In the past four summers, Manchester United have invested large sums of money in a famous striker, just to see them struggle to adapt to the Premier League.
Jadon Sancho was once Dortmund's goalscorer and assist creator, having been involved in 120 goals in 158 games - an achievement that seemed worth the £74 million Man United spent in 2021. However, in two seasons at Old Trafford, Sancho scored only 12 goals and had 6 assists, before being left out of the squad for publicly criticizing coach Erik ten Hag on social media.
Sancho showed signs of improvement when he returned to Dortmund on loan, but then fading away for The Blues. Chelsea agreed to pay Man United a £5 million fine instead of signing him officially.
Antony is considered one of the best young strikers in Europe in 2022, averaging 0.56 goals or assists per game for Ajax. The Red Devils spent £85 million to sign the Brazilian, but after a explosive start with three goals in their first three games, he has scored just nine goals in his next 93 games.
Not only because of poor performance, Antony is also considered a failed transfer deal due to monotonous play. He could hardly do anything but cut in the left foot and fired inaccurate shots. However, after joining Real Betis on loan, Antony has scored half of his La Liga season's goals in both of his two and a half seasons at Old Trafford.
The same model was repeated by Rasmus Hojlund (2023) and Joshua Zirkzee (2024). The striker duo have scored a total of 20 goals in their final Serie A seasons, but have only scored a total of 7 goals in the Premier League last season.
This summer, by signing Bryan Mbeumo after a period of negotiations, Man United seems to have learned from past mistakes. However, there is still a big problem: prices.
The fee the Red Devils agreed to pay Mbeumo ( initial £65 million plus £6 million in add-ons) does not seem to be too high compared to the £62.5 million they paid to recruit Matheus Cunha. However, there are two important differences.
Wolves signed a new contract with Cunha until 2029 in February, and therefore have full decision-making power. They have said they will only accept the Brazilian's departure from Molineux if the "Red Devils" pay the full terms of the contract release. Man United are willing to do so, as breaking the release clause allows them to avoid the negotiation process - an aspect they have frequently failed to achieve since Sir Alex Ferguson left.
Man United are said to have paid too high a price for many players, to the point that the term "united tax" was born. And it is difficult not to think that they will fall into that trap again for Mbeumo.
The Cameroonian striker is in a good position with only one year left on his contract with Brentford - a contract he signed in his first season of the Bees promoted to the Premier League. Man United can completely learn from Real Madrid's strategy: wait another year to get Mbeumo for free, or put pressure to lower prices.
Brentford are likely to accept the offer as they are worried about losing Mbeumo for free next season. However, Man United rushed to sign, accepting to pay a huge fee to a player with less than 12 months left on his contract.
