone with his skill set out of your starting lineup on a regular basis for much longer.

Right now, there seems to be no limit to what Pogba can become.

"

Pogba seemed to have this impression of his own ability while at United, but it was not shared by Ferguson—who has long held little regard for (what he might view as unmerited) individual expressions of self-worth.

Perhaps that’s why other teammates took to calling Pogba “Mandela,” as he got more and more outspoken in his demands to his boss for greater playing time. As he told France Football in May while reflecting on his United exit:

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I never disrespected Sir Alex Ferguson, if anything it is the opposite, because I said things to his face.

When I knew of Paul Scholes' return I understood that I would find it difficult to play and that I had to leave United.

[Juventus manager Antonio] Conte, instead, told me that age is not important and that the best players would play. I want to become the best in the world and win the Ballon d'Or.

"

There is a fine line between a player being intimately and acutely aware of his own ability, and a manager misconstruing it for a poor attitude and diva mentality.

Ferguson, to United’s cost, seems to have erred on the wrong side of that judgement, to the clear detriment of the current playing staff.

"I don't think he showed us any respect at all, to be honest,” the Belfast Telegraph quoted Ferguson as saying somewhat dismissively, after Pogba’s long-mooted move to Juve neared a formal announcement.

"I'm quite happy that if they [players with that attitude] carry on that way, they're probably better doing it away from us."

It seems hard to imagine Moyes and Woodward feel the same way now, as they get pilloried for the clumsy pursuit of a central midfielder that it appears Ferguson had in his midst all along.

Yes, Pogba was barely 18 when he was demanding more first-team involvement, and yes, United were vying for the biggest prizes in England and Europe at the time; hardly the ideal environment for bedding in a talented but temperamental teenager.

But that is management—you keep your best prospects motivated and encouraged until such a time as you can insert them in the first-team; you certainly do not admonish them for their own self-belief and allow them to leave for nothing to another big European side.

Juventus claimed this summer that they received two separate enquiries for Pogba (variously reported to be from Real Madrid and Arsenal), while agent Mino Raiola boasted to Sky Italia that his client was worth “more than Gareth Bale”.

While Raiola has long been prone to bursts of hyperbole, the fact Juventus were unwilling to remotely consider the 20-year-old's sale is testament to both his current ability and his prodigious potential.

It should not escape anyone's notice then that, while Juventus look to a bright future with Pogba at their heart, United's new management duo have been scrambling around desperately trying to find (and then buy) someone with his general attributes.

It may be Moyes and Woodward currently facing the criticism, but perhaps it is only for failing to adroitly rectify a mistake that Ferguson should never have made.