Grading Manchester United's Transfer Window Activity

It is over! After months of speculation and some eye-watering outlays, the transfer window closed in England on Thursday, and Manchester United can afford to be pretty happy with their decisions.

A Premier League striker entering his prime years, an experienced specialist defensive midfielder with a winner's mentality and a young centre-back manager Jose Mourinho can mould were signed. They also brought back a veteran forward whose previous contract had expired. That is a pretty good haul and close to what United fans would have asked for at the start of the transfer window.

It is not perfect. Mourinho wanted one more signing, a player "coming from the sides"—meaning wide areas—as he made clear in his first press conference of the new Premier League season back in August.

Mourinho also said he would "not cry or moan" if that player did not arrive, and a good job that is, as the last thing United need is for their good start to the season to be derailed by Mourinho dissolving into a puddle of tears in the dressing room.

The majority of the work got done; he can afford to be pleased. But how pleased? Let's give each deal—incomings and outgoings—a grade, taking a more detailed look at the biggest moves.

Romelu Lukaku from Everton, £75M

Let's start the show with the showstopper. Romelu Lukaku was United's biggest signing of the summer in terms of outlay and, in the long run, in terms of importance.

The prolific centre-forward has already given a glimpse of his potential importance to the club by scoring four goals in his first four competitive fixtures. His off-the-ball running has given United a different dimension than they had with the 35-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line. His finishing—barring that missed penalty against Leicester City—has been on point.

But this is not a transfer to be judged on the first few games of his first season. A 24-year old striker arriving at United for big money—or at least what seemed like big money at the time—will be judged as a success or failure by his contribution to trophy-winning campaigns.

And Lukaku has the potential to seriously contribute. His understanding with Paul Pogba, the most important creative cog in the side, is already clear. If they both stay at the club for a while, and United continue to build around them, it is hard to imagine that success will not eventually come.

He regularly scored in the Premier League for sides much less equipped with creativity than the United squad for a long time for such a young man. At West Bromwich Albion, he scored 17 goals in 20 starts and 15 substitute appearances. At Everton, he scored 68 goals in 133 starts and eight substitute appearances. That is just under one in two for overall appearances for the Toffees and more than one in two for starts.

He is as close to a sure thing as possible. The doubts about his ability to score against the top sides took an immediate dent when he got one against Real Madrid—the best team in the world—but will persist until he makes a point of doing it regularly. But even if he never does, that is hardly a problem. United's big issue last time out was an inability to put smaller teams to the sword—exactly what you need to do to win the Premier League.

The only reason Lukaku's signing does not get an automatic A has nothing to do with him at all. The only downside to his signature is the potential ramifications for Marcus Rashford's development as a centre-forward. Having Ibrahimovic in his way was no problem given the Swede's age. But Lukaku could easily be the first-choice No. 9 at United for the next five years and possibly even longer. Will Rashford learn what he needs to know in that time to take up the mantle when he is 25?

Time will tell. But even with that caveat, Lukaku's signing, for how much it adds to United, deserves that A after all.

Grade: A

Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, £40M

The thing about the Nemanja Matic transfer is it has to be properly contextualised to make any sense. The 2017 transfer window saw a dramatic price inflation, rendering our preconceptions about value irrelevant. So while £40 million for a 29-minus-one-day-year-old—as he was the day he signed—might sound astronomical, the truth is it is fine in context.

United do not need to consider resale value. They are immensely wealthy and balance the books with their commercial appeal, not the buying and selling of players. They can spend money with the sole purpose of making the team better.

And Matic does exactly that. For the next few years—how many remains to be seen, but so long as it is three or four, the point applies—Matic will be a round peg in a round hole in the centre of United's midfield. It is early days, but United look transformed by his presence.

He has given Mourinho the confidence to play Pogba as part of a midfield pair rather than a three, meaning United have had Pogba, Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Lukaku and either Anthony Martial or Rashford in their starting XI for all three Premier League games. No wonder they have scored so many goals. Matic has been the platform on which all this has been built.

