Manchester United have missed out on their top two midfield targets after other clubs blew them out of the water with bigger offers.
Manchester United have now missed out on their top two midfield targets this summer
Having baulked at the idea of paying £116million for a midfielder who is an England regular and an impressive performer at the World Cup, Manchester United were never going to cough up £85million for a one-cap Portugal international who has been relegated from the Premier League in back-to-back seasons.
United’s newfound parsimony is to be admired in many ways. They have their valuation on players and they are reluctant to budge from it. When City went to nine figures for Elliot Anderson, United folded. They have done so again now Tottenham have agreed to pay £85million for Mateus Fernandes.
There are other factors to consider. Anderson has made it plain that he wanted to sign for City, while Fernandes seemed unwilling to commit to the idea of showing he only had eyes for Old Trafford.
There is business sense to United’s approach here. You could make an argument that the Anderson fee is about market value, given the nature of midfielder transfers in recent years, but it’s hard to do the same with Fernandes. His CV remains sparse after Premier League relegations with Southampton and West Ham and although the 21-year-old is a player of promise, it’s a sizeable investment in the idea of turning that into talent that doesn’t miss.
That is what you would expect for that kind of money. Fernandes didn’t necessarily offer that and he probably wasn’t the game-changing midfield addition that would have turned United into serious contenders next season.
The question now is where they turn from here. Their top two targets are both heading elsewhere in the Premier League, and although other top-flight midfielders are admiring, these two deals will distort the market.
Just as Nottingham Forest could have used the £115million Chelsea paid for Moises Caicedo as a benchmark, or the £105million Arsenal spent on Declan Rice in July 2023, so West Ham could now point to £116million for Anderson as their own guide on a valuation of Fernandes.
So when United consider firming up their interest in Alex Scott at Bournemouth, or returning to Brighton to try and sign Carlos Baleba, they might find valuations have risen again. This is the market now.
In hindsight, United’s most glaring midfield error of recent years might be failing to push hard enough for Rice before he ended up at the Emirates. They were long-term admirers of the England international and regularly watched him shine at Old Trafford for West Ham.
Rice was open to a move to United, but they never got the deal done.
A more aggressive approach might have made it happen. If it had done, you can be pretty certain that Rice and Mainoo would now be embedded as a successful and long-term partnership at United.
Instead, they continue searching for a new partner for Mainoo, now that Casemiro has left. Ederson will arrive from Atalanta, but an A-lister was expected as well. That is looking harder to do, and the midfielders that have moved this summer are sending the market spiralling.
United have their valuations and they are determined not to be pushed around. But the idea of landing a midfield bargain at a price they feel represents value might now be like looking for a unicorn.
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2026-07-01 08:49:24
