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Manchester United had to scramble but in the end, managed to get all their major deals done before the end of the summer transfer window.
Sofyan Amrabat, Altay Bayindir, and Sergio Reguilon all arrived on deadline day with both outfield signings being loan deals.
But the club’s struggles to offload players continued as among first-team stars, only Mason Greenwood managed to earn a move away.
United struggled to offload Donny, Bailly
A lot of clubs were linked with Donny van de Beek and Eric Bailly, but in the end none of the moves panned out.
The Dutch midfielder has endured a torrid time since his move from Ajax in 2020 and the versatile midfielder has managed only six starts in three seasons.
His luck did not change even under his former mentor, Erik ten Hag, and his struggles prompted the Dutch boss to decide to cut him loose this summer.
As for the Ivory Coast international, he was deemed not part of the manager’s plans last summer and he earned loan move to Marseille, who had the option of making the deal permanent.
In the end, due to a poor injury and disciplinary record, the Ligue 1 outfit stopped short of making the centre-back’s move permanent and he returned to Carrington.
While Van de Beek got minutes during pre-season, Bailly was asked to train alone and was deemed a must-sell by the manager.
However, the Ivorian saw deals to Real Betis, Besiktas and Al-Nassr all fall through while the likes of Marseille and Fulham failed to follow up on their initial interest.
As for the midfielder, the former Ajax star was close to a move to Real Sociedad but in the end, the club were not too sure about the player’s fitness and moved on to other targets.
Gala and Saudi clubs remain in the mix
United were even open to a loan deal towards the end of the window with Lorient, Luton Town and Galatasaray all linked with temporary moves.
The Turkish giants were the closest to a deal and had seen their initial loan offer rejected but there is still a chance Van de Beek goes to Italy as the Super Lig does not shut its window until September 15th.
As for Bailly, he has strongly been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia and the window over there remains open until Thursday, September 7.
The Manchester Evening News have thus suggested there is still a possibility that the duo could still leave the club next week.
The likes of Portugal (September 22), Belgium (Wednesday), Russia (September 15), Croatia, the Czech Republic (both September 8), and Switzerland (September 7) all have their transfer markets open but clubs from there are yet to be linked.
