The Premier League transfer window has shut and there will be no more incomings for clubs in the league until January.
Manchester United were hoping to build on their top four finish last season and create a squad capable of challenging Manchester City for the title.
However, their transfer business shows they are still far behind, not only Manchester City, but also the other clubs hoping to catch the champions.
Manchester United have been active in the transfer market and have spent over €200 million on players.
Rasmus Højlund was the most expensive addition of the summer and cost €75 million from Atalanta in Italy.
Manchester United also signed André Onana as their new goalkeeper from Inter Milan, Mason Mount from Cheslea, and Altay Bayindir as a back-up goalkeeper from Fenerbahce in Turkey.
However, Højlund arrived at Old Trafford injured and has yet to play game and Mount will be missing for some weeks due to injury.
Erik ten Hag wanted to sell Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay to raise funds to bring in more players but deals could not be reached to offload the players.
Due to financial fair play rules, that left the club with no option but to pursue loan deals on the final day of the transfer window, with Sofyan Amrabat joining from Fiorentina and Sergio Reguilón arriving from Tottenham Hotspur.
The Red Devils have also handed a one year deal to former central defender, Jonny Evans.
From their outgoings, Manchester United have managed to generate €55 million and that is not enough to fund the transfers they wanted to make in this window.
Manchester City have added Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Jérémy Doku, and Mateo Kovacic to their squad but raised a total of €114.5 million from player sales, allowing Pep Guardiola to bring in the players he wanted before the transfer deadline.
Liverpool bought Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Wataru Endo for a combined total of €170 million, with Gravenberch having been of interest to Manchester United.
Chelsea have spent a staggering €464 million in the summer transfer window but have had no problem selling players and they raised €264 million from the likes of Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Manchester City, Liverpool, and Cheslea have brought in zero players on loan. Only Arsenal of the potential title challengers have added a player on loan and that was a goalkeeper.
Manchester United’s inability to sell players has left them having to add loan players to their squad and that is not good enough.
Perhaps the money spent on Mount could have been used better elsewhere and it remains to be seen if Højlund is going to be the striker Manchester United have been missing.
However, there is no doubt it has been another mediocre transfer window for the club and with injuries already beginning to pile up at Old Trafford, Ten Hag has a lot of work to do if Manchester United are going to improve on last season.