1. The Prospect Of Missing Out On Top Targets (Again)
Manchester United endured a woeful summer transfer window last year and failed to land nearly all of their top targets, with the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Ander Herrera, Leighton Baines and Fabio Coentrao all slipping through their net. United, and, eventually, David Moyes, were punished for their failings in the market with a seventh placed finish and Moyes's dismissal. The same mistakes simply cannot be made twice yet with transfer deadline day coming into view, the Red Devils have only signed two players this summer and haven't made a signing in over a month. Luke Shaw and Herrera have joined from Southampton and Athletic Bilbao, respectively, but clearly Louis van Gaal needs to make more of an overhaul than that. United have been scarcely improved by Shaw and Herrera's arrivals and they still need two new centre-backs, a defensive midfielder and ideally a new winger. The Reds have been linked with Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria all summer with nothing yet coming to fruition, and have been chasing Juventus's Arturo Vidal for the past three months to so-far fruitless effect. Heck, they're even having a hard time persuading third-choice Arsenal centre-back Thomas Vermaelen to make the move to Old Trafford despite weeks-upon-weeks of speculation linking the Belgian with a transfer from Emirates Stadium. It's all very frustrating and United fans must be worrying they're about to go through the nightmares of last summer yet again by making another panic buy on deadline day. Sort it out, van Gaal.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
