Manchester United fans have once again been left disappointed by the team's performance in the transfer window.
The club are enduring their worst Premier League season in decades - a phrase that feels evergreen for United over the past decade or so.
With Ruben Amorim's side languishing in 13th and having lost five of their last six home games, fans were keen for investment to come in the January transfer window.
Instead, an already weak squad has effectively only been weakened further, and a comparison with the squad of three seasons ago lays bare the ludicrous mismanagement of Manchester United in the transfer window of the post-Ferguson era.
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Manchester United only have themselves to blame for January transfer issues
The biggest deals pulled off by Manchester United in this January transfer window saw forwards Antony and Marcus Rashford exit the club on loan deals. Pursuits of Christopher Nkunku, Leon Bailey and Mathys Tel on loan all fell through, leaving United with just four senior forwards in the squad, with none over the age of 24.

The only attacking players in the United squad as it stands are Amad (22), Alejandro Garnacho (20), Rasmus Hojlund (22), and Joshua Zirkzee (23).
If one compares that with the squad that finished the 2021-22 season, the impact of United's shocking strategy (or lack thereof) becomes abundantly clear.
The forward roster for that campaign saw United able to call on any of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Anthony Elanga, Jadon Sancho, or of course Edinson Cavani or Cristiano Ronaldo. Even Amad and Garnacho were utilised by interim boss Ralf Rangnick as the season progressed.
This is by no means a retcon of the '21-22 season, one of the worst of the post-Ferguson era in which the style of football employed was dire to watch. Much of that can be put down to the managerial instability and the tactics employed by Rangnick during his doomed time in charge.
However, since that season, United's movement in the transfer market has been dire. Erik ten Hag came in as manager in the summer of 2022 and immediately spent an eye-watering sum of €95 million on Antony - surely pound-for-pound one of the worst allotments of funding in human history.
Ten Hag would fall out with Cristiano Ronaldo after deciding to keep the wantaway forward during the summer, meaning he would leave on a free when his contract was terminated.
Likewise, the decision to bring in Ronaldo in the first place had frozen out Edinson Cavani, who also left on a free. That same fate befell Anthony Martial. Having signed for a record-breaking fee as a teenager in 2015, Martial exited at the end of last season having run down his contract, meaning United recouped none of the huge sum they had spent on them.
Even the attacking talent that has been sold on from United's academy has not been sold for a huge profit. Both Scott McTominay and Anthony Elanga are thriving elsewhere having left for cut-price deals.
The players brought in in that time have flattered to deceive, with both Hojlund and Zirkzee repeatedly firing blanks this season with hefty transfer fees hanging over their heads.
Simply put, the comparison sums up the dire consequences of Manchester United's crazy transfer window strategy of late. They have taken strange punts on either ageing superstars or big-money gambles on unproven young talent. When the likes of Harry Kane were available, United instead moved for Hojlund. No disrespect is meant to the Danish striker, but Kane is exactly the kind of player United have been sorely missing over the past few years.
When many of their moves for forward players have inevitably not proven successful, the cut-price exits have led to a disastrous imbalance in the club's net spend, putting them in danger of a PSR breach.
These PSR issues were blamed by several UK media outlets for the club's inability to spend in this transfer window, and will likely be a major hangover of the Glazer era for the new INEOS regime to contend with in the months and years to come.
You will find few United fans who will have been satisfied with the performance levels of Jadon Sancho, Antony, or Marcus Rashford this season. However, all three are now out on loan as the club desperately tries to manifest goals from their completely misfiring attack.
It is crazy that Manchester United are in this situation, and there appears to be no easy way out.