It’s already clear that Erik ten Hag’s first summer at Manchester United is going to see a rapid turnover of players both leaving and coming in.
While the 10 new signings Ralf Rangnick suggested United urgently need is more likely to be just three high quality buys, with up to £150million available to spend, a long overdue clearing out of the deadwood looks inevitable.
For one thing, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic, Edinson Cavani and Juan Mata are all set to depart Old Trafford on free transfers once the window opens.
It appears that Erik ten Hag’s tenure as Manchester United manager will commence with a much-needed clearing out of the deadwood at Old Trafford
But now reports suggest that United will listen to offers for five players it appears have already been deemed surplus to requirements in the Ten Hag rebuild.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Alex Telles, who have been playing for United on a fairly regular basis, may come as surprise inclusions.
But central defenders Eric Bailly and Phil Jones are clearly not going to win back their place, while forward Anthony Martial has already been loaned out to Sevilla.
It’s been a season of endless frustration for United, who are now five years without a trophy
Each, in their own way, have become victims of the decade of drift, decay and dysfunction at United since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
All looked to have a place and a purpose at one point or another but have found themselves stymied by injuries, squad competition, poor performances or simply falling out of favour amid a churn of managers.
We take a look at what has gone wrong and what could potentially happen next.
Alex Telles
Left-back, signed from Porto for £15.4m in October 2020
Telles being added to the transfer list may surprise many because he is playing regularly for United at the moment with Luke Shaw set to miss the remainder of the season through injury.
But despite great promise and potential, his time with United has been pretty…