The terrible start to their Premier League campaign isn’t putting David Moyes on the hot seat; instead, it seems to encourage the board of Manchester United to give him more funds to bring in Ander Herrera and Leighton Baines in order to help the team as soon as possible.
Only 7 points from the opening six matches mean Manchester United are only 12th in the league, 8 points behind league leaders Arsenal and five points away from Everton, who occupy fourth place and the last Champions League spot.
Even though it’s too early to determine how each team will finish, it is quite easy to see that thing aren’t working. Moyes going into ‘defeatist mode’ and actually latching blame all around and keeps on insisting his players aren’t good enough or his squad doesn’t have enough quality shouldn’t be winning points with the board, but it seems it is going to get him in a few months some money to improve the squad.
So who does Moyes want? At the moment, it seems like Ander Herrera and Leighton Baines are his transfer targets, with the club putting aside close to £50 million in order to make his dreams possible. However, as the summer taught us, Moyes wanting someone and the club actually being able to get him doesn’t always go hand in hand, exemplified by the mess of a transfer window they had, courtesy of Moyes going after untouchable players and Ed Woodward not being too accomplished in negotiating for them.
Is that amount enough for these two players? Bilbao would like to see at least £30 million or maybe more in order to let Herrera go, and maybe even then they’ll cause problems. Despite his release clause, Bilbao aren’t forced to accept the offer if they deny the money from going into their bank account. Baines is probably worth than £15 million to Everton, especially with the way Manchester United behaved towards them during the summer. It’s either going to take a lot more than £50 million to get things done, or simply focusing on one player instead of a few.
There are other options on the table, such as Ezequiel Garay of Benfica who Manchester United have been checking out from afar for quite some time, but the main problem continues to be in the middle of the pitch, and United’s future at left back, even though Baines isn’t someone that’s going to be dominant for the next 10 years. Right now, Moyes needs backing from the fans and owners, and promising some new signings might be the perfect way to achieve it.