How to solve a problem like United?

Slow day so here goes, please do not take offence this is not a WUM just a neutral's take on the issues at United and possible solutions going forward. Here we go:

1 - The Glazers
2 - Ed Woodward
3 - The Manager
4 - Contract renewals
5 - What to do with Pogba?
6 - Shifting players no longer required
7 - Bringing in players


The Glazers.

Although under some pressure from the fans to sell up, there appears to be little realistic possibility of this happening. This to me isn't a major problem as they have continued to invest in the first team and i would suspect they don't plan on running the club into the ground because it makes no sense for them to do so.

Ed Woodward

The man in day to day control of Manchester United. He's shown himself to be fantastic at marketing etc but he has failed terribly on the football side, an issue that could be rectified by handing over to a DoF that knows what they are doing. Edwin Van Der Saar making the most sense having had experience at doing so successfully at Ajax.

The Manager

Unfortunately for the diehards i take the view as a neutral that no amount of time is going to turn OGS into a top manager and the longer he is in post the longer it will take to turn the club around. So a new manager will be required but there are no stand out candidates at the moment but Pochettino might be coming to the end of the line at Spurs, it would be very interesting to see what he could do with backing at United if his exit does transpire, Allegri being another interesting option.

Contract renewals.

The thinking around new contracts at United over the last few years has been all over the place, new deals dished out for players that had never quite grasped the opportunity they had been added. Jones, Young, Mata and Smalling all getting new deals despite being distinctly average. That needs to stop immediately, if they aren't good enough the need to be moved on even if that is for free.

Paul Pogba

He will have one year left on his deal at the end of the season which leaves United in a perilous position when you look at the lack of quality Pogba aside in midfield. It's sign a new deal now or United will be forced to sell him in the summer.

There are two ways to view that, on one hand he's been hit and miss and United should still get their money back but it would leave McTominay, Fred and Pereira as the only recognised central midfielders. A frightening prospect as none of the 3 are good enough to be starters. It would leave them needing to bring in 3 midfielders minimum if you held onto all 3.

Players no longer required

Grant, Borthwick-Jackson, Young, Bailly, Fosu-Mensah and Matic are all out of contract at the end of the season. Not one of them should get a new deal. Then imo they need to be looking at shifting Rojo, Smalling, Fred, Sanchez and possibly Mata.

It leaves the squad threadbare in the extreme but surely frees up a lot of wages for new signings that are desperately needed.

Bringing in players.

I'm working of the basis Pogba will be sold in the summer rather than risking letting him leave on a free. I'll add that on to an investment of roughly 150m which i think won't be too far from reality. So 250m (not sure you would make much with the rest of the players especially if subsidised wages are required to move them on) to rebuild a team that imo will need 7 players come the summer.

1 LB
4 CMs
1 RW
1 FW

Scouring the free transfers available would be the first port of call to make that cash stretch as far as possible and I'm not suggesting that United would be the finished article but get those transfers right and they would surely be a top 4 side again.

GK De Gea / Romero / Pereira
LB New LB / Shaw
CB Maguire / Jones
CB Tuanzebe / Lindelof
RB Wan Bissaka / Dalot
CM New CM / McTominay
CM New CM / Pereira
CM New CM / New CM
LW James / Rashford
RW New RW / Lingard
CF New CF / Martial / Greenwood

Season 2 would focus on

Getting a top CB.
Replacing Pereira and possibly McTominay
Replacing Lingard

In 2 seasons you could be back competing at the top.

Now for those of you at the coal face, how would you plan to get United back to where they were? Decisions you would take differently?