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Manchester United had a good summer transfer window.
They needed to rebuild their midfield, and that is exactly what they did.
Adding Youri Tielemans , Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba to a midfield already featuring Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes hands Michael Carrick the finest engine room not just in England, but arguably in Europe.
The technical jump United's midfield has made is scary.
However, while the midfield now sits in a much better place, the left-back position has emerged as a source of concern.
Amid the noise surrounding the midfield rebuild, there were sober conversations about the need to find a capable alternative to Luke Shaw.
Shaw started every game last season, which was great for United, but expecting him to repeat that this season was always a big gamble. Doing so risked running him into the ground.
Going into the 2026-27 season, therefore, signing a top left-back option was crucial.
Interestingly, despite knowing this, and despite United's last three games exposing what a liability Shaw can be, INEOS made no last-minute attempt to sign a left-back.
The suggestion is that they opted against a transfer because they felt it would prove tricky to prise their top left-back target, Lewis Hall , away from Newcastle United.
As they hope to eventually land Hall, even if it means waiting until next year, they reportedly felt it was unnecessary to pursue an alternative in the meantime.
While that explains why a left-back signing never materialised, the Telegraph have offered another intriguing explanation.
They claim that Carrick's brave decision to reintegrate Marcus Rashford into the team, after his predecessor exiled him and many believed he would never play for the club again, cost United a big-money left-back signing.
As the report explains, "[Rashford] his £325,000-a-week wages greatly reduced United's room for manoeuvre."
As a result, with Rashford staying, the 20-time English champions were held back financially and unable to pull off a top left-back signing.
Whether it was so as not to block a path to a Hall signing, or it was because of the Red Devils finding themselves in a tricky financial situation, one thing is clear.
Had United pulled off a left-back signing, they would certainly have enjoyed a better transfer window, one that would have given them greater confidence in challenging for glory.