For a club that was concerned about good financial planning in terms of transfers, the Matic deal would have to lose a grade given his age but for United? Bringing in pretty much exactly the player their experienced serial winner of a manager thinks is the tool for the job? That is priceless.

Grade: A

Victor Lindelof from Benfica, £31M

This one is tricky to asses. Victor Lindelof struggled during United's pre-season tour, and Mourinho has not involved him in their Premier League campaign. After the opening-day 4-0 win over West Ham United, he said in his post-match press conference:

"I've had players coming from different leagues to the Premier League and normally it's not easy. The difference between Lukaku and Matic is that they have years and years [of experience in] the Premier League.

"I brought in 2004 a phenomenal central defender to England: Ricardo Carvalho. He was one of the best central defenders in the last decade of the Premier League, but he struggled.

"It was difficult for him to adapt in the beginning. I think Victor is a little bit of that and he's going to have that time."

When Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra—two of United's best defenders of the past decade—joined the squad in January 2006, it took them a while to adjust. History has proved that period of challenge well worth enduring.

And Lindelof has a fine reputation. Back in November 2016, Ibrahimovic told reporters: "I think Victor is doing great things, he is playing good for Benfica, he gets a lot of responsibility for the national team now, he is growing. Is he good enough for United? I think he's good enough for the big clubs out there."

Goal was full of praise when describing Lindelof's strengths. The outlet wrote: "His positional sense and speed across the ground are two of his biggest assets, allowing him to shut down attacks before they become a threat and keep opponents at arm's length."

There is some element of doubt to this transfer—there has to be. But Mourinho has plenty of experience in choosing and developing centre-backs, so he can be allowed the benefit of the doubt in spite of a rocky start.

Grade: An optimistic B, based on Mourinho's track record with defenders.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Free

Signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer once is good business. Signing him on a free transfer twice is next-level genius. This one presumably did not take much thought. The Swede's recovery must be going well, and the club is clearly convinced he can make a difference. His dressing-room leadership will be vital, and so long as he does not expect to be leading the line every week upon his return, there is no downside here.

Grade: A

Wayne Rooney to Everton, Free

Wayne Rooney's usefulness to the United squad had long past its peak. Giving him a free transfer to his boyhood club seems an entirely reasonable move on United's part, particularly given it gets a huge wage of the club's books. United fans will wish him well, but his time at the top has clearly gone.

Grade: A, the time is right, and the money irrelevant.

Adnan Januzaj to Real Sociedad, £9M

A real shame, this one. Not in terms of the fact Adnan Januzaj has left United per se but that the huge promise of his breakthrough season has faded so fast. The fee received from Real Sociedad is pretty minimal for a player with a lot of talent, but the past few seasons did nothing to boost his value.

Grade: B

Timothy Fosu-Mensah to Crystal Palace on a Season-Long Loan

This is a great move for Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who will be getting to a lot of experience defending if Crystal Palace's season continues in the vein in which it has begun.

Assuming Palace get themselves back on the rails, they are a decent side, and Fosu-Mensah's early performances for them may have been part of why he received his first start for the Netherlands, against France on Thursday. While United fans will miss Fosu-Mensah's presence about the place, he needs game time. This one should be win-win.

Grade: A

The Rest

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson to Leeds United, loan: B

Josh Harrop to Preston North End, "significant undisclosed compensation," per Preston's website: B or C, depending on how significant.

Dean Henderson to Shrewsbury Town, loan: B

Guillermo Varela to Penarol, undisclosed fee, per Sky Sports: N/A (fee dependent)

Sam Johnstone to Aston Villa, loan: A

Matty Willock to FC Utrecht, loan: B

Regan Poole to Northampton Town, loan: B

Andreas Pereira to Valencia, loan

Fees per Soccerbase where not otherwise stated.