Grading Manchester United on Their 2016 Summer Transfer Window Business

This time last year, Manchester United fans were reeling from an incredibly dramatic end to the transfer window. It seemed almost impossible to believe that David De Gea had really stayed and that United had spent what seemed then to be a vast fortune on a relatively unknown French teenager.

Of course, De Gea really had stayed, and the unknown French teenager turned out to be Anthony Martial, who did not take long to demonstrate his enormous worth to the club.

Deadline day was a lot quieter this time around. United had all their key business done before the season even started—in a European Championship summer no less.

And what key business it was. At the beginning of the summer, when only Eric Bailly had signed, I wrote: 

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Every player who comes in this summer needs to serve one of two functions. One option is that they upgrade the quality of the current first XI, which [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic clearly would. The other is that they could potentially form part of an impressive Champions League final starting XI in four or five years' time, which is presumably the hope for Bailly.

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United's signings all fit into one or both of those categories.

In a move that felt wildly optimistic at the time, I suggested that Paul Pogba should be the Red Devils' No. 1 transfer target. Given United needed a blend of promising young talent and truly elite performers, it made sense to go after a player who "is in the near-unique position of being both."

Remarkably, this happened too.

The benefits of Pogba's acquisition are hard to overstate. Goals and assists will come, impressive key pass and defensive actions will come, but none of that captures just how much his presence transforms United.

Against Southampton on August 19, at a floodlit Old Trafford, Pogba took hold of the game and would not let go. It felt like he was everywhere. Whenever he had the ball, it felt like something was about to happen. There seemed no gap between defence and attack because Pogba filled the whole thing.

His play conjured genuine gasps of astonishment from the crowd.

Of course, he cost a great deal of money, but in relative terms, compared to some of the rest of the prices that have been paid in this window, he looks a positive bargain. As the journalist Andy Mitten pointed out, the price paid in euros looks different in pounds after the post-Brexit crash in the sterling's value than it would have in more conventional circumstances.

Frankly, although it might seem logical to include some assessment of value in awarding a grade for transfer activity, that is a complex process. Marketing and resale value have to be considered. Pogba would score off the charts in the first category and, at 23, does not do too badly in the second either.

Also, it is hard to care. As a fan, football is about the experience of seeing your team in action, not calculating their relative financial prudence against rival teams.

If the club were in danger of bankrupting themselves to finance the transfer, there may be some issue, but given that is obviously not the case, what better use of United's money is there than to invest it in top-quality players?

And Pogba was not the only stellar arrival.

The most reassuring thing about this summer's window was the sense that, in terms of incomings, there was a definitive plan in place. Manager Jose Mourinho had clearly identified the squad's major deficiencies and worked to rectify them.

United had an obvious need for a central defender, a complete all-round central midfielder and a creative, fast attacking midfielder. All three of those have been bought.

An established striker might not have seemed such a glaring need, but there are a lot of good reasons to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the club.

Pogba has described Ibrahimovic as being a "big brother" figure around the club. That is an invaluable role. Ibrahimovic's relationship with Mourinho is well-established, and he is thus uniquely served to act as a conduit between the manager and his new team-mates.

His startling presence and charisma will doubtless impact the crop of talented younger players around him. He is a serial trophy-winner—as is Pogba—something that has been lacking from United since Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand et al. left the playing squad.

Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick have similarly stuffed trophy cabinets, but they are really the only vestige of Sir Alex Ferguson's repeat title winners.

On top of the off-field benefits, he will score a lot of goals, something that will be crucial if United are to compete for the title this season. Including the Community Shield, he has four already and was a whisker away from adding to that at Hull City on Saturday. Ibrahimovic's arrival, like Pogba's, dramatically changes the prospect of facing United.

Then there is Bailly. His early performances have shown profound promise. That we are in a position to begin to assess his quality is a testament to the power of getting signings done early. He has been man of the match in three of United's past four games, something that obviously would not have been possible had he only just arrived.

Time will tell how long he can maintain his excellent form, but if the performances he has put in so far are any guide, the ceiling on his potential is enormous. It is too soon to get giddy, but another six months of this, and there will be plenty of cause for celebration.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has not yet had the chance to take advantage of his early arrival. He is the only signing not to start for the Red Devils so far. He has shown glimpses of just how valuable he will be to United already, though.

He and Marcus Rashford changed the game against Hull, adding directness and pace to the attack. Against Southampton, Mkhitaryan's cameo was a display of his potential impact on the team—he is an incredibly gifted footballer. He brings something to the side that was so obviously missing from Louis van Gaal's squad.

Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

The subject of outgoings is a less obvious one. In the end, Mourinho has sold no properly established members of the senior squad—unless Paddy McNair is to be considered in that category, which would seem a tad generous.

There have been some surprising loan moves—Cameron Borthwick-Jackson could perhaps have stuck around, though regular football will surely help him this season. Adnan Januzaj's reunion with David Moyes shows how far his stock has fallen but is hard to argue against.

Like Januzaj, Andreas Pereira may have hoped for more first-team football under Mourinho, but he has gone to Granada for the season instead. It is hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment that Mourinho has not gambled on either Januzaj or Pereira, but given the scale of challenge he is facing, it is perhaps understandable.

James Wilson will spend another campaign away from Old Trafford, and Will Keane, Donald Love and James Weir have had their time at the club brought to an end. All of that makes perfect sense.

What makes slightly less sense is that no more senior players left. Daley Blind and Juan Mata, who could reasonably have been assumed not to fit the new manager's profile, have not only survived the first couple of months of Mourinho's reign but also been integral to the first team thus far.

Elsewhere in the squad, it is hard to see Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo or Ashley Young getting much in the way of first-team action, barring injuries.

And then there is the one obvious failure of the window. Bastian Schweinsteiger remains at United in spite of having been marginalised by Mourinho. Presumably, the manager would have hoped the World Cup-winning former Germany captain would have chosen to move on rather than stay on United's books.

Perhaps there will be a twist in the tale and he will get his chance, but it seems remarkably unlikely given what has happened up to now.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Mourinho has, fundamentally, kept the squad together, more than would have been expected. Perhaps United could be docked a mark or two for not shipping out Schweinsteiger or paring down the dead wood, but that would seem churlish in the face of such impressive work in terms of bringing players in.

United's transfer window has done the job it needed to do—and in some style. It would be unreasonable to ask for any more.

Grade: A